CORONAVIRUS: ONE OF THE FIRST DOCTORS TO WARN OTHERS ABOUT THE VIRUS IS "MISSING" AND FEARED TO HAVE BEEN DETAINED

DR AI FEN

A Chinese doctor who was one of the first to warn others about the spread of a "SARS-like" virus has gone missing, sparking fears she has been detained by authorities.

Dr Ai Fen spoke out and later gave interviews with the media, but has since gone silent.

"Just two weeks ago the head of Emergency at Wuhan Central Hospital went public, saying authorities had stopped her and her colleagues from warning the world," Australia's investigative show 60 Minutes reported on Sunday.

"She has now disappeared, her whereabouts unknown," the show reported, also tweeting photos of Ai.

Dr Ai was earlier given a stern reprimand after sending information about the early stages of the outbreak to a group of doctors.

DR AI FEN

She wrote about her concerns in a now-deleted essay published in China's People (Renwu) magazine.

Titled 'The one who supplied the whistle', it describes how Dr Ai had been silenced by her bosses after she took a photo of a patient's test results and circled the words "SARS coronavirus " in red.

A view of a street in Wuhan, Hubei province, the epicenter of China's coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, March 30, 2020. Picture taken March 30, 2020. REUTERS/Aly Song

Concern over her whereabouts is now growing as the Wuhan's lockdown is gradually lifted and people are urged to return to work.

Di Ai's whereabouts are currently unknown.

Ophthalmologist Li Wenliang was among eight people who shared Dr Ai's photo.

He was reprimanded by police and accused of spreading 'fake news' for warning the public of 'SARS at a Wuhan seafood market' on social media.

A woman wears a face mask as she shows her phone to a seller to pay for goods over barriers, which have been built to ringfence buildings in Wuhan, Hubei province, the epicenter of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in China, March 31, 2020. REUTERS/Aly Song

The 34-year-old medic died in the early hours of Friday despite attempts to resuscitate him. 

Three other doctors who worked alongside him have also died of the disease after contracting it while fighting the outbreak.


----THE MIRROR