The World Health Organization (WHO), in social media posts, announced that Li Wenliang, the medical doctor, who first talked about the spread of a mysterious illness in Wuhan City in Hubei province, China has died.
WHO, in a tweet, said “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Dr. Li Wenliang. We all need to celebrate work that he did on #2019nCoV.”
Wuhan Central Hospital, where Li worked, confirmed that he expired Friday morning.
“Our hospital’s ophthalmologist Li Wenliang was unfortunately infected with coronavirus during his work in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic. He died at 2:58 am on Feb 7 after attempts to resuscitate were unsuccessful,” the hospital announced.
Li is a Wuhan-based ophthalmologist who sent messages to his friends warning about virus-related deaths in the city.
He was reprimanded by the police after he sent out the messages.
The mysterious illness was late diagnosed and connected to what became known as the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019 nCoV), which has spread to at least 22 countries and claimed more than 600 lives in Hubei province and two outside China.
READ MORE: Chinese doctor who first warned of coronavirus outbreak now battles 2019-nCoV
