By Breitbart. Several Chinese state media outlets reported the death of Dr. Li Wenliang on Thursday, only to delete their reports a few hours later and publish new bulletins indicating he remains in critical condition at Wuhan Central Hospital.
No explanation was offered for why the death of Li, who was arrested for “spreading rumors” after providing one of the earliest warnings about the true danger of the coronavirus epidemic, was incorrectly reported by state-controlled media.
Li was one of eight people notoriously arrested in December for “rumor-mongering” by warning colleagues about the highly contagious nature of the Wuhan virus. He went on to contract the virus in January from one of his patients and has been hospitalized for several weeks.
His death was widely reported on Thursday morning, to the great dismay of the Chinese public, which expressed anger that a heroic whistleblower died from the coronavirus after suffering mistreatment by the authorities, and fear that a 34-year-old man in seemingly good health could die from the disease. According to official Chinese government reports, most of the roughly 560 people who have died from the Wuhan virus to date were elderly or had serious medical conditions before they contracted the disease.
The first indication of Li’s death was a Twitter post from China’s state-run Global Times, which would have been intended for an international audience since Twitter is banned in China. The tweet has since been deleted, along with various stories in Chinese media about his death including a post by the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, the People’s Daily.
(Read more from “China Reports, Deletes, Then Again Reports Death of Wuhan Virus Whistleblower Doctor” HERE)
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Doctor Claims There Are ‘Probably Close to 100,000’ Coronavirus Cases in China
By Fox News. Fox News medical correspondent Dr. Marc Siegel joined “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Thursday to give an update on the coronavirus outbreak following the death of a Chinese doctor who first brought public attention to the virus.
Wuhan Central Hospital ophthalmologist Li Wenliang, 34, reportedly shared his concerns about the illness via private chat with medical school graduates in December after several patients exhibited symptoms similar to SARS before he was visited and warned by authorities. He was then summoned to the local Public Security Bureau where he was forced to sign a letter stating that he made false comments about the virus, the BBC reported. Authorities later apologized. . .
The novel coronavirus has sickened more than 31,000 people worldwide and resulted in at least 638 deaths. About 99 percent of cases have occurred in mainland China, although one death has been reported in the Philippines and a second has been reported in Hong Kong.
Siegel told Carlson that he believed the death toll to be much higher than the number Chinese authorities have reported, offering a number close to “100,000” cases. (Read more from “Doctor Claims There Are ‘Probably Close to 100,000’ Coronavirus Cases in China” HERE)
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