World

Protesting COVID-19 virologist to return to lab

By AAP Newswire

May 1, 2024

Chinese virology laboratory — A Chinese virologist who published the COVID-19 sequence is to be allowed back into his lab. -AP

The first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in China will be allowed back into his lab after days locked outside, sitting in protest.

Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content

Virologist Zhang Yongzhen wrote in an online post early Wednesday that authorities had "tentatively agreed" to allow him and his team to return to his laboratory and continue their research for the time being.

Zhang had been staging a sit-in protest outside his lab since the weekend after he and his team were suddenly notified they had to leave their lab, a sign of Beijing's continuing pressure on scientists conducting research on the coronavirus.

The Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center previously said Zhang's lab was being renovated and was closed for safety reasons.

But Zhang said his team wasn't offered an alternative until after the eviction and the new lab didn't meet safety standards for conducting their research.

In January, 2020, Zhang became the first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus.

When he tried to enter his lab over the weekend, guards barred him.

In protest, he sat outside on flattened cardboard in drizzling rain, pictures from the scene posted online showed.

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

With AP

By AAP Newswire

Australian Associated Press