Transcripts For ALJAZ NEWSHOUR 20240713

Which are making their way into Media Coverage and in sport the English Premier League is suspended and may not be finished coronavirus. None of the star will see a meeting of Club Officials in london decided to call off all games incident least april before. Its just gone 1500 hours g. M. T. Which is 4 pm in madrid the developing news out of there is that spain has just declared a state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic the Prime Minister says hell be mobilizing the military to contain new cases and that the number could surpass 10000 as early as next week also in europe ukraine barring all foreigners from entering the country as i mentioned as well the e. U. Setting up a 41000000000. 00 fund to help european economies we have correspondents all. All over the world with the latest updates we will start though with this which youre very familiar with the Johns Hopkins university virus tracker from the United States the headline number is these numbers have just been updated is that 1137456 confirmed cases of corona virus and if i just try to take it back to the map for the work there we go you also see 5074 deaths the number has crossed 5000 just in the past hour or so and seeing as we were talking about spain just bring up the latest numbers out of spain a confirmed number of 4073 cases there with the deaths now up to 92 so as i said correspondents all over the world to tell us whats going on kimberly how gets at the white house more there on whats happening with hopefully an uptick in testing christine salumi is at the New York Stock Exchange gabriel is on there is in new york state of emergency there also teresa both with impact coming out of latin america she is in buenos aires and over this side same bus ravi in teheran were starting there in london neve barca keeping an eye on whats happening in europe and i think spain is top of the list right now. Thats absolutely right a state of emergency declared after a leap of 4000 confirmed cases in just one day so what is the state of emergency maine it means that there will now be special powers to be able to confine people to their houses to be able to lock down parts of cities or districts we know that the 1st banditry lockdown has already happened with 60000. 00 people in 4 towns being affected in the spanish capital or low and there are now 2000 confirmed cases most of them in Nursing Homes we know that already schools universities museums and so on and so forth of close down to the public there is now a very real debate about whether or not madrid itself the spanish capital should also follow suit and begin to locking down at least parts of the city in view to possibly the entire capital later on. Ok thanks for that for known needs more european develops within the as the day goes on on friday right now though were off to washington d. C. Here is a White House Correspondent kimberly how could developments on the testing front can lead because this has become a real point of contention. Is a real point of contention u. S. President being criticized potentially for not making the tests more available in order to keep those numbers artificially down to this is something that the white house has denied but certainly this has been a criticism and now the u. S. President taking aid at the Previous Administration under barack obama on the c. D. C. For the shortage of tests on social media as well the u. S. President also defending the low number of cases of coronavirus in the United States right now saying this is a result of his very strict Border Control policy that he put in at the beginning of his administration now we are just hearing that there is likely to be a press conference that the president will be holding at 900. 00 g. M. T. Of course were watching carefully to see if hell say more about that in the midst of that watching on capitol hill there are also developments up there there not only is this ongoing effort to make testing more widespread and available but to help those americans who are already affected by this even if they are not infected by coronavirus whether it be School Lunches whether it be Unemployment Insurance watching very carefully to see the 2nd legislative package being unveiled there and potentially voted on this would be one of the 10s of billions of dollars unlike the previous package that was approved for 8300000000 so very carefully for those movements on capitol hill and of course what the u. S. President will have to say later on at his 900 g. M. T. Press conference thank you kimberly how could the white house and while were talking numbers lets see whats happening on wall street at the moment go to what a different story that is the market up 2. 8 percent of opened i believe 5 percent higher so a very different story on the markets today christine salumi is there for us scotia must be like calm down there today kristen i know theres still obviously been days of losses but at least to pick some of it back. Yeah stocks are up a bit recovering some of their losses from yesterdays historic slide that was the worst since the black market black monday crash of 1987 as you mention the major indices are up a better around 3 percent on news that u. S. Leaders are moving closer perhaps to a relief package u. S. Treasury secretary steve minutia and attempting to calm the public and common vester earlier today talking about putting more liquidity into affected industries that so having a calming effect were seeing oil prices up a bit for the 1st time in days as wow also Central Banks around the world have been taking action to calm things on the economic front as well from japan to norway to the United States federal banks either raising interest cutting Interest Rates or injecting money into the markets to keep the liquidity there are so right now investors are snapping up some bargains things a little bit better but the longest bull market run in u. S. History is officially over that happened this week with the s. And p. 500. 00 in the Dow Jones Industrial average dropping more than 20 percent from their high points of the year ending an 11 year run of growth and investors remain concerned weve had the headlines over the last 24 hours of events being closed people working from home the 1st layoffs related to coronavirus also being reported so theres a lot of uncertainty Going Forward the volatility index which shows how nervous investors are also remains high a bit more calm today but theyre still looking for the concrete plans what are the u. S. Government what are congressional leaders going to do thats still unknown and till that is sorted out and the full extent of this coronavirus i think were going to see more volatility kristen salumi is inside the New York Stock Exchange in manhattan lets head out onto the streets of new york with gabriel. Coakley the city that never sleeps gabriel now technically it has to. Yeah thats absolutely right this is the 1st full day that new york city is under an emergency as the as the mayor of new york city declared late on thursday this is the front page of one of the tabloids the New York Post this is what new yorkers woke up to its a picture of the Empire State Building with the sign sorry were closed in essentially new york city might not officially be closed but unofficially it sure is lots of the cultural institutions around the city for one are closed let me give you an idea broadway theaters closed the metropolitan museum of art closed Carnegie Hall has been shut down the museum of Natural History shut down the new york city opera is closed as well that just gives you an idea now this state of emergency by new york city was implemented by the mayor so he can take more extreme steps if necessary he made it clear that the city is not under any quarantine but just the fact that he called a state of emergency has certainly rattled the many new yorkers many businesses are closed restaurants are for the most part empty many of the Office Buildings here in Lower Manhattan where im at right now of the World Trade Center area for the most part empty the streets pretty much a very quiet as well as quiet as you can get for a city such as new york city so theres a lot of worry here without a doubt right now of the numbers or 95 people in new york city with coronavirus 320 in the state in new york of both the governor and the mayor say that number could go up by the hour everyone is on is in the big apple new york thank you gabriel we head for the south now latin america to race the boat in the argentinian capital of buenos aires to write that even without coronavirus we could have talked about any number of latin american countries which were struggling with economic problems there must be huge concern about what corona virus could do. To those already struggling economies. Most definitely the governments around the region are getting ready to try to contain the spread of the virus mostly because the level of amount of infections in this part of the world is not yet high so what theyre trying to do right now is implemented state of emergency cancel flights and try to warn the population about what could come ahead but in spite of all of this and the consequent on the consequences that the virus could have involved thats highly connellys like the ones in latin america right now all eyes are in brazil president joey towards tonight or appeared on thursday on a Facebook Live wearing a mask he was saying that he had been tested for coronavirus and hes a spokesperson who had traveled with him to the United States to see daunte from have steps to deposit it he also said that he was waiting for the results theres not some reporting on local media that the president tested positive on the 1st test and that a 2nd one was carried out and that right now that were waiting for any type of confirmation local media is also saying that there was lots of tension in the air that they had called top military commanders and that the plane that the president was traveling in was contaminated however this cannot be confirmed it has not been confirmed by the president ial office in brazil of also not at least 64 years old hes our underwent 4 surgeries since he was tapped during the campaign trail he was waiting for a 5th one so he there was a big demonstration by his supporters to show their support for him and also to protest against the Supreme Court and against congress in brazil definitely the president ask his supporters not to gather this coming sunday because of the Current Situation not only in brazil but also and the rest of the world to as a burn going to sirees thank you for that quick word on iran as well which is an else new measures to fight the spread of coronavirus 85 confirmed there in the last 24 hours the total there now what 514. 00 with at least 11400. 00 confirmed infections. Irans really struggling with a lack of lifesaving equipment it has asked for an emergency 5000000000 dollar loan from the International Monetary fund. In teheran to take us through this one when we talk about new measures zain what are they welcome all the numbers continue to go up the number of deaths the number of overall cases continue to rise and in the last week iranian president Hassan Rouhani has taken a great deal of criticism from all corners of the political spectrum for his task force headed by the Health Ministry simply not being able to get a grip on the spread of this outbreak throughout the country so last night the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei he ordered the opening the setting up of a new taskforce this one with a much more military slant it will be headed by the chief of the Armed Forces Major general mohammad but harry and after the 1st meeting of this task force earlier today buttery took to state media and announce some of the measures that the countrys military intends on taking as it gets more intimately involved on the ground in terms of combating this virus he said that in the next 24 hours iranians should expect military presence in major areas to try to control movements to try to control crowd sizes to try to police and prevent large crowds from forming and therefore putting a Security Point on the government guidance not to go out not to carry on in terms of personal movements throughout cities and countries so really this is a security step being taken by irans Supreme Leader to to empower the countrys military to take over from the civilian government were civilian steps to address this Public Health crisis simply werent working. With that update hes on scott from teheran for us thanks a. So were around the world with our correspondents there and now a few more nations how they are dealing with the spread of coronavirus russia 1st of all stepping up its efforts to contain the outbreak city authorities are now required to disinfect the metro cabins 4 times a day buses are also being cleaned each time they return to the death row the city has banned large public gatherings 34. 00 cases of the virus there but no one has died so what if. It is more about disinfection of course i also use hand protection tools and im using this mask to it protects looking at asia now and unlike some parts of the continent students in taipei are still actually going to school corona virus infection rates in taiwan remained relatively low but the government is increasing its disinfection measures and dad its a very special feeling i think that we can prevent bacteria from getting too close. To yeah we are less likely to spray us alive or on to other people we list likely to get infected easily. And this is the french capital paris where people are still using public transport but theyre taking a lot of extra care to protect themselves in the virus on friday the government banned any gatherings of more than 100 people. So i dont think their travel. Doing protection stuff and some i really dont know thats the reason you know we dont know how critical this harvest. Prevent these spent you didnt hear. But france will be going ahead with local elections on sunday the Health Minister is assured the process will be no more dangerous than a trip to the supermarket thats a quote on his Natasha Butler reports candidates vying to be the mayor of paris are now adjusting the way they campaign. The coronavirus was clearly on focus minds in paris as an us preside campaigned in the city to become mayor the former french Health Minister is the candidate for french president emmanuel macro centrist Party Republic on the moon of what so some people say there are fewer people on the streets i think are easier to being responsible for the use our replaced her partys 1st choice benjamin grieve over in february after he stepped down following a sex video scandal a late comer to the race opinion polls suggest trailing behind the front runners. One of the favorites is the incumbent socialist and you dont go is fighting for reelection promising to continue her battle against pollution in the city by making it greener. We are opening a new way to live in the city differently in a paris that respects nature spectral and that year they lived for 6 years edo goes run a city famous for its style but it has problems housing is expensive crime is on the rise and the streets are often dirty the main challenger is conservative candidate rashida daddy she promises to clean up the city and make it safer a Justice Minister under Nicolas Sarkozy the former president is backing her campaign. And his preside isnt the only candidate from the president s party who seems to be struggling in the local elections there are nearly 35000 mayoral seats and france but only a minority i expected to go back was way. The. Recent anger over macros Pension Reforms and months of yellow vest protests have damaged macros popularity and in turn his policies but those arent the only reasons because party was created to accompany his conquest of the presidency so that only 3 years ago and its a very long party that doesnt have. Prisons in. This small towns in the in the municipal level and so they dont have their parties they dont have the roots of local politics and local politics is a very specific thing that cross party was braced for the political consequences of the local elections but the covering of virus has shifted the focus people in france are closely watching the governments handling of the Health Emergency if deemed successful it may revive the partys fortunes and if a shadow what happens at the ballot box natasha aljazeera paris were conscious there is a lot of news about coronavirus from all over the world its a lot of numbers now so i want to do a bit of as we like to say news you can use and whats become known as social distancing it is a way to help keep infection rates down now even if youre young like me and symptom free in a country that doesnt have any confirmed cases you should really think about staying away from Public Events concerts crowded restaurants bars religious services places where you would be in close proximity to large groups of people now of course in doing that have come uncomfortably close to you and thats something you have to think about and one on one situations as well if we come over here and have a look at what the World Health Organization is saying they want to meet or they want to major between you and anyone showing symptoms like coughing or sneezing the c. D. C. The u. S. Center for Disease Control wants to meet in fact they say its better to meters and that you should stop shaking hands as well and if you have older relatives in care homes well remember theyre the ones most at risk and what the c. D. C. Wants there is it wants restrictions on visitor numbers so that we can keep coronavirus out of those communities so theres just a few Little Things to think about when you are out and about in your everyday life. Of course one of the more important things though is to see testing for people who do think they have corona virus or at least exhibiting some of the symptoms kimberly helka was talking about earlier the issue of testing certainly in the United States not being prevalent and awful weve got. With us now a director of cap which is a Global Health center shes also a professor of epidemiology and medicine at Columbia University on scott from new york and we thank you for making the time for us today what do you might 1st of all love the testing situation in the United States it seems to be such a fundamental thing test people so you can get a real indication its not happening. And yes i thank you 1st of all for the opportunity and as you have said that testing is the foundation its absolutely fundamental because i think one of our 1st defenses in tackling this outbreak is to try to identify the people who are infected who do have the virus and to rapidly icily their do not be transmitted this virus to others in their community in their surroundings and actually. I think over the past 2 weeks its become abundantly clear that in the u. S. We do not have as of yet sufficiently members are. To be able to address this crisis in particular because this is quite a large country where 300 cities are people who live in the United States currently and should be an easy enough thing you just said test kits and i know ive mentioned that on air as well talking about more tests whats a test kit and is it easy to use and simple to distribution can you take us through some of that. I think currently there is there needs to be done in the laboratory so its not the kind of test that can be done at the point of care and we need it done at the Bedside Community but what can be done is the sampling to get the samples from the nose and from the mouth as is your commended and then to send those samples in a very safe way to the laboratory where the person can be done so we dont have unfortunately as of yet what we call a point of care test rapid forward this far years and you might have heard me just before i came to you talking about some of the recommendations from w. H. O. In c. D. C. About keeping a distance and not shaking hands i mean they can feel a little bit i wont say silly sometimes but its like oh i must keep one meter away and being conscious of these things its important though isnt it these are things which will all mass make a difference. Absolutely and i think what we the way we as a Global Community can tackle this pandemic is by each one of us really believing that we have a responsibility and we can contribute something to stopping this and that nick and i think it is by doing some of the simple things that you just mentioned and keeping in mind that this will require some behavior change but its quite feasible i think for example not chicken cans to always sneeze or cough in a tissue and throw that tissue away never sneeze or cough in ones hand as well as of course to stay away from work if youre not feeling well and to washingtons frequent frequently which is what is recommended so show this think this syncing is very fundamental as well and the idea is to decrease the density of people coming together so avoid crowded situations and thats the reason. Why sporting events have been canceled for example in the United States and see it or events and so on and so forth it is where the key purpose of trying to decrease the density of people coming together and therefore increasing the chance the odds of someone who might have a virus transmitting it to someone else who doesnt or just a lot of good common sense isnt it awful. Joining us from new york today thank you do appreciate that thank you thank you feel the notes here Actor Tom Hanks as thanks people for their support after he and his wife rita wilson were diagnosed with coronavirus by announce they had their diagnoses on thursday in australia while a hanks is working on a film the 2 time oscar winner posted on instagram we have covered 19 and are in isolation so we do not spread it to anyone else the canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in self current enough to his wife tested positive for corona virus Sophie Trudeau had been experiencing flu like symptoms after a visit to the u. K. The Prime Minister says he doesnt actually have some. The infection but hes staying in isolation for 2 weeks anyway and disneyland is closing down in the United States and europe after this weekend its parks in florida california and paris will stay shut until at least the end of march as will its cruise line business disneys already shut down its asian parks for 2 months creating estimated losses of 175000000. 00 and the vaticans ordered the reopening of some of romes churches after a cardinal ordered baby clothes until early april the initial move followed cancellations of public engagements by the pope who instead has been Live Streaming prayers to avoid the big crowds the vatican also told runs catholics they are not obliged to attend sunday mass during the crisis our coverage continues on aljazeera in just a moment israels Prime Minister has made a National Plea to his chief rival we will see what he is proposing for the fight against corona virus and the outbreak also impacting the sports world the 1st 3 races now formula one season have been hit with a red light and he will add that and the rest of the cancellations a little bit later. In other live each day across parts of the Eastern Mediterranean lots of clouds spilling across the levant as we go on through the coming hours we will see whether making its way towards syria lebanon jordan and eventually into iraq this is the same yesterday in cairo very heavy rainfall that has been flooding in many power since and the widespread travel disruption as a result of that as it was the weather pushing everts was iraq towards iran as we go on into was sas day lot of showers coming in behind through the course of the day but it will tend to weaken by the end of the we cannot see bad if they have a class that in place still quite brisk on the way in so lift it doesnt sound visibility issues still in play as we go on right through this weekend show as they will tend to fade away over the high ground of iraq as we go on into sunday with a still out of the us some of the heavy flooding here with the possibility of a lot of shows to across central parts of africa as this should be will see some rather wet weather coming in across the gulf of guinea now if you have been highlands down across parts of kenya uganda seeing the showers showers rolling across southern parts of nigeria goddess seeing some showers the shows stand there way over towards the good part of liberia and sierra leone. From. A nation where corruption is endemic now embroiled in a battle to hold the power to account. How has this radical transformation occur. I mean if. I mean if you want to shedding light on the romanians pressing for change and the unconventional methods to eliminate corruption remain people. On aljazeera. In 24 teams and aljazeera investigation revealed how anger and fear fear will be in bone a crisis that ravaged west africa we asked our lives they didnt allow you to hospital knowing we are dying 3 years on we speak to the filmmaker the one thing that spread and caused devastation on his feet that was born out of ignorance rewind liberia living with a bow on aljazeera. Developments from all over the world in the corona virus pandemic this news starting with spain which is declaring a state of emergency allowing the military to step in to continue cases with 4209 infections it has the 2nd highest number in europe after italy in the u. S. Health Authorities Say the number of cases there will increase in the coming weeks theyve also said there are plans to roll out a large scale testing operation off the criticism testing kits wont easily available and wall street seems to bounce back after u. S. Stocks had their biggest one day loss in 33 years on thursday Dow Jones Industrial average opened up more than 5 percent and markets in europe also showed signs of recovery. In australia a large Public Events are being canceled and people urged to avoid travelling overseas as the government tries to contain the spread their Health Officials are warning millions of people could contract the virus in the coming months and the date reports from sydney. Some had been waiting for hours before the decision was made that a strategy is formula one would not go ahead it many are angry they would told soon a shes doing such a bad job of communicating that everything early a mclaren pulled out after one of its team members tested positive for corona virus formula one champion Lewis Hamilton accused organizers of pushing money for health if the rice wasnt cancelled it which terribly disappointed that the event cant go ahead and the reasons for that well known spectators were banned. From watching the one Day International cricket match in sydney between australia and new zealand which meant an empty stadium and cash registers on thursday the government was still advised people to attend Public Events but in an effort to fight the virus and after pressure from Health Experts that quickly changed we will be advising against. Organized. Norm essential gatherings of persons of 500 people. The Prime Minister also told us not to travel overseas if it wasnt essential with financial pressure on the ideation industry travel agent Flight Center is closing 100. 00 stalls across the country the number of job losses isnt clear and Virgin Australia is cutting flights to cope with the falling demand the number of coronavirus cases in australia is continuing to rise and no surprise it is hitting the economy as well as the share market we have stocks plummeting the Australian Government has announced a 7 tane 1000000000. 00 stimulus package handing out 750. 00 payments to some to try and prevent a recession for the 1st time in 29 years. Among those in australian hospitals with the Barossa Hollywood Actor Tom Hanks and his wife rita wilson as well as the nations Home Affairs Minister peter dutton who now have to work from home for a while gage aljazeera sydney. We saw a bit of it in that report from nick the impact on major Sports Events all around the world and the richardsons here to talk a little bit more about before his sports bulletin later that surreal situation today of watching cricket australia versus new zealand with no one in the stands theres a joke there but i wont go you will go down that line the English Premier League talked about closed doors but its going a step further the start of today we had 3 major european leagues still sort of bucking the trend still trying to play games this weekend in france theyre going to play behind closed doors thats all suspended germany still persisting with the idea of playing behind closed doors this weekend but it looks like from next tuesday or games will be suspended the English Premier League were pretty determined to carry on playing its hook one of the. Top level managers mccotter arsenal to test positive for corona virus for the finally change their mind right here from the u. K. Prime minister on thursday Boris Johnson talking about the fact that the advice he was getting was that sporting events wasnt a big way of passing the virus around and kick back on that was that a lot of people said well you dont just stuff appear by magical portal into your seats you have to go through you know busy transport apparently as it is crowded areas outside the stadium as well and also the fact that as as weve discovered now players are not superhumans theyre just as exposed to this virus as everyone else in fact more so perhaps because of the close quarters theyre in with their teammates and so forth so basically all european leagues have now been suspended. Looking forward on shoes day european footballs governing body have convened a meeting of all their members so she ations to see what happens next really what i think is likely to happen is that the league will be given time to finish at some point although weve heard from that london meeting today that maybe the season wont finish its all on the european championships that were due to take place in june july this year across 12 countries in 12 cities which in the current climate isnt seem like a great idea that may be delayed by one year im just looking at my computer the list of things which we could possibly talk about remember youre going to have more of them in your sports for them but the Olympic Games i know thats again another long term thing but we saw the flame that yesterday yeah the players are going to japan has now been snuffed out. We are thomas back the i. O. C. President talking. The flame or Lighting Ceremony in greece the home of the spiritual home of the games and saying that athlete should continue to prepare for the games in tokyo in july that he was heartened by all the steps that countries were taking. Organizers of this torch relay is due to go for a few days around greece before heading over to tokyo had urged people not to come and have a look at the torture relates to to reduce the chance of spreading the virus the guess what people still came as we saw Football Games that were trying to close hole behind closed doors and fans still came outside the stadium this was happening that sort of relay so many people coming so theyve abandoned that sort surely but officially the gains in soco in july still going at. Yes yeah i dont seem convinced i dont thank you Andy Richardson more sport for many later in this news hour. To israel now where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for the formation of an emergency government to confront coronavirus netanyahu made the offer on a nationally televised address saying a new temporary administration with his chief rival benny gantz would quote save the lives of citizens he also ordered most schools to be closed. Here in qatar all cinemas gyms and museums are being closed on top of the suspension of schools and the banning of travelers from 14 countries the number of cases in the gulf state is now at 262 after a spike of reported numbers on weapons day and kenya has confirmed its 1st case of coronavirus report of the a woman who traveled both to the United States and the u. K. More on that from malcolm webb in nairobi hes got developments from there and elsewhere in africa. Ethiopia has announced its 1st case who it says is a woman from japan guinea conakry has also announced its 1st case the ministry of health says its a belgian woman who arrived in the country a few days ago and shes now in an Isolation Unit that was actually built to try and contain west africas a bolo outbreak which started 7 years ago and here in kenya the minister of health has announced the countrys 1st case he said its a kenyan woman who travelled from the us through the u. K. And arrived here in kenya more than a week ago but only tested positive for corona virus on thursday so the ministry of health has since said that it started to try and contact all of the people that shes met travelling across the country over the last 8 days shes now in an Isolation Unit one of just over 130 beds that the government says it has prepared in case of an outbreak the ministry of health also said that people should take some great precautions to try and prevent further spread such as keeping one metre away from anyone who coughs and sneezes but thats just not possible for many kenyans who are travelling to and from work every day on crowded mini buses and also living in homes where several family members share a bedroom many people here depend on working for cash in hand just to be able to survive no work means no pay no pay means no food and a lot of the measures that are being talked about in prevention in europe and america simply wont be possible here such as working from home subsidising the incomes of people doing piecework and keeping distance to people here waiting to see how far and how fast the outbreak will spread not just in kenya but across subsaharan africa. Well chinas government is now questioning the origins of the coronavirus conspiracy theories circulated on the fringes of the internet and Russian Media but its now being shared by the Foreign Ministry in beijing and schapelle has more. Controlling the narrative or changing it completely as president xi jinping visited this week for the 1st time since the beginning of the corona Virus Outbreak his government went on the defensive aggressively responding to another message coming from washington this is that corona virus and started in china and is now spreading throughout the world as cases rise in the United States its officials are emphasizing that the pandemic was quote made in china this virus did not originate United States originated province in china it originated some time ago unfortunately rather than using best practices this outbreak. Was covered up such comments by senior u. S. Officials have infuriated the Chinese Government its Foreign Ministry had this to say. May have urged that u. S. Official to respect objective facts and International Public opinion and spend time on preventing and controlling the epidemic and strengthening relevant cooperation rather than attacking slandering or complaining about others. U. S. Officials have been pushing back against conspiracy theories floating around the internet and Chinese Media that the coronavirus is an american buy a weapon so we could have people in the United States dying for what appears to be influenza when in fact it could be the coronavirus work over 90 some cases have been actually diagnosed that way in the United States today that testimony to congress by the director of the centers for Disease Control was insured by a chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman to support the theory that the virus may have originated in the United States. Beijing has also pushed the narrative that the virus was brought to china by the u. S. Military really 250 members of the u. S. Military were in wu han in october last year along with athletes from 100 other nations to take part in the World Military games the theory has now been widely circulated by state aligned media chinas new position on the origin. As of the corona Virus Outbreak appears to contradict its own assessment from january. And i canna from what we can see now the origin is the wild animals sold in the Seafood Market here with the number of new cases on the decline in who bay province beijing appears to have taken control of the outbreak but it also wants to make sure the world doesnt blame china for one of the Worst Health Crises in a decade and or chapell aljazeera. There is other news around the world to tell you about iraq 1st of all where the president has condemned retaliatory airstrikes conducted by the United States iraq so 6 people were killed but the head of the u. S. Militarys Central Command has defended the strikes targeting iranian backed fighters adding the threat from terrorism is still high. The u. S. Strikes were in response to a rocket attack that killed 3 soldiers on. It was 2 americans and a briton who died after the 20 rockets were fired at a military base north west of baghdad. In baghdad for us now whats the reaction coming out of iraq because this is following a similar pattern these attacks on bases and then the call from the u. S. That it is about iranian backed groups. Well there has been a flurry of reaction in response to these strikes from a wide range of political and military institution condemning them as a violation of iraqs sovereignty of course this stands in very stark contrast to what weve heard come out of the pentagon today general kind of call these strikes a success strikes against positions of the rain groups that would help keep corelation troops safe that would help deter their ability to conduct future air strikes weve heard condemnations come from the joint Operations Command here in iraq which governs all military activity and what has been particularly infuriated them is the fact that 5 members from the army and police were killed in these strikes these are Security Forces that usually partner with american troops in their fight against isis of course this is unintended and something that has enraged. Very actors here in europe weve also had a condemnation from the president s office the foreign minister has some on the ambassadors from both the u. S. And the u. K. And weve also heard from some of this iranian bad groups who have used the casualties used as example of these strikes that have resulted in the deaths of 6 people to call for further action against u. S. Troops who are present here so that backlash from iraq is quite strong indeed. Thank you so much for 14 in baghdad now a report on the scandal that brought down the local government in Northern Ireland has just been released and while it clears the government of corruption it accuses some ministers of inappropriate behavior now this was the socalled cash for ash scandal it centered on a Green Initiative businesses received cash handouts to use more environmentally friendly Biomass Boilers but the subsidy given was much higher than the cost to run the boilers and the scheme was costly because there was no cap on how much money could actually be handed out it led to a run on orders for the unit and its estimated it cost the Northern Ireland government hundreds of millions of dollars the regions deputy 1st minister resigned and then the power sharing government between unionists and republicans collapsed in january of 27 tane so lets talk about this political analyst and contributor for the irish news joining us on skype from dublin thank you for your time so the reports clearing the government of corruption but from what i just read out there it is fair to say that this indirectly led to the collapse of the government and stalemate in Northern Ireland for 4 years. Yes it brought down the government wasnt restored for 3 years and was only restored recently and. This report was being awaited and we were waiting to see what it would say about particularly the unionist minister. First minister foster who was the minister in charge of the process whereby this game was introduced in the 1st place it does sound like it was a good idea i thought at least i mean were talking about more environmentally friendly Biomass Boiler cold i mean it sounds like the can i say the heart was in the right place but it was it was all done the wrong way. Yes well i mean if you. Spent one pound on fuel if it was biomass wood pellets fuel or not coal are all you would get one pound 60 in return which was an incentive but there were no controls there was no cap on the incentives there was a cap in the rest of the United Kingdom but not in Northern Ireland the report blames both london and belfast for that and while the report finds that there was that corruption was not at the heart of this process it goes severely criticize the minister at the time or an imposter whom i just mentioned she failed to read the regulations before she brought them in front of the Northern Ireland Parliamentary Assembly she left it up to her officials and special advisers the report is also very very critical of Civil Servants because of their lack of attention to detail and lack of professionalism and also of special advisers they are called spas special political advisors who are employed by a union asuncion chain parties theres some criticism of shin fein as well there minister was in charge of agriculture and agriculture and the Agriculture Department has criticized right for its role in the whole affair more widely diverse and just bearing in mind obviously weve got an International Audience who wont necessarily be up on the intricacies of how Northern Ireland politics works but what sort of state would you describe those politics after those 3 years of stalemate and now post break that as well what sort of direction is it heading in. Not as bad as you might have expected shin fein and the Democratic Unionist Party are in power share power in the main parties and the power sharing administration notion fane call down the last administration because Arlene Foster wouldnt step aside after this base for a cash for irish business to iraq did what they softened their approach and went back into ministration with them a short time ago and this report now because it it says it was more of a cock up than a conspiracy its not going to result in an impostor being driven out of office so its not going to affect the life of the power sharing administration as far as we can say theyre going to broaden talking organon and politics with us thank you for your time sir to appreciate it thank you. Now a quarter malawi has granted bail to 3 activists accused of planning Anti Government protests there were months of demonstrations against president paid a moderate has disputed reelection last year our reporters from Priyanka Gupta. These scenes are guaranteed to pile more pressure on the levees president. Of the countrys leading human rights activists are released from jail granted bail after they were arrested for trying to organize protests outside homes of top government officials including the president. Theyve been leading antigovernment demonstrations since mays disputed president ial election. Enemy and probably should be prepared. Malawis coming the new beginnings coming and its now the press in metairie narrowly won last years election but claims of whites because regularities have led to nationwide protests last month a Constitutional Court order to rerun within 150 days parliament wants a vote in may but which rica has yet to sign the bills into law to make it happen and thats and that activists and opposition politicians he needs to comply with what the court say is he is a maori and citizen just like the rest of us nobody is about the law. To rico has begun his own legal challenge against a ruling that overturned his reelection hes want against any demonstrations challenging his authority plunging malawi into one of its biggest constitutional crisis since it gained independence from britain in 1964 Priyanka Gupta our desire. Sport coming up for you on this news hour and gulf 1st major of the season has been postponed more on sports facing its own president of the local. I. Say exactly what i said yesterday and is here with more on the sport that isnt happening yeah theres some very high profile sport not happening today the coronavirus continues to have impacts across the globe and on particular on football the worlds most watched competition the English Premier League has now suspended matches and so the start of april and officials are offering no guarantees that the season will ever be finished so helmet reports. It was a Health Update from this premier League Manager that finally forced the worlds most lucrative league to take action just hours after was announced that austin boss mikel arteta had contracted coronavirus an emergency meeting was held in london its a very good decision weve got great League Management they made the right decision on the d. V. D. When you got it in for you want it in the premier league he. Added a pitiful none of us know well see. To wasnt the only case chelsea star Callum Hudson adored was the 2nd e. P. L. Star to announce he tested positive and like carter the teenager is currently in isolation as you may be. For the last couple of which ive recovered from. Everybody for a week. And a picture recent the move to suspend football could cost the league millions but the decision is receiving support from those within the game what happens if 1. 00 or 2 a players contract is very sorry to interrupt the sports bulletin but we do have a briefing from the World Health Organization beginning in geneva they hold. Every 2 days we did think initially they were held every day but every 2 days lets hear what the director general and also the executive director and technical aid have to say. I can raise and those who are dialing in and they can press star 9 we have also a couple of guests today that i would like to to the knowledge and who maybe are asked to to also help us with a topic that we will discuss we have here in the room of dr gold and silver schmidt who is a w. Tried the rector for health and multilateral partnerships and we have online and we are welcoming elizabeth. Was a president and c. E. O. Of United Nations foundation we have a kate adult son who is a Vice President and working on Global Health within the u. N. Effort and then we have a calling from from switzerland at kent i can beggar who is the president of Swiss Philanthropy Foundation and we also have a project manager irina back so i welcome all of done for todays press briefing and we may hear from dan before i give a floor to dr titus for his opening remarks just to remind everyone that we will have an audio file available immediately and transcript hopefully tomorrow so ill give the floor to dr tetris thank you thank you terry and good afternoon everyone. I want to start today by acknowledging that even though 19 has captured the world this artesian there not a still many other Health Issues people continue to face every single day and that is continuing to work on babies are still being born essentially it is continuing people still need Emergency Care after road traffic crashes people still need treatment for cancer diabetes hiv my leiria and many of their dues is. And for all of this we need Health Workers today i want to send a person and sincere thank you to every Health Worker around the world especially nurses and midwives who we are celebrating this year salute the International Year of the nurse and the midwife you do ahead job we know that this crisis is putting a huge burden on you and your families we know you stretch it to the limit you have had me just admiration respect and our commitment to doing everything we can to keep you safe and enable you to do your job more than 132000 cases of covered 19 have now been reported to deadly joe from 123 countries and territories 5000 people have lost their lives a tragic milestone europe has now become the epicenter of the pandemic with more reported cases and theres this done the rest of the world combined apart from china more cases of now being reported every day than were reported in china at the highest of its appeal demick at the height of its appeal to me i would repeat this one more cases are now being reported every day than were reported in china at the height of its epidemic we are encouraged that many countries are now acting on the 8 pillars of strategy preparedness and response plan. Most countries now have a National Plan most taking a multi sectoral approach and most have Laboratory Testing capacity deadly joe has evidence based guidelines that every country can use according to each of the 8 pillars and we are continuing to support countries to prepare and respond we have shipped supplies of personal protective equipment to 56. 00 countries and we are shipping to a further 28. 00 countries and we have sent almost 1500000. 00 diagnostic tests to 120 countries our message to countries continues to be you must take a comprehensive approach. Not testing alone not Contact Tracing alone not quantity in alone not social distancing alone do it all. Any country that looks at the experience of other countries with large epidemics and thinks that wouldnt happen to have is making a deadly mistake it can happen to any country the experience of china the republic of korea singaporean others clearly demonstrates that aggressive testing and Contact Tracing combined with social distancing mission measures and Community Mobilization can prevent infections and save lives japan is also demonstrating that a whole of government approach led by Prime Minister i be himself supported by in the investigation of class status is a critical step in reducing transmission w. H. O. Has clear out advise for governments businesses and individuals 1st prepare and be ready every person must know the signs and symptoms and how to protect themselves and others every Health Worker should be able to recognise this does is provide care and know what to do with their patients every Health Facility should be ready to cope with large numbers of patients and a sure the safety of staff and patients 2nd 2nd detect. Protect and treat you can fight a virus you cant fight a virus if you dont know where it is find isolate test and treat every case to break the chains of transmission every case we find entreat limits the expansion of the disease surd reduce transmission do not just let this fire burn isolate the seek and current in their contacts in addition measures that increase social distancing such as canceling spa