Fears Of A Global Pandemic Mount As The Coronavirus Cases Spike; President Trump Gets VIP Treatment In His Visit To India; Israeli Military Says It Launched A Series Of Stikes Targeting Militant Group Islamic Jihad In Gaza And Syria
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello from CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Natalie Allen. Coming up next here on CNN Newsroom, fears of a global pandemic mount as Coronavirus cases spike in South Korea and in Italy. Donald Trump gets the VIP treatment on a whirlwind visit to India. Narendra Modi aiming to impress with a mega rally for the U.S. president and he lands in one hour. And in the state of Nevada, a runaway win for Bernie Sanders in the white hot race for 2020 Democratic nomination. Thank you so much for joining us. Our top story here is the Coronavirus. Turning into what many world health officials have feared, an outbreak surging beyond its epicenter in China, spreading rapidly in Asia and beyond. On Friday, Italy had just three confirmed cases, now it has more than 150, the largest known outbreak outside of Asia. Most of the cases are in the north of Italy. Italian officials are scrambling to stem the outbreak, even suspending the Venice Carnival. Revelers who did show up were wearing their carnival masks as well as face masks to keep from getting ill. Meantime, a World Health Organization official warned, the virus may be getting even hard to contain.</s>TARIK JASAREVIC, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION SPOKESMAN: We were having a window for opportunity, because a drastic measure that China has put in place in a epicenter of the outbreak was buying some time for other countries to prepare. But now, we are seeing these very worrying trends in other countries. So -- so without really speculating where we will be going from now, we -- we -- we want to focus on the work with countries, so countries get ready.</s>ALLEN: South Korea is also facing a massive spike in cases. It now has more than 760, most in the southeastern areas of Daegu and Cheongdo, and the country is raising its crisis alert to its highest level. For the very latest, we're joined by CNN's Paula Hancocks, she's in Seoul for us. Paula, hello. What is the latest there?</s>PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Natalie, once again there has been spike in numbers of confirmed cases here in South Korea, and also an increase in the number of deaths. There's now seven that have been confirmed related to the virus itself. Now, as you say, there is a real focus on a city of two and a half million people, a city called Daegu. It's about three and half hours drive south of the capital. And this particular area is where we have seen the majority of these cases over recent days. And the majority of those cases have been related to one particular religious group. We understand of the 763 confirmed cases, health officials say 455 have been associated with just this one religious group. Now, just in the last few hours, we understand that certain Korean airlines have -- have stopped and suspended flights to Daegu and the surrounding area. We understand it's Korean Air, Asiana, a couple of low cost carriers as well, are suspending those flights until at least early March at this point. And there are -- the mayor himself has -- has suggested that people don't go outside. I was there a couple of days ago and it is a far quieter city than it has been in the past. People heeding those words. We also know that 11 service members, South Korean military personnel have been confirmed with the virus as well, and that, of course, is increasing concerns of -- of a sweep through the military. They have barracks, they are known to live in very close quarters. So, the defense ministry is trying to crack down on that -- that particular spreading very quickly. Natalie?</s>ALLEN: And we also know it was this religious sect, a particular religious sect, where they do believe that this came through. What's the latest with the people involved there? Because, a few days ago they were concerned not -- that not everyone had been tested.</s>HANCOCKS: Well, that's right. I mean, we know from -- from authorities that they've drafted in 600 Korean police officers to try and track down hundreds of missing members. They say that they have names, phone numbers, addresses, but they simply can't get in touch still with hundreds of these members. So, what the police are doing at this point, is they're -- they're knocking on doors, they're going to people addresses, they're trying to track their phone records with the help of -- of the country's telecom groups and they are scouring CCTV footage to monitor some of the movements that they've seen recently. So, this itself shows that authorities are concerned that they are not managing to get in touch will all the members of this particular religious group. Critics say that this group is secretive. That it's members do not admit to being members of the church itself. The church has spoken out. We had a statement just on Sunday saying that they though media claims of a cover up were -- were wrong and unfair. Saying that the members of the church were actually -- excuse me -- the members of the religious group were actually those who were the biggest victims, saying that they had been cooperating with police. But this is definitely the main focus for -- for police officers at this point. Trying to track down that those that are missing and find out where they are going, who are they interacting with and -- and about 9,000 plus individual members of this group are on -- under quarantine at this point, self-imposed quarantine. Many of them will be tested.</s>ALLEN: All right, Paula Hancocks, for the latest there in Seoul. Thank you Paula. Well, as we mentioned, Italy is taking extreme measures to contain the outbreak in its northern region. Officials there have closed buildings, limited transportation and banned public events in several towns. For more, let's got to CNN Contributor, Barbie Nadeau, she joins me from Rome. Barbie, talk about this region, in the northern part of Italy, where these cases have been found. What's in this region and do they know the source?</s>BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, the biggest question here, is what the -- who the source is. Who this so-called patient zero is, you know. They know that a lot of the spikes in -- in these clusters, these cases are related to one hospital in particular, south of Milan, but they just don't know who the first person to contract the disease was, or the virus was. You know, the city of Milan is taking extraordinary measures. They've closed the Duomo, they've closed several services, you know, in Milan Fashion Week many of the shows are being housed in empty theaters and things like that. And, you know, the -- the big word of the day here in Italy is containment. They just don't want people moving out of the area and spreading it into the rest of Italy. And there's concern across the various borders too, of course, the Brenner Pass, we know last night they stopped a train going in -- into Austria. And -- and those are the types of concerns that they have right now, especially the surrounding area. But, the officials haven't tested everyone that's been in contact with these 152 confirmed cases. And we've had three deaths here and it must be said, though, that these are elderly people. At least one of the people were in an oncology department, so they had other underlying health concerns as well. But, that authorities here are expecting to give us a new number in the next couple of hours. We haven't had a bulletin since last night and they've warned that that number could -- of cases could go up as they struggle to figure out how this started and how far it spreads across the country, Natalie.</s>ALLEN: Yes, and you mentioned the train to Austria. What other countries are in the immediate vicinity that would have concerns about this? And I know that I've talked with experts that say, closing borders is not necessary, but that has been some steps that say Pakistan has taken with Iran.</s>NADEAU: Well, you know, we've heard some whispers out of France that they're going to be controls at the borders there. You know, last night there -- there was a news bulletin about a train that came into Romano, in which they've told the people they have to be quarantined for two weeks. A lot of this, you know, we don't -- we can't confirm exactly what's happening in every single border crossing. Italy has a lot of small border towns and trains go through. I suspect today though that we're going to get some more definitive measures, especially from the -- the departments -- the Transportation Department and things like that, in Italy, to give -- to lay out kind of a protocol about traveling out of the country and that will be working with the neighboring countries as well. There's also concerns about trains coming into the south of the country, trains coming through -- coming out of Milan and down south here to Rome and to Florence and places like that. There are delays across the country and there have been great concern that those trains should be monitored as well. Within the infected area, though, the trains aren't stopping in any of the more than 10 towns now that are on complete lockdown. They've even set up food corridors to get -- get food into those people who are just told they can't leave their houses, Natalie.</s>ALLEN: All right, Barbie Nadeau, covering the story there from Italy for us. Barbie, thank you. Other news we're following, in just about one hour U.S. President Donald Trump will arrive in India, where massive crowds are expected to greet him. A Namaste Trump Rally, that's what it's being called, is scheduled at a cricket stadium in Ahmedabad that can hold over 100,000 people. Mr. Trump will also hold formal talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It's a quick trip. His 36th hour wheels down trip there will include a visit though to the Taj Mahal in Agra. CNN Sam Kiley is in Ahmedabad. That is the hometown of Narendra Modi. Can you get a sense there of excitement building over the rival of Mr. Trump there, Sam?</s>SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Natalie, greetings from Motera stadium which is according to the Indians going to be the biggest Cricket stadium on earth with the capacity of 110,000 people now. Before his trip out here, Donald Trump said that he would (inaudible) of crowds of sum ten million. I think we can take a couple of zeros off that. And he'd still be pretty pleased with the turnout. The stadium is filling up. It is growing in size. There's still an hour or two at least before the U.S. president arrives here for this joint appearance with India's Prime Minister, of course very important for both of them coming from the two biggest democracies on earth, the most powerful nation on earth visiting the biggest democracy on earth. 1.4 billion Indians, a very active democracy indeed. Not withstanding a period recently in which Mr. Modi has come under very bitter criticism from his opposition and indeed legal groups and others accusing him of introducing anti-Muslim legislation through his dominance of the parliamentary process here. He was elected -- reelected to the (inaudible) or at least his parties won overwhelming majority in the elections last year. Donald Trump facing election -- reelection in November also keen to in a sense pay respects perhaps naturally to the original India guru behind the populist wave that swept Mr. Modi to power later on calls Mr. Trump too. They employ very similar rhetorical tricks, very similar policies in some respects. But there is no great hopes for a major trade deal to come out of this. The Indians are hoping perhaps side deals. Mr. Trump signaling that a big significant trade deal probably have to wait until after the November elections. But this is a very important relationship indeed. India has more military exercises with the United States than any other country. And the bilateral trade is scheduled we believe going to tip over $150 billion per year, Natalie.</s>ALLEN: All right. Sam Kiley, you'll be covering it for us. And when the president's Air Force One lands in about 45 minutes, we will bring live coverage to our viewers of that. Sam, thank you. The Israeli military says it launched a series of strikes targeting militant group Islamic Jihad in Gaza and Syria. It is in response to militants firing more than 20 rockets into Israel. Tensions escalated Sunday after Israel soldiers opened fire on two men they say were laying an explosive device along the Gaza border fence. Back to U.S. politics now involving President Trump, he's weighing in now on the Nevada caucuses after Bernie Sanders big win in the state. We'll tell you what the president is saying about it next, also why the South Carolina primary this Saturday is particularly critical for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. That's all coming up here. You're watching CNN Newsroom.