this is bbc news. i'm simon pusey. our top stories: amid warnings that the us could be the next epicentre of the pandemic, president trump says he hopes that it will soon be business as usual. i hope we can do this by easter. i think that would be a great thing for our country, and we're all working very hard to make that a reality. as the death toll in the uk jumps, doctors say that young people are among those who have become seriously unwell. live in wellington, new zealand prime minister is due to hold a press c0 nfe re nce prime minister is due to hold a press conference after declaring a state of emergency. india puts more than a billion people into lockdown as the prime minister says it is essential to prevent the country being set back decades. the tokyo olympic and paralympic games are postponed until 2021.

it's the first time the event has ever been delayed during peacetime. hello, and welcome to bbc news. the world health —— the world health organization has warned that the united states could become the global epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic. there are now over 53,000 confirmed cases in the country and over 600 people with the infection have died. globally there are now over 400,000 known cases of the virus and over 18,000 people have died. the worst hit countries are italy, with over 6000 deaths, china with over 3000 and spain with 2,800. there are now signs of an emerging global response to the pandemic with leaders

from the g20 group of countries agreeing to hold a virtual summit on thursday. new zealand is the latest country to declare a state of emergency. but attention is increasingly focused on the united states — and particularly new york city. the state governor andrew cuomo has pleaded for medical supplies, warning that covid—19 is spreading in his state like "a bullet train". meanwhile, politicians in washington are close to reaching a deal on a rescue plan for america's workers let's go now to washington and new zealand. this is live from wellington where we have the prime minister about to hold a press c0 nfe re nce prime minister about to hold a press conference as you prime minister about to hold a press conference as you can see there. this is her describing there. this is her describing the highest level of alert the country can give. cases they have risen nearly 50% in one day.

...0rtoget or to get some fresh air close to your home then you risk spreading the virus to others and you risk getting it yourself. breaking the rules could kill someone close to you and that is why it is so important. self isolation is oui’ important. self isolation is our best tool to beat the virus but if you do not comply with the rules you run the risk of forcing us to extend the period of lockdown and, worse, you could contribute to the virus defeating our system and causing harm to thousands. i cannot repeat this enough. staying at home will save lives. the government is doing oui’ lives. the government is doing our bit alongside all of you. today, a state of national emergency has been declared across new zealand. through the early and hard measures we have taken at the border using the powers under the hills act, the signing of epidemic notices are

now ina signing of epidemic notices are now in a state of national emergency we have all the legislative means possible, all of the enforcement powers and tools we need at our disposal tools we need at our disposal to combat the spread of covid—i9. in particular, the state of emergency declaration allows civil defence emergency controllers to take the necessary steps, if they need to, to ensure the conversation and supply of food, fuel and other essential supplies, regulate traffic," and public places, evacuate any premises including any public place and, if necessary, to exclude people or vehicles from any premises or vehicles from any premises or place of i also issued an epidemic notice which gives us flexibility to make common sense and pragmatic changes across our crucial governmental services to keep them functioning well during the lockdown in particular,

temporary visas will now be automatically extended until late member. today, parliament will also introduce and pass a covid—i9 response urgent management measures legislation bill. this means various pieces of that make this bill amends pieces of legislation so the government can respond more effect of lead stop the residential tenancy act to freeze rain increases risk amount of time and gives the secretary of education emergency powers to direct education providers to open and close and direct how they operate. the cabinet met today and made further decisions related to our borders. border enforcement will step up once again in line with our expectation that the proportion of new zealanders returning home who will have potentially come in contact with covid—i9 is likely to have increased.

every new zealander coming through borders will be screened. if they are symptomatic they will be tested. and they will be put in an isolation in an improved facility. if they are not symptomatic but they have no plan or ability to self isolate they will also be placed in approved facilities. if they live in a city outside the one in which they landed and have no ability to transport themselves home while maintaining isolation they will also be placed in an approved facility. those who are recent arrivals who do have an appropriate self isolation plan will be checked on by police in the days that follow. if they are not following requirements they will be fined and they will be quarantined. these measures are tough but reflect the higher risk these new

zealanders pose through no fault of their own. i know they will be as keen as we all are to keep other new zealanders save and these are the measures we must take to ensure that. i wa nt to we must take to ensure that. i want to conclude with the discussion on essential services. we need people to stay—at—home so we can beat the virus. this is not an area where we want workarounds. we may need to amend the rules as we go, to make sure that we are doing everything we can to beat the virus and a supporting new zealanders as we do that stop but if in doubt you should be closed. this plan is our best shot at success. we will not get everything right every time and we will make changes if we have to do. but now was not the time to be relaxed orflexible. we do need tough rules to wind the battle ahead. i know how ha rd the battle ahead. i know how hard this will be, especially

for new zealanders who face the first day of lock down unemployed and with an uncertain future. we have sought to put enough financial protections in place to ensure you can get through the next period of time, that is nurse is positioned as best it can be for recovery, that mortgage holders do not lose their house in the next six months and renters do not face rain increases or eviction. i know how hard this will be for new zealanders already living in overcrowded cold and damp accommodation. how hard it will be for our elderly and those who live on their own. it will not be easy. but the alternative is worse. and that was the new zealand prime minister there in wellington talking about the measures that they have put in place. they are going into lockdown as of midnight tonight. they have around at least 205 cases but no deaths. and that is jacinda

ardern updating the country on the latest measures the country is taking. let's go now to our north american correspondent whojoins me now. let's talk about the extraordinary press conference that happened a few hours ago with donald trump dating americans on the systems and measures being put in place there. he is still optimistic about the timescale that this could all be done by. yes. an extraordinary press conference because of the timeline that the president spilt out saying that america could get back to work by easter which is less than three weeks time and that really echoed some of the things he was saying 2a hours ago suggesting to the surprise of many people that more people could actually die if the shutdown of american business continued as opposed to the number of people who could die because of coronavirus. so the president, to the viewing of many people around the country

especially doctors and scientists who on a daily basis are updating every city, he sees this crisis this, this global pandemic through different highs. much focus on new york and the growth of the virus there. what did donald trump say about that in any measures that they were taking to try and quell the growth of the virus in new york? he said that new york is a hotspot for the disease and that is echoed by city officials and state governor. in angry terms and pointing the finger at the state government for the lack of equipment, ventilators in particular. the federal government has also been talking about people leaving new york city. many people have decided to move to other parts of the country, suggesting that they may well already have been infected by the virus and suggesting that anyone

travelling out of new york city should self quarantine for 14 days. can you tell us about the deal in the senate? donald trump thinks it is close to passing. that is what he is saying but at this hour there is still no sign of that happening and senators are becoming increasingly nervous about the amount of time that this is taking. they have been arguing over the detail and the emphasis on corporate america as opposed to how much individuals, the woman on the street may benefit, there has been talk of a $1200 pay—out to those people who are suffering incredible hardship because of the virus. there was an original deadline set of midnight on my day and here we are into the middle of the week now and there is still no sign ofan now and there is still no sign of an agreement although officials are suggesting that it could come in the next few hours. thank you very much for that update. we've seen the dowjones rise in the last 2a hours

in response to political events in the us — the markets in asia are opening for a new day. our business reporter mariko 0i is in singapore. turmoil in recent days and a little bounce back. how have the markets opened this morning? it is looking quite good this morning. let me show you how the nikkei is trading at the moment. hire by 6%. it has been trading for two hours now because investors are hopeful that that stimulus package you and peter were talking about will be approved soon and also investors seem relieved that the olympics were only postponed and not cancelled altogether which could have caused —— cost the japanese government $14 billion. let me show you the hang seng index that has just started trading. it is up by more than 3% at the moment taking their cue from wall street where we saw the dow

jones industrial average and rising some 11%, the biggest one—day gain since 1933 and we also saw all the other major indices ending the day hi as well stop that of course is not to say that market volatility is over that makeover. we still don't know what will happen with the stimulus package in the us which seems to use to chair packages overnight. but it was nice to see some green arrows at least. thank you for that concise update we will be checking back with you later. india — a nation of 1.3 billion people — has gone into a complete lockdown lasting at least three weeks. india has recorded over 500 positive coronavirus cases, and reported ten deaths. 0ur delhi correspondent arunoday mukharji has more with uncertainty looming, india on tuesday prepared for the worst. in cities, hundreds of commuters looked to finish up last—minute errands,

and state borders were sealed. many stranded, struggling to get back home. 0nce bustling cities slowly turning into ghost towns. the police patrolled the streets, ensuring citizens followed orders, threatening action if they didn't comply. but india's measures were only going to get tougher. on tuesday night, india's prime minister ordered citizens to stay at home for the next three weeks. no sooner had he spoken, these were the scenes outside convenience stores. citizens jostled to stock up, preparing for the long haul. as anxiety peaked, the prime minister's office assured citizens that the supply of essential items will not be affected, that food and medicines will be available. this is an important message... in unprecedented circumstances, the uk high commission reached out to its citizens who may be stranded in india.

if you require urgent consular assistance, please contact us on the numbers on screen. in a country of 1.3 billion people, the next three weeks will be crucial and could make or break the country's fight against coronavirus. arunoday mukharji, bbc news, delhi. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the tokyo 0lympic and paralympic games are postponed until 2021 following mounting international pressure. the two main symptoms of coronavirus to look out for are a continuous dry cough and/or a fever. if you're sneezing a lot, got a runny nose or a headache, you may be ill but you've probably not got coronavirus. so, how high a fever is a coronavirus one, and what exactly is

a continuous dry cough? well, it's when you cough and there's no mucus or phlegm — basically no gooey substance in your tissue. and this is not the odd cough here and there, it has to be coughing regularly for no other reason, such as clearing your throat or smoking. so how high a fever is a coronavirus fever? well, if you have one, you will know about it. technically, it's a body temperature of more than 37.8 degrees celsius, or 100 degrees fahrenheit, but if you've not got a thermometer, basically you will feel hot and your chest and back would be hot. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: president trump says he hopes american businesses will be operating as usual by easter, despite a surge in the number of cases. doctors in the uk warn that young people are also being seriously affected by the virus and that the recent surge in cases is

only the beginning. let's get more on how the virus has had a major impact in the us. joining me now is mike saag, professor of medicine and associate dean for global health at university of alabama in birmingham. he is currently in quaratine after contracting coronavirus. thanks a lot for joining thanks a lot forjoining us. you know all about the symptoms and the effects of the virus, of course. it has not been pleasant? it has been pretty all. it started off slow, a little cough and some malaise, but by day four or five it started to accelerate, having fever every night and that has continued for the last snacks ina continued for the last snacks in a row. today is a little bit better, but it doesn't want to let go. does being a physician help you in this circumstance? does it make you less scared than you would otherwise be?m

is pretty horrible, even as a physician. in some ways, knowing what the biology is doing, with chemicals that turn the immune system on, and know exactly what is happening and i also know where that can lead, sometimes to the i see you so that has been a little harrowing, but i think had made it through the worst of it and will probably make it through without a major event. you look pretty alive to me. what was your experience in terms of the authorities? high court it kind of early, about two weeks ago, so our hospital and birmingham has been gearing up but we are just now getting swamped with cases, whereas last friday we only had a couple in the hospital, now we have 56 on the units and 26 in intensive care and that is just in the last six days. it just and that is just in the last six days. itjust doesn't seem to be easing up. i think the take—home point is everything

you heard from new zealand is exactly right. hunkered down at home. stay home. 0nly go out if it is essential. this is very contagious. i did what we were told to do, washing hands and all that, and i stood caught. the criticism a gift is that we have waited a bit too long?” have waited a bit too long?” have friends in italy who said don't wait. it is something that you can't act too soon. is your advice to authorities and states across america to take this a lot more seriously than they currently are? and lou. i've just they currently are? and lou. i'vejust got to they currently are? and lou. i've just got to make a comment, i heard that the president of the us said that we think we will be out of this by easter. i don't know where

he made that information up, because they don't see that the pick that is getting worse and worse over the next four weeks and if we stop doing all of our mitigation, suddenly because it is easter, that is a catastrophe, because if we've got the genie in a bottle, we are going to let it go if we just out having commerce again. is not time. we have to do everything to keep this under control in very aggressive ways. we are at war against the virus and so far the virus is winning. it is good to see that you are doing well and have a full recovery. three young doctors working in the a&e department of a london hospital have issued a stark warning to the uk as the death toll from coronavirus rose by 87 — the biggest daily rise so far. but the doctors warned that they are seeing people in their 20s and 30s who are very sick and they said that the surge of cases

was onlyjust beginning. they urged everyone to take the government's new restrictions very seriously. here's our health editor hugh pym. we are standing at the foot of the mountain, and we are looking up, and we don't know where that summit is. we don't know what we're heading towards. three doctors at a london hospital tell me what they are now seeing daily on the front line. patients in their 20s, patients in their 30s. we don't know what the outcome of some of these patients will be. they will go to intensive care, they may be in intensive care for some weeks, and some of them will die. and it's completely heartbreaking and harrowing. london is ahead of the rest of the uk with the coronavirus. they're warning other areas what might happen. so we have all of these people who are incredibly, critically unwell. and people are dying alone. people have no company, they have no comfort. and that's incredibly difficult for healthcare providers, who are trying to help people recover, or in some cases pass away with dignity and kindness. we are stretched as it is, and that's incredibly hard.

but they're ready for whatever comes next. there's a lot of training that's going on to prepare for this onslaught that we are guaranteed to receive in the next few weeks and months. and i think that there's a positive, a tentative positive, that we are trying to prepare for that as best we can. in a hospital bed in durham, michelle had a plea to the public — be careful, and responsible. i'm begging you. please, please be careful. be responsible. some patients receiving care for different conditions, including cancer, are worried about what will happen as hospitals postpone some treatments to focus on coronavirus cases. a bowel cancer surgeon told me some procedures were having to be rescheduled. it's quite terrifying to them. these are patients who were expecting to have surgery done, and now they're facing uncertain dates, they're facing hospitals that are going to be

full of patients with covid. and we're doing our best to deal with both the psychology of the situation, but also get them to timely care. 0ne hospital trust has postponed chemotherapy treatment, along with other outpatient appointments, for two weeks, while they prepare their wards and staff for an influx of coronavirus patients. every hospital is preparing, and the government announced there will be a temporary new one here, at the excel conference centre in london's docklands, with room for 4,000 patients. more will be created at other locations. the planning is on a big scale, but the nhs will need every bed it canfind. hugh pym, bbc news. the international olympic committee has announced that the tokyo games, which were due to begin injuly, are to be postponed by a year because of the pandemic. it is the first time the games have ever been postponed in peacetime and comes after mounting international pressure for them to be delayed. 0ur sports editor dan roan has more.

four years after the baton was passed to tokyo, the flame arrived in japan this week. with world sport shut down, the biggest event of all had clung on, but today finally came confirmation — the games could not go on. translation: cancelling the games is not an option, so there was an agreement about that. what is most important is to provide a safe and secure environment for athletes and spectators. with that in mind, and in light of the continuing global situation, the holding of the games injuly as planned is impossible. organisers want a month to consider delaying an event that's cost japan at least £10 billion, but with the pandemic playing havoc with qualifying events, canada withdrew amid mounting pressure for a postponement. the head of the british olympic association told me the right decision had been reached. i feel relieved because we were getting more and more feedback from athletes and from sports saying, "it has to be postponed this year." the one decision we have to make as soon as possible is we postpone it in 2020 and put it back to 2021, so my sense is relief.

but two weeks ago i was in japan, i was involved with detailed planning ahead ofjuly, 2020, so a lot has happened in two weeks. i do feel a lot of empathy and sympathy for the japanese at the moment. once athletes‘ training facilities, like british cycling's national veledrome, were shut down all across the world, tokyo 2020 effectively became untenable. but organisers now face an unprecedented challenge to rearrange a hugely complicated mega event, with questions over additional costs, commercial contracts, the availability of venues and the impact on the sporting calendar. from the threat of terrorism and boycotts to the zika virus at the last rio games, the olympics has been no stranger to crises, but in peacetime, not until now have they been delayed. the flame will stay injapan, the hope that it can act as a beacon of light, but when precisely the 2021 games will begin remains uncertain. dan roan, bbc news.

that's just about it from me for now. you can reach me on twitter, i'm @sipusey. but for now, thanks for watching. do stay tuned. hello. tuesday brought us the warmest day of the year so far. the warmest place was rhyl in north wales, where the temperature nudged just a shade above 19 degrees celsius. i think we'll see quite a bit of warm weather across particularly the southern half of the uk again today. high pressure is to thank, and it's feeding air into the uk all the way from the core of europe. towards the north—west, though, we do have a weather front in play that's bringing more cloud. there'll ne further outbreaks of rain today as well for northern ireland and scotland, but with shelter from the mountains and hills, to the south—east of northern ireland, across eastern scotland, hopefully we will see a little sunshine as the day wears on. whereas the cloud could drift

a bit further south, turning the sunshine a little hazy in northern england and western wales, with the odd spot of drizzle. where we have the best of the sunshine will have the highest temperatures, so across a central slice of uk, highs of 15 or 16 degrees. through wednesday evening and overnight into thursday, it almost looks like it's not moving, doesn't it, this weather front, but it's slowly sliding south. by the end of the night, i think clearer skies for the north—west of scotland, so the risk of a patchy frost here. to the south of the front, though, with clear skies and light winds to take us into thursday morning, i think we're going to see a frost across mainly parts of southern england, particularly towards the south—east and other parts of wales too. here's thursday, and there's our front still sitting in place straddling, scotland and northern ireland. perhaps a little less in the way of rain on the length of that front. it's looking much brighter by this stage in northern scotland, with the cloud trickling down into northern england. starting to become just a shade cooler on thursday. our top temperatures — 13 or 14 degrees.

by friday, it's a bit of a case of spot the difference. there's less rain in association with our front, but again it's barely moved, so for northern scotland, more sunshine, and to the south of the uk, looking pretty bright as well. but notice again the temperatures starting to slide somewhat. what we have is a play—off between two areas of high pressure — the continental one that's brought the milder air, and one coming in off the atlantic that will start to win out over the weekend, and as it does so, it starts to introduce a northerly or north—easterly air flow. so, we will still have a lot of settled weather, a lot of fine weather, but come the weekend, it is going to feel considerably colder, and there is some sign that on sunday, there could quite a few wintry showers feeding into easterly extremes of the uk. here's your five—day outlook — a lot of fair weather to come, but you can see that drop in temperatures.

this is bbc news, the headlines: president trump says he hopes american businesses will be back up and running by easter, despite a surge in the number of cases. that's as the world health organization warned that the united states could become the next epicenter of the pandemic. doctors have told the bbc that the recent surge in cases is only the beginning and that there are a number of young people among the most serious cases. the number of deaths in the uk has risen to more than 400. a three—week lockdown has come into force in india, the world's second most populous country. the prime minister says it is essential to prevent the country being set back decades economically and that it's the responsibility of every individual to ensure that doesn't happen. sport may have come to a halt

because of coronavirus,