On 30 December 2019 at 19:39, neurologist Liu Wen posted in his Wuhan Red Cross Hospital work WeChat group that a coronavirus-infection pneumonia case had been confirmed at another Wuhan hospital and warned nursing colleagues to avoid the Huanan area. He said he believed the illness might involve person-to-person transmission and urged medical staff to protect themselves. The message was an early internal warning during the first known phase of the COVID-19 outbreak.
On 31 December, hospital-related authorities interviewed Liu, demanded his source, and told him not to spread “fabricated rumours”; he documented the encounter in the presence of two police officers. Liu later told Caixin that police summoned him to a station around 2 January 2020, questioned him, prepared written transcripts, and took his fingerprints, although he did not receive the written reprimand issued to Li Wenliang. Caixin reported on 7 February that Liu, Li, and Xie Linka did not know whether they were among eight people publicly identified by police. The source records no subsequent prosecution or formal regulatory finding, but the questioning and fingerprinting became evidence of official pressure on early outbreak warnings.
