CNN.com reports: “A new SARS-like virus recently found in humans continues to spread — with the worldwide total now at 49, the World Health Organization said…

Of the 49 known infections with the MERS-CoV virus, 27 have resulted in death, the organization said.

The latest deaths were reported in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi health ministry said … that three people died from their infections in the country’s eastern region.

The virus is ‘a threat to the entire world,’ the WHO’s general director said…

It ‘is not a problem that any single affected country can keep to itself or manage all by itself,’ Margaret Chan said …in her closing remarks at the 66th World Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.

Although many of the cases have occurred on the Arabian Peninsula, people have died of the infection elsewhere.

…A patient died in France after having contracted the virus during a trip to the Middle East, the WHO reported.

Coronaviruses cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, as well as a variety of animal diseases.

However, the new virus is not SARS.

The WHO recently gave it a more specific name: Middle East respiratory symptom coronavirus, or MERS-CoV…” (Jesus predicted this and the next report as signs pointing to His return – There shall be pestilences [plural] – Matthew 24:7; Luke 21:11 and Revelation 6:7, 8. In this final text death through sword, hunger, pneumonia and the plague produced by the beasts of the earth eliminates 25% of the world’s population.)

BBC News reports: “The World Health Organization says it appears likely that the novel coronavirus (NCoV) can be passed between people in close contact.

This comes after the French health ministry confirmed a second man had contracted the virus in a possible case of human-to-human transmission.

Two more people in Saudi Arabia are also reported to have died from the virus, according to health officials.

NCoV is known to cause pneumonia and sometimes kidney failure.

World Health Organization (WHO) officials have expressed concern over the clusters of cases of the new coronavirus strain and the potential for it to spread.

Since 2012, there have been 33 confirmed cases across Europe and the Middle East, with 18 deaths, according to a recent WHO update.

Cases have been detected in Saudi Arabia and Jordan and have spread to Germany, the UK and France.

‘Of most concern… is the fact that the different clusters seen in multiple countries increasingly support the hypothesis that when there is close contact this novel coronavirus can transmit from person to person,’ the World Health Organization said…”