the number of deaths globally from
coronavirus has gone over three thousand
after dozens more died at its epicenter
and China and cases have soared around
the world with a second fatality on US
soil the virus has now spread to 62
countries there was some good news from
China this morning it has reported its
lowest daily number of new coronavirus
infections since late January however it
is spreading particularly quickly in
Iran with more than 500 new cases
confirmed today the number of infections
also continues to surge in South Korea
the total there rising to more than
4,000 the head of the religious sect
that has been linked to about 60% of
South Korea's cases has apologized for
the spread of the disease this is Lee
man he admitting many people had been
infected he said it wasn't intentional
and as you can see he got down on his
knees before reporters and here in
Europe in the last hour we've heard from
the head of the European Commission
ursula von der Leyen
she has announced a corona response team
and said the risk level in Europe had
been raised from moderate to high let's
take you live now to our correspondent
in Hong Kong Robin Brandt is there for
us and to Milan Bethany Bell is there
Robin if I could start with you can you
explain more there's some good news
we're hearing from China about the
infection rate yes so the rate of new
cases has fallen
that of course is positive the number of
new deaths as well that has gone up by
42 in terms of compared to the figures
24 hours ago but what's most significant
about those there's that all those
deaths occurred in the province of Hebei
that is the place where this all began
there are no new deaths across the rest
of mainland China according to these
figures from the government's and as we
say every day we have to rely on these
official figures from the government so
that seems to be yet fresh evidence that
the draconian measures put in place
essentially to lock down that province
of Hebei do appear to be being
successful in terms of trying to prevent
the spread the further spread across the
rest of China now a meeting chaired by
this country's number-two politician Li
Keqiang in the last 24 hours or so has
talked about wanting to see the
agriculture sector return to normal no
necessary restrictions on plowing so
they're trying yet again to get the
economy to get this country back to
normal but at the same time Lika Chang
urging that those tough restrictions in
place particularly around who Bay must
remain Bethany to you and Milan are
there draconian measures still in place
in northern Italy well the Italian
government a few days ago quarantined a
cluster of towns in Lombardy and one in
Veneto
a measure affecting about fifty five
thousand people those people are still
in quarantine that's where the the
epicenter of this outbreak occurred
people there were asked to stay at home
within those areas and not move out in
an attempt to try and stop the spread of
this contagion the authorities say that
more than 1500 people have tested
positive for the virus that they say the
vast majority of those have shown slight
symptoms or or no symptoms at all 34
people have died and around 140 people
remain in intensive care there is
growing concern around the world on many
levels one of the key ones of course is
the financial impact the economic impact
of the coronavirus what is the damage
being so far to China's economy well
it's been severe and that impact has
been confirmed today by the results of a
survey carried out by a private
institution keishon of businesses of
factories that showed that new orders
and production of factories across China
remember the world's second largest
largest economy took a significant hit
in January and that confirms what we saw
in official government figures that were
released on Saturday both suggesting a
significant fall in factory production
the most significant in fact for 16
years that's when records first began
back in 2004 conversely though we saw a
bit of a rally in Asian markets today
and that is because particularly if
you're in the
state sector or in the infrastructure
sector you are now very strongly of the
belief that central bankers both here in
China and perhaps beyond will have some
kind of enhance stimulus measures to
come to try and help the economy recover
but there's no doubt the impact on
China's economy in January is severe
look people aren't going to work and
they're staying at home but they're not
going out shopping either it's that
simple briefly bethenny Italy's economy
taking a hit - it's a matter of very big
concern for people here I mean just in
the tourism section alone there have
been a lot of cancellations in hotels
people have cancelled trips here and
also there are warnings from economists
that this if this carries on too much
longer
Italy's fragile economy could be tipped
into recession because of course this
outbreak has occurred in northern Italy
in the great powerhouse of Italy's
economy but in one bright spot small
bright spot here in Milan today one of
its main tourist attractions the
Cathedral that you can see behind me has
reopened to tourists and they are now
allowing small groups of people to visit
in but they've been appealed by
politicians here in Italy for people to
still come and visit saying Italy is
safe to visit Bethany thanks for joining
us from Milan and Robin in Hong Kong as
well good to have you both with us well
as we've been reporting there's been a
sharp rise in cases of the virus and
Iran some 500 new cases have been
confirmed there from less than a
thousand on Sunday there have now been
66 deaths there in total including a
member of the country's high-ranking
council that advises the supreme leader
Ayatollah Khamenei or ran around poor
from BBC Persian is here for us can we
trust these figures Rana
not many people believe these figures
including the MP from Rashed which is a
city north of the country he says that
these figures sound more like a joke he
said that the situation in the city of
rash is is very serious all the
hospitals are full they're running out
of beds for for the people who are ill
and he said that these numbers are just
a joke he doesn't take them seriously on
confirm
reports unofficial reports that the BBC
Persian has managed to get hold of says
at least 210 people have been killed by
the virus for the Iranian officials have
denied these reports so the Health
Service is in a run probably can't cope
we can imagine they definitely can't
cope and the reports were receiving
don't forget that at the moment there at
least 27 provinces across the country in
total they're only 31 provinces in Iran
and 27 provinces have reported cases of
the coroner virus so clearly they don't
have enough intra infrastructure they
say they have their deployed 300 groups
to fight the virus but it seems that it
they won't be able to go how confusing
is it for people to be getting different
sources of information and not really
knowing what information they can trust
it is very confusing many people turn to
social media or foreign base Persian
news channels but it's very difficult
and people are confused they don't know
whether they can buy masks or they they
it doesn't matter to wear masks or not
and if it matters they really can't get
hold of it so the hope that country is
seriously worried branagh thank you very
much a very worrying picture there in
Iran