China expels whistleblower Zhang from his own lab

The first Chinese scientist to publish the sequence of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has staged a sit-in outside his lab after being locked out by authorities, a sign of the Chinese government's continued pressure on scientists working on the coronavirus.

Zhang Yongzhen posted online on Monday that he and his team were suddenly notified that they were kicked out of the lab, the latest in a series of setbacks, demotions and expulsions the virologist has suffered since publishing the sequence in January 2020 without state approval.

When Zhang tried to go to the lab over the weekend, guards barred him from entering. Photos of the scene posted online showed him sitting outside on flattened cardboard in a drizzle in protest. News of the protest spread widely on Chinese social media, and Zhang told a colleague he was sleeping outside the lab — but it was unclear Tuesday whether he was still there.

"I will not leave, I will not quit, what I pursue is science and truth!" he wrote in a post on the Chinese social media platform Weibo that has since been deleted.

The Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center said in an online statement that Zhang's lab was under renovation and closed for "safety reasons." The company added that it had provided another lab space for Zhang's team.

But Zhang wrote online that his team was not offered another option until after being notified of the expulsion, and that the lab provided did not meet safety standards for conducting research, leaving his team in limbo.

Zhang's recent difficulties reflect how China has tried to control information about the virus: An Associated Press investigation found that the government froze meaningful domestic and international efforts to track the virus from the first weeks of the outbreak. That pattern continues today, with labs closed, collaborations broken, foreign scientists forced to leave and Chinese researchers barred from leaving the country.

When reached by phone on Tuesday, Zhang said he was "not comfortable" talking, saying others were listening in. In an email to collaborator Edward Holmes on Monday and seen by The Associated Press, Zhang confirmed he was sleeping outside the lab after guards barred him from entering.

An Associated Press reporter was blocked by a guard at the entrance to the compound where Zhang's lab is located. A staff member of the National Health Commission, China's top health agency, said by phone that the commission was not the main responsible department and let the Shanghai government handle the relevant issues. The Shanghai government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On January 5, 2020, Zhang and his team deciphered the code for the virus and wrote an internal notice warning Chinese authorities that the virus could spread—but without making the sequence public. The next day, Zhang’s lab was ordered to be temporarily closed by China’s top health official, and Zhang came under pressure from Chinese authorities.

At the time, China reported that dozens of people in the central city of Wuhan were being treated for a respiratory illness. Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan all reported possible cases of the same illness involving recent travelers to the city.

Foreign scientists soon learned that Zhang and other Chinese scientists had deciphered the virus and called on him to publish. Despite the lack of government permission, Zhang published his coronavirus sequence on January 11, 2020.

Sequencing the virus was key to developing test kits, disease control measures and vaccinations for a virus that eventually spread to every corner of the world, sparking a pandemic that disrupted life and commerce, led to widespread lockdowns and killed millions.

Zhang later received an award for his work.

But Zhang's publication of the gene sequence also triggered additional scrutiny of his lab, said Zhang's collaborator, University of Sydney virologist Holmes. Zhang was removed from his position at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and banned from working with some of his former partners, which severely affected his research.

“There has been a campaign against him ever since he defied authorities by publishing the genome sequence of the virus that causes COVID-19,” Holmes said. “He has been so devastated by the process that I’m surprised he can still work.”

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