They have actually done the exact opposite. They knew about this way back in December,
the numbers they report are wauly understated and they have even arrested reporters and made them delete their footage.
China is all about showing a good image to the rest of the world and their own population, and this outbreak goes in the face of that.
Except the mortality rate is insignificant, it's just a novel virus with less serious consequences than the flu from what I've read.
The scale of the reaction and coverage seems entirely disconnected from its actual impact. Is there any point in wasting any resources at all in containing such a virus beyond just exercising your ability to do so?
We don't know the mortality rate, because you can't trust anything coming from China's government. It takes a certain amount of time for the virus to kill and that time hasn't passed yet.
A disease that makes you cough up blood, is highly mutable and can be spread for 2 weeks prior to experiencing symptoms is not to be dismissed as just the same as a flu.
Totalitarian sometimes work. Just watch ww2 in Color. Nazi worked and got France. It is just sometimes. When you do not have freedom of speech and media, this follow the leader would not work. Anyway. Last time we wait for the hot weather to kill this. And they did start to close down cities. We just hope the totalitarian plus the nature of people (just run say to HK) would not hurt too much until nature stop it.