Coronavirus: China outbreak city Wuhan raises death toll by 50%
BBC
The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus originated last year, has raised its official Covid-19 death toll by 50%, adding 1,290 fatalities.
fatality
a death caused by an accident or by violence, or someone who has died in either of these ways
（事故或暴力事件中的）死亡，死者
death toll 與 fatality 為同義詞，可替換。
例句：
There are thousands of traffic fatalities (= deaths in traffic accidents) every year.
每年因交通事故有數千人死亡。
The first fatalities of the war were civilians.
戰爭中首當其衝喪命的是平民百姓。
Wuhan officials attributed the new figure to updated reporting and deaths outside hospitals. China has insisted there was no cover-up.
attribute sth. to sb.
to say or think that something is the result or work of something or someone else
把…歸因於…；認為…由…生產；認為…是…所為
例句：
The doctors have attributed the cause of the illness to an unknown virus.
醫生們認為這種疾病是由一種未知的病毒引起的。
To what do you attribute this delay?
你認為造成這次延誤的原因是什麼？
同義詞組：
ascribe sth to sth
to believe or say that something is caused by something else
把…歸因於；認為…是由於
例句：
To what do you ascribe your phenomenal success?
你認為你取得如此巨大成功的原因是什麼？
It has been accused of downplaying the severity of its virus outbreak.
downplay
to make something seem less important or less bad than it really is
對…輕描淡寫；貶低；低估
例句：
The government has been trying to downplay the crisis.
政府一直在盡力淡化此次危機的嚴重性。
Wuhan's 11 million residents spent months in strict lockdown conditions, which have only recently been eased.
The latest official figures bring the death toll in the city in China's central Hubei province to 3,869, increasing the national total to more than 4,600.
China has confirmed nearly 84,000 coronavirus infections, the seventh-highest globally, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
What's China's explanation for the rise in deaths?
In a statement released on Friday, officials in Wuhan said the revised figures were the result of new data received from multiple sources, including records kept by funeral homes and prisons.
funeral home
a place where a dead person is prepared to be buried or burned, and where relatives and friends can see the body
殯儀館
Deaths linked to the virus outside hospitals, such as people who died at home, had not previously been recorded.
The "statistical verification" followed efforts by authorities to "ensure that information on the city's Covid-19 epidemic is open, transparent and the data [is] accurate", the statement said.
It added that health systems were initially overwhelmed and cases were "mistakenly reported" - in some instances counted more than once and in others missed entirely.
A shortage of testing capacity in the early stages meant that many infected patients were not accounted for, it said.
account
to think of someone or something in the stated way
認為是；視為
例句：
She was accounted a genius by all who knew her work.
所有知道她作品的人都認為她是個天才。
account其他常見用法：
account for sth.
to form the total of something
（在數量上）佔
例句：
Students account for the vast majority of our customers.
我們的顧客絕大多數是學生。
account (to sb) for sth
to explain the reason for something or the cause of something
（對某人）就…作出解釋；（對某人）就…作出說明
例句：
Can you account for your absence last Friday?
你能解釋一下上週五你為什麼缺勤嗎？
A spokesman for China's National Health Commission, Mi Feng, said the new death count came from a "comprehensive review" of epidemic data.
In its daily news conference, the foreign ministry said accusations of a cover-up, which have been made most stridently on the world stage by US President Donald Trump, were unsubstantiated. "We'll never allow any concealment," a spokesman said.
stridently
If you use strident to describe someone or the way they express themselves, you mean that they make their feelings or opinions known in a very strong way that perhaps makes people uncomfortable.
強硬的;咄咄逼人的;堅定的
例句：
She was increasingly seen as a strident feminist.
她愈加被視為強硬的女權主義者。
...the unnecessarily strident tone of the President's remarks...
總統發言中不必要的強硬語氣
unsubstantiated
not supported by facts
未經證實的，無事實根據的
例句：
Companies can be punished for making unsubstantiated claims about their products.
公司對產品的說明如果沒有事實根據將會受到處罰。
concealment
the act of hiding something
隱藏；隱匿；隱瞞
例句：
the concealment of evidence/facts/weapons
隱瞞證據／隱瞞事實／隱藏武器
其動詞原形為：conceal
to prevent something from being seen or known about
隱藏；隱匿；隱瞞；隱蔽
例句：
The listening device was concealed in a pen.
竊聽裝置藏在了筆裡。
I tried to conceal my surprise when she told me her age.
她告訴我她的年齡時，我盡力掩飾自己的驚訝。
Why are there concerns over China's figures?
Friday's revised figures come amid growing international concern that deaths in China have been under-reported. Questions have also been raised about Beijing's handling of the epidemic, particularly in its early stages.
In December 2019, Chinese authorities launched an investigation into a mysterious viral pneumonia after cases began circulating in Wuhan.
China reported the cases to the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN's global health agency, on 31 December.
But WHO experts were only allowed to visit China and investigate the outbreak on 10 February, by which time the country had more than 40,000 cases.
The mayor of Wuhan has previously admitted there was a lack of action between the start of January - when about 100 cases had been confirmed - and 23 January, when city-wide restrictions were enacted.
enact
to put something into action, especially to make something law
實行，實施；（尤指）制定（法律）
例句：
A package of economic sanctions is to be enacted against the country.
將對這個國家實行一系列的經濟制裁。
Around that time, a doctor who tried to warn his colleagues about an outbreak of a Sars-like virus was silenced by the authorities. Dr Li Wenliang later died from Covid-19.
Wuhan's death toll increase of almost exactly 50% has left some analysts wondering if this is all a bit too neat.
neat
tidy, with everything in its place
整潔的，整齊的；有序的
例句：
Your house is always so neat - how do you manage it?
你的房子總是這麼整潔——是怎麼做到的？
She likes everything neat and tidy.
她喜歡一切都井井有條。
You have such neat handwriting.你
的字寫得真工整。
For months questions have been asked about the veracity of China's official coronavirus statistics.
The inference has been that some Chinese officials may have deliberately under-reported deaths and infections to give the impression that cities and towns were successfully managing the emergency.
If that was the case, Chinese officials were not to know just how bad this crisis would get in other countries, making its own figures now seem implausibly small.
implausible
If you describe something as implausible, you believe that it is unlikely to be true.
難以置信的;不像真實的
implausibly 為其副詞形式
例句：
I had to admit it sounded like an implausible excuse...
我得承認那聽起來像是個難以叫人相信的藉口。
The authorities in Wuhan, where the first cluster of this disease was reported, said there had been no deliberate misrepresentation of data, rather that a stabilisation in the emergency had allowed them time to revisit the reported cases and to add any previously missed.
That the new death toll was released at the same time as a press conference announcing a total collapse in China's economic growth figures has led some to wonder whether this was a deliberate attempt to bury one or other of these stories.
Then again, it could also be a complete coincidence.
But China has also been praised for its handling of the crisis and the unprecedented restrictions that it instituted to slow the spread of the virus. WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has hailed China for the "speed with which [it] detected the outbreak" and its "commitment to transparency".
hail
to call someone in order to attract their attention
招呼，呼喊
例句：
Shall we hail a taxi?
我們要叫出租車嗎？
I tried to hail her from across the room.
我在屋子的另一端衝她喊。
US President Donald Trump this week halted funding for the WHO, accusing it of making deadly mistakes and overly trusting China.
