February 07, 2020, 04:57 PM
On Feb. 7, the Wuhan hospital announced that Li Wenliang, the Chinese doctor who tried to alert the public of the new coronavirus, has died from the novel coronavirus.
Li's death was initially declared at around 9:30pm on Feb. 6 after his heart stopped beating.
Reports of his death triggered a wave of reactions from Chinese netizens.
However, Wuhan hospital later challenged the reports by saying that an emergency rescue was underway, resulting in Chinese netizens commenting that they would stay up to wait for a "miracle" to happen.
In the early morning of Feb. 7, Chinese state media reported that despite "all-effort rescue", Li succumbed to the illness at 2:58am.
We deeply mourn the death of #Wuhan doctor Li wenliang, who unfortunately got infected with novel #Coronavirus while battling with the epidemic. After all-effort rescue, Li passed away on 2:58 am, Feb. 7. pic.twitter.com/mbYA3wB4pn
— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) February 6, 2020
The 34-year-old left behind his wife as well as a five-year-old son.
Outpouring of tributes
Following the news, netizens across the world have mourned his death.
Several hashtags were trending on Chinese social media platform Weibo, hailing him as a hero. Others demanded an apology from the Wuhan government.
Many netizens also expressed their appreciation for his courage and sacrifice by dedicating drawings or social media posts to him.
The two trending topics censored by Weibo tonight:
— Nectar Gan (@Nectar_Gan) February 6, 2020
# Wuhan government owes Dr. Li Wenliang an apology #
# We want freedom of speech #
Both had tens of thousands of views before disappearing into this dark night. pic.twitter.com/LHEMsbn02I
A photo from Caixin reporter Ding Gang of Wuhan doctors paying respects to Li Wenliang.
— Josh Chin (@joshchin) February 7, 2020
100% of my WeChat feed, from dissident lawyers to Huawei employees, is raging over Li’s death. Haven’t seen China unified like this since the Wenzhou train crash. pic.twitter.com/lJQE1XMJBQ
Breaking:One of the first whistleblower of #corononavirus , Wuhan doctor Lee-WenLiang(#李文亮), is confirmed dead. His final post on Weibo is on 1/31. (Lee was arrested by the police on 1/3 for “spreading rumors” ) Read this document from 1/3: pic.twitter.com/uMGu8jRbjr
— Jane Tang 唐家婕 (@ccjanetang) February 6, 2020
Top photo collage via Weibo
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