Wuhan, once China's coronavirus epicentre raises death toll by 50%

China's Wuhan, which was the epicentre of the novel coronavirus in the country, has increased the virus's death toll as much as 50 per cent with 1,290 deaths.

This announcement comes after China opening up Wuhan on April 8 nearly after three months due to the coronavirus outbreak.

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In a social media post, Wuhan city's government updated the figures and admitted that there were many cases that were "mistakenly reported" or missed entirely.

With the news figures, the total number of deaths in Wuhan stands at 3,869 and the nationwide toll rises to 4,362.

The new figures have also come after the mounting pressure by the Western countries led by the United States, which have raised concerns over the coronavirus statistics in China.

Earlier, US-based media groups Washington Post and Fox News have reported about the suspicions that the virus slipped out a sensitive laboratory in Wuhan that studied bats.

However, China has said that its scientists believe that the virus has its origins from a meat market in Wuhan where it first transmitted to humans.

Wuhan's epidemic prevention and control headquarters mentioned many reasons for the missed reporting, including the fact that city's medical personnel were overwhelmed during the initial days of the outbreak, leading to late reporting, omissions or mis-reporting".

It also said that due to a scarcity of testing and treatment facilities some people died at home from coronavirus causing improper reporting.

(With AFP inputs)