In shocking U-turn, China raises COVID-19 linked death toll in Wuhan

Wuhan city, the capital of China`s Hubei province where the global coronavirus pandemic originated last December, on Friday revised the numbers of its confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Wuhan as of April 16 was revised up by 325 to 50,333, and the number of fatalities up by 1,290 to 3,869, reports Xinhua news agency.

In a notification, the Wuhan municipal headquarters for the COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control said the revisions were made in accordance with related laws and regulations as well as the principle of being responsible for history, the people and the deceased.

Four reasons for the data discrepancies were listed in the notification:

A surging number of patients at the early stage of the epidemic overwhelmed medical resources and the admission capacity of medical institutions. Some patients died at home without having been treated in hospitals.

During the height of their treating efforts, hospitals were operating beyond their capacities and medical staff were preoccupied with saving and treating patients, resulting in belated, missed and mistaken reporting.

Due to a rapid increase of designated hospitals for treating COVID-19 patients, including those administered by ministries, Hubei rovince, Wuhan city and its districts, those affiliated to companies, as well as private hospitals and makeshift hospitals, a few medical institutions were not linked to the epidemic information network and failed to report their data in time.

The registered information of some of the deceased patients was incomplete, and there were repetitions and mistakes in the reporting.

An official of the headquarters told the media that a group for epidemic-related big data and epidemiological investigations was established in late March.

The group used information from online systems and collected full information from all epidemic-related locations to ensure that facts about every case are accurate and every figure is objective and correct, the official said.

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"What lies behind epidemic data are the lives and health of the general public, as well as the credibility of the government," said the official, adding that the timely revision of the figures, among other things, shows respect for every single life.