Radio France International reported that, on the next day after Shanghai researchers published the world’s first novel coronavirus genome on the virologic.org website on January 11, the shanghai authorities closed the lab for rectification.
On January 5, Profession Zhang Yongzhen of the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, along with his research team, identified the genome of the coronavirus. They reported it to the National Health Commission and recommended proper measures to prevent it from spreading. However, they did not see any response from the government.
On January 11, Zhang’s team felt that the authorities did not want to take actions to help the public, so they decided to release the virus’ genome. “It is not about one’s fame, but rather facing a respiratory disease that was previously unknown, especially when there will be large-scale population travel during the Chinese New Year period,” a source familiar with Zhang’s team said.
It was said that the Shanghai Health Commission ordered Zhang’s lab to close. The lab is a biosafety level 3 lab (Chinese call it a P3 lab).
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