ivan watson joins me for the latest.erstand carrie lam has been talking about measures the hong kong government plan to put in place, and in fact "reuters" is reporting they'll be clamping down on visitors coming in from overseas. talk to us about what's being done at the airport for that. >> reporter: right. she's just announced further travel restrictions such as the fact that anybody who is not a hong kong resident will not be allowed to travel here within the next 14 days. and also that transit travellers will not be allowed to come here %-p because i'm right now at hong kong's international airport. this is the main gateway in and out of this city. and as of last week, midnight on thursday, the hong kong government announced that any visitor arriving from overseas would have to go into mandatory 14-day quarantine. now, there's a reason why the government is introducing these new measures. hong kong has had its schools closed since january 29th. this is a very densely populated city, more than 7 million people. it's

ivan watson joins me with the latest on all of these new dramatic measures. ivan, lay them out and the significance of what's just been announced. >> this is part of a broader crackdown that the city government is putting into place as it has seen its number of confirmed coronavirus cases double in just the last week. hong kong, this densely populated city, right next to mainland china, the real birth place of the coronavirus pandemic had succeeded for a month and a half at keeping the infection numbers low but suddenly they have surged day by day over the course of the last week. so the chief executive, carrie lamb, she just announced that all transit travel through the airport will be banned. all non-residents are no longer allowed to come here to hong kong for a period of 14 days. that is after the government here also announced that all public servants are not to come to work as of monday. all public facilities, libraries, gyms, recreational centers, they will be closed as well, as of midnight on thursday, any new arrival coming here into the airport, they

cnn's senior international correspondent ivan watson joins me from hong kong. what is the latest about that concern, ivan? >> well, hong kong had been relatively well, natalie. here this semiautonomous city is right next to mainland china and took the outbreak seriously in the beginning. there were real concerns the city would get clobbered because it's one of the most densely populated cities. yet the city managed to keep the number of confirmed cases down to around 200. that's until up until a week ago when suddenly, scores of new cases were discovered, including on friday. the most in a single day, 48 new cases. now at the end of january, hong kong closed schools. it sent all of its public servants home. it closed all the public recreational facilities, public facilities and on march 2nd, as this had worked it reopened these things. and now you see actually more people on the streets in the last couple of weeks than ever since this crisis began. but the city authorities are clearly very concerned about this latest spike because more than the majority of the n

ivan watson, cnn. >> that's something. you for that. >>> lots of items have disappeared from the store shelves in the coronavirus crisis. the shine distillery of portland, oregon, is using spare spirits to mix homemade hand sanitizer to give away for free. >> i'm giving it away to not only the customers but we're giving it away to anybody who walks in the front door and needs it. we're trying to keep our neighborhood healthy and happy and like we've been telling people, we're just two guys with a crew of 15, 20 people stepping up doing what we think is the right thing to do in this moment of need. >> as long as they're not making a medical claim or selling the hand sanitizer they are allowed to make it and give it away. >>> the late night shows have been shut down but jimmy fallon shared a song he wrote for his kids to do their part. ♪ wash your hands, wash your hands ♪ ♪ don't touch your face ♪ if you wash your hands and don't touch your face, then the world will be a better place ♪ >> wash those hands. >> and don't touch

ivan watson is in hong kong with details, joins us now live. good to see you, ivan.we needed reminding not to let our guard down with this new virus, here is the proof. what are you learning about the spike in infections, and of course the return of the strict rules in hong kong? >> absolutely. i think asian societies are a test case and an example for western societies that have been dealing with the pandemic a month, two months later than places like hong kong, which took coronavirus, the outbreak, very seriously, closing down all schools, for example, and public institutions as early as late january, having some success and then lifting some of those restrictions and just in recent days having to crackdown once again after facing what appears to be a second wave of coronavirus infection. hong kong is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, and it's right next to mainland china, birthplace of the coronavirus pandemic. but for a month and a half, this city managed to avoid a full-blown outbreak, possibly because of the discipline of people like sarah

the biggest outbreak of china, the biggest testing, ivan watson is in seoul. ivan, what's the situation like in seoul? how many cases are there now? >> reporter: well, the infection, the confirmed number of infections, anderson, has crossed the 6200 mark with at least 42 people who have died as a result of the disease. more than 70% of the infections have originated around the southern korean city of degu. that's where the cluster of the infections are in related to a religious organization that was holding prayer services there. it's also around that city that a 23-year-old u.s. soldier and his wife and child were also infected. and this has security implications because not only the u.s. military, but certainly the south korean military has had dozens of infections across all four branches of the military. and that has forced the u.s./south korean military alliance to postpone their joint military operations exercises indefinitely. i want to highlight another statistic. you mentioned this. this is the aggressive testing for the coronavirus here in south korea

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. >>> cnn's senior international correspondent ivan watson is in hong kong. s covering these developments. the good news out of china with no new locally transmitted cases. the bad news is, will it come back into the country, ivan? >> yeah, i mean, china does have, according to the official chinese government figures, has something to celebrate. and that is that whereas a couple of weeks ago china was reporting thousands of new coronavirus cases a day, reporting hundreds of deaths a day, now it's reporting a couple dozen new cases a day. and as you mentioned, four straight days without any reports of new coronavirus infections in the entire province of hubei where the capital is wuhan. that city of around 11 million people still under lockdown after coronavirus first appeared there in late december. and that city certainly hit the hardest by this terrible epidemic. china also says that most of the new cases it is identifying are quote/unquote, imported cases. and what that means is the authorities allege that these are people that are flying into china, having

ivan watson, cnn, hong kong. >> incredible. thanks for joining us.om new york. a city which is now the epicenter of the virus in this country with more than 15,000 people here known to be infected. we begin with breaking news at the end of the day that saw the number of coronavirus cases in the country topped 52,000 and the death toll rise by 150. nearly 700 people in this country have died of the virus so far. nearly 700 men, women and now at least one young person have died. that person believed to be a teenager. the case numbers are spiking in states across the country.

cnn's ivan watson is there. >> reporter: lauren and christine, south korea has come up with an innovativeay to struggle with the coronavirus. i'm going to show you drive-thru coronavirus testing. this is a free service that the city is offering anybody. i just took the test actually. vehicles come through here and you get a questionnaire. you get your hands sanitized and then you go through a number of stations here. now, korea has the most coronavirus cases outside of mainland china. their numbers surged from 31 to more than 4,200 in just two weeks and authorities say this method can test people faster and limit the exposure of potential carriers to the brave doctors and nurses that are on the front lines of this public health crisis. the patients never get out of the car. they come in and fill out questionnaires to find out whether or not they're in a risk category. they get their temperatures checked, and if it's deemed that they're symptomatic, you know, they have a fever, runny nose, or if they've been to one of the big exposure places, they come down here and while sitting in their

cnn ivan watson joins us from seoul, south korea with more on this developing story. ning about these projectiles and the message possibly being sent by kim jong-un? >> well, it's the second launch in a week. last monday the north koreans fired what the u.s. military says were two short range ballistic missiles. and around 7:30 local time this morning, the south korean military says at least three unidentified projectiles were launched into the waters between the korean peninsula and japan. they flew a distance of about 200 kilometers and an altitude of about 50 kilometers. now the south korean military says that this goes against the spirit of a military agreement signed between the north and the south last september aimed at reducing military tensions between the two rivals. japan's prime minister has gone a step further calling it a threat to peace and security in the region. last week after the previous ballistic missile launch, five european countries lodged a complaint condemning the action in the united nation's security council arguing this was a violation of u

cnn ivan watson joins us from seoul, south korea with more on this developing story. an, what more are you learning about these projectiles and what this all might mean. >> there were at least three projectiles and that they flew a distance of about 200 kilometers at altitude of about 50 kilometers. u.s. officials telling cnn these launches were somewhat expected. the south korean military is saying that the launches were not in the spirit of a recent military agreement between the south korea and north korea aimed at deescalating tensions on the korean peninsula. the japanese prime minister, shinzo abe, has gone a step further. he's called these launches a threat to peace and stability. and the launches were conducted exactly a week after north korea conducted a separate series of launches, what the u.s. military later said were short range ballistic missiles. five european countries launched a formal protest against that condemning those launches saying they were in violation of united nations security council resolutions. pyongyang bristled at this chris schism sayi

. >> ivan watson reporting from hong kong. might know him from being six degrees away from anyone but now he's all about 6 degrees from staying home. he's got important messages for you. ♪ ♪ a but i hearsearches fa different calling. the call of a schmear of cream cheese. for i, am a schmelier. i practice my craft at philadelphia. here, we use only the freshest milk... that one! go! go! and the finest ingredients... what is this? until perfection is achieved. she's ready. schmears! philadelphia. schmear perfection. the network has to be prepared to absorb whatever is going to come its way. we're always preparing. make sure that the network is working all the time. we are constantly looking at it, we're constantly monitoring. we take that responsibility very seriously. the most rewarding thing about the work we do is whenever we see a customer able to communicate back to their loved ones. that is why we do what we do. (vo) we're relentlessly committed to the network. so in times like this, we can all stay connected to work, sch

more on south korea's surge in new cases, i'm joined by cnn's senior international correspondent ivan watson. just outside of seoul at a coronavirus testing center. so, ivan, why the sudden surge in cases? and talk us through this new method of testing and containment there in south korea. >> yeah. rosemary, i mean, the surge is tremendous. south korea went from 31 cases to more than 4,200 confirmed cases in just two weeks. so the onus is on the authorities to try to do as much testing as they can right now. so far, the korean centers for disease control and prevention have tested more than 100,000 people. and this is one of the methods they're doing to expedite it. drive through coronavirus testing. in this city, it's a service that is being offered for free. you drive in with your car. you don't need an appointment. you come through here, get a questionnaire and a hand sanitizer. and then spin around through a series of stations here. now, why is this important? the authorities say that they can speed up the testing process. expedite it this way. and, this is crucial, they say they can lim

cnn's senior international correspondent ivan watson joins us now live from hong kong with the latesta, ivan, you get the sense that they think the biggest threat is now from the rest of the world. >> reporter: that's true. i mean, they have really succeeded at something, if you can trust the official figures. at its worst just a couple weeks ago, china was counting thousands of new coronavirus cases a day and hundreds of deaths as a result of that. and now you're down to double digits, which is really remarkable. the crackdown is still in effect. that city of wuhan, where the coronavirus pandemic began, it is still under lockdown. the people there are not allowed to cross the thresholds of their homes. but some of the restrictions have softened for other cities in the same province where wuhan is located. people are starting to be permitted to walk around. some of the checkpoints are being lifted. and china has implemented this kind of yellow, red, and green system with your phones that can say if you're a high-risk person, medium-risk, or low-risk, which can also indicate whether or

ivan watson, cnn, hong kong. >> incredible. thanks for joining us. anderson starts now. >> and good evening from new york. a city which is now the epicenter of the virus in this country with more than 15,000 people here known to be infected. we begin with breaking news at the end of the day that saw the number of coronavirus cases in the country topped 52,000 and the death toll rise by 150. nearly 700 people in this country have died of the virus so far. nearly 700 men, women and now at least one young person have died. that person believed to be a teenager. the case numbers are spiking in states across the country. louisiana, georgia, and florida. but the epicenter, the new ground zero as i said, is here in new york city. hospital officials and everyone who makes a run will tell everyone who will listen they're approaching the breaking point. doubling up patients on ventilators. in a moment we're going to be joined by a doctor working in one of the busiest e.r.s. the message for the president of the united states seemed at odds with what the doctors

. >> reporter: i'm ivan watson in hong kong. china's daily count of coronavirus cases dropped to 13 new cases on tuesday with 11 deaths. that is a dramatic drop from just a few weeks ago when china was counting thousands of new coronavirus cases a day with hundreds of deaths. part of the success here is due to draconian measures like locking down the entire city of wuhan where residents to this day are not allowed to cross the threshold of their homes. but now the concern is about imported cases of coronavirus. people flying in with the infection from north america, from europe, from other asian countries. hong kong, for example, is imposing a mandatory 14-day quarantine to any foreign traveler arriving after midnight on thursday. >> thank you so much to all of my colleagues there. the european union has also agreed to shut down its borders to all nonessential travel allowing only food, medical supplies, and in some cases people to cross in to help with the coronavirus crisis. what more can you tell us about these restrictions?

let's look at hong kong which borders mainland china where ivan watson was earlier today.ve had a very low number of cases over there. there is no therapeutic, there is nov vaccine, there is nothin different they have than we do. once you let people get infected beyond a certain point, then the social mechanisms we can count on early, they don't work as well. they did those things early, they did them honestly, they did them consistently and people were very diligent about it. they kind of got into it. not everybody, but most people did. very different than what we're seeing here. we don't have to just look for china for evidence of success. it took a while for china. but there is evidence of success in other countries that we could absolutely emulate, i think, in terms of how we do things here. we got behind on testing and that was a real problem, but you know what? i think it's time to stop looking in the rearview mirror on this, because there's too much in front of us that we have to talk about. right now hospital preparedness, social distancing, taking this seriously h