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Wuhan, in the Chinese province of Hubei and ground zero for the deadly pandemic, has had its death toll increased by 1290 to 3869, according to China Central Television (CCTV), a state owned network.
The total number of confirmed cases in Wuhan was also revised up by 325 to 50,333.
The new numbers take China's national death toll to 4632 - an increase of 39 per cent.
CCTV attributed a few reasons as to why the numbers were so far off, citing pressure on hospitals and their staff:
"In the early stage of the epidemic, due to insufficient capacity for admission and treatment, a small number of medical institutions failed to connect with the disease prevention and control information system in a timely manner, the hospital was overloaded, and medical staff were busy with treatment. Objectively, there were late reports, missed reports, and false positives."Wuhan residents had been skeptical of death toll
While it is almost certain the virus originated in Wuhan, the source of the virus remains a mystery, and according to Quartz, even residents within the city were skeptical of the low fatality rate.
Comment: Wuhan may not be the source of the virus. There are strong indications it came from elsewhere.
At the end of March, Bloomberg reported urns and lines outside of funeral homes in the Chinese province, prompting questions about the true scale of the outbreak.
US President Donald Trump and other US officials previously cast doubt on the official numbers coming out of China, prior to the revision:
"Do you really believe those numbers in this vast country called China, and that they have a certain number of cases and a certain number of deaths; does anybody really believe that?"Fox News claimed on Wednesday that the virus originated in a Wuhan laboratory, not as a bioweapon, but as part of China's effort to demonstrate that its efforts to identify and combat viruses are equal to or greater than the capabilities of the US.
Questions over how virus started in Wuhan
This report and others have suggested that lax safety standards at the Wuhan lab where virology experiments take place led to someone getting infected and appearing at a nearby "wet" market, where the virus began to spread.
Trump said at a press conference at the White House he was aware of the allegations. "We are doing a very thorough examination of this horrible situation that happened," he told reporters.
However, on Tuesday, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said US intelligence indicates the coronavirus likely occurred naturally, as opposed to being created in a laboratory in China, but there is no certainty either way.
Comment: General Milley's speculative statement takes the blame off of all suspects. A convenient dodge?
The additional numbers come just days after the World Health Organisation was scrutinised for allowing China to reopen wet markets.
Wuhan went into lockdown in late January after WHO was informed of cases of pneumonia with unknown causes on December 31, 2019.
On April 8, Wuhan's stringent lockdown was lifted and healthy residents were permitted to travel freely within China."
Comment: All countries with coronavirus casualties that recheck their data may find attributable fatality revisions are in order. It has been obvious from the 'get-go' that one standard was not used across the board for all coronavirus-related mortalities, nor were pre-existing conditions factored accurately - if at all - into the results. There will be push-back against these revisions, as the numbers will not subsequently support coronavirus as the primary cause of death in all cases. Maintaining this camouflage is important to those who necessitate grander totals in support of vaccinations as key to a global agenda.
What does China say?