Yes I've read in many stories now that China delaying solid reporting is the core issue in all this, as a side note I read an article yesterday how China is trying to "re-brand" itself as the good guy by distributing health related supplies to countries affected,
The Chinese Gov is scum. Lets stipulate that up front. (I don't extend that to normal regular Joe Chinese and certainly not their doctors and nurses risking their lives.)
There was definitely attempts to suppress information by the local party bosses early on. I think the national leadeship didn't have a clear picture of what they were dealing with at first. I think they informed WHO pretty soon after they came to the full realization of what they were dealing with. Only because they realized it was going to get out and there was no way to keep it secret anyway. Kinda like once the radiation clouds for Chernobyl started drifting over Sweden. Not gonna sweep that under the rug!
That's not to say they have bee releasing accurate numbers. I think their numbers are significantly higher than what they've reported and there is no way they are at zero new cases. Nope.
They are desperate to get people back into the factories. They need to convince them the virus is beaten. Then later when it flares back up from breaking quarantine, they can say they go reinfected from US/Europe and the second wave isn't their fault. Now they can claim we infected you, then you infected us. Even.
I'd love to see manufacturing come back to this country, but it's not going to happen. Companies will seek the cheapest resources to maximize profits. That's how the Capitalist model seeks maximum efficiency. That's called the free flow of goods and services. If you don't believe in that, then you don't believe in Capitalism.
The only way I see it happening is if fuel costs skyrocket to the point it doesn't make sense anymore to ship tennis shoes all the way from the other side of the planet, or we convert all manufacturing to all mostly robotic factories. But that won't help regular folks much.