A Chinese scientist who was in charge of a team researching deadly bat viruses at a lab in Wuhan has strongly denied claims she is defecting to the US in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic.
Virologist Dr Shi Zhengli has today taken to WeChat, China's largest social network, to strongly deny claims her and her family are fleeing to the US to escape an increased level of scrutiny since the Covid-19 outbreak was linked to the lab.
A number of reports had been circulating online that Dr Zhengli was in Paris and seeking refuge at the US embassy there after her and her family smuggled hundreds of confidential papers out of China.