Correction of Wuhan COVID-19 Death Toll... Over 1,200 Missing Cases Added

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Park Sun-mi] The Chinese government has revised the statistics on COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Over 1,200 previously unreported COVID-19 deaths have been added.

On the 17th, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported through the Wuhan COVID-19 Command’s "Notice on the Correction of Wuhan COVID-19 Confirmed Cases and Deaths" that as of midnight that day, the cumulative number of deaths due to COVID-19 was 3,869, and the cumulative confirmed cases were 50,333.

This represents an increase of 1,290 deaths and 325 confirmed cases compared to previous announcements.

The Wuhan authorities explained the correction of COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths by stating, "This was due to deaths occurring at home without hospitalization, delays and omissions in reporting caused by hospital overload," and “In the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, there were delays, omissions, and misreporting due to insufficient treatment capacity, lack of medical equipment, and inadequate epidemic information systems.”

The authorities said that at the end of last month, experts were selected from the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission, Public Security, Civil Affairs, Judicial, and Statistics departments to rectify the incorrect statistics, and explained that they objectively revised the statistics by cross-checking all data from the funeral information system within Wuhan, the COVID-19 information system of the medical management sector, death reports, hospital records, and designated quarantine accommodation materials.

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