Celebrity doctor becomes instant hit on social media

Zhang Wenhong, known for his work in leading Shanghai's COVID-19 clinical expert team and his witty remarks about the fight against the pandemic, has attracted nearly 50,000 fans on his official Sina Weibo account even though he has yet to upload a post.

Zhang only created the account on May 11.

The doctor rose to fame after demonstrating his penchant for humorous comments related to epidemic prevention. In the early stages of the epidemic, Zhang said: "You are fighting the virus by staying at home because the virus will be suffocated to death by boredom".

Zhang, who is the head of the department of infectious diseases at Huashan Hospital, has also been helping to maintain and update the hospital's official Weibo account, including interpreting the latest trends of the epidemic and introducing scientific prevention methods to the public. Each article has been read by over 100,000 users.

Zhang also registered for an account on Douyin, one of the country's most popular short-video platforms, on April 24. He received over 2.4 million fans after posting eight short videos.