Solidarity in the fight against cold at night heat. The situation is serious take it seriously since german unification the note since the 2nd world war there has been no challenge to our nation that has demanded such a degree of common and united action. Meanwhile the European CentralBank Announces a 750000000000 euro Bond Buying Program to stave off the pandemics economic fallout e. C. V. Chief look guard says there are no limits to our commitment to the euro. And Australia New Zealand become the latest countries to close their borders to nonresidents citizens and their family members are still being allowed to return to. Im sumi some us gunboats good to have you with a. Yes italy has reported the highest one day death toll from corona virus than any other country Officials Say nearly 500 people died on wednesday the region of lombardy is the worst hit hospitals are overwhelmed by the number of patients and the number of deaths as our next report shows. There is no more space to bury the dead in a. Video posted on social media are said to show military trucks preparing to transport coffins to nearby cities the corona virus has hit the Lombardy Region like no other place in italy names and faces of lost loved ones fill the local papers as the death toll keeps climbing physicians and officials are appealing for help we are in desperate need of both nurses and physicians together with ventilators and this positives for protection the government of organization has been busy helping others who have found raising based on go fund me so if you can please help us efforts to build a temporary hospital in the epicenter are under way. Its top that 200 intensive care units will be ready by the months and italy has also turned to the country where the virus originated 1st support medical teams from china have flown in to lend their expertise. Not yours its i dont i each initial hope the people of our 2 countries will Stay Together and support each other to join to overcome the hardship. For sure i believe the top class teams of experts will learn from each other and make joint efforts and surely will be able to subdue the outbreak very soon cheer up italy. Amid speculation that the lockdown could be extended for several more weeks italians are finding simple ways to lift their spirits. The. Goal was or. There will be your new. Baby that was all. Well earlier i spoke to a correspondent sima go in rome and with the death toll in the norse of the country rising again i asked her if the situation is spiraling out of control. Well the situation is definitely dire north as you said you talked about the situation in the province of the law the town of the definitely a situation that is really on the brink doctors say theyre the full capacity and what we do know is that this virus tends to impact very badly particularly the elderly and the population and italy has one of the worlds oldest population hence were seeing these events numbers now Prime Minister just said because in an interview with the milan based t. V. Career the less said that theyre looking at a possibility of a complete lockdown and that needs also a ban on all Outdoor Activity they say people need to take this seriously to stay at all unless its absolutely necessary because of course you could not show any symptoms you could be fine but you could also be a carrier spreading this virus to others now in one week alone they saw 43000 violations of the lockdown there just and its because of that it tended to amp up these lockdown measures now here in germany the Disease Control center says the number of confirmed cases has climbed by almost 3211000 within the space of 24 hours that comes as chancellor Angela Merkel addressed the nation in a rare televised speech she said the country is facing its biggest challenge since the 2nd world war im addressing you today in this unusual manner because i want to tell you what is guiding me as chancellor and all of my colleagues in the government at this time that is part of an open democracy that we explain our political decisions and make them transparent. That we do all we can to justify and communicate her actions so that they are understandable. Good morning i truly believe that we will succeed in the task before us so long as all the citizens of this country understand that it is also their task. Now the German Foreign office has launched a major airlift operation to bring home German Tourists stranded abroad due to the pandemic its estimated around 100000. 00 germans are waiting to be repatriated many of them were left with little option but to stay put when airlines started grounding flights. Arrival in berlin in the plane german holidaymakers from egypt they were stranded there are among the last that were able to return with scheduled flights for many it was a short holiday then came carona came the closure of borders everywhere and the uncertainty about hull to return. Home and then off from innocent in the middle of the night we received a text message that we were being picked up the government there was a kaos at the airport some people were not on the list but with some luck i managed to get a ticket to measure the number of particles become more oh were relieved we could get a seat of course control. The largest air lift in german history is about to begin about 100000 germans are stranded around the world returning to a germany that has changed where everything is slowed down to texas drivers at the airport know all about it. Who want to start on this corona is destroying everything on whats happening here we never saw anything like this the drivers are fighting amongst each other fighting about getting a fair trial much alluded to voting out if you have some people have to wait 4 or 5 hours without getting any business or taxi drivers you can stop working there is no work these that didnt exist. These are people that are already affected by the crisis in germany holiday makers in their hotels are still a few hours away from this reality many are still waiting for a chance to get home in egypt to learn there are 30000. 00 germans the government is mobilizing 15000000. 00 euros for this operation with chartered planes the passengers have to pay a fair equivalent to an Economy Class ticket. Australia and new zealand have announced that they are closing their borders to all visitors to try to stem the spread of the virus but you nations will only allow citizens residents and close family members to enter the travel ban comes into force in new zealand starting on thursday evening and in australia starting friday night a charlie has so far recorded around 600 corona virus infections one zealand has confirmed almost 30 total cases. Are for more on the situation there we can speak to journalist roger mater hes covering this from sydney hi roger good to see you so i stroll in new zealand as we heard our closing borders airlines are grounding international slates a was this move expected would has come as a bit of a surprise i must say but the Prime MinisterScott Morrison has revealed that the crackdown he believes was absolutely necessary as a lot of the current cases in australia are linked to overseas visitors people who come into the country so he says thats fundamentally why the government has had to take this important move of the ban doesnt extend to australian citizens or residents but everybody else and that plan could last for as long as 6 months i understand at the same time well so theres 2 Main Elements close to the sun virgin will end all International Flights out of australia until the end of may and possibly beyond that d as well now this is a major issue for australians who dont like the idea of being cut off from the rest of the world and strikes at the heart of the nation psyche if you like so its a very difficult stage the low and people are surprised about whats going on but to a certain extent the taking it in the stride pressure whats the picture like where you are in sydney are people following the guidelines that staying at home or avoiding social contact. Well to a certain extent they are there are no rules or orders here to stay at home exactly people are still allowed to Wander Around the streets and in fact going out today you see it plenty of people in cafes and shops and even all the big shoes so people are still treating life really who we normally at the moment but having said that there are whole areas of supermarkets which are devoid of the food like meat and toilet rolls and and other products as well this is a result of panic buying and panic buying has been a real problem here with fighting inside as an even a little girl was injured while being trampled upon you know in a in a supermarket in perth so its really quite serious that from that point of view. The there are still a lot of people in camp as i say but having said all that there is a growing concern. The Health Service may not be able to cope with the rising tide of cases which as you say is now but about 606 people have died right in front of just very quickly what about the economy the Australian Dollar has dropped to a 17 year low and the government rolled out a big aid package what does this involve well the certainly the government is working overtime announcing stimulus packages here but they clearly are going to be enough of a struggle to keep the to boost the economy if you like the australian stock market has been really pounded today for another 3. 4 percent and closing at its lowest level since 2016 and the Australian Dollar has also been badly hit slating at one point to its lowest level since 2002 so far its fallen 20 percent against the greenback all right journalist Roger Maynard speaking to us from the sydney thank you. Lets have a look now at some of the other khurana related developments around the world the e. U. Is chief breaks that negotiator Michelle Obama says he has tested positive for covert 19 but he tweeted that he is doing well and is in good spirits britain is putting 20000 military personnel on standby to support efforts to tackle the virus china reported no new local cases of the infection on wednesday for the 1st time since it started recording them in january and russia has confirmed its 1st death the patient was a 79 year old woman who died from pneumonia in moscow now on top of the self isolation and social distancing measures that people around the world are practicing there are some simple hygiene guidelines to follow that can help stop the corona virus from spreading take a look wash your hands with soap and water and do it often keep going for at least 20 seconds especially after youve been in a public place alcohol based hand sanitizers are a Good Alternative if you cough or sneeze cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or use the inside of your elbow throw away used to shoes and dont use them twice after blowing your nose coughing or sneezing wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces every day this includes tables door handles light switches countertops desks phones keyboards toilets taps and sinks all right lets talk about these measures with our science correspondent Dirk Williams hi derek you have anything to add to that list. The maybe just a number when it comes to social distancing of the deputy chair recommends remain at least a metre away from anyone whos coughing or sneezing. An interesting fact actually about social distancing measures is that theres some theres some pretty good evidence from earlier pandemics like like the flu pandemic of 918 that they really really cant have an Impact Likely the very big one on the spread of infection so theyre difficult to enforce of course and they can come at the Major Economic cost but social distancing measures really can help limit exposure and theyre one of the best ways to flatten the curve of new cases derek i want to ask you about a question thats been circulating about the safety of the use of that ibuprofen what is the layer latest that youve heard on that. Well as a science journalist this is one of those stories that kind of turns into a nightmare because different authorities have ended up issuing different recommendations and theyre often theyre often contradictory ones and in the end you feel like theres kind of no clear answers it started for me when i received oh whats that message from a colleague last weekend you might have gotten it to its really circulated very quickly on german speaking social media platforms and it there was this woman claiming to be a young mother who said that doctors and yet the University Clinic had discovered that taking the empty inflammatory ibuprofen and made covert 19 cases worse now the clinic came out and quickly to announce that post. But then the French Health minister again alton basically said it was true and since then weve had a w. H. O. Official who said it also might cause problems but then youve got the European Medicines Agency saying the opposite that there is no Clinical Evidence whatsoever that ive been profoundly affects the course of over 19 so now in the w. H. O. Is also about to act a little and says its gathering further evidence before making any kind of recommendation so all in all its kind of sort of a chaotic information on the us there could you try to explain that case i mean why might ibuprofen be posing a threat to some patients. Well i mean its important to say that there really arent any Clinical Trials backing up these allegations and a few years appear to have been sparked by a letter last week to the medical journal the lancet and chinese researchers hypothesize they are pompous eyes that compounds like ibuprofen could affect certain receptors that are found on the surface of cells there are called a c e 2 receptors and what we think by was the coronavirus uses to get into the cell but thats just a hypothesis we dont we dont have enough information right now its either really proven to work or just group. That said i talk with a doctor in the field this morning about this and and he was pretty certain that it was going to have an effect on prescriptions i think that most physicians from now on would probably prefer to err on the side of caution and prescribe other medicines for fever though prescribe things like paracetamol which is called acetaminophen in the united states. One caution though an important point that came up time and time again when i was researching this topic is that if you if you take ibuprofen on the advice of your doctor then you really should not stop taking it from one day to the next without consulting them because youre worried about what will happen if you catch the new coronavirus you should always always hope doctor 1st all right our science correspondent Deborah Williams speaking to us thank you so much tara now the European Central bank has announced a 750000000000 euro Bond Buying Program to help stabilize markets reeling from the fallout of the outbreak its just one of many stimulus plans announced by policymakers across the developed world well european investors welcomed the news that didnt seem to be the case in asia. European stocks are making gains after the e. C. B. Announce further stimulus measures in an emergency meeting wednesday evening but that wasnt the case for asian markets the regions main indexes traded in the red stocks extended this weeks losses efforts from europe and the us didnt stop the decline as was the case on wall street wednesday the white house is plodding along with a stimulus plan of more than one trillion dollars. To war and so you know basically you know what many of the industries are what we want to do is we want to make sure they all Stay Together so that after the war is won we can immediately go right back up to where we were at even beyond that that may not be the case as a global economies have revised us 2020 g. D. P. Growth to negative point 5 percent from 1. 6 percent the euro zones economies also expected to retract as the worlds 2nd largest economy china the chinese economy is forecast to grow 3 percent china has accounted for biggest share of Global Economic growth so be outlook is negative across the world. For more on the story we can speak to clemons fusees the president of the evil institute for Economic Research in munich thank you for joining us at your institute has just released growth forecasts for the 1st half of this year what can we expect. We can expect a sharp recession in germany the extent of the downturn depends on the development of the epidemic nobody knows how its going to develop thats why we have presented to a scenario as a very benign scenario with minus 1. 5 percent but thats already been overtaken by events that was based on the assumption no brought standstill in german industry or the risks an aureole the 2nd scenario is minus 6 percent worse than in the financial crisis and that includes. A stop in production for a longer time but there is no guarantee that that its not getting worse what does that mean are we really at the start of a Global Economic crisis. I would say we are in a Global Economic crisis and all we can do now is try to rein in. We certainly are in the Global Economic downturn which is at least as severe as the downturn in the financial crisis is that all we can do now is try to rein it in weve seen european policymakers governments the e. C. B. Trying to introduce stimulus measures trying to turn economies around but it doesnt seem to be stabilizing markets so what should they be dealing. I think broadly doing the right thing the challenge is this the epidemic forces us to kind of preserve parts of our economy we do not want to stimulate the consumption in the sense that we send people back to the restaurants and cinemark we need to freeze part of the economy and no stimulus in the world can change that thats what were doing is try to limit the fallout of this to deal with the economic consequences we do not we want to avoid a wave of insolvencies that would undermine the recovery but nobody can prevent the presuming of the economy and the consequences of this right come in since the president of the evil institute for Economic Research thank you very much for joining us thank you well 25000000 people worldwide will lose their jobs because of the corona Virus Outbreak that is a warning from the International LaborOrganization People working in the tourism and Service Sectors will be among the most affected the number of the working poor holding one or more jobs will also increase significantly according to the u. N. Agency its calling for urgent large scale measures to protect workers including paid leave short term time allowances and other subsidies. Now the u. S. Has confirmed almost 10000. 00 cases of the corona virus infection and more than 150. 00 deaths on wednesday President Trump signed 100000000000. 00 relief package and it cushion in the blow from the pandemic hes also invoked the wartime legislation to speed the production of critical medical equipment but Many Americans say their governments response to the crisis has been inadequate get up hes all over sell it met with one of them a mother under quarantine in washington d. C. Lockdown hits home its an experience liz burns and her family could have never imagined but since theyre all p. R. Was hospitalized with a high fever and the burns are quarantined inside their house the only way we can conduct an interview is by phone through the window. Initially they like Something Else and werent too worried about it and then leave home and see it on the wall that he didnt. Are over the next 24 hours because there are more care and realize she was negative for Everything Else and no. 9 9 1 here her record were very unfair well the Public Health authorities said that she didnt meet or. Was burned blames the Us Government for not responding to the coronavirus threat quickly enough they could have done a lot more at the beginning. I think we should have learned from the pandemic that had happened in asia and we saw how other countries morning very quickly and forcefully. On the streets of washington d. C. Life has slowed down dramatically they usually busy streets remain empty restaurants are open only for takeouts. Universities and schools and many states remain closed putting additional strain on students and families. At the Albert Einstein high school in the state of maryland stuff hands out back launches offering some relief for parents penn demigods putting low income families at particular risk some working parents have been laid off and now find themselves in a desperate situation but i think im and theyre not the most there are no jobs for us they canceled everything we dont know how to pay our rent please apartment and. As a Government Employee was burned says her job is not at stake but shes well aware that Many Americans are not as lucky. In sports tokyos 2020 organizers have received the olympic flame in a very subdued ceremony at the event was scaled down in the greek capital of athens due to a pandemic this years summer olympics are still up in the air but japan is said that the games will go ahead as planned just like rowing criticism from athletes the torch handover took place inside the pan authentic stadium which is that a site of the 1st modern games and 896. One of the worlds most famous statues has been lit up to express solidarity with people suffering from the coronavirus the christ the redeemer statue in Rio De Janeiro was a limited with the flags and maps of countries and continents affected by covert 19 the light show on the brazilian man marking to encourage people to pray for the victims of the pandemic the 30 meter tall statue which last year saw almost 2000000 visitors is closed to the public as part of efforts to contain the virus. Well dont forget that you can always get news on the go you can download our out from google player from the app store and that will give you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news and if youre part of a news story you can use the app to send us photos and videos of what is happening for you or. You can also find comprehensive coverage of the corona virus pandemic on our website dot com including information on what to do if you think you might be infected coming up next our show focus on europe takes a look at how people in Different Countries are dealing with a pandemic from homeschooling in italy to cossacks fighting the spread in russia thank you for watching t w. The food. And. The food europes schools are closing. In italy lessons have been taking place in the cold for several weeks now because of the international drastic measures an exceptionally challenging time for teachers and students can come much from the students learned during this time look around. Focused on the road. Next on d w. 2 for conflict so far from it says to respect the law nigerias government sponsored cues by the International Community of serious human rights abuses i guess this week here in london is live my homage to countries in from asia mr how does he defend against the countrys many critics when the evidence of wrongdoing is so compelling. The facts extinguished. Dont miss our highlights. Programme. W. Dot com hard. Ringback to. Be on. The big. Hello and welcome to focus on europe we are currently experiencing an absolute state of emergency more and more European Countries are under lockdown and are closing their borders theaters and schools are keeping their doors shut all in an effort to fight the coronavirus and no other country has been worse hit than italy dock