from a french aircraft carrier group have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and cnn's cyril vanier joins us from normandy to talk to us. cyril, those numbers, we talk about how horrifying they are. hospitalizations have dek4r50i7bdeclined. sadly, the death toll still climbing. what is the latest from france? >> reporter: rosemary, i think you summarized it very well. the death toll is staggering. upwards of 17,000 deaths. france is one of the countries with the worst death tolls in the world. the number of daily deaths has been pretty stable this past week. that's upwards of 500. that's a high level. portions that have plateaued and an alarmingly high number of deaths. there are signs of optimism. that's if you look at the trends. for the first time yesterday there are fewer people in french hospitals than there had been in the previous day. that suggested france is going in the right direction. certainly there is less pressure now on the french health system than even 48 hours ago. fewer people in intensive care and in hospitals if you factor in the number of people who have been

cyril vanier joins us now. despite france's shocking death toll, there are signs the curve is flattening but the country's president has extended the lockdown. what all did he say about france's future and what the plans are? >> reporter: rosemary, you're right to highlight that it's a shocking death toll. even though number of deaths here and the spread of the virus, the number of deaths is plateauing, the spread of the virus is slowing, it is still a dire situation and the health ministry reminds us every day that there are hundreds of new daily deaths. and we can't lose sight of that. that said, the government gave guidelines. the national stay at home order needs to continue for another month to give the virus a chance to slow down its spread and to give the french health care system a chance to rebuild its capacity, right, to welcome patients and to treat patients who need intensive care. listen to the french president. >> the epidemic has not yet been mastered. we must continue our efforts and continue to

so, let's go live to normandy, france, where cnn's cyril vanier is there live for us. so, cyril, france has been hit particularly hard by this pandemic with deaths surpassing 15,000. shocking numbers. how is the country dealing with that? and of course, now this extended lockdown. >> rosemary, i think by and large, people understand that france cannot do what austria has done. it is too early for this country to start reopening because we're still in the eye of the storm. upwards of 700 people died yesterday. and in fact, new polling suggests that people support the extended lockdown that was announced by the president earlier this week. the lockdown was extended by another month, until may 11th. so, now may 11th is the critical date. and as i said, the french understand that staying confined until then is just a necessary measure to save lives and stop the spread of the virus. starting may 11th, people will start gradually going back to school -- children -- and workers will start going back to work. it's going to be a partial reopening of the country. and this really

cyril vanier is in normandy, france, with more on all this. hi, cyril. >> reporter: hi, robyn.ance is in the eye of the storm right now. about a week ago, we saw the highest daily increase in the number of coronavirus cases. just yesterday, we had the announcement that we've seen the highest daily increase in deaths, and the government wants to ramp up its mitigation of social distancing measures. so, not only is there no talk of ending the confinement, as it's called here, but it's got to actually get tighter. and that is why you're seeing cities and towns across france tighten their own individual measures, starting with the capital, starting with paris. as of today, between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., you're no longer to go, allowed to go out and exercise, which is a break from what was allowed before. people could go out jogging, but simply, authorities saw that there were too many people out and about. so, that is no longer possible. in some towns in the north of france, if you sit in the street or if you abandon your mask or your gloves or even if you fail to c

cyril vanier. cnn, paris. >>> in london, officials are pushing people to wear face masks.e see how social distancing can be sustained in the longer term as people are trying to get back to work. it is not current in the u.k. to make people wear masks. masks are under a shortage for health workers. the government says they'll extend the lockdown for another three weeks. they want to be sure they don't lift restrictions until another peak. infection rate is down and daily death rate is down and they have enough equipment for all health workers. big challengers here, some of the numbers improving. the government does not take the risk of letting people out just yet. nick paton walsh. >> president trump treated this to the governor, stop complaining. >> moments ago governor cuomo responded. how many times do you want me to say thank you? i am saying thank you for doing your job. this is your role as a president. that's the honest statement of fact without politics. i am not running for anything. i have no agenda but delivering for the people of this state. you want me to say t

cyril vanier, outside paris. >> another grim milestone, more than 100 doctors have died due to coronavirusath toll approaches 18,000. the growth in overall number of new cases and deaths is slowing but the nationwide lockdown ils more than a month old and due to expire on april 13th is likely to be extended. prime minister is warning that the health crisis is putting unprecedented strain on the european union which despite a 16-hour video conference between his finance ministers failed to agree on an economic rescue package worth more than half a trillion dollars. the lack of solidarity in the covid-19 crisis, a crisis that the worst europe have seen threatening the idea of european unity. ben wedeman. cnn, rome. >> the stunning number that'll tell you why the treasury secretary today will present the president a plan to bail out the airlines industry. a wonderful thing ♪ ♪ something that shines a light in the world ♪ ♪ a beautiful thing ♪ a wonderful thing ♪ that makes this life better for you and for me ♪ - you can be a part of a beautiful thing right now with your gift of just $19 a mon

cyril vanier bringing us the very latest from normandy, france. >>> as countries continue to shut their boarders, getting food to those in need is difficult. the pandemic has a potential to cause mass famine in the world's most vulnerable regions. fred pleitgen joins us with more on the issue. this is a real concern. what is the issue now and how extensive could this be? >> reporter: it's a real concern. it certainly is a global concern as well, and one of the things, of course, that we are hearing is that the coronavirus is now more and more seeping into the developing world as well where you do have a lot of countries that have big problems providing food security for their citizens. it's a huge problem there. it's also a problem in places like europe providing footd ad making sure it gets where it needs to go as the crone na pan dem -- corona pandemic continues. >> easter time is asparagus time. the harvest could be in danger not from weather or pests but from the coronavirus. >> if you have a shutdown in the company, the whole company would go down. therefore, we are very careful. >

cyril vanier is with us and i want to start in france. the government is extending the emergency measures until may 11th. emmanuel macron made the address in a primetime visit. let's go to cyril. hi, what's it like there at the moment? >> reporter: hi, robin. in just his third official address to the nation since this epidemic began here in france, emmanuel macron really gave us a roadmap for what's going to happen going forward. as you said, the national stay at home order continues for the next month. that is intended to keep slowing down the spread of the virus and to give the french health care system a chance to catch its breath. more stress than world war ii. then comes may 11th, a month from now. that is the pivotal date when things gradually start to reopen in france, gradually being the key word here. what's going to happen on may 11th. pupils, students will start going back to day care centers and school. their parents will start going back to work. the children in schools and the teachers are, according to the president, going t

cyril vanier with the latest from normandy, france, many thanks. >>> a sense of normalcy is settling over the chinese city where the coronavirus outbreak began. that, of course, is wuhan, which is now reopening its borders after a 76-day lockdown. that unprecedented effort to contain the outbreak has now become the standard operating procedure across the globe. anyone deemed healthy or low risk in wuhan is now allowed to travel, but some restrictions will remain in place. and cnn's senior producer, steven jiang, joins me now from beijing. good to see you, steven. so, let's talk about those restrictions that remain in place. what all is that, and how are people dealing with their newfound freedom? >> rosemary, it's been a gradual process. we've seen the city resume its public transportation as well as workers returning to their jobs in the past few weeks, but still, this lifting of these major travel restrictions with a milestone because millions of people had been stuck in their homes or residences for over two months with the lockdown and measures really wreaking havoc on their live