Covid 19 coronavirus: China's death toll in Wuhan called into question

There are suggestions the death rate in China from Covid-19 is much higher than offical numbers state.

The initial epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, Wuhan, has reported a death toll of 2500. The evidence suggests that is far too low.

In recent days there has been increased speculation about the validity of China's official coronavirus statistics.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website

The country has reported 81,620 cases of the virus and 3322 deaths. Those numbers have barely risen in weeks, and they've been dwarfed by the surges in Spain, Italy and the United States.

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China says that is a function of the fact that it has got the virus under control. But US intelligence agencies have concluded the figures China is providing to the rest of the world are inaccurate.

Today the attention has turned specifically to Wuhan, with suggestions the true death toll there is "16 times" higher than China has reported.

More than one million cases of coronavirus have now been confirmed across 181 countries and more than 55,000 people have died.