Chinese Doctor, Silenced After Warning of Outbreak, Dies From Coronavirus (original) (raw)
Asia Pacific|Chinese Doctor, Silenced After Warning of Outbreak, Dies From Coronavirus
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/world/asia/chinese-doctor-Li-Wenliang-coronavirus.html
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Dr. Li Wenliang issued a warning about a strange new virus. Then the authorities summoned him for questioning.
Dr. Li being treated at the Wuhan Central Hospital late last month.
Published Feb. 6, 2020Updated Feb. 7, 2020
WUHAN, China — He was the doctor who tried to sound a warning that a troubling cluster of viral infections in a Chinese province could grow out of control — and was then summoned for a middle-of-the-night reprimand over his candor.
On Friday, the doctor, Li Wenliang, died after contracting the very illness he had told medical school classmates about in an online chat room, the coronavirus. He joined the more than 600 other Chinese who have died in an outbreak that has now spread across the globe.
Dr. Li “had the misfortune to be infected during the fight against the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, and all-out efforts to save him failed,” the Wuhan City Central Hospital said on Weibo, the Chinese social media service. “We express our deep regret and condolences.”
Even before his death, Dr. Li had become a hero to many Chinese after word of his treatment at the hands of the authorities emerged. In early January, he was called in by both medical officials and the police, and forced to sign a statement denouncing his warning as an unfounded and illegal rumor.
Word of his death unleashed an even greater upsurge of emotion.
“We will not forget the doctor who spoke up about an illness that was called rumor,” one commenter posted in reply to the hospital’s announcement. “What else can we do? The only thing is not to forget.”
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An exhibition center in Wuhan is being used for patients with mild symptoms of the coronavirus.Credit...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
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