A top Chinese virologist Dr Li-Meng Yan, currently under hiding at an undisclosed location in the United States, has accused China of not only lying about the coronavirus outbreak but also trying to cover up the human to human transmission of the virus following the outbreak of the pandemic in December, last year. Yan said that Beijing tried to silence her and cover up her work.
The global pandemic that has infected over 12.1 million people worldwide was first reported in Wuhan province of China. Even as several theories point at the origin of the virus in the Wuhan-based lab, China has strongly denied the same.
China Knew About the Virus Long Before: Dr Yan
The virologist who worked at the Hong Kong School of Public Health, a reference laboratory of World health Organization, fearing her life in China, fled the country in April, four months after she raised an alarm about the human-to-human transmission of the virus.
Speaking to Fox News, the Chinese virologist said that the reason she came to US was to deliver the message of the truth of COVID. Stating that the Chinese government knew about coronavirus much before it was made public, Yan, who claims to be one of the first scientists in the world to study the novel coronavirus, said that if she tried to tell her story in China, she "will be disappeared and killed."
Alleging the Chinese Government of covering up the information related to the virus, Yan said that after few days of the outbreak, the scientists who were freely discussing the virus and their research started quieting up and warned others to stop questioning. "We can't talk about it, but we need to wear masks,'" Yan said.
Superior Asked Yan to Be quiet or They will be disappeared
Revealing about her work at the lab, the Chinese virologist said that at the end of December, she was asked by her supervisor at the University, Dr. Leo Poon, to look into the odd cluster of SARS-like cases coming out of mainland China at the end of December 2019. "The China government refused to let overseas experts, including ones in Hong Kong, do research in China. So I turned to my friends to get more information," she told the outlet.
During one such conversation, a scientist friend at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in China who had first-hand knowledge of the cases told Yan about the human-to-human transmission capability of the virus. When Yan raised an alarm about the findings in front of her boss, he just nodded and told her to keep working, revealed Yan.
When the numbers began to rise, Yan started researching again about the virus. However, when she approached her supervisor again in the second week of January, with her findings, she was asked to keep silent and be careful. "As he warned me before, 'Don't touch the red line. We will get in trouble and we'll be disappeared," she told the outlet.
WHO Adviser Was Aware of the Human-to-Human Transmission of Virus
In yet another claim, which is bound to ruffle some feathers in the WHO, Yan revealed that Professor Malik Peiris, the co-director of a WHO-affiliated lab and who is listed as an adviser on the WHO's website, was aware of her findings but did not do anything.
"I already know that would happen because I know the corruption among this kind of international organization like the WHO to China government and to China Communist Party. So basically... I accept it but I don't want this misleading information to spread to the world," she went on to add.
It may be recalled that in a statement made by the WHO, on January 9, claimed that the novel virus can cause severe illness in some patients and does not transmit readily between people. The UN body based its claims on information provided by the Chinese authorities.
