Post by Admin on May 27, 2021 19:16:55 GMT
The fate of a Chinese researcher believed to be the world's first Covid-19 patient remains a mystery despite a year-long search by Western intelligence officials investigating the origins of the pandemic.
Huang Yanling, who worked at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, was one of scores of doctors, scientists, activists and journalists who disappeared during the Chinese Communist Party's suspected cover-up.
During the early weeks of the outbreak last February, rumours swirled on Chinese social media that the graduate student was "patient zero", creating a direct link between the controversial lab and the virus outbreak.
Chinese officials quickly stepped in to censor the reports from the internet.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology denied she was patient zero and insisted, without evidence, that she was alive and well elsewhere in the country – while scrubbing her biography and image from its website.
A post purporting to be from Huang later appeared on social media platform WeChat.
"To my teachers and fellow students, how long no speak," the message said. "I am Huang Yanling, still alive. If you receive any email (regarding the Covid-19 rumour), please say it's not true."
Her former boss made a separate post on social media claiming that she had left the institute in 2015, while a Chinese news agency claimed that it had spoken with her new employer but provided no other details.
A grainy photo of the young woman in her 20s with long hair seen peering out from behind a colleague – salvaged from the website and circulated online – is the only known photo of Huang.
According to the UK's Mail on Sunday, which has also attempted unsuccessfully to track her down, little else is known about her other than that her name is included among the authors of three scientific papers issued by the institute between 2013 and 2015.
The Mail on Sunday says Western governments and intelligence agencies have tried and failed to track down Huang, sparking fears she is either dead or being detained by Chinese authorities.
Huang's disappearance had earlier been cited in a 15-page dossier prepared by Western governments – published by The Sunday Telegraph in May last year – laying out evidence the virus had escaped from the lab.
The Mail on Sunday says its own extensive inquiries within China, including messages to her former colleagues, have also turned up empty.
Despite China's internet censors stamping out discussion of Huang, many social media users continue to speculate about her fate, with some claiming she may have been hastily cremated.
"Everyone on the Chinese internet is searching for Huang," one blogger wrote, according to the Mail on Sunday. "Most believe she is dead."
Huang Yanling, who worked at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, was one of scores of doctors, scientists, activists and journalists who disappeared during the Chinese Communist Party's suspected cover-up.
During the early weeks of the outbreak last February, rumours swirled on Chinese social media that the graduate student was "patient zero", creating a direct link between the controversial lab and the virus outbreak.
Chinese officials quickly stepped in to censor the reports from the internet.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology denied she was patient zero and insisted, without evidence, that she was alive and well elsewhere in the country – while scrubbing her biography and image from its website.
A post purporting to be from Huang later appeared on social media platform WeChat.
"To my teachers and fellow students, how long no speak," the message said. "I am Huang Yanling, still alive. If you receive any email (regarding the Covid-19 rumour), please say it's not true."
Her former boss made a separate post on social media claiming that she had left the institute in 2015, while a Chinese news agency claimed that it had spoken with her new employer but provided no other details.
A grainy photo of the young woman in her 20s with long hair seen peering out from behind a colleague – salvaged from the website and circulated online – is the only known photo of Huang.
According to the UK's Mail on Sunday, which has also attempted unsuccessfully to track her down, little else is known about her other than that her name is included among the authors of three scientific papers issued by the institute between 2013 and 2015.
The Mail on Sunday says Western governments and intelligence agencies have tried and failed to track down Huang, sparking fears she is either dead or being detained by Chinese authorities.
Huang's disappearance had earlier been cited in a 15-page dossier prepared by Western governments – published by The Sunday Telegraph in May last year – laying out evidence the virus had escaped from the lab.
The Mail on Sunday says its own extensive inquiries within China, including messages to her former colleagues, have also turned up empty.
Despite China's internet censors stamping out discussion of Huang, many social media users continue to speculate about her fate, with some claiming she may have been hastily cremated.
"Everyone on the Chinese internet is searching for Huang," one blogger wrote, according to the Mail on Sunday. "Most believe she is dead."