A 14-year-old has won $25,000 for a discovery that could provide a potential therapy to Covid-19

A 14-year-old Indian-American girl has won a USD 25,000 young scientist challenge for a discovery that could provide a potential treatment for Covid-19.

Anika Chebrolu, 14, of Frisco, Texas, won the 2020 3M Young Scientist Challenge, described by 3M as "the nation's premier middle school science competition."

Anika had spent the past year researching ways to fight the flu, but shifted her research this summer as the coronavirus pandemic plagued the United States.

“The last two days, I saw that there is a lot of media hype about my project since it involves the SARS-CoV-2 virus and it reflects our collective hopes to end this pandemic as I, like everyone else, wish that we go back to our normal lives soon,” Anika told CNN.

The coronavirus has killed more than 1.1 million people globally since China reported its first case to the World Health Organization (WHO) in December. The United States has more than 219,000 deaths, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

Chebrolu told CNN that initially, her goal was to find an effective cure for influenza disease after a severe bout of the infection last year, however, she changed directions to target SARS-CoV-2 because of the widespread impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.