Dr. Li-Meng Yan, who specialized in virology and immunology at the Hong Kong School of Public Health, told Fox News: "The reason I came to the U.S. is because I deliver the message of the truth of COVID."

She added that if she tried to tell her story in China, she "will be disappeared and killed." 

Yan, who says she was one of the first scientists in the world to study the novel coronavirus, was allegedly asked by her supervisor at the University/WHO reference lab, Dr. Leo Poon, in 2019 to look into the odd cluster of SARS-like cases coming out of mainland China at the end of December 2019, reports Fox News.

"The China government refused to let overseas experts, including ones in Hong Kong, do research in China," she told the news channel.

"So I turned to my friends to get more information," she said.

The scientist is currently in hiding.

Yan told Fox News she and her colleagues across China discussed the peculiar virus but then she soon noted a sharp shift in tone. "We can't talk about it, but we need to wear masks,'" Yan said.

"There are many, many patients who don't get treatment on time and diagnosis on time," Yan said. "Hospital doctors are scared, but they cannot talk. CDC staff are scared."

She even alleged that WHO advisor Professor Malik Peiris knew about the virus but did not reveal it.

"I already know that would happen because I know the corruption among this kind of international organization like the WHO to China government, and to China Communist Party," she said. "So basically... I accept it but I don't want this misleading information to spread to the world."

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