[Music]
good evening and thanks for joining us
we begin tonight with the impact the
corona virus is having around the world
and here in Canada there are multiple
developments tonight the number of
deaths in Italy shot up today and
doctors there have some dire warnings
and tonight dozens of Canadians who were
on board the Grand Princess cruise ship
are back in Canada settling into a
quarantine facility in Ontario 228
Canadians were on a government chartered
plane to CFB Trenton they were tested
for signs of the virus before boarding
and they'll spend the next 14 days in
isolation not on that flight several
Canadian crew members from the Grand
Princess who tested positive for Kovan
19 the government didn't specify how
many are sick but we know at least 19
crew members and two passengers did test
positive before that ship docked in
California yesterday there are now 93
known cases of kovat 19 in Canada four
are in Quebec there are seven new cases
in Alberta bringing the provinces total
to 14 Ontario has 36 cases there are
seven new ones in BC for a total of 39
and two of the new cases there are
health care workers from the nursing
home in North Vancouver where a man in
his 80s died of koban 19 the risk in
this country does remain low though
public health officials say to slow the
spread now is the time to practice
social distancing from other people and
to stay home if you're sick and late
today that's what the Federal Minister
of Natural Resources Seamus O'Regan
tweeted he is doing he says I've had a
persistent head cold for a few days so
as a precaution I saw a doctor they
recommended a test for kovin 19:00 I'm
not aware of contacting anyone infected
but was told to remain in self isolation
until we get the results feel fine but
I'll work from home and tonight a
British politician announced she's
tested positive the minister in charge
of patient safety Nadine Dory's is now
self isolating officials are identifying
anyone who came in contact with her
including other MPs she recently met
hundreds of people and attended a
reception with the British prime
minister what's happening in Italy is a
warning to the rest of the world not to
be complacent
the death toll in Italy jumped by 106
d8 in just 24 hours to 631 more than
10,000 people have now tested positive
in Italy the entire country 60 million
people have been told to stay home and
one doctor is exposing the chilling
reality dr. daniel matt cheney says it's
like a tsunami that has swept us all he
works at a hospital in Bergamo northern
Italy in a translated Facebook post he
says I understand the need not to create
panic but when the message of the
dangerousness of what's happening does
not reach people I shudder cases he says
are multiplying we arrive at a rate of
15 to 20 admissions per day all for the
same reason the results of the swabs now
come one after the other positive
positive positive suddenly the ER is
collapsing every ventilator he says
becomes like gold today Air Canada
cancelled all flights to Italy and the
corona virus is now present all across
the European Union crystal commencing on
how the worst-hit country outside china
is coping italians are seeing firsthand
the consequences of the new corona virus
and it's overwhelming when it came out
and we're all watching you need looks
terrible and then started to come home
to us Margaux Leggett belani
is Canadian but has been living in Italy
for 15 years she has friends who were
doctors and the explosion of kovat 19
cases has changed her view I think it
will become a very big problem if it's
spread that quickly in Italy it can
spread quickly
anywhere it's not just where we are
about a week ago the government shut
down all schools universities plus
theaters and museums it wasn't enough on
Monday evening the nationwide ban was
announced some travel is allowed but
only for specific reasons and paperwork
is required people are also being told
to stay at least a meter away from each
other and public events such as funerals
and weddings are canceled now grocery
stores are open but not on weekends when
crowds would be larger European leaders
met today by teleconference
based on Monday's confirmed cases with
463 deaths and 9172 infections
Italy's fatality rate is at five percent
nationwide that's higher than the three
to four percent fatality rate from kovat
19 being reported in other countries
everything is very quiet except for it
sounds really terrible to say but just
here on glimpses going by this is very
almost creepy appealing the man
considered patient 1 in Italy is 38
years old he's said to have recovered
it's a bit of hope for frontline staff
fighting the epidemic crystal commencing
Global News London
so how ready is Canada what would an
avalanche of severe respiratory illness
cases mean for our healthcare system and
our hospital emergency rooms many of
which are already over capacity
that's what Heather Eurex West is
looking at tonight inundated with calls
Monday health linked Alberta's
telehealth hotline was unable to keep up
any who called the line heard this
recording officials say more staff is
being trained to deal with the growing
demand NBC public health physicians have
been brought out of retirement to help
with testing and containment measures
Canada's health system showing signs of
pressure
even though compared to other countries
Canadian cases of kovat 19
relatively low we had to completely
reorganize the hospital networks in
Lombardy in northern Italy the
healthcare system is under siege
intensive care units have been
struggling to care for more than 600 who
are now critically ill because of kovat
19 it's not this disease itself it's the
amount the incredible overwhelming
amount of patients you have to take care
of in a limited amount of time it's like
a bomb that explodes but it keeps
exploding day by day the number seen in
Lombardy are staggering 12 percent of
positive cases are ending up in the ICU
as staff struggle to find beds it's more
likely that ventilator shortages will
come in before ICU bed shortages Patrick
Saunders Hastings co-authored an audit
of Canada
pandemic preparedness level three years
ago he says despite lessons learned from
SARS and h1n1 Canada's health system may
not be ready for something as contagious
as kovat 19 from a surge capacity
planning point of view we often
recommend hospitals work at about 85%
capacity and I don't think it will
surprise people to hear that most work
well above that in the range of sort of
a hundred to a hundred and twenty
percent the federal government says it
will help all provincial and territorial
health systems deal with additional
pressures in the coming months but for
now the focus remains on ensuring this
virus doesn't spread in Italy dr. Bruce
le agrees taking precautions now to
contain Koba 19 is key the only way to
survive this the only way to avoid
thousands of death is to stop the spread
of the disease
hether Yorick's West Global News Calgary
the federal government is under pressure
to be ready to respond to health care
needs and with economic measures our
chief political correspondent David akin
has been tracking one meeting of cabinet
ministers after another on Parliament
Hill today David what preparations are
being made well there's gonna be lots
now Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a
three-hour meeting with his full cabinet
today he spent another hour with that
cabinet sub-committee ANCOVA 19:00 and
he emerged at the end of all of that to
say there is broad agreement that the
Canadian economy is about to slow indeed
economists now expect the GDP to shrink
by 3 percent or more that's a lot
between April and June and so his
government will soon be announcing some
steps to push in that blow and recognize
that there are going to be significant
economic impacts for Canadians for
workers for businesses and that's why
we're going to be talking very soon
about measures that Canada is going to
put forward to support people on the
economic side now how soon is soon we do
expect some measures to be announced
tomorrow and then we may hear some more
measures at the conclusion of the first
ministers meeting that Trudeau is going
to convene later in the week we have
premiers and territorial leaders coming
to town on Thursday David the Premier's
are expected to ask Ottawa for economic
help but they're also going to have a
list of things they need for their
health care systems what do we know
about that
that's right we know that Ottawa is
under pressure to make sure that
provinces have enough equipment for
frontline health care workers now
doctors are sounding the alarm over the
shortage of ventilators we'll need in
the event of widespread infection yet it
was just yesterday that this government
wrote to premiers to find out what their
needs are that is a failure of emergency
preparedness Davies is referring to a
letter Global News obtained over the
weekend that was signed by the Prime
Minister addressed to all the premiers
and asks them to come to this week's
first ministers meeting with a list of
supplies the provinces need now the idea
behind all that is it is the federal
government that is in the best place to
make a bulk purchase of those supplies
and then distribute them where they're
needed Donna okay David akin in Ottawa
thanks one of the outbreaks in the u.s.
is just outside New York City in
Westchester County a containment zone is
in place now New York City's mayor says
private labs that began running
coronavirus tests on Friday are
reporting so many new cases public
officials are having trouble keeping up
there are more than 950 known cases in
the u.s. now at least 28 deaths today
President Trump assured Americans the
virus will go away and everyone should
remain calm Abigail Beeman reports Saint
Patrick's Day parades in Seattle San
Francisco and Boston canceled really
thinking about protection of people the
list of events keeps growing Santa Clara
California issued a countywide ban on
large gatherings putting San Jose Sharks
games in jeopardy
New Jersey saw its first death and New
York announced a one-mile containment
zone in New Rochelle where there has
been a cluster of more than 100 cases
we're also going to use the National
Guard in the containment area
to deliver food to
homes to help with the cleaning of
public spaces Harvard is the latest
university to cancel in-person classes
asking students to move out of dorms
meanwhile on the Grand Princess cruise
ship while the healthy Canadians left
disembarking all 3,500 people will take
longer dual Canadian American citizens
Eva and Ron Weisberger have launched a
million dollar lawsuit against the
ship's parent company alleging it didn't
adequately screen or warn passengers
about the threat but you can't just
coronavirus and has a severe heart
condition like I do it could be fatal
the cruise industry along with airlines
have been hit hard President Donald
Trump also hinted at economic help in
the form of payroll tax cuts and relief
for hourly wage earners and help for
people to get tested the government has
been criticized for its slow rollout
these CEOs have also agreed no surprise
billing we want people to get it tested
meanwhile Trump himself has yet to do it
well I don't think it's a big deal I
would do it I don't feel that any reason
I feel extremely good there are at least
half a dozen US lawmakers who have
chosen to self quarantine after they
came into contact with someone who
tested positive for the new coronavirus
and two of them came into contact with
the president including one who flew
with him on Air Force One
Abigail Beeman Global News Washington