Opinion | Has China learned its lesson from the coronavirus tragedy? Judging by its continued censorship, no

Given what happened to the whistle-blower-turned-national-hero Dr Li Wenliang, my answer is no. Li – one of eight doctors who attempted to alert the public about the coronavirus outbreak, only to be reprimanded by local police – died on February 7.

Li’s death triggered huge waves of demand for freedom of speech across Chinese society and Beijing, on the day of his death, took the unusual move of sending an investigation team to Wuhan to look into “issues of public concern relating to Li Wenliang”. Yet, six weeks passed before any results were released to the public.

Second, Xinhua reporter Liao Jun took to the stage in Wuhan at a press conference organised by China’s State Council on March 8, and was hailed a “hero” for her frontline coverage of the coronavirus outbreak. But it was Liao who wrote a series of stories alleging that Li and other whistle-blowers were spreading rumours, and dismissing the risk of human-to-human transmission in the early days of the epidemic.