A hospital director at the epicentre of China’s virus epidemic died Tuesday, state media said, the latest medical worker to fall victim to the coronavirus which has spread across the country.
The COVID-19 virus, which is believed to have originated in Wuhan late last year, has spread to more than 72,000 people and killed 1,900 in China.
Liu Zhiming, the Director
of Wuchang Hospital in Wuhan, died Tuesday morning after “all-out rescue
efforts failed,” state broadcaster CCTV reported.
A hospital director at the epicentre of China’s virus
epidemic died Tuesday, state media said, the latest medical worker to fall
victim to the coronavirus which has spread across the country. The COVID-19
virus, which is believed to have originated in Wuhan late last year, has spread
to more than 72,000 people and killed 1,900 in China. Liu Zhiming, the Director
of Wuchang Hospital in Wuhan, died Tuesday morning after “all-out rescue
efforts failed,” state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Liu’s death was initially reported by Chinese media and
bloggers shortly after midnight on Tuesday — but the stories were later
deleted and replaced with reports that doctors were still attempting to save
him. The hospital director’s death has echoes of the death of Wuhan
ophthalmologist Li Wenliang, who had been punished by authorities for sounding
the alarm about the virus in late December.
Li’s death prompted a national outpouring of grief as well as
anger against the authorities, who were accused of mishandling the crisis.
People took to social media once more to mourn Liu on Tuesday, with many users
on the Twitter-like Weibo platform drawing comparisons between Liu’s death and
Li’s, which was also initially reported by state media and then denied hours
before being finally confirmed again.
Doctors in Wuhan face shortages of masks and protective
bodysuits, with some even wearing makeshift hazmat suits and continuing to work
despite showing respiratory symptoms, because of a lack of medical staff,
health workers have told AFP.