You aren’t going to get concrete facts. This is Commie China.
Look at their reaction and think about that really hard.
How bad does it have to be to generate this kind of reaction from China.
And yes, you can bet people were trying to develop this as a bioweapon
From 2015
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/lab-made-coronavirus-triggers-debate-34502
Just think how reluctant the Soviets were when Chernobyl happened to release information, it took other countries noticing the elevated levels of radiation before the Russians announced it to the world.
Your right but for Xi to publicly admit there is even a problem is conformation that the situation is more than just serious.
The irony here is that if this was a Biowar experiment gone bad that got out by accident, then China will bear the brunt of their own stupidity.