Watch: Chinese scientist claims Covid-19 started in 'military lab' after fleeing to US

Dr Li Meng-Yan, a virology specialist from Hong Kong, fled to the US in fear she would be "disappeared" by Chinese forces over her findings and beliefs. Photo / Fox News

A Chinese medical expert, who fled to the US, has backed claims that the Covid-19 pandemic began in a military lab and was covered up by Chinese officials.

Dr Li Meng-Yan, a virology specialist from Hong Kong, fled to the US in fear she would be "disappeared" by Chinese forces over her findings and beliefs.

She told Fox News the Chinese government censored her work, and her findings could have saved lives across the globe.

"This is a huge pandemic we have seen in the world," Yan Li-Meng told host Bill Hemmer.

"It's more than anything we've known in human history. So, the timing is very, very important. If we can stop it early, we can save lives."

Dr Li Meng-Yan, a virology specialist from Hong Kong, fled to the US in fear she would be "disappeared" by Chinese forces over her findings and beliefs. Photo / Fox News

Meng-Yan told Fox News she believes the Chinese government knew about Covid-19 at least a month before publically acknowledging there was an outbreak.

She said her supervisor first asked her to conduct a "secret" investigation into the new virus at the end of last year.

Then she claimed her supervisors, known as some of the top experts in the field, ignored her own research and said to not cross the government's "red line" and to "keep silent and be careful".

"I have to hide because I know how they treat whistleblowers, and as a whistleblower here I want to tell the truth of Covid-19 and the origin of the SARS-2 Covid virus," Yan told Fox News Digital.

One of Dr Meng-Yan's core claims is that while studying person-to-person transmission of the virus, her findings indicate it came from a research facility linked to the People's Liberation Army.

She said the Wuhan wet market was "used as a decoy".

Dr Li said she her supervisor first asked her to conduct a 'secret' investigation into the new virus at the end of last year. Photo / Getty

Dr Meng-Yan told Hemmer the government knew in December more than 40 citizens had been infected by Covid-19 and that "human-to-human transmissions were already occurring" at the time.

Several governments around the world have criticised China's reluctance to share information about the virus.

An intelligence dossier compiled by the Five Eyes intelligence agencies which was leaked to an Australian newspaper in May stated that Chinese authorities denied that the virus could be spread between humans until January 20, "despite evidence of human-human transmission from early December". As late as January 14, the World Health Organisation had stated that there was "no clear evidence" for human-to-human transmission of Covid-19.

While the current believed theory is that Covid-19 was not manmade or genetically modified, US President Donald Trump has raised the issue of human interference more than once.