The First Doctor To Die Of Coronavirus: Who Was Dr. Li Wenliang? (Photos)

There has been revelations of the first doctor in the world that died from coronavirus, Quora users were able to narrate his brief history to everyone’s understanding.

Li was just an ordinary man who worked in Wuhan as a doctor before he noticed the unfamiliar epidemic disease on Dec. 30, 2019.

He and seven other people first put forward the hypothesis that there was a new disease which was very similar to SARS, but this hypothesis did not let the Wuhan government draw enough attention to the situation (because of the lack of supporting evidence). Instead, the government made an appointment with these people to tell them to not start a rumour.

That was all the Chinese people knew about him before he got the disease.

It was Jan.11, 2020.

And he died around Feb.6th 21:30,GMT+08：00).

That’s all I know about him, but as a Chinese, his death let many Chinese rethink about the local government, especially the governments of Wuhan and Hubei.

The outbreak of the disease would have been controlled if they had not ignored Li’s view. In order to calm down the crowds, Li was still on the operating table for three hours after he died. Our Chinese can build a hospital in a week,vbut there’s always someone who only cares about himself,veven in the government.

He will always be remembered as a hero by our Chinese.

(P.S.: I don’t have the idea to fight against the whole Chinese government or the CCP because most of them try their best to help others with their heart and soul. I really respect these people.)

(Add at 14:22,GMT+8:00.)

Approved by the central government, the National Supervisory Commission made the decision to dispatch an investigation team to Wuhan to investigate the problem about Li and the government thoroughly.

(add at Feb.8th 4:49,GMT+8:00)

A retraction:I didn’t point out in the answer before that Li really had spread a rumor,for Li didn’t differentiate between the 2019-nCoV and the SARS before he put forward his opinion about the corona virus on the Internet.

In short summary:

Dr. Li Wenliang, and ophthalmologist who got wind from his doctor friends about treating some SARS (similar but not SARS) patients. He posted on Wechat to warn a group of his doctor friends about it. Some of them re-posted to other groups and it spread all over Chinese internet.

He was found out by the Wuhan Police and they warned him not to post rumors online per Chinese anti-rumor law and he agreed in a written letter.

While he was later unknowingly treating an infected patient on Jan 8, he might have been infected. On Jan 10, he began to develop symptoms. He must had a weak immune system since most symptoms start 2–3 weeks later. Jan 12, he went into ICU at the same hospital he worked in and tested positive for the virus on Jan 30 after several negative tests.

Feb 5th, his condition became critical. Feb 7 he died after doctors tried to keep him alive via Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation .

Chinese Supreme court ruled his case in his favor, rejecting Wuhan police action as unnecessary and should have listened to his warnings before his passing. Later Wuhan Police apologized to his family after his passing for their mistake.

Li became an “hero” for some Chinese and many foreign media and politicians eyes. I think he would regretted many of them using him like a “political victim”, after his death, for their own political purposes as he only intended to let his doctor friends know and protect themselves against possible SARS infections in the first place.

Never less, being infected while doing his duty as a doctor is already heroic enough. The war against COVID19 continues on and he should be remembered foremost as a brave doctor without all the ulterior motives.