Chinese whistleblowing doctor dies of coronavirus
The HinduA whistleblowing Chinese doctor who was reprimanded for “spreading rumours” about the coronavirus before it was officially recognised died on Thursday after testing positive for the virus, the hospital where he worked said. Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at a hospital in Wuhan, the city at the epicentre of the outbreak, was one of eight people reprimanded by Wuhan police last month for spreading “illegal and false” information about the coronavirus. Li, who was 34, had told a group of doctors on Chinese social media and messaging platform WeChat that seven cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome had been confirmed linked to a seafood market in Wuhan, believed to be the source of the virus. A letter to Li issued by the Wuhan police bureau on January 3 said he had “severely disrupted social order” with his WeChat messages.