Early reports of death of Li Wenliang were retracted, only for doctor to succumb to disease later in day
A whistleblowing Chinese doctor who tried to raise the alarm about the coronavirus outbreak has died, a Communist party-controlled newspaper has confirmed.
Li Wenliang, 34, was declared dead at 2.58am local time on Friday morning after “emergency treatment” at a hospital in Wuhan, the Global Times reported, following hours of confusion over his fate.
Earlier reports of Li’s death had triggered an outpouring of grief and anger in Chinese social media, with many hailing his decision to speak out over the virus despite the risks of doing so in his authoritarian country.
The Global Times was among the heavily controlled state-run newspapers that stepped back from their initial reports of the ophthalmologist‘s death on Thursday.
“We profoundly regret and mourn this death,” the Wuhan City central hospital said in a brief statement on its official social media account.
Chinese police had targeted Li for “spreading rumours” in late December 2019 after he posted a warning on social media about a cluster of cases of a flu-like disease that had been treated at his hospital.
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