iting and historic support to small businesses and to the states the states need support normally they do this themselves and because of the magnitude of it the federal government has gotten very much involved in terms of getting the equipment they need so we're helping them that's it's a responsibility they have but we are helping the states a lot that's why the governors i think in every case have been impressed and very nice we enacted legislation guaranteeing paid sick leave for workers at no cost to employers and i think it's very important so they get. paid sick leave at no cost to employers we're accelerating the use of new drug treatments were advancing legislation to give direct payments to hardworking families throughout our country americans from all walks of life around going together to defeat the unseen enemy striking our nation in times of struggle we see the true greatness of the american

character that we are seeing that a lot of people are talking about it we're 141 countries from what they're telling me and some of those countries are really working in a unified manner and they're working very unified with us almost i could say good a good number of them doctors and nurses are working nonstop to heal the sick citizens and churches are delivering meals to the needy truckers are making the long 'd haul to keep shelves stocked we've been dealing with the big stores and the big chains wal-mart they've been fantastic and others they've all been fantastic we've made it much easier for them to stock in terms of travel and travel restrictions were lifting restrictions so they can get their trucks on time you're seeing very few empty shelves and yet the amount of volume that they're doing is unprecedented because people want to have. what they have to have what they feel they have to have and they're also buying in slightly smaller quantities which is

good because we're not going anywhere we're going to be here so one of thank all of those very great companies for working so well americans from every walk of life are coming together and thanks to the spirit of our people we will win this war we are we're winning and we're going to win this war america will triumph and america will rise higher than ever before will be stronger than ever before and we've learned a lot we've learned a lot we've learned a lot about relying on other countries and i can say that i think in both a very good and a very bad way some good things came out of it and some not so good things came out of it so i'd like to move now to invite our team to provide information on the new measures to prevent viral spread at our borders and i'll start by i have skin secretary of state pump a 0 to speak is doing a fantastic job and like everyone else he's been working very very long and very very hard and he's doing the other more normal jobs of

a great secretary of state but he got he got tied into this like everybody else and he's been really doing a fantastic job mike please. thank you mr president before i address the efforts that we've been engaged in to push back against the chinese virus i want to assure the american people that as president trump just said the state department your entire national security team is staying focused on the other diplomatic challenges around the world those include reducing risk to america from afghanistan holding the iranian regime accountable for its mine activity and our counterterrorism efforts against isis remain a priority for our team are number one priority across those missions that remains the protection of the american people the president our team or very focused on it . to take this low to thank my team state department team who is working long hours all around the world to take care of americans who are stuck in place around the

world to talk about that more in just a minute you've all seen dr works with me state department officials doing great work but i want to i want to give a shout out to all of the state department team here in washington around the world that are working overtime to help us push back against this pandemic under the president's leadership this week we've taken 2 important steps 1st this present trump announced on wednesday the united states and canada jointly agree to restrict all nonessential traffic across our border this is asian goes into effect tonight at midnight. the restriction to be reviewed after 30 days and they exclude traffic and movement across the border for work or other essential reasons we're grateful to have such an outstanding friend to the north who is committed as we are to defeating this virus i also wanted out today that the united states and mexico have agreed to restrict nonessential travel across our shared border both our countries know the importance of working together to limit the spread of the virus to ensure that commerce that supports our economy continues to keep flowing here to the

united states is at glad to have a friend who is working side by side by side as in the fight. secretary wolf will talk a little bit more about the details of how we're working alongside our partner in mexico to keep our southern border safe and secure as well on another note yesterday the state department issued a level 4 global travel advisory this means that all 'd international travel from u.s. citizens should be avoided in countries where commercial departure options remain available u.s. citizens who reside in the united states should arrange for immediate return to the united states unless they're prepared to remain abroad for an extended time if you choose to travel internationally or travel plans may well be severely disrupted. and finally i want to talk about the dissent from ation that people are saying but on twitter around the world some of it coming from government some of it coming from other individuals just search every what if they're saying information

information that one time suggests about this virus emanated from the united states army this information of information about lockdowns that are taking place every american indeed people all around the world should ensure that where they turn to for information is reliable source and not a bad actor trying to create and flow information that they know is wrong this is a tough fight the american people are tougher our diplomatic teams are working around the clock to help them keep safe both home and abroad and we're showing once again the global leadership that america has always delivered it's been great to see countries around the world well rallied behind what president trump and our team are doing thank you thank you thank you. and we'll take questions right after his jet will resign. let me start off by thanking the president and the vice president for their continued leadership and commitment for protecting the american people during this crisis early on the president again took unprecedented actions to restrict travel from areas affected with the coronavirus and today d.h.s.s.

screened over 200000 individuals coming back from those affected countries this is a been an immense undertaking but one that the men and women of v.h.s. have successfully accomplished today's announcement is yet another example of the extraordinary steps the administration is taking to ensure the safety of the american public. before i comment on the c.d.c. order that i'm sure secretary h.r. relator elaborate on let me 1st address the progress as secretary pompei and others have made with our canadian and mexican partners regarding cross border travel as we continue to evaluate common sense measures that reduce risk and prevent further spread it only makes sense that we have looked at to look at the measures that our neighbors to the north and south are undertaking and so we've been working closely with those partners since the earliest days of this virus in the outbreak and again as the president said earlier this week and saturday pompei we do share greatly if an agreement with both canada and mexico to a limb to limb and non-essential travel across our land borders. let me be clear

that neither of these agreements with canada or mexico applies to lawful trade or commerce essential commercial activities will not be impacted we will continue to maintain a strong and secure economic supply chain across our borders a few examples of essential travel include but certainly are not limited to individuals traveling for medical purposes to attend educational institutions for emergency response public health services and individuals and gauge unlawful cross border trade. as the secretary said the agreements with both canada and mexico will go into effect on saturday march 21st furthermore we're also working collaboratively with canada and mexico to take decisive joint action regarding individuals seeking entry between our ports of entry the c.d.c. order directs the department to suspend the introduction of all individuals seeking to enter the u.s. without proper travel documentation that's for both the northern and southern

border c.d.c. director as determined at the introduction and spread of the corona virus and the department's border patrol stations and detention facilities presents a serious danger to migrants are frontline agents and officers and the american people so it's important to note that the department currently apprehends foreign nationals from over 120 different countries around the world the vast majority of those having cried a virus cases. many of these individuals arrive with little or no identity travel or medical documentation making public health risk determinations all but impossible it's also important to note that the outbreak on our southern border would likely increase the strain on health systems in our border communities taking away important and lifesaving resources from american citizens tonight again at midnight we will execute the c.d.c. order by immediately returning individuals arriving without documentation to canada mexico as well as a number of other countries without delay so again cv c.b.p.

is position to execute these measures as we continue to keep our borders secure and safe before i conclude let me just wrap up by thinking the brave men and women of v.h.s. specifically c.b.p. and across the government for the work that they do day in and day out to keep the american people safe from the coronavirus department has a number of frontline officers that have been tested positive as well as others who are self quarantining and that i am doing everything that i can to protect these patriots as they continue to defend our homeland during this crisis thank you thank you. thank you. today's announcement is just the latest in a long line of bold decisive actions the president has taken to protect americans from the krona virus spreading across our borders in january within 2 weeks of china's notifying w.h.o. about the virus and with only 45 cases in china we began screening travelers for

move on then over time as the outbreak of all of the present restricted travel from china or iran and europe our health experts say that these measures have been truly effective at slowing the viruses spread to our shores just think about this italy and the united states both saw their 1st travel related case of corona virus around the exact same time the last week of january and yet we have had precious time to continue our work around vaccines therapeutics and other preparations well italy has tragically been overwhelmed with critical patients for several weeks now. the president today is taking action to slow the spread of infectious disease via our border under section $362.00 of the public health service act the c.d.c. is suspending the entry of certain persons into the united states because of the public health threat that their entry into the united states represents this order

applies to persons coming from mexico and canada who are seeking to enter the country illegally and who would normally be held in a congregate setting like a customs and border protection station it does not apply to u.s. citizens or lawful permanent residence during this pandemic a number of health challenges arise when illegal immigrants arrive at our northern and southern borders and are taken into immigration custody we're talking about significant numbers of illegal immigrants from this past october through february d.h.s.s. process more than 21000 inadmissible aliens at the northern border and more than 151000 inadmissible aliens at the southern border c.b.p. facilities were never designed to hold large numbers of people and to protect agents and migrants from infection during a pandemic nor to treat them for a novel virus if large numbers are infected would help at border facilities these

migrants responding the virus to other migrants to c.b.p. agents and border health care workers and even the united states population as a whole. in such circumstances the kind of social distancing measures the c.d.c. and the president have recommended are simply not possible on top of that any resources that we are using to reduce the risk of infection among c.b.p. agents health care workers and migrants in these facilities or drawing on american an american health care system that is already fighting the coronavirus endemic that's why the president and his administration are taking these important steps to keep americans and our immigration system safe from these health risks as part of our whole of government approach to combating the coronavirus thank you mr president for the work that you've been doing throughout this crisis to slow the spread of the coronavirus and to keep our country safe thank you thank you.

thank you mr president so we continue terra view the data very carefully from around the globe as i know many of you are we continue to see signs that again individuals under 21000 and under may have severe disease but majority in all have recovered to date we still see that same trend and frankly from italy where seeing and there another concerning trend that the mortality and males seems to be twice in every age group of females this should alert all of us to continue our vigilance to protect our americans that are in nursing homes. this requires all of the community and when you see the sacrifices that many americans have made the sacrifices that the service industry has made to close their restaurants close their bars and so that the spread is just continued and then you really understand

how all of americans must make the same sacrifice we continue to ask you to follow the presidential guidelines of no groups coming together of more than 10 and if anyone in the household is sick that everyone quarantines in the household together and that we continue to focus on those who have the most vulnerability to this illness now to the moms and dads out there that have children with him you know deficiencies are other medical conditions we don't know the level of risk and i know you also protect them in the same way there just is not enough numbers at this time to really tell them if they're at additional risk or not in the same way that adults are i don't have any new data i can see the look on your face is saying she's never burks is the white house coronavirus response coordinator speaking at the white house before her aleksei as other secretary of health chadwell heath the acting secretary of homeland security and before them it was secretary said my

pompei and president donald trump both referring to the chinese virus in a movie called out on it it seems the more day to side to used that term the focus today it seems to be mostly on immigration donald trump talking about deals struck with both the u.s. and canada he was keen to say that both borders were being treated equally and that they would be a restriction of all non essential travel across that border it comes into effect midnight tonight. with canada and then working on that with mexico as well let's check in with mike hanna a correspondent in washington d.c. who was listening along to all of that a lot of praise for president trump in the way he's apparently handled this but as i say the focus really on immigration and. it fell to time's mike curtain if i'm wrong that i would sort of. do you know i talked to felt as just about to speak sorry michael come back here in a 2nd let's hear from you. just

a week ago or so i said the 2 pillars the 2 elements of our capability to contain the infection and the and the surge of infections in this country rely on 2 things keeping infections from coming in from without and we've been very successful in doing that with china and with europe now we have the northern and southern border issues there's a fundamental public health reason for doing that because we cannot be preventing people from coming in from one area when they can actually go into the other so that's an important reason understand that there's a public health reason for doing that the 2nd thing i think is really important is what happened in new york today what governor cuomo mentioned about an hour ago some rather strong issues that have been addressed with his recommendations not recommendations essentially orders now we have a group of of recommendations and guidelines that are applicable to the entire

country you know that we've been over them yet there are places regions states cities in this country that are being stressed much much more than the country as a whole clearly one of them was washington another one was california governor newsome made some very important difficult decisions today governor cuomo did the same thing and i want to say i strongly support what he's doing and one thing as a new yorker myself for those of you haven't figured out from my accent that i'm from new york as a new yorker i know what new yorkers can do with tough i was in new york city on september 11th 2001 and i know what the newark is can do so please cooperate with your governor cooperate with your mayor it's very important thank you thank you. thank you mr president. the white house coronavirus task force met this morning we

continue at the president's direction to bring the full resources not just of the federal government but in full partnership with our state governments businesses around america and in partnership with the american people to respond to the threat of the coronavirus and i know i can speak on behalf of the president with confidence when i say how inspired we are. by the way the american people and american businesses are coming together to help defeat this virus in our country millions of americans are putting into practice the president's 15 day guidelines and we encourage everyone even those that are not in areas with significant outbreak and to review these guidelines over the next week and more and put them into practice and you'll continue to do your part later today will be talking with manufacturers around the country and president i continue to be inspired by the way american industry is stepping forward we have businesses around the country that

are literally volunteer and to retrofit plants to help us meet the needs of our health care workers and our health care system and confronting the coronavirus as president mentioned yesterday following his decision to put fema in the lead the emergency declaration we actually met with all the nation's governors from the fema national response coordination center the president and i our entire team at the federal level couldn't be more grateful for the efforts of all of our governors in implementing the guidance that is being issued not only from our task force but also in taking strong measures in their own communities to protect their citizens we want to urge every american to heed your local authorities to listen to their guidance and and also do your part to slow the spread we reiterated to all of the governors that the president by putting fema in the lead will continue to implement

a plan that is locally executed state managed and federally supported the puts the health of america 1st we received a report today as president mentioned on our legislative team on capitol hill working with republicans and democrats at this very hour to pass an economic recovery package that the. president described and we hope to see the congress act on that early next week on the subject of supplies we continue to make steady progress on testing thanks to the president's involvement of commercial labs the public and private partnership more and more americans are being tested every single day and tomorrow admiral and fema will update the american public on the status of testing and our support of state based testing efforts that are literally expanding by the hour on the subject of medical supplies we continue at the president's direction to pursue every means to expand the supply of personal

protective equipment for the extraordinary and courageous health care workers that are ministering to the needs of people 'd impacted by the coronavirus we have a policy of procuring allocating as well as conserving the resources that we have in our system and now that the president worked with the congress to make industrial masks fully available for hospitals to be able to purchase to be able to use as protective equipment we are more encouraged than ever about the availability of those important and 95 mass to our health care facilities and over this weekend we'll be announcing a major procurement from the federal government and 95 masks as well we're also encouraged that we're finding new alternatives to increase the supply of ventilators we've mentioned that we have a federal stockpile some 20000 ventilators on on standby but that doesn't count the

10s of thousands of ventilators that are in our health care system around the country but the president has challenges to work to free up other ventilators from other sources around the country and there are 2 different ways that we're doing that number one in our recent discussion with the anesthesiologists we've literally identified tens of thousands of existing ventilators that can be. we retrofitted and converted to be ventilators for people struggling with the corona virus but also on the president's we have nearly half of all of our task force we want to continue to urge every american and every american hospital and health care facility to postpone any elective medical procedures this will free up bed space free of hospital capacity for people that are struggling with the coronavirus 'd and it will also free up equipment that our health care workers need it is inspiring that we continue to receive reports of businesses around america

are donating and $95.00 mass to their local hospitals businesses large and small are donating hundreds in some cases millions have had 95 masks and i know i know how grateful the president is and we all are and let me close by saying as all of our experts have said many times while the threat of serious illness to the average american from the coronavirus remains low every american can do your part to reduce the burden on your health and your family the burden on our health care system and especially the threat to the most vulnerable among us by putting into practice the president's 15 days to slow the spread and as the president said at the outset of his remarks i know that millions of americans are doing that just now and the greatness of the american character is shining for. mike thank you very much. ok thank you joe had you had a call 800 feet where he says you now bring to invoke the defense production

actually make those medical supplies the hospitals they principally yours if you question is that what you're doing now is or did it yesterday 'd we had voted i think the day before we started the evening of the day before. and voted yes today we have a lot of people working very hard to do ventilators and various other things you're using it now. to tell because we are using ventilators mallards respirator for certain things that we need including. including some of the very important emergency i would say ventilators probably more masks to a large extent we have millions of gas costs which are coming and which will be distributed to the states the states are having a hard time getting them so we are using the act the act is very good for things like this we have millions of masks that we've ordered they will be here soon we're having him shipped directly to states so you know only a few are signing this but not inventing and this is what you said yesterday and

you would only do so many worst case scenario so that's worst case scenario we we need it no different other than we need certain equipment that the states are unable to get by themselves so we're invoking it to use the powers of the federal government to help the states get things that they need like the masks like the ventilators yes they've come to almost done the hard work to ration to a national lockdown people i don't think so. essentially have done that in california they have done that in new york those are really 200 beds as of probably the 2 hottest of them all in terms of our spots i don't think so because you go out to the midwest you go out to other locations and. they're watching it on television but they don't have the same problems they don't have by and by any means the same problem new york california or miami the governor's doing an excellent governor to santas in florida. we have some pretty hot spots in florida too but we're

a general and to state of washington of course but that was largely if you look at it it was wonder's ago that had problems like you wouldn't believe so now we're working with the governors and i don't think you'll i don't think we'll ever find that assist them in your 15th day guidelines are you happy with the progress we do like to see them happy i am happy with it i have to see what the results are at the end of 14 days. we'll know by the 15th day to see what we do but i'm certainly honored by the way the american people are working because it's work it's work not to work is the 1st time this is ever happened and we're working out a tremendous financial package for them so they don't work whoever heard of this usually you work out a financial package to get people working we're asking people not to work social distancing a new term that's become probably the hottest term there is so not very honored by the way the american people are or are taking this and it so seriously yes jim

president question for you to question your questions are continuing in the white house briefing room with donald trump at the podium we're monitoring those of course for that team in the newsroom but in the meantime i do want to talk to mike hanna our correspondent just to well let's try to put some of all of this in context mike i mean these are very long and involved news conferences but i felt the focus today was really on the immigration sign of things that. yes. indeed yes very much so focusing on the closure of both the northern and the southern border as you mentioned a little bit earlier president trump appeared very eager to emphasize that the borders are being treated equally this of course following his concerted campaign to cut down on immigration from the southern border in particular but both borders have been shut down with the discussion with of the with canada and with the mexican leaders making very clear though that 2 u.s. citizens can return against cross both borders making clear to that trade and

commerce will continue legal trade and commerce as president trumpeted will continue but this would have a major impact on daily life obviously the u.s. canadian border one of the longest borders in the world the acting homeland secretary made mention of some things as well saying that between october and february this year there were some 20000 illegal crossings of the canadian border 150000 illegal crossings of the mexican border the southern one so once again saying that this did pose a major health hazard this particular point for now and to buy the government's expert dr anthony fauci who made very clear that the closure of the borders was very much a health issue and it was essential if the attack against the virus is going to continue effectively donald trump also targeting the corporation that's going on

there seems to have been a call for all the governors of the u.s. and and he and dr fancy as well as sort of enterprise the actions which have been taken by the likes of governor cuomo in new york and california as well so. well it seems like the demand distance past when president trump was carrying out blasts orating attacks on the governor of new york in particular and indeed the governor of california but certainly president backing away from this aggressive behavior in the face of the pandemic at present both governors of california and new york have mandated a stay at home policy new york has done so within the last few hours california did so in the past 24 effectively california state of 40000000000 people in the state of lockdown people are able to leave their homes for food for medical supplies but generally the governor has mandated a stay at home policy it's a mandate is not a recommendation this to in new york state the populous new york state where the

governor there has also ordered a stay at home this is a major development given the fact that in both california and new york this is the 1st time a closure a stay at home policy has been mandated rather than merely recommended and just a reflection of the fact that both california and new york state been very heavily hit in this pandemic mike hanna is in washington d.c. they're following the news conference from the white house thank you mike that news conference carrying on they don't trump at the podium we've also heard from the vice president might pence secular state mike pompei as well just a couple of other points to come out of that news conference interest on student loans government backed student loans will be waived standardized tests will be waived as well i believe they call him a s a t's in the u.s. and tax day the day which you would usually have to file your tax returns usually comes in april that has been moved back to july the 15th as well so just giving

everyone in this case so students and taxpayers a little bit more breathing room i guess is how you would term it because of the unpredictability of what is coming up as a said before president trump is spoken with governors from across. the u.s. today talking about the corporation that has been going on he said quote we are winning and we are going to win this war. that's donald trump at the white house that news conference continuing our news coverage continues of coronavirus pandemic from across the world in about half an hour's time we've got an edition of my cuba coming up next and remember the headlines are available for you whenever you want them at al-jazeera dot com.

on the. scene but on the.