BEIJING: Death of a whistleblower doctor, who had raised alarm over the outbreak of the fatal virus in China, has stirred outrage among people.
Li Wenliang, who was an ophthalmologist at a hospital in Wuhan — the epicenter of novel coronavirus which has killed nearly 637 persons — died early Friday morning.
He was among eight persons who had on Dec. 30 last year informed colleagues that Wuhan was witnessing a deadly outbreak like 2003 SARS disease.
Chinese social media has exploded into near-unprecedented levels of grief and fury against the government, with calls for accountability and freedom of speech — rarely seen in China’s tightly-controlled online sphere.
Anger was awash following news of Li’s death — the topics “Wuhan government owes Dr. Li Wenliang an apology,” and “We want the freedom of speech,” soon began to trend on China’s Twitter-like platform, Weibo, before disappearing from the heavily censored platform.
The Chinese government operates one of the world’s most comprehensive online censorship program and is able to cleanse social media of criticism of the government.
It was on Dec. 30 that Li diagnosed a patient with SARS-like coronavirus signs. He informed his friends and colleagues and soon landed in a police station.
He returned to work but on Jan. 10, he reportedly started coughing followed by fever. Li was hospitalized on Jan. 12. He had been examining virus-infected patients until he was admitted to the hospital.
(With inputs from agencies)
Comment