Chinese officials hailed recent figures as evidence that the spread of the coronavirus epidemic has slowed, and World Health Organization officials said on Tuesday that China’s strict limits on its people’s movements have helped. But the outbreak and its death toll continue to grow. The picture outside China has grown steadily more alarming. And experts caution against excessive optimism about the crisis peaking. “It could be unwise for anybody in China, or outside China, to be complacent that this is coming under control at this point in time,” said Prof. Malik Peiris, chief of virology at the University of Hong Kong. Since Chinese officials first acknowledged the virus in December, it has been hard to judge with precision the severity and scale of the outbreak. China has changed its criteria […]