this is the business briefing. i'm susannah streeter. after black thursday — friday the 13th. investors brace for more chaos after the worst day on the markets since 1987. plus — travel bans, cancellations and staff lay offs. how the pandemic is bringing the tourism industry to its knees. and let's just show you those markets. the global collapse continues in asia — after us shares slumped 10% on thursday. japan's nikkei currently down around 6%.

we start on the markets — where investors reeling from black thursday are now braced to see what friday 13th will bring. stock markets in the us and europe had their worst day since 1987 — on fear the coronavirus pandemic will cause a global recession. us shares lost around 10% despite a massive intervention by the federal reserve. and the selling is continuing in asia — we'll bring you the latest in a moment — but first this report from samira hussain in new york. for the second time this week, trading in the us was halted following a 7%, a threshold that automatically triggers a temporary stop to trading. the safety measure was put in place

in 1987 safety measure was put in place in1987 and safety measure was put in place in 1987 and has not been used since 1997. and this week it was used twice. markets are tanking. wall street is spooked and investors are desperate for direction from the trump administration. the market is getting very unsatisfied with any news and headlines that we are seeing full up i think the market expects the government to step in and expects the fed to step in and expects the fed to make a statement, expects the president to make a statement and until the market it is that we will continue to see this pricing. this stream strain is not being felt in the stock market. down the road from the exchange, at the new york fed, traders for the central bank waded into the market in us government debt, increasing their planned purchase of government ponds by $1.5 trillion. briefly, that looked like it might come some investor nerves. but what financial markets are really looking for is dramatic action from financial markets are really looking for is dramatic action from congress financial markets are really looking for is dramatic action from congress and

financial markets are really looking for is dramatic action from congress and the financial markets are really looking for is dramatic action from congress and the white house to try and soften the blow of the coronavirus having on the heart of the us economy. but, for now, there is little sign of that happening. mariko oi is in singapore. any sign that investors nerves are being eased 7 any sign that investors nerves are being eased? well, i have to say that some of the markets here in asia have been managing to narrow their losses. i would not dare try to guess what is causing that at this very volatile market but i think it may be safe to assume that there is a bit of bargain—hunting going on. you spoke about the japanese nikkei, down at one point by 10% but now it is starting to narrow its losses in the final hour of trading. we also saw australia's market managing to turn back into the positive territory. it is also important to point out that the chinese market, the mainland chinese

markets, they have been doing 0k despite volatility. but if you look at some of the airline shares, they have been hit hard in the us and also here in asia after president trump ‘s announcement that travel restrictions and travel bans from much of the us. we have been talking to analysts today about how we are comparing it to the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 but he pointed out that back then there was no virus outbreak were no travel restrictions or no travel bans, no school closures, no themepark closures and with all those economic body suspended we are now seeing a those economic body suspended we are now seeing a real possibility of the world falling into a global recession. thank you very much for that update. let's stay with the economic impact of the pandemic — because shares of companies in the travel industry have been among the hardest hit. the latest blow of course has been president trump's ban on travel

between the us and 26 european countries. that comes in at midnight tonight eastern us time. but it's not the only sweeping travel ban in place. india has suspended almost all visas for a month. and travel companies are being forced to scale back or even halt their operations. princess cruises — whose ships were quarantined off california and japan in recent weeks — is shutting down for two months, affecting all of its 18 vessels. and airlines are cancelling hundreds of flights and laying off staff as passenger demand slumps. most people would say this is the most significant impact we have seen since 9/11. passenger numbers and passenger forward bookings are all down across the uk and that is having a bad knock on impact on airports. so we see the traffic numbers down by between 25%, 50% and upwards depending on which airport you are. david tarsh is from

forward keys — a travel data company. the impact is absolutely huge, not least from the spread of the coronavirus around the world but, now, this travel ban from the united states. what impact will that alone have on the travel industry. well, in a word, catastrophic. what we see from donald trump ‘s dilarang is that there are over 6700 flights cancelled. if you count the basic 2 million seats taken straight out of the market. so all the measures that we heard about from governments, they really not scratch the surface in terms of fit sing the economic damage going on at the moment to some of the countries. we have seen share prices of many travel firms

fall dramatically at some just in line with the general stock market falls. do you think this will mean we can expect falls for the airlines? it is possible. i am not speaking as a stock market analyst, much more we are looking at booking data and what we are seeing in flight data and what we are seeing in flight booking data is absolutely unprecedented. for example, the first week of march we had a look at what was happening in terms of outbound bookings from the united states to the rest of the world and what we saw was that there were more cancellations than you bookings and that is extraordinary. we had a look at inbound flight bookings to europe and we saw in the last week of february that there we re week of february that there were more cancellations than you bookings to italy and we saw that bookings to europe we re saw that bookings to europe were 79% down against the equivalent week last year.

that's unprecedented levels of colla pse that's unprecedented levels of collapse on a large—scale. that's unprecedented levels of collapse on a large-scale. and the hope of course is that those bookings will be shifted until later in the year or early next year but there is no guarantee of that. you are absolutely right. and what we have seen other travel crises, actually, is that people really wa nt to actually, is that people really want to travel and often when there is some kind of difficulty in one part of the world they do not stop travelling they just world they do not stop travelling theyjust go somewhere else. we saw a fascinating thing happen in the united states around the middle of last year where there were rumours of things going wrong because of unexplained deaths in the dominican republic and when we track what was happening in the us market, bookings for the dominican republic collapsed about for other caribbean islands, they rocketed. absolutely, people choosing to go on alternative holidays but not any time soon. thank you for talking to us about the severe impact on the

travel industry. let's stay with the pandemic impact on the travel industry. many destinations have come to rely on visitors from china — and few more than thailand. more than ten million chinese come to thailand every year, many of them heading to the beaches of southern islands like phuket. the bbc‘sjonathan head has been finding out how phuket is coping without them. the famed beaches are still the same, but one factor behind phuket‘s roaring success is missing — the chinese. 2 million used to visit this tropical island every year. today, you hardly see them at all. this lady used to sell 100 coconuts a day. let's stay with the pandemic impact on the travel industry. this lady used to sell 100 coconuts a day. the chinese were big spenders, she says. these days, she is lucky to sell 20. we have many flights from china to phuket. they stopped.

we would have about 8,000—10,000 tourists a day. but today, we have maybe about 600—800 tourists. nattakit lorwitworrawat has been running boat tours from phuket for years. most of his passengers were chinese tourists, so he has had to take 20 of his 30 boats out of the water. if it doesn't get better by the end of this year, he said, we will have to downsize the company and start laying off employees. so just how much do you have to pay out every month for your business? it is even tougher for those lower down the food chain, like somkiat prasarn. he has payments on his house and two cars of around $1500 a month. for him, even six months is too long.

you can't survive that long. nothing. yes, we have nothing. tourism in this country has been amazingly resilient. it has survived global recessions, a tsunami, military coups, and even other virus scares. but the problem with this one is no—one yet has any idea how long it is going to last, nor how serious it is going to be. tourism accounts for around one fifth of economic output in this country, and the rest of the economy is not doing well. thailand can ill afford a crisis here, yet there is little it can do against a virus whose full impact is still impossible to gauge. jonathan head, bbc news, phuket. up next — newsbriefing.

here in the uk, people with a persistant cough or high temperature are being told to self—isolate for seven days. it's part of new measures unveiled by the prime minister to help tackle the spread of coronavirus. andy moore reports. the arsenal manager, the latest high—profile person to test positive for coronavirus. the entire first team squad is now in self isolation. in the same is true for their london rivals chelsea after the news was revealed overnight that one of their players, had tested positive. at downing street, the prime minister announced the prime minister announced the country was moving from containment to the delay phase of the disease and gave a

sombre warning. i must level with you and level with the british public. more families, many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time. there was also specific advice. anyone who showed symptoms, and new continuous cough or a high temperature, must stay at home for at least seven days. in the near future, all elderly and vulnerable people will be advised to stay—at—home regardless of whether they show any symptoms. no school closures and no ban on large gatherings outside scotland. that will be kept under review. on the question of large gathering, scotland is taking a different view full of the first minister, nicola sturgeon says meetings of more than 500 people should be cancelled for next week to reduce the burden on emergency services. uk is to be four

weeks behind italy on the progress of the virus. but there is also some good news. the death toll continues to rise but in the ten towns at the heart of the out back there have been no new infections. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: stock markets are again recording huge losses in response to the coronavirus pandemic. at one point, the nikkei index injapan was down by 10%. all major sport has now been suspended across the us and broadway performances are off for a month. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the daily telegraph and boris johnson's warning that many more families

will "lose loved ones". the paper describes the next steps as detailed by the pm as a "nuanced reponse". however, the guardian says medical, scientific and public health experts have criticised the uk's approach. the papers says the measures put england at odds with neighbouring countries. the financial times leads with trauma on the global markets, the worst day for the ftse100 since black monday in 1987. the japan times carries a warning that specialist ecmo machines that are needed to help severe cases of coronavirus are in very short supply and most are already being used for patients with other serious heart and lung issues. bloomberg are reporting that italy's school shutdown is driving a surge in internet traffic as students turn to online video games to stave off boredom. and seeing as social distancing is becoming the new norm — harvard business review carries