WUHAN (CHINA DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Dr Mei Zhongming, an oculist with the Central Hospital of Wuhan in central China's Hubei province, died of the coronavirus disease on Tuesday (March 3), according to a notice issued by the hospital.

The 57-year-old was infected while treating patients with the virus, the hospital said, expressing deep condolences to his family.

Dr Mei was deputy director of the hospital's Ophthalmology Department, a colleague of Dr Li Wenliang, one of the eight people who tried to warn about the coronavirus when it first emerged in Wuhan and who died from the virus in early February.

According to a report by thepaper.cn, an unnamed doctor at the hospital was quoted as saying Dr Mei was infected in mid-January and his condition began to worsen around Feb 11.

Many of Dr Mei's patients mourned his death and said that he was a warm-hearted and patient doctor.