Correction of COVID-19 Cases in Hubei Province, China... "New Inclusions of Prison Inmates" (Update)

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] On the 21st, Hubei Province in China revised the number of new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) from the previous 411 to 631. The Hubei Provincial Health Commission (Weiguanwei) explained that the increase in new confirmed cases was due to the inclusion of prison inmates who had not been previously counted in the statistics.

On the afternoon of the 21st, the Hubei Provincial Health Commission announced in an official statement that the number of new confirmed cases in Hubei Province as of midnight on the 21st had increased from 411 to 631. According to the Hubei Provincial Health Commission, "Until now, prison inmates were excluded from the online reporting system that aggregates confirmed cases within Hubei Province, but they have now been newly included." They explained, "A total of 271 new confirmed cases were reported, but 51 of these were already included in previously announced statistics and were therefore excluded, resulting in an additional 220 new confirmed cases." They stated that the death statistics remain unchanged.

With the sudden change in the confirmed case count, concerns are growing that the credibility of the statistics from the Hubei Provincial Health Commission may be further undermined. Previously, the Hubei Provincial Health Commission announced on the 12th that they would include 'clinical diagnosis' cases in the confirmed case category, which caused the number of confirmed cases to surge to 14,840 at once. However, from the 19th, clinical diagnosis cases were again excluded from the confirmed case count, causing the number of confirmed cases to drop back to the 300s.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.