[4] On the same day, Li, who worked at the Central Hospital of Wuhan, received an internal diagnostic report of a suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) patient from other doctors, which he in turn shared with his Wuhan University alumni through a WeChat group.

[10][11] A subsequent Chinese official inquiry exonerated him; Wuhan police formally apologized to his family and revoked his admonishment on 19 March.

The alert and subsequent news reports were immediately published on ProMED (a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases).

[26] On the same day, Li saw a patient's report which showed a positive result with a high confidence level for SARS coronavirus tests.

The report had originated from Ai Fen, director of the emergency department at Wuhan Central hospital, who became alarmed after receiving laboratory results of a patient whom she had examined who exhibited symptoms akin to influenza resistant to conventional treatment methods.

[27] At 17:43, he wrote in a private WeChat group of his medical school classmates: "7 confirmed cases of SARS were reported [to hospital] from Huanan Seafood Market."

[28] After screenshots of his WeChat messages were shared on Chinese Internet and gained more attention, the supervision department of his hospital summoned him for a talk, blaming him for leaking the information.

][31] The existence of Li's personal blog where he documented his discoveries was reported by the Italian newspaper La Stampa on 1 February.

[32] Li later responded that he did not know whether he was one of the so-called "rumor mongers," but that he had been admonished for claiming a SARS outbreak, which at that time was unconfirmed.

It wrote on social media: "It might have been a fortunate thing if the public had believed the 'rumors' then and started to wear masks and carry out sanitization measures, and avoid the wild animal market.

[37] The patient suffered from acute angle-closure glaucoma and developed a fever the next day that Li then suspected was coronavirus-related.

Li's death provoked considerable grief and anger on social media which became extended to a demand for freedom of speech.

[52][53] Many people left messages in response to Li's last post on Sina Weibo, some lamenting his death and expressing anger at the authorities.

"[28] The World Health Organization posted on Twitter saying that it was "deeply saddened by the passing of Dr Li Wenliang" and "we all need to celebrate work that he did on #2019nCoV.

[28] China's highest anti-corruption body, the National Supervisory Commission, has initiated a "comprehensive investigation" into the issues involving Li.

[34][55] A group of Chinese academics, led by Tang Yiming – head of the school of Chinese classics at Central China Normal University in Wuhan – published an open letter urging the government to both protect free speech and apologize for Li's death.

"[56][57] Jie Qiao, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of Peking University Third Hospital in Beijing called Li a "whistle-blower dedicating his young life in the front line.

[61] The U.S. Senate honored Li by passing a resolution calling for transparency and cooperation from the Chinese government and CCP.

[66] On 3 March, International Journal of Infectious Diseases published an article, wrote "Dr Li Wenliang's example as an astute clinician should inspire all of us to be vigilant, bold and courageous in reporting unusual clinical presentations.

[71] When Li began showing symptoms of COVID-19, he booked a hotel room to avoid the possibility of infecting his family, before being hospitalized on 12 January.