A doctor working at a hospital in Wuhan, China — treating patients stricken with the coronavirus — died Saturday morning.

Liang Wudong, 62, died after he was infected with Wuhan coronavirus.

Wudong retired last year from his position as the head of the ear, nose and throat department at one of Wuhan’s top hospitals, the Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese & Western Medicine, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The doctor fell ill last week and was transferred to the Wuhan Medical Treatment Center, also known as Jinyintan Hospital.

The Communist Party’s flagship newspaper, the People’s Daily, portrayed him as a hero for having been “at the front line fighting against” the coronavirus in a post on Twitter.

The coronavirus, which causes pneumonia, has so far claimed the lives of at least 41 people while infecting at least 1,355, according to the Global Times, an English language paper in China.

Most of the cases are in and around Wuhan, in central China, but at least 19 others have been found as far away as Australia, France and the US. Three people are under observation in New York State, Gov. Cuomo said Friday.

China’s National Health Commission said that six groups of 1,230 medical staff were sent to Wuhan to help fight the outbreak, China Global Television Network tweeted. Another six groups are on call. The government is scrambling to build a new hospital to handle the crisis, which is expected to be operational in as little as two weeks.