Those were probably promoted to produce fear in the masses, and create a justification for lockdowns.

The other possibility is that a stronger variant existed in Wuhan, and mutated to a milder but more infectious form (as viruses do) before it spread everywhere. So COVID-19 may have underperformed their expectations as elucidated in Event 201:

The scenario ends at the 18-month point, with 65 million deaths. The pandemic is beginning to slow due to the decreasing number of susceptible people. The pandemic will continue at some rate until there is an effective vaccine or until 80-90 % of the global population has been exposed. From that point on, it is likely to be an endemic childhood disease.

Source: https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/scenario.html

Those were probably promoted to produce fear in the masses, and create a justification for lockdowns.

The other possibility is that a stronger variant existed in Wuhan, and mutated to a milder but more infectious form (as viruses do) before it spread everywhere. So COVID-19 may have underperformed their expectations as elucidated in Event 201:

Event 201 simulates an outbreak of a novel zoonotic coronavirus transmitted from bats to pigs to people that eventually becomes efficiently transmissible from person to person, leading to a severe pandemic. The pathogen and the disease it causes are modeled largely on SARS, but it is more transmissible in the community setting by people with mild symptoms.

The scenario ends at the 18-month point, with 65 million deaths. The pandemic is beginning to slow due to the decreasing number of susceptible people. The pandemic will continue at some rate until there is an effective vaccine or until 80-90 % of the global population has been exposed. From that point on, it is likely to be an endemic childhood disease.

Source: https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/scenario.html