[Epoch Times, September 29, 2022](Reported by Li Er and Zhang Yingyu from The Epoch Times Special Department) Director of the State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Director of the Influenza Research Center of the University of Hong Kong, Guan Yi, has been appointed as the newly established The first president of the Shanghai Institute of Virology. Guan Yi is known for his outspokenness. Over the years, he has not shied away from criticizing the mainland’s epidemic prevention policies. Some scholars believe that it has something to do with the authorities’ intention to create an enlightened image. However, whether he can speak freely after moving to Shanghai is questionable.
Guan Yi, 60, who was born in mainland China, has worked for many years at the University of Hong Kong and is an international authority on influenza virus research. At the unveiling ceremony of the Shanghai Institute of Virology on September 26, he pointed out that virological research has an extremely important position and significance in human health and medicine, and even in national security. The institute will further focus on the frontiers of virology in the world and the need for Shanghai to build the world‘s safest public health city, and build a world-class virology research center in the future.
Questions about whether Guan Yi can speak freely in Shanghai
Xie Tian, an expert on China issues and a tenured professor at the University of South Carolina’s Alken School of Business, pointed out that Guan Yi’s appointment at this time was “sensitive to the timing”, “Of course, it is with the mainland government’s desire to create an enlightened image, make a gesture, and attract foreign capital and investment. backflow.”
He analyzed that in the process of the CCP’s clean-up and closure of the city, Shanghai suffered heavy losses and its international image plummeted, and urgently needed public relations remedy. Guan Yi “I’m afraid it’s a question whether I can do it well in Shanghai and still speak freely.”
Guan Yi: In the long run, there is no chance of “clearing”
Guan Yi is well-known for his outspokenness, and the mainland still insists on “clearing” as early as last year. He stated as early as last year that there is no chance of “clearing” in the long run, “because this virus has lived for a long time. It is the same as influenza A virus. , whether human beings are happy or not, it will be popular among us humans for a long time.” He also refers to the mainland’s “zero tolerance” for sporadic cases. “If this is the case, I think our country’s economy will definitely collapse.”
Last year, he also pointed out that the mainland should “don’t do nucleic acid testing of all staff at every turn”. He believes that it is more important to test for antibodies than to test whether there is a virus, so as to understand each person’s own immune status and the role of vaccines. He also said that the mainland should have a better understanding of domestic vaccines, and in the face of the protection rate of mutated virus strains, vaccines that do not work should be eliminated.
In the early days of the Wuhan pneumonia outbreak, Guan Yi had already visited Wuhan on January 21, 2020; but he was not paid attention to it, and found that the local epidemic prevention measures were lax, and finally claimed to be “frightened” and experienced bird flu, SARS, H5N1 , swine fever and other epidemics, he said that “even I chose to be a deserter” and left Wuhan the next day.
Guan Yi had already asserted at the time that the infection scale of the Wuhan pneumonia epidemic was conservatively estimated to be “10 times that of SARS.” “I have experienced so much, and I have never felt afraid. Most of them can be controlled, but this time I am afraid.” After returning to Hong Kong as a “deserter” back then, he shared in an interview with the media that the work of finding the source of the virus in the local area “suffered a lot of closed doors”, pointing out that local scientific research institutions may think they are more capable, and pointed out that the key is the origin of Wuhan pneumonia at that time. The Huanan Seafood Market has been closed and washed, “the ‘crime scene’ is gone, how can we solve the case without evidence?”, and pointed out that the local government “seems to be inaction” and did not give quarantine guidance to those who went out of the city during the Spring Festival, missing the golden defense. control period.
The Wuhan government “seems to be inaction” and missed the golden prevention and control period
Guan Yi has successfully identified the source of infection of the SARS coronavirus and its live poultry market as early as after the SARS epidemic in 2003, and urged the mainland to slaughter civet cats to help the mainland government avoid a SARS outbreak in early 2004.
In recent years, when he was interviewed by the media to review SARS, he shared how he went to the wild animal market to sample on the spot, and found out that the culprit of SARS was civet cats and other animals. Patriotism is like looking in a mirror.
The CCP’s dissatisfaction with Guan Yi caused by the outbreak of the epidemic: it suppressed me and did the same
In 2005, Guan Yi published a research report on the outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza among migratory birds in Qinghai Lake, pointing out that the virus came from southern China. Guan Yi said at the time: “Some people will tell lies in order to keep their positions and interests of the department. However, we have already learned a lesson about the punishment of lying, two years ago… We have had (two years ago, namely, SARS in 2003), waiting for another bigger punishment?”
He later stated that although he was pressured by the CCP authorities to expose the truth, which led to the closure of the mainland laboratory, Guan Yi insisted that “it suppressed me and did the same” and “can’t stop.” As for whether the CCP authorities have concealed the epidemic, “it depends on its own conscience and its responsible attitude towards the Chinese people.”
In addition, in 2006, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China refuted Guan Yi, then an associate professor of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, claiming that the avian influenza virus mutation “Fujian virus” that Guan Yi called did not exist in the mainland. At that time, Guan Yi and experts from the National Academy of Sciences of the United States conducted research together, and the result of the study became the article “The H5N1 Avian Influenza Variant Virus Emerges in China and Emerges in Epidemic”, which was published in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”. After more than 10,000 samples, it was found that the H5N1 avian influenza has a mutated virus “Fujian virus”, which has already existed in Southeast Asian countries, and will even cause a third influenza pandemic in Eurasia.
At the time, infectious disease experts at the World Health Organization’s Beijing office criticized the CCP for not providing samples of the latest variant of the newly discovered bird flu.
Responsible editor: Lian Shuhua#