Investigators are launching a probe into the death of Li Wenliang, the Chinese doctor who sounded the alarm on the spread of coronavirus in Wuhan — as the global death toll from the illness rose to 638.
China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, which punishes official corruption, announced Friday it would send investigators to Wuhan to probe “issues raised by the people in connection with Dr. Li Wenliang,” without elaborating further.
“The CCDI has now sent an investigation team to carry out a full probe in response to public concerns and to allow people to look forward to the revealing of the full truth,” the state-run People’s Daily wrote in an editorial.
Li’s death set off a firestorm on China’s microblogging site Weibo Friday, with more than 1.5 billion views.
People expressed both their anger and sorrow over the 34-year-old doctor’s death in private WeChat messaging groups.
But some discussions of the doctor’s death — especially among those that blamed China’s Communist government — appeared to have been censored. Topics tagged “the Wuhan government owes Doctor Li Wenliang an apology” and “we want free speech” briefly trended on Weibo late Thursday, but did not show up in searches Friday.
Li was one of eight whistleblowers who tried to sound an early alarm about the new virus — only to be denounced by authorities for “rumormongering.”
Wuhan Central Hospital officials had initially said Li was fighting for his life — despite reports that he had died — but eventually confirmed he had passed away.
The doctor leaves a pregnant wife and a young child.
The deadly coronavirus has killed more than 630 people, all but two cases in mainland China. Globally, it has infected over 31,000 people.
With Post wires
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