host: the coronavirus panandemic and its threat to aiaid and food supplies. a stark warning that the number of people in acute hunger could double by the end of 2020. ♪ you are watching al jazeera live from london. the u.s. president says he will temporarily suspend immigration to protect american lives and jobs from the coronavirus outbreak. donald trump also pledges to bailout the u.s. oil industry after prices dip into negative territory for the first time in

history. and why the constitution and tradition are making it difficult to flatten coronavirus curve in japan. ♪ barbara: thank you for joining us. the coronavirus pandemic could lead to famines in dozens of countries, pushing tens of millions more people around the world to the brink of starvation. a u.n. report highlighted the vast number of people around the world who are now acutely food insecure. the world food program requested $350 million to set up a network to keep him military and supply chains moving around the world. -- keep humanitarian supply chains moving around the world. >> there are no famines yet, but if we don't work now to secure access, avoid funding shortfalls and disruptions to trade, we could be facing multiple famines of biblical proportions within a

few short months. the actions we take will determine our success or failure in building sustainable food systems as the basis of peaceful societies. the truth is we do not have time on our side, so let's act wisely and fast. i do believe our expertise and our partnership, we can bring together the teams and programs necessary to make certain the covid-19 pandemic does not become a human and food crisis catastrophe. barbara: the world food program says it is unable to reach those in need due to coronavirus restrictions. at least 300,000 people could start to death every day for a three month period. that is not taking to an account those affected by the outbreak, which would push those on the brink of starvation to a quarter of a billion unless they get help soon.

they are warning in a worse case scenario, there could be famines in more than 30 countries. in 10 of those, more than one billion people -- one million people are close to starvation. the world food bank cautioned countries against hoarding food. they say stocks are near all-time highs, making restrictions unnecessary. more than 5 million people in south sudan rely on food aid to survive. the coronavirus pandemic is making their lives harder. the outbreak is slowing down humanitarian operations that deliver essential food supplies. ♪ >> even prior to the first coronavirus case in south sudan, many face starvation. that is the result of five years of fighting. the conflict ended in february with a new transitional government. survive, iildren want to go to school and learn to take care of themselves. reporter: before the coronavirus

emergency, organizations estimated more than half of the 12 million population would need food aid this year. in u.n.of them are now camps around the country. hundreds of thousands of others are in hard to reach areas. for them, food drops are sometimes the only way they will get food. >> last year we had to feed 5 million people. already in 2020 we had locust invasions. now there is a covid-19 pandemic which we predict could double the people in acute hunger by the end of 2020 across the world. the only way we can halt this trend is if generous funding for humanitarian crises like the one in south sudan continues. reporter: floods last year affected one million people, forcing a state of emergency in some parts of the country. then a plague of locusts worsened the already dire situation. the u.n. describes the insect

threat as alarming and unprecedented. farmers who rely on their crops fear another invasion as eggs hatched from the first wave. >> i tried to chase them away, but they wouldn't leave. they are everywhere. in my backyard, the mangoes, the papayas is what provides me with food and income. what will i do if they are being eaten by locusts? reporter: preventive measures by the government and eight organizations have been imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus. restrictions on movement make many in need even harder to reach. barbara: u.s. president donald trump says he will suspend all immigration to the u.s. to protect american lives and jobs from coronavirus. the announcement on twitter is the latest in a string of moves cracking down on immigration as the virus spreads in the u.s. saw travel from china

and parts of the u.k. locked. let's turn to our correspondent. this has been announced from twitter. banit explained how this was meant to work? correspondent: no, there was little explanation given by the white house them about -- by the white house, but a vigorous defense against it. -- theyt flexibility say this will carve out flexibility. the national security advisor robert o'brien saying this is just a temporary issue in view of the administration. there are not substantial changes, it says. visa processing will be halted. immigration and citizenship ceremonies and interviews will be put on hold. the refugee program has been paused.

migrants crossing the border, potentially illegally into the u.s. -- we already knew they were being quickly rounded up and expelled. the administration saying this is not that dramatic of a change. this executive order is expected to have some exemptions, namely for farmworkers who are essentially migrant workers who make 1/10 of the labor force in that area. when it comes to immigrants working in the health care field, particularly when it comes to treating covid-19 patients -- those will also be workers that are exempted. the executive order will not address the removal of immigrants already in the u.s., but this has not been received well by democratic critics on capitol hill. they are calling it authoritarian. they are saying this is being used to take advantage of a crisis in order to advance an

anti-immigrant agenda. we also know the democratic presumptive nominee for president, joe biden, has called this hysterical, xenophobia. but the white house is defending this policy, saying tens of millions of americans have overnight lost their jobs, the neighborhood of 40 million plus. when they look at polls conducted widely, upwards of two thirds of americans actually support putting immigration on pause while americans try to find jobs or deal with the coronavirus, the lack of employment from these stay-at-home orders. barbara: kimberly, thank you. staying in the u.s., president trump has pledged to bail out the u.s. oil industry after the u.s. futures market plunged into negative territory for the first time ever on monday. [ringing] barbara: that volatility saw

u.s. stocks open in the red for a second straight day. the dow jones index lost nearly 2% after it began trading. it is still trading about 2% down. let's speak to al jazeera's gabriel in new york. you have tracked the international benchmarks. where they stand now? gabriel: not very good, quite frankly. the plunge in oil prices continues. what we have on the wti, the west texas intermediate, the u.s. benchmark is selling for $12 a barrel. it was about two dollars a barrel earlier. a barrel is where it stands now. brent crude, the international benchmark standard for oil is about $19 a barrel right now. it is important, taking a step back, not all oil is the same. you have wti, which is, as i

mentioned, west texas intermediate. benchmark, american oil that comes from texas, louisiana, and north dakota. then you have oil from the north sea. that is brent crude. that is the international standard used by three fourths of the world. it is the american benchmark oil, the wti we have been watching closely. that is the one on monday that saw a historic head scratching collapse in prices. it is still a sickly at $12 a arrel -- basically at $12 barrel, the price of a fast food lunch in new york city. the oil prices on both sectors are not looking good, but particularly wti in the u.s. has been decimated. barbara: what impact has the plummeting of oil had on the

markets? gabriel: wall street is looking at this closely. everything is in the red. the dow is down by 550 to 600, about 2% or os. it has been in the red holiday since the second opening -- all day since the second opening bell. it is definitely going to close in the red. all 11 s&p sectors are closing down. it is not only the may oil futures market that was down. now they are looking at june and july. hour -- thethe last price of a barrel of oil in the futures market has gone below $10. that is new. traders are looking at all of this. they are looking at the medium-term future prices of oil. they are looking at the u.s. economy which is shut down completely for weeks, if not

months to come. you are seeking this selloff in the markets. everything in the red. there is no other way to describe it. barbara: the latest from new york. gabriel, thank you. still to come on al jazeera, after clashing in recent weeks over there coronavirus response, new york's governor mead's donald trump to discuss -- meets donald trump to discuss ramping up testing. the coronavirus pandemic puts virgin australia into administration. ♪ ♪ >> the weather remains bright and breezy across northern parts of europe. very different story further south.

we've got two areas of low pressure swirling away. we have seen heavy rain recently into the northeast of spain. that will drive its way further eastward. heavy rain across southern parts of france into central and southern parts of italy. further north, dry. not too bad on the temperatures. sea,ng across the north taking tempter's back to 18 celsius. 24 celsius for paris. 19 celsius in madrid. it will brighten up in madrid in the next few days. much of spain will see more in the way of sunshine. lively showers to central parts of the mediterranean. showers will affect the far north of africa, particularly around northern areas of morocco into northern algeria into tunisia. showers coming through here possibly leading to flooding. quite a brisk wind into northern

parts of libya and northern areas of egypt. cairo with a top temperature of 3030 degrees. ♪ ♪ barbara: welcome back. here is a reminder of the top stories on al jazeera. the coronavirus pandemic could push tens of millions around the world to the brink of starvation. the world food program warns that in a worst-case scenario, there could be famines in a dozen countries. u.s. president donald trump says he will suspend all immigration to the u.s. to protect american lives and jobs from the coronavirus. travel from china and parts of the u.k. blocked. with pandemic throwing world oil markets into turmoil, president trump says his government will bailout the u.s. industry. secretary tonergy an

ensure the survival of american oil and gas companies. staying in the u.s., new york governor andrew cuomo will meet donald trump in the white house tuesday. cuomo said the focus of the meeting will be on how to ramp up testing capacity. >> what does testing mean and how can the federal government work in partnership with the states? this is all new. isk, it is a situation that very difficult. it is a situation where, however you do it, it will be a blame game afterwards. barbara: interesting to hear andrew cuomo's finish, talking about a blame game. it is fair to say the two men have not always seen eye to i. what does -- eye to eye.

what does cuomo hope to get out of the visit? correspondent: he will talk about testing and funding for not only new york, but all states in the u.s. on the testing front, governor cuomo and president trump's own medical advisors have said more testing is key to reopening the country to assess the full extent of coronavirus exposure and who could be safely going back to work. the governor says new york has the labs to do testing, but the demand for kits has gone up exponentially. now they are competing against other states. the chemicals to do those tests come from china. he needs the federal government to coordinate those efforts. he will make that case to president trump. on the funding, he said taxes are down. tax revenues are down. we need to pay teachers, our

police officers and ambulance workers right now. it is great that you want to bail out small businesses, president trump, but the states need help too. the governors association as well has asked for $500 billion for all of the states. $10 billion is what new york is looking for. those will be the center topics of his conversation. barbara: we can see from the traffic behind you that new york is much quieter than normal. new york accounting for one third of all u.s. cases. we have seen some rallies in parts of the country to lift social distancing requirements. is governor cuomo facing similar pressure in new york as well? think allent: yeah, i politicians are facing incredible pressure. the economy suffers. people lose their income. kids are forced to stay home

from school. a new york, a -- in new york, protest is planned at the state capital wednesday. here in new york, the pressure is coming from upstate new york. i am in manhattan. upstate is anything north and west of the steady and its suburbs. it is more rural and frankly had less coronavirus cases. the pressure there to reopen businesses is intense. governor cuomo made a confession to upstate areas when he allowed hospitals to do elective procedures again. ofy again don't have a lot coronavirus cases and were forbidden for doing those things and were starting to lay off people because of the situation. that was a bone to those areas. in new york, people are more densely populated. there is a concern hospitals have been overwhelmed. there is a concern of a second

spike. the governor is saying we have to be cautious and have tests before they reopen. things in new york are very quiet. people are taking warnings seriously and staying home. barbara: thank you. meanwhile in the u.k., more than 70,000 people have now died -- 17,000 people have died in hospitals. the fear from the outbreak is thought to be much higher. the u.k. says it will start human vaccine trials on thursday. correspondent: an intensive care unit in scotland. where the youngest to test positive has only just been born. traumatizedere are by what they are dealing with. it is probably the most tests

we have had so far. correspondent: research suggesting the actual death toll in england and wales at early april was 40% higher than the number reported by downing street. those daily government figures do not include deaths outside hospitals in care homes or in the community. they also classify what counts as a covid-19 death in a slightly different way. there are concerns the u.k. could have the highest number of deaths in europe, putting pressure on the search for a vaccine. human trials will begin at oxford university on thursday. >> this is uncertain science, but i am certain we will throw everything we've got at developing a vaccine. the u.k. is at the forefront of the global effort. we put more money than any other country into the global search for a vaccine. correspondent: the crisis is also defining the shape of britain's democracy, with mp's making plans for a virtual

parliament. the proposal allows 120 out of 650 mp's to join the debate via videoconference. others will be sitting in the chamber, spaced apart. some believe the chamber should close altogether given prime minister boris johnson's recent about of coronavirus. -- bout of coronavirus. others insist it must remain open. technology offers a compromise. but it does not provide easy answers on the number of rising deaths. in germany, where infection numbers have fallen sharply, volkswagen makes preparations to restart production. while normal travel in europe is unlikely to happen this year, italy is the latest country to announce it will lift some restrictions starting in early may. in austria, restaurants, churches, and some schools will reopen in three-week's time.

the world health organization warned governments that lifting lockdowns must be gradual. these are europe's first tentative steps toward no melody. -- toward normality. barbara: during the daily u.k. briefing, the health secretary caused confusion over whether the u.k. was part of a european union scheme to procure more ventilators. there is some confusion as to the motivation for the u.k. not joining the european union procurement scheme. there are several procurement schemes the european union is coordinating to prevent each member nation from trying to do its own deals and ending up bidding against each other and driving the price up. the u.k. chose not to join some of those schemes. said, asn why, it was far as ventilators go, is the

government said was because of missed emails and a breakdown in communication. then it was said by the senior civil servant in charge of the foreign office that it was a political decision not to join the european union. has issuedhe clarifications to what he meant. have not seen the clarification yet, but there is one being issued this evening. that said, shohortage of ppe and ventilators initially at least has been a bone of contention in the u.k. because the global shortage is impacting all the countries, and the u.k. is simply one of them. barbara: meanwhile, strict measures continue to be imposed across asia as countries try to reduce covid-19 cases. singapore extended its lockdown by another four weeks. people arriving in hong kong

need to stay at a testing center. thisspondent: seems like are the main -- scenes like this are the main reason why hong kong is struggling to contain the coronavirus outbreak, according to the prime minister. >> the medical situation on the ground is under pressure. we need to protect our own lives and health. we would like you to refrain from going out. correspondent: the number of cases in japan exceeded 20,000. locking down the country is not straightforward, despite it being under a state of emergency. the constitution makes it impossible to legally enforce social distancing. the traditional work culture discourages remote working. it is a stark contrast to hong kong, who imposed tough social distancing instructions and encouraged people to work from home. that seems to have paid off.

for more than a week, the city had only single digit daily increases in infections. and on monday recorded none. hong kong's government is not taking any chances despite the adverse impact on the economy. >> a very difficult balancing act. you are right that on the one hand we want to fight the virus to keep our citizens safe. on the other hand, if the city has no business and people do not have normal activities, that becomes also very difficult. correspondent: the government announced to extend the measures for another two weeks. hong kong people have been here before. the number of daily infections fell to zero in early march. soon after the city was hit by a second wave. some blame people letting their guard down too soon. the number of imported cases rose.

from wednesday, all passengers arriving are required to stay at a testing center or hotel until their coronavirus results are in. singapore was hailed as a success story and avoiding a major outbreak, but now it has the highest rate of infection in southeast asia, suffering more than 1000 new cases a day this week, mostly among migrant workers. making the city a cautionary tale and a lesson in what can happen when vulnerable members of the population are overworked. barbara: the coronavirus pandemic claimant another big name -- claimed another big name, virgin australia. it is seeking new buyers and investors. it is likely to be the last. the future for south african airways, which entered formal group c protection in december, is bleak. there are reports the airline will lay off all of its

employees by the end of the month. the international air transport association says domestic air traffic globally is down 70% and any recovery is expected to be slow. other airlines that already collapsed under the weight of the coronavirus include the u.k. regional service and american regional carriers. correspondent: with billions of dollars in debt and most of its fleet grounded, the announcement surprised few. virgin australia handed over its books to insolvency lawyers as board members placed it in administration. it is the largest global airline to collapse so far under the shock of the coronavirus break. >> this is not something hurting virgin australia, it is hurting the industry globally. correspondent: the company will continue to operate while it is

being restructured, but it leaves nearly 16,000 people in australia uncertain about their jobs at a time when unemployment is rising due to covid-19 shutdowns and a global recession coming a near certain reality. most staff had already been stood down due to flights being canceled. for weeks the government has dollars, butds of it refused, saying it won't help a company 90% owned by foreign shell hoarders -- foreign shareholders. qantas would have a near monopoly in australia, which many say would be in nobody's interest. >> the australian government has to take an industrywide perspective on this. they need to support both virgin australia with some sort of support and also qantas.

correspondent: virgin australia remains optimistic it will survive and says there has been interest from foreign investors. richard branson, who cofounded virgin and owns 10% of the australian arm, tweeted this is not the end of virgin australia, but i believe a new beginning. the question is whether it will be an attractive investment when borders remain closed and the industry is under pressure worldwide.

[mikael colville-andersen] when we travel to other cities, we often experience a sense of familiarityty. fragments of the urban landscape remind us of somewhere else. it could be street typology, architecture, topography, even just a feeling of another place. not once, however, has it ever happened to me here. there is no where else like it on the planet, and it's quite impossible to imagine that there ever could be. in order to discover the life-sized city here, i have to ignore the vast scale of the urban landscape because this... is tokyo.