After the eviction, Zhang protested outside the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center in a rare form of public dissent in China. Photographs posted on X showed the scientist sleeping outside the center, which was being guarded by authorities.
(Prof Zhang sleeps outside his laboratory as authorities block him from entering. Credit: X)
In January 2020, Prof Zhang released the Sars-Cov-2 sequence without government permission. As a result, experts claim that Prof Zhang has been "treated cruelly for years."
The action sped up the rush to create vaccines and medications, allowing health officials around the world to test for the virus in a matter of weeks. But since the Chinese government has repeatedly denied being the origin of the coronavirus pandemic, Prof Zhang has been "unfairly" targeted ever since, experts said.
Prof Zhang was barred from entering his laboratory in Shanghai last weekend, which was closed over "safety reasons."
Despite the Shanghai Public Health Clinic Center insisting that Zhang had been granted a temporary laboratory space, Zhang said that the space provided did not meet the standard safety requirements necessary for his research.
In a now-deleted statement posted to the Chinese social media platform Weibo, Prof Zhang said: "I won't leave, I won't quit, I am pursuing science and the truth!"
"The Public Health Center are refusing to let me and my students go inside the laboratory office to take shelter," he added, according to the paper.
Prof. Stuart Neil, a virologist at King's College London who is working to determine the origins of Covid, expressed his sadness to The Telegraph about Zhang Yongzhen's ongoing harassment and punishment.
"He did a very brave thing by releasing the virus sequence despite the Chinese authorities wanting to control information about the initial outbreak. If he hadn’t forced [China's] hand, how long would they have delayed releasing the sequence? Two to three weeks after the release of this sequence the first mRNA vaccine constructs were already in production for preclinical testing," said Prof Neil.
"I don’t think it’s exaggerating to say that without Zhang’s bravery there would have been a real delay in the roll-out of the first vaccine. And for it he has been treated cruelly for years," Neil added.
