Chinese authorities raised its official virus death toll by 50 percent in the epicenter Wuhan on April 17, drawing criticism from President Donald Trump that this was still an underreporting of the actual death toll in China.
Wuhan authorities placed the revised number of fatalities in the central Chinese city at 3,869, after adding 1,290 cases that included some who had died at home. Wuhan is also reporting another 325 confirmed infections, bringing the cumulative total to 50,333—two-thirds of the country’s recorded tally.
Officials attributed the data discrepancy to the surge of patients during the outbreak’s early stages, which they said had overwhelmed the medical staff and prevented them from giving timely and accurate case counts.
Revising the numbers is key to maintaining the government’s credibility and show “respect for each individual life,” an unnamed Wuhan official told state-run Xinhua.
As death tolls mount worldwide, a growing number of Western government officials have expressed incredulity at the Chinese regime’s data.
Research studies, interviews with Wuhan locals, and internal government reports obtained by The Epoch Times also reveal that Chinese authorities have been significantly understating the gravity of the outbreak.
Trump in a tweet on Friday said the revised figure still did not reflect the actual number of deaths in China.
The death toll in China “is far higher than that and far higher than the U.S., not even close!” Trump wrote. The confirmed deaths in the United States have climbed past 35,000.
The president has repeatedly questioned the accuracy of the regime’s official infections and death toll figures, saying in a tweet on Wednesday: “Do you really believe those numbers in this vast country called China, and that they have a certain number of cases and a certain number of deaths; does anybody really believe that?”
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Friday insisted that China has “by and large” brought the virus under control and that the government has been responsible.
“Data revision in the case of highly infectious diseases is a common international practice,” he said in a press conference. But he denied that the Chinese regime covered up the scale of the outbreak.
Meanwhile, a second wave of infections has erupted in the northern city of Harbin, while the number of asymptomatic carriers has been on the uptick elsewhere in the country.
David Adams
Article URL : https://www.ntd.com/trump-questions-chinas-virus-figures-as-beijing-raises-death-toll-for-wuhan_456845.html