#Chinese virologist in hiding after accusing Beijing of coronavirus cover-up

A respected Chinese virologist who says she did some of the earliest research into COVID-19 last year has accused Beijing of lying about when it learned of the deadly virus and engaging in an extensive cover-up of her work, according to a new report.

In a new interview with Fox News, Dr. Li-Meng Yan says her supervisors at the Hong Kong School of Public Health, a reference laboratory for the World Health Organization, silenced her when she sounded the alarm about human-to-human transmission in December last year.

In April, Yan fled Hong Kong and escaped to America to raise awareness about the pandemic, the report said. She told Fox News she is now living in hiding in the US and fears for her life.

“The reason I came to the US is because I deliver the message of the truth of COVID,” Yan said of the virus that has so far infected 12.3 million people worldwide and killed 555,000.

Yan said her supervisors at the laboratory asked her in December to study an usual cluster of SARS-like cases coming out of mainland China.

She was approached by a scientist friend at the Centers for Disease Control in China on Dec. 31 who warned her about human-to-human transmission, which she flagged with her boss, who “just nodded.”

On Jan. 9, the WHO released a statement saying Chinese authorities informed them that this wasn’t possible, claiming the disease “does not transmit readily between people.”

“I already know that would happen because I know the corruption among this kind of international organization like the WHO to China government, and to China Communist Party,” she said.

“So basically … I accept it but I don’t want this misleading information to spread to the world.”

Yan said her boss at the lab warned her to “keep silent” when she raised her research with him again in mid-January, and told her: “We will get in trouble and we’ll be disappeared.”

The international community has called for an extensive investigation into the origins of the virus that was first reported in Wuhan last year. China’s Communist government has refused to let outside investigators into the country.

President Trump this week officially withdrew the US from the WHO, citing the organization’s unacceptable response to the origins of the outbreak.

The Hong Kong School of Public Health told Fox News that Yan is no longer an employee.