Do you have a source for what you're describing here? If not, you should take up writing fiction (seriously).
Worse than one source, many sources. China has been drip feeding the bad news (aerosolized spread, asymptomatic carriers, etc), and other discoveries later like the water/waste-borne re-aerisolization effects which make sewer and water systems devastating to people in proximity, as was discovered on the failed cruise ship quarantine.
Do a Twitter search for Iran. The government there had kept it under the rug due to the elections, but it was spreading and overwhelming their medical services quickly, which is a disastrous mix with officials in denial. Now it's burning through northern Italy, which has at least acted more swiftly by putting the area on lockdown, closing institutions and cancelling group exposure risks like football matches.
In Italy, in just a few days, confirmed cases went from a couple, to 50+, to 100+ in successive 24 hour periods. Because the COVID infection is observed as beginning asymptomatically, these people weren't identified until they came down with more severe symptoms. Thus, they're to be taken as a warning. Each new case potentially reflects 5, 10, or even hundreds of additional infections depending on their activities and range of movement, or if they have secondary illnesses which may cause more aggressive spread (eg; someone suffering from a cold, allergies, etc and coughing/sneezing in public or around friends and family).
I believe the governments are handling this with very mixed messages, but overall trying to minimize the worry due to panic causing economic distress, or in cases like Iran with a strongly antagonistic relationship with the population at large, minimizing and denying facts as they're afraid of popular revolutionaries overthrowing the current cadre.
It does indeed depend on where you look. China, the Koreas, Japan, Iran, Italy, these are in various stages of disarray and deteriorating attempts at containment. However, Thailand is holding out pretty well at the moment. Hopefully that is a good sign.