Whistleblower Wuhan doctor killed by bug

A CHINESE doctor who tried to warn others of the oncoming coronavirus outbreak in December has died from the infection.

Li Wenliang, who lived in the virus epicentre of Wuhan, died around 3am local time following confusion around his fate.

Early yesterday, reports from the hospital treating Dr Li contradicted initial state media reports that he was dead, saying the 34-year-old ophthalmologist was in a critical condition.

But the medic’s death was later confirmed by the Global Times, a Communist partycontrolled newspaper.

Chinese police previously targeted Dr Li for warning his medical school alumni group about seven patients from a food market displaying respiratory difficulty.

Their symptoms reminded him of previous SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreaks in 2002 and 2004. The 2002 pandemic killed 774 people.

His warning came more than two weeks before coronavirus broke out in Wuhan.

Police accused him and seven other doctors of ‘rumour-mongering’ in late December after a screenshot of the message, which warned the group to wear protective clothing, went viral.

He was ordered to sign a document which accused him of ‘making false comments’ that had ‘severely disturbed public order’. Local authorities later apologised to Dr Li.

Earlier reports of his death, which were retracted amid a period of confusion as to his fate, led to an outpouring of grief on Chinese social media.