From what I understand they knew because there was a lot more than a handful of cases. The government was suppressing the news because that's what you do when

From what I understand they knew because there was a lot more than a handful of cases. The government was suppressing the news because that's what you do when you have bad news in an authoritarian state. Remember the early news from doctors who were trying to understand what was going on and were getting censored by the government? They had to form an underground information exchange until the problem finally got so big (and spread internationally) that they couldn't pretend anymore. IMHO, this discussion about the lab is a distraction from the real discussion we should be having. The one about suppressing discussion between doctors who are merely reporting on what they're seeing and delaying the worldwide response as a result. Even today the CCPs official numbers on COVID infections in China are extremely unlikely. They claim to have had fewer cases than even New Zealand. Clearly there is political influence being exerted over the official figures.