CORONAVIRUS IN CHINA 'MUCH WORSE' THAN OFFICIALLY REPORTED, WUHAN RESIDENTS, death toll overtakes SARS epidemic

The coronavirus has already claimed more lives in mainland China than the SARS epidemic, amid reports the country's authorities are not being transparent about the scale of the epidemic and that people are finding it hard to get treatment.

The official death toll in mainland China, according to state-run news agency Xinhua, is 361, with more than 17,000 confirmed cases of the disease. The coronavirus is continuing to spread beyond China and is now present in more than 25 countries.

This figure has overtaken the death toll from SARS, which in 2003 killed 349 people in China and infected 5,327 people.

However, a study published in the medical journal The Lancet estimated that the number of coronavirus infections could be more than four times higher than the number given by Chinese authorities. It said its "baseline scenario" put the figure in the city of Wuhan at 75,815 as of January 25.

The Lancet report also projected the "epidemics are already growing exponentially in multiple major cities of China with a lag time behind the Wuhan outbreak of about 1–2 weeks."

There is an apparent discrepancy between the Chinese government's insistence that it can cope with the crisis and other forecasts about its deadliness. This is borne out by anecdotal evidence from residents in Wuhan at the center of the outbreak, who say there is difficulty in getting diagnosis and treatment.

Long Jian, 32, told The New York Times his father had to wait a week and visit half a dozen hospitals before he could even get a coronavirus test.

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