A year after the death of Dr. Li Wenliang, Chinese social networks have been filled with tributes to the Wuhan Central Hospital ophthalmologist who warned in December 2019 of a possible respiratory disease that was later identified as COVID-19.
Li himself died of this disease shortly afterwards, on February 7, 2020. “Doctor Li. You can rest easy. Now we are much better and the pandemic in China is under control. Yesterday I received the second dose of the vaccine,” he published. a Chinese network user, according to the Chinese newspaper ‘Global Times’.
Li died at the Wuhan Central Hospital at 2.58 a.m. on February 7, and his account on the Weibo social network has become a place of tribute and already has more than 1 million comments.
Li commented to other colleagues in late December via the WeChat app about his concern for an unknown SARS-like illness. On January 3, the police accused Li of spreading “unfounded rumors” and urged him to sign a letter of apology as a sanction.
After Li’s death, a government investigation team was dispatched that summoned the police to rectify and render accounts for their error, which finally happened on March 19, when the sanction was revoked, and he was posthumously decorated with the Medal of May 4, one of the highest civil decorations in the country.
