Coronavirus in Wuhan: Doctor warned early of the virus – now he is dead

One of the doctors who developed the new coronavirus early on had warned, died of the consequences of the infection. The Chinese state media “Global Times” announced on Thursday in English via Twitter – the platform is blocked in the People’s Republic itself. The article said: “Doctor Li Wenliang, one of the eight medical professionals who tried to warn others about the corona virus but were stopped by the local police, dies of the corona virus in Wuhan on Thursday.”

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Li had already sent a short message to a group of colleagues on the evening of December 30th last year. “Seven cases of SARS have been confirmed in the Huanan fish market,” he wrote. SARS is a viral disease that broke out in November 2002 and claimed 774 lives. “It was clear to me,” said the doctor, “that we are dealing with a public health issue.” The next day, he was called in by the municipal health commission and questioned several times during the day.

Shortly thereafter, he became ill with the novel virus, which is not SARS, but the corona virus. He told the Beijing Youth Daily: “I started coughing around noon on January 10th. My fever increased the next day, so I knew I had a big problem.” On January 16, he got shortness of breath, on the 24th he was transferred to the intensive care unit and artificially ventilated.

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It was only after January 17 this year that the regional government in Hubei Province, in which Wuhan is also located, made public that a new virus was spreading there. She was then accused of covering up, mainly because she had dismissed early warnings as “rumors” and had the spreaders arrested. The mayor of Wuhan has since admitted mistakes in dealing with the epidemic.

Doctors and nurses were often among the infected initially

Another case became known in Germany on Thursday, bringing the total number of people infected to 13 in the Federal Republic. The number of deaths in China rose again faster than before. As of Thursday, 73 more people died within a day, the Chinese Health Commission said in Beijing. As a result, the number of deaths in China rose to 563. The confirmed infections with the lung disease also rose sharply by 3,694 to 28,018 cases. The commission spoke of more than 24,000 suspected cases.

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There are also many infections among doctors and nurses. Outside of mainland China, around 240 infections have now been confirmed in more than two dozen countries. Two deaths were reported in Hong Kong and the Philippines.

Since the infection from person to person was not known at first, many doctors and nurses became infected in China in the first few weeks. An official listing, of which a photo circulated on the Internet, shows 500 cases in 13 Wuhan hospitals by January 20. However, the number could not be officially confirmed.

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