First Chinese Scientist To Publish Covid-19 Virus Sequence Allowed 'Temporary' Lab Access After Protest

Zhang Yongzhen stated that Chinese authorities had “temporarily allowed” him and his team to return to his laboratory to continue their research for the time being.

Following days of protest since he was locked outside his lab, Virologist Zhang Yongzhen, the first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in China, stated that he was allowed back into his lab. In an online post, Yongzhen on early Wednesday wrote that authorities had “temporarily allowed” him and his team to return to his laboratory to continue their research for the time being, news agency Associated Press reported.

Calling it Beijing's mounting pressure on scientists involved in conducting research related to coronavirus, the report said that the scientist had been staging a sit-in protest outside his lab since last weekend after he along with his team were were notified that they were being evicted from their lab.

Following his eviction, the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center said that Zhang's lab was being renovated and was therefore closed for safety reasons.

However, Zhang said his team was not offered any alternative until after the eviction. He also said that the new lab didn’t meet safety standards essential for conducting their research.

The report alleged that it found the Chinese government had frozen meaningful domestic and international efforts to trace the origin from the outbreak's first weeks. It added that Zhang's difficulties showcased how China controls information related to the Coronavirus.

China's efforts into this is evident from the labs being shut down, collaborations being shattered, Chinese researchers prohibited from leaving the country and foreign scientists forced out of China, the report noted.

After bein evicted, Zhang tried to visit his lab over the weekend, when he was barred from entering by guards. Agitated by it, he sat outside the lab in protest on flattened cardboard in drizzling rain, AP reported.

Zhang reportedly told one of his colleague that he even slept outside the lab, although it remains unclear if he was present there.

“I won’t leave, I won’t quit, I am pursuing science and the truth!” Zhang wrote in a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo. But it was later deleted, the report said.

Zhang’s ordeal began on January 5, 2020 when he and his team decoded the virus, and wrote an internal notice warning Chinese authorities of its potential to spread. However, the sequence was not made public. The very next day, his lab was ordered temporarily shut by China’s top health official, and he was came under the mounting pressure of Chinese authorities.