Chinese Covid-19 scientist stages protest after being evicted from lab

• Zhang Yongzhen warned the world Covid was likely infectious in January 2020
• Sequencing a virus is key to the development of test kits and disease control
• Barring from lab is latest in string of apparent state efforts to control information

A dissident Chinese scientist, who became the first to publish a sequence of the Covid-19 virus in his native country against state direction, staged a sit-in protest outside his laboratory after guards barred him from entering the building.

Zhang Yongzhen claimed on Monday that he and his team had been suddenly told they were being evicted, the latest in a series of setbacks, demotions and ousters since the virologist published the sequence in January 2020 without state approval.

After guards barred him from entering, he sat outside on flattened cardboard in drizzling rain, pictures ostensibly from the scene posted online show.

News of the protest spread widely on Chinese social media and Zhang told a colleague he slept outside the lab – but it was not clear Tuesday if he remained there.

‘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.

In an online statement, the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center insisted that 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.

Zhang Yongzhen claimed he had been locked out of his lab on Monday, April 29 2024

Virologist Zhang Yongzhen, the first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus, walks down a street in Shanghai, China on December 13, 2020

Buildings in the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center stand near the entrance of the compound in Shanghai, China Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Addressing claims made ‘on the internet’, the service said: ‘Recently, some laboratories in our hospital need to be renovated and closed for safety reasons…

‘For the team members of researcher Zhang Yongzhen who are engaged in scientific research activities, the hospital has provided an additional office and experimental space in the scientific research building.

‘Our hospital has formulated relevant placement plans and informed them in advance…

‘Our institute always respects scientific researchers and supports scientific researchers and students in carrying out normal research work.’

Against the official line, 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.

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

Zhang told reporters by phone it was ‘inconvenient’ for him to speak, saying there were other 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 also 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 was not the main department in charge and referred questions to the Shanghai government.

The Shanghai government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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

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

Around the time, China had reported several dozen people were being treated for a respiratory illness in the central city of Wuhan.

Possible cases of the same illness had been reported in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan involving recent travelers to the city.

Foreign scientists soon learned that Zhang and other Chinese scientists had deciphered the virus and called on China to release the sequence.

Zhang published it on January 11, 2020, despite not receiving permission from the state.

Sequencing a virus is key to the development of test kits, disease control measures and vaccinations.

Buildings in the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center stand near the entrance of the compound in Shanghai, China, Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Virologist Zhang Yongzhen speaks at a coffeeshop in Shanghai, China on December 13, 2020

The virus eventually spread to every corner of the world, triggering a pandemic that disrupted lives and commerce, prompted widespread lockdowns and killed millions of people.

Zhang was later awarded prizes in recognition for his work.

But Zhang’s publication of the sequence also prompted additional scrutiny of his lab, according to Holmes, Zhang’s collaborator and a virologist at the University of Sydney.

Zhang was removed from a post at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and barred from collaborating with some of his former partners, crippling his research.

‘Ever since he defied the authorities by releasing the genome sequence of the virus that causes COVID-19 there 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.’

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