China's National Supervisory Commission is to send a special team to Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, to investigate the public uproar over the deceased doctor Li Wenliang, who was one of the first to raise an early alarm over the novel coronavirus.

In a statement published on Friday, the commission said the action was approved by the central government and a comprehensive investigation into matters related to the deceased doctor will be conducted.

Li died in Wuhan City at 02:58 BJT on February 7, 2020. The Central Hospital of Wuhan, where he used to work, made the announcement on Weibo, saying, "We deeply regret and mourn this."

The 34-year-old ophthalmologist was, "Unfortunately infected during the fight against the pneumonia epidemic of the new coronavirus infection," according to the hospital.

Dr. Li started coughing on January 10, had a fever the next day and was admitted in hospital on January 12. He was confirmed as infected with the virus on February 1, according to his Weibo account, and his cough and fever led to his admission into an intensive care unit.

His untimely demise has triggered an outpouring of grief on Chinese social media. 

The National Health Commission, the Health Commission of Hubei Province and Wuhan Municipal Government released announcements on their official website on Friday to mourn the death of Dr. Li.

Dr. Li, with his professionalism and occupational sensitivity, issued a warning about the novel coronavirus in the early stage of its outbreak. Unfortunately, his warning didn't catch enough attention at that time. 

Back then, local health commission of Wuhan was still trying to confirm whether there had been human-to-human transmission. 

"The identification of a new type of virus is very complicated, but it turned out that Dr. Li Wenliang's warning was correct," said Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.  

Experts also agree that Li's case has exposed the problems in urban governance in Wuhan, in particular the obvious weakness in the management of major emergencies, which deserves in-depth reflection. They say that's also why people are recalling Dr. Li more with emotion as the epidemic spreads. 

Since the outbreak of the virus, Chinese President Xi Jinping has given multiple instructions, and rarely convened a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on the day of Spring Festival to fully deploy the prevention and control of the coronavirus. 

In another meeting of the Standing Committee held recently, President Xi stressed concerted and all-out efforts across the country to win the battle against the epidemic. 

Observers said the dispatch of such a high-level investigation team for Dr. Li's case has shown China's determination not to shy away from problems, which also greatly enhanced the confidence of all sectors to win the battle against the epidemic.