ver the next few days, secrecy and bureaucratic obstinacy ensured that the only chance to nip the outbreak in the bud was missed. The authorities excluded from testing all potential cases that had no connection or proximity to the seafood market. They insisted the virus could only be caught from animals, despite nurses and doctors falling sick. They went ahead with a huge banquet for the Chinese New Year and encouraged people to travel abroad. By mid January at the latest, the virus was already in a dozen countries, every index case tracing back to a traveller from Wuhan.
It's perhaps important to note that China's cover-up remains a scandal whether the lab-leak theory is true or not. Matt Ridley has co-written a book and written numerous articles explaining why he thinks a lab leak is, overwhelmingly, the most likely explanation for what happened in Wuhan, and the subsequent world-wide pandemic. I think he's right. But even if it came from the street market, or from some other source, China's response to the unfolding crisis remains as an act of criminal irresponsibility.
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