Director of Hospital in Coronavirus Epicenter Has Died from the Disease

The director of a hospital in the epicenter ofthe new coronavirus outbreakhas died from the disease despite a “full-effort rescue” to save his life,Chinese health officials saidTuesday.

Dr. Liu Zhiming, 51, was a leading neurosurgeon and director of Wuchang Hospital inWuhan, the origin of this coronavirus, now called COVID-19. Liu had developed pneumonia from COVID-19 and died just before 11 a.m.,according to the Wuhan health commission.

“From the start of the outbreak, Comrade Liu Zhiming, without regard to his personal safety, led the medical staff of Wuchang Hospital at the front lines of the fight against the epidemic,” the commission said,according toThe New York Times. Liu had “made significant contributions to our city’s fight to prevent and control the novel coronavirus.”

Liu’s hospital was one of seven in the city that took in COVID-19 patients, and treated thousands each day,USA Todayreported.

Wuchang Hospital

Liu is one of now1,875 total deaths worldwide, with all but five occurring in mainland China. As of Feb. 18, there are 73,451 confirmed cases of the disease, with the vast majority also occurring in mainland China.

After Li’s death,Chinese citizens revolted on their highly censored social media channels. The hashtag #WeWantFreedomOfSpeech was trending on China’s Weibo and WeChat sites, similar to Twitter, with anger-filled posts about Li’s death for several hours before censors took them down.

The Chinese government said last week that among the thousands of cases, more that 1,700 medical workers have developed COVID-19, and six have died.

source: people.com