[Rosemary Church, Cnn Anchor:] Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church and this is CNN NEWSROOM. Just ahead, U.S. health officials issue a warning on the spread of the coronavirus but the White House downplays the threat. And showdown in South Carolina: front-runner Bernie Sanders under attack from rivals in the last debate ahead of Super Tuesday.
[Sen. Elizabeth Warren , Presidential Candidate:] Bernie and I agree on a lot of things. But I think I would make a better president than Bernie.
[Pete Buttigieg , Presidential Candidate:] Imagine spending the better part of 2020 with Bernie Sanders versus Donald Trump. Think about what that will be like for this country.
[Church:] Good to have you with us. And we start with fears of a potential coronavirus pandemic raging through the United States. Nearly 81,000 cases have been reported globally with more than 2,700 deaths. The vast majority are in Mainland China. But South Korea reports it has more than 1,100 cases. Publicly, U.S. president Donald Trump says his country has nothing to fear. But federal health officials are painting a very different picture.
[Trump:] Coronavirus, which is very well under control in our country. We have very few people with it, and the people that have it are, in all cases, I have not heard anything other. The people are getting better. They're all getting better. I think that whole situation will start working out. A lot of talent, a lot of brain power is being put behind it. $2.5 billion we're putting in. There's a very good chance you're not going to die. Now they have studied it, they know very much. In fact, we're very close to a vaccine.
[Dr. Anne Schuchat, Centers For Disease Control:] Current global circumstances suggest it's likely that this virus will cause a pandemic. In that case, risk assessment would be different. And new strategies tailored to local circumstances would need to be implemented to blunt the impact of the disease and further slow the spread of the virus. Now it's not so much a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will become infected and how many of those will develop severe or more complicated disease.
[Church:] Fears over the fast-spreading outbreak triggered another massive sell-off on Wall Street. The Dow fell almost 900 points on Tuesday after a 1,000-point drop the day before. The SNP and Nasdaq each lost about 3 percent. Meantime, in Asia, markets are still trying to rebound after falling sharply earlier in the week. Most indices dipped again on Wednesday. Well, the virus has now spread to at least 40 countries and territories around the world. Next to China, Iran has reported the most deaths, while South Korea has confirmed the second most cases. Among those infected, an American soldier stationed in South Korea. It is the first known infection of a U.S. service member. And CNN's Paula Hancocks joins me live from Seoul with the details on all of this. So Paula, what more are you learning about this infected U.S. service member?
[Paula Hancocks, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Rosemary, we're down at the Camp Humphreys base, which is the headquarters here in Korea. And this is where that particular individual has been brought, we understand from the commander, by ambulance so that he can be treated in a low- pressurized isolation facility. So they're saying he's getting the best care. He's a 23-year-old male. And he was based in Camp Walker sorry; he was based in Camp Carroll, which is very close to Daegu. This is the city in the southeast of the country where the vast majority of these cases are now emerging. It's really the area and the focal point of South Korea's fight against coronavirus. So we know that that individual did go onto a different base which is in the center of Daegu and just a mile away from a religious group which is also becoming a focal point of this coronavirus the numbers and the spike in cases. What the military's trying to do now is effectively trace his footsteps, find out who he came into contact with and to try to make sure that this doesn't spread any further.
[Hancocks:] Now there's 28,500 U.S. troops in Korea. This is obviously a concern for the U.S. military. And we also know within the South Korean military they have cases as well; 18 South Korean soldiers have been confirmed as carrying the virus at this point. And, of course, the concern is that there is a close proximity issue when it comes to any military around the world. They're living in barracks. You do not want this kind of virus being able to spread throughout. Now we've just heard from the commander, this headquarters here will be essential personnel only from Thursday. They're really trying to restrict soldiers' movements, they say. And all non-essential travel to Daegu, the area that's most affected, is not going to be permitted by the generals as well. So they're really trying to crack down and prevent this spreading any further Rosemary.
[Church:] Many thanks to our Paula Hancocks, joining us live from Pyeongtaek. And now Ben Wedeman joins us from Milan. Ben, after significant problems with Italy's early containment efforts, what's the latest on that?
[Ben Wedeman, Cnn Sr. International Correspondent:] Well, what we've seen here in Milan, for instance, Rosemary, is that, on a normal day it's just after 8:00 am In the morning this road would be full of traffic but now it is relatively quiet, if not somewhat empty. What we've seen is that, so far, the latest statistics are that 322 people have contracted the coronavirus. There was one new fatality yesterday, bringing that number to 11. The victim was a 76-year-old woman with previous medical conditions. Now just south of here about 60 kilometers, a so-called red zone has been set up, where nobody can leave or enter. The police and the army have been deployed to make sure that people stay in place. Here in Milan, we've seen a combination of sort of life as normal, oddly, and, in other respects, life completely changed.
[Wedeman:] The pigeons outnumber the tourists in Milan's Piazza del Duomo. It's less than an hour's drive from one of the so- called red zones, where more than 50,000 people are living under lockdown, as the Italian authorities struggle to halt the spread of coronavirus. "It's not normal that there are so few people," says this woman. "This is the week of Carnival and people usually bring their children here in costumes." Some tourists are still here but their presence belies the jarring reality of this crisis. Via the Internet we spoke with journalist Mario Borra, who lives in the red zone town of Codogno with his wife and two young children. "Normal life," he says, "has come to a screeching halt. The city is completely closed," Mario says. "You can't do anything, literally. The municipality, post offices, banks, any activity with a gathering of people has been suspended. Even funerals can only be attended by two or three close relatives." In this close-knit town, tragedy is felt by all. "We're a very small community," he says. "Everyone knows each other. Someone who died yesterday is the father of one of my friends." In Milan, museums, universities and schools are closed. The city's famous La Scala theater is shuttered. All bars and cafes are under orders to shut their doors at 6:00 pm, all these measures intended to slow the spread of the disease. This group of university students gets in their last drinks before closing time. Emma isn't worried.
[Emma, Student:] The death rate is very low and in the end people die always.
[Wedeman:] OK. That's fine. You're young. Not everybody is young.
[Emma:] Yes, I am worried for my grandparents.
[Wedeman:] Yes.
[Emma:] I already called them already, made sure that they have precautions and everything.
[Wedeman:] More "precautions and everything" may still be needed. And today is Ash Wednesday. Normally there would be services in all the churches in the morning. But all of those services, Rosemary, have been canceled.
[Church:] All right. Many thanks to our Ben Wedeman, joining us live from Milan. And just ahead, the top Democrats running for the White House took the stage in their last debate before some major primary races. And front-runner Bernie Sanders was under constant fire. We will look at the winners and losers next.