Death toll in Wuhan revised in evaluation

The death toll from the novel coronavirus outbreak has been revised for Wuhan, Hubei province, as has the number of confirmed infections after citywide data verification responded to concerns of the public, serving as a guide to scientific decisions on epidemic prevention and control in the future, a local official said.

In interviews, people in Wuhan expressed understanding about the changes, with many calling it correct and respectful to record and remember every death from the novel coronavirus disease.

A total of 1,290 people were added to the death toll in Wuhan after the city government included those who died at home and corrected some inaccuracies in reporting that occurred in the early stages of the outbreak, the Wuhan headquarters for COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control said in a notification on Friday.

By Thursday night, COVID-19 fatalities in Wuhan, the Chinese city hardest hit by the outbreak, amounted to 3,869. The total number of confirmed infections was revised up by 325 to 50,333.

After the revision, the total number of deaths from COVID-19 on the Chinese mainland climbed to 4,632 by the end of Thursday, and confirmed infections rose to 82,692, Mi Feng, spokesman for the National Health Commission, said at a news conference in Beijing on Friday.

The notification from the Wuhan headquarters said the increase was due to a comprehensive examination and verification of figures from various departments such as funeral parlors, medical institutions, public security authorities and communities in the city.

In the early stages of the outbreak, a rapid rise in patient numbers and the quick spread of the disease overwhelmed the city's medical system, making data collecting difficult. Some data reporting was delayed and errors were made in the early stages. The numbers needed amending according to relevant Chinese laws and regulations, the notification said.

Since transmission of the disease has been basically contained and the city's lockdown lifted, it has become possible to look back and comprehensively reexamine the data to ensure its accuracy, according to a written interview with an official in charge of the matter whose name was not revealed.

In late March, the Wuhan headquarters established a special group working on data verification and epidemiological surveys. The group has extensively examined and closely compared statistics from various sources to make sure every single person affected is counted, he said.

The group collected information from all related facilities, including fever clinics, hospitals, quarantine locations and communities, as well as places such as prisons and elder care homes. Every case was checked and reviewed with medical institutions, communities, police stations, employers and family members, the notification said.

The revision is based on relevant Chinese laws and regulations, and conducted under the principle of "being responsible to history, the people and the deceased", it said.

The notification said the miscalculations were due to various reasons. In the early stages, the capabilities of nucleic acid testing and medical resources were very limited in the city, so some patients died at home without being treated. Medical staff was too busy to treat patients so there had been some delayed reporting.

Also, a few of the various types of medical institutions that admitted COVID-19 patients were not linked with the online direct reporting system.

"The timely revision of the death toll and infection numbers for COVID-19 not only helps safeguard the rights and interests of the people, it facilitates scientific decisions of epidemic prevention and control. It also answers public concerns and shows respect to every life lost in the epidemic," the official in charge of the work said.

He added that providing accurate epidemic control data is important for people's lives and health, but also concerns government credibility.

Tang Zhouping, a professor in neurology at Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, said: "I think it is understandable that initial calculation of the numbers was not precise due to many difficulties, and the same problem may also have occurred in some other countries."

Liu Bende, director of the emergency department of Wuhan Union Hospital, said at first, hospital workers were extremely busy with saving patients, so it's natural that calculation of the epidemic numbers might be imprecise.

"We were facing an unprecedented situation then, and our staff was working around the clock to save patients before medical staff from other parts of the country came to help," he said. "They by no means intended to conceal or underreport the true numbers of deaths."

Jin Qi, director of the Pathogen Biology Institute under the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, said he believes the Chinese government has not concealed any information on the number of COVID-19 cases, as there is no reason to do so.

On Friday, the revision was among the most discussed topics among Wuhan residents.

Wu Zhifang, whose brother was infected, said: "In the early stages of the outbreak, the city's health system was overloaded and there was panic, so it's understandable to have some errors in reporting patients' conditions. There was no precedent and nobody was prepared for it. Generally speaking, I think the government has done a good job, and of course the Wuhan people have made great effort and sacrifices."

Xu Zesheng, a Wuhan taxi driver who lost his sister-in-law to COVID-19, said an increase in the death toll is never a good thing, "but it's important to make sure every death is recorded and remembered".