Head of Wuhan Hospital who caught coronavirus is 'still having treatment' say health officials - after Chinese media reported he DIED

A Hubei health official has said the head of a Wuhan hospital is still being treated after media reported he had died of the novel coronavirus.

Dr Liu Zhiming from Wuchang Hospital is undergoing resuscitation after falling critically ill, according to the social media account of a director from Hubei Provincial Health Commission.

The conflicting reports resemble the coverage of the death of Dr Li Wenliang, who was punished for sounding the alarm over the coronavirus and lost his life to the disease earlier this month.


Dr Li's hospital denied reports of his death, only to declare his passing in the wee hours the next day.

The move caused an outpouring of fury from the public, who accused the hospital of covering up truth.

Liu Zhiming, the director of Wuchang Hospital, died of the novel coronavirus today, according to Chinese media

By last Friday, the novel coronavirus had killed six health workers and infected 1,700 medical staff in China, according to Beijing.


The virus, formally known as COVID-19, has so far claimed at least 1,775 lives and infected more than 71,440 globally.

The news of Dr Liu's death was first reported by Chinese outlet Red Star News before a director from Hubei Provincial Health Commission denied the claims in a social media post. Dr Liu is the director of Wuhan Wuchang Hospital, which is designated to treat coronavirus patients

The news of Dr Liu's death was first reported by Red Star News.

Red Star News, a news outlet based in Chongqing, said it had confirmed the news from multiple sources.


One of its insiders was the director of the propaganda and education centre of the Hubei Provincial Health Commission.

In a post on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter, the official announced Dr Liu's death.

A Hubei health official retracted a previous social media post, claiming that the head of Wuchang Hospital Dr Liu Zhiming 'is still being resuscitated' after contracting coronavirus

Part of the post read: 'Mourn the first hospital director to have sacrificed himself.'


Red Star News also spoke to an unnamed doctor at Wuchang Hospital, who told the newspaper that he was saddened by Dr Liu's passing.

Another insider said Mr Liu had always been a healthy man and that he was surprised by the news of his death.

By last Friday, the novel coronavirus had killed six health workers and infected 1,700 medical staff in China, according to Beijing. Above, medical workers transfer a patient in the isolation wards for the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, at a hospital in Wuhan on February 6

About an hour later, the official from Hubei Provincial Health Commission claimed that Dr Liu was still being resuscitated.


He said he had deleted his previous post after hearing from Dr Liu's family.

A director from Hubei Provincial Health Commission claimed Dr Liu was still being resuscitated after uploading a message to mourn the death of the hospital chief. In the photo above, a doctor checks on the conditions of a patient in Jinyintan Hospital on February 13

The official then explained that he had learned about Dr Liu's death from a mutual friend of him and Dr Liu.


Wuchang Hospital is yet to comment on the report.

So far, the most high-profile medical worker killed by the coronavirus has been Dr Li Wenliang, who worked at Wuhan Central Hospital.

The ophthalmologist caught the public's attention after he was reprimanded by police and accused of spreading 'fake news' for warning on social media of 'SARS at a Wuhan seafood market' on December 30. Dr Li's post came two weeks before coronavirus broke out in the city of 14 million which has been locked down since January 20.


He was declared dead by his hospital in the early hours of February 7 after the management of his hospital had denied earlier reports of his death.

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This article first appeared on The Daily Mail.

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