China virus epicenter raises death toll 50%

Medical staff put on protective equipment before attending to COVID-19 patients at the Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on March 16, 2020. AFP
Medical staff put on protective equipment before attending to COVID-19 patients at the Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on March 16, 2020. AFP

BEIJING – China’s coronavirus ground-zero city of Wuhan on Friday admitted missteps in tallying its death toll, and abruptly raised the count by 50 percent following growing world doubts about Chinese transparency.

The United States has led the charge in questioning China’s handling of the pandemic and how much information it has really shared with the international community since the virus emerged late last year.

Authorities in Wuhan initially tried to cover up the outbreak, punishing doctors who had raised the alarm online in December, and there have been questions about the government’s recording of infections as it repeatedly changed its counting criteria at the peak of the outbreak. (AFP)

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