WUHAN: Amid skepticism about reported deaths in Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak, the city has abruptly raised the death toll by 50 percent from 2,579 to 3,869, an international news agency reported. China has admitted that several cases were "mistakenly reported" or missed entirely.

In a social media post, the city government posted that there were 1,290 additional deaths in Wuhan, which brought the total to 3,869. This shift in the numbers have pushed the death toll by 39 percent to 4,632 in China, according to national data that was released on Friday.

The revision of figures came amid sharp criticism of China by the US and other nations for its alleged under-reporting of the coronavirus cases and cover-up of the origin of the viral strain, which emerged in Wuhan in December last, reportedly from the local Hunan seafood market.

Wuhan epidemic prevention and control headquarters said that there are several reasons for the missed cases as in the early days the staff was overwhelmed which lead to late reporting, omissions or misreporting. It also cited insufficient testing and treatment facilities, while also adding that some patients died at their home and thus the numbers were not added to the tally.

As of April 16, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Wuhan was increased by 325 to 50,333 and the number of fatalities up by 1,290 to 3,869. The revised figure raised China's overall COVID-19 death toll to 4,632. The total number of cases also increased to 82,692.

As of Thursday, China has a total of 1,549 imported cases, NHC said, adding that 879 were undergoing treatment with 45 in severe condition. Besides, there were 66 new asymptomatic cases, taking the tally to 1,038.

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