To save face.
And I don’t think they’ve ever been forthright about the number of cases.
Plus, that number would imply that ALL the people who have it were tested and counted, and I seriously doubt that is the case.
There was a point at which the Chinese simply gave up on Wuhan entirely and declared there would be no more cases. Their handling of the pandemic was disastrous and once it moved beyond medical it became political.
If the reports from multiple sources inside Wuhan are accurate, the death toll is upwards of 200,000.
Same for Iran. Far more deaths than they are reporting.
That’s what happens when your HCS is overwhelmed.
Look at Italy. 1 in 15 cases dies.