On December 30, 2019, Li Wenliang, an eye doctor at Wuhan Central Hospital, wrote in a WeChat group of his medical school classmates that seven cases of SARS had been confirmed from the Huanan seafood market. He wanted to warn colleagues to protect themselves.
On January 3, 2020, a local police station gave him a warning and a reprimand for “publishing untrue statements on the internet.” Li died of COVID-19 on February 7, at the age of 33. On March 19, an investigation team of the National Supervisory Commission recommended that the reprimand be withdrawn.