Welcome to the program the u. S. President has declared a National Emergency over the coronavirus pandemic Donald Trumps announcement frees up 50000000000 dollars to address a growing crisis that hes been accused of previously playing down well hours earlier the World Health Organization said the epicenter had moved from china to europe where italy has the highest number of infections and deaths spain is declaring an emergency as other e. U. Countries closed their borders to and in less than an hour a u. S. Travel ban from most of europe will come into effect it stops people from 26. 00 European Countries from flying to the u. S. For the next 30 days well alan fisher has more on the new steps taken in washington d. C. From the u. S. President a dramatic announcement officially declaring a National Emergency. 2 very big words with more than 40 dead and the number of infected growing the president has opened up funding include states to take important steps to blunt the spread of the virus emerging every state to set up Emergency Operation centers Effective Immediately im also asking every hospital in this country to activated some urgency Preparedness Plan so that they can meet the needs of americans everywhere the hospitals are very engaged but the president refused to accept the crisis is know much greater because testing wasnt more widely available no i dont take responsibility at all because we were given a. Set of circumstances and we were given rules regulations and specifications from a different time wasnt meant for this kind of an event with the kind of numbers that were talking about. The trumpet ministration is planning to introduce drive through testing there will be a website to tell people if they need the test and we have to get it whats missing is when these new measures will kick in the governments top expert says he hopes these steps will shorten the epidemic speaker what you seen now with this order is that were going to be able to remove the constraints so that people at the state the local level the individual physician all the way up through the federal government will have as many constraints as possible removed for them to do everything they possibly can so that we can implement the things that weve been talking about across the city on capitol hill the house of representatives is working on a relief bill to help people impacted by the virus it will provide paid sick leave for those who have to skip work and provide free widespread testing the 3 most important parts of this bill are testing testing testing this legislation to sell a taste for a coronavirus testing for everyone who needs a test including the uninsured. President trump was forced to take action as public life across america is being impacted with Sports Events canceled schools closed events pushed to win its a remarkable step from a man who initially claimed coronavirus was being hyped to politically damage him and his reelection effort reshaped alan fischer algis you know washington. When i see mention the travel ban for much of europe comes into effect shorting the u. S. Aviation analyst kyle beatty believes restriction should have been imposed much sooner every passenger that comes in on an Airline Flight inbound to the country during this crisis or were going through you now could potentially be a liability you know here in the u. S. And the government will have to take care of them if they come down with myer so you know i think all the borders all the inbound flights from other countries should you know should have been stopped and the chalet. And quite frankly i think you know with the u. K. Situation 200 cases there i wouldnt be surprised if we do see a part of the restriction you know as mr trump is debating right now i think when this blows over there you know early estimates are saying probably in september this will all be behind us. Once its behind us i think it will be back in full motion and less there is great Economic Impact where there is a lot of very high unemployment rates but other than that i think it will it will be pretty much resilient and bounce back fairly quickly i just from this ban alone you know were talking 13500. 00 flights 4000000. 00 passengers and a u. S. Loss of about 3400000000. 00 in revenue from tourists here in the u. S. Were also getting battered for days u. S. And european markets rallied on friday after President Trumps announcement the dow jones closed up 9. 4 percent recouping big losses on thursday in london the footsie 100 initially surged 8 percent but gains subsided enough and trading finishing up around 2 in the sense there wasnt any balance back in asia tokyos nikkei index fell another 6 percent christians and he has more now from new york speaking less than an hour before the end of the trading day President Trump sought to reassure americans and investors that his administration was on top of the Coronavirus Crisis the markets were already in positive territory and remained there throughout trumps News Conference and the closing bell all 3 major indices were up more than 9 percent recouping most of their losses from the day before europes markets also up on the day perhaps most relieved Energy Companies on the announcement that the u. S. Energy department would buy up oil for the country Strategic Reserves pushing up crude oil prices as well as Energy Stocks well a relief rally and also i think the concerns about we all had yesterday i mean the fear and anxiety and the worry that we wouldnt see another up day but then here we get this today is is just proof that this market is resilient we will get past this there will be more up days ahead. It was a sharp contrast from earlier in the week when the president s ban on travel from europe with only a vague promise of Economic Relief for affected industries sent markets spiraling downward more than 20 percent below market highs into whats known as bear market territory a positive and what has undoubtedly been one of the most tumultuous weeks in wall street history but theres more uncertainty ahead congress has yet to approve a financial package for those affected by the virus and perhaps more importantly new cases in the United States are still on the rise kristen salumi aljazeera new york well its not just the u. S. Tightening travel restrictions European Countries sitting on the continent thats the new epicenter of pulling up their drawbridges denmark is blocking and free to most foreigners while other states impose border checks as a maywood report spain has declared a state of emergency. Closing for the foreseeable future spain is in the grip of the Coronavirus Crisis and didnt madrid restaurants and shops are being told theyll have to shot only promises in supermarkets will be open from saturday across space a state of emergency. Is though there are emotional needs to mental in the state of emergency is a legal tool recognized in our constitution to confront a crisis as extraordinary as that which now faces the entire world and our own country in italy where public life has come to a standstill an entire nation some 60000000 people remain under quarantine but the spirits are important one of these the desperation to not tell us we must have hope we must be strong and white experts from china have arrived in italy to help bring in 30 tons of Vital Equipment from shanghai and experience on how they battle the outbreak. Europe has now become the epicenter of the pandemic which is more reported cases and is done the rest of the world combined apart from china across the rest of europe measures to stop the spread of the corona virus are being ramped up a ban on public gatherings of more than 100 people is being introduced in france schools universes a nursery as well from monday in the u. K. Top flight football including the permian has been suspended until the beginning of april after several players a manager has tested positive for corona virus or are in self isolation and in a continent which prides itself on being borderless some European UnionMember States and now imposing tight restrictions on one another or introducing border checks all as in the case of the Czech Republic stopping power and travel together of course we all want to protect our citizens from the spread of advice so lets look together at how we can do that and how we can do it most effectively. Certain controls may be justified but general travel bans are not seen as being the most effective by the World Health Organization its no surprise then that businesses are already taking a hit the Airline British Airways is one step jobs will go as it prepares to deal with fewer people traveling attempting to put the brakes on this piracy it seems is getting harder every day and he would aljazeera. Iran Security Forces will clear the streets of major cities within the next 24 hours never knew the effort to fight the spread of coronavirus state media say shop streets and roads will be emptied iran is one of the countrys worst affected by the pandemic the death toll of 514 amid an 11400 infections the country struggling with a lack of lifesaving equipment has asked for an emergency 5000000000 dollar loan from the International Monetary fund the same bus route he has more now from the iranian capital. The fact is here in iraq ever since the outbreak began the countrys government a struggle to bring the spread under control you can observe it on a daily basis as the death toll in the number of cases continues to rise president Hassan Rouhani president rouhani is government has taken criticism over and over again from across the political spectrum and most recently earlier this afternoon 100 members of parliament sent him a letter saying that he should take direct control away from the Health Ministry into his own hands to try to combat the spread of covert 19 in iran there is a real loss of trust in the governments ability to take this on alone last night we saw that the Supreme LeaderAyatollah Khamenei issued a command to the chief of the Armed Forces Major general mohammad the battery now he will lead a parallel task force with a much more military slant after their 1st meeting on friday morning mr battery took to the airwaves of the state news machine and told the public some of what they intended on doing and most importantly within 24 hours the plan is that the military will begin to crowd control to try to stem the flow of large populations gathering at bazaars at supermarkets that shopping malls basically population denson vironment. Lots more still to come here on aljazeera we continue our coverage of the corona virus pandemic new york city theres news and say the virus has essentially shut down the city that never sleeps plus. House business. And other news plans to patrol a crucial syrian highway as part of a cease fire deal in the products more not stay with us. We have some rather severe thunderstorms developing across all southern areas of the United States theyre really coming out of the Southern Plains you can see here by this sort of mass of clouds and sunny through saturday this is where we likely to see these severe thunderstorms pushing it away out of texas across into oklahoma and then pushing on to the high valley and eventually of tools the Tennessee Valley but you can see here the temperature change 5 celsius in kansas meanwhile to the south into the east this system that very mild air in place 19 degrees and this is why we could well see some severe storms developing in the next 24 hours and tools the west wind subtle some wintry weather really facts on sunday this is now becoming a lot more widespread and heavier across the Northern Areas of california if you shout. 14 celsius on sunday and not but take you warm in the high of 80 that is a better picture across much of the south and the eastern half United States on sunday and how much is not bad 11 celsius in washington d. C. And then across the caribbean and Central America very widely scattered showers nothing particularly heavy we have also more rain into areas of hispaniola also since got to much of mexico similar stories you had to sunday on a bit cooler in the bahamas 23. With a plummeting bath right and families moving to the cities south koreas rule schools are shutting down one on one east meets the grandmas who is saving these schools finally getting an education on aljazeera. States mislead the public the state media reflects the same thing as clock child at home focus on how they report on the stories that matter the most. To. Welcome back a quick amount of our top stories here this hour u. S. President donald trump has declared a National Emergency over the coronavirus pandemic 50000000000. 00 will be freed up for states to combat the virus off a 1000000 extra coronavirus tests will also become available next week when all the World Health Organization says europe is now the epicenter of the virus cunt demick with many countries going into lockdown denmark is the latest blocking entry to most foreigners and other states are imposing border checks and in spain state of emergency has been declared on a 30 day ban by the u. S. No flights from europe excluding the u. K. And the island is due to come into effect at 0400 g. M. T. Thats less than an hour from now. Where the famously busy streets of new york city have been much empty than usual as a state of emergency took effect more than 400 infections have been reported in the state from new york is government is on that. Just 20 minutes north of new york city this is new rochelle new yorks governor sealed off the city of 80000 but more than 100 people contracted coronavirus the highest cluster anywhere in the u. S. Scenes like out of a Science Fiction movie a drive through testing station for corona virus the facility designed to handle 200 cars a day has one huge advantage over traditional testing methods according to new yorks governor its actually safer to keep them in their car so they can come in for the testing its less exposure overall. Back in new york this city is slowly grinding to a halt the metropolitan museum of art which hosts millions of visitors a year is now closed for those who rely on the crowds for their livelihoods like the Street Vendors out front its been terrible as business is the Business Museum is shut down and no tourists so we have to tough it out until its all over. Have you ever seen business this bad before never but its not just the met dozens of cultural institutions throughout new york city have been affected in the z. M. Of Natural History but Whitney Museum in new york city opera and even Carnegie Hall hall are closed because of coronavirus fierce. Taxi drivers tell us business has been slashed in half waited 4 hours for a ride at the airport every day every driver. Because theres no passengers or. The lights have gone off on broadway to some of the worlds most popular shows among those ordered to close for a month. On millions of dollars in revenues and theres also a scarcity the shelves of the supermarket look like the streets largely empty new yorkers rushed to stock up fearing the worst of taking measures to protect themselves gabriels. New york. Meanwhile walt disney has stopped production on all its live action films the studio says its in the best interests of cast and crew members ill effect movies like the Little Mermaid remake which was due to begin filming in london next week on thursday disney announced is also shutting its u. S. And european theme parks. And the release dates of 3 disney films including have become the latest to be pushed back its to reduce the risk of coronavirus being spread in cinemas early this month the release of a new James Bond Film was postponed until november. Now as the w. H. O. Tries to help countries manage the pandemic its encouraging something called social distancing the idea is that Young Healthy symptom free people in places with no or few infections should still stay away from large events and gatherings dr lena when theres a Public Health professor at George Washington university she says theres an important difference between social distancing and social isolation. Social distancing should not mean social isolation the intent of social distancing is in fact to protect those who are the most vulnerable in particular the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions its also to try to reduce the rate of the spread of the disease so that we can avoid overwhelming the Health Care System with too many patients at the same time but i certainly understand that those who are already the most vulnerable already face the greatest barriers to care and may have limited social networks and were asking them to li