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In a rare admission from Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday afternoon, he admitted that Coronavirus is the "largest public health emergency" since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949.
He said, "This is a crisis for us and it is a big test," and, he added that China must learn from "obvious shortcomings exposed."
As the numbers grow exponentially, here's what's happening behind the bamboo curtain.
Be informed.
Coronavirus is China's largest-ever public health crisis
The World Health Organization (WHO) has praised Beijing for its handling of the epidemic, but China has been criticized at home for silencing early warnings from one of their own doctors, who later died from the virus.
As of yesterday afternoon, here's where we are. However, things are changing hourly around the world.
- Italy has reported a third death, while cases are spiking in the country. The Venice carnival was closed early because of the virus spreading.
- Iran's death toll rose to 8 yesterday, prompting travel bans from neighboring countries. Iran has closed schools, universities and cultural centers across 14 provinces---the most outside East Asia.
- South Korea says it is raising its alert to the "highest" level after the number of infections nearly tripled this weekend to 602. South Korea now has the most infections outside of China, except for the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Japan.
- South Korea reported 3 more deaths yesterday and 169 more cases. Late last night another death was reported in South Korea.
- Armenia has closed its border with Iran and suspended flights.
- Pakistan closed its land crossing with Iran yesterday.
- Turkey and Afghanistan suspended travel to Iran yesterday.
The concern regarding Iran from other Middle East countries has to do with its inability to deal with the virus. Dr. Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine at Britain's University of East Anglia, said Sunday, "It is unlikely that Iran will have the resources or the facilities to adequately identify cases and adequately manage them if case numbers are large."
Most would agree, this is China's "big test." And many agree, China is miserably failing, putting the world at risk.
How it started--the attempt to cover up.
The New York Post has done some outstanding reporting on this story.
They reported this Friday:
On Friday, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology put out a directive titled: “Instructions on strengthening biosecurity management in microbiology labs that handle advanced viruses like the novel coronavirus.”
It turns out that in all of China there is only one such lab, "And this one is located in the Chinese city of Wuhan that just happens to be . . . the epicenter of the epidemic.”
That’s right. China’s only Level 4 microbiology lab that is equipped to handle deadly coronaviruses, called the National Biosafety Laboratory, is part of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
What’s more, the People’s Liberation Army’s top expert in biological warfare, a Maj. Gen. Chen Wei, was dispatched to Wuhan at the end of January to help with the effort to contain the outbreak.
According to the PLA Daily, Gen. Chen has been researching coronaviruses since the SARS outbreak of 2003, as well as Ebola and anthrax. This would not be her first trip to the Wuhan Institute of Virology either since it is one of only two bioweapons research labs in all of China.
Instead of properly disposing of infected animals by cremation, as the law requires, they sell them on the side to make a little extra cash. Or, in some cases, a lot of extra cash. One Beijing researcher, now in jail, made a million dollars selling his monkeys and rats on the live animal market, where they eventually wound up in someone’s stomach.
None of China’s excuses add up: “Snakes don’t carry coronaviruses and … bats aren’t sold at a seafood market.”
The evidence points to SARS-CoV-2 research being carried out at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The virus may have been carried out of the lab by an infected worker or crossed over into humans when they unknowingly dined on a lab animal. Whatever the vector, Beijing authorities are now clearly scrambling to correct the serious problems with the way their labs handle deadly pathogens.
In the world of progressivism and communism, the end always justifies the means. Including the cover-up and the lies.
Because the United States has outsourced everything from toys to pharmaceuticals, to video equipment to iPhones to paper plates, these health crises will impact the worldwide economy.
Syndicated columnist Victor Davis Hanson explains why "China is currently in a dangerously chaotic state."
Davis is both one of conservatism's great minds, and one of Christianity's great advocates.
Davis wrote Friday, "The Chinese communist government increasingly poses an existential threat not just to its own 1.4 billion citizens but to the world at large."
"And why not," Hanson says, "when a premodern authoritarian society leaps wildly into the brave new world of high-tech science in a single generation."
He notes that the "central party officials run the government, military, media, and universities collectively in a manner reminiscent of the science-fiction Borg organism of 'Star Trek', which was a horde of robot-like entities all under the control of a central mind."
Hanson says the world is now learning that China does not "just move mountains for new dams or bulldoze ancient neighborhoods that stand in the way of high-speed rail. It also hid the outbreak and the mysterious origins of the deadly coronavirus from its own people and the rest of the planet as well."
Victor Davis Hanson sounds the alarm.
He writes,
"China seems confident that it will soon rule the world, given its huge population, massive trade surpluses, vast cash reserves and industries that produce so many of the world's electronic devices, pharmaceuticals and consumer goods."
Hanson concludes:
"If the Chinese Borg is willing to put millions of it's own citizens at risk of infection and death, why would it care about foreigners' complaints that China is getting rich and powerful by breaking international rules."
He says,
"The truth about President Trump's decision to call China to account over its systematic abuse of international trade norms is not that Trump's policy is reckless or ill-considered. It's that at this late date, the reckoning might prove too little, too late."
Ominous words from a very wise man.
The takeaway.
This epidemic will probably get worse before it gets better. However, God is in control. Trust Him.
This is not a time for Christians to panic, but to be steadfast in our faith.
Read Scripture, be steadfast in the faith, and trust the Lord. And exercise wisdom and common sense.
Read Psalm 91.
Psalm 71 begins with,
"In you, O Lord, I put my trust...Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape, incline Your ear to me and save me. Be my strong refuge. To which I may resort continually...For You are my rock and my fortress."
Be Informed. Be Prayerful. Be Strong.