A doctor in the Chinese city of Wuhan claims he was told by police to stop warning fellow medics about a potential coronavirus outbreak.
Li Wenliang, who has since taken ill with flu-like symptoms, took to Chinese social media platform Weibo to share his story from his hospital bed.
“Hello everyone, this is Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital,” the post, published on January 31, begins.
He describes that in the first weeks of the coronavirus outbreak in China he noticed seven cases of a virus that he thought looked like Sars, the virus that led to a global epidemic in 2003.
The cases were thought to come from the Huanan Seafood market in Wuhan and the patients were in quarantine in his hospital, he said.
Dr Li said that, on December 30, he warned fellow doctors about the outbreak via a chat group and advised them to wear protective clothing.
What he did not know was that the disease was a completely new coronavirus.
He writes that he was visited by local authorities, the Public Security Bureau, on January 3 who told him to sign a letter in which he was accused of “making false comments and had “severely disturbed the social order”.
According to the BBC, the letter, posted to his Weibo account, says: "We solemnly warn you: If you keep being stubborn, with such impertinence, and continue this illegal activity, you will be brought to justice - is that understood?"
Underneath in Dr Li's handwriting is written: "Yes, I do."
He was one of eight people who police said were being investigated for "spreading rumours", the broadcaster said.
In the week after he was visited by police, Dr Li said he was still “working normally” and had treated a woman with glaucoma who he did not realise had been infected with the new coronavirus.
He describes how, on January 10, he started coughing, the next day he had a fever and two days later he was in hospital.
His parents also took ill and were admitted to hospital.
Ten days later, on January 20, China declared the outbreak an emergency.
On Tuesday, 20,000 cases of coronavirus had been diagnosed in China.
Dr Li says he has been tested several times for coronavirus, but all of them came back negative.
On his account, many people have hailed Dr Li a “hero” and flooded the post with messages of support.
