For China, communication and control are key to tackling virus

When the SARS virus spread across China in 2002-3, the government in Beijing reacted with secrecy and obstruction. This year's coronavirus outbreak is being tackled very differently – a key test for President Xi Jinping and the increasingly sophisticated authoritarian system he presides over.

One thing is certain: China has been able to respond in a way it's almost impossible to imagine any other country beginning to be capable of. That means not just a colossal deployment of state resources – up to half a million healthcare workers being rushed to the most affected city, Wuhan, and the wider province of Hubei, and two new hospitals being built in little more than a week. It also means a measure of centralised state control that has effectively locked down not just the immediate area but much of China's national transit system.