"Health Experts Issue Ominous Warning"

Chinese authorities are scrambling to contain a deadly new virus, even as a report published Friday warned that 350,000 people could be infected by the end of the month.

The Chinese city of Wuhan, at the center of the country's coronavirus crisis, has been quarantined and put on government lock down. At least 13 other cities, home to 56 million, may take similar measures.

Officials in China have closed schools, theaters and major attractions, as well as transportation links from Wuhan and other affected cities. Public transportation, major roads and airports have been closed in a desperate attempt to stop the virus' spread.

Unfortunately, it appears the lock down didn't happen quickly enough, as the virus has been reported in at least a dozen other countries, including the United States.

According to Yahoo!news:

"Health experts issued an ominous warning about a coronavirus pandemic 3 months ago. Their simulation showed it could kill 65 million people."

Eric Toner, a scientist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, staged the simulation, dubbed Event 201, in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to illustrate areas where public/private cooperation will be necessary during a severe pandemic.

"I have thought for a long time that the most likely virus that might cause a new pandemic would be a coronavirus," Toner said.

"The outbreak in Wuhan isn't considered a pandemic," writes Emily Wang, of the Associated Press. "But the virus has been reported in Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, France, Mexico, Nepal, Malaysia and the United States."

"We don't know how contagious it is," Toner said. "We know that it is being spread person-to-person, but we don't know to what extent."

Meanwhile, "disturbing new video shows dead bodies piling up in the hallways of a hospital in Wuhan, reports The New York Post. And The New York Times says, "It's unclear whether Chinese officials have been fully transparent about the number of infected or dead."

But keep in mind that while "health officials around the world are alarmed, it is hard to accurately assess the lethality of a new virus. On Thursday the World Health Organization declined to declare the outbreak a global health emergency," said The New York Times. "Though those experts were split on whether or not they should have."

A wise man once said: "God warned His people of the consequences of disobedience, including plague (Leviticus 26:25,26). It's sometimes hard to imagine our loving and merciful God displaying such wrath and anger. But God always has the goal of repentance and restoration."-- Got Questions.org

"When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among My people, if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land" 2 Chronicles 7:13-14.

HOW TO GO TO HEAVEN 

NEWS:

• Bloomberg: The Worst Drought in 40 Years Has Turned Bangkok Tap Water Salty; lack of water imperils farm sector
• Daily Star: Nurse at corpse-strewn hospital says quarantine failing; medic in Wuhan claims number of infected close to 100,000
• The Sun: Swarms of locusts 37 miles long and 25 miles wide seeps through east Africa causing devastation