City says surge of patients at start of outbreak is to blame for under-reported deaths at the centre of the Covid-19 outbreak

Authorities in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, have revised up the number of people killed by 1,290, a rise of 50 per cent.
The statement, released on state-run CCTV, insists that the revision is because of reporting issues from the start of the outbreak. Wuhan added 325 cases to its total of 50,333, while its revised death toll is now 3,869.
The city said that a surge of patients at the start of the outbreak caused a shortage of medical resources and treatment capacity, which meant that some patients did not go to hospital and died at home.
At the peak of the outbreak, authorities said, hospitals and medical staff were overwhelmed so there were some late or missed reports and some patients who died had been registered with incomplete details.
Chinas move is likely to fuel speculation about the accuracy of its data, which has been questioned by President Donald Trump. American intelligence officials have concluded that China concealed the extent of its outbreak and under-reported the number of cases and deaths.