Wuhan revises coronavirus death toll to 50% higher than previously stated
17 April 2020, 08:17
The Chinese city of Wuhan has revised its coronavirus death toll to be 50 per cent higher than originally stated.
It has been increased by 1,290, making the new total figure 3,869.
The total number of coronavirus cases in Wuhan has also been raised by 325 to 50,333.
The Chinese city, which is seen as the epicentre of the virus outbreak, has already lifted its lockdown.
For the last two months, the 11 million people living in Wuhan have been subject to a drastic set of lockdown measures in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus.
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Currently, more than 2 million cases of coronavirus have been reported worldwide, with more than 137,000 deaths.
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With its revised death toll, Wuhan now has the most fatalities in Chia.
It also counts for around two thirds of China's total 82,367 cases.
The official Xinhua News Agency quoted an unidentified Wuhan official as saying: "During the early stages of the outbreak, due to the insufficiency in admission and treatment capability, a few medical institutions failed to connect with the disease prevention and control system in time, while hospitals were overloaded and medics were overwhelmed with patients.
"As a result, belated, missed and mistaken reporting occurred."
However, China has strongly refuted any claims that is delayed reporting on the virus outbreak last year, or that underreporting led to a worsening impact worldwide.
The ruling Communist Party declared in May that the virus had been defeated as early as March and started reopening factories and offices even as the United States and Europe tightened lockdown measures.
Dominic Raab confirms that UK lockdown will be extended for 'at least the next three weeks'
It comes as Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said there will be "no more business as usual" with China once the coronavirus crisis is over.
He said there will need to be a "deep dive" review into how the virus spread so quickly from the country.
Mr Raab also said that "hard questions" will need to be asked about why the spread of the virus was not halted earlier.
"I think there absolutely needs to be a very, very deep dive after the event review of the lessons - including of the outbreak of the virus - and I don't think we can flinch from that at all, it needs to be driven by the science," Mr Raab said the government's daily coronavirus news conference on Thursday.
