On 23 January 2020, Drosten, along with other virologists in Europe and Hong Kong, published a workflow of a real-time PCR (RT-PCR) diagnostic test,[8] which was accepted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and which sent test kits to affected regions.[9]
On 19 February 2020, Drosten, along with 26 other scientists, published as a co-author of the Statement in support of the scientists, public health professionals, and medical professionals of China combatting COVID-19, which declared "We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin."[10] In February 2022, physicist Roland Wiesendanger called this statement a deception and criticized Drosten for his participation.[11] Drosten responded on Twitter by questioning Wiesendanger's character.[12]
On 17 March 2020, Drosten was appointed to the European Commission's advisory panel on COVID-19, co-chaired by EC President Ursula von der Leyen and ECHSF Stella Kyriakides.[13][14] On 23 March 2020, The Guardian described Drosten as "the [German] country's real face of the coronavirus crisis", and also noted that the Süddeutsche Zeitung had described Drosten as "the nation's corona-explainer-in-chief".[1] He was a counterpart to Lothar Wieler, head of the State's Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, in consulting to German federal and state authorities.[1]
