al jazeera. was the u.s. overtakes italy and china is the country with the most confirmed cases of corona virus in the world. alone martine denish a without is there a live from doha also coming up china balls almost all foreigners from entering the country in a bid to slow the number of cases coming from abroad. we all share this responsibility

none of us can do it alone. the e.u. calls for unity as the death toll across europe continues to rise. and in other news a possible breakthrough in israel the opposition leader calls for an emergency unity government after being elected parliament tree speaker. the united states now has more confirmed coronavirus cases than any other country in the world with more than 83500 supposing china and the silly that says new figures reveal the shock cools to the economy by the outbreak with a record 3300000 people registering as unemployed last week reynolds has the latest. the number of confirmed cases of coded 19 in the us now tops 83000 more than have been recorded in china or italy more than 1100 people

here have died from the corona virus with no vaccine and no proven drug treatment the country's top medical experts say social restrictions are the only way to curb the rate of infection whenever you put the clamps down and shut things down you do it for 2 reasons you do it to prevent the further spread just because medication but he also do with the buy yourself time to get better prepared for what might be a rebound. in new york which has been hardest hit by the outbreak hospitals are becoming overwhelmed with worse predicted to come the need for ventilators and respirators for patients as well as protective gear for doctors and nurses remains acute one new york city hospital recorded 13 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours we will event question this virus but president donald trump continues to question

the stay at home orders affecting much of the u.s. population saying he wants americans getting back to their jobs soon for the sake of the economy they have to go back to work a country has to go back our country is based on that and. i think it's going to happen pretty quickly. the world's biggest economy has suffered a sudden and significant shock as consumer spending has dried up shops and restaurants have been closed and restrictions have been placed on movement a record 3200000 american workers filed for unemployment benefits last week was number of new claims for unemployment benefits is truly unprecedented and that represents the unprecedented nature of what we're going through right now during the financial crisis a great recession the highest or maximum number of new claims or. it's we saw approaching it with status. and more help for struggling workers and their families

is on the way as the u.s. senate passed a 2 trillion dollars stimulus and relief bill the house of representatives will vote on the legislation friday the measure gives many u.s. households a cash infusion of $1200.00 or more depending on income and family size it also increases and extends unemployment benefits. as new centers of coronavirus transmission emerge around the country the pandemic and the economy both seem certain to get worse before they get better robert oulds al-jazeera. speaking to dr peter hotez who is dean for the national school of tropical medicine in the u.s. and he says the situation that is escalating rackley. 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 it's new york city right now

is the epicenter in the united states with about 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 in 24 hours so this is a a dire situation in new york city and now we're starting to see new urban centers pop up in places like new orleans and detroit and chicago 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 with this with this infection the other piece that's starting to emerge now in the last few days is cities that have large populations of extreme poverty so norland 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 in the fact that they many populations of underlying rates of the high rates of diabetes and hypertension so the health disparity component is particularly troubling for for me in places like new orleans and destroying it. well as he just heard there affairs at new orleans could be the next outbreak epicenter in the u.s. health officials say louisiana's largest city has the highest growth rate of new cases in the wild and a gallagher. this is new orleans most celebrated neighborhood now the french

quarter is a shadow of its former self businesses a 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. . indicated we're on a pass like in the week and we need to find out certainly the measures that we put in your very streams and your i've been very clear about staying home stay home 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. we take all the necessary precautions. disinfecting our building 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 a al-jazeera. well china is banning most international visitors from entering the country as it tries to prevent a 2nd wave of infections people with transit visas and foreigners coming in through hong kong and macau will be examined on friday health officials reported the country's 1st locally transmitted corona virus infection in 3 days let's talk now to our correspondent katrina you she's in the chinese capital beijing this is

a temporary. blocking of international travel but it's an indication katrina of of how seriously the chinese authorities are taking the importation of the virus. that's right martine so from saturday midnight no foreign nationals will be permitted to enter china that is anybody with a residence visa resident permit normal visa and all short term transit visa transit free visits will also be canceled those who are exempt from this are diplomats and people with service passports but as you mentioned it does indicate how seriously the government is taking important cases we know from this week the government says 90 percent or more than 90 percent of new cases in recent days have been imported on friday the latest figure was we had 55 new cases and 54 of those new cases were reported we don't know how many foreigners exactly this is going to

affect but we know about what roughly 1000000 foreigners live in china working and studying and it's not the 1st restriction that has been introduced this week on thursday the government also announced caps on foreign airlines arriving in china so they've said from march 29 all foreign airlines are only committed to land one flight to one destination per week so that will come in into effect on sunday so definitely china is definitely pivoting away and now that domestic transmission seem to be under control there may very much focusing on imported cases and from this week anybody who arrived in beijing will be going directly to a designated quarantine hotel where they will for an hour or a local as well so they're taking this new very seriously or a katrina thanks for that katrina you live in beijing. the countries across europe are ramping up their responses to the pandemic as the death toll continues to rise among the new measures increased testing and further social restrictions leaders

are calling for the nations to work together needs barkha 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 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 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. 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. to a great. british woman stark account of having the virus has been shared online cara mannering is 26 weeks pregnant. and the. 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. still to come here at al-jazeera soldiers on the streets in south africa as the country end is a 3 week lockdown and away from coronavirus we look at the indian ocean archipelago that's protecting its forces from a man show it's called attention. 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 air against the war in

the moisture from from the south which means it is now an active frontals or really anywhere from southwestern china up towards we'll have an east woods and that line up through japan will produce significant rain for a few places if anything it'll intensify in japan as it becomes weaker in china 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 certainties are malays your arbitrary limits for a bit now the general trend is to bring the north this to them borneo there in the southern philippines might get one or 2 in singapore but that chile busha sumatra 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 got significant rain coming in once again to the wesley wave into pakistan.

full of struggles full of pleasure i mean a body that of christendom would suppose i hope one of their battle must be out there ask me who was actually in the mood in the room an intimate look at life in cuba getting out the door to each other and a caring and i've done it to be a success but this is my cuba. on al-jazeera. karla's

have a look at the main developments this hour the united states has now more confirmed coronavirus cases in any other country in the world with more than 85500 surpassing in china and italy that says new figures show the shock because of the economy with a record 3300000 people filing for unemployment last week. and china is banning most foreigners from entering the country as it tries to prevent a 2nd wave of infection health officials reported the 1st lately transmitted karuna virus infection in 3 days in europe the number of new deaths is surged in spain to more than 4000 and is continuing to climb in italy e.u. leaders have given finance ministers to weeks to work out an economic response to the pandemic. or let's get more now on the situation in the us and the number of cases in new york state when it's jumped by 40 percent within the last 24 hours

according to the governor most cases are in the densely populated new york city which is now the epicenter of the u.s. outbreak and it's where those battling the pandemic of themselves at risk christian salumi has more. oh. police in new york are now making special patrols to ensure safe social distancing in public spaces. but while local residents are encouraged to stay home. first responders have no such luxury. calls to the city's 911 emergency medical services have hit their highest levels since the days after the september 11th attacks and at about 6500 day the calls like lines at hospitals and medical centers are only expected to increase. an already overloaded system further

strained as 1st responders themselves begin to fall ill in the n.y.p.d. nearly 200 of the 36000 uniformed officers have tested positive for coated 19 with many more awaiting results but currently at about 3200 members on the uniform side out sec it's about triple the rate that we normally see medical professionals are also at risk new york's governor is calling on retired doctors and nurses to come back and help we've asked medical staff to bomb and tear it to retard medical staff who are no longer practicing 40000 had volunteered we now have 12000 more people in one day volunteer and to help on the medical staff. but worries about readiness particularly when it comes to protective gear persist as covert 19 cases continue to surge in new york

a temporary morgue is being built outside the public hospital experts warn the state is still 2 to 3 weeks away from seeing its peak and 1st responders won't be able to protect new yorkers if they themselves aren't protected person responding don't have the luxury of not going in to a location they have to go in their job is to respond to emergencies and they have to be adequately protected. in new york is just the beginning of the crisis for the united states with other densely populated areas soon expected to follow christian salumi al jazeera new york south africa has started a 3 week lockdown after a significant increase in infections the country recorded a 6 fold rise in 8 days taking the confirmed number of cases to more than 900 that's the highest rate in africa police and the military have been deployed to

enforce the law which includes bans on dog will cain and alcohol sales for me to miller is a correspondent in johannesburg and says there's been some confusion about what the mission is actually involved. south 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 our soldiers on the streets august are expected 'd to support police activities but even as we headed to the slap down at midnight south african time there were a large number of cars on main highways like the in floor this is a highway that leads to neighboring muslim baek the government has said that transportation services especially with regard to goods like food will continue but that not any one 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 risk 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 out with regard to just how well the abide by this description says that an armed group in cameroon has heeded the un's call for a global thesis during this pandemic the southern koreans defense forces say they'll lay down their weapons for a fortnight starting on sunday it's one of a number of septa's groups in english speaking regions who've been fighting government forces in the mainly french speaking country. the leaders of the world's major economies have held a virtual g. 20 summit to discuss a coordinated response to the global pandemic a diplomatic editor james frey's reports. g. 20 summits a normally lavish set piece of ns this was last year in

a soccer japan. but in the new realities of a closed off world the summit became a 90 minute video conference call opened by kings salmond saudi arabia holds the presidency this year from the white house the meeting was hailed a success there is a great uniformity i think we had it was a terrific meeting tremendous spirit among all of those countries here 20 countries plus earlier in the week the u.n. secretary general antonio good terrorists launched a 2000000000 dollar appeal for funding for the world's most vulnerable particularly those living in conflict zones and refugee camps but there were no actual pledges in the summit communiqué and no response to a call by 2 prominent g. 20 members china and russia for sanctions relief for countries like iran syria and venezuela so they can get the resources they need to fight the virus with you know

with ideally we should introduce a joint moratorium based on solidarity waiving any restrictions on supplies of essential goods and financial transactions for their purchase is spokesperson added that there was still a long way to go to see truly concerted and effective global leadership on the pandemic there is a feeling that international diplomacy has been somewhat paralyzed the normal ways of working are not there in part because the u.n. is based here in new york the epicenter of the virus in the united states james pays al-jazeera at the united nations. well india's government some veiled a $23000000000.00 stimulus package to help the country's poor during its lockdown millions of low income families will receive cash payments and food staples under the plan the government will also pay for medical insurance for frontline health

workers 1300000000 people have been put into lockdown across the country to try to stop the spread of the virus. while have a look at some other news now and the u.s. justice department has charged the venezuelan president nicolas maduro and several senior officials with drug trafficking the attorney general william barr announcing indictments against my daughter and his top left tenants they're accused of running a so-called narco state and of using the proceeds of the cocaine trade to make up for lost oil revenues israel's opposition leader benny gantz has called for an emergency unity government after being elected speaker of the country's parliament the unusual move could lead to an alliance with his rival caretaker prime minister benjamin netanyahu to tackle the coronavirus gantz told the knesset that these are unusual times and called for unusual decisions it comes after israel's 3rd inconclusive election in less than

a year hurry force it has more from west jerusalem. as of wednesday benny gantz and the entire opposition were criticizing the former speaker unity edelstein and his likud party the party led by benjamin netanyahu because that will stay in had failed to allow for a vote which would have allowed the opposition to put its own person as speaker and start legislating in a way which may well have harmed benjamin netanyahu is grip on power and of course benny gantz has throughout his just over a year long political career made his brand almost entirely about removing from office replacing with a stable figure himself a prime minister that he's called corrupt poison to democracy and has said that cannot serve while indicted well all of that now looks to have evaporated because benny gantz appears ready to serve in a unity government an emergency government to tackle the coronavirus epidemic with benjamin netanyahu continuing as prime minister the reports suggest that gantz may

well get a very senior job in the government foreign minister defense minister that netanyahu may well make way or promise to admit to make way in 18 months time we have yet to see any of those details emerge will be concrete there are also reports that it might just be a 6 month emergency government dances saying that he's doing this out of consideration for the fact that israel is an emergency that it's time for statesmanship and patriotism not for splits but many on the left many of his former colleagues because his own blue and white alliance has now broken up over this as saying that this is a centrally a betrayal and that he's now serving with someone he said he would not serve with now the island nation of the seychelles in the northern indian nation is pushing ahead with an ambitious plan to preserve marine life in its territorial waters is setting up a vast protections then but almost no human activity will be allowed into a gate in the explains. the seychelles is an island nation threatened by global

warming. so when it comes to saving the oceans it's leading by example and. it's protected a 3rd of its waters from commercial fishing and mineral exploration it extends around 400000 square kilometers an area larger than germany and it's doing so 10 years ahead of an international target set by the un this study percent really means that we we have done the right thing for the future generation and protecting. 30 percent off 1300000 square kilometers off. i mean so lot to a small country like. the seychelles economy is largely dependent on fishing and tourism with some oil exploration and sand mining. the government says it works closely with companies to decide which areas to protect there was

a lot of discussions and compromises made in terms of area where my serve is going to continue and there were even some areas which when i book. company considering that some of these areas are high part of the city's. scientists say marine sanctuaries protect habitats and species rebuild biodiversity and allow ecosystems to recover going to be key for us to be able to manage our ations which bits need to be priority protected absolutely this is amazing our band of the ocean is going to be much better with that was. to say shows responding it's marine sanctuaries through a so-called debt to nature plan a conservation group offered to buy up nearly $22000000.00 of the seychelles so for a debt it return the country will ensure these waters are protected for future generations. another bit of news regarding corona virus

people around the world of in finding ways to thank their health care workers usually from their homes. this is the latest situation in the u.k. where people around the country applauded from their houses landmarks were listen up in the colors of the national health service blue and white as people applauded those welcoming their lives at least. as over the top stories here at al-jazeera the united states now has more confirmed coronavirus cases than any other country in the world with more than 83500 surpassing china and italy that says 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 more than 4000 it is continuing to climb in italy e.u. leaders have given the blocks finance ministers 2 weeks to work out an economic response to the pandemic. china is temporarily banning most foreigners from entering the country as it tries to prevent a 2nd wave of infections health officials reported the 1st locally transmitted corona virus infection in 3 days katrina you has more from beijing we don't know how many foreigners exactly this is going to affect but we know about what roughly 1000000 foreigners live in china working and studying and it's not the 1st restriction that has been introduced this week on thursday the government also announced caps on foreign airlines arriving in china so they've said from march 29 all foreign airlines are only committed to land one flight to one destination per

week so that will come in into effect on sunday so definitely china is definitely pivoting away and now that domestic transmission seemed to be under control there may very much focusing on imported cases so africa has become a 3 week lockdown in an effort to contain the virus it's got the highest number of cases in africa with more than 900 confirmed infections. and in other news the u.s. justice department has charged the venezuelan president nicolas maduro and several of his officials with drug trafficking they're accused of running a so-called narco state israel's opposition leader benny gantz has called for an emergency unity government after being elected speaker of the country's parliament the move could lead to an alliance with his rival the caretaker prime minister benjamin netanyahu all right up to date those are the latest headlines coming up next it's the bottom line. for the prime minister takes a lump of coal into his own parliament back home it's

a lot of the country's fortunes we bring you the stories in developments that are rapidly changing the world we live in it breaks it was a slogan that whatever the problem is of course. counting the cost on al-jazeera. hi i'm steve clements and i have a question in a time when handshakes rallies fundraisers and door knocking have all been cancelled what happens to the american election campaign this year let's get to the bottom line. but how fast things are changing around us here's how we started last week's show across the u.s. so far about 5000 cases of coronavirus have been recorded today that number stands at closer 250000 still rising listen to where the u.s. president was just 3 and a half weeks ago we have the greatest. greatest tourism country in the world so instead of leaving our country leaving are sure to stay here and again.