Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at a hospital in Wuhan, the city at the epicentre of the outbreak, became one of the most visible figures in the crisis after he publicly revealed that he was one of eight people reprimanded by Wuhan police last month for “spreading rumours” about the coronavirus.

“Wuhan indeed owes Li Wenliang an apology. Wuhan and Hubei officials also owe a solemn apology to the people of Hubei and this country,” Hu Xijin, the outspoken editor of the government-backed Global Times tabloid, said in a Weibo post.

News of Li’s death at age 34 became the top top-read topic on China’s microblogging site Weibo on Friday, with over 1.5 billion views, and was also heavily discussed in private WeChat messaging groups, where people expressed outrage and sadness.

There were also signs that discussions of his death were being censored, especially ones that blamed the government. Topics tagged “the Wuhan government owes Doctor Li Wenliang an apology” and “we want free speech” briefly trended on Weibo late on Thursday, but yielded no search results on Friday.

A selfie of him lying on a hospital bed earlier this week wearing an oxygen respirator and holding up his Chinese identification card was being shared widely.

Li’s case is a tricky one for China’s leadership after Beijing was accused of covering up the full extent of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003. Officials have called for transparency in the current crisis.

Reports of Li’s death surfaced on state media before midnight local time on Thursday in China, were removed, and then reappeared early on Friday.

The Wuhan hospital where Li worked said on its Weibo account that he died at 2:58 a.m. local time on Friday.

China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, which punishes official corruption, said on Friday it would send investigators to Wuhan to probe “issues raised by the people in connection with Dr. Li Wenliang.” It gave no further details.

The World Health Organization said on Twitter that it was “deeply saddened” by news of his death, while China’s National Health Commission and the Wuhan government also issued statements of condolence.

“Light a candle and pay tribute to the hero,” said one Weibo commentator. “You were the beam of light in the night.” An image also posted on Weibo showed a message, “farewell Li Wenliang”, carved into the snow on a riverbank in Beijing.

Some Chinese media outlets described him as a “hero who was willing to speak the truth”, while other commentators posted poems, photos and drawings saluting him.

ACCUSED OF DISRUPTING ORDER

In December, Li told a group of doctors on messaging app WeChat that seven cases of a disease resembling SARS had been linked to a seafood market in Wuhan, believed to be the source of the virus.

He posted a picture of a test result confirming a “SARS-like” coronavirus in a patient sample, according to a screenshot of the WeChat conversations seen and verified by Reuters.

A letter to Li from the Wuhan police on Jan. 3 said he had “severely disrupted social order” with his WeChat messages. He was asked to promise to stop such illegal behaviour immediately, or face criminal charges.

Li said on Weibo on Feb. 1 that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Reuters has been unable to reach Li’s family.

“We express our deep condolences and regret! We pay tribute to how he stood at the front line to fight the epidemic and offer our sincere condolences to his family!,” the Wuhan government said on its website.

Sarah Cook, a senior research analyst and China Media Bulletin Director at Freedom House, said the public outcry over Li looked “widespread and unified”, but noted that other national tragedies like a 2008 high-speed rail crash had incurred similar public reaction that later petered out.

China has reported more than 630 deaths and 30,000 cases of the coronavirus. (Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Writing by Ben Blanchard and Brenda Goh; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Michael Perry, Gerry Doyle and Raju Gopalakrishnan)