Arrivals from europe and sets off a Coronavirus Task force amid new warnings of a potential surge in infections but is japan reacting quickly enough. And a shame on you europe coming from the chief of the european union. And europe really just to be there for each other. Too many initially looked out for themselves. When you really need it and only one spirit too many initially gave and only from the response you Commission President on the law and criticizing a lack of solidarity and coordination and the e. U. Come together to tackle the virus crisis. Its good to have you with us the United States is well on its way to becoming the new epicenter of the code 19 pandemic countries death toll has now topped 1000. And with nearly 70000. 00 confirmed cases the country trails only italy and china for the highest number of infections the United States economy is also reeling with the crisis fueling a record surge in unemployment claims meanwhile the countrys largest city new york is struggling to cope critical supplies are lacking hospitals are overwhelmed and authorities resorted to building make shift more. Times square is rarely if ever as empty as this and its a similar story on 5th avenue to new york as the epicenter of the outbreak in the u. S. A 3rd of all cases in the country are from here its an extraordinary situation and one of the worlds greatest cities businesses are letting staff go many hospitals are overstretched theres a shortage of tens of thousands of respirators across the state what were seeing right now is huge challenges and intense stress in particular on our Hospital Capacity on the men and women who do such amazing work in our Health Care System and clearly on the supplies and equipment that we need to make sure we can keep moving forward the biggest financial stimulus package in u. S. History is set to become law after its passage through congress 2 trillion dollars to ease the Economic Impact of the corona Virus OutbreakPresident Trump says he will sign it these images demonstrate how serious the situation is a temporary morgue outside a new york hospital. U. S. Media reports say morgues on the east coast are set to hit capacity soon across the u. S. More than a 1000 people have died of the virus. Or more we want to bring in. He is on the story for us in washington good afternoon to you stefan do we know how are authorities coping with the situation as it is right now in new york. Thats a loaded question its a good question its loaded its why because theyre struggling theyre struggling on every end the governor of new york just finished about half an hour ago at a press conference and he said the trajectory is not letting up its still up up up and thats not good news as you pointed out in the piece new york is missing everything thats enough testing kits protective gear for nurses for doctors. Ventilators of course the state is building 9 makeshift hospitals are in the process to the federal government says hopefully the. Hospital ship will arrive next week early next week and said enough new york needs also more mortgages more mortgages pardon so more so unfortunately why is that because the yawk half of the infection rates in the entire United States are coming from new york right now yeah and you know weve been talking about this approaching storm for weeks if not months now has a reason been given for why the infection rate is so high in new york. Well new york was always a melting pots a big city of course of the for the travel bans were issued by the federal government to china in and of january then europe. Was still high in new york i think its fair to say that the entire federal government as well as the state governments came fairly late to the game that have been blamed on the radio was leaking really hot red before they really actually started now however its also fair to say that the governor and the government in new york specifically really went down in overdrive and implemented some to chronic measures to stop the increase of infection so far so foreseen not with much success in this stimulus package 2. 00 trillion dollars some of that money is going to go to new york is it going to help to ease the strain on doctors there. 150000000000. 00 all of this entire stimulus package will go to the state hospitals hospitals and everybody who is involved in health care only 130000000000. 00 will go to the states and this money is earmarked for essential coronavirus related expenses and this is exactly what for example the governor of new york criticized that doesnt help if he gets 5000000000. 00 out of the stimulus package thats a drop in the bucket for new york for the state and for the city and doesnt help him with expenses and one more thing louisiana louisiana has the highest growth rate in infections right now in the world so were focusing on new york now luciana has another hot spot to grow there will have the same problem and youre right it is not being talked about like it should be stephens he was on the story boards tonight in washington stefan thank you. Japan is banning arrivals from 21. 00 European Countries and setting up a Coronavirus Task force as it warns that the epidemic could spread rapidly and widely 40 new cases have been confirmed bringing the countrys total to 1300 but theres concern that many in japan have been slow to get the message about curbing the spread of the virus. Enjoying the outdoors people in tokyo have been taking to the citys parks to soak up the spring weather and admired the seasonal Cherry Blossom crowds gather in public spaces despite appeals by the authorities to help contain the coronaVirus Outbreak. We want to go to more still like there are more people here than i expected so it was the right policeman might come and tell us to leave its. Understood. That some of the things like being inside the house for a long time that hes cute to be at night. It feels nice. On thursday came a stern warning from tokyos governor urging people to avoid nonessential outings to look at the new 30 middle queue is that a crucial juncture it faces the risk of an explosive spray it off the coronavirus. The call immediately prompted residents to queue up at supermarkets to stock up on food and supplies. It will continue this is a place that i couldnt get anything i was so shocked and i had to come out again im glad i was able to buy things today. With packed crowds moving from tokyo as parks to cash registers warnings of a looming National Crisis have grown all the louder. For the European Parliament and brussels is debating special measures to cushion the Economic Impact of this pandemic and right now e. U. Leaders are meeting Via Video Conferencing to discuss steps to mitigate the crisis in a speech to lawmakers today european Commission President. Expressed her dismay at Member States lack of solidarity including decisions to close their border. When europe really needed and only for one spirit too many initially gave and only for me response. And when europe really needed to prove that this is not only a share whether you and me and too many initially refused to share their umbrella but it was not long before some felt the consequences of their own uncooled the need to action a successful new peon response can only be coordinated if our internal market and our showing in the area were cut the way it should a crisis without borders cannot be resolved by putting barriers between us as a strong words there from or sort of underlying lets take a story now to our correspondent dear marcus hes following todays developments for us in brussels good evening to you georg i mean there was a pretty strong condemnation there by the european Commission President where exactly does she see this this lack of solidarity a number of examples brant come to come to mind of course the stockpiling of medical goods and of protective gear is just one example which has taken place in fact its been taking place in a number of Member States its been taking place in germany as well and the commission had to threaten infringement procedures even until germany made a move italy that is desperate for that gear finally got the gear and the mosques that were needed from china and not from a fellow you Member States in another example is the closure of National Borders it was enough on the line for a while now for all over a week now has emphasized that coordination is key you can close individual borders if it helps but you need to coordinate those steps you know we had european leaders meeting Via Video Conferencing today obviously respecting social distancing there the question is did they come up with any solutions to this crisis. Ive seen a preliminary paper that is there that has been prepared and a number of points sound familiar one of them is that the coordination i have mentioned so not creating traffic jams on inner e. U. Borders another one is creating a stockpile off protective gear inside the e. U. So that the Member States who are affected most can get that help and then there is a future of further money for. For research into a vaccine for the virus and then theres the financial aspect and you can expect some rao there today at the commission will ask the finance ministers to look into the e. S. M. Which is the protective debt fund of the european of the. Euro Member States rather than so the couple of the euro zone of 90 Member States to look into that and then theres the decisive issue of euro bonds euro bonds thats still the big taboo here in germany do you know about this on the story for us in brussels tonight thank you. Uganda confirmed its 1st case of the corona virus last saturday and since then the number of infections has risen to 14 and the president has announced a raft of measures to contain the virus they include closing schools and businesses and a ban on public transport restrictions have left many ugandans frustrated and facing Economic Uncertainty he wus Julius Gumbel reports from the capital kampala. Vitex a park hes one of compilers busiest sports one i know did every day hundreds of thousands of people come here to board media passes but this is all we looks to do and no Public Transportation no bus and just ugandas president has ordered the police and the military to enforce his directive to bunt Public Transportation in the interest of public health. In this city under we. Funded for that deities and we cannot to manage docsis little areas this time we are here in town they have nothing to do. Its like they were life is stuck 10 undecided as im asking the president to allow us to access all Social Security fund which is there to help us in retirement when we are physically disabled because this situation is not any different from physical disability want to be now as it is known data you. Know this is the toughest situation i have ever experienced in my life. Feels worse than a war. Losing a little. The shops are closed following the president ial directive to open only those rich foods on this issue items like made because supplies thousands of people who walk here have no alternative source of income but Health Experts say that to contain discreate of the virus everyone must observe social distancing on so far this. They tell we to do that dont just stay at. Our Job Washington news ill be back at the top of the hour with more world news hope to see you get. Language course and. Video audio. Anytime anywhere