To a growing chorus of American politicans and scientists, she is the key to know if the coronavirus behind Covid-19 escaped from a Chinese lab. To China, she is a hero of the country's success in curbing the epidemic. Shi Ahengli a top Chinse virologist, is once again at the centre of clashing narratives about here reserach on coronviruses at a state lab in Wuhan. Some scientists say Shi conducted risky experiments with bat coronviruses in labs that were not safe enough. Others want clarify on reports, citing US intelligence, suggesting there were early infections of Covid-19 among employees of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Reached over phone last week, Shi, popularly kows as the "Bat Woman", said at first that she preferred not to speak directly with reporters, but then she could barely contain her frustration. "How on earth can I offer up evidence for something where there is no evidence. She said over the breif call. I dont know how the world has come to this pouring filth on an innocent scientist she wrote in a text. In a rate interview over email, she denounced the suspicions as baseless, including claims that several of her colleagues may've been ill before the outbreak emerged. "Can you provide the names of the three to help us check? Shi also said her experiments differed from "gain-of-function" work because she did not set out to make a virus more dangerous, but to understand how it may jump across species. Shi's research on a group of miners in Yunnan who suffered severe respiratory disease in 2012 has also drawn questions. However, China's refusal to allow an independent investigation into her lab, or to share data on its research, make it difficult to validate Shi's claims. He continued jumping into the lake through the fall before the hard part.
