Spread. The u. S. President s travel ban on 26. 00 european nations comes into effect hours after he declared a National Emergency. China says the worst of the Virus Outbreak is over as the number of fatalities dips and life starts to return to something approaching normal. On a virus that wipes out most of the world that may just Sports Events the English Premier League the Boston Marathon a formula one all off try in the global sport calendar into chaos. The coronavirus pandemic is forcing countries around the world to take extreme measures affecting all aspects of life for billions of people in iran theres been a spike in new deaths with 97 reported in one day that brings the total death toll there to 611. 00. There are more than 12700. 00 infections colombia is shutting its land border with venezuela its a crossing used by thousands of venezuelans every day looking for food and medicine during the devastating economic crisis there in the u. S. A travel restriction affecting 26. 00 European Countries has come into effect President Trump has also declared a National Emergency freeing up 50000000000. 00 to fight the pandemic to unleash the full power of the federal government that this effort today i am officially declaring a National Emergency 2 very big words the action i am taking will open up access to up to 50000000000 dollars of very importantly very important and a large amount of money for states and territories or look allergies in our shared fight against this disease ok lets take a look at the global picture with the Johns Hopkins tracker were talking about 147000 infections worldwide with a round far from 5 and a half 1000 deaths we have to emphasize that more than 70000 people have fully recovered and we have correspondents covering this story from the u. K. To colombia sonia goes in london mike hanna is in washington alison and around p. M. T. Is in colombia 1st lets go to zain bus ravi in tehran so saying there has been a spike there whats the number. Well the numbers continue to go up every single day 97. 00 dead in just 24 hours putting the total to 611. 00 and the overall new number of cases in 24 hours 1300 and 65. 00 confirmed cases of corona virus the total edging closer and closer 213000 specifically 12729. 00 cases in all since the beginning of this outbreak these numbers while in the grand total of the population of the country remain small they are very significant in terms of tracking the spread of the current virus in iran which since the beginning the government has struggled to get to come to grips with and surely what one of the things one of the points that the government officials many leaders across the board are trying to make now is that they are struggling to cope with this virus because of the impact of u. S. Unilateral u. S. Sanctions that been placed on iran and you have to look at the fact that this is a major Oil Producing country if left to its own devices if it was able to trade with World Markets normally this is a country that would have had an enormous financial buffer and lots of money to be able to throw at a problem like a Public Health crisis like this coronavirus but the fact is that it is struggling to do so we have seen help come from countries like qatar one of its closest and one of the few closest allies it has in the middle east iran has also received help from china russia the World Health Organization by way of medical supplies but the fact is that this is effective only in the short term its like putting a bandaid on a gaping lived in that gaping wound is the economy on the macro scale iran doesnt have enough money to throw at bolstering Health Services that are under dire pressure from the from the corona virus spreading so quickly on a smaller scale in peoples homes in Small Businesses shops they dont have the financial buffer to be able to shut down and close up and commit to the guidance for health care that the government is putting on these people so truly its a case of sanctions making it very difficult to manage this Health Crisis by having a compound in effect and the fact is people just dont have that financial buffer to be able to withstand dealing with this Health Crisis and the comments from mr rouhani today particularly to do with the latest figures that were not getting. Thats exactly right the president has open the task force he chairs this task force and fire a Video Conference he presided over the latest meeting of this task force earlier this morning he said the main requirement now is for people to remain calm and for the public to cooperate with the Health Guidelines that the government is putting in place he also made the point to say that no other country would have been able to do as much as iran has done with the maximum Pressure Campaign with the u. S. Sanctions placed on it at his meeting he said that all countries are now dealing with the current virus but our situation the truth is that so far whatever measures we have taken our situation is different and what weve done is acceptable now this isnt exactly the inspiring speech from a president that many might expect but it is the speech of a government that is under pressure and struggling to cope with the coronavirus foreign minister zarif also added to the conversation in his latest tweet he said that the International Community must ignore u. S. Sanctions he said that the coronavirus does not discriminate and to fight against it neither should day pressuring the International Community saying that they should go against u. S. Sanctions and normalize trade with iran to help iran cope with this outbreak zain thanks very much live. Yes he was joining us from if you dont go in colombia so that border is in effect sealed what kind of impact is that having on people. Yes and the president they say they shut the border which. Starting at 5 am on saturday was a bit of a surprise we knew that this could have been a possibility given how worried that the colombian government is. Possibility of this thread of the coronavirus inside. Given how ill equipped to the Health Services are in the country in the neighboring country given the fact that its been going through a very severe economic crisis for you years now its also suffering from the u. S. Sanctions but nobody really expected. To make this decision as soon as late on friday there are 16 cases. Current of some to be 19 this yes here in colombia and only 2 confirmed cases and they need. The response from the venezuelan government came from. The biggest foreign minister who called at this stage and. Ross irresponsibility on the part of the colombian government and thats because tens of thousands have been this womans depend on crossing on a daily basis. For Health Services for medical appointments and we are already getting reports that there are hundreds if not thousands of people who are trying to cross paths illegal crossings that exist is of a porous border and the Colombian Police trying to stop them so this is a very aggressive measure on part of colombia about it shows just how worried they are about what could happen inside a venue where lamps experts here say that they fear that given the situation in minnesota the shortages they. There the percentage could be way higher than their roughly 3 percent that weve seen in it from parts of the world thats related to this corona virus so definitely theres a lot of worry and it shows also the fact that d the colombian government has decided to vote only the border with the famous well that why there were there are there are cases there has been one that at least and also with brazil and its under thanks very much live now to washington and our correspondent there mike hanna so mike theyre releasing 50000000000. 00 how will that impact the latest on the fight against the virus. Well critics of the Trump Administration continue to insist that this is far too late although the administration insists that it is catching up now with testing procedures which is absolutely essential to contain the spread of the virus there is still no uptake in the number of tests being conducted in fact there is no longer any central measure of the amount of tests being conducted because the c. D. C. Is no longer publishing such figures this 50000000000 dollars certainly it will help the 1st responders in dealing with the ongoing issue but the u. S. Is coming to terms with the new reality of Sports Events canceled across the Country Schools are closed broadway shut down certainly this has a major impact but another a Major Development is that the house has passed a sweeping a group of measures able intended to alleviate the social and economic suffering of the citizens essentially this bill provides things like paid leave for workers himself quarantine it guarantees payment for those who are using holiday time to go home it is together with that other 50000000000. 00 being released a massive step forward in terms of easing this ongoing crisis not necessarily directly posing against its spread now republicans in the senate had been somewhat reluctant to pass this bill however late last night president tweeted that he was in full support of the bill the senate will gather in coming days and certainly its likely now that this bill will be passed President Trump has made very clear that he will sign it into law this together with that emergency 50000000000. 00 will go a step towards alleviating. The situation perhaps but still deep concern about accurately mapping the spread of the virus which would be absolutely essential in terms of lowering its trajectory mike thanks very much. Spain confirming an additional 1500. 00 cases there bringing the total number of cases to over 5000. 00 the sun to go tracking the european angle of the story from london so sonia the World Health Organization seeing europe is the epicenter but i guess within the epicenter weve got another epicenter and that seems to be spain. Well yes i mean after the jump in numbers from italy the youve got to look at the fact that spain case spanish cases of corona virus have gone up 10 fold since last sunday now there was this idea that spain had to act pretty quickly in the past few days because they could see that the cases were rising and that it was gradually getting worse and worse for certain situations especially the sit in the city of madrid the capital city which accounts for about more than some 3000. 00 cases of coronavirus there but there should be imminently now. That the Prime Minister addressing the cabinet and he is likely to come up with a series of measures or some for he did announce those series of extreme measures that are going to last for about 2 weeks those including sort of shuttering bars and restaurant nonessential businesses but the problem is is that with the push of these numbers they are going to be fairing that another situation similar to the way you have cases such as a wartime tree are being put into place where. People who look likely that are not going to make are just being left to die in hospital corridors this is exactly the kind of situation that they want of course spain has its own regional governments as well those are also taking matters into their own hand by. By closing down and announcing a spokesman to of certain events assemblies rallies cultural events as well all in all it just looks as if that the prediction that spain is is following italy not very far behind is appearing to be coming true peter thanks very much. In china the number of new infections continues to go down in her bay province where the 1st cases were reported a 50 day lockdown is finally starting to ease between you has that story from beijing. In who people are starting to celebrate the Chinese Government says the peak of the outbreak here has passed and the province wide lockdown is easing for the 1st time in more than 50 days residents of show county are enjoying a day out for leo it feels like winter is finally over here and her at her home in the im very very very happy today is a bright sunny day and the flowers blooming lockdown is over so im taking my dog for a walk in the park also relieved to walk outdoors recovered coronavirus patients in one hon medical workers there are celebrating the closure of the citys last makeshift hospital daily numbers of new virus cases and deaths nationwide have dropped to Single Digits but the Chinese Government has been accused of rushing to declare victory to help its political image state media a working to convince the public that life is returning to normal but psychologists say the transition will be challenging. People will need time to adjust they have been inside for so long i will feel awkward both physically and mentally some people may react to this freedom by panicking some may have potential psychological problems. Says in who they factories and businesses have been given permission to resume operations. Re tongues company is one of them the hardware engineer is eager to return to the office he hasnt been able to work from home and is worried about his income. Company is definitely reducing the money of course this affects our personal income we dont know how we get paid for february not count. Shes have lifted restrictions millions are still under orders to stay home. He just has been making the most of her time indoors with family but is struggling to contain her excitement. On the day that i have full freedom im going to feel like an excited bird flying out of his cage. For now shes getting ready for her day under the sun katrina new aljazeera beaching plenty more still to come for you here on the news hour including a possible roadblock to peace as the Afghan Government delays the release of taliban prisoners. And well tell you why an apartment at the trump tower in new york is part of corruption investigations in the republic of congo. And in sports n. B. A. s patient 0 apologizes for course hes admitting it was careless behavior details coming up with santa in about 30 minutes. Ok lets wrap up some other top stories to iraq where the military says 2 Defense Service personnel and 3 Coalition Members have been critically injured in an attack on the touchy base north of baghdad is not yet known who was responsible it comes a day after u. S. Airstrikes on multiple sites in iraq the pentagon says it targeted those responsible for killing one british soldier and 2 american servicemen in an attack on weapons day Simona Holton joins us live from baghdad simona just get us right up to date whats the latest information you have for us. Well weve just heard news that Coalition Members were wounded in todays attack on the tajik military base this is in addition to the 2 members from the Iraqi Air Force who were critically injured as a result of this latest incident weve also had a statement come out from the joint Operations Command which is the body that governs all military activity here in iraq condemning these latest escalations but very interesting they also saying that in light of these latest escalations its probably best for foreign troops to abide by the decision that was passed by the Iraqi Parliament earlier this year to withdraw from iraq now this is a quite significant statement to make if you recall in january parliament voted on the expulsion of foreign troops after the u. S. Targeted him so the money here and by that killing him as well as the alamo hundreds that decision was not really acted upon the u. S. Made it clear that it would not be withdrawing from iraq as a result of what it called your brain and pressure and since then there have been negotiations ongoing between the u. S. And iraq on the future shape and form of u. S. Military presence here so these latest attacks have reignited that entire discussion and we now see that a growing number of actors are calling for foreign troops to leave now it remains to be seen exactly how this will play out because we currently have a caretaker government so that kind of government is usually not in a position to a force very far reaching decisions such as the expulsion of foreign troops but another thing here may happen here over time that if such a attacks continue and they continue to incur casualties such as today and earlier this week the u. S. Itself may over time reconsider the value and purpose of its presence here and when i speak privately with some members of the kalid coalition there is some sense of disillusionment and disappointment that they feel that their present presence here is. Less and less will come and perhaps it is time to reconsider whether the u. S. Should be present here and what exactly its goals are simona thanks very much lets bring in. Hes a researcher at the university of baxters strategy and Security Institute he joins us from london tele of course your reading of a 2nd day of violence. This just. In of the you know the tit for tat violence that weve seen over the past several months and the program youre on militia groups that are probably behind this when i say probably because you know its only them that are capable of moving around so freely in that region its just north of baghdad its a highly secure zone and its very much controlled by the