China is continuing to under-report the true levels of deaths from Covid-19, national security officials in London and Washington believe.

But European officials are wary about directly challenging China over the figures, sources told the BBC. That concern also extends to confronting Beijing over an information campaign to improve its standing and distract from blame in the crisis, BBC reported.

China has denied allegations of a cover up, saying it has been transparent about its efforts to battle the virus.

China has reported  82,804 cases and 4,632 deaths till Friday, according to latest data from worldometer.

A total of 77,257 people have recovered from coronavirus.