A Chinese doctor who was among the first to warn publicly about the new coronavirus outbreak died of the infection early on Friday, his hospital announced.Li Wenliang was working as an ophthalmologist in the virus epicentre city of Wuhan when he observed patients with symptoms similar to the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak of 2002-03. he 34-year-old sent out a message to colleagues on December 30, but was later among eight whistleblowers summoned by police for "rumour-mongering." He later contracted the disease while treating a patient and has been hailed as a hero by Chinese internet users.
Wuhan Central Hospital in Hubei province, where Li worked, confirmed his death in a brief posting on its verified account on Chinese social media platform Weibo."Ophthalmologist Li Wenliang of our hospital, who was unfortunately infected during the fight against the pneumonia epidemic from the novel coronavirus, died at 2:58 a.m. on February 7, 2020 despite all-out efforts to save him.""We deeply regret and mourn this." More than 560 people have died and 28,000 have been infected in China, where authorities are still struggling to contain the outbreak despite ordering millions of people indoors in a growing number of cities.