The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Death of doctor who warned about virus sparks fury at Chinese officials
BEIJING — The death of a young doctor reprimanded for warning about China’s new virus triggered an outpouring Friday of praise for him and fury that communist authorities put politics above public safety.
In death, Dr. Li Wenliang became the face of simmering anger at the ruling Communist Party’s controls over information and complaints that officials lie about or hide disease outbreaks, chemical spills, dangerous consumer products or financial frauds.
The 34-year-old ophthalmologist died overnight at Wuhan Central Hospital, where he worked and likely contracted the virus while treating patients in the early days of the outbreak.
“A hero who released information about Wuhan’s epidemic in the early stage, Dr. Li Wenliang is immortal,” the China Center for Disease Control’s chief scientist, Zeng Guang, wrote on the Sina Weibo microblog service.
China’s ruling Communist Party, bending to public pressure, said Friday that it would send a team from its powerful anti-corruption committee to investigate the issues surrounding Li’s reprimand.
Police in December had reprimanded eight doctors including Li for warning friends on social media about the emerging threat. China’s supreme court later criticized the police, but the ruling party also has tightened its grip on information about the outbreak.
Weibo users have left hundreds of thousands of messages below Li’s last post.
A post by one of Li’s coworkers, an emergency room nurse, said the freezing Wuhan weather was “as gloomy as my mood.”
“To you, we are angels and so strong. But how strong a heart can watch the people around me fall one by one without being shocked?” wrote Li Mengping on her verified account.
Others placed blame for the deaths on Chinese officials, not an animal species from which the virus might have spread, and said those who made trouble for the doctor should face consequences. The most pointed online comments were quickly deleted by censors.