(Screenshot of Fu Xuejie's Wechat moment)

"Are you seeing this in heaven? The last gift you gave me was born today. I will love and take care of him,” Li Wenliang's wife wrote on her WeChat moments after giving birth to their second child, a boy, on Friday, media reported.

Fu Xuejie, wife of late ophthalmologist Li from the Central Hospital of Wuhan who sounded an early alarm for the novel coronavirus, domestic news outlet Lizhi News reported on Friday that she had given birth to a boy.

The baby weighed 3.45 kilograms, according to the media report. Floods of messages were left on social media to welcome him to the world, with some netizens “wishing him happiness forever.” Li was hailed a hero by Chinese netizens for his courage in warning people at an early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak. The doctor died following a battle with the coronavirus on February 7.

“I feel like crying as people have not forgotten him. This is the best news of the day for me,” one netizen wrote in a post.

“We hope this child will carry on the spirit of Dr Li and be a good man,” another netizen said.

Chinese authorities awarded the doctor and other 32 people May 4th Medals to commemorate their sacrifices in fighting against COVID-19. Li’s official introduction read: “As an ophthalmologist, he was not afraid of danger and was not afraid to come into close contact with patients… He stuck to his frontline post and took care of patients in eight beds. When he became infected with COVID-19 at work, he was always concerned about the frontline and said many times that he would go back after recovering."

Following his death in February, anger and grief flooded Chinese social media, and many named the man a national hero, expressing indignation toward Wuhan authorities' early handling of his case.

Li was among eight Wuhan residents who were reprimanded by local police in early January for spreading "rumors" about the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

Many said the experience of the eight "whistle-blowers" was evidence of local authorities' incompetence at the early stage in tackling a contagious and deadly virus.