Revisiting the story of Dr Li Wenliang, whistle-blower Chinese doctor who died of COVID-19 two years ago

Dr Li Wenliang, a Chinese doctor who tried to issue the first warning about the deadly coronavirus, passed away on February 7, 2020. Two years later, the world continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed nearly 6 million people globally. Let's revisit the story of Dr Li Wenliang, who warned the world about the fatal virus, but the Chinese authorities only wanted him silenced.

Dr Li, an ophthalmologist, contracted the virus while working at the Wuhan Central Hospital. On December 30, 2019, he sent out his first alert to fellow medics in a group chat, urging them to wear protective clothing to avoid getting infected with a virus that appeared to have similar behaviour like SARS - the virus that led to a global epidemic in 2003.

Also read: Widow of Wuhan whistleblower doctor gives birth to baby boy; says son is ‘last gift’

Four days later, Dr Li was summoned to the Public Security Bureau, where he was asked to sign a letter that accused him of 'making false comments' that had 'severely disturbed the social order'. The 34-year-old doctor, who had noticed seven cases of the virus initially, was one of the eight people who Chinese police said were being investigated for 'spreading rumours'.

In a post on Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform, Dr Li described how he started coughing on January 10, 2020. The next day, he had a high fever, and two days later, he was admitted to the hospital. Dr Li was eventually diagnosed with the novel coronavirus on January 30, 2020.

In his last post on February 1, 2020, Dr Li had simply and poignantly stated, "The test results came out positive. Everything is settled. It is confirmed." 

WATCH: Revisiting the story of Dr #LiWenliang, the whistle-blower Chinese doctor who died of Covid-19 #OnThisDay two years ago. pic.twitter.com/rdoFnEqMj8

— Asianet Newsable (@AsianetNewsEN) February 7, 2022

Six days later, the whistle-blower Chinese doctor breathed his last, sparking a wave of anger and grief. Weibo was flooded with Dr Li's death on February 7, 2020. The two trending hashtags on the social media platform back then were 'Wuhan government owes Dr Li Wenliang an apology' and 'We want freedom of speech'. However, both the hashtags were quickly censored by the Chinese authorities.

Following Dr Li's death, experts stated that the news was an epic political disaster for the Chinese leadership. Experts added that the doctor's death also laid bare the worst aspects of the country's command and control system of governance under President Xi Jinping - and the Communist Party of China were blind not to see it.

Experts also noted that if China's response to a dangerous health emergency is for the police to harass a doctor trying to blow the whistle, then the nation's structure is broken.