The Chinese doctor, who was responsible for being the first party to alarm the early warnings of Wuhan coronavirus is in a critical condition, reported CNN.
Hours earlier, the state media from China had reported Li Wenliang, 34, the doctor who sounded the early warnings, had died while getting treatment.
Meanwhile, Wuhan Central Hospital on its official Weibo account confirmed Wenliange had become seriously ill.
"In the fight against the pneumonia epidemic of the new coronavirus infection, our hospital's ophthalmologist Li Wenliang was unfortunately infected. He is currently in critical condition and we are trying our best to resuscitate him" the hospital's statement read.
Several state sponsored media including Global Times, People's Daily and the ruling Communist Party's official newspaper had earlier wrongly reported of his apparent demise, which has since been deleted from the respective media outlets.
Wenliang raised the alarm on the novel coronavirus in December 2019, posting in his medical school alumni group on the popular Chinese messaging app WeChat.
In his update, Wenliang noted that "seven patients from a local seafood market had been diagnosed with a SARS-like illness and were quarantined in his hospital in Wuhan."
