Wuhan's coronavirus death toll jumps by 50 percent after authorities revise count

People wearing facemasks travel in the subway in Wuhan
(Image credit: Hector Retamal / Getty Images)

Officials in China have revised their official coronavirus death toll, adding more than 1,000 fatalities in Wuhan.

Chinese officials on Friday reported 1,290 additional coronavirus deaths in Wuhan, meaning the death toll in the city where the virus first appeared has jumped about 50 percent to 3,869, CNN reports. Additionally, 325 confirmed COVID-19 cases were added to Wuhan's official count, bringing the total confirmed cases in the city, which has ended its lockdown, to 50,333.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

But Reuters notes this comes after "widespread speculation" that the official death toll in Wuhan was significantly higher than was being reported. The U.S. intelligence community concluded in a classified report to the White House in March that China was underreporting its coronavirus deaths and cases, Bloomberg reports, and this week, President Trump asked "does anybody really believe" the numbers being reported from "this vast country called China." The Associated Press also recently reported that for six all-important days after Beijing started preparing for a pandemic, it kept the public in the dark as Wuhan "hosted a mass banquet for tens of thousands of people" and "millions began traveling through for Lunar New Year celebrations."

"They are on the defensive, clearly," Hong Kong Baptist University political science professor Jean-Pierre Cabestan told the Times. "It's an uphill battle now for China to improve its image." Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Friday, "there has never been any cover-up and we do not allow cover-ups."

Explore More
Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.