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Democracy Chronicles

Ai Fen: The Whistleblowing Doctor Missing in China

by Thomas Manning - April 21, 2020

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Ai Fen

Wuhan doctor Ai Fen, responsible for the discovery of the Coronavirus in Wuhan, has disappeared and concerns about her whereabouts are growing. She hasn’t’ been heard from since early March. The doctor was one of nine at a Wuhan hospital who originally spoke out and warned of a new virus that had entered circulation. After giving numerous interviews to international media outlets, among the most notable being “60 Minutes Australia,” the doctor hasn’t been heard from.”

Dr. Ai, head of Emergency at Wuhan Central Hospital, spoke to the press in a way her government didn’t want and said publicly that authorities had stopped her and her colleagues from warning the world,” CBS 60 Minutes Australia reported March 29.

Wuhan has been at the center of the outbreak since the beginning of January when the virus first appeared. Wuhan is located in the Eastern region of China South of Beijing and the province had been under lockdown during the height of the pandemic only recently opening up after a visit from Chinese President Xi.

Weibo is basically a Chinese version of Twitter. “A river. A road. A clock chime,” Ai’s Weibo account read. Some fear that this tweet is cryptic given the restrictive nature of the Communist regime. The account also assured people that the doctor was back at work, but RFA (Radio Free Asia) was unable to verify if the Doctor was indeed back.

Dr. Ai was one of the first to warn the Chinese government and people of the virus in a now-deleted essay in “Chinese People Magazine.” she took pictures of infected people’s tests in the lab and labeled the tests, “SARS Coronavirus Red.”

Ai is believed to only have notified eight of her colleagues of the new virus. All nine have since been reprimanded by the Communist regime.

One of the doctors, Li Wenliang later died of Covid-19.

“She has now disappeared, her whereabouts are unknown,” 60 Minutes Australia tweeted in late March. Most of the time, when someone “disappears” in China, it means they’ve either been executed or sent to prison by the Communist regime.

Even though things have been trying to get back to normal in Wuhan, there have been growing concerns of “a-symptomatic carriers,” people who look like they’re doing ok health-wise but are carrying the virus and possibly infecting other people.

“Asymptomatic carriers, as they’re called, are defined by the government, who just keep on redefining the parameters and then say that there are no confirmed cases,” Hubei province resident Feng Jianbin, said regarding the cases of Asymptomatic carriers. Those asymptomatic carriers show no symptoms but are potentially highly contagious. Hubei is the province where Wuhan is the capital city in China.

There have been cases supposedly reported in South Korea where people have recovered and then possibly have been re-infected.

“The day before yesterday there was a case like this in Jingmen city, who had traveled through Wuhan and stayed there for two days,” he said. “That was two-and-a-half months ago, and they’ve only just discovered him, which is terrifying,” Fen continued.

The United States, along with our allies in the rest of the developed world, must place pressure on China to help free the doctor and when this whole crisis is over. It is time that the world unite and hold China responsible for the abysmal human rights record it enforces in the second biggest global economy. Our very health is at stake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Filed Under: DC Authors Tagged With: Asia, China, Journalism and Free Speech, Political Dissidents

About Thomas Manning

Thomas Manning writes for Democracy Chronicles from New York City and is a key part of our increasing coverage of democracy news. Checkout the rest of our international team of authors as well. Together, they help cover free and fair elections on every continent with a focus on election reform in the United States.

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