Coronavirus Hurts People And Business Worldwide; Italy Introduces Emergency Measures; Israel Limits Public Gatherings; Political Setback For Netanyahu; France Takes Drastic Containment Measures
ROMANS: All right. At this hour there are more than 153,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide with Europe now the epicenter of the crisis. In Ireland the government is calling on pubs to close and is asking the public not to participate in any parties on the eve of St. Patrick's Day. And the Vatican has canceled all its Easter week celebrations and masses to curb the spread of a virus.</s>JARRETT: France taking new drastic containment measures after announcing 300 people infected with coronavirus are in intensive care. Half, half under the age of 60-year-old. CNN's Jim Bittermann is live from Paris. And Jim, what is the mood there with all of the bars, and restaurants and clubs now closed?</s>JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, pretty somber, Laura. I would say there's a lot (inaudible) has disappeared. The fact is that one is -- they came down on Saturday night by the Prime Minister, it was a real shock. I was sitting in a restaurant, as a matter of fact, it came down and we are having dinner. And the owner of the restaurant came by and looking a little shocked and said, you're going to be my last customers. We have to close down until further notice. He was like everybody else having to close their establishments. Now, what happened on Sunday was that in fact there was a lot of sunshine, nice day. People went out and they were told by the authorities they were not happy about that. And so now, we are hearing (inaudible) from clearly reliable sources here that in fact the government is considering an even more drastic approach. They're going to perhaps confine people to their homes in the same way that we've seen in Spain and Italy. So it could get a lot worse here, although, for the next few days. Laura?</s>JARRETT: All right. Jim, thanks so much for the report.</s>ROMANS: With the majority of coronavirus cases spreading outside of mainland China, the country where the outbreak first emerged is gradually returning to normal. Now its government is offering to help elsewhere. I want to bring in David Culver live from Shanghai. David, you are ahead of the curve for us here. You have been in quarantine. You've been through this. And now you're on the other side of it. What is Beijing doing? What does it look like there?</s>DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're right. You're in eight weeks of this. And I can tell you major cities like Beijing and here in Shanghai, Christine, they are starting to come back online. And the way I've kind of described it. We're seeing two steps forward, one step back. And by that, I mean, when you start to see restaurants re- opening, there's discussion of teachers for foreign schools coming back by this time next week, so that they can start their two weeks of quarantine which shows that things are in motion. We also start to see some easing of restrictions in some places like Hubei province, but then they withdraw that easy restrictions and they'll put back in place on the lockdown requirements. And that's because they are little bit uneasy about just about opening up the gates. And understandably so. Because the World Health Organization has stressed the greatest risk in all of this is complacency. Thinking, yes, we've got this beat. And so what we're seeing now is a warning even out of Wuhan, the capitol of Hubei, where this all started and the stressing from health officials there that the situation is still severe. That just came out today. They're still asking folks there to avoid going outside. Now outside of Wuhan and other parts of Hubei, once again after revoking some of the easing of restrictions, they're putting back in the easing of restrictions. So, it's kind of this back and forth. There's a dance of let's see how this plays out. And they're doing so cautiously because they are a little bit uneasy of those numbers starting to rise little by little, as people starts to move around then go back to normal. (Inaudible) to say though, it is starting to feel a little bit more like normal here. And Shanghai, a city of 24 plus million people, over the weekend you start to see restaurants filling back up again. You start to see more and more people easing back into their normal routine. So, it is reassuring, Christine, I know for folks particular where you are in the U.S. looking onward to say, is there a light at the end of this? The answer is seemingly so.</s>ROMANS: All right. David Culver for us in Shanghai this morning. Thank you, David.</s>JARRETT: Well, new limits on public gatherings are now being imposed in Israel, and they go further than anything we have seen here in the United States. The coronavirus crisis is also having unintended political consequences. Let's go live to Jerusalem and bring in CNN's Oren Liebermann. Oren, what's the latest there?</s>OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORESPONDENT: Well, Laura, Israel has been at the forefront of putting in place some of the most stringent restrictions to try to limit the spread of coronavirus and it remains that way. It used to be that you had to limit gatherings to 5,000. Well, over the weekend that number was changed to 10. Just 10 people are allowed in gatherings to try to limit the spread of coronavirus. Meanwhile, restaurants, cafes are closed, entertainment venues, leisure venues, those are all closed as well with some rumors circulating here that it's not long before they shut down public transportation as well. All in an attempt to try to keep this as limited as possible. There are now some 250 confirmed cases in Israel, not that big of a number. But a number that is still rising very quickly. On Friday that number was 100. So, you see how quickly it's rising. And in the middle of all of this, and this includes challenges to the economy, the military, the health system, and much more, there is of course, an ongoing political crisis that's lasted more than a year. As Israel hasn't had a fully functioning government since Christmas Eve 2018. And perhaps coronavirus can do what the politicians could not. Which is bring the two largest parties together. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party and Benny Gantz, Blue and White Party and they need to find some sort of unity government or some sort of national emergency government to get Israel through this crisis. But there are no guarantees there and that's the challenge ahead. All sides are calling on a unity government or an emergency government to deal with this. But calling for it and actually getting there are two very different things. Laura, a fourth election is theoretically at least a possibility. But how you hold an election under these circumstances, even if it's still months away. Again, that -- another challenge this country would try to deal with.</s>JARRETT: Yes, certainly something we are struggling with here in the U.S. We are in a middle of primary season as well. Oren, thanks so much for that.</s>ROMANS: All right. A much different feel to last night's debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. And Biden made a bold promise if he wins the nomination.