Zhang Yongzhen stages sit-in protest, as government attempts to avoid scrutiny over handling of outbreak
  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    7·
    6 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The first Chinese scientist to publish a genomic sequence of the Covid-19 virus, in defiance of government orders, has been staging a sit-in protest after claiming he was locked out of his laboratory.

    Zhang Yongzhen, a virologist, said in an online post on Monday that he and his team had been given a sudden eviction notice from their lab, and guards had barred him from entering it over the weekend.

    Zhang, when reached by phone on Tuesday, said it was “inconvenient” for him to speak, but a colleague confirmed to AP on Monday the protest was taking place.

    The move shows how the Chinese government continues to pressure and control scientists, seeking to avoid scrutiny of its handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

    Zhang’s team appeared to receive a lot of public support on Weibo, where related hashtags were viewed by tens of millions of Chinese.

    Some article links appeared to have been removed since they were posted but extensive discussion of Zhang’s dispute with the Shanghai health authority remained online on Tuesday afternoon.

    The original article contains 580 words, the summary contains 173 words. Saved 70%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • Goku@lemmy.worldEnglish
    75·
    6 months ago

    Hmm seems like China doesn’t like people researching Covid.

    I wonder why…

    • Duamerthrax@lemmy.worldEnglish
      131·
      6 months ago

      Cause it embarrasses them. They didn’t create the virus in a lab, but their wet markets were always a risk and Covid put the international spot light on it.

      That and they were suppressing their infection rates and death rates, but just about every nation was doing that. Did you see the numbers in Japan spike after they formally announced their Olympics would be postponed?

      • neutron@thelemmy.clubEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        There was a whole mess with that cruise ship docked in Japan being counted as a separate case so it didn’t boost Japan’s confirmed case numbers, probably to save face before the Olympics. Looking back now it was only mental gymnastics.

      • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        I think they could’ve earned a lot of global respect by freely publishing anything and everything they knew about the virus and collaborating internationally to find a cure.

        It’s a bit disappointing that China wasn’t the first to a vaccine, and I wonder if they would’ve been if they had just been more open and transparent about sharing information.

        • Duamerthrax@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          6 months ago

          What China thinks will get them global respect and what will actually get them respect are very different things.