2, June 2020
Wuhan doctor at whistleblower’s hospital dies from coronavirus 0
A Wuhan doctor who worked with coronavirus whistleblower Li Wenliang died of the virus last week, state media reported Tuesday, becoming China’s first COVID-19 fatality in weeks.
Hu Weifeng, a urologist at Wuhan Central Hospital, died on Friday after being treated for COVID-19 and allied issues for more than four months, state broadcaster CCTV said.
He is the sixth doctor from Wuhan Central Hospital to have died from the virus, which emerged in the central Chinese city late last year.
Cases have dwindled dramatically from the peak in mid-February as the country appears to have brought the outbreak largely under control.
The official death toll in the country of 1.4 billion people stands at 4,634 — well below the number of fatalities in less populous nations.
Wuhan Central Hospital has yet to give a formal statement on Hu’s death. In early February it said some 68 staff members had contracted coronavirus.
Hu’s condition became a national concern after Chinese media showed images of him with his skin turned black due to liver damage.
Fellow doctor Yi Fan showed similar symptoms, but recovered and has since been discharged from hospital.
The death of their colleague Li Wenliang in February triggered a national outpouring of grief and rage against the government as he documented his final days on social media.
The 34-year-old ophthalmologist was reprimanded by authorities after he warned colleagues about the virus in late December.
Beijing has since named him a national martyr, but suppressed much of the dissent and criticism sparked by his death.
Other medical whistleblowers at Wuhan Central Hospital — including emergency unit director Ai Fen — have told Chinese media they were punished by authorities for speaking out.
China has not released a complete figure of the number of medical worker deaths from Covid-19, but at least 34 medics have been awarded posthumous honours by health authorities.
In February the National Health Commission said some 3,387 health workers had been infected.
Source: AFP
2, June 2020
UN chief urges investigation into police violence against US protesters 0
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has urged restraint by US authorities toward protesters and called for probe into allegations of police violence, his spokesperson said Monday.
Protests should remain peaceful, while “authorities must show restraint in responding to demonstrators in US as in any other country in the world,” Guterres believes, according to spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
“We have seen over the last few days cases of police violence,” Dujarric told reporters at the United Nations in New York, where protests have been held every night since Wednesday over the death of an African American, George Floyd, in police hands last week in Minneapolis.
“All cases obviously need to be investigated. Police forces around the world need to have adequate human rights training,” he told reporters.
Floyd’s death on May 25 in Minneapolis has reignited protests across the US that have flared repeatedly in recent years over police killings of black Americans.
Dujarric said that Gutteres is also concerned about police attacks on journalists during the protests which have hit dozens of US cities, in many cases turning violent and resulting in arson and looting.
“When journalists are attacked, societies are attacked. No democracy can function without press freedom,” he said.
In recent days, many journalists have had tense encounters with the police during the nationwide demonstrations against racism and police brutality.
Linda Tirado, a freelance photographer, activist and author, was shot in the left eye Friday while covering the street protests in Minneapolis.
Minnesota State Patrol officers arrested a CNN reporting team live on the air on Friday. That same day, a TV reporter in Louisville, Ky., was hit by a pepper ball by an officer who appeared to be aiming at her while she covered the protest on live television.
The arrest of the CNN team drew criticism from First Amendment advocates and an apology from Minnesota’s governor, but there have been dozens of other instances of journalists receiving rough treatment at the hands of police officers while covering the protests. In interviews, reporters said they had identified themselves as members of the press before police fired projectiles, drew their weapons or pepper-sprayed them.
Many reporters, photographers and press advocates said the treatment of journalists by police officers in recent days reflected an erosion of trust in the news media that has seeped into law enforcement under President Trump, who has deemed critical coverage of his administration “fake news” and has frequently labeled some news organizations and journalists with variants of the phrase “enemies of the people.”
Source: Presstv