Beijing is speeding up efforts to offer drugs for people 【小题1】 (suffer) from a surge in COVID-19 during the ongoing outbreak of the Omicron variant.

The demand for medicines treating flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough and ache, saw 【小题2】 significant increase in the capital recently as new infections rise rapidly. Many residents failed 【小题3】 (buy) drugs in short supply, such as common cold medicine Lianhua Qingwen and anti-fever medications.

To cope with the situation, five major pharmaceutical wholesalers(药品批发商) in Beijing have sped up logistics services to quickly transport medicines to hospitals and drugstores, Beijing Daily reported.

At the distribution center of China Resources Pharmaceutical Group, trucks 【小题4】 (line) up to load drugs in mid-December. Ma Chunlin, a driver, woke up at 3:30 am to fetch drugs from the center and sent them to warehouses in different districts and hospitals. It was with a special traffic pass for drug logistics 【小题5】 Ma could freely drive any time of day.

Huang Dan, deputy general manager of the Beijing regional branch of the company, said Lianhua Qingwen, ibuprofen and 999 Cold Remedy had arrived in Beijing and it 【小题6】 (help) maintain supply. Huang told The Beijing News that the excessive demand resulted 【小题7】 people’s view of the disease. “Stocking up on drugs is unnecessary,” Huang said. “For example, a patient only needs one box of febrifuge(退烧药) to follow the course of the disease.”

Major online medical service platform JD Health also felt pressure on its supply chain, 【小题8】 sales for flu and cough drugs grew by 40 percent this year. So far, JD Health 【小题9】 (cooperate) with over 30 pharmaceutical companies to make sure customers can purchase quality drugs 【小题10】 stable prices.

An experimental antiviral medication might help fight the new coronavirus

A single case study isn’t enough to prove anything. It’s not clear if the medication called remdesivir, actually helped the patient, or if his improvement was a coincidence. But it’s one of a few drugs, 【小题1】(include) a combination of anti-HIV drugs, 【小题2】 doctors think might help patients with the new coronavirus.

Remdesivir was developed by the pharmaceutical company Gilead as a treatment 【小题3】 Ebola. It’s a broad-spectrum antiviral drug, and it blocks the activity of a protein that helps coronaviruses make copies of themselves. Research groups identified the drug as a potential candidate for the treatment of coronaviruses in the aftermath of the 2012 MERS outbreak, 【小题4】 another new coronavirus spread throughout the Middle East.

Tests on the new coronavirus show that remdesivir blocks 【小题5】 activity, too, at least in the lab. The result, 【小题6】 (couple) with the positive outcomes in the Washington patient, were enough for Gilead to launch a larger clinical trial of the drug in new coronavirus patients. The company will test it in a group of 270 patients at China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing—one group will 【小题7】 (give) the drug, and one group will be   given a placebo.

The drug isn’t approved by FDA or by any other regulatory body. 【小题8】, it already went through 【小题9】(safe)testing during the Ebola outbreak in 2014 and 2015. That’s why Gilead is able to test it in sick patients 【小题10】(immediate).

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a health care system in which patients 【小题1】 (treat) with natural plant, animal, and mineral remedies (药物). It is assumed, for a person to be healthy, 【小题2】 yin and yang forces should he in balance. Imbalance causes illness or injury. TCM is about 【小题3】 (restore) the balance between yin and yang forces in patients. It has been a major part of traditional Chinese culture and continues to play 【小题4】 vital role in medical treatment in China today.

According to the World Health Organization, nearly 80 percent of the world's population depends for its primary health care needs【小题5】 medicines from plants and animals. This is especially true in countries where traditional medicines are 【小题6】 (wide) used.

Increasingly, however, modern medicines also contain substances from animals and plants. Given growing populations, increasing wealth, and the spreading【小题7】 (popular) of natural remedies around the world, the demand for these medicines and remedies 【小题8】 (rise) now. The rising demand, 【小题9】 (combine) with reduced habitat, has caused an alarming increase in the number of plant and animal species used for medicinal purposes at risk for many years. For instance, TCM uses about 1,000 plant and 36 animal species, including the tiger, rhinoceros, and sea horse, 【小题10】 are all in danger.