NANJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Suzhou, a city in east China's Jiangsu Province, has announced a program to encourage universities, institutions and companies globally to develop rapid test kits, drugs and vaccines for the novel coronavirus.

The program, launched by the Suzhou Industrial Technology Research Institute, will fund teams and researchers with a maximum of 1 million yuan (about 143,000 U.S. dollars) after an assessment.

The testing products include rapid testing kits and other equipment that can detect the virus in half an hour based on nucleic acid detection and other methods.

The development of the drugs focuses on filtering and testing antiviral drugs, traditional Chinese medicine and effective ingredients of natural medicine.

Jiangsu's finance authority also announced to fund 30 million yuan in supporting companies and researchers in developing and producing rapid testing kits and vaccines for the novel coronavirus.  ■