Shi Zhengli has previously responded to rumors, the Global Times reported. (Representative)
Beijing:
A leading Chinese virologist from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), whose mysterious disappearance has sparked speculation about the deadly novel coronavirus in the laboratory, has denied reports of her defect to the west with the secrets of COVID-19.
Shi Zhengli, known as a "bat woman" for her passionate research into bats and the viruses that go with them, has denied rumors of her defect in her Chinese WeChat social media account, Beijing state media reported on Saturday.
Shi denied "rumors" about "Overflow to the West" and wrote on her WeChat account: "Everything is fine for my family and me, dear friends!" She also posted nine photos of her last life, the Global Times reported.
In the post, Shi, who was reported as director of the WIV, said: "No matter how difficult it is, it will never happen. We have done nothing wrong. With strong faith in science, we will see the day when the clouds disperse and the sun is shining. "
"Shi has been plagued by rumors for quite some time. The latest rumor that has spread on overseas social media platforms says that the director of Shi Zhengli at the #Wuhan Institute of Virology with a treasure trove of information to the US Embassy overflowed in Paris, "the report said, but did not provide details of where she was.
Their social media reports, reported by the official media, are in the immediate context of increasing focus on the WIV, with allegations by US President Donald Trump and the suspicion of several other world leaders that COVID-19 has caused massive death and devastation globally, can come from the laboratory.
There have also been questions about her absence since December last year, when the virus spread to Wuhan and then to the rest of China and the world.
While some reports said the Chinese government silenced her after unlocking the genome sequence of the coronavirus on January 2, others said she may have defected to the west.
The Global Times report said it was not the first time that Shi had responded to rumors in her WeChat account.
On February 2, in her WeChat moment, she said, "The novel corona virus of 2019 is inherently a punishment for people's unsanitary lifestyle. I promise in my life that the virus has nothing to do with the laboratory." An article by Indian scientists that implies that the novel coronavirus may be from the WIV, the report said.
China resists the increasing pressure from the United States and many countries' leaders to investigate the origin of the virus, which is said to have originated from a damp Wuhan market selling live animals near WIV.
On April 29, state television CGTN reported that U.S. scientists are working with their Chinese counterparts to investigate the origin of the corona virus, a key demand from Trump and several other countries.
According to the report, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention facilitates collaboration between Dr. Yan Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University, and Prof. Lu Jinhai from Sun Yat Sen University in Guangzhou to conduct the study.
The two are working together to determine if the virus hit Wuhan elsewhere in China last December, the report said. But since then there has been no official announcement on the probe.
China put aside demands for an investigation and said Monday that such an investigation had no precedence or legal basis, except that past investigations into such pandemics had failed to produce conclusive results.
In addition to Trump, who increased the demand for an investigation into the origin of the virus and its flight from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the UK, Australia and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Beijing called for more transparency about the origin of COVID-19.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang downplayed calls for investigation on Monday, saying that past investigations into such viruses have done little.
"The origin of the virus is a question of science and should be investigated by scientists and experts. Such research and conclusive answers can only be obtained after mutually reinforcing evidence of epidemiological studies and virological studies. This is often a very complicated subject a lot of time and a degree of uncertainty, "he said.
He said that the "politicization" of the origin of the virus violated the spirit of science. "It disrupts international cooperation and mutual trust and will not help in global cooperation to fight the virus," said Geng.
