The doctor who first blew the whistle on the severity of the coronavirus outbreak in China, Li Wenliang, has died.
Li, an ophthalmologist, had already in December observed patients with symptoms similar to the SARS virus, which had broken out in 2002 and 2003.
Li, who had been working in Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, was, along with eight others, reprimanded by Chinese police for ‘rumour-mongering’ after warning about the severity of the disease.
Li died this week after apparently being infected with the virus by a patient he had been treating.
Over 500 people have died to date with total infections nearing 30 000.