1. There is a very strong incentive for the CCP to pretend it eventually managed to control the plague, due to both the pretense of efficiency of central planning that they have to uphold after a very humiliating defacement in front of the international media, and the economic pressure they want to relieve,

and,

2. A very easy game of concealing new cases as the few foreign journalists have evacuated the area, we’re not in Hong Kong but in the center of the country

I would also mention rumors reported by Radio Free Asia of “24h/24 cremation of dead bodies”, a few weeks ago (RFA underlined this was simply sayings).

How easy it is to simply stop reporting the new cases to the foreign press ? The Chinese Communist Party is a huge machine, which much more strength in terms of technology and human force than what the Soviet Union’s Communist Party had back in the time.

Richard Engel from MSNBC also voiced his skepticism. I am surprised few people on Twitter took up the point; and even elsewhere in the libertarian media.

UPDATE : more cities have been locked due to COVID19 around mainland China over the weeks. Various sources on Twitter showed official documents of the CCP announcing that.