Li Wenliang (Chinese: 李文亮; pinyin: Lǐ Wénliàng; 12 October 1986 – 7 February 2020) was a Chinese ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital [zh] and a whistleblower who warned about the 2019–20 Wuhan coronavirus #coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak on 30 December 2019. 

On 3 January 2020, Wuhan police summoned and admonished him for "making false comments on the Internet." Li returned to work but later contracted the virus from an infected patient. He died from the infection on 7 February 2020.

Life and career

Li Wenliang was born on 12 October 1986 in Beizhen, Liaoning, China. Starting in 2004, he studied clinical medicine at Wuhan University for seven years and acquired a Master of Medicine degree. After graduation, he worked in Xiamen, Fujian, for three years. He returned to Wuhan in 2014 to work as an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital.

On 30 December 2019, Li saw a patient's report which showed a positive result with a high confidence level for SARS coronavirus tests. At 17:43, he said in a WeChat group of his medical school classmates, "There were 7 confirmed cases of SARS at Huanan Seafood Market." He also posted the report and a patient's CT scan result. At 18:42, he added, "the latest news is, it has been confirmed that they are coronavirus infections, but the exact virus to be subtyped." He also explained what a coronavirus is with the message.

After screenshots of his WeChat message were posted online, the medical superintendents of his hospital soon came to him for a talk. On 3 January, Zhangnan Street Police Station of the Wuhan Public Security Bureau, Wuchang Branch censured Li for "making false comments on the Internet" and made him sign a letter of admonition promising not to do it again.

On 8 January, Li contracted the coronavirus when he saw an infected patient at his hospital. He developed a fever and cough on 10 January which soon became severe. On 12 January, he was admitted to intensive care where he was quarantined and given treatment. Due to a shortage of test kits for the novel coronavirus, a definitive diagnosis of the infection was not made until 1 February. Many of his colleagues were also infected with the virus. While he was hospitalized, he posted a message online vowing to return to the front lines after his recovery.

Reaction

He was under the spotlight of the Chinese public and media for he is considered as one of eight "rumormongers" warned by Wuhan police. However, according to some media, Wuhan police summoned eight "rumormongers" on 1 January, while Li and Xie Linka, a doctor from the Wuhan Union Hospital, were warned on 3 January, which means that the two persons might not be one of the eight "rumormongers."

China's Supreme People's Court said that in retrospect, the eight Wuhan citizens should not have been punished as what they said is not entirely false.

"It might have been a fortunate thing if the public had believed the 'rumors' then and started to wear masks and carry out sanitization measures, and avoid the wild animal market," the top court's social media account said on 4 February.

Li told Caixin that he had been worried the hospital would punish him for "spreading rumors" but felt relieved after the top court publicly criticized the police. "I think there should be more than one voice in a healthy society, and I don't approve of using public power for excessive interference," said Li.

Death

On 6 February, Chinese state media reported that Li had died at the age of 33. However, Wuhan Central Hospital soon released a statement contradicting reports of his death: "In the process of fighting the coronavirus, the eye doctor from our hospital Li Wenliang was unfortunately infected. He is now in critical condition and we are doing our best to rescue him." According to China Newsweek (中國新聞周刊), his heartbeat stopped at 21:30, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) was used to keep him alive. The effort was ultimately unsuccessful, and the hospital later announced that Li had died at 2:58 am on 7 February 2020. During the confusion, at 1:49 am more than 17 million people were watching the live stream for his status updates.

The World Health Organization posted on Twitter saying that it was "deeply saddened by the passing of Dr Li Wenliang" and "we all need to celebrate work that he did on #2019nCoV".

Family

Li and his wife had one child. His wife was pregnant with their second child when he died. When he began showing symptoms, he booked a hotel room to avoid infecting family, before being hospitalized on 12 January. However, his parents still became infected with coronavirus.

See also

• Carlo Urbani, doctor who was the first to warn about severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and died of the disease in 2003