in japan on al-jazeera. orders. or. order. orders businesses and schools closed around the world is tens of millions more people a placed under lockdown to cover the coronavirus pandemic. hello i'm maryanne demasi or watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up on the program a drama administration considers sending checks to americans or they have cash to spend during the coronavirus crisis. to iran one of the virus could kill millions of people in iran if they keep traveling and ignore health advice. anyway focused by the euro 2020 football championship which had been due to take

place across the continent. hello welcome to the program restrictions around the world are becoming more severe countries step up their efforts to halt the spread of the coronavirus iran has issued one of the most dire warnings so far saying millions could die if they continue to ignore advice and move around the country malaysia's impose some of the toughest restrictions seen in asia or outside of china closing its borders and clamping down on movement on the same day it recorded its 1st death france has now entered a nationwide lockdown with thousands of police on the streets to find people if they can't prove they are buying food or going to work on the euro 2020 football tournament which was due to be held in 12 different cities across europe has been put back by a year well spain has reported another $182.00 deaths that brings its total to

$491.00 and also has an 82000 new confirmed cases with infections that topping 11000 police at the border of town back vehicles trying to enter the country as part of strict new measures to control the virus thousands of new cases of also been reported. across the e.u. which is closing its external borders spain's prime minister has also announced a $219000000000.00 aid package to help mitigate the outbreak the impact of the outbreak on the economy well a doctor working at the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic initially is warning governments in other countries to act now italy is the hardest hit country in europe with $2158.00 deaths related to the virus makeshift hospitals are being set up to deal with the spread and doctors sergio cottonelle says the virus has put the health care system under unprecedented stress we're going to meet them but as you know what is really shocking something we've not been able to forecast and which brought us to our knees is how quickly the epidemic spreads within 2 weeks now 3

weeks since the beginning of the epidemic we put a total of $1200.00 patients in intensive care in the minority because secret has been and this should be a strong message for the foreign countries to act early on this in order to avoid like in our case having to chase after it day after day if the spread of this epidemic is not put under control it will bring all hospitals to their knees. are expecting to hear from the u.k. prime minister boris johnson very shortly of course we'll bring that to you as soon as it comes in to us but the why does situation in europe need farquhar is following all of this i mean very significant that the e.u. is now closing its borders to fight the virus utterly unprecedented is really how this is being seen so most you countries all of the countries in the schengen common area are now going to close their external borders to all 3rd party countries so that's $31.00 countries in all including some nominee you but closely

aligned countries like the u.k. and norway are going to be part of that as well it basically mirrors what happened in the united states when donald trump imposed a travel ban on all travelers coming from europe to the united states it's really a sign of the times which is i don't clear right now how long it's going to last we know that some countries have already unilaterally closed their own borders likes of germany the czech republic denmark the list goes on but this appears right now to be the 1st joint concerted effort talking about joint concerted efforts we also know that there's a real drive now to procure as many ventilators across the continent as possible island happens to be one of the biggest producers anywhere in the world the question is how can you get those important devices to parts of the continent where they're most needed and that subject has been under such we've seen politicians here also under scrutiny because contingencies are starting to come into effect with year perhaps shifting its approach after this really worrying study about the

possibility of 250000 people dying if they don't take further action there that's right absolutely extraordinary figures that the government is desperately here trying trying to calm down last week the big strategy was all about something called herd immunity in short the government was saying that the majority of people in the country would need to get the virus to be able to protect people go in forward she. the virus come back on a regular basis but under that modeling one percent of people who contract the virus would end up dying we're talking about a figure close to half a 1000000 people well the government has then done is move forward with mitigation so encouraging people to isolate themselves encouraging public hygiene personal hygiene that figure is now hard so we're talking about a quarter of a 1000000 deaths and now what the government is saying with a combined measures to be introduced in the coming days including yourself isolation home quarantining self distancing and all of those things being enforced

then the hope is that they could bring the death toll significantly down may 23rd going to get some more detail that hopefully right now let's listen to our stance and want to go through our overall plan for beating this new coronavirus 1st we will stop the disease spreading to a point where it overwhelms our n.h.s. and every country the world has the same problem this is a disease that is so dangerous and so infectious that without drastic measures to check its progress it would overwhelm any health system in the world and i've used the italian health system it is excellent and the problem is not with the health systems it's the numbers of sufferers that's why we aren't the steps yesterday that we did advising against all unnecessary contact steps that are unprecedented since world war 2 they will have an effect on the spread of the

disease the shielding of vulnerable groups will also reduce suffering and i want to thank everybody at this stage for what we're all doing to follow this advice. i stress that although the measures announced already extreme we may well have to go further and faster in the coming days to protect lives and the n.h.s. secondly we're doing all we can and as quickly as we can to increase the capacity of the n.h.s. that means more testing more beds more ventilators and more train stop it means greater support for n.h.s. and other stuff and it means much better data and much better technology 3rd we must do all we can to boost science and research we must study this disease test drugs that already exist and have been through medical trials to see what helps treat severe cases and search for a vaccine for we must act like any wartime government and do

whatever it takes to support our economy and that's the main purpose of the of this press conference this afternoon we must support millions of businesses and tens of millions of families and individuals through the coming months and to do that the government machine must and will respond with a profound sense of urgency thousands of british officials are already working round the clock but we must do more and faster the chancellor will be saying much more about this in a moment with further announcements in the coming days 5th we will need to strengthen other public services that will be under great pressure from the direct and indirect effects of the disease such as the effects of staff shortages and from the economic pressures all institutions will be under great pressure and

we will that will invest hugely in the people that we all rely on them around and again i want to i want to thank all our public servants for what they are already doing. ultimately to beat this crisis we will need a combination of better science technology medicine data government operations economic support learning from other countries and social support as time goes on we will learn more and more about the disease and the effects of our actions and while we need national unity we also need international cooperation and although we now need to impose physical distance between ourselves we must at the same time have closer social support for each other yes this enemy can be deadly but it is also

beatable and we know how to beat it and we know that if as a country we follow the scientific advice that is now being given we know that we will beat it and however tough the months ahead we have the resolve and the resources to win the fight and to repeat this government will do whatever it takes on the handover for more on that to which we see that the chance of the exchequer thank you prime minister could afternoon everybody the current of our is pandemic is a public health emergency but it is also an economic emergency we have never in peace time faced an economic fight like this one i know that people are deeply worried i know that people's anxiety about the disease itself is matched only by their anxiety about their livelihoods last week i set out an initial economic response in the budget i promised to do what ever it takes to support our economy

through this crisis and that if the situation changed i would not hesitate to take further action. and that is what i want to begin doing today this struggle will not be overcome by a single package of measures or isolated interventions it will be one through a collective national effort every one of us doing all we can to protect family neighbors friends jobs this national effort will be underpinned by government interventions in the economy on a scale unimaginable only a few weeks ago this is not a time for ideology and orthodoxy this is a time to be bold a time for courage i want to reassure every british citizen this government will give you all the tools you need to get through this we will support

jobs we will support incomes we will support businesses and we will help you protect your loved ones we will do whatever it takes in the budget last week i set out the 1st stage of our economic response with a 30000000000 pound package of support for people and businesses but i also said in the budget that as the situation evolves we would take further action and as the prime minister stepped out yesterday we're now approaching the fast growth part of the upward curve he has set how the next stage of our public health response and so i now want to update everyone on the next stage of our economic response 1st the government will stand behind businesses small and large i can announce today an unprecedented package of government backed and guaranteed loans to support business

to get through this today i am making available an initial 330000000000 pounds of guarantees equivalent to 15 percent of our g.d.p. . that means any business who needs access to cash to pay their rent their salaries that pliers purchased stock will be able to access a government backed loan or credit on attractive terms and if demand is greater than the initial 330000000000 pounds i'm making available today i will go further and provide as much capacity as required i said whatever it takes and i meant it that support will be delivered through 2 main schemes to support liquidity amongst larger firms i have today agreed a new lending facility with the governor of the bank of england to provide low cost easily accessible commercial paper to support lending to small and medium sized

businesses i'm extending the new business interruption loan scheme i announced a budget last week so that rather than loans of 1200000 pounds it will now provide loans of up to 5000000 pounds with no interest due for the 1st 6 months both of these schemes will be up and running by the start of next week and i am also taking a new legal power in the covert bill to offer what ever further financial support i decide is necessary some sectors are facing particularly acute challenges in the coming days my colleague the secretary of state for transport and i will discuss a potential support package specifically for and i and and airports and yesterday i asked my cabinet colleagues to urgently convene meetings over the coming days with business leaders and representatives in the most affected sectors

to identify other specific opportunities to support them and their industries including possible regulatory for variance i repeat we will do whatever it takes. 2nd as well as access to finance business need support with their cash flow and fixed costs following the change medical advice yesterday there are concerns about the impact on pubs clubs theaters and other hospitality leisure and retail venues let me confirm that for those businesses which do have a policy for insurance that covers pandemics that the government's action is sufficient and will allow businesses to make an insurance claim against their policy but many of those businesses don't have insurance so we will need to do more i announced last week that for businesses in the retail hospitality and leisure

sectors with a rate of 0 value of less than $51000.00 pounds they will pay no business rates this year today i can go further and provide those businesses in those sectors within the additional cash grant of up 225000 pounds per business to help bridge through this period additionally i am also extending today the business rates holiday to all businesses in those sectors irrespective of their rate of all 'd value that means every single shop pub theatre music venue restaurant and any other business in the retail hospitality or leisure sector will pay no business rates whatsoever for 12 months and if they have a rate of value of less than $51000.00 pounds they can also now get a cash grant as well i also announced last week that we would be providing 3000

pound cash grants to the 700000 of our smallest businesses in light of the new circumstances and to support their cashflow today i can increase those cash grants to 10000 pounds taken together on top of the unlimited lending capacity of already announced this is a package of direct support to businesses through tax cuts and grants in this financial year worth more than $20000000000.00 pounds. and that comes on top right to listening there they u.k. chancellor of the. court or the finance minister we're also hearing from boris johnson some very interesting language being used with boris johnson saying that we must act like any wartime government and support the economy and he said that would mean a broad package for businesses individuals and for households also worth mentioning that boston's back a bit about the importance of testing course this comes after. that emphasis from

the world health organization that people must continue to be tested if we are to tackle this outbreak and to really understand the scope of how far the illness is spreading but really what we've been hearing from the chancellor of the exchequer here from. about a broad package of measures to support the economy because the anticipation is that this could well lead to recession it will be a big shock and that businesses and households will suffer and listening to all of this needs barca and some pretty extensive measures is it seems as though the government is definitely prepared to go farther than they have before with 330000000000 being set aside for support you have us right 300 $30000000000.00 pounds was $400000000000.00 so the british government is now saying that it's willing to produce to be able to support some of the most vulnerable businesses in the country we're talking about small medium sized enterprises the have workforces that are particularly shielded he did also specifically talk about 2 sensitive sectors where we've already started to see significant job cuts we're talking about

the the hospitality industry given the closure of bars and restaurants and theaters and so on and so forth and also the aviation sector as well clearly fewer people are travelling lines across the entire continent are feeling the squeeze so he's talking about interest free loans being available to those businesses to make sure that they don't go under because obviously work forces are at stake here these are unprecedented measures wartime measures is what the chancellor of the finance minister has been talking about. doing whatever the government believes is necessary to stop the economy from tanking thank you very much. so that's what's happening here in the u.k. meanwhile the u.s. government is considering sending checks to americans so they have cash to spend during the coronavirus crisis also increase the amount of tax payments that can be deferred let's get more on these measures than with our white house correspondent can really help it we've just been hearing well we hear from the u.k.

chancellor that never in peace time has the country faced an economic crisis like this 11 of you been hearing there you have a similar dire tone from the white house coronavirus task force the includes the u.s. president vice president mike pence as well as public health officials the treasury secretary steve minutiae was present talking about these cash payments that they are working on to try and give to ordinary americans to help them deal with the economic impacts well they would put a specific dollar amount they said the timeline they're aiming for is in the next 2 weeks this is all part of a broader package that was passed in the house of representatives the nationally it was a package really to address the sort of unemployment insurance that many people are needing as a result of job loss or even food insecurity going to children and the elderly but since it passed that chamber now in the republican controlled senate it has really

morphed in scale as scope this task force saying now they're looking not just for the cash payments to americans but also industry bailouts saying that particularly with comes to the airline industry it has been hit in a scale not seen since $911.00 if we do this right or country and the world frankly but our country can be rolling again pretty quickly pretty quickly. we have to fight that invisible enemy that. is unknown but we getting to know to let better today the senate is taking up coronavirus legislation that includes retesting for those who need it as well as paid sick leave and family medical leave for work is affected by the virus. and it's not just the economic impacts of course this is a public health crisis here in the united states the task force once again acknowledging the next 2 weeks will be critical in order to blunt the curve of

cases and already they are seeing some troubling signs particularly in states like california and new york in fact in new york one of the hard hit states there is already a readying of the army corps of engineers that made necessary may potentially need to expand the number of beds and hospital capacity that is yet another concern that this white house is trying to confront in coordination with new york's governor and some very important and wide ranging efforts on the way that thank you very much can really help it with all the latest meanwhile perhaps some better news on the global markets today off to several days of dramatic loss says and you know the dow jones has been up more than 5 percent during the day let's get the latest on all this kristensen amy is there for us in new york and i suppose markets rallying on the prospect of possibly unprecedented government and central bank intervention.

they are they do seem a bit calmer today all 3 of the major stock indices that we use to gauge these things are in the green but really they've only recovered 2 to 3 percent which is just a small portion of what they lost yesterday never mind the 30 percent that they've lost since market highs back in february but the market does seem to be a bit calmer taking into account the president's promise of a stimulus package that kimberly was just describing we also had some more moves by the federal reserve the u.s. central bank today to continue to inject more cash into the markets to maintain liquidity. herm's of short term loans and so on and also promises as we've been hearing but with a little more direction on terms of industry bailouts we know now that the airlines want some $50000000000.00 to help them deal with these massive shutdowns and so forth so all of that is keeping things fairly calm today but there's still the

prospect of a global recession which president knowledge for the 1st time on monday and now global ratings agency have been predicting as well so still a lot of uncertainty out there thank you christine salumi there in new york meanwhile iran has issued its most i warning yet about the corona virus outbreak suggesting millions could die if the public keeps ignoring health guidance a stark warning came from a journalist on state t.v. who of the public to listen to travel restrictions run is also temporarily freed some 85000 prisoners in response to the pandemic including the british iranian. guy radcliffe on monday crowds of conservative iranian storm 2 major shrines that have been closed to the virus saying that mr avi is intact. this is really something that the government has been struggling with since the beginning iranians are so frustrated with their economic circumstances so

frustrated with experiencing one crisis after another that when it comes to following the government's guidance regarding the coronavirus the government simply hasn't been able to get everybody on board now it has to be said slowly but surely you can tell the difference there are fewer iranians that are out on the streets there are more people that are following the government guidelines but this idea that millions of people could be impacted as we saw the news reader on state t.v. say earlier today this is part of the kind of fear that government officials have been trying to instill in people of the consequences of not following through is this fact or fiction well we don't really have any health official or government official quoted here are standing behind this but medically speaking if you follow the epidemiology if the government is not able to get ahold of the spread of the virus throughout the country it could become a hot zone it could become a long term area of risk in which case there there is a chance it could affect millions of people well the global aviation industry trade

body says that airlines could need up to 200000000000 dollars of help from governments international air transport association said that companies are running out of money and decisive action was needed early a european airlines called on governments to let them defer tax payments as demand for travel has slumped singapore airlines an emirates also among the airlines have cut more flights on tuesday. perhaps in slightly more positive economic news the surge in online orders change the pandemic means amazon is going on a hiring spree online retail giant says it will hire $100000.00 warehouse and delivery work is in the u.s. to deal with more orders as consumers and have to more of their shopping online. well you are 2020 will become 2021 judge the coronavirus football's european championships is being perspiring for a year the latest big sporting event to be affected by all this the decision to delay the tournament which was to be played across europe in june and july had been widely called for it came after days of talks at the headquarters that governing

body wafers had courses in switzerland it's the 2nd biggest international football competition rather than being held in a single country it was due to be played in 12 different european nations we should now think about the health of the fans of the players and the players and of course we have to think about football as a whole a whole ecosystem of football that's why we have decided today that we postpone the euro and we have 100 percent full support of. all the 55 national associations european leagues european club association and 5th row house was correspondent lee wellings has the decision my allow the domestic football leagues which are also suspended to be completed in the summer. this is absolutely the decision that you want to have to touch in these circumstances is extraordinary circumstances to lead by here makes perfect sense that we starting to see how the

forwards will move which remains in place and 12 cities they were ok with in remains in crisis but when we should be if there's any chance 3rd down the line that they might actually consider reverting to just one host but that's a lot of down the line then what's really significant as well is a lot of talk about because i spoke to everyone involved in the european clubs the playas. representatives about whether seasons can very well the domestic scene is going to finish and one of the things about moving your engine is it opens up the possibility for matches to be played in some. but the biggest sporting event of the year the tokyo olympic games in july and august so far that is still on the international olympic committee has been meeting with global sports federations in the past few hours in a statement they said they're not planning what they call drastic decisions and

discuss changes to some of the qualifying events japanese prime minister shinzo abbay has consistently said the games will go ahead as planned. just a couple of other stories to bring you not related to the coronavirus pandemic iraq's president has named a new prime minister designate after months of protests and political deadlock. is the former governor of najaf and heads the parliamentary group of former prime minister a body he now has 30 days to form a cabinet which previous nominees have not managed to do country's been rocked by months of deadly anti-government protests. and then elsewhere at least 20 people have been injured in a bombing at a government office in southern thailand a grenade and a car bomb we used during the attack which happened as hundreds of local officials and muslim clerics met in yala province to discuss combating coronavirus the area has seen around 7000 people killed in attacks by muslim separatists in recent years

well this is our web site al jazeera dot com plenty of analysis takes you behind the headlines there but you can also watch us on life streaming as well. the headlines this hour much of europe is going into lockdown in the coming hours as restrictions imposed to cut the spread of the coronavirus become more extreme francis sealed its borders just as its neighbor spain reported 2000 new cases bringing its total number of infections to more than 11000 adults are working at the epicenter of the crown a virus pandemic and italy is warning governments in other countries to act now it's a nice hot the hardest hit country in europe with 2158 deaths related to the virus . says the virus is but the health care system unprecedented strain were given to

me but as you know what is really shocking something we've not been able to forecast and which brought us to our knees is how quickly the epidemic spreads within 2 weeks now 3 weeks since the beginning of the epidemic we put a total of 1200 patients in intensive care in the minority because secret has been and this should be a strong message for the foreign countries to act early on this in order to avoid like in our case having to chase after it day after day if the spread of this epidemic is not put under control it will bring all hospitals to their knees well the u.k. prime minister boris johnson has just announced an economic package to support businesses through the pandemic government will provide almost $400000000000.00 of loan guarantees to help companies stay afloat. we must act like any wartime government and do whatever it takes to support our economy and that's the main purpose is that this press conferences we must support millions of businesses

and tens of millions of families and individuals through the coming months and to do that the government machine must and will respond with a profound sense of urgency. and then iran has issued its most die a warning yet about the corona virus outbreak suggesting millions could die if the public keeps ignoring health guidance start warning came from a journalist on state t.v. iran has also temporarily freed some 85000 prisoners in response to the op and the pandemic on monday crowds of conservative iranian strong 2 major shrines that have been closed but as the headlines the news hour is coming up at 800 g.m.t. i'll see then now it's inside story.

how low can all prices go crude oil drops below $30.00 a barrel as a price war between $2.00 of the world's biggest producers worth and how badly will that hurt the global economy already suffering from a coronavirus pandemic this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program and tailor the coronavirus pandemic is triggering fears of a global recession businesses around the world a shot stock markets are suffering massive losses on top of all that an oil price war between 2 of the world's biggest producers the dispute between saudi arabia and russia is.