A top doctor in China's fight against the coronavirus is under investigation for plagiarism, weeks after making a social media post questioning the country's zero-tolerance strategy to control the pandemic, Reuters reports.

Zhang Wenhong — a leading doctor described by state media as “China's Fauci”, after the top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci — has since said countries have to find a way “to learn to live with it”.

“The way China will choose in future will ... help establish communication with the world and a return to normal life, while protecting citizens from fear of viruses,” Zhang wrote on China's Twitter-like Weibo on July 29.

The suggestion of a softened approach to Chain's zero-case approach to virus control enraged nationalists who stalk China's social media. Zhang has found himself accused of “pandering to foreign ideas,” while an apparent witch hunt is targeting his academic credentials.