Coronavirus: China outbreak city Wuhan raises death toll by 50%

(BBC) – The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus originated last year, has raised its official Covid-19 death toll by 50%, adding 1,290 fatalities. Wuhan officials attributed the new figure to updated reporting and deaths outside hospitals.

China has insisted there was no cover-up. It has been accused of downplaying the severity of its virus outbreak. Wuhan’s 11 million residents spent months in strict lockdown conditions, which have only recently been eased.

The latest official figures bring the death toll in the city in China’s central Hubei province to 3,869, increasing the national total to more than 4,600. China has confirmed nearly 84,000 coronavirus infections, the seventh-highest globally, according to Johns Hopkins University data.