The first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in China was staging a sit-in protest after authorities locked him out of his lab.

The first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in China was staging a sit-in protest after authorities locked him out of his lab.

Virologist 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 Zhang published the sequence in January 2020 without state approval. The move shows how the Chinese state continues to pressure and control scientists conducting research on the coronavirus.

  • betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.worldEnglish
    426·
    8 months ago

    Would have been nice if they’d stopped conducting research on it before 2019. Close the barn door after the horse has bolted much?

    • ColeSloth
      32·
      8 months ago

      You’re getting downloaded to hell, but it seems like odds were far from zero that it escaped out of the lab where they were doing viral testing where the virus seemed to originate.

      • Chickenstalker@lemmy.world
        15·
        8 months ago

        The virus originated in Wuhan. It was initially called the Wuhan virus but China bribed/coerced the corrupt WHO to rename it. The virus originiated from China’s wild game meat market. They eat everything under the sun including (not kidding) rocks and literal shit. This practice is an embarrasment to the CCP. So, they seek to save face at all cost, even when millions will die.

        • ColeSloth
          21·
          8 months ago

          At least two different organisation’s from the US couldn’t determine with any certainty if it came from one of the wet market in Wuhan (one of the many, many wet markets in china) or the virology lab in Wuhan where they were playing around with the virus. Considering the origin of the infected people it seems pretty certain that it was from either of those, and if that’s the case, the wet market doing it would look much less bad for China.