Chinese virologist and whistleblower Li-Meng Yan has pledged to publish scientific evidence showing that the coronavirus comes from a lab in Wuhan.
According to her, the animal market theory is merely a myth to serve as a cover-up for the Chinese government. “Yan’s statement has no scientific basis and is purely based on rumors,” said the university for which Yan worked, in a statement.
“The animal market is just a smokescreen, this virus is not of natural origin,” said Yan in the British talk show ‘Loose Women’.
In fact, she says the virus originated “in a lab in Wuhan that is controlled by the Chinese government”. To prove her theses, the Chinese virologist is said to be working on a scientific report in a secret location. And that report will be readable for everyone, “including those without a biological background”.
It is vital that we know the origin of the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, Yan emphasizes. “Otherwise we can never overcome it.”
However, scientific evidence that the virus originated in a laboratory will never be available, according to the Chinese National Health Commission. “As soon as there were infections in Wuhan, China has done everything to stop the spread of the virus,” they said in a statement.
“In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said several times that there is no evidence that the virus would have originated in a laboratory.”
SARS investigation
Yan initially worked as a virologist and immunologist at the Hong Kong School of Public Health. She could have even saved lives with her SARS research that she carried out there, she says. But her supervisors ignored her findings and even tried to silence her.
She has since fled to the United States, where she is hiding from the Chinese authorities. She is afraid of the consequences of her statement, but she says she would have been sorry if she had remained silent.
The university where Yan worked also responded and clarified that Yan was a postdoctoral researcher. According to the professor who guided her in her research, that research had nothing to do with human-to-human viruses – and therefore could not have found a solution that could save lives. “Other scientists have found no evidence that the virus was man-made.”
