The increase is almost entirely due to COVID-19. In the first three months of 2020 alone, some 45,320 people probably died because of the pandemic. The Chinese government reported so far only 4,636 deaths in the whole country, 3,869 in Wuhan. For the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China, Wuhan's medical staff were warned not to give interviews to journalists.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – The death rate in Wuhan was 50 per cent higher than normal in the first three months of last year, this according to research published in the British Medical Journal in cooperation with the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
Extrapolating from the figures, the deaths from COVID-19 in Wuhan alone and for the first three months should be at least 45,320. The Chinese government has so far reported only 4,636 deaths across the country and 3,869 deaths in Wuhan.
Research doesn't go that far, but it shows that in the first three months of 2020, mortality in three central districts of Wuhan (where the pandemic hit the most) increased by 56 per cent (1,147 people per 100,000 against 735 the year before).
Most of these deaths are related to COVID-19 and to a lesser extent to an unknown pneumonia.
The death rate in Wuhan, which is divided in 11 districts, also increased due to other illnesses like heart disease and diabetes, which rose by 25 per cent and 50 per cent respectively.
Since the start of the emergency, local authorities have done everything to hide the gravity of the crisis, concealing the epidemic, blocking news, threatening journalists and doctors, pushing lower numbers.
A glimpse of truth came in late March 2020, when Wuhan authorities allowed families to bury the cremated remains of their loved ones. For several days, hundreds of thousands of people queued up at city crematoria to collect the ashes of an estimated 45,000 people.
For months, the government has tried to stop foreign journalists. In its recently released annual report, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China said that journalists were subjected to additional restrictions and controls because of COVID-19.
Some 42 per cent of respondents said they were forced leave a place or denied access for health and safety reasons when they presented no risk.
The report also states that Wuhan's medical staff were questioned by authorities and warned against giving interviews to journalists.