The Italian prime minister has called the coronavirus pandemic the biggest ever test for the European Union. Giuseppe Conte warned that the block could fail if it didn't take decisive action to help member states hit by COVID-19.
It's a big challenge to the existence of European, to the history of Europe. We're not just writing pages in the books of economics. We are writing pages in history books. Myself and other European leaders need to rise to the challenge and there's no doubt that if our response isn't strong and unified, if Europe fails to come up with a monetary and financial policy adequate for the biggest challenge since the Second World War, for sure, not only Italians, but European citizens will be deeply disappointed.
Italy wants EU members to share debt, a demand that has been rejected by countries like Germany and the Netherlands.
Some regional administrations in Japan are calling on the central government to do more to stop the spread of the pandemic. Tokyo has recorded its biggest daily increase of cases with almost 150 new infections on Wednesday. Here's Rupert Wingfield Hayes.
Tokyo is noticeably quieter. Ridership on the city's train and subway networks is down by 30 to 40%. But experts say that is not nearly enough to have an impact on Tokyo's coronavirus epidemic. Tokyo's governor Yuriko Koike wants an immediate shutdown of most night-time activities in the city, but Japan's Economic Minister wants to wait two more weeks before making any decision about which businesses need to close. In the meantime, the virus continues to spread.
Australian police have raided and removed the black box from a cruise ship that's accounted for nearly a tenth of the country's coronavirus cases. Hundreds of passengers tested positive and 15 later died of the illness. From Sydney, Shaimaa Khalil reports.
Police wearing protective suits and masks boarded the cruise ship to gather evidence as part of the criminal investigation into why passengers were allowed to disembark in the Sydney harbour last month. The investigators will look into discrepancy in the information provided by the ship's operator Carnival Australia, and whether the company downplayed the number of potential cases of COVID-19 on board.
The government of New South Wales has come under mounting criticism for allowing people off the ship. The South Pacific Kingdom of Tonga has launched a cleanup operation after cyclone cause flooding in coastal areas and brought down trees and power lines. The storm suddenly intensified before making landfall and struck at the peak of high tide. Tropical Cyclone Harold has now moved eastward. It left more than 20 people dead in the Solomon Islands.
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