Categories: News

China Just Added Almost 1,300 to Wuhan Death Toll, Blames ‘Delayed Reporting’

That's an increase of about 50%.

China has revised its official reports of death toll in Wuhan.
The country added 1,290 deaths and blamed “delayed reporting” about the inaccuracy.
Officials defended there were no attempts to cover-up the real statistics.

Originally the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, the city of Wuhan recently added 1,290 deaths to their overall number of fatalities. Now the government is blaming the mistake to “delayed reporting,” denying accusations that there were any attempts to cover-up.

As of April 17, the total death toll of Wuhan now stands at 3,869, which means it went up by around 50% compared with earlier reports. Rumors have been circulating about more deaths in the Chinese port city after photos showing people standing in long lines to collect ashes of cremated loved ones from a funeral home surfaced online.

The country’s state media quoted an unnamed official from Wuhan who explained:

“In the early stage, due to limited hospital capacity and the shortage of medical staff, a few medical institutions failed to connect with local disease control and prevention systems in a timely manner, which resulted in delayed reporting of confirmed cases and some failures to count patients accurately.”

Meanwhile, even some locals admit they’re suspicious about China’s reports.

“The government can’t possibly tell the truth to the public,” a Wuhan taxi driver told Telegraph. “You see in America, it’s so high; they are reporting the real statistics.”

China has often been accused of covering up the real figures of coronavirus patients and deaths.

US President Donald Trump, for example, recently decided to withdraw funding for the World Health Organization, believing the health institution has “mishandled” the crisis an labeling them as “very China centric.”

In a recent media briefing, Trump also said:

“Do you really believe those numbers in this vast country called China. … Does anybody really believe that?… Some countries are in big, big trouble and they’re not reporting the facts — and that’s up to them.”

He has also repeatedly called the disease as the “Chinese virus.”