Heart-breaking footage has captured the moment the wife of a hospital chief in Wuhan bade a tearful farewell to her husband after he died of coronavirus.

Devastated Cai Liping, a nurse, was caught on camera wailing and chasing a van which was taking her husband's body from a







hospital to a crematorium in the epicentre of the outbreak.

Her partner, 51-year-old Dr Liu Zhiming, was declared dead Tuesday morning after contracting the deadly disease while fighting the epidemic on the front line, according to Wuhan health officials.

Dr Liu, the former director of Wuhan Wuchang Hospital, was the first Chinese hospital leader who has lost his life to the novel coronavirus, which has killed more than 2,100 people.

He had just celebrated his birthday a week before his death and had refused to let his wife look after him during his treatment out of concerns that she could have caught the virus from him, reported Hubei Daily.

His family, friends and colleagues gathered outside the Zhongfa Xincheng branch of Wuhan Tongji







Hospital Tuesday afternoon to give him a send-off.

A video trending on Chinese social media shows one hazmat-clad mourner, reported to be Dr Liu's wife, crying out loud and running after a van.