Dr. Li Wenliang is now under quarantine.
A Chinese doctor was targeted by authorities after sounding an alert about the coronavirus during the early days of the outbreak — and now he lies in a hospital, sickened with the deadly disease, according to a report.
Dr. Li Wenliang, 34, posted a chilling warning in his medical school alumni group on the WeChat app that seven people from a seafood market in Wuhan had been quarantined in his hospital with a SARS-like illness, according to CNN.
Evoking memories of the SARS epidemic that claimed hundreds of lives amid a government cover-up in 2003, Li said: “I only wanted to remind my university classmates to be careful.”
But within hours of what the ophthalmologist intended to be a private alert, screenshots of his messages had gone viral — exposing him as a whistleblower.
“When I saw them circulating online, I realized that it was out of my control and I would probably be punished,” Li, whom police had accused of rumormongering, told CNN from his intensive care bed after being diagnosed Saturday.
By Tuesday, the novel coronavirus had claimed at least 427 lives, almost all in China, and infected more than 20,000 people across the globe.
On the day that Li messaged his friends, Wuhan health officials informed medical facilities in the epicenter city that several patients from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market had contracted an “unknown pneumonia.”
“Any organizations or individuals are not allowed to release treatment information to the public without authorization,” the city’s Health Commission warned.
On Dec. 31, Wuhan authorities announced the outbreak and informed the World Health Organization.
Three days later, Li was chided by police for “spreading rumors online” and “severely disrupting social order” — and forced to sign a statement admitting his “misdemeanor” and promising not to commit additional “unlawful acts,” CNN reported.
The Wuhan police have not responded to CNN’s request for comment and the city’s Municipal Health Commission declined to comment.
On Jan. 10, after unwittingly treating a patient infected with the coronavirus, Li began coughing, developed a fever the next day and was hospitalized the day after that.
His condition deteriorated so much that he was admitted to the intensive care unit and given oxygen support. On Saturday, he tested positive for the virus.
Amid a public furor, China’s Supreme Court on Jan. 28 slammed Wuhan police for punishing the “rumormongers.”
“It might have been a fortunate thing for containing the new coronavirus, if the public had listened to this ‘rumor’ at the time, and adopted measures such as wearing masks, strict disinfection and avoiding going to the wildlife market,” the Supreme Court said, CNN reported.
The Wuhan police then issued a statement saying eight people had only committed “particularly minor” offenses for spreading “unverified information.”
“If Wuhan had paid attention to [Li’s warning] back then and taken active preventive measures,” a person said on social media, “where we stand now a month later could be a completely different picture.”
