laura bicker, bbc news, daegu.us military campaign by forces loyal to president bashar al assad, the united nations says the greatest exodus of civilians in the civil war is taking place in north western syria. the fighting is in the province of idlib, the last major rebel stronghold in the country, where about a million people are trapped. government forces backed by russian warplanes, have been pummelling the area, since last december and while more than 900,000 people have already fled seeking refuge in turkey, they've now become trapped at the border. but the un warns the numbers will grow, because there's no safe shelter inside idlib. well, our middle east correspondent, quentin sommerville and cameraman fred scott, have been to the province, and sent us this special report. a darkness is closing in around idlib. the regime is creeping closer and those who oppose it take shelter where they can. 26 families are living in this empty shell. the tarpaulin walls put up by ismail yusuf aren't enough to keep out the

laura bicker reports from seoul.his hospital should have been a safe haven from the deadly infection, but nearly 100 of its already vulnerable patients are now battling coronavirus. some are being transferred to specialist clinics, two have died on the way. nearby in daegu, the worst affected area, they've created several crisis centres. outside, the ambulances are lined up, each with a patient waiting to be admitted. the spread of this virus may be relentless, but so are the efforts to stop it. how are you coping? ah, yeah, we have to overcome this situation. do you think you can do it? yeah, but i pray. half of south korea's cases are linked to a secretive religious sect, which is accused of failing to cooperate with medical staff. its church in daegu became a target, prompting the movement's leaders to speak out. he said his congregation were the biggest victims of the virus and urged people to stop spreading groundless rumours. the main shopping district of south korea's fourth—largest city is almost abandoned. t

laura bicker, bbc news. europe, more countries have confirmed their first cases of the coronavirus, including austria, croatia and spain. and world health officials, who have just returned from china, have issued a warning to other countries, stressing that they prepare hospital beds, isolation zones and respirators, to be ready to respond quickly when the virus arrives. around 2,700 patients have died from the coronavirus, the vast majority in china. for the second day in a row, us financial markets fell dramatically as investors continue to worry about the impact of the coronavirus on the global economy. on tuesday, the dowjones industrial average dropped more than 800 points — that's around 3.2%, on the back of a 3.6% drop on monday. that is why we are expecting another choppy day in asia. japan, south korea and australia markets are all open for trade and they are all down sharply. on tuesday, we saw japan's nikkei falling by more than 3%, hitting the lowest in four months. the tricky thing for the japan

laura bicker, bbc news, daegu.n europe, the uk has confirmed another four cases, bringing the total to 13. and in italy, a third person has died and more than 100 people have tested positive. austria has denied entry to a train coming from italy and is halting other train services with its southern neighbour. the italian government has announced strict controls in 11 northern towns near venice and milan with no—one allowed in or out. mark lowen is near codogno, the epicentre of italy's outbreak. we have been driving around this exclusion zone in the street have been completely deserted, the police told us earlier that if we went further up earlier that if we went further up this road, we would have to go into quarantine like the more than 50,000 people across 12 towns in northern italy who are now in lockdown. i spoke earlier to one man who is in the town, he said in a town of 16,000 people there isjust the town, he said in a town of 16,000 people there is just one fruit and vegetable store open. all the other shop

laura bicker is in seoul.ies say they're using every tool at their disposal to get try to get this outbreak under control, but the case numbers continue to rise. the real area of concern is a hospital, a psychiatric hospital, where over 100 patients have caught coronavirus while in their hospital bed. two patients from there have already died. these are long—term patients with underlying health conditions. now, the investigation into how this outbreak started centres around the shincheonji church ofjesus. this is a religious sect with over 500,000 members right across south korea, around 9,000 of whom are said to be at risk. they have been told to put themselves into quarantine, and in interviews, overi,000 of them said that they had symptoms of coronavirus. now, that doesn't necessarily mean they have the virus. they have to yet test positive. when it comes to the rest of the country, the highly affected area of daegu, where they have the most number of cases, the mayor there has asked the 2.5 million residen

laura bicker, bbc news, daegu. korean state media say the government has quarantined about 380 foreigners as part of efforts to prevent an outbreak of the coronavirus there. 3,000 people near the border with china are currently being monitored, after showing possible symptoms. moving to italy, where around 150 people have so far been diagnosed with the virus. the bbc‘s mark lowen spoke to us from just outside the northern town of codogno, the centre of italy's coronavirus outbreak. this is the point in which police are now stopping all the cars trying to go down the road towards codogno, which is the epicentre of italy's coronavirus outbreak. the police here are telling us that if we go beyond this point, that we would have to quarantine, we would not be able to leave here for quite some time, and they're checking all the vehicles coming in and out. if we just come over here, there are a couple of residents living on the edge of this zone. speaks italian they are telling me that they feel completely closed and segr

thank to john sudworth, laura bicker and mark lowen reporting there.ronavirus has finally shaken the world's financial markets? a huge loss on the dowjones. what's happening with the asian markets? that's right, kasia. the asian markets have opened today and i should mention the decline started to happen during the asian hours. yesterday, ran 2a hours, it started, and its continuing. the nikkei 225 was shot for a public holiday in tokyo on monday and it's just opened today and the reaction, as you can see on the boards, is extraordinary. down 3% and taking its cues from what happened on wall street on monday night. the all ordinaries, australia's market, that's lower and the hang seng and the bombay sensex haven't opened yet the expectation is the futures markets are due to recline as well and that is due to the fact we saw wall street decline on monday. the dow jones was down over 1000 points. the worst day it's had in some two years. i should mention the ftse 100, in some two years. i should mention the ftse100, where you are, kasia, in the uk, that

laura bicker, bbc news, daegu.rope, the uk has confirmed another four cases, bringing the total to 13. these pictures are from italy where a third person has died and more than 100 have tested positive. its prime minister announced strict controls on movement in 11 towns near venice and milan, with no one allowed in or out. in news just in, we've learned from oezii, an austrian news station, that austria is closing down all train travel to italy. mark lowen reports. lockdown in northern italy. streets deserted, shops shut in the european country with the worst coronavirus outbreak. with towns in the affected area closed off, more than 50,000 people are under quarantine, an unprecedented step as italy scrambles to curb the outbreak. at supermarkets they waited to stock up, taking every precaution, unsure of how long the special measures will last. police were brought in to control the situation and limit numbers queueing. the region worst affected is lombardy around milan. its mayor said schools are closing as well

laura bicker reports from seoul.his hospital should have been a safe haven from the deadly infection, but nearly 100 of its already vulnerable patients are now battling coronavirus. some are being transferred to specialist clinics, two have died on the way. nearby in daegu, the worst affected area, they've created several crisis centres. outside, the ambulances are lined up, each with a patient waiting to be admitted. the spread of this virus may be relentless, but so are the efforts to stop it. how are you coping? ah, yeah, we have to overcome this situation. do you think you can do it? yeah, but i pray. half of south korea's cases are linked to a secretive religious sect, which is accused of failing to cooperate with medical staff. it's church in daegu became a target, prompting the movement's leaders to speak out. he said his congregation were the biggest victims of the virus and urged people to stop spreading groundless rumours. the main shopping district of south korea's fourth largest city is almost abandoned.

john sudworth, laura bicker and mark lowen reporting there.rthern italy are really bringing it home to people in europe what it might mean to live with the coronavirus outbreak. with 90 cases in singapore at the last count, sharanjit, though fortunately no deaths, what are the conditions like for you and everyone living there? that's right, singapore was among the first of those 37 countries aside from china to report a coronavirus case and since then, really a month ago we have seen a lot more faith masks on the street, to such an extent that there was a one on things like facemasks and disinfectant wipes in the supermarket, the shelves were empty very much like you saw in that report a little earlier. the authorities have stepped m, the authorities have stepped in, they are trying to reassure people there are plenty of stocks. every day we get is health ads in the local papers, essentially telling people what to do if they are feeling ill and how you really only need to wear a mask if url and of course you need to go and see a doctor and sta

laura bicker is at the quayside in yokahama. laura.he centre of the coronavirus outbreak. only second to that of mainland china. each passenger has been stuck in quarantine in their cabin only allowed out for one to two minutes each day and these 70 britons have been stuck there waiting and wondering when they are going to get off and now they have had another delay, that their flight is going to ta ke delay, that their flight is going to take a bit longer, however we understand within the next few hours that weight might finally be over. just when the brits aboard the diamond princess thought it was all over, their plane has been delayed by almost a day. they had to watch passengers from other countries get their final medical checks and set off home while they remain in their cabins. it's just been one thing after another, and we can face the thought of 14 days, but then when you realise you have to wait for an evacuation flight it's just been a bit nerve—racking. the importance of this quarantine has become clear. two elderly patien

laura bicker, bbc news, daegu.0. getting on the property ladder is a distant dream for many. but now the conservative mayor of the west midlands has come up with a solution. he wants to redefine what an affordable home is, based on incomes rather than prices. it would mean developers having to build smaller, cheaper properties. our home editor mark easton has the details. what does affordable mean? here in wolverhampton market, traders woo customers with bargain vegetables. apples and pears, rabbits as big as hares! with homes, affordable is officially defined as 20% below average local prices or rents. but housing‘s so expensive, that still translates as unaffordable for millions. the government‘s focus is on affordable home—ownership with discount schemes for first—time buyers and key workers. but even with treasury help and even in less pricey areas like here in wolverhampton, most workers can never even dream of getting on the housing ladder. take zoe, who will qualify as a nurse later this year. with a salary

laura bicker, bbc news, seoul. time for a look at the weather. here's chris fawkes. we had winds of 97 mph on the isle of wight at the weekend. we also had torrential rain. that has been causing problems. we currently have 149 flood warnings in force. but the focus of the weather at the moment is shifting more towards

in a moment, we'll talk to our correspondents laura bicker in the south korean city of gyeongju and stephening. but first, let's speak to bethany bell, in the italian city of piacenza, southeast of milan. iamjusta i am just a few short distance away from those exclusion zones, towns which have been cordoned off by the authorities to prevent anyone leaving or entering. we tried to go there this morning, we were told we had to leave very quickly. the italian government has still not managed to identify the individual that sparked this outbreak, and it is working very hard to try and do that. in the meantime here, though, fears are growing about possible contagion. people have been stockpiling food, if you go into supermarkets here, you see lots of empty shelves, schools are shut, universities are shut, and the italian prime minister, giuseppe co nte, italian prime minister, giuseppe conte, is urging people not to panic, but there is a big sense of insecurity as people wonder how long the situation is going to go on for. today and tomorrow should have been the climax of venice's carnival, but

laura bicker, bbc news, yokohama.ricted in an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus. the lockdown is strictest in hubei province where the outbreak started but elsewhere too businesses have had to close and streets are almost empty. our correspondent stephen mcdonell reports from beijing. beijing's underground train network is eerily quiet. on a normal day, there are 10 million trips on this system. during the coronavirus emergency, you can sit wherever you like. the lunar new year break was extended. many companies are either closed or letting staff work from home. human contact is seen as dangerous. anyone who has been to beijing and has had a look around this area of the city would not recognise this intersection. i meet a cleaner heading back to work to make his dinner and ask if he is worried that, by putting items in bags, he has risked contracting the virus. translation: i am worried but i wash my hands frequently. when i get back, i wash them really thoroughly. translation: nothing to worry about in the op

laura bicker, bbc news, seoul.er, one of the make up winners for bombshell about the living pm, but now a look at that weather prospects. hello. in the afternoon we had heavy showers that drop temperatures .5 celsius injust one hour and the rain turned to snow in north wales and the north midlands but notjust over a fire ground. we also had snow at lower levels. across the northern half of the country there is a risk of icy stretches of the night and there will be further snow showers, especially over modest hills above 100 metres or so. towns and cities arejust 100 metres or so. towns and cities are just about escape the frost but feeling cold given the winds and the greatest chance for the snow on tuesday will be across the hills of northern england, northern ireland and scottish, the scottish hills could see ten centimetres or so. risk of some disruption. similar day tomorrow, strong winds and blustery showers, more showers turning to snow across northern areas because it will be colder. that is your 00:14:00,74

laura bicker, bbc news, yokohama. laura bicker reporting.ct on world trade. airlines say it could cost them more than £20 billion and there's growing concern for the global supply chains of a range of products from cars to smartphones. our business correspondent theo leggett is here. where is the impact being felt? we have to divided up into impacts which are already being felt and what could happen over the coming weeks. for example, know that travel in the asia pacific region is really restricted which includes flights from europe, so british airways for example is flying into shanghai or beijing and won't be we understand until mid april. all of that is taking its toll on the airline industry and the international air transport association says it thinks that this year it will cost the industry £22.6 billion. that is a big impact and that depends on the outbreak remaining centred in china. if it spreads further, the impact could be greater but already we are looking at a 30% reduction in demand in the asia—pacific region. for the airline

laura bicker, bbc news, daegu.s in new york for us. a lot of the markets doing right now? you report from here on the floor of new york stock exchange a lot of the time, if you take a look at the way they are trading right now, i see a sea of red. it is a real clear indication that wall street is really worried about coronavirus and what impact it could have on the label economy, and whether there would be a prolonged impact. if you look at specifically what has been hurt in term of companies, anyone that does a lot of business with china. apple, nike, wa lt business with china. apple, nike, walt disney, three companies that you see have had the big falls on markets because they are so worried about coronavirus. being impact is airlines and hotel chains, worries that people are just going to stop travelling altogether. the worries about the financial impact have been bubbling around for a while. why the sharp drop that we are seeing now? i was reading that the dow is down a thousand points at one point. that isa th

laura bicker reports from seoul and her report does contain some flash photography.seoul could not hide their pride. translation: this kind of thing is a huge national celebration. i want to thank the director and all the actors and actresses. this is wonderful. parasite tells the story of a poor family living in squalor in a basement flat and a rich family who reside in a modernist mansion. and while the film is a work of fiction the apartment life is not. this is just one of thousands to battle unbearable humidity and rapidly growing mould in the city basement flats. i'm sad about it. i heard it can survive in the desert but it can survive in my house. ——can't survive. the pizza place featured in the film is also real. it's been here for 17 years and it was the owner who taught the cast how to fold the boxes. translation: when i saw it won today i got emotional. it felt like i won. when i heard it won four oscars i thought this was the most historic moment in korea. the closest place i could find that was related to the film was here so i thought it was symbolic to

laura bicker reports on the story, from seoul.uth koreans in seoul could not hide their pride. translation: this kind of thing is a huge national celebration. i want to thank the director and all the actors and actresses. this is wonderful. the south korean president moonjae—in started his cabinet meeting with applause as the country erupted in a wave of congratulatory joy, which included this tweet from korean—american star sandra oh. one korean film critic describes these wins as a miracle, but it's not come from nowhere. for the last decade, the south korean government has ploughed money into what it calls the korean wave — k—pop, k—drama and korean cinema. these wins at the oscars prove that korean wave has come crashing down on hollywood. laura bicker, bbc news, seoul. it's not the movie's first big win on the award trail. ‘parasite' won the coveted palm d'or award at the cannes film festival last year. for more on why the film has been so successful, here's korean film curatorjin cho. there are two factors i want to talk abo

laura bicker is in seoul — the parasite tours have now begun. and laura is soaking up this event., this film was a critical success, now it's cut into the united states and the united kingdom. it has come as a surprise that it had these oscar wins but it has sent social media in south korea into a tailspin and meltdown. wild frenzy congratulatory ivy. meltdown. wild frenzy congratulatory joy. many people never thought they would see or hear korean spoken at the oscars let alone someone like the oscars let alone someone like the director winning an oscar but this hasn't come from nowhere. he has been widely acclaimed for wider years. —— many years. when it comes to past successes, his films are well known. this film, because it's about social class, perhaps has made ita about social class, perhaps has made it a more global success. we shall keep a close eye for sure, laura, thank you. the story of the market is not as bright, declines across the board following from the close on friday in the us. that set the tone for what happened on wall street, today, they had really good strong

in a moment, we'll speak to our correspondent bethany bell in milan, but first, laura bicker is in thef daegu. bring us right up to date where you are, laura. there are nearly 1000 cases in this area. we have heard that 11 people have now died. the president of south korea arrived in what is known as the red zone. he met with medics and thank them for their hard work. there were a small number of protesters outside calling on them to save daegu. a lot of people are calling for more mosques to be delivered here. just as he was banking staff, and e—mail came from a leading doctor in the region he made an impassioned plea. —— mosques. he said one by one doctors we re mosques. he said one by one doctors were being put in quarantine after being in contact with infected patients and they were exhausted. he is calling on 5700 medics to help. here in milan, majortourist is calling on 5700 medics to help. here in milan, major tourist sites, like the duomo, the cathedral behind me, had been closed due to fears about spread of the virus. nothing like we have seen in the far east but these places

our correspondent laura bicker is in seoul. loray?als say they are doing everything they can to get this under control but the case numbers continue to rise. as you mentioned the real area of concern isa mentioned the real area of concern is a hospital, a psychiatric ward, where over 100 patients contracted the coronavirus while in the hospital. these are long—term patients with underlying health conditions. two people from that hospital have already died. the investigation into how this outbreak started centres around a religious cult with over half a million members across south korea. 9000 of whom are said to be at risk. they've been put in quarantine and in interviews around 1000 of them said they were showing symptoms of the virus. the mayor of the largest affected city, daegu, has told its 2.5 million residents to stay at home. all military bases are on lockdown. south korea was prepared for this, it had medics on standby, but even they seem surprised at how quickly this has spread. laura, thank you. flooding misery continued in

laura bicker, bbc news, daegu. china is going all—out to contain the virus.ut there are still questions over its early response, and the silencing of medics who tried to raise the alarm. the public anger hasn't gone away. here, a man films as doctors attend to his mother. 00:11:43,161 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 but they can't save her. china has rolled out the most aggressive containment effort in history. china has rolled out probably the most ambitious, and i would say agile, and aggressive disease containment effort in history. to what extent do you think cover—up and censorship played a role in allowing this virus to accelerate at the rate it did? i don't know. frankly, i didn't look at that. i'm just being completely honest. but what worries me most is — has the rest of the world learned the lesson of speed? once china had woken up to the danger, that speed, the rapid quarantining of cities and the shutting down its economy. as the virus was allowed to spiral out of control in the province of hubei, it spread in smaller but significant pockets to every pro

laura bicker, bbc news, daegu. china is going all—out to contain the virus.n control squad in training. but there are still questions over its early response, and the silencing of medics who tried to raise the alarm. the public anger hasn't gone away. here, a man films as doctors attend to his mother. but they can't save her. later, he films as a funeral car arrives. "the government thinks we're foolish, they say it's a natural disaster," he tells me. "but it's actually caused by humans. " "if they'd warned us in time, would so many people die?" the world health organization, though, was full of praise for the actions china has taken. china has rolled out probably the most ambitious, and i would say agile, and aggressive disease containment effort in history. to what extent do you think cover—up and censorship played a role in allowing this virus to accelerate at the rate it did? i don't know. frankly, i didn't look at that. i'm just being completely honest. but what worries me most is, has the rest of the world learned the lesson of speed? once china had wok

laura bicker has all the reaction from south korea.s he grappled with his four 0scars, including one for best picture, south koreans in seoul could not hide their pride. translation: this kind of thing is a huge national celebration. i want to thank the director and all the actors and actresses. this is wonderful. parasite tells the story of a poor family living in a squalid basement flat and a rich family who reside in a modernist mansion. while the film is a work of fiction, the apartment life is not. this is just one of thousands who battle unbearable humidity and rapidly growing mould in the city's basement flats. i am sad about it. i heard you can survive in the desert, but you couldn't survive in my house. the pizza place featured in the film is also real. it's been here for 17 years, and it was the owner who taught the cast how to fold the boxes. translation: when i saw it had won today, i got emotional. it felt like i had won. translation: when i heard it had won four 0scars, i thought this was the most historic moment in south

our correspondent laura bicker is in seoul.thorities say they're using every tool to get this under control but case numbers continue to rise. a psychiatric hospital where over 100 patients have caught corinne that that coronavirus while in asa that that coronavirus while in as a hospital bed and two patients have already died. these are long—term patients with underlying health conditions. it sanders around this church of jesus, conditions. it sanders around this church ofjesus, a religious sect with half a million members across south korea. 9000 of whom are said to be at risk. they have been told to put themselves into quarantine and in interviews over a thousand said they had symptoms of coronavirus. that does not necessarily mean they have the virus, they are yet to test positive. the highly infected area of daegu, the mayor is asked residents to stay at home if at all possible. all south korean bases are on lockdown after three different soldiers from three different soldiers from three different soldiers from three diffe

let's go live to the dockside in yokohama now and speak to our correspondent laura bicker.or is the process of disembarking these passengers? what is going on. 0ver passengers? what is going on. over the last few hours passengers have been walking off the ship onto buses, some off the ship onto buses, some of them getting into taxis. most seem to be japanese nationals who can easily make their way home. that it is raising concerns about the whole procedure because within the last few hours, a professor released a video in which he called the quarantine measures that have taken place on the ship over the last two weeks as a major mistake. he has serious doubts about the infection control within the ship. there is reason to be concerned because the united states had a charter plane and took their passengers home, about 300 passengers, earlier this week. 14 passengers, earlier this week. 1a of whom eventually tested positive for coronavirus. just yesterday, 88 new cases were discovered upon the ship. these 500 passengers will be disembarking over the next few hours, they are a

laura bicker in yokohama in japan. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: sports news. the dubai tennis open. nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops were finally coming home. the withdrawal completed in good order, but the army defeated in the task it had been sent to perform. malcolm has been murdered. that has a terrible effect on the morale of the people. i am terrified of the repercussions on the streets. one wonders who is next. as the airlift got under way, there was no let—up in the eruption itself. lava streams from a vent low in the crater flow down to the sea on the east of the island, away from the town for the time being, but it could start flowing again at any time. the russians heralded their new—generation space station with a spectacular night launch. they called it mir, the russian for peace. you're watching the briefing. our headlines: a 28—year—old new zealand man, who killed the british backpacker grace millane, has been sentenced to life in prison. thejudge described him as ‘depraved'. about 10,000 people h

laura bicker, bbc news, daegu. china is going all—out to contain the virus. but there are still questions over its early response and the silencing of medics who tried to raise the alarm. today, though, the world health 0rganisation was full of praise. china has rolled out probably the most ambitious and i would say agile and aggressive disease containment effort in history. to what extent do you think cover up and censorship played a role in allowing this virus to accelerate at the rate it did? i don't know, frankly didn't look at that. i'm just being completely honest. but what worries me most is has the rest of the world learned the lesson of speed? 0nce china woke up to the danger, it did move fast. quarantining cities and effectively shutting down its economy. as the virus was allowed to spiral out of control in the province of hubei, it spread in smaller but significant pockets to every province in china. this is the picture of a disaster. and it forced the government to act, and here is what happened. the official figures show that in hubei, although t

laura bicker, bbc news, seoul. time for a look at the weather. here's chris fawkes.torm ciara still causing so many problems? indeed it is. we had winds of 97 mph on the isle of wight at the weekend. we also had torrential rain. that has been causing problems. we currently have 149 flood warnings in force. but the focus of the weather at the moment is shifting more towards showers. we look at this more organised long across north wales and north—west england. that dropped temperatures by four celsius. the difference between rain and snow. that has been coming down across parts of north wales. we've had reports in cheshire. we will probably see some snow in parts of greater manchester and derbyshire. the snake pass will become pretty slippery in the peak district. it continues to be windy. orang coastal areas the gusts blowing at 60 to 0rang coastal areas the gusts blowing at 60 to 70 mph. in that 40 to 50. the strong winds are shoving the showers through for most of us very quickly. further accumulations of snow in the high ground of scotland. 0vernight of snow in th

course my colleague laura becker has been tweeting a lot about the historic win for parasite —— laura bicker excess of 90 miles an hour. but what was unusual about storm ciara was just how widespead the gusts of winds were from the length and breadth of the country. so, in excess of 60 miles an hour, right up to over 90 miles an hour. it is also accompanied by some very heavy rain, that swept its way steadily south and east and behind a trail of squally showers followed on. storm ciara may have left our shores but it stays pretty windy behind, with a rash of showers following in, and as the air is now from a colder source, those showers in the far north to higher ground are falling as snow. for scotland, northern ireland and northern england there could be some icy stretches, first thing on monday morning. fewer showers across england and wales but some of those could merge together as we go through the day to longer spells of rain with some hail and thunder mixed in there. further north we continue to see some snow showers anywhere above 100 metres. a cold feel for the day particularly when

laura bicker, bbc news, daegu. china is going all—out to contain the virus.squad in training. but there are still questions over its early response, and the silencing of medics who tried to raise the alarm. the public anger hasn't gone away. here, a man films as doctors attend to his mother. but they can't save her. china has rolled out probably the most ambitious, and i would say agile, and aggressive disease containment effort in history. china has rolled up probably the most ambitious and agile and aggressive disease containment effort in history. to what extent do you think cover—up and censorship played a role in allowing this virus to accelerate at the rate it did? i don't know. frankly, i didn't look at that. i'm just being completely honest. but what worries me most is — has the rest of the world learned the lesson of speed? once china had woken up to the danger, that speed, the rapid quarantining of cities and the shutting down its economy. as the virus was allowed to spiral out of control in the province of hubei, it spread in smaller but significan

our correspondent in the south korean capital seoul, laura bicker, joins me now. third day in a row south korea is reporting more cases of coronavirus than china where this outbreak began. we've had around 1000 cases confirmed within the last 24 1000 cases confirmed within the last 2a hours, another huge hike. 17 people have died. ten people are still critically ill in hospital, 16 others are seriously ill. these rises have continued day after day where the figures continue to spike and it's beginning to alarm people in south korea, particularly in the worst hit area of daegu. i spent a lot of time there earlier this week and people are assigned, they are trying to stay at home but there is this daily battle for a face mask where they are queueing up outside supermarkets for hours to try to make sure they get a facemask to protect themselves. meanwhile, doctors in daegu say they've been overwhelmed by this crisis, they are urging those with mild symptoms to stay at home they tried to treat the most critical patients. two patients who died yesterday died without get

our seoul correspondent laura bicker told me more about the situation in the country.t the outbreak began within the shincheonji church ofjesus, this is a religious sect which has around 220,000 members right across south korea. now every single one of them are being interviewed to find out if they have symptoms of the virus. so far, over 3,000 say they do. and one of the reasons why officials are warning that there will be a further spike in cases is, as they test more and more of these church members, more are testing positive. so far, around 80% of those that they have tasted in the daegu area have tested positive for the virus. that is how they are trying to track the spread of wear , where the infected patients are, and patients are, and where they have been — to try to isolate those and contain the spread. but it's becoming increasingly obvious that that is getting more and more difficult. doctors in daegu say they are overwhelmed by the number of patients coming forward to be treated. they are urging those with mild symptoms, now, to stay at home. over 1,000 pat

our correspondent laura bicker reports from yokohama. it's all over, at least for some.rs eager for details after an outbreak of coronavirus turned a dream asian cruise into a floating prison. how do you feel? i'm ok, says this relieved passenger, but as those left behind waved them off, there are fears that they might not be ok. although they are getting to go home, concerns are beginning to grow. over the last two weeks, one in every seven passengers have contracted coronavirus which, critics say, proves that the japanese health authorities‘ quarantine measures have been wholly inadequate. now, japan says these rates of infection predate the quarantine. one expert in infectious diseases says who visited the ship believes everyone on board is at risk. everyone was shocked and scared of having infections and are still scared of developing the disease in the next couple of days. those stuck in the cabins have documented the fear and confusion, including this british couple who were diagnosed with the virus overnight. we are going to a hostel, because there isn't a hospita

the our correspondent laura bicker has more from the capital, seoul. concern is around the city of daegu. it is south korea's fourth largest city, a city of 2.5 million people. and the two areas of concern in there involve a hospital and a church. within the hospital, where there are 300 elderly and vulnerable patients, a third of them now have the coronavirus. two people there have died and nine staff have the coronavirus. outside of that, there is a church, the shincheonji church, it is a fringe religious movement, but it has a half a million members throughout south korea. 9000 of whom are in this area. they have all been told to stay at home. told to go into quarantine and they are being interviewed to see if they have any symptoms. a thousand of them say that they have coronavirus symptoms. now it doesn't necessarily mean that they have the virus, they need to have tested positive for the virus, but it is concerning for health authorities. now it appears that the members of this church were all at the hospital for a funeral a few weeks before. and

the cases are in cheongdo and nearby daegu, in the south—east of the country. 0ur correspondent laura bicker more from the capital, seoul. the area of concern is around the city of daegu. it is south korea's fourth largest city, a city of two and a half million people and the two areas of concern within there involve a hospital and a church. within the hospital, where there are 300 elderly and vulnerable patients, a third of them now have a coronavirus. two people there have died. nine staff have the coronavirus. outside of that, there is a church, the shincheonji church. it is a fringe religious movement but it has a half a million members throughout south korea. 9000 of whom are in this area. they have all been told to stay at home. they've all been told to go into quarantine and they are being interviewed to see if they have any symptoms. 1000 of them say that they have coronavirus symptoms. it doesn't necessarily mean that they have the virus. they need to test positive for the rise but it is concerning for health authorities. now, it appears that the members of this church were all at t

our correspondent laura bicker has more from the capital, seoul.ell, the real centre of concern is a psychiatric hospital in cheongdo, about 200 miles — kilometres south of here. now, what they are saying is that 100 patients at that hospital have contract did coronavirus while in their hospital bed. two patients that have already died. these are long—term patients with underlying health conditions, so underlying health conditions, so that is why authorities are concerned. the investigation into how this outbreak started centres around the shincheonji church ofjesus. centres around the shincheonji church of jesus. this centres around the shincheonji church ofjesus. this is a religious sect, it has about 500,000 members right across south korea, 9000 of whom are said to be at risk, and it is unclear how far they have travelled over the last few weeks. in interviews, around 1000 of them say that they may have symptoms of coronavirus. that doesn't necessarily mean that they are in fact. they have yet to test positive for the virus. the mayor of the la