based on read so far (though all chinese news sources are kind of doubtful), the BJ CDC HQ should be the #1 culprit.

late dec wuhan doc zhang reported to wuhan cdc, the 1st step was standard and professional, what happened next was not sure. it's hard to believe wuhan agency would delay, it's such a hot potato that we can safely presume they reported to BJ without delay. looks like BJ experts played down the threat, which lead to the crucial delay in response. without OK from central, wuhan local dared not to take dramatic actions.

hard to find excuse for it. zhang's initial report said 7 patients all similar and all visited that seafood market, the smoking gun was red hot!

for all this response tragedy and fiasco, i put blame on chinese BJ top scientists 1st, i see no1 showed any professional competence. and of course this wuhan virology institute too. as the best in china they contributed nothing except a young good looking director.