The first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in China will be allowed back into his lab after days locked outside, sitting in protest.
Virologist Zhang Yongzhen wrote in an online post early Wednesday that authorities had "tentatively agreed" to allow him and his team to return to his laboratory and continue their research for the time being.
Zhang had been staging a sit-in protest outside his lab since the weekend after he and his team were suddenly notified they had to leave their lab, a sign of Beijing's continuing pressure on scientists conducting research on the coronavirus.
The Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center previously said Zhang's lab was being renovated and was closed for safety reasons.
But Zhang said his team wasn't offered an alternative until after the eviction and the new lab didn't meet safety standards for conducting their research.
In January, 2020, Zhang became the first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus.
When he tried to enter his lab over the weekend, guards barred him.
In protest, he sat outside on flattened cardboard in drizzling rain, pictures from the scene posted online showed.
"I won't leave, I won't quit, I am pursuing science and the truth!" he wrote in a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo that was later deleted.
With AP
By Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter On Capitol Hill, For Dailymail.Com 13:05 01 May 2024, updated 14:20 01 May 2024
Republicans are demanding a criminal investigation into a key figure in the COVID origins scandal for his links to gain of function research in Wuhan and repeated rejections that the virus came from lab.
EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak - who received federal funding forcoronavirus research in Wuhan, China, before the COVID-19 pandemic - will be pressed Wednesday by Republicans.
Daszak is thought to have critical knowledge about the Wuhan Institute of Virology's (WIV) extensive coronavirus efforts before the outbreak of COVID-19 - and the GOPwants answers.
On Wednesday, ahead of a Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic hearing with Daszak, the body released a report calling for a criminal investigation into the scientist and EcoHealth for violating his government grant agreements and legal reporting requirements.
'Peter Daszak is the closest this committee will ever get to questioning a Chinese spy,' Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, who sits on the committee, exclusively told DailyMail.com in a statement.
'His direct role in providing funding for the Wuhan Lab and his lies and personal involvement in the COVID cover up that followed were directly responsible for the public health and economic disaster that followed.'
'As the saying goes, 'follow the money' and the money was flowing directly from Dr. Fauci and the NIH to Daszak's EcoHealth Alliance and his gain-of-function research,' Jackson continued. 'This IS where COVID originated and this IS who funded it!'
Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., told DailyMail.com exclusively ahead of Wednesday's hearing, 'I want to confront him on the way that he got refunded for his research.'
He claimed that Daszak's gain of function research was fully refunded by the U.S.
In addition, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., previewed to DailyMail.com that she is looking forward to Daszak's answers on why EcoHealth was awarded U.S. government funding in the first place.
'Why are we the American taxpayers giving money to EcoHealth,' she said. 'If you're subletting some of these grants to different organizations, you should know what they're doing with the money.'
Last month, Daszak was accused of helping a top aide of Dr. Anthony Fauci - David Morens - subvert federal transparency laws by communicating on nongovernmental accounts, saying 'we'll communicate with you via Gmail from now on.'
The EcoHealth founder then mentioned having '15,000 samples in freezers in Wuhan,' that could help them 'do the full genomes of 700+ [coronaviruses].'
On Wednesday, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, will grill Daszak on his correspondence with Morens, Fauci and the WIV regarding COVID-19 origins.
Wenstrup sent a subpoena to Morens demanding he turn over documents from his personal email account about COVID-19, coronavirus grant funding and his communications with Fauci and former NIH Director Francis Collins, among other top health officials.
He was expected to receive those materials from the former Fauci aide Tuesday ahead of the Daszak's hearing the following day.
The Ohio Republican previously said a whistleblower provided him the materials indicating Morens' use of his personal email.
Another email shows Morens appearing to disclose Fauci's attempts to provide 'damage control' for EcoHealth.
'Tony is now fully aware I think and is I am told involved in some sort of damage control,' Morens told Daszak.
Republicans previously revealed that EcoHealth and the WIV, in partnership with NIAID, submitted a proposal to federal officials seeking funding to create a novel coronavirus in 2018.
And Wenstrup has accused EcoHealth of using taxpayer dollars 'to fund dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.'
'These emails raise serious concerns about federal health officials potentially covering up the pandemics origin,' Wenstrup stated previously.
The subject line of one of the messages between Morens' personal email and EcoHealth'sDaszak includes a reference to a National Institute of Health (NIH) grant proposal thatprovided $661,980 for a 2019 project titled 'Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.'
Another subject line from his personal email reads 'COVID-19 update (312): China, SARS-CoV2 origin, animal reservoir, WHO mission,' indicating the two were discussing the origins of the disease.
A third email from Morens had a subject line that referenced 'our suspended R01,' possibly indicating that funding for the bat coronavirus research project was stopped at some point.
However, during his transcribed interview with the Select Subcommittee in January, Morens 'denied deleting any federal COVID-19 origins records,' according to the lawmaker.
Morens also admitted previously to the committee in a closed interview that 'I will delete anything I dont want to see in the New York Times.'
'I always try to communicate over gmail because my NIH email is FOIAd constantly,' Morens told the committee at the time.
The District Court in The Hague ruled that implementing the coronavirus access passes during the pandemic was drastic but not a violation of fundamental rights. This was written as part of the courts verdict in a case brought by opponents to the entry pass system. The plaintiffs were not awarded compensation.
The coronavirus access pass (CTB) was mandatory in many places from September 2021 until it was halted at the end of February 2022. People were only allowed entry into cafes, bars, or events if they were vaccinated against the coronavirus, had a recent negative test, or could prove that they had built up immunity due to recovering from the virus.
The court acknowledged that the CTB was an interference to people's ability to exercise their fundamental rights, but also said the government had a good reason for it. The court described the situation at the time as risky and unpredictable, meaning that the State made a reasonable decision to implement the CTB.
The court pointed to the healthcare sector being overrun during the pandemic and the widely supported scientific and medical view that caution was required. Therefore, the court found it understandable that the State opted to implement the CTB as a way to avoid the risk of creating a worse situation in terms of infections and hospitalizations. Many other countries did the same in an attempt to limit the coronavirus pandemic within their own borders..
An argument was made by the plaintiffs that the access pass was used to pressure people into getting vaccinated. The governments lawyers emphasized that the Cabinet had to weigh all interests and saw this as a necessary and proportional measure. They claimed the goal was to protect vulnerable people and ease the burden on the care sector.
The State had to weigh the fundamental rights of all citizens, the court explained. For one, the CTB was an obstacle, but for the other, it was a protective measure.
That decision was made with the right motives by the State, the court said. The judges ruled that the government stayed within the European Convention on Human Rights boundaries.
Trustworthy, nonpartisan local news like ours spurs growth, fosters relationships, and helps to ensure that everyone is informed. This is essential to a healthy democracy. Will you support the nonprofit, nonpartisan news that makes Michigan a better place this election year?
Make your tax-deductible contribution today.
Chinese scientist Zhang Yongzhen was the first to release the genome of coronavirus. (Photo: AP)
Chinese scientist Zhang Yongzhen, who was the first to publish the genome of the coronavirus causing Covid-19, is holding a protest after being evicted from his lab in Shanghai.
Zhang is staging a sit-in protest after being locked out of his lab. While the authorities have said they have offered an alternative space to Zhang, he has said the new facility does not have safety features needed to carry out his research. He has also said that the new labs offer was not made until he started his protest.
Advertisement
Zhang has been repeatedly harassed by Chinas authorities since he released the genome of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19 disease, in January 2020 despite a gag order from the Chinese regime.
Since the first outbreak of Covid-19 in Chinas Wuhan city, the Chinese regime has been accused of withholding information from the world that could have allowed the world to respond to the pandemic must faster and better.
I wont quit, wont leave: Yongzhen stages sit-in protest against eviction
Even though the Chinese authorities have offered him alternative space, Zhang is sleeping outside of his locked lab and has refused to leave, according to Associated Press.
The report said that guards stopped Zhang from entering his lab over the weekend. Photographs from the site seen by the news agency show Zhang sitting outside the lab on flattened cardboard in rain.
I wont leave. I wont quit. I am pursuing science and the truth! The Public Health Center are refusing to let me and my students go inside the laboratory office to take shelter, said Zhang in a now-deleted post on Chinese social media platform Weibo, as per AP.
On its part, the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center said that Zhangs lab was being renovated and was locked for safety reasons, as per the report.
Advertisement
The report said the ban on Zhang was the latest in a series of setbacks, demotions and ousters since he published the genome in 2020. The genome refers to the genetic structure of the organism coronavirus in this case. The genome is critical for the development of a vaccine.
Why Zhang Yongzhen angered Chinese regime, how China hid Covid-19 facts
In January 2020, Zhang Yongzhen and his team were the first to map the complete genome of SARS-CoV-2.
On January 3, 2020, they received the sample of the virus.
On January 5, they completed the mapping of the genome and sent it to Chinese authorities. Zhang also posted it on the National Center for Biotechnology Informations (NCBI) GenBank database but under embargo till July 12 apparently in response to Chinese regimes indications that it did not want the world to learn about the viral outbreak.
Advertisement
Two days earlier, on January 3, Chinas National Health Commission had ordered Chinese institutions to not publish anything related to the outbreak in Wuhan.
Then, Zhang travelled to Wuhan and met Chinese officials, according to Time. He said in an interview with the magazine that he shared with officials his conclusion from studying the genome that the virus was spreading via respiratory tracts.
I had two judgements: first that it was a SARS-like virus; second, that the virus transmits by the respiratory tract. And so, I had two suggestions: that we should take some emergency public measures to protect against this disease; also, clinics should develop antiviral treatments, said Zhang.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, Zhang had also shared the viral genome with Edward Holmes of Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity at University of Sydney. He called Zhang on January 11 and prodded him for permission to release the genome.
On January 11, Zhang gave Holmes the go-ahead to release the genome and thats how the world learnt about the genome six days after it was actually mapped and that too from an unofficial source as the Chinese authorities had issued a gag order and Zhang could not release it himself.
Even though the genome was released, Zhangs findings about the virus spreading through respiratory tract were not released. It was not until January 20 that China confirmed human-to-human transmission. It took two more weeks to formally confirm that the virus was airborne in nature. Throughout this time, the virus kept on circulating as the world was not aware of its airborne nature and precautions were not widespread.
Advertisement
Later, it was also revealed that even though Chinese scientists did not map the genome till January 5 and it was released until January 11, that too without permission by a third-party, the genome had been somehow shared with vaccine manufacturers to develop diagnostics on January 3 and vaccine-maker Sinopharm had started to develop a vaccine on January 4 itself, according to VIRAL: The Search for Covid Origin, an investigative book by scientist Alina Chan and science writer Matt Ridley.
Find us on YouTube
The first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in China said he was allowed back into his lab after hespent days locked outside, sitting in protest.
Zhang Yongzhen wrote in an online post on Wednesday, just past midnight, that the medical center that hosts his lab had tentatively agreed to allow him and his team to return and continue their research for the time being.
Now, team members can enter and leave the laboratory freely, Zhang wrote in a post on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform. He added that he is negotiating a plan to relocate the lab in a way that doesnt disrupt his teams work with the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, which hosts Zhangs lab.
Zhang and his team were suddenly told they had to leave their lab for renovations on Thursday, setting off the dispute, he said in an earlier post that was later deleted. On Sunday, Zhang began a sit-in protest outside his lab after he found he was locked out, a sign of continuingpressure on Chinese scientistsconducting research on the coronavirus.
Zhang sat outside on flattened cardboard in drizzling rain, and members of his team unfurled a banner that read Resume normal scientific research work," pictures posted online show. News of the protest spread widely on Chinese social media, putting pressure on local authorities.
In an online statement Monday, the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center said that Zhangs lab was closed for safety reasons while being renovated. It added that it had provided Zhangs team an alternative laboratory space.
But Zhang responded the same day his team wasnt offered an alternative until after they were notified of their eviction, and the lab offered didnt meet safety standards for conducting their research, leaving his team in limbo.
Zhangs dispute with his host institution was the latest in a series of setbacks, demotions and ousters since the virologist published the sequence in January 2020 without state approval.
Beijing has sought tocontrol information related to the virussince it first emerged. An Associated Press investigation found that thegovernment froze domestic and international efforts to trace itfrom the first weeks of the outbreak. These days, labs are closed, collaborations shattered, foreign scientists forced out and some Chinese researchers barred from leaving the country.
Zhangs ordeal started when he and his team decoded the virus on Jan. 5, 2020, and wrote an internal notice warning Chinese authorities of its potential to spread but did not make the sequence public. The next day, Zhangs lab was ordered to close temporarily by Chinas top health official, and Zhang came under pressure from the authorities.
Foreign scientists soon learned that Zhang and other Chinese scientists had deciphered the virus and called on China to release the sequence. Zhang published it on Jan. 11, 2020, despite a lack of permission from Chinese health officials.
Sequencing a virus is key to the development of test kits, disease control measures and vaccinations. The virus eventually spread to every corner of the world, triggering a pandemic that disrupted lives and commerce, prompted widespread lockdowns andkilled millions of people.
Zhang was awarded prizes overseas in recognition for his work. But health officials removed him from a post at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and barred him from collaborating with some of his former partners, hindering his research.
Still, Zhang retains support from some in the government. Though some of Zhangs online posts were deleted, his sit-in protest was reported widely in Chinas state-controlled media, indicating divisions within the Chinese government on how to deal with Zhang and his team.
Thank you to my online followers and people from all walks of life for your concern and strong support over the past few days! Zhang wrote in his post Wednesday.
AP
Medical scientists are getting closer to developing a universal flu vaccine, which could work on future mutations of the virus.
Research from the Doherty Institute has identified new fragments of the influenza B virus that our immune system can attack, and could be used in the development of a long lasting vaccine.
The discovery comes as existing flu vaccination rates are significantly down on last year.
Alberta recorded the highest number of influenza deaths in 15 years, and some people are attributing the death toll to a decline in yearly immunization rates.
According to data from the provinces respiratory virus dashboard, 15,215 cases of lab-confirmed influenza cases were recorded this respiratory virus season, which started last fall. Currently, 42 people are in hospital and three people are in the intensive care unit because of the virus.
So far, 167 influenza deaths have been recorded so far during the 2023-24 flu season. One death was recorded from April 14 to April 20, according to data.
Many of the people who died were between 60 and 89 years of age.
Recent wastewater data in Alberta shows that influenza B cases have continued to rise since April 11 in the Calgary North, Calgary South and Calgary Far South regions.
Story continues below advertisement
Craig Jenne, a microbiology immunology and infectious diseases professor at the University of Calgary, said the previous record was 110 deaths.
This comes as the influenza vaccination rate has declined across Alberta since the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Around 28 per cent of Albertans were vaccinated against influenza during the 2022-23 respiratory virus season, compared with 27 per cent during the 2021-22 season, 37 per cent during the 2020-21 season and 33 per cent during the 2019-20 season.
This unfortunately is the highest number of deaths since weve been recording fatalities here in Alberta, particularly during the years when we offered a public vaccine campaign, Jenne said. This is not higher by one or two cases. We are seeing a fairly dramatic increase in the lives lost due to influenza in the province unfortunately this year.
Jenne said the increase in population across Alberta is a factor, but the numbers are still concerning.
Even if were comparing to just last year or the year before, these numbers are dramatically higher. In fact, theyre about 50 per cent above the previous record, and the Calgary population has not grown 50 per cent in the last few years. It is a concerning increase in the loss of life here, he said.
Jenne said it is not uncommon to see a rise in influenza cases at this time because the respiratory virus season usually ends at the end of April.
Story continues below advertisement
However, he said the Alberta government should have been more efficient in getting influenza vaccines out. He also said the province needs to try and raise the vaccination rate.
We have effective tools. The influenza vaccine is an effective tool to prevent serious outcomes and death, and it is an effective tool if there is a broad uptake, Jenne said.
Trending Now
Weve heard people say that theyre young and they dont need a flu shot, but the reality is they still transmit the flu to other people, and those people are the vehicle that gives flu access to at-risk Albertans.
In an emailed statement late Monday morning, Opposition health critic Dr. Luanne Metz said the death toll is devastating, but not entirely surprising.
Metz said the reason behind the surge in deaths is that many Albertans are not getting their flu shot.
The UCP undermined vaccine awareness by tampering with Alberta Health Services fall influenza campaign last year. Sadly, were now seeing the effects of this governments ideological games when it comes to peoples health, the statement read.
Metz also accused the United Conservative government of politicizing the flu shot last year. Documents obtained by theGlobe and Mail showed the Alberta government directed Alberta Health Services to remove the words influenza and COVID from advertisements for the provinces fall immunization campaign at the same time doctors were sounding alarm bells about increasing pressure on public health teams and hospitals.
Story continues below advertisement
To make matters worse, we know the ideological games are far from over. Danielle Smiths decision to appoint Gary Davidson, a doctor who disputed trusted COVID-19 hospitalization data, to lead a review of the pandemic reflects an ongoing pattern within the UCP of prioritizing fringe views over expert guidance, which deeply undermines public health efforts.
This government needs to stop evading its responsibilities and start taking public health seriously. Vaccinations save lives and improve outcomes for Albertans. The UCPs failure to comprehend this is harming Albertans.
Global News has reached out to Albertas Ministry of Health with a request for comment.
With files from Jennifer Ivanov, Global News.
2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Calgary
Share on Facebook Share on X Share by Email
Posted: 10 Hours Ago
Alberta is emerging from its deadliest flu season in 15 years.
Provincial data shows167 people died of influenza during the 2023-24 flu season, eclipsing all other seasons dating back to 2009.
This season's death toll more than tripled the 2018-19 seasontotal and nearly doubled the prior year. Last season, which was the previous high, saw 123 influenza deaths.
The influenza death rate (the number of deaths for every 100,000 people) is also the worst in years.
"That is genuinely a very high death toll in a flu season. It really does stick out compared to other years," said Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Alberta.
Severe cases started surging very early and vaccine uptake was sluggish from the start, she said.
"We had a combination of a really aggressive influenza season start and then kind of a relatively slow start to vaccine uptake, including in the highest-risk group, which are those who are over 75. So I think that was some really bad timing."
The main driver of this season was H1N1, a type of influenza A, that can hit young and middle-agedadults hard but ultimately remains mostdeadly for older people, according to Saxinger.
"Coupled with the fact that most people didn't get influenza vaccination as much as usual over the pandemic period, I think that people's immune systems were a little bit caught unawares by the H1N1 strain that was coming through. It is in all the vaccines," she said.
Alberta Health said a variety of factors can influence the severity of an influenza season, including the dominant strain.
It also said flu death surveillance has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Now all deaths that occur within 60 days of a lab-confirmed influenza case are followed up in a systematic way.
Public healthalso began tracking community deaths, in addition to hospitaldeaths, during the 2020-21 season. However community deaths account for a small proportion of the totals between five and seven deaths in each of the last three seasons.
Flu death data prior to 2009 is not publicly available and does not appear to have been tracked in the same way.
Alberta's respiratory virus dashboard shows25.1 per cent of Albertans received their flu shot this season, the lowest vaccination ratein the last decade.
"That is our single best tool at preventing loss of life and preventing hospitalizations. And it's clearly a tool we did not use to its maximum capacity this year," said Craig Jenne, a professor in the department of microbiology, immunology and infectious diseases at the U of C.
"As a result we see unfortunately a record loss of life in the province."
This death toll, according to Jenne, should serve as a wake-up call for Alberta.
"I think it's data we're going to have to take a good hard look at once the flu season is over and figure out how we can better prepare ourselves or avoid this scenario in the coming seasons," he said.
"Part of that may be a hard look at our influenza campaign. We do know that flu shot numbers were down this year compared to really the last decade or more."
According to Saxinger, that preparation should includegetting shots in arms earlier.
"This was really going up very aggressively in October, and we didn't even have vaccine supply when things were really starting to warm up," she said.
"We have to make sure the whole system is primed to deploy vaccines as quickly as they're available, and really try to focus on the outreach to high-risk groups and try to start socializing the idea about the fall flu shot again."
Alberta Health said that, while overall vaccination rates have declined in recent years, immunization coverage for seniors,who have a higher risk of severe illness and death,remained relatively stable.
Provincialdata shows 59.4 per cent of Albertansage 65 and olderreceived their flu shotthis season.
Albertans over the age of 60 accounted for 131 of the 167 deaths this season.
Two children, between the ages of one and nine, also died.
Jennifer Lee is a CBC News reporter based in Calgary. She worked at CBC Toronto, Saskatoon and Regina before landing in Calgary in 2002. If you have a health or human interest story to share, let her know. Jennifer.Lee@cbc.ca
Current influenza vaccines have to be reformulated every flu season because strains of the virus are constantly mutating. It can also be challenging to predict which strains are likely to dominate each winter.
An annual flu vaccine is recommended for all Australians aged over six months. Shutterstock
In a study published in Nature Communications on Tuesday, a team of scientists headed by Doherty Institute researchers outline their discovery of nine viral fragments of influenza B that unlike other parts of the virus do not change.
This brings the number of these discoveries to 27, offering a wider set of promising targets for a potential universal vaccine, the scientists say.
Identification of those viral fragments that are unchanged in the viruss history brings us a step closer to a broadly protective vaccine, said Professor Katherine Kedzierska, head of the Doherty Institutes Human T Cell Laboratory.
Identification of such conserved (unchanged) regions is obviously the holy grail the universal vaccine potentially would not require annual reformulation or annual vaccination, although occasional boosts might be needed.
The researchers were excited to discover that the nine viral fragments provoked a strong immune response from killer T cells, a type of immune cell that can kill cancer cells and cells infected with a virus.
They recognise small fragments of the virus, which remain unchanged throughout the viruses history, said Tejas Menon, the co-first author on the paper.
Thats why killer T cells are like ninjas of our immune response. They kill cells infected with the virus, but then after that they form immunological memory, so when the new virus emerges, even if its a mutated viral variant, those features can still be recognised and allow killer T cells to combat the next infection.
Influenza B is particularly dangerous in the young, killing and hospitalising Australian children in 2023 after cases surged part way through the season.
So far in 2024 in Australia, influenza A has accounted for most flu notifications.
There were 33,325 cases reported to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System between January 1 and April 7, a figure higher than in many preceding years. This could be partly to do with increased testing.
Thirty-one flu deaths have been reported.
David Tscharke, a professor of virology and immunology at the Australian National University, described the new research as a first step in the development of a universal influenza B vaccine.
Theyre not going to go back into the lab and make a vaccine thats going to come out next year or the year after, but I guess this is the proof of principle.
Tscharke also said killer T cells might only be part of the answer. He said that unlike the current generation of seasonal vaccines, which are good at stimulating antibodies in the blood and can stop the flu from taking hold, killer T cells didnt provide the same immediate protection.
What they are going to do is help your body deal with that infection more effectively, so were really talking about a vaccine that may protect from severe disease. Its not going to be a vaccine that stops infections.
An annual influenza vaccination is recommended for every Australian aged over six months, and free vaccines are available for children aged six months to five years, pregnant women, people aged 65 and over, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and those with certain medical conditions.
Get the days breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy.
