THE NUMBER of coronavirus-related deaths in the Chinese city of Wuhan has be revised as a confirmed number of fatalities emerges.
The death toll has risen by 1,290 to 3,869, as the true impact of the virus is finally revealed.
The reason for the undercount, China say, is because the medical facilities in the city were overwhelmed during much of the pandemic, and only now, with lockdown restrictions lifted, can they make an accurate count.
Because the city was almost completely locked off from the outside world once the extent of the outbreak became apparent, Wuhan was left isolated and support on a mass-scale was difficult to organise.
The number of coronavirus cases in the city has also been raised, albeit slightly, by 325 to 50,333.
This accounts for roughly two-thirds of all cases in China.
The official Xinhua News Agency quoted an unidentified official within Wuhan's epidemic and prevention and control headquarters as saying that, "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," the official reportedly said.
Questions have been raised for months about the legitimacy of China's case reporting, with many accusing the nation of hiding the extent of the devastation caused by the virus.
They've been accused of irresponsibly covering their tracks while missing the opportunity to stop Covid-19 in its track at the earliest convenience.
But whether this is an intentional coverup or an understandable mistake in a time of panic, the fact remains that figures coming out of China have, apparently, not been accurate.
