Dr. Li-Meng Yan, a highly regarded Chinese virologist who fled Hong Kong and is said to be seeking refuge in US, has said that the Chinese government knew about COVID-19 long before they claim they did, Fox News. reported.

Dr. Yan, who worked in the University of Hong Kong School Of Public Health focusing on research in influenza viruses and pandemics, also accused her supervisors - some of the top experts in the field -of ignoring the research she was conducting which she claims could have potentially saved lives.

Dr. Yan fled Hong Kong on April 28 on a Cathay Pacific flight to the United States fearing that if she were caught she could be jailed or "disappeared."

In an exclusive interview to Fox News, Dr, Yan said that efforts are on to besmirch her reputation and accused the government goons of choreographing a cyber-attack against her in an attempt to silence her

She added that her institution had an obligation to tell the world, given their status as a World Health Organisation reference laboratory specialising in influenza viruses and pandemics, especially as the virus began spreading in the early days of 2020.

Dr. Yan also expressed fears she can never go back to her home.

In the interview, Dr. Yan also said that she was one of the first scientists in the world to study COVID-19. She claimed that her supervisor, Dr. Leo Poon, asked her to look into "the odd cluster of SARS-like cases coming out of mainland China at the end of December 2019,"

"The China government refused to let overseas experts, including ones in Hong Kong, do research in China," she said. "So I turned to my friends to get more information." she added.

Based on interaction with her colleagues, some of them who worked at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Yan understood by December 31 that the virus was transmissible between humans. It was only much later that Chinese government and World Health Organisation (WHO), after initial denials, admitted it .

Dr. Yan said that her colleagues across China who were initially open about discussing the peculiar virus suddenly clammed up. She said that researchers from the city of Wuhan--which later would become the hub of the outbreak--went silent and others were warned not to ask them details.

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