Not all heroes wear capes, and this is especially true of front-line medical staff workers who have been doing their utmost and making the biggest sacrifices to keep the Wuhan novel coronavirus at bay. But unfortunately, according to Vice, one of the most notable faces behind the effort to stop the virus from spreading in the first place has passed on.
Source: Twitter
34-year-old Dr Li Wenliang, who had tried to warn the world about a SARS-like infectious disease that had begun spreading in Wuhan, had passed away earlier this morning (7th February 2020). An opthamologist who was working at Wuhan Central Hospital, he first tried to raise a warning after seeing test results from seven patients that showed a SARS-like infection.
Source: BBC
The infection, which has since been dubbed 2019-nCov, or informally referred to as the Wuhan novel coronavirus, has since spread across the globe. Despite trying to warn his own friends about it in a group chat by telling them to wear protective gear at work, he was then targeted by the Chinese police and told to keep silent, forcing him to sign a letter to stop ‘making false comments’.
He then promptly returned to the front-lines to help with the Wuhan crisis.
While treating patients at his hospital who were suffering from the Wuhan novel coronavirus, he himself became infected with it and wound up bedridden for three weeks.
Dr Li is survived by his parents, both who have been infected by the coronavirus, and his wife who is pregnant with his second child. His wife is also a coronavirus patient, according to local media reports from China.
Source: BBC
Tributes for the doctor and his selfless act of trying to warn the world of this now international epidemic have since took social media by storm, with much outpouring of anger and grief over his passing.
We would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family of Dr Li during this difficult time, and hope that he will be able to rest in peace.
Also read: Wuhan Virus Feared To Be New ‘Super-Spreader’ Disease After Spreading To The U.S
