COVID-19 whistleblower Li Wenliang's widow gives birth to son, says it's his 'final gift'

In a piece of heartening news, Fu Xuejie, the widow of COVID-19 whistleblower Dr. Li Wenliang has given birth to a baby boy, picture of whom she shared on Chinese messaging app WeChat. While speaking with a local news outlet, Fu Xuejie called the baby boy 'final gift' from her husband.

Dr. Li Wenliang was the first to raise an alarm over the deadly novel coronavirus disease' spread in Wuhan when the entire world remained oblivious to its existence and the havoc the infection would cause.

The Chinese doctor was reprimanded by the local authorities for 'seriously disrupting social order' after he sought to warn his colleagues about COVID-19. Dr. Li had posted to a group chat with other medics about some patients showing signs of a new SARS-like illness in early December -- well before the Chinese authorities admitted to the outbreak. Dr. Li Wenliang succumbed to the virus in the early hours on February 7 at the Wuhan hospital.

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'Spreading rumours'

The 34-year-old doctor was widely hailed as a hero in the wake massive public support after reports emerged of the local police targeting him, alleging that he was 'spreading rumours' about the virus when in fact he was trying to raise an alarm over the looming health crisis that took pandemic proportions.

It was only after the public outrage over his death, that Dr. Li Wenliang was exonerated and honoured as a hero by China. The Chinese government went to the extent of censoring thousands of critical remarks made by the citizens on social media platform Weibo [Chinese version of Twitter] to contain the outrage.

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According to the reports, the police detained Li for 'spreading false rumours' and forced him to sign a document that he had 'seriously disrupted social order' and breaching the law. As per reports, the National Supervisory Commission later said that the local officials “lost control” and showed 'ignorance of their job duties'. 

The Communist Party’s top disciplinary body reportedly said that Wuhan police had acted 'inappropriately' by punishing the doctor and had issued 'disciplinary punishments' to policemen and offered a 'solemn apology' to Li Wenliang’s family. The deadly virus has so far infected 7,632,802 people across the world and the number of cases are only increasing by the hour. 

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