A Chinese doctor who was punished after raising the alarm about the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) yesterday died from the pathogen, sparking an outpouring of grief and anger over a worsening crisis that has killed more than 630 people.
At least 31,000 people have been infected by a virus that ophthalmologist Li Wenliang (李文亮) and colleagues first brought to light in late December.
The disease has since spread across China, prompting the Chinese government to lock down cities of tens of millions of people, and panic has spiraled around the globe as more than 240 cases have emerged in two dozen countries.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Li, 34, died early yesterday, Wuhan Central Hospital said in an online post, an announcement that triggered grief on social media — over a doctor who was hailed a hero — and anger over the government’s handling of the crisis.
“He is a hero who warned others with his life,” a fellow Wuhan doctor wrote.
“Those fat officials who live on public money, may you die from a snowstorm,” wrote a netizen in a comment that has since been censored.
Photo: AFP / Li Wenliang
In a sign that the criticism has shaken the government, its anti-graft agency announced that it was sending a team to Wuhan to “conduct a comprehensive investigation into issues involving Dr Li Wenliang reported by the masses.”
Li’s death has also highlighted the enormous risks that front line doctors have taken to treat people in overwhelmed and under-equipped hospitals in Wuhan, the quarantined city of 11 million people where the virus emerged.
Li on Dec. 30 sent out a message about the virus to colleagues in Wuhan, but was later among eight whistle-blowers summoned by police for “rumormongering.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
He later contracted the disease while treating a patient.
In Japan, at least 61 people onboard a cruise ship have tested positive for 2019-nCoV, the Japanese government said, as thousands of passengers and crew face a two-week quarantine.
An additional 41 passengers yesterday were found to have contracted the virus.
Japanese authorities had tested 273 people onboard the Diamond Princess, which was quarantined after a former passenger, who disembarked in Hong Kong last month, was diagnosed with the virus.
“The results of the remaining 171 tests came out and 41 tested positive,” Japanese Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Katsunobu Kato told reporters. “Today [yesterday] they will be sent to hospitals in several prefectures, and we are now preparing for that.”
Those newly diagnosed included 21 Japanese, as well as Americans, Canadians, Australians, an Argentine and a Briton. A Taiwanese was among the passengers earlier confirmed to have the virus.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare as of yesterday had reported 16 cases in Taiwan.
The viral outbreak had infected more than 31,400 people globally, health authorities in Beijing said yesterday.
In China there were 636 deaths and 31,161 confirmed cases on the mainland, with 22 cases, including one death, in Hong Kong and 10 cases in Macau.
Cases elsewhere were Japan (86); Singapore (30); Thailand (25); South Korea (24); Australia (14); Germany (13); Malaysia (14); the US and Vietnam (12 each); France (six); Canada and the United Arab Emirates (five each); the UK and India (three each); the Philippines (three cases, including one death); Russia and Italy (two each); and one each in Belgium, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Spain, Cambodia and Finland.
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