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White House, Senate Reach Historic $2 Trillion Stimulus Deal; Nearly Half the U.S. Under Stay-at-Home Orders; U.S. Lawmakers Agree On $2 Trillion Stimulus Package; Japan And IOC Agree To Postpone 2020 Olympics; Israeli Police Enforcing Self-Isolation Orders. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired March 25, 2020 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause with breaking news this hour from Washington, where it has just gone 2:00 am on Wednesday.

Updated negotiations, the White House and congressional leaders appear to have reached an agreement on what is by far the biggest stimulus package in U.S. history. Democrats voted the bill down twice, arguing that $500 billion allocated for bailing out big business lacked accountability.

A White House official says the inspector general and Congress will have financial oversight. Democrats also pushed for more financial help for workers, sick leave, unemployment benefits as well as direct cash payments.

Full details of the approximately $2 trillion package are yet to be released but it reportedly includes $250 billion for direct payments to families, $350 billion in small business loans and $250 billion in unemployment benefits.

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SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Madam president, I have an update of the information of all senators and for the information of the American people. It is good news. It is good news for the doctors and nurses and emergency rooms around the country who are waiting for more masks or funding.

It is good news for families all across America. At last, we have a deal. After days of intense discussions, the president has reached a bipartisan agreement on a historic relief package for this pandemic.

It will rush new resources on to the front lines of our nation's health care fight and it will inject trillions of dollars into the cash and economy as fast as possible to help American workers, families, small businesses and industries make it through this disruption and emerge on the other side, ready to soar.

The bipartisan act will squarely address each of the four big priorities that I laid out in my legislation at the beginning of the process about a week ago. It will rush financial assistance to Americans through direct checks to households from the middle class on down and through a significant and creative expansion of unemployment insurance during this emergency.

It will deliver historic relief to mainstream America. Through hundreds of billions of dollars in emergency loans, more small businesses will be able to survive and keep paying their workers. It will help secure our economic foundations and stabilize key national industries to prevent as many layoffs as possible. While keeping big companies accountable and both sides have sought to do.

Of course, it will push major relief to hospitals and health care providers, invest in new medicines and vaccines so we can beat this virus faster and help get more equipment and masks to the frontline heroes who put themselves at risk to care for patients.

In effect, this is a wartime level of investment into our nation. The men and women of the greatest country on Earth are going to defeat this coronavirus and reclaim our future. The Senate is going to make sure they have the ammunition they need to do it.

I am thrilled we are finally going to deliver for the country that has been waiting for us to step up. I am relieved my distinguished Democratic colleagues are ready to say yes. This has been a long week for the Senate but it has been a much longer week for the hundreds of millions of Americans who find themselves in this strange new reality.

Every morning brings new worries about their health, loved ones, whether their jobs or small business will still exist at this time next week. Help is on the way, Madam President. The American people are already rising to this grave challenge and the Senate is about to follow suit. We are going to pass this legislation later today.

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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: After five days of arduous negotiations, after sleep deprived nights and marathon negotiating sessions, we have a bipartisan agreement on the largest rescue package in American history.

This is not a moment of celebration but one of necessity. We have the anguish of the American people, wondering about the future of their health and the health of their loved ones and the economy, necessitates us to do all we can to help them and help our country.

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SCHUMER: From the very beginning, Democrats have had two primary goals: a Marshall plan for public health workers in hospitals on the front lines and putting workers first. The agreement, now, after these five days, reflects those Democratic priorities and we are proud that they are now part of this legislation.

Like all compromises, this bill is far from perfect but we believe that the legislation has been improved significantly to warrant its quick consideration in passage because many Democrats and Republicans were willing to do the serious and hard work the bill is better off than where it started.

Democrats have succeeded in making the bill substantially better on many counts. Here are four major pillars of the bill.

First, a Marshall plan for our hospital and medical needs. There is much more money for our hospitals and nurses and physicians, for our nursing homes, for our community health centers to do the job they need to do, over $130 billion.

Second, workers first. So many people are being put out of work through no fault of their own. They do not know what their future will be like.

How are they going to pay the bills?

We come to their rescue. The most significant part of that was the part we devised. We call it unemployment compensation on steroids. Every American worker who was laid off will have their salary remunerated by the federal government so they can pay their bills. And because so many of them will be furloughed rather than fired, if they have benefits, they continue. And extremely important, they stay with the company or small business. And that means that company or small business can reassemble once this awful plague is over and our economy can get going quickly.

Third, strict oversight, transparency and accountability of all loans made to corporate America. We need oversight. We need transparency. Every loan document will be public and made available to Congress so we can see where the money is going, what the terms, are and if it's fair to the American people. An oversight board, as well as an IG to make sure things are done on the level.

Fourth, real resources for our state and local governments. That was one of the last decisions we had to make, $150 billion to go to states and localities who are so hard pressed because of all the new expenses that COVID-19 puts upon them and because they are not getting the resources they usually get, taxes are delayed until June.

And finally, real help for small businesses. My dad was a small business man in exterminating. I know how businesses worry and suffer. They will get loans, their employees will be paid by the federal government while they are closed, because they don't have customers or services. And they can also bounce back afterwards.

So this agreement is really an outstanding agreement. To them, to all Americans, I say, help is on the way, big help and quick help. We are going to take up and pass this package to care for those who are now caring for us and help carry millions of Americans through these dark economic times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Joining us on the line from Washington is congressional reporter Manu Raju.

At the end of the day, in broad brush strokes, who gave what and who got what?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: We have not seen all the details. Yet this has been an intense negotiation over the past five days. It's gone from early morning to late at night. Nearly 2:00 am here on the East Coast.

The deal has just been struck between the White House and Senate leaders over a bill that will cost $2 trillion. That is trillion with the letter T. The most expensive bill that will ever be enacted in the history of the United States government.

[02:10:00]

RAJU: If it is in fact enacted, which we do expect it will be, this bill is expected to be broken down over a number of different areas, providing direct payments to Americans who have been hard hit by this economic crisis, in addition to loans to about $500 billion worth for companies that have been as well.

In addition to $350 billion for small business loans, $250 billion of unemployment insurance benefits, this measure came as a result of enormous pressure being felt by the members and lawmakers and the White House here in the United States about what is happening with the coronavirus and the layoffs are happening across the country.

And they acted. It took them five days of negotiations, which is a long time for a lot of folks but for Congress --

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VAUSE: It is lightning speed.

RAJU: -- it could take days, months, maybe even years.

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VAUSE: Very quickly, while we have you, is there an idea of a timeframe yet?

How soon will it be before American households start seeing the end result, money in their pocket, money being sent out?

How long will it take from this point on to actually see some kind of tangible result?

RAJU: It will take some time. For money in their pockets, the IRS suggested it could happen relatively quickly. We have to see the bill language in terms of that aspect of it. But it will take some time to spend so much money. The question will be how much of an impact will it have on the economy.

It could force Congress to come in again and deal with another area. A lot of questions will be whether or not this is enough to deal with this sagging economy.

VAUSE: This is the third stimulus budget have passed in the last week or so. This is not the end by any means. If there is a requirement for more stimulus, they have pledged to do that, right?

RAJU: Yes. The House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told his Democratic colleagues in the conference call today that they may do 4-5 measures. But they are not going to be here in Washington. The members will be long, gone away at home, self quarantining. If they have to come, back they will. But they don't want to as the pandemic spreads.

VAUSE: Manu, appreciate you there on the line from D.C., we appreciate it.

RAJU: Thank you.

VAUSE: There is word from the Treasury Secretary. Steve Mnuchin has said the president, Donald Trump will sign off on this stimulus package as soon as it reaches his desk.

Let's go to Tokyo. Kaori Enjoji is there where the markets have been driven by emotion for weeks, selling on fear.

Are they buying now on hope?

KAORI ENJOJI, JOURNALIST: Absolutely. News that the Congress has reached this deal for a $2 trillion bailout package is sending Tokyo stocks sharply higher, closing the day as the news came.

And minutes before the close up more than 8 percent into his highest close in more than 2 weeks. We are seeing gains across the board for Asian stocks as well. Dow futures, which were in negative territory before the news broke, has flipped into positive territory. Dow futures now up about 100 points.

Optimism that the deal has been passed and also expectations of small and medium sized businesses that have been very hurt by the coronavirus and the business shutdowns, might see some relief, coupled with the wall of money the U.S. federal Reserve has decided to put up in defense of the economy is helping sentiment and has been helping sentiment for about 3 sessions in a row in Asia.

Also, I think the uncertainty lifting about the timetable of the Olympics announced last night, of course, it will be postponed until the summer of 2021, giving investors some room to cheer.

But very few people are still unwilling to call a bottom, saying a lot of the trading is pretty much algorithm driven, so computer driven, with investors deciding to sit on the sidelines throughout this immense volatility.

The fact that other governments are following the U.S. footsteps with billions of dollars in their own fiscal stimulus, coupled with moves of monetary moves by central bankers around the world, we are expecting some kind of stimulus from Japan as well.

It seems to be helping sentiment somewhat but the volatility remains very, very high. People are concerned about the dollar and the impact it is having on some of the weaker and smaller economies in the region, particularly some of the emerging economies, as their currencies get tanked as the dollar spikes, which is stoking fears and reminders of the Asian financial crisis a while back.

We have seen movements and rebounds like this during major crashes like Black Monday and the 2008 financial crisis. But today as the news, broke that Congress has reached a deal on the $2 trillion stimulus package.

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ENJOJI: There was another wave of buying coming into the Tokyo equity market, all sectors across the board rising, including sectors like tourism; aviation has been hit particularly hard, despite news of the extension to postpone of the Olympics, which could potentially cost them millions in the months ahead.

People are still worried about the continued weakness on the economy, particularly weak economies like Japan. They are probably already in recession technically. And unless there is a breakthrough on the medical front with this battle against the coronavirus, people are still very nervous.

VAUSE: They have had 3 stimulus packages around the world that could be 4 or 5 but it's all about the medical side of this, which is taking priority at the moment. Kaori, we appreciate the update on the Asian markets there, reacting positively as you would expect to the stimulus package, thank you.

The financial package will do little to slow the pandemic as it continues to sweep across the globe. The World Health Organization is now reporting a total of 375,000 cases and warning, the next epicenter of the COVID-19 disease could be the United States, where more than 700 people have already died.

The U.S. reported 163 dead on Tuesday, the highest one-day death toll so far. Despite, that President Trump seems to have removed the somber and serious tone from last, week, telling FOX News he wants to ease restrictions which have been put in place to contain the outbreak so the economy can restart by Easter.

Meantime, New York state now appears to be the epicenter of the viral outbreak in the U.S., reporting nearly half of all known cases nationwide, with the U.S. vice president calling on anyone who recently left New York to self isolate for 14 days.

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MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The New York metro area, with 60 percent of the new cases in the country. Specifically, as a lay person, I can tell you that the infection rates are roughly one in 1000 in the New York City metropolitan area, where they are 0.2 percent per 1000 or 0.1 percent per thousand in places like Washington state.

For anyone in the New York metropolitan area who has traveled, our task force is encouraging you to monitor your temperature, be sensitive to symptoms and we are asking anyone who has traveled out of the New York City metropolitan area to anywhere else in the country to self isolate for 14 days.

We have to deal with the New York City metropolitan area as a high risk area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Erica Hill has more on the crisis facing not just New York state but other states as well.

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ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A plea from the epicenter of this crisis: to focus.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): We are just a test case. And that's how the nation should look at it. Look at us today. Where we are today, you will be in three weeks or four weeks or five weeks or six weeks. We are your future. Let's learn how to act as one nation.

HILL: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announces cases in his state are doubling every three days. He's calling on the federal government to prioritize how and where it deploys crucial equipment and supplies starting with his state.

CUOMO: New York has 25,000 cases. It has 10 times the problem that California has. Ten times the problem that Washington state has. How can we be in a situation where you can have New Yorkers possibly dying because they can't get a ventilator but a federal agency saying, I'm going to leave the ventilators in the stockpile?

HILL: Of the 30,000 ventilators, Governor Cuomo says New York needs, the federal government has now pledged 4,400 will ship to the state by Wednesday.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is buying us some time. But we are going to need more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you need a ventilator, you need it immediately.

HILL: The need for critical supplies escalating as hospitals and health care workers are stretched to the brink.

DR. CELINE GOUNDER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: We're basically being asked to jump off a cliff, you know, without the appropriate protective equipment. And so, that's -- that's really hard. It's -- I think that's probably what's more stressful than the actual hard work of it itself. HILL: Ford, 3M and GE Healthcare announcing a new partnership to

meet that need. GE even putting out a call for more manufacturing workers. But regular production is still weeks away.

JAMES HACKETT, PRESIDENT & CEO, FORD MOTOR COMPANY: By the middle of may, we could be making hundreds of thousands of these ventilators.

HILL: Millions of Americans are facing their own deadlines for rent and mortgage payments. Morgan Stanley is now predicting jobless claims for the past week could top 3.4 million, roughly five times the highest number on record. By Wednesday, more than half of all Americans will be under orders to stay home.

[02:20:00]

HILL (voice-over): And more students are learning they won't return to a classroom this school year.

Business leaders are pushing for younger, healthy workers to return to the office as the president pushes to restart the economy by Easter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I keep thinking myself, when the CEO is ready to take the subway to work or a bus to work and then operate the elevator in their company, I'm going to get some sense that they think it's safe enough to end social distancing and I don't think we're there yet.

GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R-MD): Do we let people die or kill all the businesses or jobs?

It's a twin battle. We've got to be fighting both at exactly the same time. And that's exactly what we're trying to do here.

HILL: Americans at every level adjusting to the changes in real time with no deadline in sight.

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VAUSE: Thanks to Erica Hill for that report.

All of India, more than 1 billion people, are now under total lockdown for the next three weeks. The order came Tuesday during a televised address by prime minister Narendra Modi. CNN producer Vedika Sud is joining us now from New Delhi.

This lockdown, it has been in place for 12 hours now. There's 2 weeks and 6 days and 12 hours to go. For a lot of people, this will be a long haul and clearly a drastic measure taken by the government.

VEDIKA SUD, CNN PRODUCER: And a huge challenge for the Indian government, isn't it?

That is what this essentially is. We are talking about the 2nd most populated country in the world with a total lockdown that was announced yesterday by the prime minister. Believe it or not, one 3rd of the world's population is now going to be under partial or total lockdown because we are contributing 1.3 billion people to that number.

When the prime minister addressed the nation last, night he made it very clear, your doorstep is your restriction. You must not cross that. He even went on to say from the prime minister himself to the common man in rural areas, this lockdown has to be obeyed.

There's a lot of challenges before the people, especially in rural areas where awareness is not as much as it is in urban areas and how do you reach out to those people in the next 3 weeks and ensure that all of them get food for the next 3 weeks?

And these are just the basic challenges. Mr. Modi also went on to talk about the economy and said that we are ready to take the hit because right now the priority is safety of the people.

After his address to the nation, there were a lot of people who went into a panic buying afterwards. He had to take to Twitter and say don't go into that mode. Essential services will get to you. Do not panic.

VAUSE: We appreciate that live for us from New Delhi.

In a moment, we will have more on that Senate agreement, $2 trillion stimulus, plan.

And fear on the front lines. Health care workers say they are increasingly being put at risk of infection because of a lack of protective equipment.

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VAUSE: It's 2:26 on a Wednesday morning and an update on our breaking news.

The White House and congressional leaders have reached an agreement on the $2 trillion emergency stimulus to jumpstart the economy which has been all but shut down by the coronavirus. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says the president will absolutely sign the measure as soon as it reaches his desk.

More details on who gets what later this hour.

A shortage of vital medical supplies across the U.S. is pitting state governments against one another, hospitals against hospitals and putting health care workers at risk. As the number of patients infected by this disease surges, doctors, nurses, paramedics are being asked to do more and more with less. CNN's Drew Griffin has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SR. INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Health care workers from across the country are telling CNN they are increasingly in a dangerous situation, being asked to work without proper protection, risking infection themselves and their families.

Oren Barzilay, president of the EMS workers in New York, says 5 percent of his members are already out sick.

OREN BARZILAY, FDNY EMS UNION: If we lost 200 people in 10 days and our system is already thin stretched, I would assume within a few weeks, maybe three or four weeks at this pace, the system will simply collapse.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): At the heart of the anxiety is a lack of testing and proper protective gear. A doctor at New York Hospital describes a third world country scenario, saying so many doctors and nurses are falling ill, we have no sick call. Our sick call got sick.

Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, a longtime ER nurse and president of the New York State Nurses Association, says every day the lives of medical personnel are in danger.

JUDY SHERIDAN-GONZALEZ, NEW YORK STATE NURSES ASSOCIATION: We know there are people who have tested positive. We had one cluster in a unit, where there were several positives. And in fact, in my own hospital, and I don't think it is unique, we have a nurse who is on a ventilator right now, who contracted the virus.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, New Jersey, already has 35 doctors and nurses home sick. Chief medical officer Adam Jaritz (ph) says he fears a staffing crunch.

ADAM JARITZ (PH), HOLY NAME MEDICAL CENTER: If things don't slow down, I am concerned about several weeks from now.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): With lack of testing, the CDC has posted guidelines for a non-test based strategy, which says infected health care workers can return to work without being tested if it has been at least three days since recovery of symptoms and at least seven days since symptoms first appeared.

Every health care worker CNN spoke with pointed to the lack of proper protective equipment and guidelines that go against everything they have been taught about infection control.

SHERIDAN-GONZALEZ: We are terrified. Everybody is terrified. We feel an obligation to take care of our patients. Everybody does. But we do not want to become sick and we also don't want to become carriers, nor do we want to be so disabled that we cannot care for people.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): An even bigger concern is if and when health care workers decide it is no longer worth the risk.

[02:30:00]

A nurse in Ohio told CNN she just quit because their hospital was unable to provide protective equipment and she fears bringing the virus home to children. Dr. Nisha Mehta, who runs a private Facebook group for 65,000 physicians says we're not just there yet.

NISHA MEHTA, MAINTAINS FACEBOOK PHYSICIAN GROUP: But at some point, people are saying, I don't want to be a martyr in a battle that is futile.

GRIFFIN: Many of these workers have been to third world countries responding to disasters and crisis's that just quite frankly have overwhelmed them. But they have never seen anything like this, nor been put in this type of danger, because they themselves do not have the proper protective equipment to defend themselves against the virus. Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Just gone 2:30 in the morning. We'll take a short break. You're watching CNN live all around the world.

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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Within the last hour, the White House and congressional leaders agreed on a massive stimulus plan for the economy. Five days of negotiations ended with a $2 trillion package that allocates billions for distressed industries and expands unemployment benefits.

Democrats blocked the original Republican bill twice, arguing for more oversight over $500 billion allocated for big business. The package also includes hundreds of billions of dollars for hospitals and healthcare, as well as loans for small business. A vote is expected later Wednesday. President Trump is expected to sign it when it reaches his desk.

Well, from lockdowns to stay at home orders and postponing the Olympics. Countries once slow to react to COVID-19 are now taking extreme measures to stop it. This is report from CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour.

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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Perhaps it was just a matter of time, but after weeks of pressure by countless athletes and officials, Japan finally asked the International Olympic Committee to postpone the 2020 Summer Games.

SHINZO ABE, PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN (through translator): I've got an answer from President Bach that he agreed 100 percent. We agreed He would hold the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics by the summer of 2021.

AMANPOUR: A maximum delay of up to a year. But a firm timeline is hard to nail down as the world is still struggling with the global outbreak, and around a third of the global population is now under some form of lockdown. In London, it was an eerily quiet wake up in the heart of the capital. This is Piccadilly Circus, usually one of the city's busiest areas

today with just a fraction of the traffic and no commuters inside. And it's not just here, it's all over the U.K. A deafening silence has descended as the country implements a national stay at home order.

BORIS JOHNSON, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: Each and every one of us is now obliged to join together to help the spread of this disease, to protect our NHS and to save many, many thousands of lives.

AMANPOUR: Most businesses and shops have been forced to shut except for selling essential supplies like food and medicine. The government is calling on people to leave their homes as infrequently as possible for at least three weeks. It's a tough ask that comes with a warning for the less willing.

JOHNSON: If you don't follow the rules, the police will have the powers to enforce them, including through fines and dispersing gatherings.

AMANPOUR: It is to save lives. And these are the most restrictive measures implemented here since the end of the Second World War. But they still lag behind what governments are doing elsewhere in Europe. Like in the U.K., the number of coronavirus cases in Spain is still rising, and the death toll there is now nearly 2,700, most of whom are in the capital Madrid. And the healthcare service is overwhelmed and it is not alone.

The municipal funeral home is full it simply can't take any more bodies. Authorities are now converting an Olympic sized ice rink into a makeshift morgue. It is hard to see how things could get any worse, but officials in Spain say the outbreak still hasn't peaked.

In some places, hope dares to grow. In Hubei province where it all began, Chinese authorities will soon slowly lift what has been an eight-week lockdown. And Italy which had the worst number of deaths outside China, there they're now seeing what appears to be a downward trend with the number of daily new cases falling for three days in a row.

Signs that there might be light at the end of this tunnel, but only with the strictest observation of self-isolation and social distancing. Christiane Amanpour, CNN, London.

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VAUSE: Australia's federal government has announced a laundry list of new rules and regulations having to slow or stop the spread of the coronavirus. All overseas travel is now bad, public gatherings will be limited. Prime Minister Scott Morrison explained the reasons for the new restrictions.

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SCOTT MORRISON, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: The point is that you should only be going outside of your home to go those essential things that I've talked about, not to go out and congregate together in groups. We need you to stop doing that. That is not going to help.

If we do all of these things, then we're going to be able to put greater pressure on slowing the rate of the spread of this virus.

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VAUSE: Charlotte Mortlock is a reporter with Sky News, Australia. She is live this hour in Sydney. So Charlotte, I guess there is some confusion over exactly what these rules are and are not. And also, what are the legal basis here for these restrictions and how will they be enforced?

CHARLOTTE MORTLOCK, REPORTER, SKY NEWS AUSTRALIA: There has been a lot of confusion over the past week or so as more measures are rolled out across the country. The Prime Minister announced last night that all Australians should be staying inside unless absolutely necessary to leave. They've also been encouraged to work from home and as you say, there has been a ban put on all Australians from leaving the country.

[02:40:00]

Now, the confusion has really come out over inconsistency within the policy. So, for example, here, we're allowed to have weddings, but only with five people. However, funerals are allowed to have 10 people in attendance. So it is quite inconsistent. Other issues that have been raised, is hair salons are actually allowed to stay open. But only clients are allowed to be in there for 30 minutes, which some say is what is the point of keeping them open at all.

This certainly has mounted with a lot of frustration from the public here. But more recently, the Prime Minister today has announced that all elective surgeries will be canceled from midnight tonight, and that's in a bid to push more of the resources that we have towards fighting the pandemic.

He also had some fairly interesting statistics today. He said that Australia had carried out over 163,000 tests for coronavirus, citing that that was five times more than what we've seen in the U.K. and 25 times more than what we have seen in the United States.

So it has been a fairly interesting day here. This day, we have 2,252 confirmed cases of coronavirus and eight deaths.

VAUSE: OK. Charlotte, we appreciate the update there. Charlotte Mortlock live for us in Sydney. We'll head to Israel after the break where riot police have been deployed to fight the coronavirus and we'll tell you why in just a moment.

[02:45:00]

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VAUSE: An update now on our Breaking News. Congressional leaders have reached an agreement on a $2 trillion emergency stimulus package to jumpstart the economy which has been devastated by the coronavirus. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says the President will absolutely sign the measure as soon as it reaches his desk. But more details in just a few minutes from now.

In Israel, police in for protective gear have been deployed to enforce thousands of isolation orders across the country. From Jerusalem, CNN's Oren Liebermann reports on Israel's response to the viral outbreak.

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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In Tel Aviv, the first crowds of spring may be the last for some time. Stores have shuttered and the iconic beach is nearly empty. Police are now focused on a very different type of crime. Police have the addresses of those who should be in self-isolation. So we're following them here as they go check on some of those people who returned from overseas and have to enter 14 days of self-isolation at home.

We stopped at an apartment building in North Tel Aviv to check on someone who returned from overseas and is supposed to be home. Police put on full-body protection. The man they're checking on has not tested positive for Coronavirus, but they try to avoid even the slightest risk.

RONNY BERKOWITZ, DIRECTOR, ENFORCEMENT AND SUPERVISION DEPARTMENT, MINISTRY OF HEALTH, ISRAEL: We took a very serious measures, even a partial closure, because we are very concerned and we're afraid that we will not reach the situation of some European countries like Italy or Spain. That's why we asked for people to stay at home.

LIEBERMANN: We make our way up to the third floor. The man is home and in self-quarantine. Police asked to see his I.D. so there's no confusion. Police say they've done 20,000 of these checks in the last few days with teams spread out across the country.

MICKY ROSENFELD, POLICE, ISRAEL (through translator): Israel is taking every necessary step. We're looking ahead 14 days and not looking back 14 days because the virus is already here. And what is happening now, we'll see the outcome only in 14 days' time.

LIEBERMANN: With each day that passes, more businesses and shops shut down. The Mahane Yehuda market, one of the centers of life in Jerusalem is nearly empty.

I was in the market a few days ago and police started coming through and telling most of the stores no more than two people at a time, two meters apart. A few minutes later they were back killing the vast majority of stores here the market is closed.

In the Old City of Jerusalem, the Al Aqsa Mosque in the Dome of the Rock are close to worshipers who normally gather here for prayer in the thousands. Nearby, Bethlehem has already been on lockdown for weeks after the first cluster of cases appeared there earlier this month. Now that closure is extended to the entire West Bank to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.

For a long time, Gaza had no confirmed cases of Coronavirus, a consequence of its isolation. But two Palestinians returning from Pakistan tested positive last week, becoming the first cases in the blockaded strip. Public gatherings have been restricted and anyone returning to Gaza must self-quarantine.

There is fear the virus could spread quickly in the densely populated coastal enclaves where testing is limited. But at this stage fear of the coronavirus is something that recognizes no borders. Oren Liebermann, CNN.

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VAUSE: So it turns out postponing the Olympics by just be as complicated as staging the Olympics. Details on the 2021 Summer Games when we come back.

[02:50:00]

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VAUSE: After years of meticulous planning and preparation after spending billions on venues and stadiums, the Summer Olympics are now on hold until next year. Officially, they will still be called the Tokyo 2020 games. But as CNN's Christina MacFarlane reports, it's not just the Olympics, but dozens of international competitions, which have been postponed, leading to a crowded and complicated calendar next year.

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CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Unthinkable just a week ago, the Olympic Games postponed for the first time in history. And now the monumental task of finding an alternative date in 2021 begins. Central to that challenge, navigating a packed global calendar of sporting events already impacted by the coronavirus. 33 sports make up the Summer Olympics, that means 33 International Sports federations must now adapt to new dates and a new timeline, and some will be simpler than others.

Two pillars of the Summer Olympic Games offer an immediate conflict, the Athletics World Championships in Oregon, USA, and the Swimming World Championships in Japan, but both have moved fast. No sooner had the announcement been made, Swimming and Athletics Federations indicating they are ready to find alternative dates, including moving to 2022.

HAYLEY WICKENHEISER, OLYMPIC MEDALIST: The Olympic Games is the most complicated sporting event in the world to organize and it is a ton of moving parts. It involves economics, politics, sport, a lot of layers here, a lot of people have to have their say. So I respect the fact that it now need time. We have to give them time to find the right solution.

MACFARLANE: For all the frustrations that athletes and fans are experiencing now, 2021 is all but short to fill that void. In sports like football, the calendar is becoming more congested by the day after UEFA announced just last week it was moving its major European competition, Euro 2020, to similar dates during summer 2021. [02:55:13]

Meanwhile, in rugby, with a Women's World Cup taking place in New Zealand, the staging of an Olympics would force an uncomfortable decision for players looking to compete the seventh Olympic gold, or a 15th Rugby World Cup title.

There's also a raft of calendar events to consider. Majors in Gulf, Grand Slams in tennis, the NBA Finals in June, all with costly implications for any move in the calendar. And all of this coming just months ahead of another Olympic milestone. Beijing's first Winter Games due to begin in February 2022.

The Olympics is known for bringing sports together. Now, all of sports will have to work to keep the Olympic dream alive. Christina McFarland, CNN London.

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VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. My colleague Rosemary Church takes over after a short break. You're watching CNN.

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