Chinese Scientist Who Published First Sequence of COVID-19 Virus Protests After Being Locked Out From Lab

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):

Recently, a netizen posted that Zhang Yongzhen, a Chinese virologist (recognized as one of the ten leading scientists in natural sciences by the journal Nature in 2020), had his laboratory in Shanghai forcibly shut down by authorities. sleep overnight at the laboratory entrance. pic.twitter.com/LJd3FdxIPn

— chen Z (@cz8921469_z) April 30, 2024

Chinese Scientist Protests

The first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in China protests after being locked out of his lab, reports AP

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 30, 2024

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.