China One month ago, Dr. Li Wenliang was regarded as the one spreading rumors, now he is hailed as a hero.

On December 30, 2019, ophthalmologist Ly Van Luong, 34, at Wuhan Central Hospital sent a message to a WeChat chat group of 150 former classmates, warning of 7 cases of virus infection. which he considers SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), an outbreak in China in 2002 that killed about 800 people.

"They are in isolation at the emergency department of our hospital," he wrote, adding that the patients were involved in the Hoa Nam seafood market, which is a wildlife trade. He advised his friends to wear protective clothing to avoid the virus. What Dr. Li did not know was that the disease was a completely new strain of corona virus.

Li's message caught the attention of officials after one of the group posted screenshots of the conversation online. The other 7 doctors then shared similar messages across the three chat groups.

On the night of December 30, 2019, Wuhan City health officials summoned Li, asking to know why he shared the information. On January 3, police forced Li to sign the minutes, he was accused of "spreading false information seriously disrupting social order".

At the end of January, Li posted the minutes to Weibo and explained what happened. The local government apologized to him but that apology came too late. In the first few weeks of January, officials in Wuhan insisted that the outbreak was spread only from animals to humans. There is no instruction on the protection of physicians.

However, there are signs that the official's notice is wrong in the case of several members of an infected family, even though they have never been to Hoa Nam market. On January 20, Chinese epidemiologist confirmed the virus was transmitted from person to person. Worse, a patient has infected at least 14 medical staff. The epidemic has spread in 25 countries and territories, leaving 427 people dead and more than 20,600 infected.

Dr. Li said he discovered nCoV can be passed from person to person 10 days before the Chinese expert's announcement. On January 8, he treated an 82-year-old female patient with glaucoma. "We usually do not wear protective gear when interacting with patients and patients do not have a fever when I check up. On January 9, she had a fever. CT scan results showed that she had viral pneumonia. But However, the hospital did not have an nCoV test device at the time, so at that time she had not been diagnosed. "

Li started coughing on January 10. The next day he had a fever and was hospitalized two days later. Li was tested several times but was negative for nCoV. However, he still had difficulty breathing and could not move, his parents also fell ill and had to be hospitalized.

On January 30, he posted on Weibo: "The nucleic acid test results showed positive, everything was clear, it's true that I was infected with the virus."

On January 28, a commentary on the Chinese Supreme Court's social network criticized the reprimand of Li and other doctors for spreading "rumors". "If the public listened to this 'rumor' at the time and took measures such as wearing masks, strict disinfection and avoiding going to wildlife markets, we could have prevented and controlled it. spread the virus better, "the commentary reads.

Tang Guang, a leading scientist at the National Health Commission of China, on January 29 mentioned Li and his friends during a live broadcast last week. "These eight people are admirable," he said. "They have a vision."

Li received strong support online, his posts attracted hundreds of thousands of likes and comments expressing gratitude and encouraging him to overcome the disease.

"Doctor Li, you are a great doctor with a good conscience and heart," one wrote.

"Doctor Ly Van Luong is a hero. But I'm worried that in the future, doctors will be afraid to make early warnings when they see signs of infectious disease," another commented. "A safer public health environment requires tens of millions of people like Ly Van Luong."