The death of the 34-year-old doctor marked a pivotal moment in the coronavirus outbreak, as its rapid spread presents President Xi Jinping with his gravest political and economic challenge since assuming power in 2012.

Authorities are struggling to contain public anger over the official mishandling of the outbreak that has killed more than 600 people. The crisis also threatens to undermine the central government’s narrative that it is in control of the rapidly evolving situation.

References to [Li's] passing had been viewed 270m times on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, early on Friday after being announced by a Wuhan hospital.

Another Weibo user called Ren Xuanpan wrote “we all know it’s not the bat that kills people” — a reference to suggestions that the animal was the origin of the virus.

“The government has made Wuhan a living hell,” said another post.

Many users have posted lyrics to “Do you hear the people sing”, a song from the musical Les Misérables, to commemorate Li.

The Chinese government operates one of the world’s most comprehensive online censorship programmes and is able to cleanse social media of criticism of the government. 

The hashtag “I want freedom of speech” was censored during the night and is now unsearchable on both Weibo and Douban, another social networking platform.

When dissident and Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo died in custody in 2017, internet users posted candle emojis, an expression that was eventually blocked by the government.

During the last week of January, social media experts noted that a much higher degree of anti-government commentary — mainly anger at local government mismanagement of the crisis — had been permitted. But since the start of February, censors have stepped up efforts to remove negative comments.