A photo of Li Wenliang is among the flowers people sent to the Central Hospital of Wuhan on Saturday. Photo: Cui Meng/GT

China's top health and human resources authorities have honored a group of frontline Chinese doctors as outstanding individuals in combating the deadly coronavirus, while doctors who sacrificed their lives in the battle, including Wuhan doctor Li Wenliang, who was deemed a "whistleblower"  for sounding the alarm about a lurking outbreak in the early stages and died from the infection, were also honored posthumously. 

The National Health Commission, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine jointly decided to praise 472 outstanding individuals and 113 groups in fighting the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) and posthumously honored 34 frontline medical staff, including Li Wenliang, a local doctor in epicenter Wuhan, who initially sent out warnings of the outbreak on social media. 

Li was one of the eight "whistleblowers" who attempted to warn other medics of the coronavirus outbreak but were reprimanded by local police. He died as a result of the coronavirus infection on February 7, which led to an outpouring of grief and anger. Many paid respects to his integrity and honesty, hailing him as a heroic whistleblower who tried to save lives.

Many said that local authorities owe him an apology for reprimanding him and saying he spread "rumors" - which turned out to be a warning that could have helped the country avoid a huge public health crisis.

Out of the 34 honored deceased medical workers, 21 are from epidemic-stricken Hubei Province in Central China, including Liu Zhiming, director of Wuchang Hospital who passed away on February 18 due to COVID-19 infection and the first hospital director to die amid the outbreak, and Peng Yinhua, frontline doctor at the First People's Hospital of Jiangxia District in Wuhan who had earlier delayed his wedding in order to treat infected patients at the hospital.

Liu Fan, a 59-year-old nurse at Wuhan Wuchang Hospital, who died from the virus on February 14, is also on the list. Liu's parents died from the virus a few days before she and her brother died from the disease, both on the same day.

Another person included in the list is Xia Sisi, a 29-year-old doctor from the gastroenterology department at Wuhan Caidian District People's Hospital, who passed away on February 23 due to COVID-19 infection while battling on the frontline against the epidemic. 

Wang Guangfa, a leading Chinese respiratory expert at Peking University First Hospital in Beijing, who was the first coronavirus-infected expert to be cured of the disease, is also on the honor list. Wang was among the first batch of national medical experts dispatched to Wuhan in early January. 

Honored groups include medical support teams sent to Hubei from different provinces and regions such as Beijing, East China's Jiangsu Province and Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.