Li Wenliang, Chinese Doctor Who Warned About Coronavirus, Dies

A Chinese doctor who was punished by the police for allegedly voicing his concerns over the coronavirus epidemic died Friday after contracting the disease while treating patients.

Dr. Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at the Wuhan Central Hospital in China, the epicenter of the outbreak of coronavirus, had reportedly tried to warn his colleagues about the dangers of the virus but was allegedly reprimanded at the time for spreading misinformation.

Wenliang had later contracted the pneumonic virus while attending to patients and was later admitted to the same hospital. He had reportedly attempted to inform his colleagues about the virus on chat forums.

A statement released by the Wuhan Central hospital on social media platform Weibo said, “Ophthalmologist Li Wenliang of our hospital, who was unfortunately infected during the fight against the pneumonia epidemic of the new coronavirus infection, failed after all efforts and, and died at 2:58 on February 7, 2020. We deeply regret and mourn this.”

Wenliang had earlier said it would have been better if the officials accepted the epidemic sooner and that there should have been “transparency and openness” about the subject.

The World Health Organisation shared a tweet saying, “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Dr. Li Wenliang. We all need to celebrate the work he did on 2019 novel coronavirus.”

China’s National Health Commission said that more than 31,000 cases of coronavirus were reported in Mainland China and around 636 of them died. The WHO said the coronavirus had spread to 24 countries other than China along with a global total death toll of 638.