this is g w news wire from berlin tonight the pandemic taking alpha games as expected 2021 think games in tokyo are being postponed japan's prime minister shinzo lobby says he and the international olympic committee have agreed to push back against him to 2821 also coming up india's prime minister narendra modi announcing it on president in 3 weeks walk down to slow the spread of code but 19 beginning tonight 1300000000 people will be ordered to stay home and in the us

a dire warning from the governor of the state at the center of the outbreak. we're going to the forecast through says to me we're looking at a freight train coming across the country we're now looking at a bullet through. because the numbers are growing up there were new york governor andrew cuomo sounding the alarm as code 19 cases skyrocket the u.s. is now well on its way to becoming the new global epicenter of the pandemic we'll get the latest from the w.h.o. . i'm brant goff it's good to have you with us it is one of the biggest disruptions so far from the corona virus pandemic today japanese prime minister shinzo abi announce that the summer olympic games in tokyo are being postponed into 2021 japan and the international olympic committee reached the decision after weeks and weeks

of pressure from athletes across the globe. the tokyo olympics are off the decision came suddenly but was not unexpected after weeks of debate and speculation. or talk of the more i suggested to the i.o.c. president thomas spark that the games be perspiring for a year and he was 100 percent in favor of that or you'll forgive me it's a decision that was not taken lightly or willingly but pressure had been mounting from athletes and sports federations. canada had already announced it would not be sending competitors if the games took place. if you got a phone i would use that we have agreed with the i.o.c. that we will stay in close contact to make sure that the elim pick and paralympic games will be able to take place eventually then we can send a message that humanity has overcome coronavirus because of the situation of the

day. this is the 1st time the olympic games have been postponed and it's a mammoth logistical task contracts need to be renegotiated tickets for sold out venues transferred all returned and post-game sales of apartments in the olympic village will have to be put on hold no new date has been set for the tokyo olympics . and for more i'm joined here for example now by my colleague chris harrison from our sports desk me chris the decision really everyone expected it was just a matter of time yes it was a matter of time on sunday the i.o.c. said it would take 4 weeks to decide whether or not to postpone the elim picks well that turned into 48 hours and it all makes sense because you have to look at the teams that already notified the public they would withdraw canada australia even usa track and field on sunday also shared that sentiment and britain i think were expected to follow as well and then when you factor in you know just the idea the athletes and have proper places to train and so forth i do give credit even though

it's a little late to give them credit thomas the president he did come out and say this is pretty much about saving lives you know sport is not the most important thing right now preserving human life is and i think that's a common denominator across the globe right and the reaction from the you have fleets i heard that they're still going to call the games the 2020 olympic games even if they take place in 2021 yeah i think that's a branding issue but in terms of the athletes of course they're heartbroken but related in they understand you know the circumstances canada admission one of the 1st teams to withdraw well a canadian military champion erica. we came out and said we'll be more ready than ever for 2021 and wearing the maple leaf with more pride than i thought possible so it kind of shows that there is going to be anticipation he know any years' time you know in next of this summer because i mean i guess it's good if you are not getting up in age but because if you're younger you've got an extra year to prepare if you're at the let's see if the end of your career checking on another year or 2 it

could be make or break for some have fully qualified is going to be a concern also they don't know of to actually keep those places you know on hold or you know force athletes to qualify once again i've even heard some interested to know about drug cheats their suspensions and so forth maybe those extensions expire they're allowed to compete but nonetheless we have to wait till 2021 to watch it all play out great for us here it is always chris thank you ok now to india the prime minister narendra modi has announced a 3 week lockdown to combat the spread of the corona virus beginning tonight at midnight local time the country's 1300000000 people will be barred from leaving their homes across the country people are scrambling to get home before the measures take effect and the travel restrictions they have hit some of the country's poorest workers hard and to be used as wall reports from the capital delhi. these people are while eating lockdown

deady has closed its borders nor buses trains all flights can leave yet these migrant workers don't want to get home many on just a day do you reach. and with businesses shut they cannot afford life in the city anymore. with public transport reduced the vote has walked many kilometers with his family putting them at risk of exposure he's scared but he says he has no option on those little guy they aren't letting me work that's the problem i have young children they're hungry who do i ask for help we've been struggling for 4 days although the. the delhi government has announced some relief measures for the poor but these workers don't feel reassured or interpret like i couldn't wait to find out if the government will give me money but how am i supposed to eat until then and what if they don't obey from the bus stop the city lies deserted those who

can't afford to are staying home checkpoints like this one have been established across the city the police is ensuring that only those who are entering essential services are allowed to be out the government has also said that violators off the lockdown can face legal action. grocery stores remain open some are only allowing a limited number of shoppers and this one says masks on the says city as a sign that ties in your hands before entering. india has been paralyzed by these measures but health experts are throwing their weight behind the locked down if india can fight this together for 2 weeks we definitely would have prevented that from going up and made it all that we need to do is to prevent that from going that it leaving because if that happens in india the results will be much worse than what happened in. the indian prime minister has appealed to migrant workers to stay

put and avoid infecting their families back home. but for many that trip is far more distant than being kept of the from home during this knockdown. or here's some of the latest developments in the corona virus pandemic italy's toll from the virus has surged again 743 registered new deaths on tuesday broke 2 consecutive days of declines here in germany a new poll shows that 95 percent of people say they support the government's ban on gatherings of more than 2 people and the world health organization is mourning about a big celebration in new infections in the united states it says the u.s. could easily become the new epicenter of the global pandemic. or for more now i'm joined by christiane lynn meier he's a spokesperson with the world health organization he joins me from geneva

switzerland because and it's good to see you the united states so it's cases new cases more than double in the last 24 hours is this the result of of more and better testing or is the situation there really getting out of hand most likely it's a combination of 2 is rise of cases and of course also better test now and this is there is typical for any country in when they start testing more rigorously that data and signed will cases and it ends you have a spike in the number of course the trend now in the next days will show if this trend continues or whether this was a one time spike. over of a new in of the new testing methods and we've got a mixed picture in the united states the u.s. president today saying that restrictions themselves could lead to deaths that we've got many states under lock downs how satisfied are you with the response by u.s.

authorities to this pandemic. in general i think we've seen countries where. mainly the testing the rigorous testing and tracing of contacts has led so that made the results so for example south korea the republic of korea. singapore they both have not done this completely locked out of this major locked out of parts of their lives they have mainly done what we've been saying in the w.h.o. since the beginning test test test try to find every suspect case and test them treat those who need to be treated and signed the contacts of those infected this needs a lot of effort it needs maybe also a lot of. quite some money to put into a lot of resources and it's also vamping up of the resources because not every country has those possibilities right now but the way it's possible should be done

and where it's not possible it should be attempted to achieve because this is the part which gives us the best result and inciting this virus these social measures the political measures of locking down cities or parts of lives and preventing certain parts of life that's an add on that shouldn't be the main measure and that should be an additional measure to fight the virus but it should never be the 1st. are that christiane with the world health organization joining us tonight from geneva switzerland christiane thank you very much thank you. well russia's president vladimir putin has visited a hospital treating coronavirus patients in moscow amid growing concerns over the rising number of infections in the country food and put on protective clothing before meeting with health care workers at the hospital in the russian capital his visit came after the mayor of moscow raised concerns of the outbreak in the city could be far worse than official figures show russia has been ramping up its

response as the virus spreads it already had strict quarantine policies in place for residents returning from coronavirus hotspots the city is also building a hospital especially to deal with the outbreak. what used to be just a field outside the russian capital will soon be the site of a special hospital built to fight the coronavirus construction started just over a week ago. more than 2000 people are working here around the clock it's hoped the project will be completed in a month these piles of dirt are the beginnings of a medical facility that will host around 500 patients half of the beds for intensive care in the neighboring village people are too worried about covert 19 being on their doorstep i'd be afraid it's not a war everything's fine they have to build it somewhere so they're building it here . yeah you buy us i'm not afraid where old we don't get out too much anyway

and disinfect our hands. to hospitals within moscow have been treating coronavirus patients including this one in the south of the city. the capitol currently has the highest number of cases in russia the city of moscow has just told seniors and people at high risk to stay home for several weeks the whole country has been placed on high alert over the coronavirus schools are closed and to mass public events have been banned. the government line including from the president himself is that the situation is under control and the country is taking the right measures just in time. you know slow but in your book luckily the virus has not spread on such a scale as it has in other countries but to me. in other countries there are thousands of cases but if you were to avoid having a situation like there which is not very good we need preventive measures. but with

the number of cases consistently rising every day russians have been stocking up on food buckwheat and national favorite has been widely sold out that maybe q to media reports that or thirty's could soon introduce stricter measures like a lockdown the government has so far denied this. or the corona virus has silenced a voice from the world of jazz music cameroonian jazz giant has died in a paris hospital after contracting 19 he was renowned for his unique blend of jazz funk and traditional west african styles i'll be back at the top of the hour with more world news will leave you now with some of his music. place to play. play.

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