The Chinese doctor who tried to issue the first warnings about the deadly #coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan — only to be reprimanded and silenced by police — has died of the infection, according to his hospital.
After initially insisting ophthalmologist Li Wenliang was still fighting for his life — despite reports that he had passed away — Wuhan Central Hospital finally confirmed the 34-year-old’s death Thursday.
“In the fight against the pneumonia epidemic of the new coronavirus infection, our hospital’s ophthalmologist Li Wenliang was unfortunately infected. He passed away after all the efforts we’ve taken to resuscitate him,” the hospital said on its official Weibo account, according to the South China Morning Post. “We deeply mourn his passing.”
Guan Hanfeng, an orthopedist at the Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, and Luo Yu, a tech industry executive who was one of Li’s university classmates, had both said earlier that Li had died, the Washington Post reported.
“The Wuhan government owes Dr. Li Wenliang an apology,” Luo wrote in a widely shared post on Weibo as tributes flowed in.
On Dec. 30, Li sent out a warning in messaging app WeChat warning fellow medical school grads to wear protective clothing to avoid infection after several patients from a seafood market exhibited symptoms similar to SARS.
He was one of eight whistleblowers who tried to sound the alarm about the novel virus — only to be denounced by authorities for “rumor-mongering.”
He was summoned to the Public Security Bureau to sign a letter in which he was accused of making “false comments” that had “severely disturbed the social order.”
Local authorities later apologized to the stricken physician, who described on the Weibo site how he began coughing on Jan. 10.
He said he developed a fever the next day, was hospitalized two days later and was diagnosed on Jan. 30.
The rapidly spreading virus has now killed more than 560 people and infected over 28,000.
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