Bill Gates believes covering up a massive outbreak is China “doing a lot of things right at the beginning.” Yikes!

On CNN Sunday, the billionaire rejected claims that China, as host Fareed Zakaria put it, “deceived the rest of the world.”

“Well, I don’t think that’s a timely thing because it doesn’t affect how we act today,” Gates replied. “Like any country where a virus first shows up, they can look back and see where they missed some things.”

Missed? China’s government punished doctors for reporting that a SARS-like virus was loose. And it lied to the world about the virus spreading human-to-human.

Talk of China’s cover-up is a “distraction,” Gates said. Sorry: Beijing’s intentional failures matter plenty.