Credit: Zhang Wen/Communication University of Zhejiang
The origins of the coronavirus are a murky and controversial subject, with much of the truth diluted by oversimplified social media posts, sinophobic conspiracy, and a complex course of events and considerations. Even now, stories abound on the stifling and eventual publicization of COVID-19 information in China; however, despite the difficulty of piecing together the first weeks of COVID's discovery, there is much to be learned from the beginnings of this pandemic. One figure vital to the initial release and subsequent conversation of the coronavirus within the scientific community is Chinese biologist Zhang Yongzhen.
On January 3rd, a box arrived at the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center. It contained swabs taken from a patient struck by a strange pneumonia sweeping the city of Wuhan. There, Zhang first encountered the coronavirus he would be fighting in the days to come. His team began to sequence the RNA genome of COVID-19, and by the end found a disease very similar to the coronavirus-caused disease SARS in other organisms. The process was arduous, but in the end Zhang and his colleagues were able to map out the entire genome by Jan. 5—an urgency that helped many in the scientific community respond to the virus. According to Zhang in an interview with the TIMES, “It took us less than 40 hours, so very, very fast.” The data was promptly sent to the US NCBI, but long wait times meant it would take a while for the sequence to be looked at.
Following the original sequencing and analysis of COVID-19, Zhang set out to meet with officials in Wuhan and Beijing. While in Wuhan, which was by then regarded as the epicenter of a mysterious illness, Zhang explained his stance on proper response measures to the public health officials. “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.”
Zhang was preparing to go on another meeting, this time in Beijing, when he got a call from his colleague Edward Holmes—a professor at the University of Sydney. Holmes asked him for permission to publish the viral genome on Virological.org. "Zhang was on a plane, strapped into his seat," Holmes recalled. When Zhang received the call, he was already aware of the risk that came with publishing. “I asked Eddie to give me one minute to think,’” Zhang remembered. “Then I said ok.”
While Zhang caught his flight to Beijing, the world below him was buzzing with the news of the virus. After the genome was published, authorities rushed to Zhang’s lab under the pretense of ‘rectification.’ While these actions have been highlighted by many to indicate Chinese retaliation to Zhang’s release of the virus data, he doesn’t believe there was malicious intent. “Maybe they couldn’t understand how we obtained the genome sequence so fast,” says Zhang. “Maybe they didn’t fully believe our genome. So, I think it’s normal for the authorities to check our lab, our protocols.”
While this may not be an example of purposefully stifling information on the coronavirus, evidence suggest China silenced information on the disease in its infancy. The first delay in the country’s coronavirus response came on Dec. 30, when doctors at Wuhan failed to report their discovery of a mysterious disease to government officials, instead letting the story leak into WeChat. Regardless, a team from Beijing examined Wuhan the next day. A report was released from officials at Wuhan explaining the discovery of a SARS-like illness, and the Beijing team began gathering information on the disease.
However, while this was happening, the National Health Commission ordered all lab samples of the virus to be handed over or destroyed. Though multiple labs had previously studied the virus, none had publicized their results until Zhang released the sequence. Much like other world powers during the start of the pandemic, the Chinese government set to work downplaying the infectivity and severity of the virus. They were confident that the disease would be under control, despite the spring New Year coming up. Finally, the government ordered a lockdown of Wuhan on Jan. 23—the start of China’s strict coronavirus response. By then, the virus had traveled across the globe and, well, the rest is history.
The story of China’s COVID19 response makes it clear that the sharing of information in the scientific community is essential for everyone’s wellbeing. Though the Chinese response was certainly not the worst amidst this pandemic, it plays out like a very preventable tragedy. The government’s decision to stifle information regarding the coronavirus during the early days of the pandemic may seem justified to maintain order, but severing communication among scientists only stalled research on the coronavirus and took precious days away from the government’s response. It was only through the bravery and hard work of figures like Zhang Yongzhen, and collaboration between scientists across the globe, that information essential to understanding the virus, improving tests, and developing vaccines became available to people everywhere.
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