The government has donated £20 million towards a break-neck plan to produce a vaccine to combat the deadly new coronavirus.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the money would help the UK lead the way in developing a new inoculation.
It comes as the death toll in China increased to 361 with the total number of cases there now above 17,000.
Meanwhile 11 Britons flown back from Wuhan - the outbreak's epicentre - have begun two weeks in quarantine.
The additional evacuees - who travelled from China via France - joined 83 people already in group isolation at Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral.
'Unprecedented' timescale
The government's £20m investment will go to CEPI - the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations - a global body aiming to fast-track a vaccine within six to eight months.
CEPI chief executive Dr Richard Hatchett said such a tight timescale was "unprecedented".
If the biologists are successful, more time would still be required to test the vaccine more widely and secure sign-off from medical regulators before it could be distributed across the world.
"This is an extremely ambitious timeline - indeed, it would be unprecedented in the field of vaccine development," Dr Hatchett said.
"It is important to remember that even if we are successful - and there can be no guarantee - there will be further challenges to navigate before we can make vaccines more broadly available."
You know?covid 19 is vaksin for earth