Chinese officials revise Wuhan fatalities by 1290 to 3869

China today quietly increased the official number of fatalities in Wuhan to 3869, the revised casualty figures representing an admission that initial numbers were off by 50 per cent.

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With its credibility in tatters over its coronavirus death toll, China today quietly increased the official number of fatalities in Wuhan by 1290 to 3869.

While the increased casualty figures represent an admission that initial numbers were off by 50 per cent, few credible sources believe China’s figures when it comes to deaths in the city where the global pandemic is thought to have begun.

Last month, residents in Wuhan reported that thousands of funeral urns were being delivered to Wuhan crematoria, suggesting that the death toll is far higher than officially admitted by the government.

News website Caixin.com reported that 5000 urns had been delivered to one of Wuhan’s seven funeral homes in just one day.

“It can’t be right … because the incinerators have been working round the clock, so how can so few people have died?” one Wuhan resident told Radio Free Asia.

China lifted its lockdown on Wuhan, the first epicentre of COVID-19 after 76 days last week, allowing healthy people to leave. Picture: Getty

Local residents have also been told to curb outward signs of mourning or grief to prevent the true number of deaths from being revealed, even as some Wuhanese have quietly suggested the city may have suffered as many as 18 times the fatalities initially admitted by Beijing.

US President Donald Trump has previously questioned the honesty of China’s figures, suggesting at a recent media briefing that “Their numbers seem to be a little bit on the light side, and I’m being nice when I say that.”

A woman recovered from the COVID-19 infection, is disinfected by volunteers after being discharged from a hospital in Wuhan. Picture: AFP

In a bleak irony, a statement from the official Chinese government team overseeing coronavirus containment read out on the official state broadcaster said, “coronavirus figures not only concern people’s health and lives, but also the credibility of the government. The revision of the figures not only protects citizens’ rights … it also shows the government’s respect for each individual.”