Li-Meng Yan, the Chinese virologist who was forced to flee the country after raising questions about the origins of the novel coronavirus, has said she will soon produce evidence to prove Covid-19 is a lab-based virus. Yan previously stated in an interview with Taiwan News that the coronavirus was developed in a Chinese military facility controlled by the People’s Liberation Army. She has been in the US since leaving China, saying that she had received threats after taking her concerns to her superiors and a World Health Organization contractor researching the virus, a claim that the WHO has denied.

Dr Yan said in a July interview with Spanish daily El Mundo that she was collating “solid evidence” to demonstrate that the novel coronavirus did not originate in nature having previously stated that the official story of Covid-19 flaring up in a wet market in Wuhan where live animals were sold was “a smokescreen.”

Yan: "The genome sequence is like a fingerprint"

Speaking to British broadcaster ITV, the virologist said of the evidence she is collating: “Anybody, even people without any knowledge of biology, will be able to read it and check it, and to verify it for themselves. The genome sequence is like a fingerprint. Based on that, you can identify things. I will use this evidence to tell people why this [the coronavirus] came from a laboratory in China and why they are the ones who developed it.”

Dr Yan fled China in April and has been in hiding in the US for fear of reprisals regarding her revelations. She has claimed that China has launched a campaign to discredit her and to smear her reputation. “They deleted all information about me and also told people to spread rumours about me,” she said. In an earlier interview, Dy Yan said that China was aware of the existence of Covid-19 long before the first cases were officially reported in Wuhan last December.

Both China and the WHO have discredited Dr Yan’s claims.