Epidemics demand openness

China has had its latest, and not its last, outbreak of a coronavirus. Right now, it’s mostly a waiting game. By screening inbound flights, Australia is doing what it can in a world where pathogens circulate rapidly by jet travel. Soon it should be clearer whether Chinese authorities knew enough, early enough, about the viral outbreak in Wuhan and did enough to contain it. If they did not, the widening lockdown in Hubei province — at least 10 cities in the province, Wuhan included, have travel restrictions now — is unlikely to make much difference.

Cases already have been detected in several countries, including Japan, Thailand and the US. We have had scares here in Australia. At this stage the World Health Organisation has yet to classify the outbreak as an international emergency, presumably because the global spread appears limited — on the basis of data that arrives with a lag and may be patchy.

The key question is the transparency and agility of China. There is reason to expect a better response since the 2003 spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome. Back then it was courageous Beijing physician Jiang Yanyong who indirectly alerted Western media to the fact the government had been covering up the extent of the outbreak. This forced the resignation of Beijing’s mayor and China’s public health minister, and led to the government taking more active measures to prevent a pandemic. Even so, the virus reached 26 countries and China suffered damage to its reputation over its handling of this crisis.

Almost two decades later China has much more sophisticated communications, with the capacity for real-time surveillance of hospital emergency departments and rapid updating of infection data. President Xi Jinping is acutely conscious of China’s image abroad and says dealing with the outbreak is “extremely critical”. One government organ declared anyone suppressing reports of new infections would be “nailed on the pillar of shame for eternity”, which sounds serious.

Outside experts say Chinese authorities do seem to be more proactive than they were with SARS, although little has been done to clean up wildlife markets, the likely source of pathogens that leap between species. Only time will tell whether China has been swift and open enough. Today’s superior centralised control of data cuts both ways. China under Mr Xi has become strongly allergic to the release of information seen as damaging to the state. Some international scientists believe the number of people afflicted by the latest virus is much higher than has been admitted officially so far. The world is watching, fearfully.