understand the differences and similarities of cultures across the world. take it we'll bring you the news and current affairs that matter to you. the united states overtakes italy and china as the country with the most confirmed cases of coronavirus in the world. hello and welcome to al-jazeera live from doha and it's also coming up. we all share this responsibility none of us can do it alone the e.u. calls for unity is the death toll across europe continues to rise. soldiers

on the streets in south africa as the country enters a 3 week lockdown. and in other news venezuela's president is indicted on charges of narco terrorism by the u.s. . but 1st the united states is now more confirmed coronavirus cases than any other country in the world with more than 83509 makes it more than china and italy and this comes as new figures reveal the shock being course of the economy with a record 3300000 people filing for unemployment last week in europe the number of new deaths is surged in spain and it continues to climb in italy leaders have given the blocks finance ministers 2 weeks to work out an economic response where the

rising number of deaths comes as the u.n. secretary general warns that humanity is losing the war against the virus and he pleaded for a global coordinated response during an emergency virtual summit of g. 20 leaders and in south africa there's a 3 week lockdown certainly just begun a couple of hours ago soldiers are now patrolling the streets where exercise and even dog walking has been banned and according to johns hopkins university these are the numbers that there are currently more than 526000 infections around the world with more than 23000 deaths but president trump says the reason the number of cases in his country of rapidly increase is all jeter testing. i think it's a tribute to testing. you know number one you don't know what the numbers are in china janet because your numbers and. i'm speaking to president xi tonight i

believe will have a good conversation i'm sure but you just don't know you know what are the numbers but i think it's a tribute to the testing retesting tremendous numbers of people are this guy a lot of talk correspondent rob reynolds he's in los angeles and rob say the president says this is down to her record number of of testing the u.s. is testing more than any other country in the world and we believe that. well a lot of the things that the president has said from the podium have later turned out not to be correct martine so that would take a little bit of digging and we will no doubt learn more about the number of tests performed in the united states in due course but the raw numbers there the more than 83000 confirmed cases here in the united states this country the new epicenter of the pandemic and of course with every one of those numbers there is a human being and there have been to date more than 1100

deaths from corona virus here in the united states one of the epicenters is new york city that has somewhat around half of all the cases in the u.s. doctors and nurses there are working frantically to save face patients they say they still lack or 'd are in need of ventilators respirators and personal protection equipment to keep the doctors and nurses from falling ill in one of hospital alone in new york city 13 patients die in a 24 hour period now there is also the economic fallout as you mentioned 3200000 americans filing for unemployment that's the highest number ever reported since the government started keeping track of these statistics and there is some help on the way there's that 2 trillion dollar emergency aid and recovery relief

package do which is passed one of the houses of the u.s. legislature u.s. congress and it's now expected to pass the other house striving and that would provide some relief. extend unemployment benefits and so forth but president trump still seems to be chafing at the whole idea of keeping the country. a lot down in stay at home oh and he spent a great deal of time in his daily briefing today talking about how the country's got to get back to work quickly people want to work it's got to happen soon and of course that has been a real bone of contention between the president and some of his own experts including dr anthony found she the head of the medical head from the national institutes of health was on the task force he says the virus sets the timetable not the policy makers all right thank you reynolds they live in los

angeles. now their affairs at new orleans could be the next outbreak epicenter in the u.s. health officials say louisiana's largest city has now got the highest growth rate of new cases in the wild and he got of their opponents. this is new orleans most celebrated neighborhood now the french quarter is a shadow of its former self businesses are closed tourists are leaving and now the big easy is facing a major health crisis officials say the city is on course to become the next coronavirus at the center the rate of new cases is the highest in the world and may in the next few days overwhelm the city's hospitals what isn't a theory what is fact is what's actually happening on the ground and we know that it's serious we know the case count is much much higher than we obviously want it to be many in the medical community blame the rapid spread of the corona virus here on mardi gras the annual celebration attracts well over

a 1000000 visitors from all over the world it happened at the end of last month when the virus was already present in the u.s. . we're on it like elite 8 and we need here for now certainly the measures that we put in your very streams and here i've been very clear about staying holistic to save lives despite the warnings some are still gathering in crowds pasta tony spells holding outdoor services potentially putting his congregation at risk as a right to assemble. reserve the right to worship god. we take all the necessary precautions. disinfecting are barely keeping people in the distance and what have you new orleans is a resilient city used to dealing with natural disasters like hurricane katrina the next few days could be equally as challenging and agalloch an al-jazeera. and we'll

go back to the situation in the united states a little bit later in the program but in the meantime let's look at europe because countries are now ramping up their response to the pandemic as the death toll continues to climb among the new measures increased testing and further seychelle restrictions e.u. leaders are calling for nations to work together neve barker reports. this is how spain's hoping to win the war on the coronavirus police are among the 1st to be tested but it's hazardous work for these medical staff a large number of those testing positive on health workers. in madrid where an ice rinks been turned into a makeshift morgue or hearses arrived on thursday the death toll has risen to more than 4000 overtaking china. and italy still europe's worst affected country to date have been temporarily stored in churches before being sent for combination by army truck in a deserted european parliament chamber the commission president urged europeans to

show solidarity several you countries including germany and france of the exports of protective gear to avoid shortfalls at home ursula von deland warns the practice undermined europe's joint response to the crisis we all share this responsibility none of us can do it alone and certainly no member state can handle this crisis on their own and because in this crisis and in our union more generally it is only by helping each other that we can help ourselves in paris health workers are conducting drive through testing in the streets france's death toll rose by 28 percent on thursday tracing the spread of the virus is a vital for controlling it. president mccrone is one of several world leaders joining g 20 talks remotely hoping for a global approach to the pandemic is on the same conference call the russian

president vladimir putin he believes russia can defeat the virus in less than 3 months with tough measures the country will suspend international flights from friday a moscow will close all shops except pharmacies and grocery stores a day later. in the british capital works continuing to convert a massive exhibition hall into an emergency hospital the number of people in the u.k. who have died from the virus has jumped by more than 100 in a day for the 1st time. the british vacuum cleaner make a dyson has now joined a growing number of technology companies developing ventilators to help the country's health care system for a new great. british woman stark account of having the virus has been shared online cara mannering is 26 weeks pregnant. and. by.

the british government's promise to ramp up testing by the end of the week with hospitals in london told to expect a continuous tsunami of patients scientists are warning many countries in europe that the worst is yet to come. out as they are. and south africa south of a 3 week lockdown after a significant increase in the number of infections a country recorded a 6 fold rise in just 8 days taking the number of confirmed cases to more than 900 that's the highest rate in africa police and the military are on the streets to enforce a lockdown which includes bans on dog walking and the sale of alcohol for me to miller is a correspondent in johannesburg she says there's been some confusion about what the measures involve. so africans have welcomed this lockdown they do understand that

it's necessary but i imagine that it will take a couple of days for many people to abide by the restrictions because there is a lot to get used to there are police and soldiers on the streets ogust are expected to support police activities but even as we headed to the slept on at midnight south african time there were a large number of cars on main highways like the in floor this is what i read that leads to neighboring mozambique the government has said that transportation services especially with regard to goods like food will continue but that not anyone else can be on the road no one but essential services of people who work in the medical fields who distribute food so they continue to be some confusion police have said that they will arrest people who don't abide by these restrictions possible 6 months jail time or perhaps a heavy fines so the coming days really will be

a test for south africans with regard to just how well they abide by this description. that china is temporarily banning most foreigners from entering the country as it tries to prevent a 2nd wave of infections the measure will take effect at midnight on friday people with transit raises and foreigners entering through hong kong macau will be exempt china has not reported any new home grown infections for several days but concerns been growing about the number of imported cases. still to come here at al-jazeera. a 2nd political shock in as many days raises hopes for a unity government in israel. but. it's only just spring but the spring rains really want to get sucked in here

and they're doing so through china and eventually japan now you had that winter from the draw attention beijing and that's injected enough cold against the walls in the washer from from the south which means is now an active frontals or really anywhere from southwestern china up towards one holland eastwards and that line up through japan will produce significant right for a few places if anything it'll intensify in japan as it becomes weaker in china the temperature mohan has come down that has come down from the north hongkong see quite a breeze pick up as the rain disappears fizzle we're looking weekend for a good part of honshu good power japan actually including tokyo at least for a time the showers the south of that certain these are malaysia sporadic now the general trend is to bring the models this to them borneo there in the southern philippines might get worse in singapore but actually busha sumatra and peninsula malaysia looks pretty much dry there are few showers around building by day and for the mainland southeast asia so for example vietnam and thailand are all that many

shots just one or 2. we have have got significant rain coming in once again the wesley way into pakistan. but. when a boneless struck many died and many wrist to end the epidemic. this is their story through the lens of local filmmakers we see people making sacrifices moving off a nation this is what i want i want to see survivors a witness documentary on al-jazeera.

hi let's just have a look at the top developments now in the coronavirus developing story united states has more confirmed cases in any other country in the world with more than 83500 that supposes both china and the city and comes as new figures show the shock cools to the economy a record 3300000 people have filed for unemployment south africa's began a 3 week lockdown in an effort to contain the virus it has the highest number of cases in africa with more than a 900 confirmed infections in europe the number of new dresses surged in spain to more than 4000 a day is continuing to climb in italy e.u. leaders have given finance ministers 2 weeks to work out an economic response to

the pandemic. are going to talk now a little bit more about the situation in the us which is now got more numbers highest rate of infection than any any other country in the world we can speak to dr peter hart this who is dean of the national school of tropical medicine and he's joining us from houston in texas thanks for talking to us the w.h.o. have been predicting for a couple of days that the u.s. was to become the next epicenter of this disease so no surprise then that the u.s. is overtaking the number of confirmed cases overtaking both china and italy. yes it's absolutely tragic and and of course like in china these infections are not homogeneously spread across the country they're occurring in certain hotspots and sneer at city right now is the epicenter in the united states where the bout half of the cases and our hospitals in new york are being overrun with hospitalized

patients and many patients in tents and care units and we learned this morning that one hospital alone had 13 deaths right in 24 hours so this is a dire situation in new york city and now we're starting to see new urban centers pop up in places like moral and west and detroit and chicago let me let me ask you about that because of his wondering whether you're able to to to predict where a hot spot will be given is it a matter of is it what sort of criteria should we be looking at is it a matter of population density because we're looking at new york city new state more broadly and now we're focusing on new orleans is it a matter of the number of people per square mile for instance. so i think we're in agreement that that's my assessment as well that it's highly dense

urban areas in fact you can look at a ranking of population density in the u.s. among cities and it kind of correlates well with this but this infection the other piece that's starting to emerge in the last few days is cities that have large populations of extreme poverty so norrell and so detroit and so i think we're starting to see in yet another dimension to this epidemic which is these this virus has a health disparity particularly among people of color i think african-american populations who live in poverty and have don't have the ability to practice social distancing because of the crowded conditions that they live i think they're going to be vulnerable and the fact that they many populations of underlying rates and high rates of diabetes and hypertension so the health disparity component is particularly troubling for for me in places like new orleans and detroit but many

many people will struggle to understand how come a country with 1380000000 china can have fewer confirmed cases over the virus than the united states which has a population of of a mere 330 also 1000000 i mean why how come the u.s. is posting such a huge number of cases in comparison to the world's most populous country. well we unfortunately had big delays in our in our diagnostic testing capability and that was you know we'll have to do an analysis when all this is over but i think clearly extreme delays in the ability to do the diagnostic testing was a major reason and the modeling shows that if transmission goes on undetected and therefore. with without inner intervening measures that's when you start seeing big

surges in and hospitals will be so that in china we saw that middle day and now we're seeing this in the united states and of course it's the hospital associate infections that are specially troublesome because health care workers are getting sick and being taken out of the workforce and and that in itself is highly destabilizing so we're trying to ramp up diagnostic testing at the same time we're dealing with this very difficult surgeon. on on hospitals in these urban areas up to peter thank you very much indeed for talking to us all the best. the health officials in syria's rebel held edley province a warning that a 100000 people could die unless the w.h.o. provides much needed supplies like ventilators and protective equipment the health directorate in fighting is still ongoing is working with the white helmets and

other medical the eyes ations to try to raise awareness in a bid to slow the potential spread there's been no confirmed cases so far in this part of syria in the northwest spots the virus is in neighboring countries. but just days after the 2020 olympic games of has spread to tokyo has become japan's epicenter of infection the capital recorded the biggest one day increase on wednesday with at least 40 people testing positive i as a quarter reports. japan's famed cherry blossom is in full bloom and tokyo's residents are making the most of the spring spectacle while they still can . coming just after japan took the painful decision to postpone the 2020 summer olympics everyone here has been given a reminder of why their government took that step a sharp increase in the number of coroner virus cases in the japanese capital has led tokyo's gov to urge everyone to stay indoors this coming weekend. we must

1st take measures to prevent the spread of the corona virus we cannot move forward that hasn't changed. so far life in japan has been relatively untroubled by the global pandemic with businesses and restaurants remaining open. but gradually a realisation is setting in that life might be about to change. when you are stuck at home it's stressful i wasn't sure if i should be here but i wanted to come. my wife wasn't happy about me visiting tokyo but it's outdoors and if i keep my distance from other people i think it's ok. the olympics are meant to be the high point of prime minister shinzo obvious premiership and their postponement is devastating for the japanese economy prime minister has faced criticism at home and abroad for his handling of the coronavirus outbreak japan has conducted only

a fraction a pest thing carried out by neighboring china and south korea meaning the country could be facing a much bigger hidden problem however serious this outbreak gets obvious hopes of japan becoming a major tourism destination with 40000000 visitors disappear seem to be dashed he's really been focusing on boosting japan's inbound tourism he's also been very keen on encouraging the hospitality business to appeal to the but if we reach our clientele the nation and the olympics were supposed to be an opportunity to showcase for the international community so without that i think he's economic strategies actually losing direction for now the mood remains largely festive but as this surge in new cases continues japan knows that optimism might disappear as quickly as its blossom. al-jazeera tokyo. but let's look at some

other news now and the u.s. justice department has charged the venezuelan president nicolas maduro and several senior officials with crimes related to what they call narco terrorism and drug trafficking they're accused of using the proceeds of the cocaine trade to make up for lost although revenues official reports we estimate that somewhere between $2250.00 metric tons of cocaine are shipped out of that as well or by these routes a virtual news conference but for a very real target today i'm here to talk about the former maturer. and its direct participation in narco terrorism corruption money laundering and drug trafficking the series of charges against nicholas mcdougal the man who leads venezuela and some of the most senior figures in his government the justice department alleges that running a drug gang called the cocktail of the sons who do what with the fart rebels in

colombia shipped hundreds of tons of cocaine into the u.s. taking bribes and shooting the profits madeira and his other defendants have betrayed the venezuelan people and corrupted venezuela's institutions while the venezuelan people suffer. this cabal lines their pockets with drug money and the proceeds of their corruption and this has to come to an end the charges will be seen as a significant escalation in the trumpet ministrations efforts to remove nicholas mcdougall from power it recognizes opposition leader one guy do as venezuela's president but despite support from washington and many of them as well as neighbors who do remains in the presidential palace he's overseen the economic collapse of one of the world's biggest oil producers with millions leaving the country but on twitter he remained defiant claiming the u.s. and its colombia wanted to fill venezuela with violence and vowing he would not be

defeated. in 1990 u.s. took military action to remove manuel noriega from panama accusing him of running a massive drug operation at this stage is unlikely mcdougall will see the inside of us courtroom he faces life in prison if ever convicted with the u.s. offering a $50000000.00 reward hoping that might convince someone to send him its way alan fischer al-jazeera and washington. israel opposition leader any gantz has called for an emergency unity government after being elected speaker of the country's parliament a unusual move could lead to an alliance with his rival caretaker prime minister benjamin netanyahu to tackle coronavirus gantz told the knesset that these were unusual times calling for unusual decisions that comes after israel's 3rd inconclusive election in less than a year. now there affairs that are leading mali in opposition leader is being held

by an armed group linked to al qaida so mail went missing along with 6 members of his team whilst campaigning in the war torn center of the country because the latest. where is smile as you say it's a question his party members are asking after mali's opposition leader vanished on wednesday he was campaigning in timbuktu for sunday's parliamentary election when gunmen attacked his convoy several of his entourage were killed but he was kidnapped along with 11 of his aides. living in fact they were kidnapped by an armed group whose identity we do not know they are armed men for us yet on identified we must be clear on their. own while no one has claimed responsibility for the attack security forces suspect an al qaeda affiliate. which is active in northern mali 2 western hostages were released in northern mali earlier this month

after 15 months in captivity. and this you do. certainly because it's a joy that this liberation of civilian prisoners kidnapped and broken a faster but held in mali's taking place under the current circumstances without negotiation that these hostages are being released today is a good thing and a good sign. the al qaeda linked group says it's willing to negotiate a peace agreement with the government but talks comes with 2 conditions the 15000 french and u.n. peacekeeping troops in mali must leave the country and sunday's parliamentary election is counseled president brian burke are key to announced on wednesday that the elections will go ahead as planned. gentlemen of the most the election will be held on march 29th that is to say this sunday and it scrupulous respect for the barrier measures the government will do everything to make it happen. with more than $300000.00 people displaced continuing attacks by armed groups in mali and

purcell region a curfew imposed to prevent the spread of covert 19 and now the disappearance of a leading political figure in sunday's election has gripped mali before voting has even started nicholas hawke al-jazeera. people all around the world have been finding ways to thank their health care workers from their cell phone salacious at home and this is the latest it's in the u.k. people around the country applauded their health workers from their houses landmarks in the country were lit up in the national health service colors of blue and white as the whole country applauded these brave frontline battles.

to take a look at the top stories here it is there the us is now more confirmed coronavirus cases in any other country in the world with more than $83500.00 both china and italy that comes as new figures reveal the shock calls to the economy with a record 3300000 people filing for unemployment last week in europe the number of new deaths is surged in spain to move of 4000 is continuing to climb in italy e.u. leaders of given finance ministers 2 weeks to work out an economic response. south africa has begun a 3 week lockdown in an effort to contain the corona virus it has the highest number of cases in africa with more the 900 confirmed infections for me the miller has more from johannesburg so africans have welcomed this knockdown they do understand that it's necessary but i imagine that it will take a couple of days for many people to abide by the restrictions because there is

a lot to get used to there are police and soldiers on the streets police have said that they will arrest people who don't abide by these restrictions possible 6 months jail time or perhaps a heavy fines so the coming days really will be a test for south africans with regard to just how while the abide by this destruction. china is temporarily banning most foreigners from entering the country as it tries to prevent a 2nd wave of infection foreigners in transit or entering through hong kong and macau will be exempt china has of course had any new homegrown infections for several days now but concerns been growing over the number of imported cases right up to date those are the latest headlines coming up next inside story.

the coronavirus pandemic provide an opportunity for relief in yemen on the 5th anniversary of the start of the war the un to the troops on their return to peace talks what are the prospects of ending a conflict that has destroyed the lives of millions of yemenis this is inside story . hello and welcome to the program. much of the world's focus is on the growing coronavirus pandemic and as the war on the.