it's a state of the news life from back then president trump announces a major change in u.s. policy on coronavirus to unleash the full power of the federal government is this effort today i am officially declaring a national emergency. because that's what frees up the billions to pay for measures to contain the spread of the virus. also on the program in europe passes a grim milestone as the number of infections soldiers. bureau has now become the epicenter of the pandemic wheeze more reported cases and days is done the

rest of the world combined apart from china head of the w.h.o. was it's now impossible to know when the outbreak will teach us the death toll in hard hit italy jumps shockley. and fogle welcome to the program u.s. president donald trump passed just declared a national emergency in the united states over the spread of coronavirus the movie releases billions of dollars in disaster funding and gives special powers to health authorities to unleash the full power of the federal government that this effort today i am officially declaring a national emergency. 2 very big words the action i am taking will open up access to up to $50000000000.00 of. very importantly

very important. a large amount of money for states and territories a look at how that is in our shared fight against this disease let's get more from d.w. correspondents jeff and siemens in the washington welcome stefan any big surprises in the president's announcements no not really we had expected that he declares a national emergency we also expected that he tries to again clean up a little bit the confusion he left with the address to the nation 48 hours ago and there specifically the travel ban from europe he did so. number one national emergency frees up $50000000000.00 to put into the system to the states to the communities who are fighting the increase in crisis on corona virus in the united states be travel banned u.s. citizens can't travel back to the united states of course but have to agree to a 14 day current teen and that was initially not really clear and it was leading to

a some not so nice scenes that international airports in europe and anywhere else anyhow so that was the president focusing on 3 things national disaster $50000000000.00 fed money into the communities partnership with the tech industry as well as with the pharmaceutical industry of course the private sector it's always important for donald trump and certainly he snuck this little bit in he will purchase a large amounts of oil to stock up the strategic reserves because the oil price is down very much and he likes that ok so the president has previously been criticized for his response to this crisis will today's announcement satisfy the public. i'm not sure about satisfying but it will at least calm some nerves not just on the stock exchange which is rising as he speaks or as he spoke. but also in the general public here because it now shows that the president understands how serious this is

it took him a while i guess to come around i guess everybody would agree that this was reza frustrating for experts for people who work with him for friends and foes across the political spectrum but no i think. it clicked with the president and that explains this measure today declaring of the national disaster a national emergency sorry lawmakers in congress are also working on their own coronavirus measures what are they doing. they are focusing on basically the same thing bringing testing testing testing as fast as possible and as why broadly as possible to the masses in america and that for free the congress decided on. fighting measures basically billions billions of dollars heavy measures to have tests available for everybody for free to take care of people who have to stay home who have now to take care of children because schools and everything else

universities have closed all over the place measures who make it actually the management of this crisis a little bit easier and of course the management for families for people who need help in terms of money because they can't go to work is a terrific stuff and siemens and washington thank you. well that's the politics of the pandemic in the united states let's look at the medical science about what's going on william schaffner is professor of preventative medicine at vanderbilt university in the u.s. city of nashville welcome professor as part of his announcement that the president said that $500000.00 additional coronavirus testing kids will be available early next week $500000.00 is that credible. i don't know if it's credible but it sure would be welcome because we need to do much more testing now it's one thing to have the testing kits it's another thing to have places on the ground where the patients

can be evaluated and the specials attained to send to the laboratory and that's that other part that's still in many parts of the country including in my own community is not working very well yet so if you say this is going to be welcome or obviously what if you made of the way the u.s. or thors is have dealt with this pandemic so far. well we get good starts good reports and things that we obviously could have done better early on we contain the virus very very well the travel ban with china was very helpful in limiting the importation of cases but now that they piracy is out spreading wheat we don't know where it is we don't know how dense the virus is in different parts of this very large country and that's because we haven't tested and so the whole provision of the tests has gone much too slowly i mean why was that is that because they were

unavailable or would would not go thoughts is just not taking it seriously enough. it wasn't so much the local side it was actually at the c.d.c. originally the world health organization had a test developed by german scientists that they now using around the world but the c.d.c. decided to create its own test fine the c.d.c. often does that that took longer then the c.d.c. started testing using its own laboratory but had very narrow criteria for accepting specimens and then of course when it started to send the test kits out to the 50 state laboratories some of them didn't work so they had to be recalled things had to be read geared and now sent out again so that was a very prolonged process with several stumbles in the way and how much is the lack of affordable health care humphrey offense that. i think it adds to the problem in

the field now it is possible to get a free test through the state public health laboratories that you have to have a provider there to actually see the patient get the specimen and send it off to the laboratory and that's where the problem occurs because there are many people in this country who do not have a regular doctor right so what the other lessons that the united states can learn from china or indeed to europe in this fight. well for sure i think we reinforce the notion that travel bans actually may work even though my public health colleagues may look askance at that but nonetheless the widespread testing don't be it's don't be so narrow spread it out be enthusiastic about testing that's a lesson i think that we can learn good talking to you thank you so much for

joining us and professor william schaffner from vanderbilt university in dunk the number of people killed by corona virus now past 5000 governments around the world are moving to halt its spread by shutting schools banning not gatherings and in some cases closing national borders and the world health organization delivered this assessment of the way the pandemic a shifted europe has now become the epicenter of the pun dimmick we reported cases and that is done the rest of the world combined apart from china more cases of now being reported every day than were reported in china highest of its appeal to me. you commission president a sort of underlying has promised to do whatever it takes to help the pla deal with the pandemic she's pledged to help redirect vital medical assistance to hard hit

areas like italy italian health officials say more than 250 people have died from coverage 19 in the last 24 hours the biggest single day jump since the outbreak began. on the front line of europe's coronavirus special italy's health system is under pressure with more than 15000 current cases patients are having to rely on makeshift medical services. and. the main problem is the fears of patients who come to us when they end up in something that's not a traditional hospital building a tent just doesn't give them reassurance. with a huge spike in infections in the last 24 hours spain has europe's 2nd highest rate of the virus the capital madrid has become a garstang. prime minister pedro sanchez declared a 2 week state of emergency a decision that will allow him to mobilize all resources to fight the outbreak

including the military. old restaurants and shops in the capital are being forced to close with only supermarkets and pharmacies to remain open. we made a serious mistake of thinking that italy was far away that this wasn't going to touch us well that's the sort of almost i think over the coming week we're going to see situations that we would have never imagined that we do any seen in films and on t.v. i see. it. in friends new stricter measures that being put in place in a bid to limit person to person contact being in the buses they're going to raise that limit to gatherings of 100 people lady the idea again is to make sure that we can slow down the progression the spread of the virus will just french schools will also be closed from monday. around europe such stress took measures of the

latest tools in the blocks fight to contain the corona virus. authorities here in germany have announced. years of measures to contain the virus and minimize damage from the outbreak including more than half a trillion a euro's in state aid to companies the virus continues to disrupt nearly every aspect of daily life officials have suspended the country's top flight football league and most schools will close next week. starting next week schools and kindergartens and many federal states in germany like here in the varia will remain closed the measure will affect not only millions of school children but their parents as well. you also get a good idea kids can stay at home by themselves but it's harder with the little ones both my husband and i work except just looked us my i'm lucky that my husband can work from home which means i can go to work that's the good thing but of course it's a balancing act it's in the long socket. german chancellor angela merkel says the

country's response to the virus would have far reaching consequences. cycle in showing solidarity by keeping a distance seems to be a paradoxical thing it is however necessary today the infirm the elderly and those with preexisting conditions can be helped marched when social contact is avoided as much as possible that is the kind of solidarity we need in these times. ahead of the robert cock institute for public health pointed out that the speed at which the virus spreads would vary a lot throughout germany he said individual states should make decisions based on regional data think of us rushed on i think the most important thing to understand about this epidemic spreading through the country is that it doesn't just starting one place in advance evenly in one direction but as we know very well from flew over the decades particular regions are more highly affected. by. a computer

simulation created by the robert cock institute shows what to expect comparisons reveal how the rate of infection varies from region to region. the central council of muslims in germany called for friday prayers to be canceled though it's not clear how many mosques compliant. and german rail has issued a statement saying they'll be no alteration. insta travel schedules for the time being. so here's a look at some more of the latest coronavirus developments the chinese city of will hand to ground 0 of this outbreak as reported just 5 new cases while no locally transmitted infections were reported for the rest of the country ukraine will halt all passenger flights early next week and also ban foreigners from entering the country for 2 weeks or the 50000000 people working in the travel and tourism sector could be at risk of losing their jobs as a top pandemic threatens to deal

a major blow to the industry in the u.s. state of louisiana will delay its presidential primary due to fears of the virus making it the 1st state to so to do. chris of cobra has your date of business updates next we'll have more world news at the top of the. there's no. manager to no good today nothing to change you know the bank screen. and so watch the language of a bank running. for speaking the truth for global news that matters g.w. made.