The doctor who tried to sound a warning that the coronavirus could grow out of control — has died.

Dr, Li Wenliang, 34, died after contracting the very illness he had told medical school classmates about in an online chat room.

In early January, he was called in by both medical officials and the police and forced to sign a statement denouncing his warning as an unfounded and illegal rumour.

Dr Li “had the misfortune to be infected during the fight against the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, and all-out efforts to save him failed,” the Wuhan City Central Hospital said.

Even before his death, Dr Li had become a hero to many Chinese afterword of his treatment at the hands of the authorities emerged.

In recent days,  China stepped up censorship after a rush of online criticism and investigative reports by emboldened Chinese journalists exposed missteps by officials who underestimated and underplayed the threat of the coronavirus.

Dr Li’s death has also exposed a troubling aspect of the epidemic that goes unmentioned in official statistics: the number of doctors, nurses and medical workers infected by the virus.

Some unverified pictures of what appear to be government data have indicated that hundreds of hospital workers may have been infected in Wuhan. Earlier in the outbreak, a prominent infectious disease expert said that a single patient had infected 14 medical workers at one hospital.