Beijing: Li Wenliang, the doctor who tried to issue the first warning about the deadly coronavirus, died of the same disease. The news has been confirmed by the hospital that was treating him.
As per a report by BBC, Dr Li Wenliang (34) contracted the disease when he was working at the Wuhan Central Hospital.
The doctor, who was an ophthalmologist, had reportedly sent out a warning to his fellow medical practitioners, but was stopped by the police, who claimed that he was “making false comments”.
A report by the People’s Daily stated that Li Wenliang died on Friday, February 7 at 2.58 AM (18:58 GMT Thursday).
BBC reports that Dr Li, a month after sending out his first warning about the coronavirus, posted about his story on Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like online networking tool.
He had noticed seven cases of a virus that he thought looked a lot like SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), a virus that caused a global epidemic back in 2003. Following this, on December 30, the doctor sent his fellow doctors a message in a chat group and warned them about the virus. He told them to wear protective clothing to avoid getting infected.
After he sent out the warning, Dr Li was summoned to the Public Security Bureau, where he was made to sign a letter which accused him of “making false comments” which “severely disturbed the social order”.
Later, local authorities apologised to the doctor, who was one of eight people who police were investigating for “spreading rumours”.
Documenting his condition, Dr Li described on Weibo how he began coughing on January 10, developed a fever the next day, and ended up in a hospital two days later.
Li was diagnosed with a coronavirus infection on January 30 and his death a few hours ago has evoked rage and grief in coronavirus-hit China.
Soon after his death, the hashtags “Wuhan government owes Dr Li Wenliang an apology” and “We want freedom of speech” were trending, according to BBC.
These hashtags were censored, following which people began posting under the hashtag “Can you manage, do you understand?”. This, according to BBC, is a reference to the letter Dr Li was made to sign, in which he was accused of “making false comments”.
According to the BBC’s report, there was some confusion about the doctor’s actual time of death. Dr Li was initially declared dead at 21:30 on Thursday (local time). The news triggered a massive reaction on Weibo (Twitter’s equivalent in China).
Global Times, People’s Daily and other Chinese media outlets reported this news.
However, Global Times later said that the doctor was in critical condition.
Journalists and doctors who were at the scene told BBC that other media and the government officials had intervened. Official media outlets were directed to change the time of death and report that the doctor was still being treated.
People’s Daily then reported the new time of death saying that Dr Li passed away at 2.58 AM on Friday (local time).
“We deeply mourn the death of #Wuhan doctor Li wenliang, who unfortunately got infected with novel #Coronavirus while battling with the epidemic. After all-effort rescue, Li passed away on 2:58 am, Feb. 7., [sic]” the People’s Daily, China tweeted.
