China's latest plans to overhaul its disease control system may not improve its ability to handle future virus outbreaks, according to some experts inside and outside the country.
The reforms, announced in late May, do not fix all the flaws exposed by the new coronavirus and do not tackle the issues of secrecy and censorship that many experts believe turned an isolated outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan into a pandemic.
"The biggest problem in China is (local governments) are afraid that epidemics can impact social stability," said Yang Gonghuan, a former deputy head of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Beijing. "So they don't want reporters to speak and don't want people like Li Wenliang to speak."
Li, a doctor in Wuhan, was reprimanded by police for "spreading rumors" when he tried to raise the alarm about the disease, which he later died from.