india done enough to nip the spread of coronavirus in the inside story on al-jazeera every generation has a higher purpose. ours is. the us president says the government will bail out the oil industry after prices dive in the negative for the 1st time in history. i'm sam is a band this is out to syria live from doha also coming up donald trump announces he'll suspend immigration saying he has to protect americans from coronavirus save jobs. a dire warning from the un the pandemic could double the number of people

going hungry around the world. no vaccine but that doesn't mean you know how we look at the different drugs and treatments being used to treat cope with 19. with the pandemic throwing world oil markets into turmoil donald trump says his government will look to support the domestic industry the president says he's told the energy and treasury secretaries to formulate a plan to make funds available to ensure the survival of american oil and gas companies that follows an unprecedented collapse in the u.s. prices because of a glass in supply the u.s. futures market dive deep into negative territory for the 1st time ever on monday the lowest the price of the u.s. benchmark w t i sank was to minus $37.00 a barrel the international benchmark the brant crude on the other hand well that's

trading at around $20.00 a barrel that's still the lowest price it's traded since the september 11th attacks in 2001. we begin with our white house correspondent kimberly how could she joins us from washington d.c. so kimberly do we have any more of those details yet about how much money the trumpet ministration is going to give the industry and for how long is this an open ended commitment. you know it is this is a this tweet by the u.s. president seems to have caught some of the administration officials are guard because for the most part we've been referred every time we've tried to get a clarification to the energy department or to the department of treasury what is unclear is just exactly you know which companies are going to benefit how much they're going to receive it almost appears as if the u.s. president may be reiterating a request that he made previously to the treasury and energy secretary sensually

that would allow for oil and gas companies to take advantage of what service the carriers that and this is something that's tucked inside phase 3 of that very large part of me there's a bird flying through very large coronavirus relief package that came out of the u.s. congress what this would do essentially is allow for tapping into loans from the federal reserve but again without these specifics we're really left kind of trying to piece this together with no clear clarification from the white house while we do know is there is a liquidity crunch right so this money assumed at least to help them to get through not have to close down or close down too many oilfields. yeah and we've seen this across the spectrum of the u.s. economy whether it is in terms of small businesses you know those mom and pop type restaurants or other industries which is being addressed by the paycheck protection program that allows companies loans this is

a fund that's currently being topped up and talked about in congress to help small businesses or whether we're seeing it here in the oil and gas side specifically we do know the u.s. president's particularly concerned about protecting jobs and this would essentially be another lifeline for another sector of the u.s. economy that of course has been hit very hard with these plunging oil prices in negative territory so this is something that is dear to the president's heart he wanted the united states to be seen as the primary producer something that he campaigned in 2016 about he certainly said this is a goal when he took office in 2017 and achieved that goal in 2018 and something he wants to hang on to in terms of the u.s. producing 18000000 barrels a day 18 percent of the production in the global sort of pie if you will but one thing is clear about all of this is that the u.s. president believes this is something that short term he talked about this at his

last coronavirus task force briefing he believes because demand is low right now people are driving their cars there are not manufacturing lines that are up and running to full capacity that once he can get the economy back on track he believes this will be alleviated but there are many that are fearful that this is something that is a very short term lifeline and may not be enough given the fact that we have only just begun phase one of reopening the u.s. economy and there are very little confidence that we're going to get to the 2nd and 3rd phases any time soon or i can believe how could that from the white house. now ministers from some of the world's top oil producers are meeting now by conference call the opec representatives are believed to be discussing how to implement agreed all production cuts immediately rather than waiting until may the 1st saudi arabia in the united arab emirates though a not taking part in the meeting its coverage of some of inch of a the in the oil give us

a regional perspective on this so 1st of all what kind of revision are they going to come up with does it look like to be agreed cuts. but it is just a consul to dick consultation this is not going to be a meeting. with any reserve. and did in a few minutes ago and we've been hearing from the various ministers who will be telling us telling their representatives that this was a meeting which was taken to take stock of the situation after that bloodbath in the prices as the price per barrel went below the minus $40.00 mark for briefly and this is something that opec nations are trying to grapple with because they have cut as much as they can they don't want to cut any further because it is going to affect their economies but on the other hand they have in the shoes of oversupply there is so much that everyone wants to sell and there aren't enough

buyers out there to buy that this meeting particularly was called by the ariens and you saw that as you mentioned earlier that the saudis in the end there are these 2 are the major players in these opec nations as long as as well as russia were not present in this beat so how effective will any consultation be without saudi arabia and the amorality as president why weren't they present. when not much to be honest to because saudi arabia and the sense among opec enormous plus nations is that they've cut nearly $10000000.00 barrels which is the max that they would want to cut right now and the bigger cuts that need to come have to come from producers like the united states like canada or norway for instance still have . policies that the sound even the his perhaps want to see how these major producers of crude oil are going to do

their share because essentially what the oil markets are facing right now is not just over production that was started when the saudis and the russians went head to head but it is also facing a major demand shock which was which is somewhere around the $30000000.00 barrels of march. cut off their production or i'm afraid we're obviously having little bit of technical difficulties with the sound of a but we can continue this conversation with militia techie and he's an international oil and energy consultant joins us now by skype from london good to have you with us so 1st of all we saw the may delivery contracts for the u.s. benchmark w t i always saw that go into negative territory yesterday but looking at what's happening for june delivery contracts for july delivery contracts they're also looking down this is this is not

a one off is it. no because as you have already mentioned so far the rolled in general and united states itself there is too much oil being produced by it or a company is by the oil installations various oil fields pipeline as well as and so on which are in connection with each other and loading and they're living in cities but the man is getting less and less so there is actual oil in a physical way we can notice it within the united states as it is on the group and it is that extra or an excess supply which has to be managed now on a global scale the beast who just announced if i can. jump can it be managed i mean we know now that some of the opec ministers are meeting virtually at least is there anything they can do and even the the reopening up that's taking place in some economies you know how long before any of that will start to impact all prices in

a positive way. 1st of all the fall in demand as in you mention is about probably $30000000.00 barrels per day and i am on that they have committed to cut it all big and none none of it has russia and so on use 10000000 barrels per day 9.7 to be exact and so definitely dish is much smaller than the actual physical thought of the new man but people hope in fact the statements by some of the ministers i am by the. united states are present trying ones that are actually there could be also be contribution from the united states if not by the zine as orpik russia and so on are doing to reduce supply by the falls because there are there are a company is cannot afford to produce and sell at the price which is less than the cost of their production and now that was hopeful or people are hopeful that there

will be a reduction in a supply gradually but even that is not going to be trying to fight it commitment very spread it all together so it will take sometimes it will take and that is the big question how long it will definitely be a month or 2 but the psychology has play effect if the world is gradually coming back and going to use more activities are picking up economic economical although it will spur certain measures that they're working in the markets no doubt. that is the well are already going to see it as fast as the prices went down and we're going to see perhaps a fast increase of some sorts because if all companies close oldfield's and the world starts to reopen it takes longer to reopen an oilfield than it does to shut it down and we're going to see prices go up somewhat fast at some point. no i don't think so i think this closing down technical closing or well and so on there are

some problems but the media are exaggerating you know an oil company operators can close down it will take you live to resuscitate it will have been salt killed it was started again it can be done it is not a major technical problem is there a few days of no they can't but the question is that will there be enough of the amount for them. and that is the whole point as i said that the thought in the man is that say $50000000.00 per day the commitments are $10000000.00 barrels per day by one group and maybe some others by the falls within the united states and some other companies there is talk that maybe in existence or straight what commission might get an agreement from the federal and state level that some companies will have production would be a progression so there were reduction there but these are all are smaller it takes time until it shows itself so that the price coming back would not be as not answer to your question would not be as quick it would take time and i think i can argue

a death were even when in 6 months money it is back to a more stable level it would not be as it would be as a lower or so we were hoping $65.00 pair around every the preprinted before hand the year or so ago it would last a few months before the crisis is started but i think looking at this quality if you do what i just stated the iran and some are there all the activity would not go back in a big rush and you know boom and so on and so and the. but in limited supply still would be too much and the summer and i think these will result that the price of oil probably would be something like $40.00 in a year or 2 would sit him down about $4050.00 or on event $6065.00 a bench but this is a horse my yes but my arguments were i think answered your question it will take time for activities to get back to normal or right thanks so much money in the.

trump is that he'll temporarily suspend all immigration to the u.s. president announced the move through twitter he said he views an executive order to protect american lives and jobs from coronavirus which he's calling the invisible enemy leon francisco is an immigration attorney and the former deputy assistant attorney general in charge of immigration at the u.s. department of justice he says this would be one of trump's most significant moves to close off the country but what's new is that it's a formalization of what it been an ad hoc process of closing embassies and consulates around the world and so the 1st step is to the extent that this order actually provides that they certain and actually closes all embassies and consulates around the world that will be a new barrier to allowing people day enter the united states that also needs to be withdrawn before people enter the united states all that's new and then what's not

clear and what will need to wait to see the order about is will there actually be people in the united states who are not allowed to remove or change their visa as part of this order while that probably would be illegal it's unclear whether that will still be attempt to be included in this order if people are told that the united states is now closed for business that is going to be a dramatic change and it won't just be the kind of change that the president is in visioning which would be what he views as sort of a direct one for one replacement foreign worker with american worker many people who come on these cortical work visas are actually coming to open companies and to create foreign investment in the united states and so if you're doing this with a scalpel instead of a hammer you're actually causing more damage rather than less. still ahead on al jazeera why the british government's current virus fatality figures don't pad out for critics. harder for you cheers citizens is to iran to

to do what we. our volunteers are putting themselves on the front line of iran's virus back home. but. we got a fair bit of cloud in the forecast the parts of the middle east that includes us here in casaya see this long line of clouds stride ling saudi arabia pushing through standing across the gulf not too much right on that but there will be a few showers into that the eastern side of saudi arabia the west the weather will be on the other side of the gulf will see some heavy thunder downpours into a good part of iran further north by the by some showers just around the 6th time pushing out sort of process of what anywhere between the black sea and also into

the caspian sea i mean you can see some showers showers there into to keep us out of that generally try for a time northern part of iraq will see some heavy rain as we go on into thursday thursday much drop picture across the peninsula we're going to see showers there into that set western side of yemen joining up with the showers that we have still in place across the ethiopian highlands somalia some big and thunder downpours here possibility of some flooding actually and wet weather there stretching all the way down into a good parts of kenya will see heavy showers there into the rift valley big downpours certainly a possibility for much of south africa where it is fine and dry there are a few showers around the eastern side of the cape these will drift that way that he sed. for. one half scottish and half lebanese so diversity is really important to me and al-jazeera is the most diverse place i've ever worked we have so many

different nationalities and this is east brought together in this one news organization and this diversity of perspective is reflected in our coverage giving a more accurate representation of the world we report on and that's a key strength of al-jazeera. we. heard a world. welcome back you're watching al-jazeera time to recap our headlines with the pandemic throwing world oil markets into turmoil trump says his government will bail out the u.s. industry told this energy and treasury secretaries to make funds available to ensure

the survival of american oil and gas companies. the international benchmark for oil brant crude is for them by close to $20.00 a barrel its lowest price since 2001 after the price of the u.s. benchmark w $2.00 yard crude from a delivery crashed below 0 and into negative territory on monday. president trump says he will sign an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration into the u.s. because of the pandemic he also tweeted he must protect american jobs. the coronavirus death toll in england and wales could be much higher than government figures indicated the office for national statistics says by april the 10th it had recorded more than 13000 deaths in england and wales that was 41 percent higher than the government's figure of around $9000.00 until that day. joins us now live

from london so how are the discrepancies being explained. well the discrepancies in the row about them has been raging on for over a week now since last week when the office for national statistics came out and showed a 14 percent difference between its figures and the official government figures on the basic explanation is that there are 2 different methodologies going on here the government counts death and infections by looking at the figures that are coming from hospitals and that is patients who have presented at hospitals with coronavirus symptoms and have been tested and proved positive they go into the infections or actually died of their symptoms and they go into the death total the office for national statistics use a different methodology they use death certificates issued by current us issued by doctors actually where coronavirus has been mentioned either the cause of death or a contributory factor and what that does it means that a wider sample is taken not just people in hospitals people people living in the

wider community and crucially people who are living in residential care homes nursing homes many of them vulnerable many of them elderly really a prime target is a prime demographic for this virus causing fatalities among so the criticism has been that the government's reliance on hospital figures has been less than complete and perhaps even misleading in some ways it was mentioned in the daily news briefing at downing street just this afternoon when the deputy chief medical officer jonathon funtime said strictly speaking you're comparing apples with pears nonetheless though you know that there is cause for the government to even up and bring the 2 figures together so that an accurate single figure can be arrived at all right paul ryan there in the u k. covert 19 is expected to cause many more people to go hungry the united nations says the outbreak will push more than a quarter of a 1000000000 people to the brink of starvation unless they get help 55 countries

where there's a food crisis are highly vulnerable to the consequences of the virus in the allen and south sudan more than half of the population face acute food shortages matthew hollingworth is the world food program's country director for south sudan he says the pandemic is disrupting food supplies even in urban areas private 19 is bringing back to south sudan and a new prices the. people who are typically average to make a living on tragedy will employment and who suddenly because of carbon 19 and not able to do their restrictions coming in supply chain restrictions lockdowns or affecting their ability to earn enough money to buy food in the markets the other thing of course is that these people all rely on markets to meet their own needs

and most of that food is coming in typically from outside the country. covered 19 also interrupts their supply chains it right it raises the price of maize is already going up by 40 percent in the last month alone in price and that's a main staple of people or people here in juba so the urban population we're very fearful that the 6 and a half 1000000 people we expect to be able to have to support in the league season in this country are going to have another 1000000 people added to it because of the urban populations accounted for their food or get access to the. at least $100.00 migrants of tested positive for covert $19.00 and $1.00 of the refugee centers in greece they're housed at a hotel in the southern region of peloponnese the facility is run by the international organization for migration after declining for 2 days germany is now reported a slight rise in new infections the new cases pushed the total to around $143000.00

german chancellor angela merkel is urging people to stay disciplined restrictions began slowly easing on monday she says a full shutdown will be inevitable if the number of infections rises again over 4 and a half 1000 germans have died from the corona virus iraq is no longer have to abide by a curfew during the day but will will do during the evening and through the night restaurants are being allowed to deliver food during the month of ramadan which is about to start government restrictions were imposed in the middle of last month 82 iraqis have died and more than $1500.00 reported cases. thousands of iranians have been working as part of volunteer teams to spray down and disinfect city streets to prevent the corona virus from spreading so most of our reports from tehran on the efforts brought people together. it may not look like it but this quiet

suburb is a kind of battlefield and these men and women are locked in combat with an invisible enemy so when the corona virus outbreak began months ago thousands of people like them across iran volunteered to help fight the spread of covert 19 every day since they spend 5 hours spraying down public spaces with industrial sanitizer to kill the carotid virus before it can kill anyone else this is just one of dozens of teens across the city. it's judy is citizens of tehran to to do blood week and would soon or you do we have doctors we have engineers we bankers call all aging good people every day there are more and more volunteers coming to us we would like to have proper equipment posts where we're trying to make as much. as possible the penn debit card world

governments off guard health care providers 1st responders even militaries all stretched thin civilian volunteers have helped to fill the gaps in emergency response. iran has a reasonably robust social services sector but the scale of this outbreak has been so massive that the government has acknowledged going for it and get the work of volunteers has been valuable to helping to fight the spread of this virus nargis spent a month in self quarantine then decided to get more involved before volunteering for a sanitizing team she was making the masks and medical gowns groups like these rely on support from big aid agencies and private donations but nargis worries if the crisis goes on much longer funds will dry up much but amazon and i will post. only preferred to see places remain closed

a new wave of the disease could reappear when streetscape b.c. could be counted and that people are under financial pressure they have to work many a daily brands it's very sad to see so many people only have hand covered 19 has proven itself to be a resurgent and living on in people and on services coming back unexpected right here right now these volunteers are making a stand to stop it spread but they say they know until there is a definitive cure it's a battle they may have to fight on the same streets once again. as in basra the old wrong. there's no vaccine for the coronavirus and scientists say developing one within 12 months would be unprecedented in the meantime research is a look into medicines developed for other ailments or the drugs used in clinical trials or even non drug therapies to find a cure doctors are studying whether transfusions of blood plasma from corona virus

or virus could help infected patients antibody trials are underway in china europe and the united states american scientists are also testing an anti malarial drug as a potential treatment donald trump has praised the benefits of hydroxy chloroquine despite warnings from health experts about its side effects and the anti h.i.v. drug is being tested in more than 20 trials worldwide previous results weren't promising but new darter is expected next month dr miller is an n.h.s. physician in the u.k. and a senior lecturer at the lead school of medicine here just caution over hopes for a quick cure. before any treatment is given the green light to use on people that they supposed to go through large peer reviewed trials and we just haven't had the time to do that with

a new coronavirus and yes there are multiple treatments being suggested 8 but normally yet go through those rigorous trials let's start with the anti malaria drug hydroxy couric legal correctly which don't trump mentioned in the meeting and he only has one drug a hope for the future actually it probably isn't then there is research going on and a chinese trial looking at just a 100 patients suggested it was effective but we haven't seen the wrong data for the trial and it hasn't been looked at by other scientists to show that the trial was done effectively in a controlled environment for it to actually be effective i think it's really important to say that all the drugs and similarily empty hiv drugs that we use that the research is still very muki you know we haven't had any definite answers to say that that they are effective they all work in very different ways they all

have their own side effects but we don't know yet whether they work and they are being used in small numbers but not large enough to say yes they definitely were but the race is on to find an effective treatment one of the treatment options you mentioned was plasma therapy and that city sounds more promising than some of these drugs. and let's take you through some of the headlines here and al-jazeera now with the pandemic throwing world oil markets into turmoil donald trump says his government will bail out the u.s. industry he told his energy and treasury secretaries to make funds available to ensure the survival of american oil and gas companies our white house correspondent kimberly how it has more we do know that in the past there had been this direction

to the energy secretary and also the treasury secretary stupor newsham to essentially make available or allow for oil and gas companies to utilize something known as the carer's act and that is something that was in the 3rd phase of the chrono virus bailouts from congress and essentially what it does is allows for special loans from the federal reserve but again without clarification from the white house which so far it has not provided it's really unclear just how much money is available and which oil and gas companies might receive it. the international benchmark for oil brant crude fell to its lowest price since 2001 just below $20.00 a barrel that's after the price of the u.s. spent schmock the w.t.r. crude from a delivery crushed into negative territory on monday for the 1st time in history investors are worried about a supply of plants and lack of storage the u.s. president says he will sign an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration

into the u.s. because of the pandemic he also tweeted he must protect american jobs. coronavirus death toll in england and wales could be much higher than government figures indicated the office for national statistics says by april the 10th had record of more than $13000.00 deaths in the wilds that's 41 percent higher than the government's figure of around $9000.00 the till that day at least $100.00 migrants have tested positive for covert $19.00 and $1.00 of the refugee centers in greece the facility is run by the international organization for migration iraqis no longer have to abide by a curfew during the day but will do during the evening and through the night restaurants are being allowed to deliver food during the month of ramadan. it's inside story now.

why did u.s. oil prices hit negative territory at unprecedented fall on american crude oil sales has added to the hardships caused by coronavirus so what will that mean for the u.s. and the global economy this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program i'm richelle carey that's one of the world's most valued commodities but the coronavirus lockdowns to overturn the dominance of oil 4th of a barrel of u.s. oil fell to less than nothing on monday.