The Chinese city of Wuhan – ground zero for the coronavirus pandemic – has revised its fatality count, increasing the total by just shy of 1,300 deaths, which officials say went unreported due to “delays” and “omissions.”
Authorities in Wuhan added another 1,290 deaths to the city’s death toll on Friday, as well as an additional 325 confirmed cases of the illness, putting the overall figures at 50,333 infections and 3,869 fatalities in the virus’ first epicenter.
The revision was necessary to “address incorrect reporting, delays and omissions of cases,” city officials said, according to Reuters, with the new numbers increasing Wuhan’s death tally by some 50 percent.
“In the early stage of the epidemic, due to insufficient capacity for admission and treatment, a small number of medical institutions failed to connect with the disease prevention and control information system in a timely manner,” Wuhan health officials said, adding that a “statistical investigation” had been conducted to correct the figures.
The coronavirus epidemic in Wuhan took hold sometime late last year, allegedly linked to a wildlife market in the city. The outbreak has progressed to a global health crisis, infecting more than 2.1 million people and killing nearly 145,000 worldwide.
Through a series of aggressive quarantine measures, China was able to stem the spread of the virus in March at around 83,000 cases, seeing only a trickle of new patients in recent weeks, while Europe and the United States have since become the top hotspots for the lethal pathogen.
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