Italy had 79 total cases on 22nd Feb, a full month after China confirmed H2H and went into full lockdown. China had 10k+ cases by 31st Jan, confirming the exponential growth of the virus. Countries had ample time to come together and act. They were caught blind because they were actively looking away. Look at the entire South East Asia, Taiwan, South Korea to see what proactive measures look like.
Italy began engaging similar proactive measures on 23 Feb, including lockdowns of towns with confirmed spread. We just don't remember it that way because their proactive measures didn't work.
