U.S.'s O'Brien says Chinese virus response likely cost world two months

China did not initially handle the coronavirus outbreak properly and this likely cost the world two months when it could have prepared and dramatically curtailed the outbreak, U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien said on Wednesday.

"It probably cost the world community two months to respond and those two months, if we'd had those (and) been able to sequence the virus and had the cooperation necessary from the Chinese, had a WHO (World Health Organization) team been on the ground, had a CDC (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) team, which we had offered, been on the ground, I think we could have dramatically curtailed what happened both in China and what's now happening across the world," O'Brien said in a think tank appearance.