This is such a sad and outrageous story. Something like this, every day at the beginning is crucial. He could have instigated the effort to prevent the spread of the virus days earlier, maybe weeks. Lives would have been saved, mainly Chinese ones.
Read up on it here:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-asia-china-51403795
“On 30 December he sent a message to fellow doctors in a chat group warning them to wear protective clothing to avoid infection.
Four days later he was summoned to the Public Security Bureau where he was told to sign a letter. In the letter he was accused of "making false comments" that had "severely disturbed the social order".
He was one of eight people who police said were being investigated for "spreading rumours" Local authorities later apologised to Dr Li.”
I agree it’s shady he died from it. That bbc article obviously can’t speculate but they still draw attention to it being unusual by stating “it’s not known if he had any pre existing health conditions.” Even the circumstances around it were odd - it was announced he died, then corrected to say he was in a critical condition, all within a short space of time. Then of course he did die, whether the first announcement was true or not. All so odd, sad and frustrating.