the global infection total since the
start of the corona virus outbreak has
by some counts past the 100,000 mark
while there are positive signs in the
slowing rate of infections in China and
South Korea elsewhere it's speeding up
Iran recorded a dramatic rise of a
thousand new cases in the 24 hours since
Thursday with the authorities said to be
preparing travel restrictions between
cities to add to widespread school
closures and bans on public gatherings
the World Health Organization said
rapidly rising numbers are a sign of a
more efficient government response any
country in the face of an epidemic when
it looks for cases we'll find them and
if we call that a bad thing it is it's
it's a sad thing for the people who have
the disease but it's much better than we
understand the extent of the problem so
we commend a move towards more
aggressive targeted surveillance and we
hope that that will lead to the kind of
control measures that can help push this
my respect among the more than 3300
lives lost around the world so far most
have been among the elderly whose less
efficient immune systems make it hard to
fight off the virus in France where new
infections jumped by 200 on Friday
President Emmanuel macron visited a
retirement facility hidden on deer I'm
asking all fellow citizens to act
responsibly to make this sacrifice I
know it is sometimes heartbreaking but
we must avoid visiting our elders as
much as possible the European Union with
its open borders is proving a haven for
the spread of coronavirus Italy remains
the worst affected country but Germany
is catching up across Europe tiny
Vatican City has reported its first case
as has Serbia and in Britain Prime
Minister Boris Johnson has announced a
50 million dollar investment into
vaccine research and faster testing
methods early signs of the virus
continue to spring up in Africa and the
Middle East
Cameroon and Senegal joined Nigeria and
South Africa in registering their first
cases this week that as the head of the
UN's World Food Programme sounded a
stark warning if coronavirus continues
to create panic around the world it is
an economic downturn I've been telling
the European leaders and leaders are
the world you don't have enough money
set aside to address the needs in Africa
East Africa West Africa and the Middle
East right now and if there's an
economic downturn on top of the economic
downturn that exist now in Syria and
Lebanon it absolutely could be a
catastrophe
I mean absolute devastation and there
was more bad news for the airline
industry already operating on tight
margins with losses across the industry
from travel restrictions and canceled
bookings estimated to top a hundred
billion dollars the German carrier
Lufthansa announced plans to scale back
up to 50 percent of its services
worldwide others may soon follow suit
Jona joins me live now and Italy is the
hardest hit country here in Europe isn't
it Jonah tell us more about how the
country and people have been coping with
this yeah very much still the hot spot
in Europe Italy that death toll has
jumped 197 nearly 50 in 24 hours that's
an enormous jump a total figure of 4636
and all of that in just over two weeks
as the first cases were detected now the
government acted very aggressively
pretty much from the start quarantine
whole communities in the north of the
country to try and slow the spread it
didn't work it went countrywide this
week a raft of emergency decrees were
passed by the cabinet pretty
extraordinary measures in the European
context but most of these things have
been tried at to a greater or lesser
extent in Asia in China and in South
Korea where incidentally infection rates
are slowing now so you've got schools
closed universities closed you've got
places of public gathering shut down
that means cinemas and museums you've
got sports fixtures being played to
empty stadiums even famously this week
Italians being asked not to kiss each
other in greeting if you can imagine
that but still the spread continues the
death toll continues to rise in part
perhaps because of a large number of
elderly a very aging population in Italy
they're particularly vulnerable of
course but I suspect as much as anything
this is a sign for other Europeans
watching a foretaste if you like of
things to come exactly because Germany
France are all catching up in terms of
the number of infections but within
Italy itself as you say it's caused this
incredible paralysis
of everyday life with towns being
quarantined and tourism I suppose
grinding to a halt do they have the
resources to deal with this is there an
expectation that it will get much worse
but then possibly situation will get
better I mean in terms of resources if
you're talking about money they've asked
the EU the Italian government to lift
their budget ceiling and they'll
basically throw as much money as they
can at the problem there are widespread
shortages of basic equipment all over
Europe around the world
masks goggles gloves that sort of thing
in terms of the epidemiology the way
that this disease works the World Health
Organization thinks that it so that
works in a fake and a trough and that
seems to me what's happened in China it
hits a big peak for several weeks six
eight weeks perhaps and then sort of
runs out of steam that's probably what
we're looking at in Europe in the coming
weeks these countries big countries
Britain Germany France Spain almost
nowhere will be spared will hit a peak
at some point either the warmer weather
of the summer will slow the spread of
the disease they simply don't know
whether that will happen or not or it
will dissipate naturally in its own time
and what about advice what are we
hearing from health ministries from
governments how you know what measures
and should people be taking to protect
themselves well again this is being done
on a country-by-country basis at the
moment the eu-27 members is trying to
come up with a call coordinated response
that hasn't happened yet but on a
country-by-country basis different
countries are experiencing different
levels of infection rate different
levels of the disease and they're doing
different things and at different times
and in a different different pace but
initially it starts with personal
hygiene of course the big advice is to
wash your hands and wash your hands
often once it gets beyond that sort of
containment stage where a few cases can
be contact traced but more and more
cases can't any longer and it moves to a
community transmission well that's the
time when you've got to start distancing
the public from one another that's the
time when big events start being
canceled possibly school closures
university closures town closures city
closures in a worst case scenario as
we've seen in China
thank you very much Jonah staying cross
that story for us thank you