berlin. fears that coronavirus spark a stock selloff, markets p plunges covid-19 sweeps the globe. trading was halted on wall street after stocks dropped 9%. coming up, donald trump announces a 30-day ban, blaming the european union for an

increase of coronavirus cases in the united states.s. in europe, italy, doctors and hospital struggle to deal with the spiraling number of patients. we will find out how the italian health care system is coping. the olympic torch is lit in greece, but will it ever make it to tokyo? the covid-19 pandemic is fueling concerns the olympics in japan could be delayed or canceled. ♪ brent: i am brent goff. welcome. fears hammered markets again today. shares on wall street plunged, triggering a stop in trading for the second time this week. the dow jones industrial average was down almost 9% shortly after

the start of trading. the selloff comes amid uncertainty to contain the economic damage of the covid-19 pandemic. it follows the announcement of a u.s. travel ban on flights from europe and mirrors tough trading sessions in asia and europe, where investors had signaled satisfaction with stimulus measures so far -- dissatisfaction with stimulus measures so far. the european union has criticized the decision to ban all travel from your the united states. the 30-day ban affects countries inside the shed travel area and excludes the u.k. and ireland. -- schengen travel area and excludes the u.k. and ireland. president trump is accusing the eu of failing to act quick be enough to prevent the coronavirus.

>> until now, the u.s. president downplayed the coronavirus, but in a sudden escalation, donald trump has announced new drastic measures. >> to keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from europe to the united states for the next 30 days. the new rules will go into effect friday at midnight. >> in his address, trump call the disease a foreign virus, claiming the cases reaching the u.s. were seated by european travelers. the eu has lashed out at the decision to but says i it is not taking any action in response. >> the e european union isn't in the habit o o shoototing from te hip, as yoyou know.w. we believe that good policy mamaking requires r reflection. it requires totall court nation,

and therefore, we are going too analyze, obviously, the consequences this travel ban has and reflect on what the possible next steps need to be. >> as well as making political waves, the travel ban is a huge blow to holiday makers in europe and airlines operating routes across the atlantic. it is ththrough european airpors -- threw european airports into chaos. >> it is being handled in such a shotgun fashion that nobody knows what is going on, and one thing changes from minute to minute. >> we got here two days ago and spoke with one of the agents down stairs she said there would be no more flights after tomorrow, so we are trying to get back home to san diego. >> we were flying on sas and

what not sure if we could bacack in. i spent $3000 for another flight. >> as more and more countries tightened restrictions and close borders, people are thinking twice about whether to travelelt all in these uncertain times. brent: to unpack all this, our correspondent is on the story in washington. good evening to you. i guess the u.s. president was trying to reassure a worried nation. he didn't do a good job, did he? just look at the stock markets. it is the latest there? >> a failure. no, he did not do a good job at all. the commonsense and unifying judgment is that was a debacle what the president delivered last night, his address to the nation. nobody had this band of flights

or travel from europe seen coming. that was not in the books, and you could almost hear collective jaw dropping when it happened in washington, so across the border and across the political spectrum, people were shaking their heads, but now the bigger issue right now is tests, tests, tests, because the united states is measurably prepared for what is coming our way in terms of coronavirus, with or without a travel ban from europe. brent: has the president said anything or shed any more light on why he made this sudden decision to ban flights from continental europe? >> in his view, europe is the new china, and he had to do it he said because european travelers were the initiators of

clusters of concentrated coronavirus infections and clusters here in the united states, and that is why he had to step on the brakes they. that is what he said. now, nobody really believes that, because, again, there is no telling how many coronavirus cases the united states already has because we don't have enough tests, and that is what the political position hones in on, criticizing the administration for being totally unprepared and having no plan. brent: having no plan, the trump administration under fire for how it has handled the outbreak so far. what other steps is the government taking to stop the spread of the virus other than this travel ban? >> good question. the president promised one million tests were available last week. that the nation of 320 million

people. now it is supposed to be four million by the end of the week. nobody has seen authorities and agencies testing people either, so that is murky, what is the plan. joe biden, the democratic contender for the presidency, gave a speech today, and of course he use the opportunity to basically perform a job interview for the position in the white house coming in november, a presidential election. he ripped into the president and the administration as exactly having no plan in delivering basisically nothing, and what ty have, too late. brent: on the story for us in washington, sobering news today. thank you. italy has further tighten restrictions to halt the

pandemic after extending a northern travelthey hope this wn the disease and alleviate the pressure on hospitals. the health system in the countries north is struggling. >> hospital beds in intensive care units are at full capaciti, staffs working around the c clo, especially in lombardi.. >> thankfufully none of our doctors or nurses and corn tea. they are working 12 hours a day to take care of our patients. -- in quarantine. they are working 12 hours a day to take care of our patients. >> they had issued an urgent warning to the government. >> i don't think we have these structures, medical equipment, dock errors, nurses to cope with such a large number of sick people.

>> the toll on the economy is also growing. all shops have been ordered to close, with the exception of grocery stores and pharmacies. >> at the economic level, this is dramatic for us, but we will make the necessary sacrifices. >> the government has responded with an emergency aid package to support health and businesses. >> we have decided to allocate an additional 25 billion year old's to help the country cope with the difficulties of this ongoing emergency. >> it is money the government can hardly afford. brent: for more now, i'm joined by a virologist in england. it is good to see you again. how are would you say is europe

from a scenario like when one we are seeing in china, where they are now reporting a significant decrease in the number of new cases? >> that i is a good questioion. it i is importatant to understad what is forthcoming. if you take the number of cases per day and per country and plot it into a diagram, you will see the trajectory is similar in a l the euroropean countries.. germrmany, france, italyly arere following the same route as italy has followed, so looking into the trend of the spread, it seems like everyry country, especially bordering italy, that we will be heading towardsds the same situation if drastic measures are not put in place at the appropriate time. brent: that sounds reassuring,

but the current shutdowns are only planned for days or two weeks or such. how effective are those measures going to be. are they long enough to ensure we have this development that we have seen in china. >> there will definitely be social disruption in these measasures are put i in place bd on the foreseeable future. it would certainly be wise as the time comes and we get closer, because this is difficult to anticipate a month ahead, so the strategy has been to think about a fortnight and see how things work. if it works, they carry on. if it doesn't, they move to the next stage of the contingency

plan, and that is how they will contain it. brent: is that the strategy you would advise, to look at things two weeks in the future come in fufurther than two weeks is ris? >> based on scientific evidence, this is not the right choice. we have tackled such contagion into the past. those were successful based on long-term strategies. the fortnite perspective will be damaging because the foreseeable impact will be ignored. it is an unfortunate situation with covid-19's we don't have vaccines, so we are relying on the personal hygiene and personal responsibilities, and that is where the major emphasis is that to delay the spread of

infection and by the time for people. brent: how virologist at lancaster university joining us tonight about how to read where this virus is headed. thank you. >> pleasure. brent: here in germany, the coronavirus death toll has risen to five. german chancellor angela merkel met today to coordinate measures to contain the spread of the virus. in a news conference, she told reporters our government has taken advice from the leading medical experts. she said the government would make a coordinated effort to ensure that medical facilities are properly equipped for the outbreak. she said events with morehan 1000 participants should no longer take place. for more now, i'm joined by our

chief political editor. she was supposed to speak three hours earlier tonight and she was late, what does that tell us? >> that there was a big fight behind the scenes, in particular school closings, as germany is a federal state. 16 federal state premieres were sitting around the table, and there were two different camps. one camp one decease with her, broader school closures, almost french-style, parallel to this gathering we heard from emmanuel macron who can basically order school closures, while angela merkel can't do that. that is up to regional states. the outcome of this meeting in the end was there can be regional school closures there in those regions where we see a dynamic outbreak. angela merkel is a scientist as well, so we hear the language of scientist coming to her statements, and what it means is

there are discrepancies between different regions and how badly they are affected. there are three states that are mostly affective, and we mostly expect to see school closures in bavaria very soon. also lower saxony, so no measures are no implementations of flied out school closures. brent: beyond schools, we heard people should avoid contact with people as best you can, but that was about it. >> any unnecessary social interaction, keep a distance of 1.5 meters from each other, and we saw a stern recommendation from the german counselor that all unnecessary gatherings to uphold the economy, because this is a key aspect in the next crisis looming behind what could become a health crisis here to

actually refrain from any such gatherings, and this shifts the responsibility to the regional level to those regional decision-makers to basically ban regionally any kind of gathering, any school party, any gathering that is not absolutely necessary. brent: you cover the political system here. is that a strength or weakness right now? we got the announcement from france that schools will be closing. >> i think the jury is still out on whether it was more of a strength or a weakness, but what it does allow the regions to do is be flexible in their approach to a crisis. that is the good news. the negative side is you can see fighting behind the scenes on that very issue of overarching interests, which are also economic interests, but that is a joint interest.

we heard the german chancellor say word for word that germany will do everything that is necessary to protect its economy and to secure jolts, because -- jobs come up because this is the second crisis behind what could become a health emergency in germany. we heard from the state premier of bavaria is a states will help each other out to build up capacity to avoid a situatition like italy where decisions have to bee taken on the conditionn d age of patients who can receive treatment or not. brent: germany does have a budget surplus, which is a luxury, privileged position to be and when you have a crisis like this. thank you for your reporting. here now is a round up of the latest virus developments. italy's death toll has surged above 1000, while the total number of confirmed cases is now more than 15,000.

iran has asked the imf for a $5 billion loan to help it fight the coronavirus. that is the first time it has done that since the 1979 islamic revolution, and a staggering admission to how fragile its economy has become. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has cold for the formation of an emergency government with his chief rival to confront the growing crisis over the coronavirus. and in india, a 76-year-old man who recently died tested positive for the coronavirus. that makes him the first fatality in that country. norway has also reported his first death from the global pandemic virus. for all the latest on the coronavirus and information about what to do if you think you might be infected, visit our website, dw.com. here is a brief look at the other stories making headlines around the world.

officials in each of say heavy rain and floods have killed at least four people across the country and inundated roads in the capital cairo. further south, a driver was killed when his car was blown into a canal. several people were injured when floods demolish their homes. the u.s. military has repatriated what it suspects to be the remains of airmen lost an action during the second world war. u.s. officials are searching for some 500 service members who are still unaccounted for. myanmar was a key battleground between the allies in japan. germany's domestic intelligence agency is placing an extremist wing of the countries far-right alternative journey party under surveillance. that wing is led by a person who has been accused of using rhetoric from germany's nazi pastst. ththe coronavirus pandememic has forced the eu commission president to postpone a visit to greece.

she was do to hold talks about the situation on the land border between greece and turury, where there have been crashes with police. ththousands of f migrants h have attempted to cross the border and into the eu. there have also been clashes at overcrowded migrant caps on greek islands. now up to 100 children from those camps are being offered refuge in berlin. they have been chosen because they are ill and have no parents or because they are less than 14 years old. here is more now on how the german capital is prereparing fr ththe new childrdren. >> thousands of refugees, among the many children, stuck in mamakeshift t camps in greece. clothing and food are in short supply, and nobody knows what will bececome of these people. this city government here in berlin says it wants to welcome 2000 of them.

>> we need the national government to make this happen. for months have been standing idly by as people perish and children suffer. this is a disaster. >> berlin is preparing for the eventual arrival of some of these evacuees. germany admitted that one million refugees, but back then authorities were taken by surprise and scrambled to cope. the situation was at times chaotic and conditions very poor. five years on, the berlin city government department responsible for refugees and asylum seekers says it is s now much betteter prepared. >> we are boosting capacity to

help people to come to us. in 2015 we were caught off guard and had a staff of 150. now we have more than 500 and are allowed to hire 50 more. so we have the personnel to receive newcomers, register them, and provide the services they need. >> most berliners we talked to are in favor of welcoming more refugees to their city. >> we were once refugees. we survived german reunification without any trouble, so why would we not use with the situation? >> we are approaching a capacity limit, but this is an extreme case, especially whwhen you consider the children. >> there will be protests. parties such as the afd, right wing extremists and populist

groups in our society will once again protests. but there is no reason to have right wing extremists determine whether we rescue people in need. >> it is not known how many people might eventually come to berlin. the city's offering shelter, the german government, other european union countries relocating refugees are far from resolved. brent: the coronavirus pandemic is making its presence felt in sports. the governing body will meet discussing plans next week. here are some of today's other developments. the pga has banned spectators from attending tournaments until april 5. the atp has suspended the mens tennis for six weeks. realogy's football and basketball teams have been put

into quarantine. the spanish football league has suspended play and its top two divisions for the next two weeks. staying with the coronavirus, there are fears that pandemic could affect the summer's olympic games in tokyo. with the games scheduled to start in less than four months, there are concerns it will have to be canceled or postponed. despite the uncertainty, the olympic flame left greece for japan today, but without the usual crowds of spectators. ♪ >> the torch lighting ceremony at the side of the original olympics in ancient greece was ahead as planned. instead of thousands of spectators, only a small crowd witnessed the departure for japan. >> safe journey back to the hospital city -- hospitable city of tokyo. >> a few days ago, officials

announced the arrival ceremony will be downsized. now organizers in the government are trying to repair the damage after an official suggested that games might be delayed for a year or two. the official quickly apologized for what he calls a slip of the tongue. >> there are many opinions out there, but i leave cancellation is impossible. >> it is clear that officials are nervous. the olympic venues are finished, ready for athletes and spectators to open the games on the 24th of july, the big question is whether the coronavirus pandemic will be under control by then. brent: here is a reminder of our top story. the eu has condemned a u.s. ban on travel from europe to the united states. president trump announced the restrictions to slow the

coronavirus. european officials say the decision was made without consulting the european union. you are watching dw news. after a short break, i will take you through "the day." tonight, complete coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in europe and the united states. we will be right back. ♪

like. french men and women you. fellow citizens. can confirm an appropriate for some weeks now in our country as you've been facing the spread off the virus does not affect your current age nineteen it is immediate and- it's his infected a number of analyst on doing three thousand out. of interest is own city in new zealand i want to share with you and how he posted my thoughts go out to the families a and friends of those who are affected. he affected is condemning has touch cold continents of the world has affecting old garage in countries. it is one of the most serious health crises that france has ever known for his own essentially how we did go. a large number of cases covered