A 44-year-old Sunday School teacher from a Texas church has died of coronavirus. Adolph (T.J.) Mendez was a married father of six children, and was described as in perfect health, but sadly died just two days after testing positive for coronavirus.

Mendez passed away at Ascension Seton Medical Center last week despite having no pre-existing health conditions or health complications. He taught Sunday School to kindergarten age children at Oakwood Church in New Braunfels.

The Sunday School teacher's wife, Angela Mendez has said, "You hear that the people who die are older or have previous health conditions but he was neither and the virus took him down hard."

She added, "It can happen to anyone, it's not just a story that happens to people across the world. It's here and it's real and it can kill anyone, just like it did my husband."

The victim's daughter, Brenda Johnson, described her father: "He was kind. He was patient. He cared about others. He loved his family so much. He was very involved in our community and our church."

Oakwood Church's Pastor Ray Still has released a statement saying, "He was a fine Christian man who was faithful to serve his God and he had a wonderful and supportive family."

He added, "He was healthy and strong, and in no fault of his own, was stricken with this dreadful virus. His passing should be sobering to all, that this pandemic must be taken seriously. God the giver of all good things, has given us a brain and we should use it for the benefit of our family and our communities. Follow what our officials have asked of us and we will endure with God's help."

As of Monday 30 March, the United States now has the most confirmed cases of coronavirus around the world, with around 140,000 testing positive, and more than 2,400 deaths due to COVID-19. Although each country's statistics of confirmed cases can be greatly skewed depending on testing capacity and testing strategy from nation to nation.