Transcripts For ALJAZ NEWSHOUR 20240713

Including its 2 biggest cities. And a month on from the declaration of a pandemic we go back to the one of life markets of asia to blamed for causing the chaos. So the United States has become the country with the highest death toll from corona virus according to the Johns Hopkins university tracker more fatalities were confirmed in the past day taking the u. S. Past italy which is on 19 1468. 00 deaths you can see that top right and heres the United States where the total is now 19701. 00 as you can see a confirmed cases in the worlds biggest economy have been skyrocketing in the month since a pandemic was declared and lets speak to mike hanna who joins us now from washington d. C. So mike now the United States has small fatalities and anywhere else. Weve lost our connection there with my camera well try to get it back a little bit later in the program now critics of President Donald Trump say his slow response is largely to blame for the high numbers in the u. S. Lets hear now from our White House Correspondent kelly how could you has more. He has betrayed our National Security when the us recorded its 1st coronavirus case on january 20th the United States was in the midst of another crisis the senate will convene as a court of impeachment the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump something he said was a distraction for the country. But did the Political Drama also leave the president distracted from leading a response to the covert 19th outbreak hitting the United States trump says he took the virus seriously from the start i felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic all you had to do is look at other countries but his public statements suggest otherwise in january is the World Health Organization warned of a Global Crisis and coronavirus cases in china grew trumped bad chinese citizens from traveling to the u. S. But continue to downplay the threat we have a totally under control one person coming in from china he suggested it would go away by april as lawmakers expressed fears the u. S. Was unprepared im deeply concerned that we are way behind the fondness by late february as Rotavirus Group states Like Washington and california lawmakers on capitol hill publicly questioned ministration the specials regarding whether or not resources have been stockpiled to deal with the crisis we do have in the Strategic National stockpile ventilators we have masks we have enough for part well of course not or we wouldnt be asking for a supplemental to seek more money to procure more of that but by march tom why didnt travel restrictions to include some European Countries also declared a National Emergency in the us still as coronavirus cases expanded trump continued to downplay the problem its going to disappear one day its like a miracle it will disappear. He accused his democratic opponents weaponize income. On a virus for political purposes and harming his reelection chances and this is the new home its only as hundreds of new coronavirus cases emerge to process the us to the white house and now its National Social distancing guidelines it prompted closures of most u. S. Businesses overnight causing millions of americans to lose their jobs and a blitter a the once booming u. S. Economy looking for a scapegoat tromp blame china center a sister of the letter comes from china and contradicting Public Health officials trump continued to project optimism telling americans he wanted businesses reopened by easter but as cases of coronavirus rose truck reluctantly expanded Public Health restrictions we will be extending our guidelines to april 30th to slow the spread President Trump has justified the mixed messages from his chronic virus task force arguing hes the countrys cheerleader providing hope to americans in a difficult time but one analyst argues with the november president ial election on the horizon trumps response is driven by his desire to win a 2nd term as you know the saying goes never let a good crisis go to waste this is a president who has used every opportunity this crisis to to attempt to solidify himself so little fire his base and solidify his reelection we appreciate it very much trump continues to praise white house response efforts giving himself a 10 out of 10 even his critics accuse him of failing to respond swiftly to save thousands of lives kimberly helped get aljazeera washington. Well lets take a closer look at how the u. S. Got to this point in the pandemic its 1st confirmed case of the virus was announced on january 21st that was in Washington State at the 1st covered 900 death came more than a month later there were just 24. 00 confirmed infections then but epidemiologists believe tens of thousands already had the virus at the time testing was limited and by the end of february fewer than 500 people had been screened and lack of data left Health Officials flying blind the country now has the highest number of confirmed cases weve been saying and as we said earlier the highest death toll in the world i want jeremy mayer is an associate professor at the school of policy in government to George Mason University and he says that donald trump is responding to the crisis with the november president ial election in mind. I think we are seeing donald trump as weve always seen him trying to sell bad news as good news not only in politics but throughout his Business Career i mean were talking about a man who went bankrupt 4 to 6 times and always declared himself a winner this is what he wanted a reality t. V. Show presidency with him as the star and even though his own advisers are telling him hey ok start the briefings and then get off stage and let the experts talk he literally genetically at the molecular level cant resist being the center of attention so americans are going to have a choice do we want more of that we do want Something Else and the other thing i would say is were going to hear a lot about china between now and november trump just put a new ad up in the last 2 days that links joe biden to china and says the virus was chinas forms he did get a search but it was a very small sort of we have this effect in america as in many other democracies called rally around the flag whenever theres a crisis of almost any serious kind people support the president but his effect was incredibly small he got to about 60 percent approval in his handling of the virus hes now at about 48 percent approval in a majority disapprove by contrast george w. Bush wasnt very popular up till 911. 00 skyrocketed to 90 percent approval and stayed there for about 5 months so trump got a very small those and if he fails to convince enough americans that hes doing a good job then he could really lose a remarkably big landslide election to joe biden well weve reconnected back to washington d. C. Place to say we got my kind of back and i might go a trump still talking up the u. S. Emerging from this crisis just as we have more faith how it is in the United States and anywhere else in the world. Yes indeed that figure is likely to rise to 20000 in the next hours if not minutes given that new york state alone is suffering well over 700 deaths every day so the death toll continues to rise in the United States and from the states still complaints about the lack of testing now the testing is absolutely critical because the pandemic cannot end you cannot decide about whether or not to loosen the lock down in various areas in all or part of the country if you do not have sufficient data theres just not good enough data coming because of the perennial lack of testing that has been within the United States not President Trump says that more than 2000000. 00 people have been tested in the United States however experts point out that this is a meaningless bigger unless it gives it as a per capita per Capita Capita basis of how many per 1000 for example so the states as a whole still facing this major problem not enough testing being done not enough speed on the diagnosis of the test settled down and still theres a shortage of essential supplies in many hospitals throughout this country basic supplies like face mask doctors gowns this is all continuing to infuriate governors whove been left very much to deal with this pandemic by themselves right and governors meanwhile asking for additional and immediate access to states they were initially phones. Indeed yes well the National Association of governors has just released a statement in which it asked for an additional 500000000000. 00 in funding from congress now it makes clear that this is not directly coronavirus related it is to help prop up the shortfall in all the states budgets because theyve having to be deal with the virus a largely by themselves with very little federal assistance now congress did pass a virus stimulus package a couple of weeks ago in that state like new york was given a specific amount of money to deal directly with combating the virus at the time the governor of new york state insistent that the money simply was not enough but this move by all of the states governors very clearly going directly to congress saying yes we are dealing with the coronavirus with whatever we have got but what we need as soon as possible is a massive influx of capital to be able to fill up to balance that shortfall in our budgets to be able to continue to provide essential services to the residents of our states despite the virus not necessarily because of that its an ongoing situation they need these funds now to carry on essential services that would be needed with or without the presence of the virus ok mike thanks very much youre my kind of there in washington d. C. To the United Kingdom which is closing in on the grim figure of 10000 coronavirus related since the new hotbed of the pandemic in europe and the number of casualties keeps climbing another 917 people have died of the disease in hospital taking the total to almost 9900. 00 Health Officials have warned the outbreak is yet to reach its peak and the british home secretary says police will use new powers and that includes fines to enforce lock down measures these start figures highlight the gravity of this National Emergency the devastating impact of this virus and the unprecedented but necessary action that we are taking to tackle it is affecting every aspect of our daily lives but my message to anyone still refusing to do the right thing is clear if you dont pay your part our Selfless Police who are out there risking their own lives to save others will be unafraid to act well if were not american marty who joins us on skype from london mariam numbers continue to rise in the u. K. His concerns grow over the supply of protective gear. Yes exactly its just as we see the 2 of europes hardest hit countries spain and italy passing a peak of that crisis that we seeing something very different here in the u. K. With numbers continuing to rise the u. K. Death toll closing in on the 10000 mark and sadly that is unlikely to be the actual number of deaths because the figure that were getting every day from the government looks at the number of deaths inside hospitals but the doesnt take into account the number of deaths in the community thats not to be and many people dying in old age care homes right now so sadly the actual death toll is likely to be higher than the want we got today but as you say the other issue in the past few weeks has been the lack of personal protective equipment the government is saying that its doing all it can to make sure that there are adequate supplies that the kit is getting to where it needs to be but this is still not enough the British Medical Association wants today that supplies are running dangerously low in some places they mention london and yorkshire which is in the north of england and then over the past few weeks that have also been these reports of hospitals going as far as to purchase their own gear primarily medical hospital workers also going on ebay to buy their own protective equipment i mean right now doctors and nurses are saying they dont have adequate equipment to protect themselves and their patients and they are really terrified about catching and spreading the virus i dont want to get on to Something Else that came up a u. K. Briefing a over the issue of the knock on effects of the pound them it was becoming more and more evident. Yes and this is probably going to become even more important the longer the lockdown goes on for 3 weeks of lockdown now but its not having the same effect on everyone for some people its compromising our personal freedom and their ability to get around but for others this lockdown is causing real pain and suffering especially since all Domestic Violence Children Women and in some cases men who have no way of escaping their abusers under quarantine the line for them right now is to be horribly trapped and we have the home secretary maybe trying to raise awareness about act today for the victims of these crimes home is not the safe haven that it should be and that is why i have been working with Law Enforcement charities schools businesses and local councils to address this changing threat picture are Incredible Police officers and firefighters are out in their communities right now yes helping to fight crime but also to protect the vulnerable and to protect victims well so the home secretary also went out some 2000000 pounds of support for help lines and that isnt what we because there was some figures reported in the past week from refuge which is the u. K. s largest Domestic Abuse charges about the number of phone calls going up by 120 percent which obviously shows that there are more people suffering from this kind of violence trying to seek help and perhaps trying to seek refuge if youre right to say earlier that this is a global story we are seeing a rise in Domestic Violence in countries from germany france to brazil to countries in latin america so what we see reflects this really a global pattern and sadly with the economic crisis the crisis coming this type of violence is likely to get worse the op how the pandemic is having that knock on effect thanks very much in the murmur motiva where the u. K. Government is run preop is Testing Capacity the complexity of the process is making widespread screening difficult but engineers at Imperial College in london they may have the answer join a whole has more. Well the spiraling death toll here in the u. K. Has led to ever more urgent questions aimed at the government did they act too slowly in instituting the lockdown 3 weeks ago could more lives have been saved had they rely for too long on advice to wash hands and sing happy birthday twice as the Prime Minister Boris Johnson regularly advised were there other things that could have been done there are shortages of personal Protection Equipment still being reported across the National Health service here and of course testing is a saga of its own here at Imperial College in london a team of engineers have invented new technology to build a portable personal test that will produce rapid results in just around an hour as opposed to the day or 2 that it currently takes let me introduce chris thomas who is regis professor of engineering here at Imperial College chris thank you so much for joining us can you tell us a little bit about your test and how it works. As you probably alluded to earlier the fact is that it takes so long to do a test today from the time the sun please take 20 has to then be transported to a lib oratory the laboratory has to prepare to it has to extract the d. N. A. R. N. A. It has to amplify it and all that could take 48 hours throughput from the patient to the result so theres a desperate need for faster tests that can be brought to the community d. N. A. Knowledge which is a spin from Imperial College with the Technology Partnership in cambridge together weve been vented this technology which we call the notch cartridge this cartridge is that entire the poetry that i spoke of bag all within this little device affected be all that pet in all those machines everything is in capsulated in this small little bit of technology thats really good it means now complete brought to the patient and set up the patient go into the lab this can all to meet be used as a home test the patient can take this. Simple swap in fact we use pediatrics watch very small and unfriendly they can be certain into the austral. Room for a tiny tiny bit but its worth it its worth a few seconds once thats taken it think goes into the back of our little cartridge then the little clip on the back and this is it the r. N. A. Of the fire us or the piracies loaded into the into the capture and that can all be done within an hour or so so within an hour the patient will know whether theyre negative or positive chris is this potentially the holy grail that unlocks testing in the same way that Boris Johnson the Prime Minister says testing is the thing that unlocks the coronavirus i think that were getting towards the holy grail this may or may not be it there are other technologies out there but we havent come across anything which is completely lab based this idea of bringing the lab to the patient is really critical because then things can be done in the community and thats the best way to avoid spreading the disease how long are we way from mass production of this test and its rolled out in the community by the end of this month we would have done almost 10000. 00 tests within the community we would have validated those test so come may and june 250000 maybe 100005 end of june july 2300000 then a 1000000 by August September so it doesnt mean that we can rapidly scaled it because the technology is very friendly actually its a Consumer Technology the same technology is used to make. Printers so its a very similar scaling so what we have already in the industry crystal thank you so much for joining us with the government has set its own targets looking to increase testing to 100000 tests per day by the end of this month. But that alone is still a long long way from the scale that will be required for full Scale Community wide testing that needs to come sooner or later and the invention as described here at Imperial College london may well be an extremely important part of that. Fascinating progress there in london well after the virus immersion in china the epicenter of the disease soon shifted to europe overwhelming hospitals and forcing tens of millions of people into lockdown and there are questions about whether the European Union will survive because of what critics say was this muddled response there honestly has this report try carry out an action. If you cast your mind back to the days before everything changed this is extraordinary how badly things were misjudged how it all went wrong this video was shared by the mayor of melanne on february 27th when politicians in northern italy were either blaming migrants for the virus or insisting the countrys Financial Capital had to remain open for business as a piece of politics it was catastrophic this messages had a huge impact and probably led people to underestimate what was happening here after a couple of weeks both had all these politicians had to apologize for the. More than a week before that tens of thousands of football fans had descended on the san siro stadium in the land to watch the Champions League game between atalanta and the spanish club for landsea its now widely suspected that this was the trigger for the virus to jump countries. As the days turned into weeks the sheer horror of the situation turned into a daily reality. 300 dead 4056708 day its really pete that just under a thousands. There was no where to put the bodies they used an ice rink in madrid the spanish capital absolutely on its knees by now europe was in a flat panic its famous open borders were closed by march the 11th. The u. S. Had banned flights from the shang going to area and inevitably the ban was reciprocated business stops unemployment rockets and. European unity was nowhere to be seen amid allegations of countries hoarding protects of medical equipment and not sharing it with italy and spain no Member States can handle this crisis on their own and because in this crisis and in our union more generally it is only by helping each other that we can help ourselves. Not only could europe not agree on ways of helping each others economies there were enormous differences in the response to the pandemic sweden didnt go into lockdown at all germany tested as many people as it could for the virus and had a much lower death rate than other countries hungary banned elections and handed all power to Prime Minister viktor orban am to the consternation of much of the European Union. France began the same grim should actually have cases as italy had a few weeks before and the u. K. To whether countries underfunded Health Care System was feared to be under such strain that the army helps build new hospitals in exhibition senses Prime Minister Boris Johnson had to be rushed into intensive care with the virus and is only now beginning to recover europe felt like it was in disarray. One of the biggest questions about the new reality is what it says about us and our ability to adapt to a situation none of us have ever known. In some ways has brought out the best in people the shared trauma eased slightly by Community Spirits on every european balcony. People try to find the positives like cleaner air will clean a war so everyone knows the day will come when the police wont find people for being outside and theyll be a vaccine people in europe and beyond will tell their children about what it was like to live through the virus the problem is what happens between now and then. Barnsley aljazeera in london. Well lets take this issue of europe on weekends right now to julie who is in whos a managing director of vocal europe which is a think tank researching you politics and joins us from amsterdam mr holmes and welcome to the program and now the e. U. As an entity has really struggled with this since the very beginning has none. Well the thing that we have to keep in mind is that the European Union is effectively a vehicle for collaboration between 27 different Member States that do have different cultures politically economically and in terms of the ways to handle these crises and the European Union in the long see has probably done as well as it could considering the circumstances and the short shortly before it started jumping there was sure the point of the project is for the community to come together as one from the very beginning and we saw very clearly how italy was just left alone when it was asking for help it was pleading for help and nobody came to the fore well the problem was that certain nobody really understood the crisis enough to was ready i mean i dont think theres a Single Member state that was actually in a position where it could have realistically given the help that it would have liked to give to italy i think quite early on we saw in the cases of just coming out to france france was sending support that it could while trying to for the question solve but once all the Member States were prepared for the crisis all was prepared as they could be some we started seeing the exchanging of materials exchanging of equipment that could help save lives and help these countries coke would you think you will learn from this so that if it should happen again which you probably will at some point the same reaction does not occur when a country a nation that is part of the European Union like italy cries out for help. But i think were going to see quite certain important change in the attitudes of this and this is i believe a 2nd in a long line of issues are going to show that separating from the European Union in the way the u. K. Did isnt the way to go and that we need to come 1st together as a union so i can imagine there will be more cooperation sums of medical Research Medical programs and possibly have an extended Funding Program similar to the current bombs being discussed now right and with that in itself is another bone of contention the europe can agree on is that you know theres going to north south divide over how debts will be repaid. Well were seeing a similar situation to what happened during the eurozone crisis where you have a number of states particularly those in the door sort of in this case its not limbs germany austria and i believe a few others in the baltics who believe that they should not have that touch to countries that they themselves do not trust that we need to be aware that trust takes time to build that the eurozone crisis that wasnt very long ago and that i believe that the way some of these states such as greece have actually dealt with it and weathered the storm does show that these northern states could show more trust in these Southern States and not only dance but the majority of european Member States do actually support the idea of the euro bonds or current ones do you think theres some kind of irony here is frozen u. K. Is concerned just as it was trying to extract itself from the european project its been absolutely clobbered by this pandemic and perhaps needs europe more than ever when many of us may decide you are enjoying the 2016 referendum as well as the subsequent years following the referendum result that the United Kingdom did needs to stay close to the European Union not for political reasons necessarily but for reasons of the European Union is the u. K. s closest markets some of his closest allies in history are right honest doorstep and you cant just simply break. Those relationships and then move away and hope to not have. A Good Relationship with them i mean just breaking that connection with the European Union as weve seen with the fiasco regarding the sort of ventilators and. P p d your opinion has gone for the next talking to reap the benefits of this book shipment rounds where the u. K. Is not having to rely on donations from states such as germany and even starting to rely on United States which in its current state com provides support that u. K. Needs right im sure that in itself will be a big talking point once all this is over and we do appreciate your perspective on this thank you very much julia has no vocal europe. Youre watching our desire to remind our top stories this hour and the United States has become the country with the highest death toll from coronavirus thats according to the Johns Hopkins university tracker more fatalities were confirmed in the past day taking the u. S. To more than 900700. United kingdom is reported another 917. 00 coronavirus related hospital deaths in its latest daily report taking his total to nearly 10000. 00 the Health Secretary has warned the epidemic is yet to reach its. New york state has been the epicenter of the u. S. Outbreak of spread of the virus is showing signs of slowing your hospital in intensive care admissions in recent days but you yorkers are bearing the financial brunt of the knock down as kristen salumi now reports. Its been called the crossroads of the world but these days no one is going anywhere just ask taxi driver nicolay hent hear people talking. About it he says his few customers are mostly hospital workers now that all but essential workers are expected to stay home new york the center of American Culture and commerce now has more coronavirus cases than any single country. Even the famously busy Grand Central station is eerily quiet during normal times 3 quarters of a 1000000 people would pass through here each day now as empty as public spaces are hospitals are full. Public hospitals in particular have been overwhelmed statistics show that while the elderly or those with preexisting conditions make up most faith tallies minority communities have been hit disproportionately hard. And doctors and nurses are under tremendous pressure a shortage of protective gear like masks and downs is only adding to the strain for nurses like sarah dowd who came out to demonstrate being kind of thrust into the situation without everything we need without the resources we need to do the best job possible and. That has a psychological affect the feeling of being helpless scenes of refrigerated trucks as makeshift morgues and Funeral Homes struggle to contain the enormous loss of life have been traumatic even for notoriously tough new yorkers the city and state officials have lashed out at the federal government for not doing more to coordinate the response on bidding on a machine that illinois is bidding on california is betting on in florida is big and we were bidding up each other while social distancing appears to be slowing the spread of coke at 19 nearly a month of school and business closures are taking a toll leaving thousands of Small Business owners struggling to survive like jeff george who owns a martial arts studio the biggest thing is continuing to be able to pay the rent and pay the utilities and pay the employees right we want to we want to be able to sustain them as much as we and. Thats important to me. Still new yorkers like eric kerry and his wife are finding ways to bring people together from their rooftop with music even if for now they cant get close inspired by scenes in italy and spain theyve been holding a nightly socially distanced party cannot wait to have a big party after this invite the whole lot over to our lovely roof deck and be able to have everyone there and enjoy a song to join together but Officials Say that time is still weeks if not months away kristen salumi aljazeera new york. The pandemic has hit latin america at a time when the region was already vulnerable Public Health services it severely lacking in some countries already in a recession and while some governments apparent for the worst other than just ignoring warnings on the need for social isolation or latin america to lucy and human reports now from santiago. Bodies composing on the streets or inside houses in ecuador is tropical city of. Cemeteries and funeral parlors cant cope with the demand and the government can only offer cardboard coffins to the latest victims. Its already a catastrophe long before infections from cold 19 reach their peak their head and if and when they got where to put it they wait for them to die before helping them and when theyre dead they hand them over to the family this is terrible since march 1st the pandemic has been spreading rapidly throughout latin america and brazil the country with the most deaths so far drug lords are imposing klein teens in slums thats because the president is still refusing to take strong measures at the expense of the economy in mexico the government and the people appear dangerously nonchalant about social distancing and testing even as coronavirus cases continue rising. By contrast in argentina chile peru colombia paraguayan and most of Central America borders are closed and the army is on the streets to enforce partial or total quarantines to try to slow the curve of contagion improve for example men are allowed to leave the house to shop on alternate days and women on the other days to keep more people off the streets but where the notable about i think its a good idea to be able to control the masses a little bit because of the type of contagion that were facing. But its not enough we dont. Think these places as they develop. Number one in terms of Health Systems and and the access to medical systems. I mean i would say only 34 percent of the forest or access to ship addiction there is dont have anything. Latin america faces another tremendous handicap a very high population density in its major cities coupled with widespread poverty that fans the spread of disease. But the region faces an even bigger problem maintaining a problem quarantine for much longer and many of these cities will likely be and possible to enforce and for a very simple reason 58 percent of Latin Americans like means work in the Informal Sector and faced with the choice of staying at home to starve or defying a farty they would rather come out here and take their chances with the buyers. In many countries hospitals are already running out of surgical masks and ventilators at least 14000000 people are already out of work and with the peak of the pan dimia still some 3 weeks away latin america may well be facing unprecedented death and devastation. To see a new man aljazeera santiago. More than 30000000 people in brazil have signed up for emergency Financial Relief is locked down restrictions affect the economy that the government is trying to streamline the payment process after thousands lined up at tax offices this week because of bureaucratic hold ups informal workers are entitled to claim 118. 00 per month when they celebrated easter as the government refuses to enforce widespread restrictions a traditional good friday ceremony was held in the Southern City of mass at pepe despite moves by the Catholic Church to suspend all festivities interNational Health observers criticizing the governments inaction borders remain open the government reports only 4 confirmed cases of the virus but the president Daniel Ortega he hasnt been seen in public for weeks turkey has put its most Populated Areas under a 2 day lockdown to try to contain the virus bakeries hospitals pharmacies and workplaces making medical equipment are exempt the restrictions ag. To end on sunday at midnight its an hour from scene in kosovo has more. It was like a regular friday for istanbul probably many assume that because the weather would be nice for today and tomorrow sunday and also routines were afraid that more people would be going out yes the cafeteria as Restaurants Public places shopping malls theyre all closed down but of course it is difficult to control those people and there was a conflict between doans opinion the governments opinion and what the Science Board has been recommending so far and yesterday we heard from some Science Board members that some of the it is some of the Board Members some of the doctors were for commending lockdown for the weekends a couple of days in a week but it is just for this weekend for now but many expect that it can continue for the coming weekends as well but so far for for the president s address on a major full lockdown is not possible and this is what the minister the mayor of istanbul has been urging for but it is good for turkey these 10 days is very critical as the numbers off the. Death is rising but for yesterday for last night the reason for that couse was that this was an unprecedented announcement for a lockdown and the circular wasnt issued its simple 10 is the with the lockdown thats what people got panicked people thought all bakeries would be close pharmacies would because and they flocked to the bakeries it to get bread even though it was just the 2 days. The spike turkey has suffered many military coups and many curfews what course its not easy for people especially given the current economic tension in a cell in turkey its not is a for people to accumulate stuff food in their home and they need to go out. From turkey to iran which is one of the countries hardest hit spike haven 19 and it started reopening government offices after a brief nationwide lockdown and has more than 70000. 00 confirmed cases well more than 4300 people have died. As more now from terre. Weeks into the pandemic Health Officials confirmed what many iranians feared the coronavirus had been spreading through the population undetected since january the month before the parliamentary election there is little doubt now the election contributed to the spread of the virus days after the 1st cases were confirmed in the city of home on february 19th irans Deputy Health minister showed obvious symptoms during a Media Briefing later confirming he was infected in the days that followed covert 900 spread quickly through the ranks of government but still president Hassan Rouhani initially downplayed the crisis during the 1st meeting of a task force he set up to respond to the outbreak he predicted the emergency would be over in a matter of days. Irans enemies apos him to scare our society and push the country towards a shutdown as of saturday everything should return to normal. 2 months in the government reports thousands are dead and tens of thousands infected. Iran has asked the International Monetary fund for a 5000000000 dollar emergency loan to fight the virus the government here says the white house is blocking it since day one of the outbreak irans leaders have had to weigh shutdowns for the sake of Public Health against the cost to an economy stifled by u. S. Sanctions. Foreign minister divides the reef has described americas maximum Pressure Campaign as an economic siege that makes it more difficult for iran to do its part to fight the global spread of the virus something that he says could make over 1000 a forever pandemic even amid this pandemic the u. S. Government has bench fully refuse to lift its on and collective punishment making it virtually impossible for us to even buy medicine and medical equipment the trumpet ministration reimposed economic sanctions after pulling out of the nuclear deal in 2018 Health Experts have warned the coronavirus remains a serious public threat but by order of the president life begins to return to normal in parts of iran this week the capital to the economic engine of the country is expected to see businesses reopen by the end of april its a country or small and Medium Enterprise make up a bulk of the economy and Financial Experts have warned president rouhani prolonged closures will make social unrest and street protests inevitable irans government is making a desperate choice at a time of a Global Crisis the health and safety of its people versus the wellbeing of its economy its a decision that many iranians say the country could afford to put off if it wasnt for the economic pressure from 2 ascensions. A Pacific Island nations have been struggling to prepare for more coronavirus cases while dealing with the effects of a powerful storm a category 4 and harold tore through a number of islands destroying homes and leaving tens of thousands without power thousands were forced into an Evacuation Centers at a time when governments are trying to keep people apart and many of the countries already have fragile Healthcare Systems well in the midst of the storm fijis Prime Minister tried to reassure residents that Evacuation Centers would not put them at risk of catching covert 19. All regions should stay indoors and theres that acted. Well thought of the. Workers incentives are safe. Because incentives are said the time and money that ritual. Do not suck my skin my city. Goes under what i didnt look for to put on the writers did not mix with others. Well lets take this on im pleased to say we have Patricia Scotland who secretary general of the commonwealth of nations which includes most of the Pacific Island nations and joins us from london skype sector general appreciate having you here on the program to talk about this important issue silently natural disasters dont stop as humanity deals with this pandemic in our region is under serious threat on multiple fronts. And so many people in the 1st war stories will be terrified of this because if you look if you like its the perfect storm we see you know in the collapse of 54 countries thats 2400000000 people and 60 percent of them are under the age of 30 but we have 32. 00 small countries and 24. 00 of the art small island states now the devastating problem that we have is for the small states they are extremely vulnerable on a number of fronts so the climate challenge which weve seen again and again strike is striking now except that in the same moment as this pandemic is seizing control of peoples lives and imaginations and creating real threats so the current change together with the Current Group of virus pandemic is a lethal combination to these small island states but small states in general and really exist its their vulnerability so what we are trying to do is to say ok if we have this multiplicity of difficult its how can we respond better that we can make that commonwealth countries more resilient how can we pool our knowledge our expertise we find out what works and what we dont and what doesnt work because were seeing right now that its not just a Health Pandemic but this is going to cause a suit of the army when it comes to the economic fallout of this when you combine that with a real climate climatic emergency we really have to see that this unfortunately may be our new norm so how do we respond to this right and i dont discount the somebody that we can do that right figure i dont want to come here because when it comes to overnight here in this immediate problem. Health issue in the impending health issue that could strike many of these countries that dont yet have any cases does this not for this also this happened this cycling that swept through does it does it threaten those islands and all those islands not more risk from getting coated 19 within. Well they are justifiably right because as you know one of the things we have discovered that works is the social distancing so if these psychos hit and people have to congregate in smaller places they were really is how do you keep that social distance sense how do you keep that prevention solide ringback and how do you make that difference and thats why if you look at what the secretary and his doing is created the coronavirus whistle sentinel we are all looking at the data were looking at how we can map is the information going to our countries and there are some real problems because if people arent able to fly in because of the lock down if were not able to distribute those sorts of benefits that we had then its going to be even more important that the virtual help assistance and guidance that were trying to pull gets in there and that brings us into this whole issue of the Digital Divide because we in the secretary have maintained a platform we can deal with those point 2 g. 3 g. 4 g. But 5 g. Is coming many of our countries dont have their mother flexibility to enable the into operability that we need on the platform to take place so what we are now doing is to see how we can maintain the connectivity that we need using the elements that are already there so data is incredibly important if you go onto our innovation. On the commonwealth website is w w come along dot org youll see that data amalgamation is starting to happen but i 2nd gen we are going to have to middleburg i do apologize for jumping in were just coming towards the end of the show we need to move on but thank you again for your time and bringing to our attention this important story thanks very much for me thank you very much. Another pandemic has a cast a spotlight on asias wet markets and the risks they pose so i just believe the krona virus originated in the market trading wild animals and will harm and a warning viewers may find some of the images jessica washingtons report disturbing. Before his customers arrive palace ponto spends the morning preparing his most popular dish its called a traditional best meat curry popular in some parts of indonesia hes followed this recipe for decades but the recent outbreak of covert 19 has got him worried so the beginning of a ive been reading the news about this virus i wonder is it the same type of bat that we use ive never worried about disease until now maybe it has to do with how we prepare the meat. The trade of live wild animals for food medicine clothing and more has gone on for years but as the world grapples with the outbreak of code 19 the risk it poses to Public Health is now under scrutiny its believed the virus most likely emerged from this market in ruhani probably involving bats but also possibly other animals such as penguins the market in rouhani is still closed and the beijing government has issued a temporary ban on similar live wildlife markets elsewhere in china but there are many similar markets around asia trading wild animals like this one in indonesia north sea the way sea province thats snakes and other wildlife as well as dogs and cats are all sold here and live in cages stacked on top of each other. When you have different animals in such close contact it is possible for cross species infections to happen other diseases can also be transferred between species and then infect a human. Ending the exotic wildlife trade completely is almost impossible many peoples livelihoods depend on it and the trade goes on in many corners of the wells Animal Rights activists say Wildlife Conservation isnt just about saving animals lives but humans too. People have exploited nature and wildlife they catch them from spaces where they should be free when you combine that with poor hygiene markets it is a risk a lot is still unknown about this virus and exactly how it began but what is clear is that this isnt just a Global Health crisis but an environmental one to jessica washington aljazeera jakarta well as the founder of free land which is a counter Trafficking Organization and he explains how viruses can be transmitted to people from animals. Its not just wet markets but markets remember are basically outdoor super markets people go there to buy fish also chickens ducks etc but in china until now anyway there have been wild animal sections in those markets so you can also buy in addition to the the eggs and chickens you could buy you know maybe turtles snakes bats or other kinds of animals but really all kinds of wildlife markets across the region even across the world are ticking time bombs they all have the potential of transmitting a virus it just takes one infected animal to jump to a person and then we get Something Like hope at 90 its a global issue people tend to look at this as a china iris or a china problem china is the number one consumer of wildlife in the world but United States is the number 2 consumer of wildlife who are in the European Union is 3rd so again any kind of wildlife market even Online Platforms could be hosting animals that have a bunker which we have no immunity. When as the money grows in the philippines for corona Virus Testing one city is going alone with its own Screening Program in an effort to flatten the curve to melinda can this report. Its the scribed as the 1st localized Mass Testing Program for the corona virus here like many cities billions wella is grappling with a pandemic and with help from these Health Workers they say theyre taking matters into their own hands to set up their own testing system separate from the National Government their aim is to stop the disease from spreading the 1st to get tested are some in this neighborhood described here as persons under investigation home may have contracted the virus or been in contact with infected people. Frontline workers such as doctors and nurses are expected to get tested as well. For her. Previously requests for a limited amount of testing kits had to be me to the National Government and it would take at least a week before results arrived with thousands of kit at their disposal and with the hospital that process these tests the results should only take 2 days to come through. I mean the rileys come here and i am told the her. Team im very sorry for. Anything hes a liar here. More than 60000000 filipinos have been forced to stay at home after president rodrigo detected declared a National Health emergency a few weeks ago checkpoints like this one have become familiar scenes the government says the lockdown is necessary to prevent further outbreak in many communities but more and more experts say this is simply not enough and there are growing calls for the government to conduct mass testing in many communities the Health System in the country is clearly in crisis most hospitals are full and the number of Health Workers dying from the virus continues to rise so testy efforts like this one are seen as a major breakthrough specially in poor communities which usually dont have much choice but to stay a tome and wait for help to arrive there is hope for deliverance they say from their collective anguish. Dog an aljazeera manila. 2 Big Companies to me up to develop technology that will alert people when theyre close to somebody whos infected the idea is to help governments roll out ups to run on smart phones like your broad as its really. For many of Us Technology is a major part of staying in touch during lock down from online workouts to church services. And birthday parties. Its helping bring our communities together but take knology also has the potential to alert people when theyve been close to anyone and fictive with the virus. Google is teaming up with apple to develop apps to do just that its a rake a lab aeration between the American Companies whose operating systems power 99 percent of the worlds smartphones but some fear the technology could also lead to more unwanted scrutiny of our private lives and personal data googles Business Model is to track googles a surveillance capitalist google makes its billions by tracking every move you make on and off the web apple and google say prissie transparency and consent are over at most importance in a safe it and they will openly publish information about their work for others to analyze governments worldwide are working out how technology can help us to identify sick people and stop the spread of the virus some countries including poland israel and singapore already use peoples handsets to monitor their quarantine or send coronavirus alerts. South korea is joining hong kong and using electronic wristbands with some uses asked to send a photo of their home to prove theyre in self isolation thats aimed at getting the lockdowns and border restrictions lifted as soon as possible its very new new technology its very interesting but a lot of people worry about it in terms of the persons freedom were going to take a look at that a very strong look at it well let you know pretty said a crime in china where the outbreak began last year most codes dictate where the people can leave the house and where they can go Digital Rights activists say such apps need to be designed so they cant be misused so today its often were not china we never make you you know make you use this well what happens tomorrow when its on every i. O. s device and every Android Device and we start using will walk downs and we say to people you want to go back to work you can but heres the cab yacht you have to turn it on you have to opt into it you know but you get your choice you dont have to go to work but if you want to go to work you got to. Scientists admit technology alone wont be enough to eradicate the virus instead it will need peoples commitment and real life brian aljazeera. Perhaps changing times so thats their 1st news of its goodbye from a. Crossing borders breaking boundaries recording injustice fighting inequality from africa and asia to europe the use exile as it were the more i mean the cover of street every very grown up for me is one country aljazeera world meets for refugees whove come to your touched peoples lives and made a difference. A hard road from hope for some dr wrists on aljazeera a history of guerrilla warfare. A place on the global stage. Name for an organization created for a stateless population. Before fighting for their land why did the p. L. O. Fight for independence from their arab neighbors. Chronicling the turbulent story of the struggle for a palestinian home p. L. O. History of the revolution on aljazeera. A distressing 24 hours in the u. S. As new figures reveal it now has more recorder coronavirus deaths than any other country. Watching aljazeera live from london im sorry you know brigades are also ahead one month after the declaration of the coronavirus pandemic and italys doctors say they will never be the same again. As the u. K. It reports more than 900 hospital debts