China corrects Covid-19 figures in Wuhan, death toll soars
In an announcement released today (April 17), China has corrected data related to the Covid-19 epidemic in Wuhan.
This latest announcement was made by the Wuhan City Covid-19 Prevention and Control Command. According to revised data, as of April 16, the number of Covid-19 cases in the city increased by 325 cases, the revised figure is 50,333 cases; the number of deaths increased by 1,290 cases, bringing the total number of deaths due to the Covid-19 epidemic in this global epidemic city to 3,869 cases.
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| A doctor examines a Covid-19 patient at a hospital in Wuhan. Photo: AFP. |
Four reasons have been given to explain this adjustment. Firstly, in the early stages of the outbreak, the number of patients increased dramatically, causing a shortage of medical supplies and a severe lack of ability to receive and treat patients, causing many patients to be unable to go to the hospital and die at home.
Second, during peak periods, due to hospitals operating in an overloaded state, medical staff are too busy treating patients, leading to late reporting, under-reporting and incorrect data reporting.
Third, due to the rapid increase in the number of medical facilities designated to treat Covid-19 patients, some places have not been able to promptly connect and upload data to the common epidemic network.
Fourth, some death cases have incomplete registration information, leading to duplicate or incorrect reporting.
In response to Chinese media regarding the correction of epidemic data at this time, the Wuhan City Covid-19 Prevention and Control Command once again affirmed that the Covid-19 epidemic is a serious public health emergency with the fastest spreading speed, widest range of infection, and most difficult prevention since the founding of China.
At present, the epidemic has basically been stopped, and Wuhan has lifted traffic controls with the outside, which has created favorable conditions for comprehensive and detailed data verification and correction.
It is known that the data correction was started in Wuhan from the end of March 2020 with the coordination of many units, including the Health and Health Commission, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Public Security, Civil Affairs, Justice and Statistics, combining data from the big data system, burial information, health management and testing system for Covid-19 patients throughout Wuhan city./.
