China misled the world, concealed official COVID-19 figures: Report

New Delhi, Dec 02: The extent of the COVID-19 outbreak during its early days was deliberately concealed by China and official figures were played down, according to a report that cited leaked documents from Wuhan.

Documents accessed by CNN revealed that local health authorities in the province of Hubei, where the virus was first detected, listed a total of 5,198 new cases on February 10 which was more than double the number that was made public. The larger figure was never revealed to the world, the report also said.

The previously undisclosed future is among a string of revelations contained within the 117 pages of leaked documents from Hubei Provisional Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the report also said.

The report added that the documents amount to the most significant leak from China since the start of the pandemic and also provides a clear window into what local authorities knew internally and when. The Wuhan Files are the latest evidence on China's handling of the pandemic in the early days.