A surgeon coronavirus cases prompts japans Prime Minister to declare a state of emergency in some regions shinzo other urges citizens to reduce their contact with others. And eurozone finance ministers are discussing how to keep the recession at bay but theyre divided on just how to do that one proposal is especially controversial socalled corona balls. As welcome to the program well leaders have been sending messages of support to britains Prime MinisterBoris Johnson who is in intensive care suffering from the coronavirus chancellor merkel from germany wish to johnson much strength and a speedy recovery while the us president all trumps all americans were praying for johnsons recovery the Prime Minister has been hospitalized in. London since the weekend after testing positive for corona virus nearly 2 weeks ago is office says johnson is not on a ventilator and does not have pneumonia foreign minister dominic robb is deputising for him where necessary. The overall death toll in the u. K. Is now more than 6000. 00 according to the department of health that puts that force in the world after italy spain and france thats cross over to the. Parts in the long. Haul what is the latest on the condition of the Prime Minister. Well Boris Johnson has been brought to san thomass hospital just across the river from downing street on sunday night its one of the best hospitals in the United Kingdom and he went in for routine testing because he had those symptoms of the virus high fever and a cough hed been self isolating in downing street for 10 days and we last saw him last thursday when he was clapping for the National House service and he did not look good then so when he went to the hospital there were some tests done and his condition even at the moment hes not on a ventilator he does not have pneumonia this is what downing street tells us but hes being of course closely monitored and hes 55 we know that he said other than that and in a Good Health Condition he didnt have this thing conditions but of course this disease can reputably weston and we thought were leaders today wishing him well wishing him a speedy recovery including also the queen and the royal family not only to him but also to his fiance who has had symptoms off that the virus and who is pregnant with his child which she is expecting in the early summer so the Prime Ministers admission to intensive cal is foreign secretary during the grob job so its a bit more about him and the role he will now have to play. So this was decided in the beginning of the crisis rather jokingly from downing street that should the Prime Minister become incapacitated i mean he grabbed the foreign minister would take over now this has happened is fairly new to government he is a. Supporter and that is why Boris Johnson brought him on to his government he has not been very popular in this crisis lets say because he was very slow in bringing british british people home from abroad and the response was very slow there from his side and he will now have a very tough job at hand hes only deputizing we hear he has a cabinet which is divided weve heard very mixed messages coming out of government over the past 10 days while Boris Johnson was isolating so that clearly has been a lack of leadership already and dominic rob will have to work with that right now today weve been also hearing so dominic rob become incapacitated there is a plan c. Lets say and that would be. The finance minister who would then take over. Briefly b. s theres been some criticism on the role of testing performed by medical whats the state of the conscience responds to the coronavirus right. Well its been slow and the peak is about to come in about a week or so doctors and nurses are already at their breaking point and the hospitals are filling up quickly there are several makeshift hospitals thats been built but the question really is will there be enough to treat all those patients and you mentioned the death toll is rapidly rising so really an ongoing crisis here in the United Kingdom. And thank you. As the number of new corona virus infections in japan continues to grow japanese Prime Minister shinzo aba declared a state of emergency to stop the spread of the virus a state of emergency was enacted for tokyo and 6 other prefectures which accounts for about 44 percent of japans population measure that gave authorities more power to order citizens to stay at home or close businesses that will last for one months the japanese government also adopted the countrys largest ever economic stimulus package worth more than 900000000000. 00. So what does a state of emergency actually mean thats the question we asked correspondents on the blush to in tokyo it means that the governors have the authority to call on people to stay home and hopelessness is to close whatever they dont care they cannot give any penalties and its not like a european style look that was so to speak that people are still free to move its still basically more or less a very strong appeal and. If you compared to europe the situation here is very different much less restrictive its much more like a regular life and im hoping that with the state of emergency this. Sense of crisis so to speak will change and it affects the 2 main regions of japan and affects tokyo and the greater talking area where the 35000000 people and also the greater also occur in kyoto area actually for well over a month. From tokyo to get you up to speed on the latest developments related to the global coronavirus demick china reported no new deaths from the corona virus over the past 24 hours 32 new cases were reported people returning from abroad israel has announced a complete lockdown over the upcoming passover holiday by contrast norway is to lift some of its restrictions because the government says the coronavirus that is now under control and the global death toll from 19 is now more than 76000 with almost 1400000 infections since the make began for e. U. Finance ministers are meeting for Coronavirus Crisis talks as the bloc tries to stave off a looming recession theyre working to finalize a rescue plan for countries worst hit by the virus but there are deep divisions about the best way to cushion the an economic blow from the pandemic the scale of the looming economic crisis is hard to fathom in europe like in much of the rest of the world empty streets and shuttered shops showed just how suddenly out dramatically business has grind to a standstill National Governments in the 19 member eurozone have been introducing stimulus packages aimed at keeping businesses on their employees afloat. Now another question has arisen how to pay for it all at present each country in the eurozone is responsible for its own debt this means that a country with a poor Credit Rating like italy has to pay a higher Interest Rate than a lesson designation like germany the idea behind the socalled corona bonds is to pool debt instead this would ease borrowing costs for a country like italy to increase the burden for more credit worthy nations like germany. The idea has predictably led to internal wrangling in the eurozone with basically france and spain in favor of the plan and germany and then at the land they danced and even if there were a consensus experts say implementing such a scheme could take months or even years. Joined via skype by michael toilette hes a member of the German Parliament for the business friendly free democrats mr tyler you finance ministers want to reach an agreement on and they can on aggress q. Packages but not with karana bonds what do you think about that. Good afternoon mr l. 1st it we are completely in favor of setting up a European Recovery Programme after the corona crisis indeed we need to have stimuli and we are in favor of the dutch proposal in all for setting up a special medical aid group room but we are against the utilisation of debt debt so we are against corona yvonnes we think that they are not necessary 3 that it would take a very long time to establish them and instead of that we count on the european stability mechanism which could even be enlarged and that is the way we hope that the finance ministers we decides to follow this afternoon in the euro group know your party as well as the German Government is opposed to pulling public borrowing but if were looking at spain looking at italy isnt now the time for european solidarity. It is absolutely and if you look at the europeans in stability mechanism that is a pool of state loans but we have to say are there liabilities thresholds and it was very difficult to establish that mechanism because we have very high constitutional thresholds in germany in fact it is a big step for my party to go to give a green light to enlarge that european stability mechanism for cities but we believe that now we have to china efforts to hold the European Union together and we think its not a good way to insist on a complete utilization of the debt in specially at your mutual eyes the former dept from the past would not be. A step of solidary parity in a because those who had a know it it like for instance. Or not the are or is still your or netherlands. They they would be. They would have to take that burden and do we believe that as really there it is not a one way street. There from the f. T. Party thank you. Here are some of the other headlines making news this hour the former senior Catholic George pell has been freed from prison in australia after the high court quashed a conviction for child sexual abuse later arrived at a monastery near melbourne the Senior Catholic Church figure was serving a 6 year prison term but ive maintained his innocence in the high court from the original jury and an Appeals Court has made errors hell has been released from prison after serving more than 400. 00 days. Accord in slovakia has handed down a 23 Year Prison Sentence to the killer of investigative journalist john could check and his fiance the couple was shot in their home in 2018 as could she was investigating organized crime a former soldier pleaded guilty to tearing out the contract killing. Authorities in ukraine say that has been no spike in radiation levels resulting from forest fires in the noble exclusion zone around the disused Nuclear Power plant an official who earlier claimed radiation levels were higher than normal has since withdrawn the Statement Police have identified a possible arsonist. Christians celebrated easter this weekend and people around the world have called creative about celebrating under difficult circumstances some tases that means defining new categories of system relevant workers were not subject to coronavirus lockdowns. Youll be placed in our that we do consider both the tooth fairy and the easter bunny to be essential with his New Zealanders obviously take their easter seriously so did the swiss where many of this years batch of chocolate bunnies are dressed in protective masks that way they stay safe on their way to their customers mouths. This may look like a medical laboratory but its an italian chocolate egg factory the owner has rolled with the new challenges of distributing eggs during the Coronavirus Crisis. Within just a few can be in they got so many since we couldnt sell them in stores we ship them out there were more orders than ever before with just a figure and the possible and i guess. Going on shit on my startup and you know. In greece doctor bunnies can even bring candy medical equipment their diagnoses are not considered reliable though. In case people eat too much of the sweet stuff just remember ardern has allowed the tooth fairy to continue its rounds as well. Watching to w. News. Combating the corona pandemic. Where does research stand. What are scientists learning. Background information and news. Hour corona update. 19 special next on d w. How does a virus spread. Why do we panic and when will. You just threw the cover and the weekly radio. Its called spectrum if you would like to claim the information on the crawler virus or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast so you can get it wherever you get your parkand can also follow us and dot com. Science. Health care systems around the world are under stressed more and more patients are seeking treatment pushing hospitals to the brink of collapse but if you look closely there are differences in the u. S. Health care is largely privatized in an effort to cut costs many hospitals have reduced staff and stretched resources that are now urgently need it many clinics are overwhelmed the same goes for countries like italy and spain which were burdened with severe austerity measures after the last financial crisis state run Health Care Systems on the other hand are proving to be more robust to deal with the crisis some experts say in many countries this has sparked a discussion about whether health care should be a public good run by the state or a business model. This is your covert 1000 special d. W. News i want to get germs and good to have you with us now lets agree money cant buy you everything but it can give you a better chance of survival if you can afford a private Health Insurance chances are you get to see your doctor sooner than someone on National Health its not fair but it is what it is but how does it work in a crisis like the coronavirus pandemic and a moment well talk to the c. E. O. Of germanys biggest private hospital operator but 1st this report. The patients just keep on coming the coronavirus outbreak is testing the limits of hospitals all over the world demand for beds for spiritual you quit print protective gear and workers continues to search many former medical professionals have been called back on duty like a qualified doctor the irish Prime Minister as you know rejoined medical register there last month and. Setting aside. One session a week about half a day a week so far its just been a telephone like the virus which is infected politicians celebrities and Business Leaders is often described as indiscriminate but as hospital staff get to work in a quality rains. Poor people are more likely to catch the disease and theyre more likely to die from it thats led to cause for a lifting of the barriers for example between public and private hospitals in spain one of the countrys worst hit by the crisis become and has ordered private clinics to share resources with the public system australia has pushed through similar measures. In germany meanwhile some private clinics have reportedly applied for Government Support to compensate for the cancellation of lucrative procedures but they simply arent a priority right now. For more im joined now by the c. E. O. Frizzy a Global Health care group with more than 200 set 90000 employees and more than 100 countries and here in germany is also the largest hospital operator welcome stephanie good to have you with us tell me how are your Hospital Holding up in this health crisis. Were going to differentiate between the situation in germany and japan we have 86 hospitals in germany where were still waiting for a large wave of corona patients to arrive on the other hand we have 44 hospitals across spain werent particularly in the hot spots in madrid and barcelona we have had more than our fair share of patients to deal with right how how big a role i mean it it feels awful to talk about money in such a situation but how big a role does money play when it comes to providing good health care. Well we have to see that the fatality rate in germany is substantially lower than the one that we are seeing elsewhere but i do believe that 1st and foremost that has to do with quite a few issues that happen outside a hospital. So when it comes to the amount of testing that were doing the denominator in the fatality ratio germany has done substantially more as far as i can see than most of the countries but also when we look at the numerator i believe that in germany the potion population on average is substantially younger than elsewhere a key reason for this may actually be a cultural difference where i think it is more. Towards the german culture to keep the natural social distance relative to what we can observe in italy and spain. And it comes to the money the Capital Allocation to a Hospital System than i do believe. That germany is a bit better equipped than what were seeing elsewhere and as far as our own hospitals are concerned we have invested quite heavily in the past and we can now also afford to shift resources within this Large Network they are needed right as as you just mentioned about shifting resources you are you do run private hospitals and private hospitals thats and then theyd say they need to be profitable it is not a problem now given that treating covered 9000 patients is very time and very cost consuming. No and this is not the time to think about market share gains or profitability this is the time to think about how we can best help the society and it was mentioned a bit earlier on yes the Spanish Government has drawn on resources to help out and we saw more than happy to do that. I believe that yes whilst were still waiting in germany for. Actually were not waiting but no we havent seen a large wave of corona patients yet and therefore in many of our hospitals where we have followed the ministers appeal to delay in the elective surgery yes we are seeing in on the utilization of capacity but that is obviously absolutely fine we got to see through this crisis now and Everything Else is going to be taken care of afterwards that is definitely a an almost luxury position to be in the one that you describe here in terminal spittles as you mention it at so far Germanys Health system managed to keep the number of covert 9000 related deaths fairly low 7 in comparison to other countries but the number of cases keeps rising now as the c. E. O. Of germanys biggest hospital operator how worried are you that maybe the e. U. Will not be able to cope with the influx of patients and and have to make hard decisions. This has been a very very Dynamic Development that frankly has beat not so my expectation so i will be cautious with making definitive statements but at the same time. Germany has had the luxury of being somewhat late to this and therefore we have had the opportunity to learn quite a bit from what worked in other countries as an aside we have also had quite a number of volunteers in our german Hospital System to go down to spain and help out our colleagues over there and those who are returning now have real Life Experience as to how we can better deal combat this crisis when it arrives truly arrives here in germany right stefan storm c. E. O. Frizzy news thank you so much for your time and all the best to you and certainly for your medical staff in the coming days and weeks thank you stay healthy. And now lets get some well answers to your questions remember that you can keep them coming in on you tube on facebook and twitter or via email the science journalist Daryl Williams stands ready to provide some answers. Was germany better prepared for the pandemic than other countries. Throughout this pandemic the number of fatalities in germany has remained remarkably lower than that and other countries only between one and 2 percent of the people who tested positive for covert 19 here have so far died from the disease thats lower case the tunnel at the rate than almost any other country tenser the question germany appears to have been better prepared than many other countries in one key way the number of acute care beds here is very high there are more than twice as many of them per capita as there are and european neighbors like france or italy i dont think any country was really well prepared for a coke at 19 but germanys reaction to it looks to have made a significant difference and in how many people it will probably kill here in. The u. S. And the u. K. Were supposedly well prepared for this kind of emergency but theyre seeing a lot of infections and fatalities why. Thats a tough question because so many factors appear to be contributing to how effective countries are and grappling with this disease dont forget the situation is unprecedented and were still in the middle of the pandemic its way too close to fast changing events to be able to really say country a got this writing country be about wrong thats one thing in particular has seemed to play a pivotal role in slowing the spread of the disease in some countries and thats early widespread testing as weve heard over and over again you cant fight what you can see right so both the u. S. And u. K. Got off to quite slow starts when it came to testing because Healthcare Systems they are reliant on. Tests from a single government source and those government sources didnt respond very rapidly so despite getting top marks for their Health Care Systems and reports like the Global Health security and its a structural aspect of how the u. S. And u. K. Were set up to deal with a possible pandemic might now be making a big difference in the overall numbers. Did abuse Derek Williams and hell be back of course tomorrow to answer more off your questions for now that was our 900 special. In berlin for more on the pandemic to check out our social Media Channels and our websites that is d w dot com where we have information on covert 19 and more than 30 languages. Now we would like to leave you with a story that shows we really are all in this together. At a hospital in taiwan people wait in line to make donations to help italy and its fight against the coronavirus a so far donated more than 3000000. 00 u. S. Dollars to the relief effort its a way of showing their gratitude to italian priests who helped build hospitals in taiwan after the 2nd world war the funds were used to purchase much needed medical supplies to cope with 1000 stricken areas and itll. Kick on. Neo soul. In the. News its a kind of culture war to me a sun media phenomenon. The family a little chip. On. Each side is my story. Of the people who plans me builds me dedicated to me. I am not too dumb to. See. Listen closely and i will tell you about clueless who do to me up. Under me down. I am not a dumb deplane. I have mocked my citys days for centuries and to come. My country through its finest. Until the day i mean even if. Im still not too dumb to pass. Down april 8th d. W. Or any must come and. Others that i will give you quote them as the stuff if i am done