The first papers on an unknown SARS virus were published internationally in very early January 2020 by Chinese medics. They'd identified it as highly transmissible and severe, so raised alerts with the WHO. Other nations did take note - which is why I was reading them (I am a sad git, but not so sad that I trawl Chinese medical journals).
Alerts such as this are often put on a back shelf by international bodies for the simple reason that a heck of a lot of odd diseases arise in China but stay in the country. Meanwhile, Chinese scientists were frantically tracking its spread, noting symptoms, testing preventative measures and sequencing the virus. Thanks to their work, this sad git made face masks out of vacuum cleaner bags and interfacing, stocked up on sanitiser and started veering round other people when I could.
The Chinese 'canaries in the coal mine' must be so pissed off to have been ignored, denigrated and dismissed by the world at large. There is a conspiracy theory here: I heard that the doctors who raised the first alerts were disappeared by the Chinese government. No idea whether there's any truth in that! I hope not.
If you read the BMJ article linked upthread, it says that one definition of a 'lab leak' is a researcher catching a disease from a poo sample they're studying. Researchers all over the world are collecting the droppings of bats and aquatic birds, today and every day, to help predict dangerous zoonotic diseases. Sometimes their samples may infect them. (Thanks to all the people doing this occasionally risky and mostly uncomfortable work!)
... and of course international public health bodies fund Chinese virology labs. Most zoonotic diseases originate in that country.