The Chinese scientist who sequenced covid is barred from his lab
The Communist Party is still hounding experts whose work might expose its pandemic missteps
Since covid-19 emerged over four years ago in the central city of Wuhan, the Communist Party has made life miserable for those seeking to study the disease and share their findings with the world. Take Zhang Yongzhen, a Chinese virologist whose team sequenced the genome of the virus that causes covid in early 2020. Days later he granted permission for a British scientist to publish the groundbreaking work. This allowed the world to design covid tests and begin developing vaccines. But to party officials, hell-bent on deflecting blame for their missteps in managing the outbreak, it was a betrayal. Dr Zhang’s lab was investigated for wrongdoing.
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This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Controlling science”
From the May 4th 2024 edition
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