Twitter Suspends Account of Chinese Virologist Who Claimed That COVID-19 Was Made in Wuhan Lab

Twitter has suspended the account of Chinese Virologist Dr Li-Meng Yan, who had claimed that the novel Coronavirus was made in a government-controlled laboratory of Wuhan. She further asserted that she had scientific proof to verify the claim. Twitter suspended Yan's account on Tuesday after she was accused of manufacturing and releasing Coronovirus pathogens.

The Twitter account of the virologists stands inactive with a message reading  'Account suspended. Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter Rules.'

On September 11, she participated in an interview called ‘Loose Women Talk’ from a secret location in the US. There, she talked about her research on the Coronavirus disease and the challenges she has been facing. The video of the interview was released on YouTube.

Dr Li-Meng Yan who specialised in virology and immunology from Hongkong School of Public Health became the whistleblower against the Chinese government over its handling of the pandemic. She claimed that in December last year she was tasked with looking into several SARS-like cases coming from China. During her investigation, she discovered a cover-up operation and said that the Chinese government knew about the spread of the virus before publicly acknowledging it, as reported by HT.

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"I will show evidence to tell people why this has come from the lab in China, why they are the ones who made it," she said. Adding, "Anyone, even if you have no biology knowledge, will be able to read it, and check and identify and verify it yourself." as quoted by the Mint.

She claimed that she was forced to flee from China due to safety reasons.

The virologist conducted two types of research on 'new pneumonia' before fleeing from Hong Kong to the US. She said, “I decided to report this development to my supervisor who is also a World Health Organisation Consultant. There was no response from the WHO and my supervisor. Everyone warned me that do not cross the right light and keep silent otherwise I will be made to disappear,” quoted  TOI.

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Blaming the Chinese authorities for discrediting her even before she fled the country, she said that they deleted all her information and asked people to spread rumours about her. Further, the virologist said that she is planning to publish her research soon. The Chinese National Health Commission, World Health Organisation and the University Of Hong Kong disputed her claims, according to The Sun.

The microblogging platform started putting warnings on the virologist's tweets that contained disputed claims back in May. However, it's not clear that which tweet exactly is responsible for the suspension of her account.

Image Credit: oneindia.com

Arunima Sharma is an intern with SheThePeople.TV