now the Chinese city we're covered 19
first emerged the city of Wuhan has
allowed people to leave the area for the
first time since it went into lockdown
in late January those with a green code
on a widely used health app on their
smartphones now have permission to leave
the city as restrictions within Wuhan
have been gradually easing our
correspondent John Sabbath joins us now
from Beijing well Hugh after its initial
faltering steps China eventually hid
this virus hard shutting its whole
economy down and while there is some
doubt about the detail of the official
figures it's clear the government
believes the trend is going in the right
direction the priority now is to
cautiously get the economy going again
which is why today we've seen something
that few people would have thought
possible a couple of months ago the
reopening of the city where this whole
thing began after 76 days of lockdown
the trains were lined up and ready to go
the barriers taken down from the
highways and Wuhan reopened its links to
the outside world it's a long way from
this the outbreak which began in the
city had by late January spiraled out of
control so strict with the quarantine
rules that only a select few were
allowed to move around the city
including delivery drivers providing a
vital lifeline the roads were empty it
made me feel sad as people couldn't
leave their homes people would ask us
for help with things like delivering
medicine to their elderly parents
president Xi's walkabout in Wuhan last
month was the first sure sign that the
infection rate was now under control
but questions remain social media
footage of the long lines outside
funeral hose led to claims that deaths
were far higher the
officially reported and there's still
deep anger directed at local officials
for covering up the outbreak early on
Shanghai lost his 76 year old father to
the virus it's because of the cover-up
by a small group of all hung officials
and led to my father's death I need an
apology and I want compensation but for
the authorities the focus is on getting
the country moving again the reopening
of Wuhan is a hugely symbolic moment in
China's efforts to declare victory over
this virus while its handling of the
outbreak may raise many questions it
offers some hope to these roads in
Beijing were deserted just a few weeks
ago look at them now officials admitted
brakes could still occur but for now
they're celebrating Wuhan success was
marked with a light show John said worth
BBC News Beijing let's take a brief look
at some of the other coronavirus
developments around the world today the
US state of New York is on the verge of
overtaking Italy four confirmed cases of
Kovach 19 almost one hundred and
thirty-two thousand cases it has 700
fewer than Italy but with only a third
of Italy's population United States is
now the epicenter of the pandemic in
France coronavirus deaths have passed
ten thousand one of the highest levels
in the world and the authorities in
Paris have i10 intensified the lockdown
banning outside exercise during the day
the new rules will come into force
between 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. from
tomorrow
Japan has declared a state of emergency
in the capital Tokyo in six other
regions in an attempt to tackle the
spread of the virus despite a relatively
small number of infections there are
concerns that a sudden rise in cases in
Tokyo in the past week could lead to a
major outbreak now after heavy criticism
in recent weeks of the slow response by
banks in supporting businesses the boss
of Britain's biggest lender has defended
its respond
to the corona virus outbreak the head of
NatWest group formerly known as RBS says
it has struggled to cope with the huge
call volumes from customers chief
executive Alison Rose has been speaking
exclusively to our business editor
Simon Jack it's an economic race against
time this foreign wine shop in Stockport
has been paying suppliers staff rent and
cash is running out fast but 330 billion
in government backed loans from the
banks has been slow coming we're really
struggling and just need some cash it's
been too late
[Music]
requests to Zane bank NatWest and others
have so far gone unanswered
I put his case to the boss of the UK's
biggest lender to business Allyson Rose
one of your customers was promised a
call
the very next working day that was two
weeks ago he's heard nothing why is that
what's going wrong our call centres
normally take 3,000 calls a day we're
now receiving 25,000 which is why I'm
redeployed staff retraining staff and
getting people to help and the money is
starting to move but I appreciate it is
you know a very desperate situation for
a lot of businesses we've removed the
requirement last week the Chancellor
tried to make it easier to get access to
loans removing personal guarantees for
smaller loans and letting firms go
straight to the emergency ones rather
than jump through normal hoops first 11
years ago banks were saved by billions
of taxpayers money
many feel this time the banks should
take some losses on the chin themselves
and accept they may not get back all of
their money I recognise the sort of
challenge that you're putting down which
is why we've restructured our business
we've refocused our people we are
putting funds out as quickly as we
physically can to these businesses to
help them during this period many UK
businesses are unable or unwilling to
borrow their way out of this crisis more
radical solutions are being discussed
including governments or banks taking an
ownership stake in thousands of
businesses a decade ago the banks were
part nationalized this time it could be
parts
of the entire economy Simon Jack BBC
News