Li Wenliang, a Chinese doctor who became one of the first people to warn the public about the outbreak of a new coronavirus in December, is apparently at the Wuhan Central Hospital in a critical condition, despite earlier media reports suggesting that he passed away.
"In the fight against the epidemic of the new coronavirus pneumonia, Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist of our hospital, was unfortunately infected. He is currently in critical condition and we are trying our best to rescue him", the hospital announced in a social media post.
As AP points out, Chinese media reports late on 6 February suggested that the 34-year old doctor had died, with the World Health Organization expressing its condolences via Twitter.
Li Wenliang, a 34-year-old doctor working in Wuhan who sounded the alarm on the Wuhan coronavirus has died.R.I.P🙏 pic.twitter.com/dKOYibA682
— Xin Ma (@xinma11095671) February 6, 2020
The hospital’s post regarding Dr Li’s current situation has quickly accrued tens of thousands of comments, with people expressing hope that he’ll manage to pull through this harrowing ordeal.