China’s infamous ‘bat woman’ coronavirus scientist has denied reports circulating on social media that she attempted to defect from the Chinese regime.
Rumors had begun to spread across social media over the past 48 hours that Shi Zhengli had escaped from China, and brought hundreds of confidential documents to the U.S. embassy in Paris.
Shi, a renowned researcher of bat-derived coronaviruses, wrote on WeChat, a Chinese messaging service, on Saturday that she and her family had never fled the country and had no intention to do so.
This message was reposted by The Global Times, a paper published with approval from the Chinese Communist Party.
Trump recently confirmed to the press that the covid-19 virus emerged from a lab in Wuhan, China, and shames the W.H.O. for being press agents for the ChiComs.
Shi said: ‘Everything is all right for my family and me, dear friends!’ She also posted nine photos of her recent life.
‘No matter how difficult things are, it (defecting) shall never happen. We’ve done nothing wrong. With strong belief in science, we will see the day when the clouds disperse and the sun shines.’
Despite the The Global Times’ ties to the ruling party, the story has now been republished by South China Morning Post, The Week, and International Business Times.
Shi is a renowned virologist, internationally known for her work with bat coronaviruses at her lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). Rumors had previously claimed that Shi had been ‘muzzled’ by the government following the initial outbreak amidst the disappearance of other scientists working in Wuhan at the same time.
The spotlight has fallen on Shi amid concerns that the virus had originated from the Wuhan lab where she worked.
On February 2, Shi denied this saying: ‘I promise with my life that the virus has nothing to do with the lab’.
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