Wuhan Closer to the Truth?

Wuhan streets are slowly getting busier, people still wear masks

Since April 8 when the 76-day lockdown was lifted on Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, relatives in the city have been trying to get their loved ones' remains.

According to Radio Free Asia, the city's seven funeral homes each handed out 500 urns per day of suspected coronavirus victims, daily for 12 days from March 23 until April 5, Ching Ming, which makes the total around 42,000, more than 16 times the original death toll of 2,579.

Hundreds of Wuhanese lining up to collected ashes

But then today the Wuhan municipal government announced the new death toll was revised at 3,869, almost 50 percent more than before. It also said the number of confirmed cases was 50,333, not 50,008. In both numbers, the authorities claimed there were over 160 duplicates.

The government suggested the increased death toll was mainly because a number of people died at home in the early stages of the epidemic, as hospitals were overwhelmed by an influx of patients.

"In the early stages of the pandemic, hospitals did not have the ability to admit and treat all of the patients, a small number of hospitals did not link up with the disease prevention and control information system, many hospitals were overwhelmed trying to transfer patients and medical staff were too busy treating patients. All of these factors contributed to late reporting, failure to report and mistaken reporting," it said.

It added some organizations, ranging from the provincial government to private businesses did not report numbers in a timely way and some death registration information did not include enough details, leading to duplicated, mistaken and false reporting.

One family having a very quiet funeral for their loved one

While it is understandable that scores of people tried to get into hospitals, the fact is that many of them were possibly infected with the virus and were not officially counted either in the number of confirmed cases or the dead.

It is important to get the numbers as accurately as possible for not only China but the rest of the world to understand more about this deadly virus. But perhaps even more so for the relatives of those who died to know that their loved ones did not die in vain, that they were counted and remembered in this tragic chapter of modern China's history.