Hello and welcome to bbc news. Another grim milestone has been reached as countries around the world continue to step up efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus. More than 20,000 people have now died. The United Nations secretary general says the pandemic is a threat to all humanity. The number of those infected globally is nearing half a million. More than 113,000 people are known to have recovered. Italy remains the worst hit country, with more than 7,500 deaths but spains death toll has now also surpassed that of china. Us President Donald Trump says america is gaining ground in its war against covid 19. The death toll there now stands at more than 900 and there are 60,000 confirmed cases. Half of these are in new york, which the president says is by far the biggest problem. Weve been spending a lot of time with new york officials because that is by far the hottest spot. Theyve got a number of very tough weeks ahead of them. The governor is doing a very good job. I spoke to th
Possible quarantine of parts of new york, new jersey and connecticut. He raised that idea saturday morning after talking with floridas republican governor. The governor said they discussed people from the hot zones around new york coming to florida and possibly infecting floridians. Mr. Trump tweeted his idea of a quarantine and then spoke about it twice on saturday, when leaving the white house and when in virginia. Some people would like to see new york quarantined because its a hot spot. New york, new jersey, maybe one or two other places. Certain parts of connecticut quarantined. Im thinking about that right now. I am now considering and will make a decision very quickly, very shortly. A quarantine, because its such a hot area of new york, new jersey and connecticut. At that point the president had apparently not even spoken to the democratic governors in those three states and got pushback from several political leaders and experts. New yorks governor calling it quite possibly ill