A major scientific database run by China's Tsinghua University has made its contents available free of charge from Wednesday in order to help researchers work from home, following a virus outbreak in the central city of Wuhan.
The death toll in the epidemic rose sharply to 132 and the first case appeared in the Middle East, as concern mounts after China's health authorities said the number of confirmed cases had jumped by 1,459 to 5,974.
The China National Knowledge Infrastructure project (CNKI.net) said it would drop its paywall for all users until July 1, in an effort to help researchers share information.