The first Chinese scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus was staging a sit-in protest in China after authorities locked him out of his lab.
On Monday, Virologist Zhang Yongzhen wrote on a social media website, in a post he mentioned that he and his team were suddenly notified they were being evicted from their lab. Zhang wrote the post on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, but it was later deleted.
Video of Virologist Zhang Yongzhen Surfaces on X (Twitter):
Chinese Scientist Protests
In protest, Zhang had been sitting outside his lab since Sunday (April 28) despite heavy rail fall in China, he said in the post. Zhang, when reached by phone on Tuesday, said it was “inconvenient” for him to speak, but a collaborator confirmed to news agency AP on Monday (April 29) the protest was taking place.