The leaked Chinese document from the city of Wuhan suggests the infection and death rates were under-reported to the public. The document showed that on February 10, China reported 2,478 new cases of the virus across the whole nation. However, the leaked document claims the Hubei province alone recorded 5,918 cases on this day.
On March 7, Hubei province reported a cumulative death toll of 2,986, but the leaked document claims the death toll was 3,456.
If true, it would mean China downplayed the pathogen’s severity when nations around the world were deciding how to respond to the virus.
According to the documents, in the Hubei province on February 17 Chinese officials reported 93 deaths from the virus, but instead, the leaked data shows a death-toll of 196.
Also, on March 7 in Hubei province, officials reported 83 deaths, but the leaked document claims the death toll stood at 115.
READ MORE: Joe Biden to ‘cooperate with China’ – ‘stable approach’ to trade war
They reported these figures to the World Health Organisation as the result of “a pneumonia of unknown aetiology”.
These figures were reported on January 3.
The CNN news agency was handed the documents by a whistleblower from inside the Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The whistleblower who leaked the document to CNN called themselves “a patriot”.
They said they were “motivated to expose a truth that had been censored and honour colleagues who had also spoken out.”
China has repeatedly denied accusations of a coronavirus cover-up.