With a billion people that have no reason to trust their government, it's going to be hard to convince them to drop what they and their families had learned with blood during the Mao-era famines.
The issue with authoritarianism in this case, is that a fear of looking bad; weak, or ineffectual, caused mid-level party leaders to try and hide the reality of the situation, with disastrous results. (That Trumpism has lead the US in the same, disastrous direction is shameful. I don't know enough about the cause in Italy to comment about the failures there.)
It's funny you should bring up the Five Eyes intelligence alliance (assuming that's what your Europe-US ping time is referring to). We had knowledge of "an unknown virus" as early as November. That no one paid attention to it is a human failing, not a technology issue.
Further it brings into question the items that are good or bad. Is "Racoon Dog" ok or not? Can they sell "Bats"?
Then as you mention, people are going to stick to what they do. Good example, how many people are out and about even though the US government said "please stay home".
It's easy to point a finger and say do as I say and not as I do, but until we solve the global issue of food / health, it will be hard to enact any tight control over these types of situations.
As far as I understand things (which is only from reading articles and watching YouTube videos of people visiting these markets), most of the animals like bats, civets, pangolins, etc. that are implicated in zoonotic diseases are delicacies rather than staples. If they were banned, nobody would starve.
People across the world eat local food as delicacies or sometimes as staple foods. What is so different about Chinese wildlife?
What matters and should be fixed is sanitary standards, not what kind of meat the Chinese eat.
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/where-coronavirus... https://www.the-scientist.com/notebook/why-bats-make-such-go... http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature22975
The research on Chinese coronavirus outbreaks indicates that bats are a large reservoir for these viruses, and they frequently infect other animals, but it is difficult to pinpoint the final jump to humans exactly. Given the unique status of bats in this regard, it's probably best to keep live ones away from humans or other animals intended for human consumption.
Yes they are impoverished, but this is grinding humanity to a halt. It is probably the most impactful money we can spend.