Fears coronavirus may be mutating as experts say spread to UK is likely
Travellers from the coronavirus-hit region of China will be separated from other passengers when arriving in the UK as part of new measures in response to the outbreak.
Chinese officials have confirmed the first instance of human-to-human transimission of the virus. Authorities have also warned that it “could mutate and spread further”. It comes as the CDC has confirmed the first case of 2019 coronavirus in the US, adding another to the more than 300 cases identified by authorities since the virus began circulating earlier this year. The virus originated in Wuhan, and has since spread around Asia, in the neighbouring cities of Shenzen and Beijing, and into Thailand.
Passengers on flights from Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have originated, will be screened at Heathrow. They will also be observed for signs of illness, be handed medical advice leaflets and will have their temperature checked if necessary.
Fears coronavirus may be mutating as experts say spread to UK is likely
According to the Evening Standard a flight from Wuhan is due to land at Heathrow on Wednesday evening at around 6pm.
The Coronavirus is in the same viral family as SARS and MERS, which killed a combined total of almost 1,600 people when they originated in 2002 and 2015 respectively. This has sparked fears of a similar deadly pandemic in 2020.
January is a time of looking forward to the new year – but it’s also a time of ponderance and reflection. Taking stock of what went so well, and what did not pan out alright – and how to make things better next time around; by CRIMSON TAZVINZWA///
Every January, the latest World Watch List is published. It ranks the 50 countries where it is most difficult to follow Christ – where our brothers and sisters face persecution from the state, from their families and from outside attack. 260 million Christians live in these 50 dangerous countries – 15 million more than in the previous year.
As you read the 2020 World Watch List, please keep praying for families who are courageously following Jesus no matter the cost. Let’s make 2020 a year of change for our brothers and sisters.
Since 2002, North Korea has been the most dangerous place to be a Christian. It’s still at the top of the World Watch List in 2020.
The publication of the World Watch List is a great opportunity for you, your family and your church to pray for our family choosing to follow Jesus no matter the cost.
The church is alive. The church is active. The church is growing. And that’s why the church is persecuted.
The persecution of Christians is getting more severe than ever, affecting increasing numbers of believers around the world. This overview of persecution trends will help give you a better understanding of the situation, and equip you to pray for your brothers and sisters following Jesus no matter the cost.
More Christians are being persecuted
A staggering 260 million Christians in the top 50 countries on the World Watch List face high or extreme levels of persecution for their faith: in the previous year, it was 245 million. And Open Doors estimates that there are another 50 million Christians facing high levels of persecution in a further 23 countries outside the top 50. This includes Mexico, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Persecution is getting worse
Of the top 50, 45 countries have been designated ‘extreme’ or ‘very high’, in terms of the levels of persecution Christians face. That’s five more than last year.
More churches are being attacked
Attacks against churches have risen an astonishing 500 per cent – 9,488 compared to 1,847 the previous year. These attacks include church closures, and the significant increase is largely due to the actions of authorities in China (23).
But fewer Christians are being killed for their faith
In 2019, 2,983 Christians were killed for their faith. That figure is shocking and upsetting, but it is fewer than the number of believers reported killed in 2018 (4,305) or 2017 (3,066). This is largely due to fewer murders in Nigeria (12), which remains far and away the country where Christians are most likely to be killed for their faith.
Persecution is going digital
Persecution keeps apace of modern developments, and governments are increasingly using surveillance. The explosion in digital technologies has been used to target Christians – particularly in China (23)and India (10), where facial-recognition technology and artificial intelligence have been used to identify and discriminate against believers.
Radical Islam continues to spread
In Syria (11)and Iraq (15), some Christians are beginning to return home and rebuild their communities …following the defeat of Islamic State militants. But the continued presence of Islamic extremist groups and ongoing political instability continue to threaten the church – as was recently demonstrated by the Turkish military incursion into north east Syria. In sub-Saharan Africa, radical Islamic groups are also taking advantage of instability in countries like Mali (29), Niger (50) and Burkina Faso (28).
Tesco withdraws Christmas cards from sale after forced labour claims
Supermarket giant Tesco said it was “shocked” by allegations forced prison labour was used to help make charity Christmas cards.
When Florence Widdicombe opened a box of Tesco charity Christmas cards to send to her friends, she found a message in one///CRIMSON TAZVINZWA////
The grocer has withdrawn the cards from sale, suspended production and started an investigation after a six-year-old girl found a message from workers inside the charity card. Tesco donates £300,000 a year to the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK and Diabetes UK from the sales of the cards.
Chinese state media — which function as Communist Party mouthpieces — issued a series of rabble-rousing statements on Monday, accusing the US of “greed and arrogance” and calling for a “people’s war” against it
Chinese state media — which function as Communist Party mouthpieces — issued a series of rabble-rousing statements on Monday, accusing the US of “greed and arrogance” and calling for a “people’s war” against it
The US-China trade war continues to heat up as Beijing calls for a “people’s war” against Washington, and President Donald Trump threatens to impose tariffs on another $300 billion worth of Chinese goods.
In a series of editorials and op-eds published on Monday, Chinese state media slammed the Trump administration’s “greed and arrogance,” and called for a “people’s war” against it. Beijing’s state-run media effectively serve as mouthpieces for the Communist Party.
“The most important thing is that in the China-US trade war, the US side fights for greed and arrogance … and morale will break at any point. The Chinese side is fighting back to protect its legitimate interests,” the nationalistic Global Times tabloid wrote in a Chinese-language editorial carried by Xinhua News Agency.
“The trade war in the US is the creation of one person and one administration, but it affects that country’s entire population. In China, the entire country and all its people are being threatened. For us, this is a real ‘people’s war.'”
Later that day, the US Trade Representative’s Office published a list of about $300 billion worth of Chinese imports, noting that it proposes to slap tariffs of up to 25% on those products. Those goods include live purebred breeding horses, meat, condensed milk, tobacco, canoe paddles, and pieces of clothing.
If the Trump administration were to impose the new tariffs on $300 billion of additional goods it would mean that $500 billion of Chinese goods coming into the US would be subject to tariffs.
Church officials say authorities are ordering the removal of signs of faith
Churches beginning to look more like “culture clubs”
Vatican and China reach a deal on the appointment of bishops
The crosses are said to often be replaced with objects such as the Chinese flag and photos of Chinese President Xi Jinping and former Communist Party leader Mao Zedong.
In one video posted on Twitter earlier this month, fire is seen engulfing the cross at the Chinese Christian Church in Xinxiang city, in the country’s central Henan province
The rubble is all that remains of what was once a flourishing church in central China’s Henan province. In January scores of police and officials from the state, armed with saws, smashed and torched it into smithereens.
Dozens of Churches like these have been attacked and destroyed as part of a crackdown on religion by Chinese authorities and The Communist Party.
It is was of the most systematic suppression of religion in China since religious freedom was enacted into law in 1982. Authorities also seize bibles and other religious literature; in one small town for example; Christians have been asked to replace portraits of Jesus with those of Chinese President Xi Jiping. Those who resist pay dearly.
Earlier this year after pastor Jin Mingri refused officials’ request to install surveillance cameras in his church house. Soon after police questioned and sanctioned every member of the 1, 500 strong congregants.
“It is probably the biggest incident of government exerting pressure and control on Church Houses in the last ten years and still ongoing,” Pastor Jin Mingri, House Church pastor.
The American based non-profit ChinaAid says government pressure is forcing many pastors and their families to flee the country, become religious refugees. ChinaAid’s pastor Bob Fu observes; “A massive new wave of religious persecution has been happening in China for a very long time. I’m talking about hundreds of thousands of churches either shut down or destroyed. Pastors are being arrested, prayer meetings raided or even sentenced to ten or more years in prison.
The crackdown on Christians in China is part of a wider and far-reaching effort by the government to discourage religious freedom in the country.
China’s communist party has for years been wary of Christianity because of its alignment to western democracies, political values and way of life.
“The leadership views these congregations as dry tinder that could spark discontent is certain scenarios; and they think that foreign forces, the US, the missionaries and others would like to spark up this tinder, ” Andrew Nathan, Columbia University.
Henan province has emerged as the epicentre of religious persecution and intolerance in China. Hundreds of house churches have been shut down, some members detained by police. Congregants of these churches have been forced to morph into smaller, hard to identify groups of fellowships.
In March this year, 31 ‘illegal‘ Church Houses were shut down, religious literature seized and members taken into custody.
Xu Shijuan, 63, ran Seventh Day Adventist Church House but was closed in March.
She says: “We do nothing wrong but pray for China and its people – for peace and prosperity.”
ChinaAid:
supports Chinese Christians and their families who have experienced persecution from the Chinese government.
exposes the systematic persecution, harassment, torture and imprisonment of Chinese Christians and human rights lawyers in China
provides leadership and rule of law training for Christian and church leaders in China to defend their rights under both Chinese constitutional law and international law.
Bob Fu
Bob is one of the leading voices in the world for persecuted faith communities in China.
