In figures released by national health authorities this morning, more than 70 new deaths and 3,100 new cases have emerged in China within the past 24 hours. The lack of testing kits in China has sparked fears the real number of cases could be far higher.
The latest figures have spiked the total number of deaths in China to at least 636.
The figures say the total number of confirmed cases have rose to 31,161.
The deadly virus is spreading across the country with authorities claiming 69 of the newly reported deaths occurring in the Hubei Province.
There have also been four deaths outside the province taking place in Jilin, Henan, Guangdong and Hainan Provinces.
The Coronavirus death toll has soared in the past 24 hours to at least at least 636 (Image: GETTY)
More than 3,100 new cases have emerged in China within the past 24 hours (Image: GETTY)
However, despite the 24 hour spike in deaths, there are fears that the number of cases could be far higher than official statistics suggest.
This could be due to a number of cases yet to be confirmed.
According to the New York Times, Many doctors believe that deaths and infections in China are undercounted.
This is due to the fact hospitals and laboratories are under severe strain to test for the virus and may not have the resources to match the rate the outbreak is spreading.
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The lack of testing kits in China has sparked fears the real number of cases could be far higher (Image: GETTY)
Local officials in Hubei Province, the centre of the outbreak, have called on health care workers to speed up the process.
According to the publication, a number of patients have been turned away due to the lack of resources.
Reportedly, many sick residents in Hubei claim to have been turned away by overstretched hospitals, which lack test kits and beds.
Health officials focus on as currently worker on faster diagnoses.
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Authorities claim 69 of the newly reported deaths occured in the Hubei Province (Image: GETTY)
Hospitals and laboratories are under severe strain to test for the virus and may not have the resources to match the rate the outbreak is spreading (Image: GETTY)
On Thursday The World Health Organization announced that it was working to strengthen global diagnostic capacity for the new virus.
The organisation said that efforts to control the disease’s spread “depend critically on the ability to detect the pathogen quickly” and have activated an international network of specialized referral laboratories to support individual countries’ labs in confirming new cases.
The WHO also claims to have plans in place to ship 250,000 test kits to 159 laboratories across the world, to help speed up diagnoses.
As of now Wuhan’s authorities have been ordered to immediately round up infected patients and place them in “quarantine camps”.
How Contagious is the Coronavirus? (Image: EXPRESS)
The news comes after a death tally published by Chinese web giant Tencent sparked a huge online debate over the true number of coronavirus victims.
Many fear the true number of victims of the deadly coronavirus could be much higher than official statistics show after Tencent posted on its virus tracker website that the confirmed number of cases, suspected cases, and deaths were far higher than the official tally.
However, the statistics were quickly deleted from the site and were updated just minutes later to reflect official government numbers.
Taiwan News recently reported that Tencent’s virus tracker website that the confirmed number of cases was registered at 154,023 – more than 10 times higher than the official figure at the time.
The World Health Organization plans to ship 250,000 test kits to 159 laboratories across the world (Image: GETTY)
According to the publication, the number of suspected cases was almost 80,000.
This comes in at around four times the official government figure.
However, the most shocking find was the alarming increase of the death toll posted on the site.
The publication added: “Most ominously, the death toll listed was 24,589. Vastly higher than the 300 officially listed that day.”