Another point is that in the SARS-CoV-1 outbreak in 2002-2004 the Chinese government acted similarly: > Early in the epidemic, the Chinese government discourag

Another point is that in the SARS-CoV-1 outbreak in 2002-2004 the Chinese government acted similarly: > Early in the epidemic, the Chinese government discouraged its press from reporting on SARS, delayed reporting to WHO, and initially did not provide information to Chinese outside Guangdong province, where the disease is believed to have originated.[19] Also, a WHO team that travelled to Beijing was not allowed to visit Guangdong province for several weeks.[20] This resulted in international criticism, which seems to have led to a change in government policy in early April. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002–2004_SARS_outbreak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002–2004_SARS_outbreak There was no BSL4 lab in Guangzhou and they didn't sterilize the market there right away, so in that case they were able to eventually track the virus to its origins--yet the reaction of the Chinese government was basically the same. Americans have a fairly severe problem with assuming that other nations and people's will react with transparency to the US if they have nothing to hide. This is the same problem we saw with Hussein and the way that he tried to block the weapons inspectors and it turned out by his own admission that it was due to him not wanting to appear weak in the view of Iran and Hussein was preoccupied with Iran: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jul/02/saddam-hussein-fbi-iraq-iran https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jul/02/saddam-hussein...