The Chinese city of Wuhan, which was the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, raised its death toll from the virus by 50% on Friday, April 17. The revised numbers have increased the death toll by 1,290, taking the total toll to 3,869.

Furthermore, the total number of cases in Wuhan was revised by an additional 325, taking the total to 50,333, the government said.

According to the authorities, during the early days of the outbreak, many people died at home and a number of cases were missed as hospitals were overwhelmed with patients.

‘A surging number of patients at the early stage of the pandemic overwhelmed medical resources and the admission capacity of medical institutions,’ the Wuhan Municipal Headquarters for COVID-19 Epidemic Prevention and Control said in a statement.

‘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,’ it added.

The revision comes amid international criticism that Wuhan’s death toll was significantly higher than reported.

However, China’s Foreign Ministry has defended the revision and said that authorities had conducted a ‘statistical verification’ of its COVID-19 toll to ensure accuracy. The Ministry added that there never been a cover-up of the figures concerning the virus outbreak.

As of Friday, across the globe, there are 21,59,450 confirmed cases of the virus. Of this, 5,49,592 people have recovered and 1,45,568 have died. After the revised numbers, China’s total confirmed cases has reached 82,692, of which 4,632 have died.

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