Dr Li-Meng Yan says she has now been forced to escape from Hong Kong as she “knows how they treat whistleblowers”. Dr Li-Meng Yan, who specialised in virology and immunology at the Hong Kong School of Public Health, has claimed that Beijing knew about the novel coronavirus well before it reported – although her claims have not been proven. Dr Yan took part in an interview with Fox News in which she said her supervisors ignored research she’d been working on since the outbreak.
Some of these supervisors as well are renowned as some of the top experts in their field.
Many believe if they hadn’t ignored the research then ultimately that could have led to prevention in the global Covid-19 pandemic.
She also believes that any research she has done into COVID-19 could have ended up saving lives.
And, has risked her own by fleeing to the U.S. to share her story, knowing it is likely that she can never return to Hong Kong.
As a World Health Organisation reference laboratory specialising in influenza viruses and pandemics, she also believes that she and her colleagues had an obligation to tell the world about her research – but no action was taken.
Dr Yan claims she was also one of the first scientists to study COVID-19.
She also claims that at the end of December 2019 she was asked by her supervisor to look into an odd cluster of SARS-like cases in mainland China.
“The China government refused to let overseas experts, including ones in Hong Kong, do research in China,” she said.
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When she told her supervisor what her friend had reported “he just nodded”, Dr Yan recalls and told her to keep working on her research.
On January 9, the WHO released a statement that said: “According to Chinese authorities, the virus in question can cause severe illness in some patients and does not transmit readily between people.
“There is limited information to determine the overall risk of this reported cluster.”
The number of human-to-human transmissions was rising at a rapid rate according to some of her sources.
When she reported further findings to her supervisor, she says she was told: “to keep silent and be careful”.
“As he warned me before, Don’t touch the red line,” Dr Yan said to Fox News, referring to the government.
“We will get in trouble and we’ll disappear.”