SHANGHAI – The first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in China staged a protest outside his laboratory after authorities locked him out of the facility – a sign of Beijing’s continued pressure on scientists conducting coronavirus research.
Zhang Yongzhen wrote in an online post on Monday that he and his team were suddenly notified that they were being kicked out of their lab, the latest in a series of setbacks, demotions and expulsions since the virologist published the sequence in January. 2020 without state approval.
When Zhang tried to go to the laboratory over the weekend, guards blocked him from entering. In protest, he sat outside on flat cardboard in the pouring rain, photos of the scene posted online show. News of the protest spread widely on Chinese social media and Zhang told a colleague that he slept outside the lab — but it was unclear Tuesday whether he remained there.
“I’m not going to leave, I’m not going to give up, I’m looking for science and the truth!” he wrote in a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo, which was later deleted.
In an online statement, the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center said Zhang’s laboratory was being renovated and closed for “security reasons.” It added that it provided Zhang’s team with alternative laboratory space.
But Zhang wrote online that his team was only offered an alternative after they were notified of the eviction and that the laboratory offered did not meet safety standards for carrying out the research, leaving his team in limbo.
Zhang’s latest difficulty reflects the way China has sought to control information related to the virus: An Associated Press investigation found that the government froze significant domestic and international efforts to track it since the early weeks of the outbreak. This pattern continues to this day, with laboratories closed, collaborations destroyed, foreign scientists forced to leave, and Chinese researchers prevented 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 email Monday to collaborator Edward Holmes seen by the AP, Zhang confirmed he was sleeping outside his lab after guards barred him from entering.
An AP reporter was blocked by a guard at the entrance to the complex that houses Zhang’s laboratory. 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 warning Chinese authorities about its potential for spread — but did not make the sequence public. The next day, Zhang’s laboratory was temporarily closed by China’s top health official, and Zhang came under pressure from Chinese authorities.
At the time, China reported that several dozen people were being treated for a respiratory illness in the central city of Wuhan. Possible cases of the same illness have been reported in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan, involving recent travelers to the city.
Foreign scientists soon discovered that Zhang and other Chinese scientists had deciphered the virus and asked him to publish it. Zhang published his coronavirus sequence on January 11, 2020, despite the lack of permission from the government.
Sequencing a virus is essential for the development of test kits, disease control measures and vaccinations. The virus ended up spreading to every corner of the world, triggering a pandemic that disrupted lives and commerce, caused widespread lockdowns and killed millions of people.
Zhang later received awards in recognition of his work.
But Zhang’s publication of the sequence also led to closer scrutiny of his lab, according to Holmes, Zhang’s collaborator and a 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, hampering his research.
“Ever since he defied authorities by releasing the genome sequence of the virus that causes COVID-19, there has been a campaign against him,” Holmes said. “He was destroyed by this process and I’m surprised he was able to work.”
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