A guest on "Tucker Carlson Tonight", Dr. Li-Meng Yan, who is a Chinese virologist and whistleblower, has renewed accusations that the Chinese government intentionally manufactured and released the COVID-19 virus.
According to Yan, more evidence will be released to substantiate her claims. However, she referenced her high-ranking position at a World Health Organization reference lab as a reason to trust her claim..
"I work[ed] in the WHO reference lab, which is the top coronavirus lab in the world, in the University of Hong Kong. And the thing is I get deeply into such investigation in secret from the early beginning of this outbreak. I had my intelligence because I also get my own unit network in China, involved [in] the hospital ... also I work with the top corona[virus] virologist in the world," she said.
"So, together with my experience, I can tell you, this is created in the lab ... and also, it is spread to the world to make such damage."
In May, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and White House coronavirus adviser, told National Geographic: "If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats, and what's out there now is very, very strongly leaning toward this [virus] could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated - the way the mutations have naturally evolved."
Many other scientists have criticized the notion that COVID-19 served as a sort of bioweapon or was released by a lab. Meanwhile, disinformation seeded from China has alleged that the coronavirus was a US-developed bioweapon. Yan also spoke to Fox News in July, when she spoke out on China's alleged attempts to withhold information about its response to the virus. Yan gathered further information about the virus as China blocked international experts from studying the virus in the country.
Yan's former employer, the University of Hong Kong, criticized her research and allegations. A press release stated "that the content of the said news report does not accord with the key facts as we understand them. "Specifically, Dr Yan never conducted any research on human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus at [the University of Hong Kong] during December 2019 and January 2020, her central assertion of the said interview."
According to Yan, she was one of the first scientists in the world to study the COVID-19 virus. In addition, she fears retaliation from the Chinese government for her whistleblowing. She was allegedly asked by her WHO reference lab supervisor, Dr. Leo Poon, to study the strange novel cluster of SARS-like illnesses in mainland China in December of 2019.
