China

China coronavirus cases may have been four times official figure, says studyNew estimates from Hong Kong come amid call for inquiry into outbreak’s origins More than 232,000 people may have been infected in the first wave of Covid-19 in mainland China, four times the official figures, according to a study by Hong Kong researchers. China reported more than 55,000 cases as of 20 February but, according to research by academics at Hong Kong University’s school of public health, published in the Lancet, the true number would have been far greater if the definition of a Covid-19 case that was later used had been applied from the outset. China has now reported more than 83,000 cases. Globally, the death toll from the coronavirus has exceeded 184,000, with the number of cases worldwide