> I haven't heard any reputable source suggest there was any practical way of containing it perfectly.

Of course there was. If they somehow magically divined the true danger of the virus the day they identified it.

But they didn't, it took time and observation, and they shut down the affected areas as soon as the extent of danger was realized and processed by their bureaucracy. There's plenty of things here that could've been done better, but it's asinine to blame them for the virus taking hold everywhere else. Doubly so given that most of the world had a month+ warning before they registered their first cases.