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Pressure mounts on China to release whereabouts of journalist reporting on coronavirus

February 11, 2020

The number of confirmed cases of the virus has also risen globally.

Pressure is mounting on China to release the whereabouts of a missing citizen journalist who had been reporting on the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan.

Beijing-based lawyer and freelance video journalist Chen Qiushi, 33, had been posting regular updates on the situation in Wuhan on social media platforms, having travelled there on January 24 to cover the coronavirus outbreak.

In his coverage, Mr Chen visited local hospitals and featured other videos from Wuhan locals purporting to show body bags in vans and scenes of people waiting in overcrowded hallways for treatment.

In one of his final videos he spoke about a fellow citizen journalist who was taken into custody by police before being released after public outcry.

A statement released by US-based organisation Committee to Protect Journalists today states that Mr Chen told family he planned to report from one of Wuhan's newly established field hospitals on February 6.

Mr Chen hasn't been heard from since, leading his mother to post an emotional plea online asking to know what happened to her son.

“Authorities in Wuhan must disclose whether they are holding journalist Chen Qiushi. If they are, then he should be released immediately,” said Steven Butler, the journalist organisation’s Asia programme coordinator in Washington, DC.

“China does not seem to have learned the clear lesson that bottling up the truth about a spreading illness will only make matters worse.”

The official death toll released by China states that 1011 people have died in China since the outbreak began.

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