Coronavirus cases appearing outside China could be ‘spark’ for larger outbreak
by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – The World Health Organization said on Monday that a rash of coronavirus cases spotted outside China could be “the spark that becomes a bigger fire,” as the death toll reached 908 and surpassed the SARS outbreak of 2002 and 2003.
All but two of the deaths from the virus occurred in mainland China, but 330 cases in 27 other countries and territories, some of whom never had any history of travel to China, presented “concerning instances” to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“But for now it is only a spark. Our objective remains containment,” he said Monday as an advance team of WHO experts arrived in China to investigate the nature of the virus.
People in China returned to work on Monday after the Lunar New Year holiday, but the Hubei province of 60 million people where Wuhan is located remained on virtual lockdown, with all transportation halted.
China is the number 23 persecutor of Christians worldwide, according to Open Doors USA’s World Watch List, and is creating what Open Doors CEO David Curry has called the “system of persecution for the future” through a blend of AI and surveillance technology that monitors all religious activity.