Thousands of urns awaiting collection in Wuhan, the city that was the first epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, have raised questions about the true scale of the death toll in China.

New photos circulating online showing long lines of relatives waiting outside funeral homes in the Chinese city for the remains of their loved ones have renewed pressure on the ruling Communist party to reveal the full truth about impact of the Covid-19 virus.

According to Chinese government figures, 2,535 people in Wuhan died of the virus. But images and information obtained by the Caixin media outlet appear to contradict the official narrative.

Trucks shipped in about 2,500 urns to one funeral home on both Wednesday and Thursday, it reported. Another picture published – as illustrated in the below tweet – showed 3,500 urns stacked on the ground inside, although it is unclear how many of the urns had been filled.

The city’s funeral homes have refused to release data, but some families said they had been forced to wait several hours to obtain the ashes.