This Chinese virologist shared crucial Covid-19 data. Then his research hit hurdles

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In the early days of 2020, as science looked for answers to a mysterious viral outbreak in central China, a prominent Chinese virologist stepped forward to share critical data with the world.

Zhang Yongzhen’s disclosure of the genome of the virus that causes Covid-19 was a crucial step in the race to combat the pandemic, helping researchers globally to identify the pathogen and create vaccines to counter it.

He was lauded for his integrity by the scientific community, but in the years since, people who know Zhang say he has faced a series of unprecedented roadblocks in his career in China – with yet another barrier placed in front of his research over the past week.

On Sunday and Monday, Zhang, 59, slept overnight in protest outside his lab at the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center after administrators closed the facility abruptly for renovations, according to accounts posted on his Weibo social media page.

A post on his page early Wednesday said a “tentative agreement” had been reached for Zhang’s team to resume their scientific work at the lab, some of which is related to tracing the origins of Covid-19.

The ordeal is just the latest hindrance to Zhang’s research since 2020, according to a colleague who has been in contact with the Chinese scientist in recent years.

An account by Zhang’s research students posted online also laid out a litany of challenges faced by the scientist since the formal transfer of his official employment to the Shanghai center in 2020, when his 19-year tenure at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention