The ramming was reported on Monday, though at the time police only said that people had been injured, while videos of the incident appeared to have been scrubbed from social media.

But on Tuesday, police said that a "serious and vicious attack" had occurred at Zhuhai Sports Centre, revealing the death toll to be 35.

The 62-year-old driver, surnamed Fan, had driven "a small SUV through the gate and forced his way into the city's sports centre, ramming people who were exercising on the internal roads of the sports centre", police said in a statement.

The police found Fan in his car cutting himself with a knife and "immediately stopped him and sent him to the hospital for treatment".

He is currently in a coma after self-inflicted injuries to his neck and other parts of his body and "unable to undergo interrogation", police added.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged "all-out efforts" to treat the people injured and has "demanded punishing the perpetrator in accordance with the law", the official Xinhua news agency said.

China's largest airshow showcasing Beijing's civil and military aerospace sector is being held in the same city.