#chinesefacts

Shi Zhengli is a virologist known as China's "Bat Woman" Shi Zhengli, a virologist based in Wuhan, mapped the new coronavirus gene sequence within days but she was "muzzled" by the authorities, fuelling claims of a cover-up in China China is accused of hiding the findings of a coronavirus expert - known as "Bat Woman" - after she quickly identified the genetic make-up of the new strain that has infected millions. Wuhan-based virologist Shi Zhengli is one of the world's top researchers on coronaviruses and has discovered dozens of deadly SARS-like viruses in bat caves. She studied samples taken from some of the first people to become infected with the new and then-mysterious respiratory illness in China in December and found it was similar to SARS. It was identified as a novel coronavirus and within three days she completed its gene sequencing, but it is claimed she was "muzzled" and ordered not to reveal any information about the new disease. The claims are the latest that point to a cover-up by Chinese authorities who failed to contain a virus that emerged in Wuhan and then spread around the world. Chinese journalist Gao Yu said he spoke to Shi during his incarceration in Wuhan, which was locked down for more than two months, and she told him her findings were hushed up, the Mail on Sunday reported. The journalist added: "We learned later her institute finished gene-sequencing and related tests as early as January 2 but was muzzled."

Researchers hold a bat inside a cave in China’s Yunnan province (file photo) (Image: EcoHealth Alliance) That same day, Yanyi Wang, director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, told staff not to reveal any information about the disease, it is claimed. After local doctors were detained for warning locals about the virus, the director claimed "inappropriate and inaccurate information" was causing "general panic". She ordered staff not to post any information on social media or speak to the media.

Scientistts at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where the new coronavirus was studied (Image: Wuhan Virology Institute) That same day, Yanyi Wang, director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, told staff not to reveal any information about the disease, it is claimed. After local doctors were detained for warning locals about the virus, the director claimed "inappropriate and inaccurate information" was causing "general panic". She ordered staff not to post any information on social media or speak to the media. Just over a week later, a team in Shanghai published a sequence on an open access platform after studying samples from an infected patient. Their laboratory was shut for "rectification" two days later. Life is slowly starting to return to normal in Wuhan after its lockdown was lifted after more than 70 days.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology has been carrying out tests on bats from Yunnan's caves, thought to be the source of Covid-19, fuelling new theories about where the virus came from A Wuhan laboratory has reportedly been carrying out experiments on bats from the cave believed to be the source of the coronavirus pandemic. The revelation has fuelled a conspiracy-like theory that the devastating virus may have originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology via an accidental leak, rather than the city's live animal market. The Mail on Sunday reports that that the Institute has been carrying out research on bats captured from caves in Yunnan, where the Covid-19 genome is thought to have come from. The caves are 1,000 miles away from Wuhan, the Chinese city which is now infamous for having been the epicentre of the global coronavirus pandemic. Scientists say it is highly likely that Covid-19 first came from bats, but first passed through an intermediary animal before jumping to humans.

Secret bat cave that could hold key to coronavirus It is widely believed that the flu-like virus first began infecting humans in late 2019 after being transmitted from an animal at the Huanan seafood market. However, UK government sources have told the Mail on Sunday that while "the balance of scientific advice" is still behind the animal market theory, an accident at the lab is "no longer being discounted". The experiments, which relate to the origin of coronaviruses, are said to have been paid for by a $3.7m grant from the US government.

Volunteers spray disinfectant on the grounds of a school in Weifang (Image: AFP via Getty Images) China says a sharp rise in coronavirus infections is due to infected travellers arriving from abroad and it has led to tighter border controls and stricter quarantines in a province bordering Russia China has recorded its highest number of daily new coronavirus cases in almost six weeks, sparking fears of a second wave of Covid-19 after restrictions were eased. Officials say the sudden rise is due to infected travellers arriving from abroad, many of them crossing the border from Russia. A total of 108 new coronavirus cases were reported in mainland China on Sunday, up from 99 a day earlier and marking the highest number of cases since 143 infections were reported on March 5. Heilongjiang province, which borders Russia in the north-east, has become China's new battleground against Covid-19 as the rise threatens to push the entire country back into a state of near paralysis. The National Health Commission said 98 of the new cases - or more than 90 per cent - were imported, a new record. A total of 49 Chinese nationals who entered Heilongjiang province from Russia tested positive. "Our little town here, we thought it was the safest place," said a resident of the border city of Suifenhe, who only gave his surname as Zhu. "Some Chinese citizens they want to come back, but it's not very sensible, what are you doing coming here for?"

(Image: AFP via Getty Images) Though the number of daily infections across China have dropped sharply from the height of the epidemic in February, China has seen the daily toll creep higher after hitting a trough on March 12 because of the rise in imported cases. Chinese cities near the border with Russia are tightening border controls and imposing stricter quarantines in response to influx of infected patients from the country. Suifenhe last week announced restrictions on movements and gatherings similar to those imposed in Wuhan city, where the coronavirus outbreak first emerged late last year, and extended the closure of its border with Russia. The land route through the city had become one of few options available for Chinese nationals trying to get into China after Russia stopped all flights to the country.

Bed parts are moved into a makeshift hospital in an office building in Suifenhe (Image: REUTERS) Suifenhe and Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang, are now mandating 28 days of quarantine for all arrivals from abroad as well as nucleic acid and antibody tests. Streets in Suifenhe were virtually empty on Sunday evening due to restrictions of movement. Residents said a lot of people had left the city as the number of infected people crossing the border from Russia rose. "I don't need to worry," Zhao Wei, another Suifenhe resident, told Reuters. "If there's a local transmission, I would, but there's not a single one. They're all from the border, but they've all been sent to quarantine."

People wearing masks walk in a pedestrianised street in Wuhan after the lockdown was lifted there (Image: China News Service via Getty Ima) In Shanghai, authorities found that 60 people who arrived on Aeroflot flight SU208 from Moscow on April 10 have the coronavirus, Zheng Jin, a spokeswoman for the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, told a press conference on Monday. China has cut the number of people crossing its borders by 90 per cent and has tried to stop all non-essential journeys, said Liu Haitao, an immigration official, at a separate briefing on Monday. "Our border is long, and apart from the border crossings and passages, there are a large number of mountain passes, paths, ferry crossings and small roads, and the situation is very complicated," he said. The total number of confirmed cases in mainland China now stands at 82,160 as of Sunday. Though the number of daily infections across China has dropped sharply from that peak, China has seen the daily toll creep higher after hitting a trough on March 12 because of the rise in imported cases. China has been accused of underreporting its total number of infections.

Passengers wearing face masks arrive at the Hankou railway station in Wuhan (Image: AFP via Getty Images) By then they had lost control and hospitals were becoming overwhelmed by the rising number of infected patients. Within days Dr Zhong Nanshan, the country's top respiratory expert and the face of its containment effort, revealed that human transmission was taking place. Wuhan and several other cities struggling to contain the virus went into lockdown on January 23, days before the Lunar New Year holiday, but by then millions of people had left without being screened. That day, Shi Zhengli and her research team published their data identifying the illness on a scientific portal before it was published in February by the medical journal Nature. In the weeks that followed the lockdown in Wuhan, the virus rapidly spread to and within other countries due to imported cases and community transmission.