love. and respect. this is a bit of news live from the land and urgent appeal in the unprecedented fight against the coronavirus german chancellor angela merkel calls for solidarity. the situation is serious take it seriously since germany unification note since the 2nd world war there has been no challenge to our nation listed minded

such a degree of common and united action merkel is calling on everyone in germany to protect the most vulnerable including the elderly also on the program in the us donald trump labels himself a wartime president in the fight against the pandemic he moves to invoke legislation to speed to the production of critical medical equipment and protective gear. and preparations for the olympic games khan to new to the plane leaving japan to pick up the olympic flame from greece but as the coronavirus pandemic spreads a growing number of athletes want the games cancelled. i'm told me a lot of both thanks for joining us german chancellor angela merkel has addressed the nation in a rare televised speech saying the country faces its biggest challenge since the

2nd world war this as the country's top disease control official was that germany could be dealing with 10000000 coronavirus infections in the coming months if its citizens don't adhere to measures outlined by the government. berlin's most famous locations should be bustling with tourists at this time of year but due to covered 19 they currently surrounded by empty streets it's also highly unusual for a german chancellor to make a televised address but i kill americans said these are extraordinary times and she urged all citizens of germany to seriously consider their own obligations to society the situation is serious and take it seriously since germany unification no since the 2nd world war there has been no challenge to our nation that has demanded such a degree of common and united action minds on this as only dollars as 100 and call

were in this league she said germany was in a good position but warned that it could not be complacent for those who do fall al that accident that the that germany has an excellent health system perhaps one of the best in the world we can take some confidence from that but our hospital stay would be completely overstretched if too many patients with a severe corona infection well should be admitted in a short space of time. but it seems like this that the chancellor wants to reduce people and berlin waiting in long queues to be tested for the covered 19 virus and there were reports of people elsewhere in the country lining up for long periods before finally being tested across the country germans are having their nerves tested new border regulations on the polish border causing massive traffic jams as far as the eye can see. in many places authorities have begun extending police patrols to enforce new regulations on which shops are allowed to remain open

cultural establishment schools and nurseries are supposed to be closed along with most known grocery shops. our officers are on patrol all around the clock with 2 groups of $100.00 each in addition we have undercover police officers and their only mission is to enforce the regulations. so far the german government has resisted placing a nationwide curfew such as in spain france and italy but that could soon change. italy has reached a new record in the number of deaths and new infections 475 people have died of corona virus that in the past 24 hours alone death toll now stands at nearly 3000 that's almost as many as in china. pulling out all the stops officials in rome are converting general hospitals to intensive care units for coronavirus patients it's

a race against time and right now italy's losing further north in lombardy the hardest hit area of the country the governor asked retired medical personnel to help in overwhelmed hospitals. geek waste the media i want to appeal to all of these doctors and nurses make yourself available to our system and lend us a hand in these days. so that in my opinion with the availability of these professional health workers we could better meet the challenge. in britain prime minister boris johnson announced that schools would now close at the end of the week in a bid to slow the spread of the pandemic. and us president donald trump said he may invoke wartime powers to order private companies to produce more medical equipment he also announced that naval hospital ships will head to some infections. we're sending. upon request the 2 hospital ships are being prepared right now massive

ships the big white ships with the red cross on the it's one is called the mercy of the other is called the comfort and. in tip top shape if they were to be there getting ready to come up to new york africa has so far experienced far fewer cases than europe but the head of the world health organization said the continent must brace for much worse. we have to prepare for the worst in other countries we have seen how the virus actually accelerates but i often assiduity tipping tipping point so the best advice is to prepare for the worst few new cases have been recorded in china where the outbreak started beijing is now sending me. equipment to friends in italy along with offers to advise other governments coping with the virus. as mentioned in that report donald trump made

a major announcement about what's going to happen in the u.s. a reporter publicly ellis has been following this could you simplify what this defense production act and tails what donald trump is chasing well basically defense production acts permits president trump to essentially order manufacturing industries to produce a in this case medical supplies or medical supplies go to hospital mosques and protective gear for medical workers at to deal with this covert 19 crisis so what this act basically it allows the president to have sort of special powers basically and it was something that dates back to 1950 it's been used before in the united states plenty of times but also what's interesting with president truman perhaps also not very shocking in some ways is that he's tweeted this evening a message which is sort of contradicted what he was saying earlier he said that he only signed the defense production act to come but once again he's used this term

the chinese virus should we need to invoke it in a worst case scenario now of course saying a worst case scenario based on the situation in the united states has perplexed many americans will say and he has also mentioned deploying naval warships to the east and west coast why is that being done well we just heard him actually mention there i mean he went into detail what they looked like which was also quite interesting to hear considering that's probably the least most important information but basically the reason is because you know there is a pretty grave situation particularly in places like new york now we know that the new york governor andrew cuomo as said that the conference is going to be heading to to new york harbor what we don't know is where the other ship is going to go at the moment but also in the united states media is reporting that it could actually be. weeks away from arriving and we also don't know exactly where on the west coast at this ship is going to be based and then there is the economy that's been

a major worry we've seen markets plummet how is trump planning to steady this ship well obviously this is one of the big concerns for president trump you know the economy is one of the areas where president trump has basically based his success as a president and also with his grave situation happening at the moment we're seeing how that's affecting all aspects of the united states economy and there's an aid package at the moment and one is that there is a one trillion dollar plan and that's going to be directly for businesses and individuals the senate has also passed a corona virus bill that's the 2nd one at president will have to sign that also basically expand sick leave and also it provides funding for free testing so basically what we're going to be seeing actually in the next weeks is that there could actually be direct payments being made to americans being sent directly to them and then there's going to be a lot of help for businesses one final and quick note the us canada border has been

closed only basically for non-essential traffic now is the only thing that is permitted to publish illegalised thank you. now we asked some of the w.'s correspondents around the world to give us their assessment of the coronavirus from their locations. i could never have imagined that people who were up would ask me to send them their 10 minute treasures from the area but nothing is no more these days here in west africa a region with peril already facing the forefront sure the security challenges they know watching this believe us people are fighting over oil and paper in parts of the world considered much better off the government has shut down politicians james and from employers across the country and as advice private companies do one law for them chloe's to work from home the streets however bad a business of usual look they push off i'm markets remain open some seats of

employees are back on gathering for more than 50 people do interesting me and deadly the one exception that is being made is through betting since in the soviet union and accidents was usually hushed up people in russia often think the government must be hiding something from them so when it comes to the coronavirus many people here don't trust official reports and the. true extent of the catastrophe can only be guessed at. and sport the international olympic committee like the japanese government has refused to postpone the upcoming summer games in tokyo amid the coronavirus pandemic and it acknowledged that there is no ideal scenario for the games under the current circumstances but the i.o.c. eased insistence on holding the games has sparked criticism both from athletes and from it within its own ranks. the official tokyo games plane about to head to greece to pick up the olympic flame and bring it back to the host country but as

with so much else recently nothing is quite as it seems the coronavirus crisis means that there are nor olympic delegates on board. yet there has been no indication from the you see that the games will be despondent and japan is pressing ahead as planned must have for him or we the new government would like to work closely together with the i.o.c. tokyo 2020 and the tokyo council to prepare for games that will be safe and secure for athletes and spectators. but the i.o.c. stance has come under a welter of criticism both from within and without the organization. canadian i.o.c. member hayley wickenheiser a 4 tame ice hockey gold medalist with canada called it insensitive and irresponsible reigning olympic pool vault champion catarina stephanie of greece

said being asked to train every day meant the i.o.c. was risking athletes' health no not just in 4 months time. in tokyo the countdown clock ticks down the seconds till the games but olympic fever is notably absent in a city that has also fallen victim to the coronavirus but here if we say will hold the olympics with fans in the stadiums then without doubt people from all over the world will travel here that increases the risk of death a virus can be unknowingly reintroduced and that worries me a lot watching. others worry about the impact on japan should the games not take place. on or shortly only the games are one thing. what worries me a lot more. is what it would all mean for the economy. i'm alyse for my business of course. but the whole situation in japan is very worrying

and give us a little scene but. i'm. really practice underway in and to support of the flames arrival whether it will light the olympic cauldron as planned on july 24th depends on the iowa seas ability to weather some of the heaviest criticism it has ever faced. now the president of the international olympic committee thomas bath acknowledges that criticism but he says a conference call with athletes representatives on wednesday was very constructive he asked of the i.o.c. heard of the concerns over athletes health and preparation difficulties as the virus rakes havoc across the globe but we were confronted with many questions concerning the qualification of the restrictions being in place now but we were also very constructive in a way that it was in consideration of the way to tokyo.

there everybody realized that the. it was still more than 4 months to go and we will address the section of the roll keep doing it in a responsible way. this is g w news live from berlin we'll have much more coverage of the coronavirus and demick on our website including information on what to do if you think you've been infected. every journey is full of surprises moved on. to news some tips for you in the footsteps of the great. things your internal sounds the fleet street.

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