Hello and welcome to bbc news. The World Health Organization has warned that the United States could become the global epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic. There are now over 53,000 confirmed cases in the country, and over 600 people with the infection have died. Globally there are now over 400,000 known cases of the virus, and over 18,000 people have died. Here in the uk, 87 people with the virus have died during the past 2a hours. That brings the National Total since the start of the outbreak to 422. But attention is increasingly focused on the United States, and particularly new york city. Its governor, andrew cuomo, has pleaded for medical supplies, warning that covid 19 is spreading in his state faster than a bullet train. Meanwhile, lawmakers in washington are close to reaching a deal on a rescue plan for americas workers and companies. Laura trevelyan reports. The iconic landmarks of new york city are eerily empty, the usually bustling subway and streets shadows of their former selves. The city is shut down to slow the spread of the coronavirus. But the curve isnt flattening here. It is getting steeper. This gigantic Convention Centre on the west side of manhattan is being turned into a 1,000 bed emergency hospital. 140,000 beds will be needed when infections are at their peak, says the governor of new york, who has this dire warning for the rest of america. Look at us today. Where we are today, you will be in three weeks or four weeks or five weeks or six weeks. We are your future. Already louisiana is seeing a surge in cases, with worries that the mardi gras in new orleans may have spread the coronavirus. As restaurants and bars are closed from coast to coast, the economy is contracting before our very eyes. The president s own hotels are affected, like this one by central park. On twitter and on a tv special today, mr trump is contradicting medical experts, who want social distancing to continue until the virus is under control. He wants america back at work. I would love have the country opened up and just raring to go by easter. In response, the frontrunner for the democratic president ial nomination said mr trump should put Public Health first. He should stop talking and start listening to the medical experts. You talk about having an economic crisis. You want an economic crisis . Watch this spike, watch the number of dead go up. Markets rallied on tuesday as lawmakers in washington said they were closing in on a stimulus deal for the battered economy. Americans have seen their lives turned upside down by the coronavirus outbreak in just a few weeks, and here in new york, the city is braced for infections to peak in the coming days. Laura trevelyan reporting there. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowesjoins me now. Peter, it is hard to know where to begin here. Lets talk about the press conference, and donald trump claiming that easter is a beautiful time, a beautiful timeline. Does anyone, any medical experts, and to any of the statistics back that up as being realistic . Well, it seems to be an arbitrary timeline, and he did acknowledge that he will look at the data, he will listen to his scientific experts. But if you look around the country, the data, the numbers that are coming out of every single city, and of course the major states like california, washington and new york, there is no data to suggest that the end this in fa ct, suggest that the end this in fact, quite the opposite. The mayor of los angeles talking about going into a tunnel, a dark tunnel, unable to see the way out. And we have heard a lot, of course, from new york about the rapidly rising statistics in that state. Quite a lot of criticism from within the media, at least, that donald trump is more focused on business and the economy, obviously, which he was lauded for, partly why he was elected president , than the health of the people and the lives of people. Well, based on his comments, and looking at the again, of people around the country, that is the impression that he is giving, that when he gives these daily news conferences, he gives more emphasis, seemingly, on the economy, how good it was, how bad it is now, and how good it will be when all of this is over, and constantly repeating the fact that he believes he is it is the fact that he believes he is it is going to be sooner rather than later. And that is what leads a lot of people to say that he isnt listening to his medical experts, he isnt taking note of the very dire predictions about the number of potential deaths around the country. We are hearing in the last few hours about people, for example, in new york city who have decided to leave the city having to put themselves into self quarantine because they may well have already been infected by the virus. Theres aof infected by the virus. Theres a of concern about new clusters of the virus developing in other parts of the country through people travelling around. Yes, so much to discuss, peter. Thats all weve got time for, im afraid, peter bowes in los angeles. The reason is because we are going to cross live now to the east coast and to florida. We will speak to dr dena grayson, Infectious Disease expert and viral pandemic doctor. Thank you forjoining us. I will be blunt, can you tell me what is happening in new york . Well, u nfortu nately what is happening in new york . Well, unfortunately new york is a total hot zone, and i have been predicting this for well over a month. You could see this coming a mile away. And, you know, it is a densely populated city, as we know stop and unfortunately, mr trump and the federal government did not roll out coronavirus testing until it was much, much, much too late, and so the virus was basically spreading like wildfire in this city, where it is, you know, densely packed, lots of public transit, and we are seeing lots of public transit, and we are seeing cases lots of public transit, and we are seeing cases skyrocket. The number of deaths now are skyrocketing, according to the financial times, they are doubling every day in new york city stop so they are actually. The death toll is rising in new york city faster than anywhere else on the planet during this entire pandemic. Yes, it is really scary, definitely. And part of the problem seems to be the mixed messages coming out of the white house, and the scientists saying one thing, and the leadership saying another. And if i could just pick up on one of those points, this was after a man died in phoenix after taking something also found an anti malaria medicine. That is something that donald trump has been promoting as a treatment for the virus. What more can you tell us about that . Yes, sure, u nfortu nately tell us about that . Yes, sure, unfortunately mr trump was touting from the podium a drug called chloroquine, which is in antimalarial medicine. And he was tweeting about it. And there is some anecdotal evidence, some case reports that maybe this medicine might decrease the viral load and patience. But the reality is that we dont really know. I mean, we have had anecdotal evidence before, and you do a controlled Clinical Trial and it doesnt pan out. Now, u nfortu nately it doesnt pan out. Now, unfortunately what happened in the case of this couple in arizona is they heard about chloroquine, so they found that we have fish food, some sort of this cleaner, i should say, fish tank cleaner, in their house that had chloroquine in it. That is the exact same active ingredient that is in the medicine that people take to treat malaria. And other, you know, diseases as well, beyond malaria, such as chronic inflammatory diseases. So at any rate, this couple saw the chloroquine, it is the exact same compound, and they thought, well, they were afraid of getting coronavirus, the president of the United States says hey, this is the miracle cure, and that was their interpretation, not a physician. And unfortunately they ingested that compound. Now chloroquine, it is an effective drug, and can be when used properly, but it has very dangerous side effects including causing fatal heart reactions. And that is what happened with this couple, the husband died, the woman is in the intensive care unit, and she is now telling everyone dont listen to a word they say, dont listen to him, dont listen to any of his people. I think the cat is out of the bag, now. We saw this huge run on this fish cleaner on ebay, where the prices went up to 500 for it. | where the prices went up to 500 for it. I mean, people are kind of. They are really desperate, and it is extremely dangerous. So i encourage people, you only take any kind of medicine under the direct supervision of a doctor. Yes, it is really worrying. Looking outside of the usa, have you got any good news . Theres lots of doom and gloom around, but obviously south korea seemed to be doing very well, having initially got a lot of cases. China obviously, where it came from, they have done very, very well in wuhan and in Hubei Province. Is there any good news on the horizon . Yes, i think what we have seen in south korea is if you get out in front of this virus and you are in front of this virus and you a re really in front of this virus and you are really aggressive, with testing and retesting, that really works. And in the hot zone of italy, outside of asia, we have seen that work. This little town in the middle of the hot zone in northern italy, 3000 people, they have been testing and retesting, including, importantly, testing young people. Young people have a vast majority of the infections, between the ages of 20 and 40. In south korea its about 40 . We are also seeing that here in the United States. But they dont show a lot of symptoms. So they other ones spreading this virus. So test, test, test, retest. You can get out in front of this virus. The same thing happened in china. They waited too long, of course, to lockdown. They then locked down for over two months, and they have instituted testing, testing, retesti ng, instituted testing, testing, retesting, and they are slowly opening back up. And we in the United States are where china was several months ago, where italy was not so long ago, where spain was. We didnt lockdown quickly enough and aggressively enough, and u nfortu nately we a re aggressively enough, and unfortunately we are going to see a massive spike and surge in cases and the next 4 six weeks are going to be an extremely bumpy ride. Yes, and i think extremely bumpy ride. Yes, and ithinka extremely bumpy ride. Yes, and i think a lot of uk viewers would recognise what youre saying in terms of us behind a lot of countries. Thank you very much indeed, joining us from florida. Three young doctors working in the a e department of a London Hospital have issued a stark warning to the uk, as the death toll from coronavirus rose by 87, the biggest daily rise so far. But the doctors warned that they are seeing people in their 20s and 30s who are very sick, and they said that the surge of cases was onlyjust beginning. They urged everyone to take the governments new restrictions very seriously. Here is our Health Editor hugh pym. We are standing at the foot of the mountain, and we are looking up, and we dont know where that summit is. We dont know what were heading towards. Three doctors at a London Hospital tell me what they are now seeing daily on the front line. Patients in their 20s, patients in their 30s. We dont know what the outcome of some of these patients will be. They will go to intensive care, they may be in intensive care for some weeks, and some of them will die. And its completely heartbreaking and harrowing. London is ahead of the rest of the uk with the coronavirus. Theyre warning other areas what might happen. So we have all of these people who are incredibly, critically unwell. And people are dying alone. People have no company, they have no comfort. And thats incredibly difficult for healthcare providers, who are trying to help people recover, 01 in some cases pass away with dignity and kindness. We are stretched as it is, and thats incredibly hard. But theyre ready for whatever comes next. Theres a lot of training thats going on to prepare for this onslaught that we are guaranteed to receive in the next few weeks and months. And i think that theres a positive, a tentative positive, that we are trying to prepare for that as best we can. In a hospital bed in durham, michelle had a plea to the public be careful, and responsible. Im begging you. Please, please be careful. Be responsible. Some patients receiving care for different conditions, including cancer, are worried about what will happen as hospitals postpone some treatments to focus on coronavirus cases. A bowel cancer surgeon told me some procedures were having to be rescheduled. Its quite terrifying to them. These are patients who were expecting to have surgery done, and now theyre facing uncertain dates, theyre facing hospitals that are going to be full of patients with covid. And were doing our best to deal with both the psychology of the situation, but also get them to timely care. So its a lot of pressure on everyone. Masha is having chemotherapy in a private ward at an nhs hospital. She has been told it is not certain it will continue there. Im unsure if therell be enough nurses that will be able to look after me, if ill even be able to get my treatment. It is all very scary because, you know, once you start chemotherapy, you need to carry on. And so, if i have to pause it, i wont know for how long ill have to pause it. I dont know then what it will do to my health. 0ne Hospital Trust has postponed chemotherapy treatment, along with other outpatient appointments, for two weeks, while they prepare their wards and staff for an influx of coronavirus patients. We are increasing our preparations for care of patients with covid 19, and were seeing increasing numbers of admissions to hospitals. And were very conscious that our Cancer Patients are at particular risk, particularly if they develop covid 19. They can become seriously ill. Every hospital is preparing, and the government announced there will be a temporary new one here, at the excel Conference Centre in londons docklands, with room for 4,000 patients. More will be created at other locations. The planning is on a big scale, but the nhs will need every bed it canfind. Hugh pym, bbc news. Stay with us on bbc news. Still to come india begins a 3 week lockdown to help curb the spread of coronavirus, following a last minute stockpiling spree. The two main symptoms of coronavirus to look out for are a continuous dry cough and or a fever. If youre sneezing a lot, got a runny nose or a headache, you may be ill but youve probably not got coronavirus. So, how high a fever is a coronavirus one, and what exactly is a continuous dry cough . Well, its when you cough and theres no mucus or phlegm basically no gooey substance in your tissue. And this is not the odd cough here and there, it has to be coughing regularly for no other reason, such as clearing your throat or smoking. So how high a fever is a coronavirus fever . Well, if you have one, you will know about it. Technically, its a body temperature of more than 37. 8 degrees celsius, or 100 degrees fahrenheit, but if youve not got a thermometer, basically you will feel hot and your chest and back would be hot. This is bbc news. The latest headlines President Trump says he hopes american businesses will be operating as usual by easter, despite a surge in the number of cases. Doctors in the uk warn that young people are also being seriously affected by the virus, and that the recent surge in cases is only the beginning. Tens of millions of people in chinas Hubei Province will finally be allowed to travel freely after more than two months of lockdown. The restrictions have been lifted for citizens deemed healthy, but residents of wuhan, the provinces capital and epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, will have to wait until the 8th of april to be allowed to leave. Were joined from washington by rui zhong, a china expert from the think tank, the wilson center. Rui, the wilson center. Thanks forjoining us. Is now rui, thanks forjoining us. Is now the right time to be lifting these restrictions incubate province, do you think . The provinces name is hubei, not to be confused with hubai, but in hubei, there are dropping cases, and we can tell this, even though Chinese Statistics are fudged a bit, because weve seen a statistics are fudged a bit, because weve seen a lower strain on Healthcare Facilities and hospitals, and were seeing the larger quarantine centres are set up in february taken down and some of the medical personnel moved back outside of the province. And you are from wuhan and you still have friends and family in the city there, how strict was the lockdown and what measures are still in place . The lockdown for the most part meant people werent allowed to leave the resident compounds they lived in. For some people they could move around the courtyard areas of their apartments, but typically not beyond the main entrance gate. I think a doorman or check in area for an apartment building. They usually use that area to receive groceries or deliveries, but they typically didnt go in or out without passing some sort of checkpoint. My grandparents we re checkpoint. My grandparents were on the older side, there about 80, it was advised a sickly they not leave their apartments unless absolutely necessary. How necessary. H ow exa ctly necessary. How exactly did the authorities in wuhan get on top of the virus . Was it simply quarantining virus . Was it simply quara ntining absolutely everyone . And second partly the question, do you think other cities and countries around the world can use the same techniques as wuhan or other cultural differences too much . I dont think its so much of a cultural difference as the recesses deployed. There were a lot of strict disciplinary measures and Law Enforcement measures and Law Enforcement measures established for people that broke quarantine and you had chinese Law Enforcement utilising resources to track, identify and apprehend people breaking quarantine. At the same time, the mechanics of the lockdown included definitely cooperation from people and communities, but also ways that they could funnel resources and streamline the ways they were able to get supplies, able to get, you know, pharmaceutical medicines into communities. As the lockdown wore on, it was very much a learning curve for hand to be able to, you know, essentially allow the city to survive for that period of time. There is no cultural secret source to this. Its a mix of policy and community action. All really interesting and we could talk forever on this topic, but rui zhong, thank you very much indeed. Rui zhong lives in washington. Live india, a nation of 1. 3 billion people, has gone into a complete lockdown, lasting at least three weeks. India has recorded over 500 positive coronavirus cases, and reported ten deaths. Delhi correspondent Arunoday Mukharji has more. With uncertainty looming, india on tuesday prepared for the worst. In cities, hundreds of commuters looked to finish up last minute errands, and state borders were sealed. Many stranded, struggling to get back home. 0nce bustling cities slowly turning into ghost towns. The police patrolled the streets, ensuring citizens followed orders, threatening action if they didnt comply. But indias measures were only going to get tougher. On tuesday night, indias Prime Minister ordered citizens to stay at home for the next three weeks. No sooner had he spoken, these were the scenes outside convenience stores. Citizens jostled to stock up, preparing for the long haul. As anxiety peaked, the Prime Ministers office assured citizens that the supply of essential items will not be affected, that food and medicines will be available. This is an important message. In unprecedented circumstances, the Uk High Commission reached out to its citizens who may be stranded in india. If you require urgent consular assistance, please contact us on the numbers on screen. In a country of 1. 3 billion people, the next three weeks will be crucial and could make or break the countrys fight against coronavirus. Arunoday mukharji, bbc news, delhi. Lets get some news elsewhere in the world now. On the same topic libyas National Centre for Disease Control in tripoli has confirmed its first case. Health workers have been disinfecting the streets of the capital to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Experts fear an outbreak could be catastrophic due to the countrys degraded health system. Most libyans often get their medical treatment in neighbouring tunisia three confirmed cases of the virus on the greek island of lesbos have sparked fears of the potential impact if it reaches the overcrowded moria refugee camp, which is home to around 20,000 people. Humanitarian organisations are warning the dire conditions there are leaving refugees especially vulnerable to the disease. The International Olympic committee has announced that the tokyo games, which were due to begin injuly, are to be postponed by a year, because of the pandemic. It is the first time the games have ever been postponed in peacetime and comes after mounting International Pressure for them to be delayed. 0ur sports editor, dan roan, has more. Four years after the baton and was passed to tokyo the flame arrived in japan this week. With world sport shutdown, the biggest event of all had clung on, but today, finally, came confirmation. Translation cancelling the games was not an option, so there was an agreement about that. The holding of the games injuly as that. The holding of the games in july as planned that. The holding of the games injuly as planned is impossible. Organisers wanted a month to consider delaying an event thats costa plan at least £10 billion, but with the pandemic causing havoc with qualifying events, canada withdrew amid mounting pressure for the postponement. The head of the British Olympics Association said the right decision had been reached. Im relieved because we we re reached. Im relieved because we were getting more feedback from athletes and sports saying it had to be postponed this year, the one decision we have to make is putting it back to 2021 so my sense is relief. Two weeks ago i was injapan involved in Detailed Planning ahead ofjuly, 2020 so a lot has happened in two weeks and i do feel a lot of empathy and sympathy for the japanese at the moment. Once athletes Training Facilities like british cyclings National Velodrome where shutdown all across the world, tokyo 2020 effectively became untenable, but organisers based and unprecedented challenge to rearrange a hugely complicated mega event with restrooms over additional costs, commercial contracts, the availability of venues and the impact on the sporting canada. From the spread of sporting. The olympics has been one not until now have they been delayed in peacetime. The flame will stay injapan, they peacetime. The flame will stay in japan, they hope peacetime. The flame will stay injapan, they hope they can act as a beacon of light, but when precisely the 2021 games will begin remains uncertain. You can reach me on twitter, im sipusey. Hello. Tuesday brought us the warmest day of the year so far. The warmest place was rhyl in north wales, where the temperature nudged just a shade above 19 degrees celsius. I think well see quite a bit of warm weather across particularly the southern half of the uk again today. High pressure is to thank, and its feeding air into the uk all the way from the core of europe. Towards the north west, though, we do have a weather front in play thats bringing more cloud. Therell ne further outbreaks of rain today as well for Northern Ireland and scotland, but with shelter from the mountains and hills, to the south east of Northern Ireland, across eastern scotland, hopefully we will see a little sunshine as the day wears on. Whereas the cloud could drift a bit further south, turning the sunshine a little hazy in Northern England and western wales, with the odd spot of drizzle. Where we have the best of the sunshine will have the highest temperatures, s0 across a central slice of uk, highs of 15 or 16 degrees. Through wednesday evening and overnight into thursday, it almost looks like its not moving, doesnt it, this weather front, but its slowly sliding south. By the end of the night, i think clearer skies for the north west of scotland, so the risk of a patchy frost here. To the south of the front, though, with clear skies and light winds to take us into thursday morning, i think were going to see a frost across mainly parts of southern england, particularly towards the south east and other parts of wales too. Heres thursday, and theres our front still sitting in place straddling, scotland and Northern Ireland. Perhaps a little less in the way of rain on the length of that front. Its looking much brighter by this stage in northern scotland, with the cloud trickling down into Northern England. Starting to become just a shade cooler on thursday. Our top temperatures 13 or 14 degrees. By friday, its a bit of a case of spot the difference. Theres less rain in association with our front, but again its barely moved, so for northern scotland, more sunshine, and to the south of the uk, looking pretty bright as well. But notice again the temperatures starting to slide somewhat. What we have is a play off between two areas of High Pressure the continental one thats brought the milder air, and one coming in off the atlantic that will start to win out over the weekend, and as it does so, it starts to introduce a northerly or north easterly air flow. So, we will still have a lot of settled weather, a lot of fine weather, but come the weekend, it is going to feel considerably colder, and there is some sign that on sunday, there could quite a few wintry showers feeding into easterly extremes of the uk. Heres your five day outlook a lot of fair weather to come, but you can see that drop in temperatures. This is bbc news. The headlines President Trump says he hopes american businesses will be back up and running by easter, despite a surge in the number of cases. That is as the World Health Organization warned that the United States could become the next epicentre of the pandemic. Doctors have told the bbc that the recent surge in cases is only the beginning, and that there are a number of young people among the most serious cases. The number of deaths in the uk has risen to more than 400. A three week lockdown has come into force in india, the worlds second most populous country. The Prime Minister says it is essential to prevent the country being set back decades, but it is not clear how or even if people will now be allowed out to buy food and other essentials