Li Wenliang

Li Wenliang (12 October 1986 – 7 February 2020) was a Chinese Manchurian ophthalmologist who warned his colleagues about early COVID-19 infections in Wuhan.

Li Wenliang was born on 12 October 1986 in a Manchu family in Beizhen, Jinzhou, Liaoning.

His parents were former state enterprise workers and both lost their jobs in the 'wave of laid-offs' in the 1990s.

He attended Beizhen High School and graduated in 2004 with an excellent academic record.

He attended Wuhan University School of Medicine as a clinical medicine student in a seven-year combined bachelor's and master's degree program.

He joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in his second year.

His mentor praised him as a diligent and honest student.

His college classmates said he was a basketball fan.

After graduation in 2011, Li worked at the Xiamen Eye Center of Xiamen University for three years.

In 2014, Li became an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital in Wuhan.

In late December, doctors in Wuhan were puzzled by many "pneumonia" cases of unknown cause.

On 30 December 2019, Wuhan CDC issued emergency warnings to local hospitals about a number of mysterious "pneumonia" cases discovered in the city in the previous week.

On the same day, Li, who worked at the Central Hospital of Wuhan, received an internal diagnostic report of a suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) patient from other doctors which he in turn shared with his Wuhan University alumni through a WeChat group.

He was dubbed a whistleblower when that shared report later circulated publicly despite his requesting confidentiality from those with whom he shared the information.

Rumors of a deadly SARS outbreak subsequently spread on Chinese social media platforms; Wuhan police summoned and admonished him and seven other doctors on 3 January for "making false comments on the Internet about unconfirmed SARS outbreak."

The outbreak was later confirmed not to be SARS, but rather a new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.

Li returned to work and later contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, from a patient who was not known to be infected.

On 30 December 2019, the Wuhan CDC sent out an internal memo to all Wuhan hospitals to be alerted and started an investigation into the exact cause of the pneumonia.

The alert and subsequent news reports were immediately published on ProMED (a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases).

On the same day, Li saw a patient's report which showed a positive result with a high confidence level for SARS coronavirus tests.

The report had originated from Ai Fen, director of the emergency department at Wuhan Central hospital, who became alarmed after receiving laboratory results of a patient whom she had examined who exhibited symptoms akin to influenza resistant to conventional treatment methods.

The report contained the phrase "SARS coronavirus."

Ai had circled the word "SARS" and sent it to a doctor at another hospital in Wuhan.

From there it spread throughout medical circles in the city, where it reached Li.

At 17:43, he wrote in a private WeChat group of his medical school classmates: "7 confirmed cases of SARS were reported [to hospital] from Huanan Seafood Market."

He also posted the patient's examination report and CT scan image.

At 18:42, he added "the latest news is, it has been confirmed that they are coronavirus infections, but the exact virus strain is being subtyped."

Li asked the WeChat group members to inform their families and friends to take protective measures whilst requesting discretion from those he shared the information with; he was upset when the discussion gained a wider audience than he had hoped.

After screenshots of his WeChat messages were shared on Chinese Internet and gained more attention, the supervision department of his hospital summoned him for a talk, blaming him for leaking the information.

He died from the disease on 7 February 2020, at age 33.

A subsequent Chinese official inquiry exonerated him; Wuhan police formally apologized to his family and revoked his admonishment on 19 March.

In April 2020, Li was posthumously awarded the May Fourth Medal by the government.

By early June 2020, five more doctors from the Wuhan hospital had died from COVID-19.

On 3 January 2020, police from the Wuhan Public Security Bureau investigating the case interrogated Li, issued a formal written warning and censuring him for "publishing untrue statements about seven confirmed SARS cases at the Huanan Seafood Market."

He was made to sign a letter of admonition promising not to do it again.

The police warned him that any recalcitrant behavior would result in a prosecution.

Li returned to work at the hospital and contracted the virus on 8 January.

On 31 January, he published his experience in the police station with the letter of admonition on social media.

His post went viral and users questioned why the doctors who gave earlier warnings were silenced by the authorities.

The existence of Li's personal blog where he documented his discoveries was reported by the Italian newspaper La Stampa on 1 February.