Renowned virologist Zhang Yongzhen, who became the first scientist in China to publish the sequence of COVID-19 virus back in January 2020, staged a protest outside his research laboratory following the Beijing government’s attempts to push him out from that location. After announcing via online social media postings last Monday (April 25) that he and his team had been suddenly notified of their eviction without any prior notice or explanation whatsoever, Zhang expressed discontentment over this latest setback in a series of demotions and ousters since publishing the virus’ sequence.
Zhang revealed to one colleague via Weibo that he chose to sleep outside his laboratory due to security guards denying him access to it on weekends after authorities locked out his team from their lab space. In response, Zhang sat down in front of the facility and refused to leave until further notice as a form of protest against this arbitrary treatment meted by officials in Beijing who are cracking down on research efforts related to COVID-19.
The Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center claimed that renovations were underway at his lab, causing its temporary closure for safety reasons; however, Zhang counterargued via online posts stating that the laboratory’s replacement facility offered by authorities did not meet required standards necessary for conducting their research work effectively. This has left him and his team in limbo as they continue to grapple with this latest setback following previous instances of pressure from Chinese officials after he defied them earlier on, resulting in a loss of job position at the China Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) alongside restrictions imposed upon collaborations.
This development is part of an ongoing pattern by Beijing authorities to control information related to COVID-19 since its outbreak; as reported by The Associated Press earlier this year, there was a freeze on meaningful domestic and international efforts in the virus’ initial stages, with research facilities closed down alongside barring collaborations between foreign scientists and Chinese researchers. This situation persists until today despite calls from experts worldwide for China to open up about its findings regarding COVID-19.
Zhang’s latest predicament is a continuation of this trend as the Beijing government continues to clamp down on research efforts related to COVID-19, with labs being closed, collaborations disrupted and foreign scientists forced out from China alongside Chinese researchers barred from leaving their country. When reached for comment by an AP reporter at his lab’s entrance, a guard refused entry while staff members working under the National Health Commission (NHC), which is responsible for overseeing health matters in China, stated that they were not authorized to handle queries concerning Zhang’s predicament and instead referred questions back to Shanghai authorities.
Zhang’s ordeal began when he deciphered COVID-19 virus sequences on January 5th, 2020; his team subsequently wrote an internal memo warning Chinese officials of the potential for its spread but did not make it public at that time. The following day (January 6), Zhang’s lab was temporarily shut down by China’s top health official after authorities discovered he had deciphered COVID-19 virus sequences despite a lack of approval from governmental agencies, triggering further pressure upon him in the process.
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