Coronavirus: China’s state media calls for police to explain charges brought against ‘rumour-mongers’

Newspaper under People’s Daily questions why five medical workers were detained, fined for sharing information about deadly outbreak

Police in southwest city of Wenshan issue vague statement saying group’s actions created ‘bad effects’

Reading Time:2 minutes

Police in southwest China have been asked to explain why they punished five medical workers for sharing information about the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 7:18pm, 8 Feb 2020Updated: 5:33pm, 14 Feb 2020

A Chinese state-owned newspaper has called for greater transparency from a police authority in the southwest of the country after five medical workers were punished on a vague offence related to the spreading of information about the coronavirus outbreak.

Police in Wenshan, Yunnan province, said on Thursday that the five had caused “bad effects” by collecting and circulating information and images about the outbreak, which has already claimed more than 720 lives.

Three people took advantage of their jobs to take photographs of materials related to coronavirus patients, while the two others shared that information on WeChat, China’s most popular messaging platform, police said.

They did not elaborate on the nature of the images or provide any more information about the suspects, all five of whom were fined 500 yuan (US$70), with four of them also given 10 days’ detention.

News of the crackdown in Wenshan came just a day after the public outpouring of grief and anger at the death of Li Wenliang, the young doctor who had been on the front line of the fight against the new coronavirus.