The big problem there is the intellectual capital that was lost. Primary and secondary schools were closed for two years. Universities were closed for four year

The big problem there is the intellectual capital that was lost. Primary and secondary schools were closed for two years. Universities were closed for four years. Access to foreign science publications was halted. It took years for Chinese research to recover, to redevelop the working groups, etc, needed for cutting edge science. Additionally, the project that she was working with, Project 523, was kept secret for over a decade. So Ms Tu couldn't communicate with colleagues in other countries regarding her discoveries, and her discoveries in fact were initially published anonymously, further making it difficult for discussion and collaboration. So yes, the amount of net scientific progress was greatly diminished.