For the first time since the outbreak hit, China is admitting to omitting coronavirus (COVID-19) fatalities in Wuhan, this as the nation revises its local death toll upward by 50%.
While they affirm there’s no cover-up, China’s numbers updated from 2,579 to 3,869, a spike of 1,290. The news arrives days after leaked documents showed that Beijing waited nearly a week to publicize their findings, showing the severity of the virus, and how easily it could spread form person-to person.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian says, “There has never been any concealment, and we’ll never allow any concealment.” Officials instead claim that the extra numbers were initially uncounted because, in the early stages of the pandemic, some residents passed at home, and overwhelmed medics were focused on treating cases versus reporting deaths.
Additionally, officials wholly said, “In the early period of the outbreak, 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”
Furthermore, the total number of confirmed cases recorded now stand over 50,333.
