(Yicai Global) Feb. 23 -- A 28-year-old employee of Chinese tech giant ByteDance has died suddenly after taking ill and needing to be hospitalized.

ByteDance confirmed in a statement that the employee, named Wu Wei, died at 1.43 p.m. today after receiving medical attention at a Beijing hospital over a 41-hour period. The Beijing-based TikTok owner bore all the medical expenses and provided full logistical support, it added.

Wu fell ill after exercising at the company gym on Feb. 21 and was admitted to hospital at 12.30 a.m. yesterday, according to a leaked screenshot of a message ByteDance allegedly posted in its internal network this morning. He had been in a critical condition since that time.

Sudden deaths are mainly related to cardiac arrest due to cardiovascular diseases, according to online medical platform Dxy.Cn.

After the news quickly spread on Chinese social media, many netizens put Wu’s death down to the long working hours expected by China’s tech companies, which are well-know for their demanding schedules and workloads. Some have announced plans to do away with the so-called 996 working hour system, whereby staff graft from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week, as well as cut overtime and enforce rest breaks.

Wu’s wife, who is unemployed, messaged in a group chat with the couple’s house owners asking for help and claiming her husband had died last night, contradicting ByteDance’s statement saying that Wu was still alive at 12.30 a.m. The couple has to make monthly mortgage repayments of CNY21,000 (USD3,320).

ByteDance said it will provide compensation and care for the family, help to handle relevant matters, and try its best to help them overcome difficulties.

Editors: Zhang Yushuo, Futura Costaglione