this is d.w. news live from berlin northern italy grinds to a standstill as a quarantine on 16000000 people takes effect prime minister just at the conti ordered the lockdown to contain a rapidly expanding corona virus outbreak the decree imposes travel and other restrictions and italy's wealthiest and most populous region also coming up women fighting for equality in pakistan international women's day takes us to a sports club in karate that's helping women break out of traditional roles.

i'm married to evanston it's good to have you with us. thea talian government has put about one quarter of its population under quarantine in a bid to stop a rapidly expanding outbreak of the coronavirus prime minister just at the qantas signed a decree after midnight which now the long down affects the region of lombardy and other northern provinces and includes venice and italy's financial capital milan italy is the country with the most corona virus infections in europe the government's most recent figures show some 5883 confirmed cases

and 233 people have died from the infection now the lock down is the most drastic measure yet taken in a european country to try to contain the outbreak. deserted train stations and empty roads northern italian cities now placed under quarantine wake up to the effects of the new decree overnight a very different scene news of the imminent lockdown set off a rush to beat the clock in milan and in other areas affected by the lockdown people raced to train stations trying to get out before it's too late. for that because i read 2 hours ago that they may be putting out an urgent decree putting in the red zone and because i'd like to return down south to my relatives i decided to go earlier. lumber d. is italy's most populous region with 10000000 inhabitants its capital milan is italy's financial heart it attracts professionals and students from around the

world and from all parts of italy this is where the corona virus has hit the hardest leaving hospitals unable to cope with a growing number of cases italian authorities say the drastic measures to curb the outbreak could not wait any longer. and for the other northern regions that i have listed. there will be a ban for everybody to move in or out of these territories and also within the same territory. when the exceptions will be allowed only for proven professional needs special cases and for health issues. has the regions affected prepared to implement the decree norden italians get ready to see their lifestyle change drastically at least for

a few weeks those who do not respect the measures could face jail tons and fines. businesses are also growing more and more concerned among others the virus is already taking a toll on italy stories insecta easter one of the peak times is about a month away and reports are that as many as 90 percent of visitors have canceled their trips and joining us from rome is only a quarter palace she is an m.p. and member of italy's co ruling democratic party thank you so much for being on our program now we understand that in fact you yourself come from lombardy which is one of the regions on lockdown what have you been hearing about the situation on the ground from people you know well i do it appears and the city of milan in parliament but i decided to stay in rome on thursday in order not to spread

the violence around i'm hearing from from my city from my region a lot of concern but i'm not understanding that we need to further you match our not might have needs in order for that disease not to spread too rapidly and too much a lot of people that are just sticking to the new who have been the clarity last night by our prime minister of course it is a huge change of behavior and. as you as you suggest as you made us hurried as suggested people can only move each day that really needs to go and work i did why is all of us should stay at home. and so it is a big. well these latest quarantine measures these very strict measures are centering across northern italy not just in the bardi and northern italy is of

course a very wealthy region and it powers the country's entire economy how bad are you expecting the economic impact to be on this new situation while the measures concern overall maggie and 14 added provinces not ordered all of northern and we only i don't wear all destructive these measures we. mean the keys in good always that and a possible session but we are all aware of the fact that the 1st way to decrease and that he scs of economic downturn is to start spreading the disease so the 1st measure the 1st good economic measure that we can take is to stay home and and stop the disease from from from spreading around. is there a concern that some people are going to resist these strict measures and say no i

have to go to work i have to travel want are authorities doing to enforce of this lockdown. well there are some enforcement measures that we are also trying to stimulate. could response from all of us each one of the have somebody at the risk which means somebody who is over 65 years old or somebody that is has specific diseases so every seat is and knows that he is or her behavior might affect somebody that is close in their home and i think this will. help everybody to take the necessary measures the necessary precautions. because we all know that we can be affected a net into people that are closer to us i think this is stimulation we are

much more than that then means well there are fears that hospitals in the red zone are already on the verge of collapse is this true just how bad is the situation in the health care system. well as i now know. hospital system is coping even if we have especially in lombardi and more than 2000 people that are affected and hundreds of people that are hospitalized of course as you know these kind of disease it requires a certain percentage of people to go into intensive care and so intensive units at especially under stress but the government has just decided and decided on friday to quote one extra 1000000000 euros. in medical facilities in order to employ 20000 people in the head sector and he is increasing by

50 percent the number of places in intensive care units i did he just decided to head back these so this situation of course. is complex and he is. it is just to me is burdened but it's not overburden it's not on the verge of collapse we just need to adjust to uprisings that is coming and they can seek out well what about assistance from italy as european neighbor is what are your expectations from europe. when we did the government has written to the commission on thursday asking is saying announcing. and necessary and i'm going to should enter the economic measures in order for it to cope with an investment in held on the one hand and we have extraordinary

measures to protect our citizens from the worst effects of the crisis the commission responded swiftly saying that all these measures would be outside of the maastricht and so it really it was a response that we expected and a very good response and we would like to see more quote of the mission at the you have p.l.f. and for what concerns the head sectors it's that all right liane quite a pella and p. and member of italy is cool ruling democratic party thank you so very much for talking to w. thank you. well worldwide of the number of new coronavirus cases has surged above 107000 here in germany health minister says more public events should be cancelled meanwhile saudi arabia has announced a temporary lockdown of the qatif region the number of cases in iran has risen to

6566 with the death toll reaching 194 and the virus has now taken hold in latin america with costa rica confirming its 1st cases. let's turn our attention now to some of the other stories making news around the world in the chinese city of gone joe at least 10 people have died in the collapse of a hotel used for the quarantine of coronavirus patients more than 20 are still missing authorities said that emergency services have rescued about half of the 70 people who were trapped inside the building. on the land border with turkey thousands of migrants have been trying to rank through to the greek side migrants became stranded in the border area after turkey said it would no longer prevent them from leaving its territory and heading to the e.u. greek police have stopped them from entering greek territory. demonstrators have

been staging protests in attending events around the world to highlight gender issues thousands of women gathered in peru's capital to protest violence against women while in the philippines women marched to demand better pay and a higher minimum wage. well today is international women's day and to market we're highlighting inspiring stories about women from across the world our next report takes us to pakistan conservative groups there believe women should be kept veiled and in their homes but younger generations are challenging these attitudes and creating space for girls to thrive. have a look. a brave act in an ultra conservative society here in the neighborhood of karate females aren't supposed to do such things going out in public is considered taboo cycling brings mobility and independence to women and girls and is often met

with hostility. when we started to learn to cycle we face lots of problems we had to listen to ugly comments people even threw stones a toss but gradually we've become more confident and moved forward now people consider us as cyclists and it's become more normal there are still some people out there who create trouble for us we just ignore them. they seem to build them so boss that there are lots of problems as some people are religious extremists and illiterate so they aren't aware that girls should do sports as they have the same rights as men they don't know what female empowerment is. but. the girl cycling group is part of the girls café a space that offers training and support to women of all ages. yeah the men here miss environment is good especially for girls because there are

many who can't afford education they come there far away from their homes to be educated so they come here and learn fighting for equality women and girls in pakistan are carving out space for themselves in a society designed to keep them invisible. well teams of dogs and mushers have made the ceremonial start to the 1500 kilometer iditarod trail sled dog race in alaska the race commemorates a rescue mission dating back almost 100 years that sent life saving medicine by dog sled relay to the coastal town of gnome among this year's field are mushers from norway italy canada and denmark the dog teams are expected to arrive in nome in about 9 days. a quick reminder now of our top story. italy has ordered one quarter of its population into lockdown in an attempt to contain its rapidly expanding outbreak of a new coronavirus the quarantine affects much of northern italy and includes the

cities of milan and venice cinemas theaters and museums missions wide are closed. you're up to date now on news american and steam from me and the entire team here in berlin thanks for the company. is the human race to destroy so. you're running the basic school systems.