China’s foreign ministry has been defending the state’s approach after Wuhan’s prevention and control taskforce revised the death toll in the Chinese city upwards by 50% – from 2,579 to 3,869…

There had never been a cover-up of the figures around the outbreak, the ministry added.

Citing the number of patients who had died at home before reaching hospital, as well as late and inaccurate reporting, Wuhan’s taskforce on virus prevention and control had said earlier: “Every loss of life during the epidemic is not just a source of sorrow for their family, but for the city as well. We would like to send our sincere sympathies to the family members.”