Refugee camp in greece is destroyed by fire following unrest over covered 19 Safety Measures plus. Years of a spike in infections in georgia after author talks christians gather in defiance of bans to celebrate easter. British leaders are defending themselves against damning criticism that theyve mishandled the coronavirus pandemic the sunday Times Newspaper is pointing the finger directly at Prime Minister barak johnson it accuses him of wasting precious time in stopping the spread the paper usually supports Johnsons Conservative Party but it says he ignored scientists warnings failed to replenish stocks of protective medical equipment and didnt attend 5 initial emergency meetings about the outbreak since then more than 15000. Britons have died in hospitals thats the worlds 5th highest National Death toll and the true total could be much higher the government statistics dont include the deaths of people in care homes for the elderly that total is estimated to be around 7 and a half 1000 paul brennan has this summary from london of the sunday times article and the governments reaction to it. Front page news here very uncomfortable reading for the government and spread across 2 pages inside as well pages 6 and 7 of the sunday times its pretty damning stuff i mean the essentially the accusations are that there was complacency there was mismanagement there was bad judgments and essentially there was political inertia and that valuable weeks were lost in that period between the tail end of january when the real scale of what was happening in will hand on the International Implications for really starting to be warned about by scientific officers early march which is when the Prime MinisterBoris Johnson attended his 1st National Crisis committee thats the cobra is its acronym criticism of that id say the government has come out and rebuffed the narrative that the sunday times is putting forward the Cabinet Office minister michael gove has been doing the rounds of the sunday morning t. V. Political shows the idea that the Prime Minister skipped meetings that were false to our response to the throwing of us i think is protests and the truth is that the other meetings across government so much richard by the Health Secretary some chaired by other ministers but the Prime Minister took all the major decisions and i think anyone who considered to the point is just a little while ago nuki can see that the some throwing heart and soul into fighting this fire we heard yesterday from england who estimated that 7 and a half 1000 deaths above and beyond what would normally be expected at this time of year had arrived in the last 2 weeks now what theyre not saying is that all of those are definitely down to coronavirus but its a massive spike and unexpected today sunday were getting another reinforcement of those this time from the National Care forum which looks out well its an Umbrella Group for the not for profit care homes and theyre estimating that corona virus deaths could be as many as 4000 in the u. K. And the empire. Patients for that a serious it essentially means that the government is chronically underestimating the impact of coronavirus in this country both deaths and infections and its down to the lack of testing until the tail end of this past week people who were living in care homes and the staff who worked there were not being tested for coronavirus so many people who most likely were dying of coronavirus were not being assessed as such that were being put downs and other factors such as the underlying conditions and its important because without a really good handle on exactly where coronavirus is whos being affected by it its very difficult for medics and the government to set out a policy in a strategy to combat it the rest of 15 of hong kongs most prominent democracy activists is drawn International Condemnation theyve been released on bail and they face charges in connection with last years mass protests the u. S. Says beijing is betraying commitments were made ahead of hong kongs transfer of sovereignty to china in 1997 well the u. K. Says the right to peaceful protest must be respected chinas hit back saying Foreign Countries have no right to interfere when martin is a Founding Member of the Democratic Party of hong kong and was one of those prodemocracy activists rested yesterday hes joining us now live from hong kong thank you very much for being on aljazeera just give us an idea of what happened to you when you were arrested well i sort of expected it because i know. This oppressive policy of hong kong from now on and they actually told us who were. There because in june to 14 the Chinese Government published a white paper in 7 different languages claiming that the Central Government has comprehensive jurisdiction over our noticing back what was the basic policy of the then shopping scope women are in and kept to meet it in 12 words in chinese one country to sit. On people who in hong kong with a high degree of autonomy now one of the she didnt inspire us it is to cause of untended resistance and then in true gunman ruling. With comprehensive jurisdiction yes completely changed showpiece basic policies regarding our home and that is why im not concerned about my own. Life with it or not we have been not up to try only means to b. C. But imo much more concerned with that and i suggest the International Community should really look at home calm very closely because your key to the china problem is hong kong our coming is the key if you allow the Chinese Government to break its promise to the British Government to carefully set out in the side of british judge pickering 185. And written into the basic law comes mini constitution. Guarantees that you would be able to enjoy a high degree of autonomy namely from Defense Department defense or foreign fish will be asked his lover own house and he would have democracy 10 years after the handover but this is a tradition here and universal suffrage is no way in sight they dont talk about it anymore and there is a problem if you allow china to brick an International Agreement with impunity you are encouraging china to bring more it indefinitely this may be but your country that is the important. Thing that the bush should be looking at but its also you know every government this conflict with debbie in our government is also. No exception but i would commend this is to be the moment a country even in and in their own homes. Our own. Health and life issues like this but demi our chief executive simply takes a Little League game into even 100 killings this ball is counted so with us at the well how could we do and how did you become a go home for a few more days there is a group. There were many protesters arrested when the protests were on the streets particularly last year many of them were young people how do you feel about the fact that it seems to have taken much longer for beijing to start targeting people like yourself who were at the head of those protests. Well were we always. Insisted that we should fight for our constant what we see peaceful means or some only some of the given street is that they are seen as above particular 30 years and weve been fighting it in this way but probably took a creation in asking china to on their promises but not getting anywhere so i can sympathize with the young people they say look this thing doesnt work this week you cannot get democracy by piece who needs so let us use of force in the now somewhere you see balance but im could be should have been jorak you of all young people do not want to use violence in of course of violence be good start and say how can the moon how can we win this war has tried by using violence we dont even have a single gun. The only way forward is to use peaceful means taking the high moral ground and the who world see that we are keeping more in order we dont want independence we just won promises kept and i believe this is the before martin is a Founding Member of the Democratic Party of hong kong where appreciate your time sir on aljazeera thank you very much and you can watch martin lee join our panel of discussion on our Current AffairsProgram Inside story at 1730 g. M. T. Today. Irans warned the u. S. Of a decisive response to what it called any dangerous actions by American Forces in the gulf and follows an incident on wednesday when the u. S. Military says 11 vessels from irans elite revolutionary guard king close to its ships in the gulf the u. S. Called the moves provocative and response iran has stepped up the guards patrols in the region. The question of when to ease coronavirus locked on restrictions is dividing the epicenter of the pandemic us President Donald Trump keeps pushing a positive message he says there are signs covert 1000 has passed its peak but experts warn that moving too fast could be disastrous and gallacher is in florida with that story. After weeks of stay at home odors hundreds flocked to the reopened beaches in Jacksonville Florida the medical of this controversial move as essential activity even as the state hit more than 27000 coronavirus cases its what authorities call a pathway back to normal life. But in other parts of the u. S. The scenes a very different across the country a small but growing protest movement is calling for restrictions to be eased from utah to wisconsin in both republican and democratic led states people are taking to the streets urging a return to normal life we are still a free country at least for now and people have to make a decision and thats their personal decision if they dont want to be 6 feet apart or 7 peter peter parker i cant i cant dictate it to that to them despite declaring that individual governors are in charge President Donald Trump seemed to encourage the protests in a series of tweets on friday all 3 states have democratic governors his tacit support is seen as deeply political in a time of crisis and you know it is there are a lot of protests out there and i just think that some of the governor. As have gotten carried away you know we have a lot of people that dont have to be told to do what theyre doing theyve been really. Doing everything we best them in new york the epicenter of the pandemic measures to ease restrictions still far off the states governor says this is no time to play politics how does the situation get worse and get worse quickly if you politicize all that emotion we can not go there. Thats where i work so hard when anyone raises any political agenda to me i work so hard to distance myself from it. Some states are beginning to ease restrictions many are still battling the coronavirus and testing is in short supply the desire to get back to some kind of normal is clear the careful approach to doing so vital thank you very much a nation divided it was perhaps inevitable the politics would play a part no matter what challenges lie ahead throughout this crisis the mantra has been were in it together but any sense of unity now seems to be falling apart conservatives believe the cure is worse than the disease others and used to be a more science based approach the fact remains many states a yet to peek in their coronavirus cases the decisions governors make now will be crucial but that hasnt stopped some trying to score political points gallacher aljazeera Miami Florida so had an aljazeera turkey overtakes iran to become the country with the highest number of cases in the middle east and a rush to boost testing in france as its just weeks away from loosening the lockdown orders. And yet will rein in the 4 calls across much of japan weve just seen system after system of the last several days in say this bank of cloud or his face that east was away from the Korean Peninsula so much of monday it should be a dry day here but there is some rain just a pulling in to Northern Areas that there is that rain working its way through home should eventually later in the day pushing up into her guide and still very heavy amounts of rain into all central and southern areas of china this will stay in the full cost for the next couple of days it could be very heavy we could have some isolated flooding united to the north coming into beijing weve got to quite a cooler. The things that a very strong wind cycle from this system up in the far north and then down into indonesia some lighter rains here for the next couple of days you will see some dry conditions too much of thailand cambodia vietnam maybe just the old scattered showers but really nothing more than that and the rain knows as heavy as it has been across to march and java still will and i was born and seeing some heavier downpours similar story on the choose a bit still staying fine and dry to the north 37 in bangkok and we just got a scattering of showers really throughout much of the philippines more than a few showers there into the fall northeast of indias we go through monday the rains developing again into bangladesh up into asylum and also along the east coast pushing across into west bengal as we had to choose day. To. Rewind returns i can bring your people back to life from start with brand new updates on the best of aljazeera documentaries there has been a number of reforms put in price since the program was filmed rewind continues with a massive darkness we were following orders we send young people to fight these wars put them in the most complex situations you can imagine and have them make life and death decisions rewind on aljazeera. They want to know does it out of mind of our top stories this hour a British Government ministers describe reports the Prime Minister bought his johnson script critical coronavirus meetings early in the outbreak as grotesque the sunday Times Newspaper alleges that the British Government was too slow to respond to the threat from the pandemic. Pressure is mounting on the u. S. Governors to ease coronavirus lockdown rules protesting college by donald trump being held in several states for the 3rd day in a row the president says some states will begin easing restrictions as early as monday. Donald trump is accused of stalking islamophobia as well after raising questions about social distancing in mosques during the holy month of ramadan White House Correspondent kelly halakhah as more. There are increasing questions about a retreat by u. S. President trump on saturday accusations he may be stoking islamophobia in the United States the reach we read lets see if authorities enforce the social distancing orders for mosques during ramadan like they did churches during easter i asked the president about this retreat heres what he had to say didnt put him back on the list that the monster didnt follow so i think i just had a call with a mom so i just had a call with ministers rabbis we had a tremendous call with the faith leaders no i dont think that at all i am somebody that believes in faith and it matters not what your faith is but our politicians seem to treat different faiths very differently and they seem to think and i dont know what happened with their country but. The Christian Faith is treated much differently than it was and i think its treated very unfairly now when it comes to enforcing social distancing the department of justice did take on the case of at least one church in mississippi where worshipers attended in their automobiles with the car windows rolled up the department of justice said that these worshippers were simply exercising their right under the 1st amendment of the u. S. Constitution now many in the United States watching very carefully to see if this same effort will be applied when it comes to those who may want to celebrate during ramadan which begins in the u. S. On thursday. Fire has damaged one of the largest migrant camps in greece the blaze and silence started hours after the protest a 47 year old iraqi Asylum Seekers whod been cleared of having coronavirus died in the overcrowded camps refugee camps in greece had been under quarantine in recent weeks the thought of his trying to keep residents apart from locals john said office is in athens and he says theres been a lot of panic over the violence in the counts. It appears that this fear that what she did may have been coronavirus is what triggered the rampage the riots that happened overnight it was brought under control in the early hours ive been to that camp many times the heart of it is a full the elemental molding factory so its basically a concrete floor steel girders there isnt much thats combustible thankfully it was that area which contains all of the Administrative Offices that was burnt and not the i. C. U. Units 3 of the containers where people are living so the capacity of the camp we understand is unimpaired having said that because of the congestion the government is implementing a plan immediately after Easter Sunday today to bring 2380. 00 people off the island and into Apartments Hotels that have been booked out for the purpose and also some spaces in camps on the mainland its a 1st step towards decongest in those islands those islands Reception Centers making sure that the conditions do not remain so overcrowded that any instance of corona virus will spread quickly voting is underway in the 2nd round of legislative elections in mali the government went ahead with the vote despite the kidnapping of of an Opposition Leader and threats from fighters linked to al qaida. Forces working for libyas u. N. Recognize government say theyve resumed their military operation towards tarhouni up after successfully completing stage one they are battling to recapture the stronghold of walled Khalifa HaftarGovernment Forces say they killed 10000. 00 fighters and captured dozens of heavy floods in kenya have killed 3 people and left 20 missing including Police Officers who were on a rescue mission in west. The current has been Strong Enough to uproot trees and sweep them along in a fast moving tides schools homes and a market under water. Turkey has overtaken iran as the country with the highest recorded number of covert 19 cases in the middle east the latest figures push it up to 8 thyristor in the world just off to china coronavirus in turkey has also killed nearly 1900 people more than 82000 infections have been confirmed and nearly 3800 of those cases were diagnosed in the past 24 hours a lockdown has been extended for 15 days prohibiting travel between 30 of turkeys biggest cities mehmet chelate is the managing editor of daily its a progovernment english language newspaper in turkey and he says residents are complying with lockdown measures and theyre happy with the governments handling of the pandemic. Majority of the people regardless of what current or party they come from even if they do have some sort of criticism they support the way that the way the government has handled this issue in fact the trust for the for the Health Minister for example has been like skyrocketing like no other ministers before how he has handled the information sharing the transparency with regards to that has been largely supported by the public and in fact the reason why. You know of course the numbers are rising in turkey but and this has a lot to do of course with our population with the numbers of testing and you know it has passed iran our neighbor but if you look at the testing numbers we have done turkey has done double that has in it in iran so far and to the measures prior to the 1st case in turkey are significant post 1st case and 3 when it comes to treatment for example the situation of the health care d system in turkey is not comparable to its neighbors. You know in the neighboring region so yes there is of course there d is there will be some criticism regardless of how the government is acting and there may be some room for opportunity but i think overall if you look at the big picture turkey has handled this coronavirus in a successful way a growing number of private clinics in the bottle trees in france are offering coronavirus tests but Public Hospitals are a long way from delivering widespread screening that could delay government plans to loosen the locks on in the middle of next month to show bottom reports. In the northern french city of this private part 3 tests for corona virus using blood samples the equivalent of 30. 00 people without a prescription can find out within a week if they all have been infected the test measures antibodies that a created to help the immune system fight infection. It detects if the body is in a phase of active infection which means the virus is present and antibodies are developing if the test is negative the person is either not infected or theyre in the incubation period so its too early to see the antibodies the test can also show if you came into contact with the virus a few weeks ago because the body has developed specific antibodies some Health Experts say the blood tests can help track cases but a less reliable than the nose and throat swab tests favored by the government and while private testing is growing in france its not enough to fill the shortfall in the Public Health system the french Health Minister says france tests are 150000 people a week half the number in neighboring germany since the beginning of the Health Care Crisis in france there havent been enough testing kids in the country so it means that only people in hospitals like this one or in care homes for the elderly are being tested for coronavirus presence Emanuel Mcgraw admitted france wasnt prepared for the crisis that said the country will be in a position to test widely in a month when the government plans to loosen its lockdown. Me. In our capacity to this by may 11th we will be able to test everyone who shows symptoms were not going to test everyone in france that would make no sense but everyone with the symptoms needs to be able to be tested that way people with the virus can be quarantined looked after and monitored by a doctor you interviews this doctor says the testing is key but so is more research into understanding the coronavirus. What were missing is research on infected people how people infected the virus in different regions and how widely the virus is circulating in the population these studies havent been done. The french government has ordered millions of tests from companies in europe and asia and boosted Domestic Production but unless it has the capacity to carry out widespread testing in may to track and isolate coronavirus patients easing the lockdown could put people at risk of a 2nd wave of infections and its actually patna aljazeera france the number of confirmed cases in japan has doubled in just 10 days 568 new cases were reported on sunday raising the total to more than 11000. 00 further rises are expected as more testing is done but its a different story in south korea where the daily tally of new infections has fallen to Single Digits for the 1st time in 2 months just 8 new cases were confirmed in the governments being praised for its widespread testing program. In Georgia Health officials fear a spike in infections after the Easter Holiday despite fines for gatherings of more than 3 people churches have stayed open critics have accused the government of failing to hold the leaders of the Eastern Orthodox Church to account from tbilisi robin for us a walkout reports the. Most potent date in the orthodox calendar is also a critical moment for the spread of coronavirus the at tbilisis so maybe cathedral the Orthodox Church opened its doors to the faithful least the. Last of the. Worshippers who have chosen to participate in the traditional midnight eastern mass had to get here early to avoid breaking a nightly curfew and its been decided between a church in your forties that they can stay here overnight all together under one roof until the curfew is lifted in the morning. Restrictions including a ban on gatherings of more than 3 people have been in place for weeks but for the head of the church and his followers those rules do not apply. This satirical video illustrates what critics say a double standards. With the state refusing to intervene in matters of faith a subservient to the church because it should promote ratings of the church and because of that. This year so the government does the year 2 directly or post a church which is encouraging each parish in years to attend their Easter Service as Prime Minister has said a balance. Must be found between staying safe and practicing faith. I want to assure you that both the state and the church fully understand their responsibility towards human health to opposing this good christians and the law and the functioning of the church Shocking Pink challenge to finally call them down which you would you has enjoyed a gentle infection curve until now with social distancing largely observed at least in celebrations have the scientists worried this is the now the problem for us these 45. 00 days if the social distancing will be less of a chance of the spread of pain faction and increasing the rate of new infection will be much more all the. Many georgians have chosen to stay home. Pray with their families and prayed for the safety of their nation robin 1st you walk out tbilisi. This is all just here are these are the top stories a British Government ministers described reports that Prime Minister bought his johnson skipped critical coronavirus meetings alley and the outbreak as grotesque the sunday Times Newspaper alleges that the British Government was too slow to respond to the threat from the pandemic. The idea that the Prime Minister skipped meetings. To. Response to the growing of us i think is because the truth is that the other meetings across government some by the Health Secretary some chaired by other ministers but the Prime Minister to all the major decisions i think anyone. Considered to the point is just a little while ago if you can see that the throwing heart and soul into fighting this virus pressure is mounting on us governors to ease coronavirus lock down rules protests encouraged by donald trump have been held in several states for the 3rd day in a row the president says some states will begin easing restrictions as early as monday. Turkey has replaced iran as the middle eastern country with the highest number of reported infections close to 3800. 00 were diagnosed in the last 24 hours whereas in the total more than 82000. 00. Irans one the u. S. Of a decisive response to what it called any dangerous actions by American Forces in the gulf it follows an incident on wednesday from the u. S. Military says 11 vessels from irans elite revolutionary guard came close to its ships in the gulf the u. S. Called the moves provocative in response iran has stepped up the guards patrols in the region. They arrested 15 of hong kongs most prominent democracy activists has drawn International Condemnation theyve been released on bail and face charges in connection with last years mass protests the u. S. Says beijing is betraying commitments it made ahead of hong kongs transfer of sovereignty to china in 1997 by the u. K. Says the right to peaceful protest must be respected china is hit by the same Foreign Countries have no right to interfere those are the headlines the news continues here on aljazeera after the listening post good buy. We understand the differences and similarities of cultures across the land. So no matter how many new seeds aljazeera will bring you the news and Current Affairs that matter. How does iraq. And the terrible. Having our objective is to kill a black plague the finding of the birth of the now been all. They got called theyve taken the right approach another day another politician standing official with. Hello im Richard Gilbert and youre watching the listening post here are some of the coronavirus stories the media angles that were covering from home this week the casualty figures are climbing in the u. K. Yet most of the british media are failing to hold the government to account locked in with covert 19 across the world prisoners are trying to get their stories out israels