Tokyo, July 7 (TIWN) The Japanese government will launch a databank of infectious diseases later this month to help fight Covid-19, starting with a plan to collect statistics on 10,000 infected patients by March 2022, local media reported on Wednesday.

To help curb the pandemic, the government will first collect blood and saliva samples along with the treatment records of infected patients, and provide firms and universities access to these records in assistance to their researches on respiratory disease possibly from this autumn, according to project managers.  Universities and medical institutions in Japan have been managing data on infectious diseases separately, reports Xinhua news agency.