Conspiracy theorists suspected Zhengli had either been killed by the Chinese government or fled to avoid persecution.
By Aaron Sull, World Israel News
The deputy director of the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology believes the novel coronavirus is just the tip of the iceberg.
“What we have uncovered is just the tip of the iceberg. Bat-borne coronaviruses will cause more outbreaks,” Shi Zhengli, nicknamed “Batwoman” by her peers, told state-run TV network CHTN on Monday.
“If we want to prevent human beings from suffering from the next infectious disease outbreak, we must go in advance to learn of these unknown viruses carried by wild animals in nature and give early warnings,” Zhengli said.
“If we don’t study them there will possibly be another outbreak,” she added.
Conspiracy theorists suspected Zhengli had either been killed by the Chinese government or fled to avoid persecution after she suddenly disappeared when the coronavirus spread past China’s borders in late Dec. 2019.
Zhengli herself dispelled those rumors by recently posting on her WeChat account, “Everything is alright for my family and me, dear friends!” along with nine pictures of herself in different locations, the Global Times reported on Saturday.
“No matter how difficult, it (defecting) shall never happen. We’ve done nothing wrong. With a strong belief in science, we will see the day when the clouds disperse and the sun shines,” she wrote.
This is not the first time Zhengli has responded to coronavirus conspiracy rumors on her Chinese-based social media account.
On Feb. 2, Zhengli vehemently denied accusations that the virus originated from her lab.
“The 2019 novel coronavirus is a punishment by nature to humans’ unsanitary lifestyles. I promise with my life that the virus has nothing to do with the lab,” Zhengli wrote.
As of Tuesday, 5,370,375 people are confirmed to be infected and 344,454 have died worldwide from the deadly disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) website.