UPDATE
May 1, 2024 1:00 AM CDT
The first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in China said he was allowed back into his lab after he spent days locked outside, sitting in protest. 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, the AP reports. 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.
Apr 30, 2024 10:05 AM CDT
The first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in China staged a sit-in protest outside his lab after authorities locked him out of the facility—a sign of Beijing's continuing pressure on scientists conducting research on the coronavirus, per the AP. Zhang Yongzhen wrote in an online post Monday that he and his team had been suddenly notified they were being evicted from their lab, the latest in a series of setbacks, demotions, and ousters since the virologist published the sequence in January 2020 without state approval. When Zhang tried to go to the lab over the weekend, guards barred him from entering. In protest, he sat outside on flattened cardboard in drizzling rain, pictures from the scene posted online show.
Zhang told a colleague he slept outside the lab, but it wasn't clear Tuesday if he remained there. The Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center said Zhang's lab was being renovated and was closed for "safety reasons." It added that it had provided Zhang's team an alternative laboratory space. But Zhang wrote online that his team wasn't offered an alternative until after they were notified of their eviction, and that the lab offered didn't meet safety standards for conducting their research, leaving his team in limbo. Zhang's latest difficulty reflects how China has sought to control information related to the virus: An AP investigation found that the government froze meaningful domestic and international efforts to trace it from the first weeks of the outbreak.
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That pattern continues to this day, with labs closed, collaborations shattered, foreign scientists forced out, and Chinese researchers barred from leaving the country. When reached by phone on Tuesday, Zhang said it was "inconvenient" for him to speak, saying there were other people listening in. An AP reporter was blocked by a guard at an entrance to the compound housing Zhang's lab. A staff member at the National Health Commission, China's top health authority, said by phone that it wasn't the main department in charge and referred questions to the Shanghai government. The Shanghai government didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. (More China stories.)
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