Chinese citizen journalist jailed for Covid coverage at imminent risk of death

Jailed Chinese citizen journalist, Zhang Zhan, who covered Wuhan's virus outbreak is close to death following months of intermittent hunger strikes in protest of being jailed, according to her family.

Zhang is now severely underweight and "may not live for much longer", her brother Zhang Ju wrote on Twitter. This has prompted fresh calls from several rights groups for her immediate release.

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Zhan had traveled to Wuhan in February 2020 to report Wuhan's Covid outbreak where she also questioned the Chinese authorities.

Following this she was detained in May 2020 and in December 2020, she was sentenced to four years in prison after being found guilty of a vaguely defined charge often leveled by the authorities against those critical of the Chinese authorities.

Zhan was also accused of accepting interviews with foreign media outlets and "maliciously spreading" information about the virus in Wuhan.