If not for Dr. Li Wenliang, millions might have suffered from contracting the deadly coronavirus without even realizing it. Today, the world is saddened by the loss of this heroic doctor, who died from contracting the very same virus he tried to warn us about.
Photo: Dr. Li Wenliang
The 34-year-old was the person responsible for revealing the threat of the coronavirus after he posted in his medical school alumni’s WeChat group, warning his peers of a potential new coronavirus outbreak that had not yet been identified. The discovery was made following the incidents of people being infected at the seafood market place in Wuhan, China.
After seeing the test results from the patients, he explained that the new coronavirus very much resembled an earlier coronavirus, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), that ravaged China nearly two decades ago.
He immediately told his friends to warn their loved ones privately but within hours, screenshots of his messages, without his name being blurred, had gone viral.
Soon after he posted the message, Dr. Li was accused of rumor-mongering by the authorities and he was summoned to the Public Security Bureau where he was told to sign a letter confessing that he was "making false comments" that had "severely disturbed the social order".
Today, more than 30,000 thousand people in China have been infected by the new coronavirus, taking more than 630 lives, including Dr. Li’s.
Dr. Li, who had been treating infected patients at the hospital, described his brush with the virus via a popular social media app in China called Weibo. He shared that he started coughing on the 10th of January and in the next few days he was down with a fever and later hospitalized. He was diagnosed with the coronavirus on 30 January.
Photo: CNN
Speaking to CNN from his hospital bed, Dr. Li said that "I only wanted to remind my university classmates to be careful." At the time, officials were still downplaying the outbreak and its danger.
Dr. Li died on Friday (7 Feb) at 2:58 a.m, as announced by the Wuhan Central Hospital where he used to work as an ophthalmologist.
The post read, “We deeply regret to announce that our hospital's ophthalmologist Li Wenliang was unfortunately infected with coronavirus during his work in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic. He died at 2:58 am on Feb 7 after attempts to resuscitate were unsuccessful. We mourned over his death.”
Photo: Weibo Wuhan Central Hospital
Hailed as a hero in China, the reaction towards Dr. Li’s death almost caused an unprecedented fury by Chinese nationals targeting the government’s censorship issue with headlines such as "The Wuhan government owes Dr. Li Wenliang an apology" and "We want freedom of speech" circulating across China’s social media platforms.
The government’s handling of Dr. Li’s death also angered many as multiple state media outlets reported Li's death late Thursday night, citing friends and doctors at Wuhan Central Hospital, only to be subsequently deleted without any explanation.
Dr. Li’s fight for justice is a mark in history as many mourned over his tragic passing and described him as the world’s heroic whistle-blower.
We offer our deepest condolences to his families and we hope that his words and bravery will carry on across the globe.
By: Siti Farhana Sheikh Yahya
