Chinese scientist who published Covid-19 sequence disputes laboratory closure

Virologist Zhang Yongzhen announced via social media on Monday that he and his team were suddenly ordered to be evicted from their laboratory, the latest in a series of setbacks, demotions and expulsions since he published the sequence at the beginning of January 2020, without government approval.

The move exposed how authorities continue to pressure scientists, seeking to avoid scrutiny over their handling of the early stages of the pandemic. The publication, made on the Chinese social network Weibo, was later deleted.

When Zhang tried to go to the laboratory over the weekend, guards blocked him from entering. As a sign of protest, he sat outside, on a flat cardboard, in the pouring rain, as shown in photographs published on the Internet. News of the protest spread widely on Chinese social media and Zhang told a colleague that he slept outside the laboratory.

“I’m not leaving, I’m not giving up, I’m pursuing science and the truth”, he wrote.

In a statement, the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center said Zhang’s laboratory was being renovated and was closed for “safety reasons.”

Zhang wrote online that his team was only offered an alternative after they were notified of their eviction and that the laboratory offered did not meet safety standards for carrying out their research.

An Associated Press investigation revealed that the Chinese government froze significant national and international efforts to track the virus since the early weeks of the outbreak. This continues today, with laboratories closed, collaborations destroyed, foreign scientists expelled and Chinese researchers prevented from leaving the country.

An AP reporter was blocked by a guard at the entrance to the complex where Zhang’s laboratory is located. An official at the National Health Commission, China’s top health authority, said by phone that it was not the main department responsible and referred questions to the Shanghai government. The Shanghai government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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

The following day, Zhang’s laboratory was ordered to temporarily close by China’s main health authority and Zhang came under pressure from Chinese authorities.

At that time, China reported that several dozen people were being treated for infection with a respiratory disease in the central city of Wuhan. In Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan, possible cases of the same disease had been recorded, involving recent travelers to the city.

Foreign scientists soon learned that Zhang and other Chinese scientists had deciphered the virus and called for its publication. Zhang published his coronavirus sequence on January 11, 2020, despite the lack of authorization.

Sequencing a virus is essential for the development of tests, disease control measures and vaccines. The virus ended up spreading to all corners of the world, triggering a pandemic that disrupted life and commerce, caused widespread lockdowns and killed millions of people.

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

Zhang was removed from a position at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and prevented from collaborating with some of his former partners, which hampered his research.

“Since he defied authorities by releasing the genome sequence of the virus that causes Covid-19, there has been a campaign against him,” said Holmes, quoted by AP. “I’m surprised you were able to work,” he pointed out.