Chinese Scientist, First to Publish Covid Sequence, Stages Protest After Being Locked Out of Lab

Shanghai: first scientist to publish a sequence of COVID-19 virus in China staged a sit-in protest outside his lab after authorities locked him out of facility — a sign of Beijing's continuing pressure on scientists conducting research on coronavirus.

Zhang Yongzhen wrote in an online post-Monday that he and his team h been suddenly notified y were being evicted from ir lab, latest in a series of setbacks, demotions and ousters since virologist published sequence in January 2020 without state approval.

When Zhang tried to go to lab over weekend, guards barred him from entering. In protest, he sat outside on flattened cardboard in drizzling rain, pictures from scene posted online show.

News of protest spre widely on Chinese social media and Zhang told a colleague he slept outside lab — but it was not clear Tuesday if he remained re.

“I won’t leave, I won’t quit, I am pursuing science and truth!” he wrote in a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo that was later deleted.

Beijing's effort to control information

In an online statement, Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center said that Zhang’s lab was being renovated and was closed for “safety reasons.” It ded that it h provided Zhang’s team with an alternative laboratory space.

But Zhang wrote online that his team wasn’t offered an alternative until after y were notified of ir eviction, and that lab offered didn’t meet safety standards for conducting ir research, leaving his team in limbo.

Zhang’s latest difficulty reflects how China has sought to control information related to virus: An Associated Press investigation found that government froze meaningful domestic and international efforts to trace it from first weeks of outbreak.

That pattern continues to this day, with labs closed, collaborations shattered, foreign scientists forced out and Chinese researchers barred from leaving country.

When reached by phone on Tuesday, Zhang said it was “inconvenient” for him to speak, saying re were or people listening in. In an email Monday to collaborator Edward Holmes seen by AP, Zhang confirmed he was sleeping outside his lab after guards barred him from entering.

An AP reporter was blocked by a guard at an entrance to compound housing Zhang’s lab.

A staff member at National Health Commission, China’s top health authority, said by phone that it was not main department in charge and referred questions to Shanghai government. Shanghai government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Why is Zhang being targeted?

Zhang’s ordeal started when he and his team decoded virus on January 5, 2020, and wrote an internal notice warning Chinese authorities of its potential to spre — but did not make sequence public.

next day, Zhang’s lab was ordered temporarily shut down by China’s top health official, and Zhang came under pressure from Chinese authorities.

Around time, China h reported several dozen people were being treated for a respiratory illness in central city of Wuhan. Possible cases of same illness h been reported in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan involving recent travellers to city.

Foreign scientists soon learned that Zhang and or Chinese scientists h deciphered virus and called for him to publish. Zhang published his sequence of coronavirus on January 11, 2020, despite a lack of government permission.

Sequencing a virus is key to development of test kits, disease control measures and vaccinations. virus eventually spre to every corner of world, triggering a pandemic that disrupted lives and commerce, prompted widespre lockdowns and killed millions of people.

Zhang was later awarded prizes in recognition of his work.

But Zhang’s publication of sequence also prompted ditional scrutiny of his lab, according to Holmes, Zhang’s collaborator and a virologist at University of Sydney. Zhang was removed from a post at Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and barred from collaborating with some of his former partners, crippling his research.

“Ever since he defied authorities by releasing genome sequence of virus that causes COVID-19 re has been a campaign against him,” Holmes said. “He’s been broken by this process and I’m amazed he has been able to work at all.”