(Yicai Global) March 20 -- US biotech giant Biogen has laid off one of its US statisticians after the Chinese national had fled the States for Beijing in an attempt to hide her Covid-19 infection while putting dozens of co-workers, passengers on the flight, and her family at risk.

Biogen is deeply disturbed by this ex-employee's behavior amid the fight against the coronavirus, the Massachusetts-headquartered company said in a statement today on its WeChat account. The person had ignored health professionals' advice and returned to China without informing the employer, which is against the firm's values, it added. 

The person had arrived in Beijing on March 13 after taking antipyretic drugs before boarding the flight with her husband and son in Los Angeles, Beijing officials said in a statement yesterday. She had lied about trying to get tested three times in the US but being denied that opportunity, Chinese media reported. 

In fact, the biostatistics associate director was among a number of Biogen employees who had been tested in early March due to their symptoms after attending a more than 170-member conference in a Marriott hotel in Boston in late February but her results were not in yet, the Boston Globe reported yesterday, citing a source who wished to remain anonymous. Ninety-seven of those people are now sick, the report added.

On March 17, Beijing's health officials added the escapee to their case total. By then, the woman's husband had gotten ill too. On the same day, local police filed a case against her on suspicion of obstructing the prevention and control of infectious diseases.

Editor: Emmi Laine