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Trump Arrives in India for State Visit; Italy Imposes Strict Measure to Contain Coronavirus Outbreak; Trump To Land In Ahmedabad Shorty, Huge Crowds Expected; South Korea Confirms More Than 760 Cases Of Virus; Number Of Cases Surges Beyond Mainland China. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired February 24, 2020 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello to our viewers joining us from all over the world. I'm Natalie Allen live from CNN Center in Atlanta. Coming up next here on CNN NEWSROOM, namaste Trump, the U.S. president expected to arrive soon in India for what could be his biggest rally yet. And we'll take you there live when he lands.

Plus, cases of the coronavirus exploding across Asia and other parts of the world. The World Health Organization warning now it could be getting harder to contain. And U.S. Democratic presidential hopefuls not throwing in the towel just yet after Bernie Sanders' big win in Nevada.

And thank you again for joining us. Live video here from India. Any the moment now, U.S. President Donald Trump is set to arrive in Ahmedabad, India for a short state visit. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to line the streets as he heads to a Namaste Trump rally at a Cricket Stadium. He will also visit the Taj Mahal in Agra and hold formal talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

When we see his Air Force One landing, we'll take you there live for the ceremony that we're having. But right now, let's go to Sam Kiley. He's in Ahmedabad at the Cricket Stadium, and we want to warn our viewers because there's a lot of excitement there, it's really loud where you are there, Sam.

SAM KILEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's certainly is loud, Natalie. And I think the organizers here are going to make good on their hopes to have at least 100,000 people which is the capacity of this stadium. Of course, they can also add people down on the hollow ground in India, the cricket pitch itself. This is the first time that this stadium is going to be in use in India in the city that Narendra Modi used to rule over when he was chief minister of Gujarat state.

There's no accident that he is welcoming Donald Trump on Donald Trump's first-ever non-commercial visit to India. Of course, there will be commercial talks, mostly tomorrow when they're hoping to try to get some movement towards a free trade deal to get India back on track to continue the rich trading relationship that it had enjoyed in the past with the United States until the Trump administration suspended the privileged trading status that India enjoyed.

And nonetheless, this is also a moment for Donald Trump in his end to pay respect to his Indian guru. It is Narendra Modi who has pioneered the whole style of populist politics that swept Donald Trump to power and entrenched Mr. Modi's power last year with the resounding win in the parliamentary elections. Which has resulted in legislations then that has caused a lot of critics on Mr. Modi to cause him to -- accuse him rather of anti-Muslim sentiment amidst growing sectarian tensions in the country.

But this is something that both Mr. Modi and Donald Trump been looking forward to. Mr. Modi to distract from the criticisms over his accusations of alleged anti-Muslim bias. And of course, Donald Trump entering the beginnings at least for him of the electoral season in the United States, Natalie.

ALLEN: Sure. Well, they'll have some business to do. But right now, we see the crowd there in the Cricket Stadium and we hear them. The optics couldn't be better for a president who likes to have big crowds at his rallies. So thank you, Sam Kylie. And again, here's a live picture from the airport where we expect to see Air Force One at any moment.

Right now we turn to our other top story. The coronavirus spreading rapidly beyond Mainland China. Now South Korea has just reported another massive spike in cases there with more than 760 infections and seven deaths. The country is raising its crisis alert to its highest level. It's also designating Daegu and Cheongdo in the southeast where most of the cases have been found as special care zones. Many of those cases are linked to a small religious group.

Meantime, Japan faces scrutiny for its quarantine of a cruise ship. There are now more than 600 died in coronavirus cases from the Diamond Princess. We're covering the story from around the world. CNN's Paula Hancocks is live and Seoul, Corresponded to Blake Essig is in Tokyo, and our (INAUDIBLE) joins us from Singapore.

Let's start with you, Paula in Seoul. I just mentioned that the country is moving to its highest alert over this. What does that entail?

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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's basically from the precedence on Sunday, Natalie. And what it does is it frees up more funds for this to be tackled. It means that there will be more doctors being sent to Daegu, which is the city that has really been hit the hardest and is the center of this significant spike in cases over the past few days.

So what we're seeing is, as you say, over 760 cases. Now, just to put that in perspective, last Tuesday, so six days ago, there were only 31 cases. So it shows just how quickly this spike has happened. And as you say, it is many of them, in fact, more than half of these cases have been linked to one particular religious group.

We understand that many of those, in fact, more than 9,000 will be under self-quarantine. Officials say they want to test them. They're doing about 5,000 to 6,000 tests a day around the country, we understand from health officials. But they are also still trying to track down hundreds of these members of the religious group.

We understand that the police are tracking phones, they're knocking on doors to try and find some of these missing members. They're looking at CCTV footage. So that is something that they're trying to do at this point. But as for the area itself, the area of Daegu, it's a city that's a few hours south of the capital. Two and a half million people live there.

And I was there just a couple of days ago. It is a very quiet city at this point. Many people just don't particularly want to come out. We know now that, as well, Korean airlines are starting to suspend their flights to Daegu. Korean Air, Asiana are a couple of low-cost carriers have suspended them until the first or second week of March at this point. So clearly this has become the epicenter of South Korea's fight against coronavirus.

ALLEN: And they have quite a fight ahead of them. Thank you. Paula Hancocks for us there in Seoul. Now, let's go to Tokyo and our Blake Essig. That cruise ship, that stricken cruise ship where they were trying to be so careful about who could be stricken there, but now there are issues. What can you tell us?

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Natalie, Japan's health ministry is in the process of retesting 23 passengers who slipped through Japan's quarantine protocol procedures to disembark the Diamond Princess cruise ship. And at this point, the issue here is these 23 passengers, they were tested originally before the quarantine period started on February 5th, because they'd either developed symptoms themselves or come into contact with somebody who did test positive for the coronavirus.

Now, in order to disembark the ship according to the quarantine protocol, you had to be tested within the 14 day period prior to disembarking. These 23 passengers did not do that. They disembarked, they returned home on public transportation. And as a result in the days that followed, the Japan's health minister has apologized, express deep remorse, vowing to make sure that this mistake never happens again.

But again, at this point, it has happened and so they are in the process of trying to retest all of those passengers to make sure that they have not tested positive for the coronavirus. But perhaps more serious, Natalie, is the fact that there is a woman in her 60s who did disembark the ship after following that protocol, and she has since tested positive for the coronavirus. This really calling into question the effectiveness of this quarantine that was put in place.

ALLEN: All right, Blake Essig for us in Tokyo. Blake, thanks very much. Now we're going to go to our breaking news story that the President of the United States just touching down. As you can see an Air Force One in Ahmedabad, India for a 36-hour trip with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They will be discussing trade. He will be visiting the Taj Mahal. And his first stop will be a very crowded Cricket Stadium where some 100,000 people await the president.

Let's go to our Sam Kiley to talk more about first of all, Sam, the optics of this for President Trump. He loves crowds. There's a big crowd waiting for him.

KILEY: Well, yes. and the latest opinion poll in India, not the United States, but in India show an approval of Donald Trump's role in the world at 56 percent. So of them is 53 percent. Those are numbers that he would be absolutely delighted with if they were applied to his supporters within the United States of America in this election year.

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It is an important relationship for the United States. It's also a very important relationship for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and for Donald Trump. They're both populist leaders, they are both leaders who had been accused of fomenting xenophobia in order to enjoy the fruits of political support.

And earlier this year, in particular, Narendra Modi's parliament, a parliament dominated by his Hindu Nationalist party introduce legislation that critics here say is anti-Muslim requiring refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and other neighboring countries to prove that they're not Muslim in order get Indian citizenship.

Now, that, of course, runs very counter to the secular traditions here in India, but they have not undermined -- excuse me -- his longer-term political prospects. It will be though, very good politics for Mr. Modi as it were for Donald Trump to be attending a rally that would a formidable turnout by any standards, particularly for Mr. Trump. There is at least going to be 100,000 people in this stadium. That is the seating capacity.

There are many tens of thousands supposedly lining the streets on his journey to here and also stop off at the shrine effectively to Mahatma Gandhi who himself was actually assassinated by a Hindu nationalist extremist in 1948. And nonetheless, this is an important moment, the real politics will get down again tomorrow with the formal reception for the First Lady and the U.S. President followed by bilateral talks with a pretty formidable team that the White House has brought with them.

And the aim is Trump to try to achieve some kind of trade deal. They're not expecting any success with that until after the November elections. But already, the bilateral trade was expected to hit $150 billion U.S. dollars a year. Natalie?

ALLEN: Sam, thank you so much. We know it's quite noisy there but we'll continue to talk with you as you do your best so that we can hear you. You've seen that the steps have now arrived there at Air Force One. We should be seeing the President who is traveling with the First Lady emerging as the door is opening. I'm also joined by Parag Khanna. He is the Founder of FutureMap, and

the author of The Future is Asian. Parag, thank you so much for talking with us through this momentous occasion. We're seeing Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the president's daughter and son in law. They're already stepping off the airplane and waiting for her father to emerge.

We heard Sam Kylie talking about Narendra Modi and some of the challenges he faces. But let's talk about the relationship between these two later -- leaders, excuse me. President Trump has said India doesn't always treat the United States well, but like he often says, he says it about the Chinese leader. He may not like where they are in trade, but he likes him and he said he likes Narendra Modi. What do we know about their relationship?

PARAG KHANNA, FOUNDER, FUTUREMAP: They have that several times, of course, Natalie. And so, in that sense, this is going to represent -- this visit is going to represent a certain degree of continuity in the relations between the two leaders. They both have a certain degree of a longevity in the sense that we know that Trump has the remainder of this year to build up the strategic relationship and hopefully get the kind of trade deal, which is one of the main items on his agenda.

Narendra Modi, for his part is, of course, just been reelected. So despite the domestic issues that he's facing that you've already addressed, you know, he has a fair bit of longevity left in his regime. So between the two leaders, we know they get along. We also know of course, President Trump, this is not his first visit India. He's been as a businessman. Probably he's not seen a stadium of 120,000 people before greeting him. So this will be a different kind of experience.

This is obviously being orchestrated to, you know, reinforce the relationship between the two leaders. But let's remember, there is a lot of substance here between the two countries. This visit, for example, was preceded just a few months ago by what is called the two plus two dialogue in which foreign ministers and defense ministers of both countries got together. They have a lot of common matters really, that are -- that are sort of significant and strategic.

The arms deals are growing between two countries. India is probably the world's fastest-growing defense acquisition market in the entire world. They've jointly crafted this idea of a free and open Indo- Pacific region. They both obviously, of course, view the rise of China as a threat. So that is going to be something that endures an area where the two countries are working on deepening really strategic areas of alignment and cooperation.

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I did just use that word alignment, but let me be absolutely clear about what it is that has sometimes rankled the relations between the two countries over the decades. It is that India does not like the idea of being a secondary or junior partner in an alliance. You know, a country like Japan has been accustomed to this for a very long time, obviously, since the post-war decades. India during that same period, the Cold War, pursued a strategy of

non-alignment. Today, it practices what I call multi alignment. It wants to be friends with everyone. It still has very strong ties with Russia. It actually also had Xi Jinping of China make a state visit to India last fall as well, and now the visit of President Trump.

So, Trump is not -- is going to have to reconcile himself as the U.S. has had to for a couple of decades. But as much as there is strategic alignment between them, it is not going to be an alliance.

ALLEN: Yes. And that's interesting you say that because I was reading that this visit by Mr. Trump, who we should see any moment now stepping off Air Force One, that this trip is really more advantageous for the Prime Minister -- Prime Minister Modi, than it is for President Trump. This is going to be a big show for him.

KHANNA: It's a recognition that after again, a couple of decades of cultivation and a common at least perception that India could be a counterbalance to China, in Asia, especially of course in the maritime theater of the greater Indian Ocean, that India is now living up to that potential, that Donald Trump is visiting to signify that is really going to be the case.

Pakistan is not so much the obstacle in the way anymore. They're always used to be this sense that the United States would try to maintain equanimity in the relations between the two of them. But India is clearly a lot more important in terms of the regional geopolitics of Asia. And so Modi is going to capitalize on that, that sense that India is being recognized for its importance.

Then, of course, there's the economics. Because obviously, their trade relations are growing. The total volume of trade between the United States and India stands at just over $150 billion. So it is only a quarter to a third of the trade relationship with China. But just imagine as we see the supply chains moving out of China as a result of the trade war, and even now with the virus, India at the same time is opening itself for much more to foreign investment.

We've had Tim Cook visiting India last year, Jeff Bezos visiting very recently just this year, and we see supply chains moving towards India. There already is joint defense manufacturing, so aircraft are being -- sort of a military aircraft being manufactured jointly between the two countries in India, pharmaceutical projects -- products, obviously software, right? India's largest, most valuable export, and a lot of that going to the United States. So there's a clear areas of alignment.

And of course, it has been underscored that there is tension around the trade dynamic, but in the sense of clearly the trade volumes are growing, who gets maximum advantage. India actually has a slight trade deficit right now with respect to the United States. And so, a couple of the issues are around, will India open up more to American agriculture, to medical products, and these kinds of things, and so forth.

ALLEN: That's a specific area. Yes, I was reading about agriculture which he has -- the President of the United States has talked China into doing. And we'll see what headway he makes with India. As you speak -- and thank you so much for your -- this information Parag. We'll continue to stick with you.

I think people might be seeing the long line of the entourage I'm looking off the side where I can see the Air Force One plane waiting for him. There's going to be more of a welcoming ceremony that we see sometimes, oftentimes when the President arrives and is greeted by dignitaries in a country. There are handshakes, and then he gets into the presidential limo that we know as the beast and leaves.

But a little more of a ceremony. We've seen some costumes in the line for President Trump's arrival here in India. Why in particular, is it important that he's here in Narendra Modi's hometown, Parag?

KHANNA: Oh, that's, of course, very significant. And Ahmedabad has been one of the fastest-growing big cities in India. It's a place that has struggled but again, relative to other cities, improved its kind of livability, if you will, for such a large size city. A lot of infrastructure investment has gone in, a lot of real estates, I.T. parks, these kinds of things.

So you know, India is a place that it's historically its economy has been driven so much by Mumbai, for example, Bombay, and Delhi, and now also Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad is emerging as well. A country of more than one billion people, Natalie, of course, needs to have seven, eight, or 10 major urban economic engines. And this being his hometown, he's sought to brand and place Ahmedabad right in the center as one of those key sort of, you know, multi-sectoral hubs with, again, a lot of different industries that are thriving there.

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And of course, he wants him to see that. Obviously, there's the politics as well. The place where he has a very large support base, a place where, of course, he was Chief Minister for quite some time before becoming Prime Minister of India. So he can have that home- court advantage in terms of the political optics as well. So as you know, as you can well imagine, there's that sense of a local pride as well as political advantage that comes from that.

Again, as you know, you know, President Trump has been to India before. The officials in New Delhi who've been stage managing This relationship for a long time and this visit as well also are thinking about the big picture in terms of what this means for Modi's credibility, his popularity at home, as it's been discussed, you know, many times. There's a lot of issues in terms of the religious and social tensions in the society right now, but in Ahmedabad, he can sort of, you know, paper over those things to some degree.

ALLEN: All right, stand by. We'll continue our conversation with you Parag. We also want to go back to our Sam Kylie who's in the Cricket Stadium where 100,000 people will be waiting to greet President Trump. Sam, let's talk more about the celebration that's taking place and he's getting quite the greeting. I believe that's -- is that Narendra Modi? Yes, it's the Prime Minister there. He will be greeting, it seems, the President as well.

Ivanka Trump walking up to the bottom of the steps now, so wish should be seeing President Trump and Melania Trump, the First Lady, emerging quite soon. But Sam, talk more about the pageantry surrounding his arrival and this visit, and what this means to India and the Prime Minister.

KILEY: Well, the U.S. President is going to be treated here in the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad, the capital of Gujarat state. The state that was presided over by Narendra Modi as chief minister for nearly 13 years, to some of Bollywood spectaculars, some of the famous sort of line, various traditional and less traditional dances, music, and of course, there will be speeches.

Now, they've got a pretty tight program, I have to say. They're going to be driving in from the airport, stopping off at a shrine or a memorial, to Mahatma Gandhi, before coming here to the stadium, and then whipping offers as well to go in and do a bit of tourism at the Taj Mahal. Amidst all that, there's a crowd gathering here at what the Indians are calling, the world's largest Cricket Stadium when it's finally complete. It has the capacity crowd of about 100,000 or more on the actual pitch.

All are looking forward to hearing from Mr. Trump because he has a pretty high approval rating here. The latest polls show him about 56 percent in terms of Indian approval for his conduct on the international stage. And it is an international stage where Donald Trump wants to focus to be after his travails over impeachment and controversies over the men close to the Republican Party recently pardoned. And he's stepping into an environment in which the politics, he would be very familiar with.

Narendra Modi is like Donald Trump. Indeed, he predates Donald Trump as a pioneer of the modern populist movement, often accused by his detractors of fomenting sectarian tensions, of peddling a version of Hindu nationalism which many more moderate Hindus -- excuse me -- find excessive but nonetheless, one that has been highly successful in elections.

He won resounding victory in the parliamentary elections with his BJP party in the early summer of last year that enabled him to push through some legislation which is currently being the Indian Supreme Court, which is being alleged to be Muslim legislation. From his perspective, it is a legislature to regularize citizenship for many hundreds of thousands or more immigrants to the country came in as refugees from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, but would have to prove that in order to become Indian citizens.

So in all of this though, the issue is really for both leaders is to be seen on the stage behind me celebrating the pageantry that India is able to demonstrate, a nation of 1.4 billion people to the world's most powerful country, the world's most powerful democracy, the biggest democracy welcoming the most powerful democracy.

[01:25:34] ALLEN: Sam, I'm going to interrupt this for a moment. We're seeing Narendra Modi greeting Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump at the bottom of the steps there at Air Force One. He will, of course, be one of the first to greet President Trump and the First Lady as they step off and begin their quick but busy 36 hours here in India.

As we mentioned, after this ceremony at the Cricket Stadium, the President and First Lady will also be touring the Taj Mahal there in India. And of course, the two leaders will be speaking to talk trade and they hope to have some breakthroughs. So, here, they're coming right now, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump. Let's just listen in a moment as they're greeted.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a hug to President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Symbol of their friendship. Greetings all around.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prime Minister Modi introducing the American --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: All right, we'll bring back in our guest Parag Khanna as the President and First Lady make their way down the red carpet and see what awaits them. As you can see quite a ceremony for the President's arrival here in Narendra Modi's hometown of Ahmedabad. Let's go back to our guests Parag Khanna talking with us about the significance of this trip and the relationship of these two leaders.

President Trump has said he's very fond of Narendra Modi and they do have similar styles in their leadership. Parag, if you could talk more about this as we see them walk down this red carpet.

KHANNA: Absolutely, Natalie. And as you said earlier, it's more important for President Trump to be treated well by the leaders then, you know, he can excuse in a way if the country such as China or India, "treats America badly in certain areas like trade," but to be treated in this way. And of course, you know, he really hasn't ever had such a rapturous reception anywhere else in the world by the law of numbers. that's pretty much impossible for him to have this kind of experience anywhere else. So it's going to be quite a feast for the senses.

So there is that, again, that peer to peer relationship that has been deepened as a result of this. As we said before, there are those structural issues where for a very long time, analysts and officials have felt that the U.S. and India should and need to come together in a long-term way. And again, the geopolitics of the relationship with China and wanting to counter China, balance China, even contain China to some degree is an area that of common interest, no doubt.

The economics of it, the trade, that can be smoothed out. We've seen that happen with a much tougher adversary, if you will, in the case of China. And in a way, India is one of the countries that benefits from the U.S.-China trade war, because you start to see more American companies say, well, let's start to make things more in India. That's what we're seeing Apple, for example, and other companies do. And even in sensitive areas, as we were saying before, defense, pharmaceuticals, American companies are there.

One other area again, that's bridges the domestic and the foreign policy that we obviously have to address is immigration. Indian Americans are the second-largest Asian population in the United States behind Chinese, just narrowly behind Chinese. And let's remember that the largest number by far of H-1B visas approved every single year for global talent and professional workers go to Indians.

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We have seen the steep drop-off in the number of Chinese immigrating to the United States as a result of everything from the trade war to the sort of, you know, fear factor around intelligence, espionage issues, the number of Chinese students starting do plateau as well.

The number of Indian students, however, even though it is also experienced a blip, there is that long term sense that Indians can integrate very well in the United States, given the English language, technical education and so forth. It's been pointed out in the run up to this visit, for example, just how many CEOs of technology companies, the pharmaceuticals and other sectors across the United States are of Indian origin.

So, the demographic issue is very important. You know, Trump wants this message to go straight back to the three and a half million Indian Americans about 50,000 to 60,000 of whom greeted him when he made that visit, that "Howdy Modi" visit where he welcomed Prime Minister Modi to Houston, Texas just last year.

So the demographic issues, the economic issue, the geopolitical issues, none of these areas -- in none of these are they so far apart that they can't in fact come together strongly.

You know, Natalie -- since the 1990s people have been using this phrase, "twin towers of democracy", to describe the U.S.-India relationship and just how significant and stable and steady it can be, again making the comparison to Japan, America's deepest, truest, longest-standing ally in Asia alongside Australia as well.

So in fact, the four countries -- Japan, Australia, India and the United States -- have a separate parallel military working group that is known as the Quad. These four countries that are, in addition to the U.S. and India, U.S. and Australia, U.S. and Japan -- among the four of them, finding ways to collaborate more in the naval theater, intelligence sharing, to actually work to restrain China's expansion, particularly in the naval maritime area in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.

So that, by the way, is going to be another important topic that will surely come up in the course of this visit.

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Right. They will be talking about the issues and trade, and the President and First Lady are getting a taste of Indian culture as well as they arrive here at the airport.

Parag -- thanks so much.

I want to talk some more about what happened next there in the presidential limo. We saw Narendra Modi get into his vehicle as well. Their next stop will be at this cricket stadium.

Let's go back to our Sam Kiley who's there. And Sam -- talk about the drive there and how India has been preparing this route for President Trump. Some criticism of that wall being built say to cover-up the slums so the President will see the best of India on his way to that stadium.

SAM KILEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, local authorities building a (INAUDIBLE) wall to obscure what could be part of the very significant slum (INAUDIBLE).

That, Natalie, was already (INAUDIBLE) convenient coincidence, trying to put on the very best display possible from (INAUDIBLE) for the U.S. President and the First Lady.

Now, there are expected to be many thousands of people lining the streets. There are very colorful banners being erected, posters on every street corner, talking about the unique relationship between the two men.

I have to say, Mr. Trump has in the past described some developing nations in most unflattering terms, and he may be somewhat struck by the vibrant scrappiness that he does pass that these residents have been unable to mask or perhaps even unwilling to do so.

But this is also Gujarat state, the center, really, of Narendra Modi's power base. He was chief minister here for 13 years. It is a strongly pro BJP state, that is the party that Mr. Modi presides over through which he (INAUDIBLE) and was resoundingly reelected earlier this year, rather, in the summer of last year.

And so, Natalie, there is I think has been quite a lot of genuine support for Narendra here. And of course, I remind you of the statistics I keep quoting, 56 percent of Indians approve of the way that Donald Trump conducts himself on the international stage.

They had figures like that back home. He has been smiling even more broadly than he's said to be expected to do when he walked out here in the Motera Stadium, what the Indians are saying is the world's biggest cricket stadium.

[01:34:59]

KILEY: It's recently built, not quite completed. This is the first use that it has been put to. And it certainly is looking like it's going to be a capacity crowd here and the (INAUDIBLE) building with raucous, Bollywood sights going on in the background.

ALLEN: All right -- Sam. Well, he is headed your way now. The "Beast", which they the U.S. presidential limousine, is now moving out of the motorcade, making its way towards that stadium And the President again, just 36 hours here in India but CNN will be following it every step of the way.

We will take a break for now. Our coverage continues after this.

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ALLEN: All right. Video here of the U.S. President and First Lady in their motorcade making their way through Ahmedabad, India for a two- day state visit. The President arriving just about 15 minutes ago.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is also in that the motorcade is hosting a "Namaste Trump" rally as you just heard from our Sam Kiley who is there at a very noisy and crowded cricket stadium -- a brand- new stadium that holds more than 100,000 people. And no doubt President Trump will be very pleased that it is passed as he likes a big crowd.

He will also hold formal talks with Mr. Modi and visit the Taj Mahal.

[01:39:55]

All right. We turn back the other top stories we're following for you -- the coronavirus.

The outbreak in Italy is the largest of any country outside of Asia. And officials in the hardest hit areas are taking extreme measures to contain it.

They're closing public buildings, rich looking transportation and in some places, banning public events.

For more about it, let's go to CNN contributor Barbie Nadeau. She is in Rome. What more can you tell us about the concern there -- Barbie?

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: well, there is a great deal of concern. And I think the word of the day is containment. There's just a lot of effort right now to stop people from moving around who might be in those areas or who might have been exposed to people who have been tested positive for the virus.

Now, the last count we've gotten, 152 confirmed cases and three deaths. Most of those deaths -- or all three of them, in fact, were elderly people. And two of them were people who had pre-existing conditions and other related health problems.

But there are towns -- over ten municipalities and towns in northern Italy that are on complete lockdown. People can't go out of their homes. All public places are closed and, you know, the residents risk a three-month jail sentence and a fine if they defy those bans.

And the authorities are working very, very hard to understand how this virus is spreading and where it started. And they haven't been able to identify the so-called Patient Zero. that's the person who started the infection. They know -- you know, they know it is someone who was not in mainland China and he was not exposed to someone from there, caught the first virus in this pocket of northern Italy.

But they cannot figure out who started it and who brought it into the country. And that, until they figure out that -- they're going to have a hard time containing and predicting how it is going to spread -- Natalie.

ALLEN: All right. A story we'll be following closely there.

Barbie Nadeau for us -- thank you.

Now let's got to Manisha Tank. She is in Singapore with a check on how the markets are being affected. Of course, global economies taking a hit. What is the latest -- Manisha?

MANISHA TANK, CNN REPORTER: Yes. Very much, and it does not help that we had comments out from the International Monetary Fund over the weekend warning of what could happen to the global economic agenda and very much being impacted by fears about growth connected to Covid-19 or the coronavirus.

So looking at the markets, it looks like a bit of a red wash here in Asia. We've got the Hang Seng, the Kospi, the Shanghai Composite -- all of them down.

The Kospi which is the benchmark index in South Korea down sharply. It's been extending its losses in the last hour. So we were trading down about 3.4 percent extending that above 3.5 percent lower and all of that of course because of this sort of explosion in cases that we have been hearing about over in South Korea.

And what that could mean being on red alert. That means shutdowns, possibly. We already know that Samsung, for example, in the affected area has shut down one of its factory complexes. That is big. And if you see more of that, you're going to start asking questions about risk (ph).

We've also seen tourism numbers fall sharply here in Asia, so, very big questions in a time of great uncertainty.

As for other indexes that are moving, just take a look at Dow futures today -- off very sharply, pointing to a much lower open when the U.S. markets get going much later in our trading day.

Also, European markets -- stock index futures there also looking lower. So I'll keep an eye on this but it's not looking good for now.

ALLEN: Right. We will see how they open and start the week here in the United States in several hours. Manisha -- thank you for that report.

And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen.

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There is President Trump making his way through India. [01:43:37]

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