FILE PHOTO: People wearing masks attend a vigil for late Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist who died of coronavirus at a hospital in Wuhan, in Hong Kong, China February 7, 2020.
The Chinese government has announced that they were exonarating the whistleblower doctor who was reprimanded back in December for warning about the coronavirus before the outbreak even turned into a worldwide pandemic.
In a startling admission of error, China's ruling Communist Party stated that the Wuhan police force has already revoked its admonishment which included a threat of arrest of Dr. Li Wenliang, who later on died after catching the infection while in the frontlines of the battle against the virus.
The country's ruling party also said an apology tot he family of the late doctor and informed that the two police officers who have reprimanded the doctor have been issued the appropriate disciplinary action.
On February 7,2020, Li died of COVID-19, the same illness he tried to warn the world about. Li's death sparked anger and outrage towards the ruling Communist Party and their control over the vital information which could have saved tens of thousands of lives.
Furthermore, the death of the whistleblower doctor started the complaints about government officials in the country covering up disease outbreaks, industrial accidents, and natural disasters. In turn, many alleged that the country was instead punishing the whistleblowers and independent journalists who try to reveal their secrets.
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Eight Doctors have been Reprimanded since December for Warning about COVID-19
According to reports, in December, there have been eight doctors who have been reprimanded by the police force for trying to reveal in social media the truth about the impending threat of a virus which seemed to affect people like the Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) does.
After news about the police doing such things broke out, the Supreme Court of the country criticized the police for their actions. The ruling party, however, continued to keep a tight zip on the information about the virus.
In previous disasters, the ruling party has also been accused of covering up vital information. The said disasters included the 2003 SARS outbreak, a chemical spill that disrupted water supplies of millions of Chinese citizens in 2005 and even the failure of private finance companies during the global economic crisis.
In all of the instances, the party has been repeatedly accused of concealing or delaying vital information which could have helped people protect themselves before the situations worsened.
The usual response to these accusations by the ruling party is letting the public vent out temporarily, and before the matters worsen, use their influence and control of the media and internet to suppress criticism. They have also been known to putting persistent critics in jail on charges of spreading rumor and causing public alarm.
In the case of Wuhan, local leaders have also been accused of telling doctors back in December to not publicize the spreading "SARS-like" disease to avoid overshadowing the annual meeting of a local legislative body.
The said doctors were ordered to delete their social media posts where they were asking for donations of medical supplies, prompting complaints of how the authorities are more concerned about their image more than public safety.
The Communist Party was then condemned for keeping the information which could have prevented the worldwide pandemic.
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