What is the Coronavirus we see today? Is it just the flu or something far different?

What is the most likely source of this virus?

Accurately identifying this Coronavirus is clearly complicated by the fact the Chinese communist government is controlling the information they are choosing to release. How much of a problem is intentional propaganda, the intentional shaping of information to either calm the public or intentionally mislead the people? How much is perhaps incompetence or the shear fact that no one knows what’s really happening with this virus?