[Robyn Curnow, Cnn Anchor:] So the United States has overtaken China with the most confirmed cases of coronavirus in the world. They are now well over 82,000 infected people in the U.S. A staggering 15,000 new cases were confirmed just on Thursday. And it's worth noticing that the U.S. has just 14 of the population of China. Also globally the virus has spread rapidly in recent weeks. Johns Hopkins University NOW reports more than half a million infections in almost every corner of the world and more than 24,000 people have died. In hard-hit Italy meanwhile hospitals are overwhelmed by the crushing surge of infected patients. It could be a preview of what's in store for America's virus hotspots and the ethical dilemma doctors may soon have to face. Delia Gallagher has more.
[Delia Gallagher, Cnn Correspondent:] In some of northern Italy's cemeteries there's no space left for the dead killed by the coronavirus. Hospitals are crumbling under the sheer number of patients and U.S. experts warn if this disease could cripple Italy's strong health care system, the U.S. could be next.
[Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases:] It essentially got out of hand and became difficult for them, as good as they are, and they're very good, to be able to contain it in a way that is contact tracing, all that kind of thing. It was more mitigation. How do we deal with what we have? They're in a very difficult position.
[Gallagher:] In this exclusive footage given to CNN, doctors show us operating rooms in a hospital in northern Italy turned into makeshift intensive care units. Barely conscious patients. Doctors and nurses pushed to the brink. They now have to choose who will live and who will die. Some medics have described it as war time triage. Patients with the highest chance of survival get priority, and it's doctors, nurses, and emergency workers who are exposed to the greatest risks. At least 39 medical professionals have died in Italy since the crisis.
[Dr. Angelo Pan, Head Of Infectious Disease, Cremona Hospital:] Even a smaller error can give you the infection and then you have to hope not to get any serious problem.
[Gallagher:] It's a stark picture for those in the U.S. now fighting the disease. America's doctors are already planning for the ethical challenges they will soon face. In Italy exhausted doctors struggle physically and mentally from the strain they hope other countries will learn from them.
[Unidentified Female:] We're not even counting the dead anymore. Look at the news that's coming out of Italy and take note of what the situation really is like.
[Gallagher:] A dire situation and a warning for the world. Delia Gallagher, CNN, Rome.
[Curnow:] Thanks, Delia. Now Spain is another country overwhelmed by the coronavirus. The number of dead there has exceeded 4,000 with more than 56,000 people infected. But Thursday's increase in the death toll was actually much lower than Wednesday's, which is lending a little bit of hope. Meanwhile, these pictures have come into CNN. It looks like a hospital ward, doesn't it, yes? But in normal times this is a huge Madrid conference center adapted for the country's new reality. So let's go over to Madrid now. Al Goodman joins us. Hi, Al. The country's health minister says the latest data on the virus suggests phase of stabilization. Are you feeling that on the ground? And that is a little bit of good news, isn't it?
[Al Goodman, Journalist:] It is, Robyn. If we just go back to the beginning of the week, Spanish officials may have been a little overly optimistic saying that the peak of the curve could be coming within days. One of them even said this week, but that hasn't happened. So now they're saying that it's coming soon. They're confident it's coming soon and the figures do seem to back them up. The fatality figure you just mentioned, the latest increase was a 19 percent increase but the previous day that was down from 27 percent. And for those going into the intensive care ward, the latest increase was 16 percent down from 20 percent a day earlier. So some encouraging information there but there have been ups and downs. For instance, on the medical equipment that Spain is trying to desperately get into testing kits, the government announcing Thursday they had bought a series of kits, a lot of them, from a Spanish company that imported them from China. It had the European Union quality symbol on it. But Spain following protocol tested it in their national reference lab and it didn't work. It didn't give the data that would tell you whether you have coronavirus or not in enough cases so that had to be discarded. That's one of the setbacks. Meantime, they are expecting $500 million worth of new testing equipment, masks, gloves coming in over the following weeks. Meantime, briefly, there's been just a terrible human toll here, especially in senior citizens homes. Most of the patients who have died are over 70. Officials say most of them in hospital. But several hundred have been in senior citizen homes including two dozen in just one home here. So we are seeing now Spaniards, including a friend of mine who on Thursday went with their family to get their mother, elderly, out of one of these senior citizen residences to bring her back home because she doesn't have the virus. They don't want her to catch it in one of these homes. Back to you, Robyn.
[Curnow:] A real concern for pensioners all over the world. And families as well. Al Goodman, thanks. Good to see you, my friend, live from Madrid. Thank you. So Japan is preparing itself for the economic impact of delaying the Olympics over the coronavirus pandemic. By some estimates it could wind up costing tens of billions of U.S. dollars as Will Ripley now reports Will.
[Will Ripley, Cnn International Correspondent:] No visit to Tokyo's Asakusa neighborhood is complete without a ride on a rickshaw, but this year almost no one's riding. [on camera]: This is a lot of empty rickshaws here.
[Unidentified Male:] Yes. We have to fight like you know, like a coronavirus.
[Ripley:] Finding customers is like fighting over scraps for rickshaw drivers like Yoshi Furuya [PH], and now that Tokyo 2020 is postponed at least until next year the road ahead is looking long and lonely. Japan's tourism industry is bracing for an economic bloodbath. Millions of jobs and billions of dollars are on the line. [On Camera] When you combine postponing the Olympics, and the coronavirus outbreak, can you put a price tag on how much that's going to cost Japan?
[Sayuri Shraishi, Keio University Professor:] It's likely that the loss will be around $36 billion
[U.s. Ripley:] $36 billion U.S.?
[Shraishi:] The damage is quite big.
[Ripley:] Keio University professor, Sayuri Shraishi, says that astronomical cost includes cancellation and maintenance fees for more than three dozen Olympic venues, compensations for thousands who's already purchased condos in the Olympic Athlete's Village, billions in broadcasting rights and prepaid advertising.
[Shraishi:] If we do it next year we don't know how successful it's 2000 all this will be.
[Ripley:] More than four million tickets are already sold, some seats costing up to $3,000. [On Camera] $800 for tickets?
[Kenji Fuma, Olympic Ticket Holder:] Yes. Yes.
[Ripley:] Wow. [voice-over]: Demand was so high, ticket holders like Kenji Fuma had to enter a lottery. He wonders if his luck has run out. [on camera]: Has anyone told you what's going to happen with your tickets?
[Fuma:] Nothing has happened yet. So even government didn't send any emails and didn't make an announcement. So we're just waiting for their next step.
[Ripley:] Fans are not the only ones waiting. Olympic organizers need to sort out a mindboggling jigsaw puzzle, resolving scheduling conflicts with other major sporting events, rescheduling Olympic qualifiers. Kaori Yamaguchi is a 1988 Olympic judo bronze medalist and a member of Japan's Olympic Committee. She knows postponement has a huge impact on athletes. "If the games are delayed by a year, their training schedule drastically changes," she says. "But I think the athletes can handle it." Yamaguchi says this is a marathon, not a sprint. The coronavirus crisis will end. The Olympics will go on. Japan will have its moment in the global spotlight. Will Ripley, CNN, Tokyo.
[Curnow:] Coming up next, we hear from doctors at one New York hospital. We'll take you inside to see what health care workers are facing as they struggle to cope with the surge of coronavirus patients. That's next.