Jiang Yanyong, the Chinese military surgeon who exposed an early cover-up of the 2003 SARS epidemic in China, has died at the age of 91. China.

The news of his death was reported by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post and activist Hu Jia, who told Western news agencies that Jiang died of pneumonia while being treated in a military hospital.

However, in mainland China, his death was hushed up and references to him were censored, indicating that even two decades later he was still considered a threat to the political establishment.

“i’m not a hero. What I did was say some honest things,” he said in 2013 of his revelations at the time.

Despite decades of lack of public life and silence from the Chinese authorities, Jiang’s case took over. symbolism of historical importance after the start of the coronavirus pandemic due to similarities in management and an attempt to cover up the number of Covid cases at the start of the pandemic. Before it was contained in 2003, SARS claimed the lives of at least 800 people.

Chronicles

In mid-March 2003, the World Health Organization issued the first warning about the virus, but the Chinese media ignored it. Then, on April 3, Health Minister Zhang Wenkang announced during a press conference that China was safe and that “SARS has been brought under effective control” with only three deaths and 12 confirmed cases in Beijing.

Jiang was outraged by this statement. Although in semi-retirement status, he knew from the inside how military hospitals are facing an outbreak in patients with atypical pneumonia – only in Beijing more than 100 cases. So he decided to send an email to state television and Hong Kong’s Phoenix Channel accusing then Health Minister Zhang Wenkang, who was also a military doctor, of covering up the true number of SARS.

“All doctors and medical staff who saw yesterday’s news are furious,” he wrote, among other things, condemning the Chinese Ministry of Health for “abolishing the most basic rule of physician integrity.”

Neither station aired Jiang’s letter, but it was leaked to Time magazine, which published an article on April 8, 2003 under the headline “SARS Attack in Beijing.”

International pressure on Beijing intensified, and soon the World Health Organization raised the question of whether Beijing was hiding the true extent of the epidemic. Under the weight of events, the Chinese leadership

International pressure on China has intensified, and the WHO has questioned whether Beijing is hiding the extent of the epidemic. The Chinese leadership immediately fired Zhang and Beijing Mayor Meng Xuenong, while public health officials took aggressive measures to contain the spread.

“I felt that I had to reveal what was happening not only to save China, but to save the whole world,” he said.

Source: Washington Post.