Chinese authorities have been accused of covering up the findings of a coronavirus scientists known as "Bat Woman" - with tens of thousands of lives lost as a result.
Virologist Shi Zhengli, from the city of Wuhan - where the Covid-19 outbreak originated - made the breakthrough discovery that the new illness was similar to SARS.
Within days she carried out tests and confirmed that the killer bug was 96% identical to a virus found in horseshoe bats, the Daily Mirror reports.
But it is claimed that she was "muzzled" and her team was ordered not to reveal any information about the new disease. It is the latest in a string of allegations claiming that China failed to issue warnings as coronavirus spread - leading to a worldwide pandemic with