Return to Transcripts main page

Quest Means Business

Wild Swings Continue On The U.S. Stock Market; U.K. Prime Minister Says They Can Turn The Tide On The Virus In The Next 12 Weeks; Number Of Coronavirus Deaths In Italy Has Surpassed That Of China; Netflix To Cut European Traffic By 25 Percent; Internet Under Strain As Millions Work From Home; Coronavirus Crisis Weighs On Japanese Sushi Sellers; Governments Unveil Massive Economic Stimulus Plans; IATA: Airline Industry Needs $200B In Emergency Support; 11,000 Plus Confirmed Cases In The U.S., 164 Deaths. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired March 19, 2020 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:11]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: The selling of paused for the moment, but the crisis ongoing and the markets and how they're trading, that gives you an

idea -- excuse me -- on the theme of the day. Down very sharply at the open.

But then, of course a rally and a strong rally through the rest of the day.

The recession is here. The central bankers are joining forces in the face of dire forecasts.

Europe remains the epicenter. Italy's death toll is now greater than China's. I'll speak to Poland's Prime Minister coming up in just a moment

or two.

And Netflix has agreed to slow down the speeds in Europe, so it doesn't break the internet. Verizon's chief executive on how to protect bandwidth

and what can be done.

We are live in the world's financial capital. It's New York City, of course. It is Thursday. It's March the 19th. I'm Richard Quest and I mean

business.

Good evening. Tonight, wild swings continue on the U.S. stock market. Wall Street issues dire warnings about the future of the global economy, and

policymakers are waging a daily battle, unleashing a wave of new stimulus measures to protect economies.

Europe's Central Bank unveiled $750 billion -- sorry 750 billion euro that's $800 billion stimulus package. The U.S. Fed announced a new lending

facility to backstop the money market funds and the Bank of England cut interest rates to their lowest point in history. And the economic damage

continues to mount.

U.S. weekly jobless claims jumped to a two-year high and GDP forecasts for the global economy have been slashed.

The Bank of America is now predicting the biggest quarterly decline in history for GDP. That's the two sides of the coin.

Alison Kosik is live at the New York Stock Exchange. Now, the trading floor there is that too close on Monday after two people tested positive and

instead is moving to a fully electronic trading.

But what were the peaks and troughs today? What was behind them all? Particularly Alison, the rally that just pushed the market higher?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Richard, you know, I've been watching this morning at least, there was this thrashing around of stocks,

hundreds of points on the Dow going back and forth moving between gains and losses.

Right now, it looks like the Dow and the S&P across the board, sticking with gains, but I hate to say don't expect these gains to really stick

around because what's driving this trade is fear and uncertainty t-- hat's really driving this volatile trading action.

The reality is, the number of cases are accelerating and that's expected because more people are being tested, but no one really knows when this

will slow down, how much of a blow the virus will have on the U.S. economy, on businesses and households.

The way one trader put it to me, Richard, we are trading in the dark. We are not getting any guidance from companies and you know what? Why should

they expect it because the companies don't know either -- Richard.

QUEST: And that's a valid point, and it's a very strong point as we head towards, obviously companies telling us what they're doing and why they're

refusing to. Alison is at the Exchange. Thank you.

Now Europe Central Bank, the E.C.B. has thrown $800 billion, 750 billion euros at the crisis, and there's more money to come.

It is using the money to buy government debt, and private security and commercial paper. The E.C.B. says the Governing Council is fully prepared

to increase the size of its asset purchase program, (quantitative easing) and to adjust that composition as much as possible and needed -- as much as

needed.

Two aspects of this are crucial. Firstly, the President of the E.C.B., Christine Lagarde has said that there are no limits to what the E.C.B. will

spend. Secondly, they've lifted the self-imposed restriction on the ratio of different country's debts. So basically, they're going to buy anything.

Mario Centeno is the President of the Eurogroup and the Finance Minister of Portugal. He has vowed to do whatever it takes and more to support the

rapid recovery. He joins me be from Lisbon.

Good to talk to you, Minister. Look, it's clear that the measures being taken are first steps. Nobody believes this is going to be it. But are you

encouraged by the way the market has reacted? Or do you still feel the market is saying, no, we're still worried.

MARIO CENTENO, PRESIDENT, EUROGROUP: Thank you for having me, Richard. It's true. We are going to do whatever it takes and more.

[15:05:03]

CENTENO: We are quite happy with the response. We are building these as you said is unfolding, the crisis, we have to learn how to deal with it in

several dimensions.

The amount of effort that the European institutions are piling into this problem is quite impressive, and it is a proof of our commitment to get out

of the crisis with the economy preserving employment, this is what it is all about.

QUEST: I mean, this is no time to worry about long term issues of debt and things like this. This is throw everything you can, what is going to be a

deep recession. Is that now your understanding for the Eurozone and for your own country that will be albeit short, it's going to be a deep

recession?

CENTENO: It is going to be very difficult in terms of the economy, of course, we are going to, at the end of the day, when we sum up all quarters

to have a recession, it will, of course depend on how temporary it is.

But the issue now is to be prepared to act, and as I just mentioned, we are delivering a new amount of support for the economy.

QUEST: Is it coordinated? I'm looking at numbers on the screen showing Spain is doing 20 percent of GDP, the U.K. is doing 15 percent, Germany 15

percent -- but how much coordination is there between governments in this case, to ensure the maximum fire power for the considerable weapons that

are being deployed?

CENTENO: Yes. That fiscal policy is delivering to race to the issue. It's quite impressive indeed.

But, you know, this is mainly liquidity support to our firms, to our workers. We need to help them go through these quite steep problems that

economy is into right now.

This is a very serious demand problem and the numbers are there to provide liquidity to our firms.

QUEST: Governments are doing a lot. The E.C.B. though, is the one who seems to be once again, pulling the heavy load of building confidence.

I mean, individual governments are helping their people. But the Eurozone was in a pretty poor condition economically coming into this crisis.

So it's always like, this is -- I mean, we've not seen anything like this before, but it's going to be pretty bad for all of you when unemployment

starts to rise, company starts to go broke, and people start to suffer.

CENTENO: Well, this is not a business cycle situation, but we must remember that we had more than 23 quarters of consecutive growth. We added more than

11 million jobs to our economy in the last five years.

We corrected major imbalances in our economies, for example, the fiscal balance. Now a large majority of our countries, what we call the medium

term objective. We are -- we have been building up buffers, also in banks because our banks are much better capitalized today than they were in 2008.

This is not the sort of crisis that we were used to face in our textbooks and our economies. We need to understand that.

We have to make sure that we keep it as a temporary, but very deep, a very deep recession and getting out of it with the level of employment

preserved, with our firms with the liquidity needed to face this low-demand period.

But the truth is, that it's a very -- you asked me about if it is coordinated. It is really coordinated because if you look at the measures,

most countries, if not all, are taking the same sort of measures with similar magnitude.

[15:10:10]

CENTENO: And this time around, we have the E.C.B. together in this process. If you remember the previous crisis, we were much slower to respond to it.

And also the Commission, the Stability and Growth Pact and rules in Europe are fully flexible, being implemented and used. We opened up all

regulations. The will not, this time around stop the show.

QUEST: Minister and Mr. President, thank you for joining us. I appreciate it. We'll talk more again and I'm grateful you've given us time on a busy

day for yourself. Thank you.

Now the British Prime Minister says the U.K. can turn on the tide of the coronavirus in the next 12 weeks. Of course, there is a bit -- if people

follow the steps his government has outlined.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson says there are no plans to restrict travel in and out of London and the tube will remain open.

The death toll in the U.K. has now risen to 144. There are more 3,000 cases.

Nic Robertson is at Downing Street. The Prime Minister in saying 12 weeks, you know, provided everybody follows correct procedures has sort of put an

artificial deadline that people are going to grasp on to.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: They are and I think that was one of the reasons that the Prime Minister did it. He was pushed

obviously because he hasn't offered clarity on this issue.

I don't think there are many leaders around the world who have been able to do this or have been willing to put their political necks on the line with

this issue.

But you know, having talked to people around London today, there is a real sense of anxiety and concern about how long all of this will last.

People are being now asked the work from home, they are being asked to have their children at home and work with them there that they may be under

confinement in their houses for 14 days, as a family.

These are huge strains and people really genuinely want to have a sense of how it may end and/or when it may end. And I think this is what the Prime

Minister is trying to do, it is to give people a realistic sense of what's being discussed behind closed doors in government, that this isn't a quick

fix.

But there is a fix. This is how long it will be. Set your sights here. But do the right things. Keep the social distancing. Don't go to the pubs.

Don't go to the restaurants. Don't go to the theaters.

Do all of that, and there is an end in sight. I think that's what the Prime Minister is trying to achieve today.

QUEST: Everybody has been -- I mean, I've got obviously family in back in London and everybody is what's happening backwards and forwards about

whether or not -- is there going to be a lockdown?

The Prime Minister has now said several times there won't be a lockdown. He has no intention of stopping people going where they want to go. But I

wonder whether people actually believe that.

ROBERTSON: You know, I think some people I talked to today say that they think it's necessary that they think that it should happen. But I think

there are also those that are skeptical and perhaps rightly so that perhaps the government doesn't have a substantial enough plan or resources in place

to try to enforce that in a city of many millions of people.

How do you actually stop people moving around? Now there's legislation that came into play today that allows the police to detain people if they have

the virus and if they're out against the government recommendations.

So there is some legal measures in place, but who are the people that are realistically going to be able to enforce something stronger than that

across the capital?

So I think there's a recognition here and perhaps this is the Prime Minister's position that while the British Army is putting 20,000 troops on

high readiness to help out, there's a limit to how they can be used and deployed.

Now the Prime Minister isn't going there. He isn't saying that this is the reason. He is saying that he thinks the measures in place are sufficient to

bring down the rate of increase of spread of the virus.

But he does hold out that if more measures are needed, he would use those.

QUEST: Nic Robertson is in Downing Street. Nic, thank you tonight.

Still to come, hundreds of confirmed cases. Borders to the other E.U. nations are now closed.

The Polish Prime Minister will be with me after the break to talk about not only with the Schengen, but also the measures being taken, whether it's

enough at E.U. level. In a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:32]

QUEST: The number of coronavirus deaths in Italy has surpassed that of China; 3,405 people have now died of COVID-19 in Italy. That's more than a

hundred deaths than in China. Health officials say in Iran, one person in that country dies every 10 minutes.

U.S. Department is about to issue the most serious warning against international travel. U.S. citizens already abroad will be told to come

home or shelter in place.

Cases inside the United States are now above 10,000.

And we'll focus now with Poland, where the World Health Organization there says there are 246 confirmed cases. Now, this is the line of traffic

heading from Germany into Poland.

The E.U. nations shut its borders except to trucks bringing in goods. It's a long line, and the policy has created huge delays.

The Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki joins me now on the line from Warsaw. Prime Minister, thank you for taking time. I know these are

exceptionally busy times for you and we're grateful.

Let's start with the position in Poland for the coronavirus and how close are you do you think in Poland to the peak?

MATEUSZ MORAWIECKI, POLISH PRIME MINISTER: Unfortunately, I think that the peak is still ahead of us and we will have several thousands, if not more

of the cases. This is a real earthquake also for our economy.

Right now, we're fighting with coronavirus pandemic from the point of view of our healthcare system and not letting new cases into Poland.

This is why we have introduced, as the first country in Europe, so called sanitary border controls and they have helped us to slow down the inflow of

new cases into Poland. But on top of this, we are introducing many other measures.

QUEST: Are you -- would you say that Schengen should be suspended now for the time being whilst this is being dealt with?

MORAWIECKI: Schengen has special procedures which allow member states to temporarily change the rules and this is what we have done.

We have started the border controls because we know that most of the cases are coming from abroad. They are coming from Italy, from Spain, from other

countries in the western parts of the European Union.

This is why those controls have helped us to put more people into quarantine.

[15:20:10]

MORAWIECKI: And to slow down the process. We have introduced quite restrictive measures compared to the other countries of the E.U., and they

seem to be quite effective.

We have less cases than many other countries. We have restricted restaurants, bars, pubs. We have also stopped schools and kindergartens,

and so whole country is so to say, frozen, which is very detrimental to our economy, but this is needed, very much needed to do so for a couple of

weeks with the hope that later on we will very quickly be able to reestablish the linkages of supply chain and production chains.

QUEST: Right.

MORAWIECKI: And we will do this.

QUEST: Now, in terms of the economics of this. You've put forward a plan, a robust plan, in fact, it is one of the most robust in the sense of, you are

actually prepared to pay companies up to 40 percent of certain workers' wages in certain circumstances.

This is a bold move, but can you actually do it? Is that not -- you know, putting it bluntly, that's a very expensive move that can break the bank?

MORAWIECKI: I was actually working at a bank during the previous crisis post-Lehman collapse, and I can tell you, Richard, this crisis is different

from the other ones.

This crisis is a very, very different and very difficult one because it is now breaking the real fabric between different supply chains and is very

much destroying our economy in a Schumpeterian way.

So this is why we have introduced a very bold plan, a very effective and important one. It's a plan of a size similar to 10 percent of our GDP,

close to 10 percent of our GDP, and it includes a safety net for workers.

And yes, exactly as you said, up to 40 percent of a salary of an employee will be reimbursed, remunerated by the state budget, because we believe

that it is much better to save the working places throughout the next couple of weeks.

And at the same time, to preserve the capacity of the companies to bounce back once the crisis is slowing down.

So this is one of the many measures we have introduced. Our plan is consisting of five pillars, and one of them is specifically dedicated to

workers, a safety net for workers, for employees.

QUEST: The E.C.B. has done hugely amounts and of course, even for non-Euro members, they will benefit if the Eurozone members become more secure.

But I wonder, the European Commission and the President, they -- you've been critical on the money being offered by the Euro institutions, do you

think they have got a grip on this?

MORAWIECKI: I talked to the European Commission and the President of the European Commission every couple of days to sort of underline and every

couple of days, we also meet in the form of the European Council, which is Prime Ministers and Presidents from all the E.U. member states.

The E.U. is being aware of the size, enormous size of this challenge ahead of us. Having said that, the real money has not yet been put in play place.

The state budgets are right now in use and our program is entirely based on state budget.

I hope that the European Commission will use new money to fight with this crisis. And I'm pleased with the reaction of the European Central Bank,

which stepped into the game very decisively purchasing bonds from the market, but also preparing a kind of LTRO o or next round of LTRO, which is

long-term refinancing operations, very important to preserve liquidity of the companies through the banking sector.

QUEST: Prime Minister, we'll touch base with you again if we may, as this crisis continues to find out how it's going. I'm grateful for you tonight

for taking time. Thank you, sir.

MORAWIECKI: Thanks for having me.

QUEST: As our coverage continues, keeping the internet stable during this incredibly busy time. I'll speak to the chief executive of Verizon about

the half a billion dollars they are a intending to pay.

And also about Netflix which of course, is deciding it will slow down in Europe to help preserve the infrastructure of the internet, in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:28:15]

QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest, there is more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment.

When President Trump considers and taking equity stakes in companies that ask for bailouts, the head of America's Flight Attendants Union tells me

what she wants and what strings she thinks needs to be attached to any airline bailout or rescue.

And the broadband network is coming under strain. Netflix is cuffing streaming rates. The CEO of Verizon will be with him in a moment to discuss

what he is doing to keep the data flowing.

This is CNN and on this network, the facts always come first.

Iran's Health Ministry says the coronavirus is killing one Iranian every 10 minutes and every hour at least 50 more Iranians are becoming infected.

Iran's Foreign Minister says U.S. sanctions on the country are making it harder for Iran to fight the pandemic.

China has said there are now zero -- there is zero new locally transmitted cases of the virus for the first time since it began. This could mark a

major turning point.

China's National Health Commission said all 34 infections diagnosed on Wednesday were in people who had arrived in China from abroad.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he won't stop the London Underground from running but the Transport for London says it is going to

close up to 40 stations on the tube to keep the virus from spreading.

The Mayor of London is urging the public against all but essential travel.

The U.S. Democratic Presidential Primary has officially become a two-man race. Representative Tulsi Gabbard dropped out on Thursday and endorsed the

former Vice President Joe Biden.

He and Senator Sanders are the last candidates left in a once crowded field.

The winner will of course face President Trump in the General Election in November.

[15:30:10]

QUEST: Sanders are the last candidates left in a once crowded field. The winner will, of course, face President Trump in the general election in

November.

Netflix says it will reduce its streaming quality in Europe for around 25 percent. It will lower the bit rate over the next 30 days. And it's

intended to make sure the internet in Europe keeps running smoothly. The European Union had been urging Netflix and other streaming platforms to

adjust their streaming banned bitrate and to switch to standard definition when HD is unnecessary. For millions of Americans who are working from

home, and the U.S. internet is facing a similar test. One of the largest telecommunications in the country, Verizon, says it expects to spend an

extra half billion dollars this year on its network infrastructure. Verizon's Chief Executive Hans Vestberg joins me from Basking Ridge, New

Jersey. Let's deal with the first bit about how the network is handling what you're seeing. What sort of capacity, what sort of increase in usage

are you seeing?

HANS VESTBERG, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, VERIZON: As a firm, first of all, we see a moderate growth in the overall network. But we see the network

sort of are moving to different places. We see sort of applications like week over week, gaming is up 75 percent in the network. Web traffic is up

20 percent, VPN, which is connections from home to corporations up 30 percent. Streaming is up 10 percent. So, that's what we see so far. But so

far, there's no congestions in the network, we can -- we can handle that, we have built a very robust network. We have a great IP network, wireline

network and a wireless network. And all of them are coping with these changing patterns that we see right now in the U.S. when so many more are

working from home or doing schooling from home, or being home working or doing anything else.

QUEST: Right. But what about this call from Netflix that has agreed to cut the bit rate in Europe. You're obviously familiar with the European

infrastructure as well as the U.S. infrastructure. Is this something you would expect in the U.S., where streaming, particularly with all the new

streaming services have become so popular, is it likely that they'll have to do similar in America?

VESTBERG: So far, we have no indication of that. We have built very robust network when it comes to Verizon. We have very, very much deep fiber in the

-- in the whole network. And of course, we have a great wireline network. So far, we don't foresee that. We have prepared for this all the time. We

always have headroom in the network that goes both for the wireline network and wireless network. But for obvious reasons, there are certain groups in

our society right now. that definitely need the connectivity like first responders, health care, hospitals, etc. And we are seeing that they are

getting whatever data or connection they need, as well.

QUEST: And I mean, you've got tens of thousands of employees, how difficult is it for you managing such a large company, where a lot of your resources

are in the northeast or out west, and you're obviously affected yourselves by the virus? Never mind having to keep a network up for the rest of us,

your own company is affected by the virus.

VESTBERG: Yes, you're right. We have 135,000 people, employees, globally. Of course, a big portion here in the U.S. We basically, around the globe,

have actually less than one week move hundred thousand employees to work from home. That's how quickly we can actually scale these types of systems.

At the same time, we also need to keep the networks up. So, we still have field engineers in the market, keeping the network out, but they're very

much cautious today. We also have stores open, fewer stores, and the opening hours is shorter. But we still have that in order to serve our

customers. So, our mission is, first of all, safety and health for our employees. But secondly, we need to keep these networks up because they're

so important in this critical moment and this crisis that we're having right now,

QUEST: The number -- I mean, I'm sitting in a building that used to have 1100 employees in. There's about 150 of us in it at the moment. And I'm

sure where you are, is similar. Were we -- we're never ready for a global pandemic, but do you think in terms of working from home, in terms of

planning for catastrophe -- catastrophic planning, do you think we were ready, Hans?

[15:34:58]

VESTBERG: No, I think it's very mixed here. We see a lot of our logical customers actually asking for taught the new ways of connecting with us and

moving capacity in the network, especially for home environment, much more video. So, of course, not many has been planning for it, some have, of

course. And then, of course, you have the small and medium enterprises which all usually cannot even afford to have this type of planning that

also changed the pattern totally. But I think that companies like ours, Verizon, we have the capacity to support them. And that's what we're doing

right now. And that's why I'm sort of having this balance between the safety and health of my employees, which is super important, but also

seeing this critical infrastructure up -- is up because that is turning the economy if we don't get the communication up and the connectivity up, the

economy will standstill, totally.

QUEST: Final question, Hans, you're obviously the -- you're the CEO, so you have responsibilities at the corporate level. As the stock market -- and,

you know, you're not down as much as others for obvious reasons, the nature of the thing, but as the -- as the -- as the market gives its verdict and

as in turmoil and the government considers what responses it needs to make in terms of government assistance, are you finding any difficulty either in

the market or in terms of covering your paper?

VESTBERG: No, not at the moment. Of course, there are many questions from investors in these time. And again, you act normally, you're very

transparent, you say the same to everyone at the same time, but not changing that, but I haven't seen any problems with that. But remember,

we're very short time into this pandemic and it can go on for a while. So, we are well-adjusting to new normal, how we're going to work with all our

stakeholders, employees, customers, society and the shareholders. So, that we're evolving everyday here.

QUEST: Good to talk to you, Hans. Keep at it. And we'll talk more again about this. Thank you. Keep doing what you're doing. You're keeping the

network up and running and keeping everybody working from home. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Thank you.

VESTBERG: Thank you.

QUEST: We have much more to bring you when we return. Governments around the world stumping up historic sums of money trying to keep their economies

afloat. The Secretary General of the OECD -- now, Angel Gurria is never backward at coming forward. We'll be -- we'll talk to him after tthe break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:39:58]

QUEST: Breaking news to bring you, the U.S. State Department has just issued its most serious travel warning as a result of coronavirus and the

pandemic. It's essentially telling all Americans not to travel abroad anywhere. And to U.S. citizens, it is saying, if you are overseas, to

return to the United States. We'll follow through the implications of that. It is the highest level of warning that the State Department and we need to

understand the implications. Now, on this particular program, of course, we are everyday can bring you the business voices of the crisis. The crisis

the businesses, big and small, having to make difficult decisions in order to stay afloat. These are your corner restaurants and barber shops, cafes

and pubs, simply struggling to meet the payroll. Small manufacturers whose orders have collapsed companies whose supply chains have been totally

disrupted.

In Japan, Tokyo's famous fish market is seeing a sharp slump in tourists, and foot traffic because of what's happening. Blake Essig spoke to one

sushi store owner who is now having to close his doors, the spending has simply gone away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: These days Hideki Sugiura doesn't waste much time at Toyosu fish market. He moves quickly between

stalls, navigating a narrow path in search of fresh fish and a good deal.

For more than nine years, this has been Sugiura's almost daily routine, creating his menu on a fly.

Back at Sushi Maru Batsu, preparations are underway for what he says is typically a busy lunch service catering to Japanese locals. Well, at least

it was, until about two months ago. Simply customers stopped coming, Sugiura tells me, customers stopped coming.

How do you deal with that?

HIDEKI SUGIURA, OWNER, SUSHI MARU BATSU: I'm very sad. I'm angry for the virus.

ESSIG: Across town, vendors saying it's even worse.

The Tsukiji market is one of the most famous fish markets in the world. Typically, this place is jam-packed with people shoulder-to-shoulder,

making it difficult to walk. But as you can see right now, it's pretty dead, and vendors tell me that business is down up to 80 percent.

While shops on the surface are struggling, for those like sushi chef Toru Honma, located deep inside the bowels of the market. It's a war of

attrition. When he says some have already lost.

I feel very sad, it hurts. I'm sure others feel the same. It shouldn't have been this way, Honma tells me. A stark reality for many local businesses

around town already reeling from last year's hike, the consumption tax. And while many local businesses were hoping the Summer Olympic Games would help

revive a stalling economy, the coronavirus pandemic instead, is making matters worse.

JESPER KOLL, ECONOMIST: You get the double punch, and that's really knocking out particularly small and medium-sized companies.

ESSIG: Economist Jesper Koll says businesses can expect profits to continue deteriorating for at least the next several months.

KOLL: We've had a de facto shutdown of all the major engines of demand. And that's consumption, it's business spending, that's exports of goods, and

inbound tourism.

ESSIG: And for business owners like Hideki Sugiura ...

SUGIURA: I can't continue anymore. I have to go to somewhere.

ESSIG: A virus with an uncertain future now has him questioning his own. Blake Essig, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: The markets and -- I mean, one day is -- you know, down one day, up the next, but this is why we've got them climbing at the moment. This is

new government stimulus measures. And there are swings large and small, and investors deciding really what the way is forward, but we have got good

gains, with the best of the day so far being seen by the -- by the NASDAQ. Kylie Atwood is with me to talk about -- tell me about what the State

Department advisory or warning or guideline as least more than that, isn't it? It's a -- it's a warning now. What are they actually saying to American

citizens? Come home and never -- and don't bother traveling?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, the State Department has issued a Level 4 travel advisory. That is the highest level

that the U.S. State Department ever issues with regard to countries where the U.S. -- where American citizens should or should not travel. Just to

give you a little bit of context here. This is usually reserved for countries where Americans could face life or death situations, places like

Afghanistan and Syria. So now, that they are issuing this warning, the do not travel warning for all countries, internationally, it demonstrates just

how seriously the State Department and the U.S. government is taking the spread of Coronavirus. And I want to point out to you that they are telling

all Americans who are in places right now where there are commercial flights abroad that could bring them back to the U.S. They're saying,

essentially, get on those flights.

[15:45:07]

And they're also telling Americans that if they choose to travel, they could be in those places internationally for an indefinite amount of time.

So, there's some real warning calls there for Americans to stay in the U.S. and to get home if they are abroad. Of course, the question is for those

Americans who are in countries that have shut down their international airspace or have closed off their borders, and so the State Department is

working to try and create some solutions for those Americans who were trying to get home and are stranded abroad right now.

QUEST: Kylie, thank you for the update on that. A serious development tonight from the State Department. We'll take a short break. Angel Gurria

from the OECD is in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: We know the economic situation is pretty dire. Joining me now on the line is that of the OECD Angel Gurria. Are you -- good to have you with us.

Are you -- are you satisfied that enough is being done? I know plenty is being done. But are you satisfied it's enough at this particular point,

Angel?

JOSE ANGEL GURRIA, SECRETARY GENERAL, OECD (via telephone): I think we're going to be having to do this day to day. But no, because I think more

international coordination, more international cooperation is necessary. And there's also a question of the allocation of these huge billionaires,

trillionaire amounts that were being announced. The question is, how they're going to be allocated, where to which sectors. And last but not

least, it's all a lot about liquidity. It's a lot about loans and credits, those have to be repaid. But those will not get you out of trouble when you

basically have run out of demand, because here we have a problem of this shock, double shock of supply. Yes, but there's also a very big, big

contraction of demand. So, we're still -- the jury is still out, but it's good that everybody is putting so much of the armory on the table.

QUEST: Right. So, with that in mind, I mean, the idea of handing out checks to people where -- or in some shape or form, do you support that?

[15:49:58]

GURRIA: I think the -- this is a different situation. It's a different type of crisis. And yes, there will be a moment where we will not be able to

discriminate very carefully, who gets the checks and who doesn't get the checks, but it's worth, you know, erring on the side of caution and making

sure that you support all the people who are being affected because that is happening day to day today. So, yes, I would say let's go and do it in a

very generous and flexible way. It's a better way rather than leaving a lot of people out because they will pull off (INAUDIBLE)

QUEST: All right. The time, unfortunately, is short, but Angel, finally, how bad will this global recession be?

GURRIA: It will be bad because it will prolong beyond the time in which the, you know the coronavirus will be gone. Hopefully, a few more weeks,

maybe a few more months, but then the recession and the economic impact will last over the whole of 2020, perhaps even at 2021 and beyond. So, this

is why we have to throw everything we got at it now, and why there is this need for international coordination.

QUEST: Angel Gurria, thank you. It is a busy day. Apologies that we're keeping it short. President Trump is pledging to support U.S. industries

hit hard, and he's promised aid to the travel sector. Earlier, he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will be helping the airline industry, we will be helping the cruise ship industry, we probably

will be helping the hotel industry. We'll probably be -- where jobs are created. You don't want to lose industries like this. These are incredible

industries. You can't lose them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Joining me now to talk about this is Sara Nelson. She is the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants. She joins

me now. Sara, and you've -- I've read what you've written and the letters that you've sent. If help is given to the airline industry, what sort of

restrictions or strings do you think there needs to be, to make sure the money gets spent properly?

SARA NELSON, INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS: Well, I think, Richard, that we need to think even broader than that. We

need to think about the fact that every other time that there has been a bailout, that has gone to corporations and banks, real people have not

gotten the help that they need. And especially in a crisis like this, a healthcare crisis, we need as many people who are strong and healthy to be

able to help themselves so we can focus on the sick and vulnerable, and attack the crisis.

QUEST: Right.

NELSON: So, that is why we have put forward a plan that says that the economic package needs to start first, with a payroll package, to keep the

paychecks going. We don't need the federal government to be the H.R. solution. We can use these companies, especially in the airline industry as

a template to continue the paychecks through a payroll subsidy from the government.

QUEST: But now -- I mean, it's an industry that has completely been destroyed to some of the road networks to look at the amount of route

slashing, and your members must be extremely badly hit by this, some of them not knowing whether they're going to have a paycheck next week.

NELSON: This is really, really bad, Richard. And in fact, we've had two airlines that have fallen casually -- casualty to it just today. The

airlines will run out of money for payroll in two months, if not a couple weeks, and some of them sooner than that. And this -- think about this, 30

days ago, United Airlines was announcing a training academy. They were -- the airlines were planning to hire 100,000 people. Delta Airlines was

celebrating its profits with checks to its employees. And in 30 days' time, they are going to run -- they are in a place where they're going to run out

of cash.

QUEST: So, the blame game is never nice, and it's probably inappropriate now, but the critics who say don't bail out the airlines because they

wasted so much money on their own share buybacks, the same thing with Boeing. And what would you say to somebody -- I've got dozens of e-mails,

by the way, telling me, don't bail out the industry. They shouldn't have done share buybacks.

NELSON: OK. So, we agree, they shouldn't have done share buybacks, and we fought them every single time. And that's why our relief package is focused

on workers first, continuing the paychecks and loans from the government with certain stipulations. They must agree to no stock buybacks. We need to

have a cap on executive comp, and no bonuses during this time, no dividends. And they also need to not spend any money on fighting their

unions. We also need to make sure that this package -- make sure that there's no breaking union contracts.

QUEST: Do you -- do you fear that one of the majors and the four big ones, you know, United, American, Delta, Southwest, and we can put in a couple of

others, as well, do you -- do you fear, bearing in mind what we're hearing, one of them could go -- would not go out of business but would need to seek

protection from chapter 11.

[15:55:08]

NELSON: This is bigger than any crisis we've seen in the past. So, it's well beyond that, Richard. We are days away from a collapse if we don't do

something. And that's why Congress is taking it very seriously. That's why I'm spending all my time today, throughout the weekend working on this

package.

QUEST: Sara, thank you, good to see you in such difficult circumstances. Let's stay in touch so we know and we can follow what's happening in the

future.

NELSON: I appreciate it.

QUEST: And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. We got it all in. Well, of course, these are difficult times, important times. I'm Richard Quest.

And we will update you. You'll see the closing markets in just a second or two. And whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, yes, I hope it's

profitable.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. We are continuing our coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. Minutes ago, the U.S.

State Department telling Americans do not travel abroad. The State Department raising the U.S. travel advisory to the highest level, do not

travel.

Here in the United States, 164 people have now died from the coronavirus, a number of cases surging to more than 11,000. It's a stunning increase from

just around 1,000 last week though we expect that number to continue to grow, as more tests become available. Hospitals already preparing for this

pandemic to get even worse, exponentially worse. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issuing some stark new guidance for health care

workers, saying workers may even have to resort to using scarves or bandanas if they run out of hospital masks, and even if they are exposed to

coronavirus, to continue working under some circumstances. As CNN's Nick Watt reports for us now, this is all part of the effort to combat the

coronavirus before it gets even worse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's here, it's spreading. The FDA now fast-tracking antiviral treatments, one currently used against

malaria.

TRUMP: It's going to be very exciting. I think it could be a game changer and maybe not.

WATT: But a full-Coronavirus vaccine still some time away.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): It has changed everything. And it will for the -- for the foreseeable future.

WATT: Carnival Cruise Lines now offering up its fleet.

END