China raises coronavirus death toll by 39 per cent

Officials say deaths in Wuhan went unreported or were attributed to the disease only later

A medical worker prepares to check the temperature of an AFP photojournalist before a COVID-19 coronavirus test in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province. AFP

People queue up outside a fruit shop in Beijing. AFP

A man eats in a restaurant that has only one seat per table and markings on the floor to enforce social distancing in Beijing. AFP

A delivery courier tapes a package along a road in the central business district in Beijing. AP Photo

A man walks past bronze bull statues along a business street in Beijing. AFP

A vendor waits for customers at a market in Shenyang in China's northeastern Liaoning province. AFP

A security guard in Personal Protective Equipment suit gives directions to a passerby during lunch hour in Beijing's Central Business District. Reuters

Office workers wear protective during lunch hour near Beijing’s Central Business District. Reuters

Office workers wearing protective masks walk in a park as people practice boxing during lunch hour near Beijing's Central Business District. Reuters

A worker produces face masks at a factory in Shenyang in China's northeastern Liaoning province. AFP

China has revised its official count of deaths from the coronavirus and added nearly 1,300 deaths in Wuhan amid sustained scepticism of its epidemic data.

The addition, reported by state news agency Xinhua on Friday, raises the nationwide death toll up by nearly 40 per cent to 4,636, the majority coming from Hubei province where Wuhan is located. Some 325 new cases of infection were also added in the revision.

The 1,290 additional deaths were all found in Wuhan and comprised of some who died at home without seeing a doctor or being tested for the virus, which meant they were not recorded in data at the time, said the Xinhua report citing officials from Wuhan’s epidemic control unit.

Other factors behind the revisions included late and incomplete reporting because medical workers and institutions were overwhelmed by treating patients during the epidemic. During the crisis, designated hospitals to treat patients were also expanded to institutions at the municipal and district level, including private hospitals, and not all were connected to and feeding timely information to the central epidemic network, the report said.

A similar upward revision in death toll occurred in New York City a few days ago, adding more than 3,700 people who died at home before being tested. Still, China’s move is likely to fuel speculation about the accuracy of its data, which has been questioned by US President Donald Trump. American intelligence officials have concluded that China concealed the extent of its outbreak and under-reported number of cases and deaths.

Last month, pictures of thousands of ash urns being ferried to funeral homes in Wuhan circulated on Chinese social media platforms, raising concern that the real number of deaths in the city where the virus first emerged is higher than officially acknowledged.

China has refuted charges that it intentionally under-reported its numbers, saying that it shares what information it has transparently. But its repeated revisions of data throughout the crisis – including a one-day addition of nearly 15,000 cases diagnosed through a different clinical method in February – has fuelled mistrust.

While the revision marks a substantial surge, China’s new official death toll is still low compared to the US where reported deaths have climbed past 34,000. In Italy and Spain, deaths number around 20,000 in each country.

China’s revisions come after an investigation group was formed in late March to look into epidemic data and found discrepancies, said the Xinhua report.

“Behind the epidemic data are the lives and health of the citizens, and the credibility of the government,” Xinhua cited a Wuhan official saying.

The revised death toll in Wuhan, where the virus was first detected late last year, will play into a growing narrative of Chinese untrustworthiness led by Mr Trump's administration.

That has now garnered support from Britain and France, fuelled by two US media outlets reporting suspicions the virus accidentally slipped out of a sensitive Wuhan laboratory that studied bats.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, deputising for Prime Minister Boris Johnson who is still recovering from the virus, said there would be "hard questions" for Beijing.

French President Emmanuel Macron told the Financial Times it would be "naive" to think China had handled the pandemic well, adding: "There are clearly things that have happened that we don't know about."

Beijing and Moscow slapped down the attacks, with Russian President Vladimir Putin denouncing "attempts by some people to smear China".