A top virologist in China, at center of a pandemic storm, speaks out
The virologist, Shi Zhengli, said in a rare interview that speculation about her lab in Wuhan was baseless. But China’s habitual secrecy makes her claims hard to validate.
Shi Zhengli inside a laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2017.
Chinatopix via AP, File
June 14, 2021 | 6:35 PM
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To a growing chorus of U.S. politicians and scientists, she is the key to whether the world will ever learn if the virus behind the devastating COVID-19 pandemic escaped from a Chinese lab. To the Chinese government and public, she is a hero of the country’s success in curbing the epidemic and a victim of malicious conspiracy theories.