Dr Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital, has reportedly died of the Coronavirus.
Dr Li became a national hero and symbol of the corrupt Chinese Deep State's systemic failings last month.
Li, 34, had tried to warn his medical school classmates on December 30, 2019 about the existence of a contagious new virus that resembled the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
Word began to spread in China thanks to Li, but his posts were censored by China's Deep State and the police detained him on January 1 for “rumor-mongering” about a serious disease "which didn't exist".
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Guan Hanfeng, an orthopedist at Wuhan’s Tongji Hospital, and Luo Yu, a technology industry executive who was one of the deceased doctor’s university classmates, broke the news of Li’s death.
“The Wuhan government and the Party and Xi owe Dr. Li Wenliang an apology,” Luo wrote in a widely circulated post on the Weibo social media site as tributes flowed in.
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Michael Ryan, the executive director of the World Health Organization’s health emergencies program, told reporters in Geneva on Thursday: “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Dr. Li Wenliang. We all need to celebrate work that he did.”
Li was released from detention Jan. 3 after Xi's government forces required Li sign a document admitting that he committed an illegal act by making “untrue statements” on social media and promising that he would “earnestly reflect” on his mistakes.
After they detained Li, Wuhan police appeared on Chinese state television to warn the public about the dangers of spreading rumors. In a coordinated state media push that same day, Emperor Xi urged Internet users across the country to not believe online rumors and help build a “clear and bright cyberspace without any plague rumours.”
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Days after he was released the first week of January, Li returned to work receiving patients who were beginning to flood into Wuhan’s hospitals.
He began coughing Jan. 10, he later recalled. This past Saturday, three weeks after he checked himself into his hospital, he told his social media followers that he had finally been tested: He was indeed infected by the coronavirus.
As he spent his final days in Wuhan Central’s intensive-care unit, Li began publicly sharing how he sought to warn friends about the new virus, his ordeal with the police and his fight with the illness.
He revealed that he lived with a pregnant wife and young child, and had quickly quarantined himself as soon as he suspected he was infected. His mother and father were now hospitalized for fever, he said without disclosing whether they — or his wife and child — contracted the coronavirus.
But he maintained an upbeat presence on social media and assured his followers that he kept his medical license and hoped to leave the hospital as soon as possible.
“I’ve seen the support and encouragement so many people online have given me,” he wrote. “It makes my feel a little more relaxed in my heart.”
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As word of his passing trickled out Thursday night, his followers left messages on his Weibo account pleading in vain for him to post one last update. Hours after his death was confirmed, Chinese users began repeating a literary verse to express their gratitude for a man they felt their country did not deserve.
“He who holds the firewood for the masses, is the one who freezes to death in wind and snow.”
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