The family of a citizen journalist jailed in China for her coverage of the country’s initial response to COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan is worried about her survival after she went on a hunger strike. Zhang Zhan, 38, a former lawyer, travelled to Wuhan in February 2020 to report from the pandemic’s epicentre. She was detained in May 2020 for questioning the authorities for their handling of the outbreak, which followed with a four-year jail sentence in December for the all-too familiar charge of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”

Since the hunger strike, Zhang has lost weight considerably and “may not live for much longer”, her brother Zhang Ju wrote last week on a Twitter account verified by people close to the matter, according to AFP.

China school locks down students until COVID results over one positive case

Zhang was being force-fed through nasal tubes, her legal team, told the news agency earlier this year.

“She may not survive the coming cold winter,” Zhang Ju wrote, adding that he had urged his sister in letters to “take care of herself”.

“In her heart, it seems there is only God and her beliefs, with no care for anything else.”

Authorities reimpose lockdowns in China, COVID infections spread to 11 provinces

Rights group Amnesty International Thursday urged the Chinese government to “release her immediately so that she can end her hunger strike and receive the appropriate medical treatment she desperately needs”.

China’s foreign ministry on Friday dismissed the calls for Zhang’s release as “anti-China political manipulation.”

“China is a country with rule of law,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a press conference. “Anyone who breaks the law must be punished in accordance with the law.”

China locks down four million people as Delta variant drives infections

Besides Zhang, three other citizen journalists Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin and Li Zehua were also detained for their reporting from Wuhan.

Zhang is unable to walk or even raise her head without help, according to Reporters without Borders, which has called for her immediate release “before it is too late.”