China Briefing | Coronavirus response highlights flaws in the way China’s bureaucracy handles a crisis
- After a slow response to the situation, Beijing needs to act promptly and boost transparency as its credibility is once again on the line
- As President Xi Jinping has consolidated power and tightened controls, officials tend to cover up disasters and avoid taking decisions
The virus has killed more than 40 and infected more than 1000 people in mainland China.
The crisis is most likely to get worse as the Chinese celebrate Lunar New Year on January 25, with tens of millions of people expected to make about 3 billion trips criss-crossing the country to visit their loved ones in the 40 day period from January 10 to February 18. That figure does not even include hundreds of thousands of people going overseas for holidays.
As Chinese officials and health experts warn the virus could mutate and spread further, there have been growing concerns that the Chinese government attempted to cover up the severity and scale of the epidemic as it did during the Sars outbreak, amid widespread scepticism about its commitment to transparency.