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March 17, 2020 3oliver

Chinese police officers wear protective masks in Beijing on March 16. Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

Beijing police have launched a criminal investigation into a coronavirus patient who traveled to China from the US while showing symptoms, and was confirmed infected after arriving.

The patient, a woman identified by her surname, Li, is a resident of Massachusetts, said Beijing authorities in a statement online. She had attended a company conference in late February, where one of her colleagues later tested positive for the coronavirus.

The timeline: Li began noticing symptoms on March 1, like muscle aches, a fever, cough, and runny nose. She visited a local hospital on March 3, before subsequent visits on March 5, March 10, and March 11; she was prescribed antiviral medication and given a chest radiograph, but says she was not hospitalized.

Finally, on March 12, she traveled to Los Angeles, then flew onward to Beijing with her husband and son.

On the flight: A few hours after takeoff, Li told flight crew that she was experiencing symptoms. She was asked to sit in an isolation zone on the plane, and wear a mask. It wasn’t for several more hours — shortly before arriving in Beijing — that she told crew members she had been at a conference with a person infected with coronavirus, according to an airline spokesperson.

Upon arrival, the family was taken to a hospital in Beijing, where Li was confirmed infected with the virus on March 13. She is now being treated in hospital while her husband and son stay under quarantine for medical observation.

But in the past week, contradicting claims have emerged. Nieng Yan, a professor at Princeton University, said on the social platform Weibo that Li had already tested positive in the US and had wanted to “escape” back to China — contradicting Li’s claims that she had been unable to get tested in Massachusetts.

The police say they are investigating Li for alleged violation of China’s infectious disease prevention law.