[Vause:] 500 additional U.S. troops are being sent to the southern border with Mexico. Americans say they're being deployed to help border enforcement agents with coronavirus related issues. With the latest now from Mexico City, here's CNN's Matt Rivers.
[Matt Rivers, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, the number of cases and the number of deaths continue to rise here in Mexico. The new case total as of Tuesday evening, 25 people have died as a result of this virus, while some 1,215 people have tested positive so far. That's about three times the amount of positive cases as compared to this time exactly one week ago. As a result, Mexican health officials, federal officials, have put in place a health emergency at this point. That means shuttering all non- essential businesses, government offices, all schools are closed, and everyone is being asked to stay at home and to properly social distance with other people around them. This is going to go through April 30th. And it's a good thing because I was speaking to one doctor here in Mexico City last week and he was telling me that there is no way that the public health system here in Mexico could deal with anything remotely close to what we're seeing going on in places like the United States at this point. And perhaps that's the reason why we heard from the deputy health secretary here in Mexico over the weekend where he said that Mexico this would be its last chance, as he put it, to stop this outbreak from spreading. And yet despite all those warnings, we're getting mixed messages from the president of Mexico. So on the one hand, over the weekend, he posted a video about 15 minutes long, telling people this is serious, telling people they need to stay at home. And at the same time, another video went viral over the weekend, and that would be of the president in the western Mexican state of Sinaloa where he briefly met and shook hands with the mother of famed drug lord and former boss of the Sinaloa drug cartel Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. He met her briefly during his trip out there. Now, aside from the obvious questions that that encounter brings up, he also was very clearly not following the safety protocols that he's been promoting, stay at home and socially distance. He didn't do that and clearly shook her hand. Now asked about that, asked about the criticisms that really sparked online after that video spread, the President said that as far as the woman goes, he would shake the hand of any 92-year-old woman who wanted to shake his hand. And as in regards to the criticisms, surrounding him, touching another person, he said that it would have hurt his heart not to shake someone else's hand. That has been very difficult for him not to hug and shake people's hands. So clearly, the President of Mexico saying one thing when it comes to this outbreak, and doing another. Matt rivers CNN, Mexico City.
[Vause:] Officials in China are changing the way they count the number of coronavirus cases. Patients showing no symptoms will now be included. According to Johns Hopkins University, there are more than 82,000 confirmed cases in China. Even so, officials are now starting to ease containment measures and some restrictions. For more, live to CNN's Steven Jiang in Beijing. So what is behind this decision to change the way this count is being done, to include those who are asymptomatic?
[Steven Jiang, Cnn Senior Producer:] Well, John, there was some confusion over their language of what they announced this new way of counting cases. But they just released their latest figures for Tuesday. Now we know they're still not counting these asymptomatic cases in the total of confirmed cases. But what they are doing is now they're updating these numbers on a daily basis. So the asymptomatic cases are now being included in their daily reporting even though even though they're still not part of the total confirmed cases. So, for Tuesday, for example, now the government said they added the country added 36 new confirmed cases, but also adding 130 new asymptomatic cases. Now, these cases and they're close contacts according to the authorities will be placed under a 14-day quarantine. Now, if you're in this window you're in this window, if they develop any symptoms, they will become confirmed cases. And there were apparently two such cases on Tuesday. So there is still a bit of confusion here, but it seems they're sticking to their guidelines in terms of not counting people who have tested positive but without any symptoms as confirmed the cases, but they're also at the same time at the same time saying we are being more transparent addressing growing public concern over these cases. Because there was one recent example of a woman in central China become infected of this of this virus after she came close after she came into close contact with a local friend who turned out to be one asymptomatic case. So John, so there was still a bit of, you know, game here in terms of how they account these cases. But at least, right now, from today onwards, they're going to include these cases in daily reporting. John?
[Vause:] We shall see. Steven, thank you. Steven Jiang live in Beijing. China is preparing for an influx of imported cases. Officials in Beijing are now rerouting all international flights to other cities in a bid to streamline strict screenings. As CNN's David Culver reports, so he's returning to the mainland, can now expect many hours of testing once they've landed.
[David Culver, Cnn International Correspondent:] China taking no chances when it comes to people entering the country, shutting down its borders this past weekend to nearly every foreigner. Those who managed to get in before the closure and during hours of screening, mandatory testing, and for some, immediate quarantine.
[Elaine Chow, Traveled From Japan To Shanghai:] So this is me before in my tiny little room here in Osaka.
[Culver:] Elaine Chow, an American living in Shanghai chronicled her journey back into Mainland China from Japan.
[Chow:] When I first landed, seeing all of those people and hazmat suits, they come up to you and you know, hold like a temperature gun to your head, was quite like unsettling but at the same time, you're like, OK, they definitely take this whole not getting infected thing pretty seriously. [02:50:03
[Culver:] It is a time-consuming process. As passengers go through a health screening, a detailed interview about their travel history, and finally customs. Three and a half hours later, and Chow boarded a bus to her district's testing center. The nasal and throat swab done under these tents. About eight hours after that, she got the all-clear, negative for the coronavirus, and then began her 14 days at-home quarantine. Kim Wong is also mid quarantined after flying in from New Jersey to Shanghai. She takes her temperature twice a day and sends it to a community doctor by WeChat. Outside her door, sensor to make sure she does not break quarantine.
[Kimberly Wong, Traveled From New Jersey To Shanghai:] Going through the U.S. and Japan, like I thought by far this was the most organized and streamlined process that I've seen.
[Culver:] A very different experience returning to China for American Michael Rosenblum. After crossing over from Hong Kong, he says he was forced to pay for this government designated quarantine hotel stay.
[Michael Rosenblum, Traveled To Guangzhou, China:] Every layer of the process, I was voluntarily confined because obviously A, they're trying to protect people. And B, you know, that's the law.
[Culver:] Rosenblum says he had already tested negative not once but twice. He later learned it was his neighborhood committee that determined he should be in quarantine before returning to the community.
[Rosenblum:] In so many words, somebody basically said to me, look, you know, they're not going to allow you to leave. Like well, I was told I could go home if my test result was negative. How long am I expected to stay? And they said, well, at least for 14 days.
[Culver:] After six days, the local health officials finally allowed him to go back to his home and Guangzhou. China says it's bolstering of its borders is a direct result of more imported cases of the virus getting into the country. As locked down restrictions within China ease and people start to move around again, there's also a growing concern here that asymptomatic carriers could expose others to the virus, potentially leading to another spike where the outbreak began. David Culver, CNN, Shanghai.
[Vause:] And when we come back, a tasty tribute to the man leading the fight against the coronavirus in the United States.