My first thought after the coronavirus outbreak was: population control and/or biological warfare.
Somebody was up to no good and lost control of their experiments.
OR........
Did they????
China doesn't need population control. Its population density is similar to the EU's, and significantly lower than most of its neighbors. It's also obvious from the efforts of the dregs of China that emigrate that they are fairly productive when left to their own devices. A case in point is the composition of this US Math Olympiad team that took first place, tying with China, against global competition in 2019:
But Wuhan is reputed to be host to an offensive biowarfare research facility, not a defensive one like the one at Fort Detrick.