Because China is authoritarian the west is not.
What would have been the reaction had Boris gone for lockdown on the 1st March? At that stage we had 23 cases and no fatalities.
He would have been laughed at: Until the figures stated to escalate
legislation would have been ignored and the opposition would have had a field day mocking and ridiculing. Yesterday the figures were 3,983 confirmed positive and 177 have died.
There ain't no one laughing now and no one is disputing the need for lockdown.
That is the difference between the Chinese regime and ours. The people in a democracy have to give consent to stringent measures. We are not a police state. Sadly because of this societal inertia the death toll will be increased. That is a fact of life as is the fact that numbers will increase for several weeks most likely.