Facing global scrutiny on its handling of the Covid-19 crisis, China on Friday revised its total number of cases and deaths caused by the virus in the city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the disease.
According to the information released by the National Health Commission, the death rate stands at 3,869 and the number of total cases stands at 50,333. This has increased the national death toll by 40% and China now has a total of 4636 deaths.
Ever since, the commission started the process of releasing the daily number for the Hubei province, the international community has doubted it for lack of transparency and China’s official appetite to fudge the numbers.
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China had till Friday, denied their acts of omission and commission and had blamed it as a western media conspiracy.
However, the Wuhan Municipal administration said that it owes a duty towards the people and history and has revised the numbers keeping in mind the new guidelines and the laws in force.
The authorities said that the initial surge in the number of patients had overwhelmed the medical infrastructure and many patients died in the hospital.
Secondly, they said that the doctors and medical personnel were pre-occupied with treating the patients and hence did not report the numbers on time.
Thirdly, since many private laboratories were involved, it was difficult to collate information and serve it a central server.
Finally, it said that incomplete information by many patients made it tough to arrive at exact numbers.
Experts have dismissed these reasons as “bureaucratic” and “a bid to cover up one’s wrongdoing”