WASHINGTON — “The new China is Europe,” Robert Redfield, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Tuesday, reflecting the shifting realities of the global coronavirus epidemic.

The epidemic began in China’s province of Hubei, but strict measures imposed by Beijing appear to have drastically slowed the spread of the disease there (although figures from the authoritarian regime cannot readily be trusted). South Korea, which suffered the second-biggest coronavirus outbreak after China, has also been showing signs of progress in containing the disease.

But as the coronavirus seems to be slowing down in East Asia, it is picking up pace in Western Europe, where dense populations and open, easily traversed borders make for a daunting public health challenge.

“The epicenter, the new China, is Europe,” Redfield said in remarks that came in the midst of congressional testimony. “And there’s a lot of people coming back and forth from Europe.”

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