China has had a long history of local government, or local organizations hiding bad news from the central government. I'm not sure things have changed.
Maybe its cultural. Until all the old people with the old baggage die the population's behaviour doesn't change. I'm in singapore and last night i went to a few supermarkets. Toilet paper, instant noodles, bread, thermometers..are some of the things that are sold out. Singapore has 40 cases and people are reacting like its the zombie apocalypse despite the government saying there will be no "lock down" and supplies will be sufficient..
As many here have pointed out. Singapore is a police state. This is where contact tracing is going to work if ever.
And singapore was the first country to deny entry to travellers from china, despite the economy's dependency on china.
I mean. Why toilet paper? It comes from Indonesia right?
There's adverts on tv every couple of hours and posters everywhere telling people not to wear face masks if they're not feeling unwell. Government and employers are handing out face masks. Yet theyre all sold out everywhere.
Government has to slow down if not stop that kind of over reaction. Or worse. Sinophobia?
I'm not sure anybody wanted to be "that guy" who defy "that rule" and gets incarcerated or branded as "Liar" like those 8 other whistle blower doctors... history can always be nicely rewritten since ancient times in China
And the central government has a long history of blaming its incompetence on the local governments