Authorities say there is a sign that the virus is spread is slowing. Im sorry kelly walk into the program lets get you straight to the latest on the spread of the corona virus around the world there are now more than one and a half 1000000 confirmed infections worldwide since the outbreak began with the global death toll approaching 90000 south korea sees its smallest one day increase in new cases since february only 39 new infections there meantime russia has been reporting a record one day rise in new cases nearly 1500 in the past 24 hours president putin has said the next few weeks will be decisive in the nations fight against the virus and the death toll in germany has today passed 2100 while. The number of confirmed infections has risen to more than 108000 lets drill down on those figures because they roughly equate to a death rate of 1. 9 percent which is remarkably low in comparison to other western nations the german anomaly has puzzled scientists around the world among the answers is the countrys abundance of intensive care beds but the medical system is still stressed with Health Care Workers falling ill and shortages of basic supplies now one hospital in the worst hit state of bavaria has granted rare access to the daily war in fighting against covert 19. They fight for every life doctors and nurses in this clinic in the small city of new daraa where makeshift space has become an intensive care unit for some coronavirus patients. Weve now been handling the state of emergency this massive way for 3 weeks we were prepared but its really pushed us to our Maximum Capacity weve managed to send some patients home 5 so far luckily. Its fortunate too that this clinic has 18 ventilators its only had to use 12 so far all of the patients here are in a critical condition. Of our 12 patients have now improved but the other 10 are still in ventilators and theyre doing quite badly on. The clinic has been hit so hard by the virus that theyd have to decide who would receive ventilator treatment and who doesnt but there is concern that this is merely the come before the storm. Moses was still with us stressful and difficult to leave behind when we go home but we do our best and to struggle. Through. Its a struggle that can escalate with shortages of the required equipment at this facility nearly everything is in short supply some reserves only last 10 days you can talk. Every day we can see shortages of any given night or if we started running low on personal protective equipment it would mean that infection rates among our staff would rise but also for other medical devices like syringes if we dont get enough we run the risk of needing to use syringes more than once and we wouldnt need hygiene standards. This clinic is treating more than 140 patients 95 of them suffering from kovac 19 doctors and nurses are still sometimes carolus before the disease. The worst moment was when one young patient died and another one there was personally stressful for me was when a number of our own Health Workers became infected and. The clinic in fact saw 20 doctors and nurses infected with kovac 19 all have been quarantined one auditing they all got it at the same time but their colleagues carried on with great composure we check how they are doing constantly and get the intensive care unit is quickly closed off with new patients are moved in a locked in to prevent the spread of the virus patients dying is any clinics Worst Nightmare at this facility 18 people have died of coronavirus today and they would be the last. Lets bring in Political Correspondent hans brandt from our parliamentary studios here in berlin and hands as we saw there clinics are barely coping yet the death of rape is relatively low compared to other countries why is that. But one has to say while the clinics are under strain there havent yet reached the peak they havent yet reached exhausted their capacity in fact germany has the largest number of intensive care places per capita in europe and that capacity has not been exhausted yet so even though there are a lot more patients that need ventilation for instance at the moment the capacity for ventilation has not been exhausted so every patient that needs such that intensive care is able still to get it that means that the number of people that actually die as a result is not as large and the 2nd factor is the huge amount of tests that germany has done which means that the number of cases the number of confirmed cases in germany is very high compared to the number of deaths for instance in the United Kingdom a total number of somewhere over 200000 tests have been done since the end of january here in germany 300000 tests are being done every week so that means that a lot more people are being discovered who are positive and the number of space compared to that is about love ok so the higher the amount of people diagnosed a lower the death rate tell us because i mean you know the general consensus seems to be that germany has relatively successfully been able to contain the spread of the corona virus so far at least they have had some success with that does that mean that we could see some relaxation for the lock downs that are in place. Theres a lot of pressure on the German Government for some relaxation to be a knowledge as soon as possible especially from the business circles but a survey of german voters recently came to the conclusion that more than half of germans would agree to an extension of the lockdown measures that are in place at the moment whats happening is that government ministers including the Health Minister are now starting to talk about the possibility of careful steps of relaxation being taken at the moment the lockdown measures are still in place for another 10 days and the intensive discussions in government will commence sometime next week i expect that within the next 10 to 20 days we will see some relaxation in germany france and berlin thank you. Well france has been under partial lockdown for over 3 weeks but with the number of infections still on the rise social distancing measures are likely to be extended president emanuel macron is due to address the nation next week to explain the path forward in paris the rules have become even stricter enforced with fines and even prison time paris correspondent lisa lewis shows us just how small her life has become i think confined to these 13 square meters for weeks now but i do have the right to go out once a day for one hour to do that i need to fill in this form with the date be exact about time and the specific reason for example. For an Urgent Medical appointment or if im summoned by a judge but today i have to buy food. Bakeries like this one have been allowed to stay open despite the locked they are considered essential services but even here business has suffered. For our turnover has gone down by 40 percent and we had to put half of our 12 employees on temporary unemployment and we dont know for how long this will go on report markers on the ground right away it has taken some people which is time but now most of the french understood the rules of social distancing thats quite an achievement for people renowned for their lack of discipline. Be on people paris is normally bustling city but not these days. Down in france the stricter than in some other European Countries and yet not all the french are following the rules. In some prison suburbs in certain regions people are just observing the lockdown that negates all the effort by everyone else thats why were cracking down on such behavior weve already given out hundreds of thousands of fines breaching the rules costs 135 euros or 200 years before it reaches fences one person was called infringing the lock down to 10 times in a row to work and condemned to 3 months and prison more cuticle than a. Doctors degree people should comply with the locks and they say its the only way to slow down the spread of the virus. Plus we have run out of a level beds in intensive care units and have to make tough choices people over 75 years ive generally no longer taken in at those units at least thats the case at hospitals here in paris and in eastern france still not equipped to do massive testing and hand out masks to everybody so for now the locked and well off the train places. The government has already announced the lockdown is likely to be extended further. Right i better get myself home but before i go back into isolation is one thing i can do with my fellow corinthian even if we have to keep our distance dying in the evening applause all the heroes in this crisis the Health Care Personnel supermarket patches and of course my local. So much clapping around the world a demonstration of appreciation there lets take a look now at some other coronavirus related news from around the world saudi arabia has announced a 2 week cease fire in the war in yemen coming into effect today the move is believed to have been motivated by the global corona Virus Outbreak the forces aligned with iran have not said if they will observe the cease fire. Australia police have seized the black box from a cruise ship which disembarked hundreds of passengers infected with the coronavirus in sydney the ruby princess has been linked to hundreds of covert 1000 cases and more than a dozen deaths investigators want to know why the passengers were allowed to leave the ship in march. And oxfam is warning that the fallout from the coronavirus help break could plunge half a 1000000000 people into poverty a report by the charity concludes that the economic crisis to come will be worse than the 2008 Global Financial crash it expects poverty worldwide to increase for the 1st time in 30 years. While the epicenter of americas corona Virus Outbreak new york state has reported its highest death toll in a single day nearly 800. 00 in the last 24 hours despite this grim milestone new York Governor Andrew Cuomo says that there are signs that the spread is slowing down but the pandemic is still power. And in new york city where even a cathedral has been drafted into service to treat the sick. Beneath the stained glass windows this church is getting ready for a different easter crowd a significant weekend in the christian calendar President Donald Trump assured americans there is light at the end of the tunnel. It would have many easter is together in churches in the future. Were getting closer you see the numbers were getting much closer to getting our country back to the way it was. As new yorks death toll climbed pos 6000 the states governor moved to reassure residents we are flattening the curve thank god thank god thank god concord. And think a lot of good people who have been working very hard that is a moment in time go get complacent thats what were doing thats working keep doing it. Thats the good news and that good news has a big cabin. Was still in the midst of it Governor Cuomo has directed all flags be flown at half mast in on our of the lives lost as the sun sets on the states deadliest day yet its a sense of solidarity reverberates around the city. Was there watching to have a good news im sarah kelly and bar lan dont forget you can get all of the latest on our website at www dot coms can also download our app and you can follow us on twitter instagram all of the social media sites thank you so much for joining us and we do hope that you all 60. Combating the corona pandemic. Where does research stand. What are scientists learning. Background information and news. Hour corona update. Coded 19 special the next on d. W. How does a virus spread. Why do we panic and when well all be. Under through the topics covered and the weekly radio show is called spectrum if you would like any information on the growth of virus or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast you can get it wherever you can get your pod cast you can also finance and. Science. As the death toll of 19 keeps rising scientists are still uncertain about where this deadly virus came from in the 1st place its believed that it jumped from animals to humans so far pangolins and babs it was sold at the web market in china the most likely candidates for the virus doesnt stay with humans there are signs that its also spreading to other animals a tiger at the bronx new york city has tested positive for cope with 19 developing a dry cough a couple of lions also show signs of infection. And there are reports in hong kong that dogs have tested positive without having any of the usual symptoms Scientists Say that cats are very susceptible to the virus and the people around the world are now worried about what that means for them and their pets and farmers also wants to know how dangerous the virus could be to their livestock pics chicken and ducks at least im not likely to get infected but about the rest. But come to our covert 900. 00 special here on news and want to get johns and good to have you with us what droll do animals play in the corona virus pandemic which species. Can get infected which is immune and whats this mean for our interaction with pets and farm animals lets ask professor tomas mitten lie to hes a viral a just and the president of the Leffler Institute which studies Animal Health and infections which can be transmitted from animals to humans good to have you with him as on the program let us start with pets a lot of people now are wondering whether their pets could transmit to the virus what do we know about that so far. Hello phone in serenes what we actually do now is that cats can get infected experimentally and by. Exposure we know very little of our transmission because all the instances that weve seen so far they clearly hint to infection of the pads by their owners this is bias as one of ours to infect the owners so the the owner is more dangerous for the pet than vice versa what does this mean for the interaction with with our pets i mean we have terrible stories about some owners already putting their pets down because of this no theres no reason for doing that at all i mean of course i would stay away from my pet if i am sick myself and as is particularly true if im sick with a corona virus too so i should really take caution in that aspect on the other hand its still very clear that this is a socalled anthropos so knows this which means that humans are the ones that infect the animals and not in this particular case the other way around so what does this mean for life stock i mean we already heard that picks are probably not as as susceptible to the virus but what about coulson how would a fama know that his cow for example is infected. We have Experimental Evidence that pics chicken and ducks are indeed not susceptible to infection we have no Experimental Evidence of any other of the of livestock and for producing animals that are colleagues all over the goal h. Really testing these animals as we speak and we hope that we have more information on that in a couple of days actual so its not knowing everything yet also worries people of course certainly consume us is there any advice you have for consumers for example when it comes to milk. At the moment we have no indication that any foods really presents a risk for con time in asian or for transmission of the infection as i said before i mean picks are not susceptible chicken and dogs are not susceptible and from what we can deduce from the previous sars coronavirus from 2002 and was are i would be very surprised to see that cattle are indeed in infected this is under experimental. Examination at the time as we speak of course were still trying to learn more about this new coronavirus professor mitten like to thank you for now we have more questions for you so dont go away because 1st we want to look at how scientists a working to find out how the virus was transmitted to humans in the 1st place. When it comes to the transmission of infections from animals to humans the Global Wildlife trade plays a major role. Take pets in some parts of africa in asia theyre considered a delicacy. But theyre also a source of viruses among them the corona virus. One study found that a corona virus found in bats shared 96 percent of its genetic material with the virus behind the current pandemic known as sars kovi 2. But this particular bout virus is unlikely to have infected human cells directly what is more likely is that the virus jump to humans via another animal one prime candidate is a pangolin the corona virus found in pangolins has similar surface proteins which dr receptors to the virus currently infecting humans but other animals are also potential transmitters to search for the source of this pandemic is still in full swing. Back to profess them in light of on the free trade lefler institute on Animal Studies what is the significance of bats carrying so many viruses and how does this knowledge help us deal with a current outbreak so probably bets are a good reservoir for different kinds of viruses not only coronaviruses we actually dont know why this is the case that they can control the virus better than other species to might have a special in human system which is able to control the viruses but so far its unclear what the basis of this reservoir function really is i believe we can state is that there are frequent events that viruses actually jump towards humans from the bad reservoir of course were all trying to find a solution to this crisis and your infection studies actually found that ferrets are a good model for humans whys that. I mean ferrets are animal that are being used as a model for human respiratory infections for quite some time and probably they are also susceptible to infection by this article of iris to. The good effect that they are a propagate the virus they excrete the virus and they also are able to transmit to other in context ferrets so we can actually use them for is to see the influence of for example makes a nation or education 2 words reduction of virus replication or virus excretion or transmission. Of identify sars virus to is not the 1st virus to jump from animal to humans how can we prevent this from happening in the future. I dont think we can ever completely prevent this jump from the animal to humans i mean we have increasing contact ms animals there and the human population is increasing we are entering habitats usually were prohibited before and then we have organization and we have globalization i mean what we could do is to put more emphasis on discovering these. Spillover events as they call them early and then try to control and contain them as early as possible toward that they actually then continue to expand in something as we see now you know a professor that in light of there from the institute thank you so much for your time your ira. Its time now to turn you to your questions questions you sent us on you tube facebook and twitter or via email our resident corona expert Eric Williams stands ready to provide some answers. Is it safe to dry your hands with a hot air hand dryers after washing them. Like me initially you probably think off the bat that a hot air hand dryer would be a good way to dry your hands during a pandemic after all you are touching anything that could be bearing germs in the air coming out is heated so maybe that will damage viruses that produce that body temperature it sounds like it makes sense but think again a study i found that was published a couple of years ago by u. S. Researchers showed that the air flowing out of the hand dryer in a public restroom increased the circulation of microbes dramatically compared to ambient uncirculated air in the same room and if you stop and think about that it makes sense after all where did the air blasting out of the hand dryer come from it was sucked out of ambient surrounding air filled with arrows who lies droplets and its a public bathroom so where are those droplets coming from. There is still a lot of debate about this and i really cant claim to be an expert on the topic but i certainly dont want to go anywhere near a public restroom equipped with hot air hand dryers at the moment. What do we know about hydroxide clora queen encoded 19. Hydroxycut who are one is a drug used to prevent and treat malaria is currently also in testing for effectiveness against covert 92 now there are anecdotal accounts of patients who took it and showed improvement and it has so far shown some of pick a scene against source code to themselves in the lab but just because it has an effect in the lab doesnt mean that it will help in the real clinical practice a big reason and theres a lot of hope surrounding the medication is that its been proven safe to use for a very long time for us. And in particular is betting big on it theyve given up whats called emergency use authorization which means it can be given to patients that have run out of other Therapeutic Options drug makers are already ramping up production but real evidence that it can help either sure or prevent a qubit 19 is still very thin on the ground we dont know things like for example whether if its taken in combination with other medications it could potentially do more harm than good so there are still a lot of question marks. Derek williams there answering your questions until be back to do the same tomorrow and that was covered 900 special for more on the pandemic to check out our social Media Channels and our websites thats d. W. Dot com which has dedicated to cope with 900 pages in 30 languages i want to get jones and berlin thanks for joining us and before we go heres a reminder there is no need to have your pet put down because of the pandemic also dont abandon your pet as has happened in many parts of the world already Animal Rescue teams from lebanon to bolivia up picking up cats and dogs apparently abandoned by their owners who fear their furry family members could get infected and pass on the virus a big thank you to the rescue teams and hopefully those pets can assume finding you. Entered the conflict zone with them sebastian 16 months ago in crisis a saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed by agents of his own street more years because argo algebra the saudi minister of state for Foreign Affairs why are there still so many Unanswered Questions about the murder and why the most it cracked down on human rights activists inside saudi arabia conflict to be the next you also do you believe that. Each step tells my story. On the people who claim to be. Dedicated and nice to me. I am not too dumb to tommy and i dont feel on the secrets on mine. Not down to. 45. Dollars. Counting. Just cover your concept discover it with a box. School. After 100 lives the ideals of the bombs on more relevant today than they were a 100 years ago visionaries reshapes things to come all the bombs people understood the sign as a way of shaping society. With this dark future. Powerhouse world the 3 part documentary starts mates on team w. This was of the operation that it was not authorized to the know what happened to the remains of the question of the how is that possible we dont have a history of would from our citizens 16 months have gone by since a saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed by agents of his own state is dumbo but the issue doesnt go away my guess this week here at the Munich Security Conference these are the algebra the saudi minister of state for Foreign Affairs why are there still so many Unanswered Questions about the murder and why the massive crackdown on