tv BBC News BBC News March 17, 2020 2:00am-2:31am GMT
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welcome to bbc news, i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: france bans people from leaving their homes unless it's essential, or face punishment. president macron addressed the nation with this solemn message. translation: we are at war. all government and parliamentary action must now be directed towards combating this epidemic. britain's prime minister boris johnson urges the public to stay at home as much as possible, warning the virus is spreading faster in london than anywhere else. us stock markets suffer their biggest one—day percentage fall since 1987, as the trump administration issues new guidance on avoiding public spaces and unnecessary travel. and i'll be speaking to a scientist specialising
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in viral infections and pandemics to find out what response she recommends. hello, welcome to bbc news. governments in europe, the continent now at the heart of the pandemic, have been introducing extra restrictions to fight the coronavirus pandemic. the french president, emmanuel macron, has ordered people to stay at home orface fines. germany is closing non—essential shops, most leisure facilities and suspending religious services. eight european union countries have now re—introduced some form of border controls. rich preston reports. as the number of coronavirus cases in europe continues to rise, france has intensified its response. restaurant, cafe
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‘s and other nonessential businesses have already been closed but that measure has been deemed insufficient. now all movement restricted unless it is absolutely necessary. france has had more than 6500 cases and over 140 deaths. the president says the country is ina president says the country is in a health war. translation: for at least 15 days, our movements will be highly reduced, gatherings and meeting family orfriends reduced, gatherings and meeting family or friends will not be allowed any more. this is about limiting as much as possible any limiting as much as possible a ny co nta ct limiting as much as possible any contact outside of home. across france, people will be able to go out only for essential activities. we are at war, a health war. we are not fighting an army, nor another nation, but the army is here at. invisible and making progress. this way is our general mobilisation. thousands
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of police officers will be deployed to make sure that people abide by the lockdown measured. as of tuesday, france's land borders will be closed. so too will the entire external european union water. no travel into the eu from outside. the german chancellor angela merkel has added to her country's existing measures banning religious services and telling people to cancel any travel plans, both within germany and abroad. translation: we will close bars, clubs, discos, theatres, concert halls and museums. fairs, exhibitions, gambling venues fairs, exhibitions, gambling venues and similar institutions will also be closed. over the border in poland, a ban is already in place on international air and rail travel stopping our internal flights will also be this ended. and in the czech republic, quiet streets in the capital prague after an
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introduction of a nationwide quarantine. in the country's northeast, a rise in coronavirus cases prompted authorities to see a several towns and villages, no—one allowed to enter or leave stopping the country has already closed its international borders, banning all foreign travel stopping so far, the measures here seem to have paid off. the czech republic has had no coronavirus death. the same is far from true elsewhere in europe. the british prime minister borisjohnson has introduced stricter measures, saying that everyone in the uk should avoid non—essential travel and contact with others. more than 1500 people have now tested positive for the virus in the uk. but scientists advising the government estimate the actual number of cases is between 35— and 50,000. here's the prime minister explaining why the new measures are coming in now. we are asking people to do something that is difficult and
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disruptive of their lives. and the right moment, as we have always said, is to do it when it is most effective, when we think it can make the biggest difference to slowing the spread of the disease, reducing the number of victims, reducing the number of fatalities. that announcement marks a significant shift from the british government's position last week. officials are now convinced the uk is on the verge of a major upswing in cases and there are genuine concerns about the impact on the national health service as our medical correspondent fergus walsh explains. these images of makeshift field hospitals in northern italy explain why such drastic measures are being taken in the uk. coronavirus cases have overwhelmed some critical care units in lombardy with over 800 people in intensive care there. that is why a key aim is to slow the spread of coronavirus in the uk.
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it is estimated that with three weeks behind italy if no action is taken, the epidemic here will double every five to six days. the objectives are to suppress the curve in order to keep it below nhs capacity. so that the nhs can cope and to shield the vulnerable and those most likely to be affected severely so that we protect them across this period. the aim is to reduce death and minimise suffering. four out of five people will have a mild illness but a significant minority will need hospital treatment due to breathing problems and pneumonia. one in 20 of those infected may need intensive care. the uk has around 5000 intensive care beds.
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if there is too much demand then patients could die if there are not enough ventilators and it could cause death in patients with other serious conditions. if the nhs was overwhelmed, if intensive care hit capacity and were overwhelmed, then people would die from indirect death because they did not have the ability to get medical care. the government is relying on sophisticated disease outbreak computer modelling to predict how best to control the pandemic. it is thought they could already be up to 50,000 cases of coronavirus in the uk. these measures are going to have a major impact on society. indeed even on health and other places there will be unintended consequences. they will shut down a large chunk of the economy. i think you must be very sure you need them before you reduce them but also you don't want to leave it too late. government policy has shifted
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because new modelling suggested there would be a catastrophic epidemic with up to 250,000 deaths addicted unless attempts were made to suppress the outbreak here. but an effective vaccine could be 12 or 18 months away. in washington president trump said the coronavirus emergency could last until the end of the summer or even longer. the president said over the next 15 days americans should not gather in groups of more than 10 people and should avoid restaurants. the us has so far had 4,600 recorded cases, and at least 80 deaths. mr trump urged all elderly americans to stay at home for their own safety. 0ur north america correspondent nick bryant has the latest. foghorn. we live in a world right now where so much looks familiar, but almost everything feels different, and on the monday morning staten island ferry, these empty rows were a measure of community concern.
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these protective masks a global badge of fear. people are worried, and we don't know what to do, and that makes us worry more. i was just actually thinking this morning about how apocalyptic it felt. i was lying in bed and i was thinking, this is a movie. it can't be real. unbelievable, unbelievable. never seen it like this in life, and i've been living here all my life. incredible. 0n the new york subway system, social distancing would usually be impossible in the middle of the rush—hour. but, this morning, it felt like a ghost train. this city of perpetual motion is shutting down, its bars, its restaurants, its school system. and it is frightening for new yorkers like liz sa nta na. oh, no, it's devastating, what's happening right now. it's a very emotional for a lot of service people, to lose theirjobs. sorry. times square is normally the pulsing heart of manhattan, bumper—to—bumper congested. but just about the only activity was on its dancing big screens, images from a chinese
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news channel, with scenes that are now playing out here. they call times square the ‘crossroads of the world,‘ but nobody wants to meet here anymore. the nation's capital looked like a scene from some dystopian drama. and, at the white house, the physical barriers that protect the president are now being augmented by medical checks on people going inside. and it is notjust the health of the nation that is on donald trump's mind, but the economic fallout after another calamitous day on the markets, which took yet another hit after he had answered this question. is the us economy heading into a recession? well, it may be. we're not thinking in terms of recession. we're thinking in terms of the virus. once we stop it, i think there's a tremendous pent—up demand, both in terms of the stock market and in terms of the economy. and once this goes away, once it goes through,
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and we're done with it, i think you're going to see a tremendous, tremendous surge. us airlines are seeking a $50 billion government bailout, given so much of the world has been immobilised. but one sector of the american economy is experiencing a dramatic spike in sales. the queue here in los angeles was for guns. nick bryant, bbc news, new york. let's get more on that dramatic fall on the us markets, the second biggest drop in history. the us treasury secretary, steve mnuchin, is seeking a large stimulus package to prop up the american economy. samira hussain is in new york. i think the problem is is that investors a re really in uncharted territory. one person i was speaking with on the floor earlier today said, we have never seen anything like this, even compared to 2008, 2009, but at least then there was some idea of where this was going to hit in terms of the economy. but in this particular instance, absolutely every single part of the economy is being impacted, so there
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is no real area for investors to kind of hide or wait until this blows over, and that is the other issue, of course. we heard from the president that this could perhaps go on until at least august, and that also rattled investors because that is a long time to be dealing with that amount of uncertainty. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: life under lockdown in europe's worst—affected country. we speak to italians about dealing with the pain of losing loved ones. today, we have closed the book on apartheid and that chapter. more than 3,000 subway passengers were affected. nausea, bleeding, headaches and a dimming of vision — all of this caused by an apparently organised attack.
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the trophy itself was on the pedestal in the middle of the cabinet here. now, this was an international trophy, and we understand now that the search for it has become an international search. above all, this was a triumph for the christian democrats of the west, offering reunification as quickly as possible, and that's what the voters wanted. this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. the latest headlines: france's president warns anyone who violates a ban
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on non—essential travel will be punished, as the country engages in a "health war". the uk issues new guidelines urging also urging people to stay at home as much as possible, though schools will not be closed. the head of the world health 0rganization has called on governments everywhere to take firmer action. dr tedros adhanom ghebreyesus called on countries to "test, test, test!". but he says he's confident the pandemic is ultimately containable. all countries must take a comprehensive approach. but the most effective way to prevent infections and save lives is breaking the chains of transmission. and to do that you must test and isolate. you cannot fight a fire blindfolded. and we cannot stop this pandemic if we don't know who is infected. we have a
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simple message for all countries: test, test, test. test every suspected case. if they test positive, isolate them and find out who they have beenin them and find out who they have been in close contact with two days before they develop symptoms and test those people, too. joining me now from florida is dr dena grayson, infectious disease expert and viral pandemic doctor. thank you for being with us. lots to get through. shall we start with the vaccine, then, in seattle, in the united states, work on that incredibly quickly, something like 65 days to get that first test going in a human being. how confident, reassured, are a human being. how confident, reassured , are you a human being. how confident, reassured, are you by that? well, i think it's certainly very promising and we have a number of vaccine candidates. but i also want to caution this
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is just the first step in a relatively, unfortunately, long process. so this first test is to determine whether or not this first vaccine candidate is safe stop after that, the goal is to see whether if it is efficacious and able to generate protective antibodies that could protect against a potential infection. having said that, it's certainly a really important first step and all of us are anxiously awaiting and sharing this on. of course. it doesn't matter how quickly it is developed if it isn't effective. that is the big key test. i know in other areas people are thinking about chucking the manufacturing of it alongside the testing and hoping to get some funding. there are different approaches to speed the process along. let's leave vaccines roestbakken and onto the outbreak itself was that we have been hearing lots about
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phase and phase two, what does that mean —— phase one. typically these infections like coronavirus and influenza are seasonal that they are typically in winter. you see this big rise in cases and in the summer months, places that aren't totally clear, we see the number of cases slack off. the expectation is this coronavirus will behave like other coronaviruses. we will see this first rate of infection but than in the summer months in the northern hemisphere we will see a decrease in new infections but u nfortu nately decrease in new infections but unfortunately our summer is the southern hemisphere's wynter, southern hemisphere's wynter, so we expect in the summer —— southern hemisphere that will become the new hot zone. so influenza season, which is
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coronavirus season also, that might boomerang right back to the northern hemisphere with a second wave that is actually larger and unfortunately potentially more deadly. that is quite scary to hear you say that, that this isn't even the worst and the worst is yet to come. what is it about this coronavirus that makes it so effective in spreading? yeah, it's really three things: first of all, it's a respiratory virus that is highly contagious. unlike ebb although where you had to physically touch somebody —— ebola, or get in contact with bodily fluids, this virus can of course be transmitted by a cough. 0fte nti mes transmitted by a cough. 0ftentimes through touch, where somebody who has the virus, such as theirface, somebody who has the virus, such as their face, touches something else and you touch that thing. for example, on a subway train. in addition,
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u nfortu nately, subway train. in addition, unfortunately, this virus can cause serious illness or even death, as we have seen in otherwise healthy individuals. lastly, as we just discussed, there is no vaccine for this coronavirus or at least right now any treatments that are known. but that is certainly an active area of research. and we wish everyone involved in that research well. and you too. thank you very much for talking to us, doctor. that was doctor dena grayson. thanks for having me. now to europe. in europe's worst—affected country, italy, the number of deaths has now passed 2,100 with nearly 28,000 recorded cases in total. but experts say the rate of new infections is falling after some extremely tough restrictions on movement. 0ur correspondent mark lowen has been talking to those who've lost loved ones. 85—year—old giuseppina pa nzetti on holiday in the city of genoa last month, just before
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the coronavirus took hold, killing her within days. we got through to her daughter, miriam, stuck in an area under lockdown, from where she was unable to reach her dying mother. bans on funerals meant a quick burial. 0ne story of more than 2,000 lives taken. translation: what hurts most is that i couldn't be there with her. it makes you feel powerless. it is devastating, surreal. people are falling like flies, here. six people died the same day as my mother. every day, there are four orfive more. in a war, you can see the enemy. with this, you can't. it's worse. italy's only maker of ventilators is now quadrupling production, technicians from the army sent in to help, scrambling to keep italians alive. daniela de rosa is a lucky one. she's pulling through, with a warning.
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translation: today, i got my first negative result so i breathed a slight sigh of relief because i'm winning this battle. if you don't go through this, you will never understand the pain and desperation. but still, not everyone gets it. maybe out of ignorance or fear or thinking they're above it, they ignore the restrictions or the quarantine. but we each have to do ourjob. well, this is the second hospital in rome that, from today, is being used to treat coronavirus patients, increasing the beds in this city dedicated to the outbreak to 1,000 as cases rise here. and this is far from the worst hit part of the country, in the north, where intensive care units are almost at capacity. and in the north, this is the cost. ten pages of obituaries. a month ago, it was one. how fast this silent killer has brought italy to its knees. mark lowen, bbc news, rome.
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the spanish government has announced sweeping measures, allowing it to take over private healthcare. the number of recorded cases there has risen to almost 10,000 and more than 300 people have died. spain has declared a state of emergency, placing the country on partial lockdown. damian grammaticas has more. this is spain on a warfooting, the military mobilised for this fight against the virus. instructing people to go back to their homes. keep apart, police warned people in madrid. day one of a state of emergency. those who don't have masks improvise. you are only meant to get out if you are heading to work or buying food. my my mom sent me some pictures... like these italian students, stuck here in spain indefinitely as all flights to italy have been grounded, but they think the lockdown is justified. do you think this is necessary, all of these measures? absolutely necessary. this is the only way you can
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fight this situation. to stop the virus spreading? to stop the virus, yeah. so this is a european city living under extraordinary measures. the buses run, but they are empty. the prado museum, police scan their mobiles for the latest information. while teams try to disinfect the city. and madrid's main train station is still working, but only for essential journeys. the risk from the virus is all around. irene, a doctor, is trying to get back to her hospital urgently. she was studying in the usa but got a call saying they needed her back here. she arrived from new york this morning. i guess this is an emergency, and anything we can do to help is like what we have to do, so... and this is why — spain's hospitals, a health system under severe stress. there is a desperate
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need to slow the pace at which people are being infected. this hospital on the edge of madrid has set aside more than 100 beds for coronavirus patients in the past few days. they're not overwhelmed, but the problem they have, they say, is that they are already running low on stocks of safety equipment, and that means the medical staff are being put at risk. alex, one of the nurses, tells me that the masks we're carrying are better than those the hospital staff are provided. translation: i think it is necessary that the government takes these measures. we are trying to stop a disease we don't understand. we see what some countries in asia did. we think this is the best thing to do. meanwhile, those forced to stay—at—home are trying to make the most of it. an aerobics session laid on free for everyone stuck in one group of apartments. followed by a game of communal
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flat—bound bingo, keeping spirits up even as the country shuts down. from this evening, spain is closing its borders, only residents and spanish citizens are allowed to enter the country. damian grammaticas, bbc news, madrid. universal pictures has announced it will make its movies available at home on the same day they're released in theatres worldwide. the decision is a response to changing consumer behaviour as the coronavirus spreads. usually, films are seen exclusively in theatres for the first three months after release. the first film universal will make available is trolls world tour, and by friday recently released films including the hunt, the invisible man and emma will be available from a variety of on—demand services. north american movie box office sales have hit their lowest levels in over two decades because of the coronavirus outbreak. that's it. i'll be back in a
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couple of minutes with the headlines. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter, i'm @lvaughanjones. i'm lewis vaughan jones i'm lewis vaughanjones and this is bbc news. bye—bye. hello. the week started on a dry, fine, sunny note for many parts of england and wales. and it really was a sparkler of a day, finishing with glorious colours in the sunset, as captured here across great yarmouth. it wasn't like that everywhere, because for scotland, for northern ireland, after a decent start to monday, so that weather front spread some cloud, some wind, some rain quite widely. now, that front drags its way a little bit further south, but you'll notice there's a kink in it. and that's going to be quite an important kink, because it thickens the cloud after a bright enought start in northern ireland and the rain is soon in here. quite a bit of it, as well. and it spreads across the good part of rain in scotland on into the afternoon, some of it getting across the border. further south, wee bit of brightness. the south—westerly breeze will usher in some really mild airs.
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and if you get a wee bit of sunshine, to the eastern side of the pennines, east anglia, down towards the south—east, 13, 14, 15 could well be yours. a more showery regime across the northern and western isles throughout the course of the day, and indeed on into the evening. once that little wave is away on the weather front, that will allow it to relax its way ever further south. slow progress, it has to be said, because it's running into an area of high pressure across biscay and the near continent. so it's around and about on wednesday across wales, southern counties of england, the midlands and east anglia and lincolnshire. further north, much brighter skies, but that sunshine doing nothing for your temperatures. the last of tuesday's really mild air is trapped there, particularly in the south—east, where again we could peak at around 14 or 15 degrees.
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now, from wednesday on into thursday, that weather front, more a band of cloud rather than anything else at this stage for many southern counties, mayjust have enough about it for there to be a bit of rain down into this far south—western quarter. but wales, north midlands northwards, increasingly sunny as you drift that wee bit further north. but again, there's a chilly feel right across the piece. we are into single figures. a change to the day from thursday to friday, but the overall setup is very little change, other than we might see a bit more activity on that weather front across the southern counties of england, so the chance for some rain here, and a noticeable easterly wind. so that will make it feel fairly cool, to say the least. further north, at least you've got the benefit of the sunshine across the midlands, much of wales, scotland, northern ireland and the north of england. but again, those temperatures are in single figures. the weekend brings us the prospect of mainly dry weather, with some sunshine, feeling chilly, and there'll be some frosty nights, too.
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president emmanuel macron says france is in a state of war against the coronavirus, and has introduced further restrictions to try to curb its spread. he's forbidden people from leaving home, except for essential reasons, from midday on tuesday, orface punishment. the us treasury secretary, steve mnuchin, is seeking a large stimulus package to prop up the american economy after the dowjones suffered its biggest ever one—day points drop. economists now no longer doubt that the global economy is heading into recession. in britain, prime minister boris johnson called on people to stop travel and avoid what he called unnecessary social contact. he said if drastic action was not taken now, cases could double every five or six days. he said people showing any symptoms should self—isolate
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