Xie Linka (born 1981, ) is a Chinese
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
who gave early warning about the spread of
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
in
Wuhan
Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. She became known for being a
whistleblower
A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...
, a title given to others in China who had warned the public, such as
Liu Wen, and Dr.
Li Wenliang, who was infected and later died from the virus.
Education
Xie Linka graduated with a
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
Entertainment
* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
* ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic
* Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group
** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
from the
Tongji Medical College
Tongji Medical College (TJMC, ) is a medical school in Wuhan, China. Formerly Tongji Medical University (), it became part of the newly established Huazhong University of Science and Technology ( HUST) in 2000. More than 10 graduates of the m ...
of
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
The Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST; ) is a public research university located in Guanshan Subdistrict, Hongshan District, Wuhan, Hubei province, China. As a national key university directly affiliated to the Ministry of E ...
, and is the attending physician at the Cancer Center at
Wuhan Union Hospital
The Wuhan Union Hospital () is a largest teaching hospital and oldest historical hospital was since 1866 in Jianghan District, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
History
The hospital was founded by Griffith John on September 8, 1866, as Hankow Renji Hospital ...
.
Whistleblowing incident
On December 30, 2019, Xie Linka posted a message in the
WeChat
WeChat () is a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018, with over 1 billion monthly active users. WeChat has bee ...
group for her workplace, the Cancer Center at Wuhan Union Hospital.
She stated, "Don't visit
Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in the near future. Many people there have contracted an inexplicable pneumonia (similar to
SARS). Our hospital has admitted numerous
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
patients from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market today. Everyone, please make sure to wear masks and keep your room ventilated," and cited her source as "news posted in our alumni group by a junior from my hospital."
Police call
Around January 3, 2020, Xie received a phone call from the Wuhan Police, instructing her not to spread "false information", although she noted they were "very polite" in their tone.
Interview comment
Xie later stated in an interview that her "early warning" to the public was part of a doctor's duty.
See also
*
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
*
COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China
*
Li Wenliang
*
Liu Wen
*
Jiang Yanyong
Jiang Yanyong (born October 4, 1931) is a Chinese physician who publicized a coverup of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in Mainland China. Born into the Zhejiang Xingye Bank family, Jiang was the chief physician of the 3 ...
References
Chinese whistleblowers
Huazhong University of Science and Technology alumni
21st-century Chinese physicians
21st-century Chinese women physicians
1981 births
Living people
COVID-19 researchers
COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan
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