China has revised the number of deaths in the city of Wuhan to 3,869, up 1,290 from the initial total.

The new fatality figure for the city where the virus originated is a 50 per cent increase from the original total.

Wuhan lifted its lockdown last week after 76 days of the public being strictly confined to their homes in a bid to contain the spread of the virus.

However, COVID-19 rapidly spread to other countries and now the number of people that have tested positive for the virus is rapidly approaching 1.5 million.

According to Xinhua News Agency, an official from Wuhan's epidemic and prevention and control headquarters said: "Due to the insufficiency in admission and treatment capability, a few medical institutions failed to connect with the disease prevention and control system in time, while hospitals were overloaded and medics were overwhelmed with patients.

"As a result, belated, missed and mistaken reporting occurred."

The total number of cases in China now stands at 82,692, while the death toll has increased dramatically to 4,632.