I've seen this narrative going arond the Interwebz for years, but in my memory China took retaliation measures before covid happened, during of Trump's trade war.
Isn't it more that relations with China already weren't fantastic when Covid started, and the above mentioned request for an investigation just made things worse?
> https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN287099/
> Australia's ties with top trade partner China soured in 2018 when it became the first country to publicly ban China's Huawei from its 5G