Transcripts For DW DW News Corona Special 20240713

Honestly this is. The proof. In the d. W. Exclusive indian author of our own talking drawing accuses Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using the Coronavirus Crisis to spread hatred of muslims. Im sorry kelly welcome to the Program China is reeling as the full impact of the coronavirus law downs becomes clear 1st the economy has taken a hit with figures for the 1st 3 months of this year showing the 1st drop in output in almost 30 years the 2nd blow is new figures revealing that the death toll in the city of one han where the virus was 1st detected is half as much more than previously reported our report starts with the slump in the economy. The lockdown may be lifting but the virus has left its mark for the 1st time in decades chinas economy has plummeted people can return to work but with virtually no demand many businesses remain closed. Car sales that 1st dropped then plummeted down 21. 6 percent in january then down 92 percent in february according to the China Association of automobile manufacturers. China home to the worlds 2nd largest economy has released its 1st quarter g. D. P. A drop of 6. 8 percent millions of workers do not qualify for Unemployment Benefits and many businesses are on their knees what should be peak season for many is now the worst in recent memory. Because the situation is dire awful it says oscars for me. Ive got no idea how or how to get through this year. Theres no hiding from reality my business might not survive this year that i might be unemployed. Next year i dont know. Ive been through the chinese officials released another startling figure the number of coronavirus deaths and who has been raised to almost 4000 thats a 50 percent increase from earlier numbers the news has fuelled concerns that china has covered up the true extent of the outbreak an accusation the country denies. And lets get more now were joined here in the studio by Clifford Coonan from v. W. Business whos covering the story for us and quivered chinas Economic Growth falling by nearly 7 percent i mean we have not seen this out of china how significant is it and will china recover. I think its extremely significant if you look at the last the previous decades weve had challenge square massacre weve had sars weve had the Global Financial crisis the Asian Financial crisis and all the way through the chinese economy has kept growing and then some measure of just how serious this is by the fact that its constructed by so much and i think i think it will recover but like everything you know its like a boxer gets knocked out before and i watch in the economy for weak points and just seeing how things are going to go forward we have in the past 24 hours the french president expressing skepticism about the chinese handling of the Coronavirus Crisis he also said that its likely going to have an impact on globalization so what exactly could it be looking at here were seeing questions now about the whole concept of globalization which is again a sign of how deep a crisis this is weve seen that the japanese for example have put out the issued stimulus plans which involve bringing Japanese Companies back to japan at this i mean going on in the u. S. For a long time under trump so the whole notion of globalization is now being called into question i mean mccraw. Being the latest example of someone whos calling the notion into question what does this mean politically for china especially for president xi jinping hold on power i mean he has been extending that power in fact so what happens now but i think domestically this is being portrayed as a Success Story that hes handled it well i mean we saw today that the figures would have been the death toll there has been increased shown to have been increased but i think generally hes handling it hes perceived as handling it well domestically but if the economy continues to be weak if they cant. Creation jobs and if they have to incur more dish its going to put a lot of pressure on the economy so i think that it could it could cause problems down the road for xi jinping what does all this mean for the rest of the world do you think i mean how can the Global Economy recover when china is putting forward g. D. P. Numbers like this well i think people are asking fundamental questions now but the Economic Growth and what it means and how it happens china has had a very controlled economy for a long time but i think that possibly because the come countries that are going to come out of this crisis best are the countries that dont have close capital borders that have Free Companies that do but what companies do best dont have a lot of debt so i think were going to see possibly a refocus in economies go forward after all this is over a cliff it couldnt fronted every business thank you. And heres a quick round up of coronavirus developments around the world the German Health minister yang spahn says that the outbreak in germany is under control and quote manageable again new data shows that the infection rate has fallen significantly denmark will allow Small Businesses to reopen on monday the country was one of europes 1st to shut down but is now gradually easing its lockdown and neon maher has released almost 25000. 00 prisoners in a president ial amnesty human Rights Groups had called on it to reduce overcrowding in its prisons due to the outbreak and then the new has become the country with the most cases in Southeast Asia Health Officials say that nearly 6000 people have been infected with the virus. Well indias 1300000000 people are halfway through a 6 Week National lockdown the government insists that the restrictions are the key to breaking the chain of transmission but the battle against the virus also has a religious dimension date of your correspondent mission just swallow has traveled to the Northern City of may route to find out why muslims are being targeted for supposedly staging what some locals are calling carona jihad. 3 more weeks of lockdown businesses closed of restrictive movement. But these men are fuming about Something Else abdul rashid a shop people in the Northern City of made it says islamophobia in india is at an all time high. He squarely blames the indian media oh yeah corona has arrived this is what they say when they see muslims. Theyre beating us shouting at us saying here comes corona is this a way to behave so if there is a limit to our patience the discrimination started after an event by the kids or mot and islam except it was recognised as a kid on our wireless hotspot many who attended the gathering in delhi became called 19 carriers across India Several Media Channels were quick to claim that this was a deliberate attempt to undermine india some even alleging good or not jihad. These allegations have also had a severe Economic Impact moment if the us would normally travel to different neighborhoods hawking has with some of these were predominantly hindu. Now people refused to let him in so when everyone is turning so away the residents say dont sell food here go back to your own neighborhood. Police are stopping us to beating us. These muslim vendors can now only sell goods in their own majority muslim neighborhood business has dried up elsewhere and we are not rumors are circulating about malicious intent. Locals here at us fighting the ports of multiple incidences of muslims entering neighborhoods and spitting in them to spend the code on our wireless residency or a standing guard and barricading gates to prevent this from happening even leaders from the ruling b. G. P. Have claimed that members of the beekeeper mots sect have deliberately spread the wireless youre going to have should have been free of coronavirus by now but in the market these german members this collective like suicide bombers or these suicide bombers that should face the strictest possible legal action against god are they should be punished in a way that generations to follow starting with will be too afraid to commit such crimes. The allegations the sect has spread the virus on purpose are still unfounded bought fuel and anger across communities. For these men their religion has become an added burden during the long lockdown. And earlier i spoke exclusively with acclaimed novelist and political activist oren touching roy in delhi roy is a longstanding opponent of indias hindu nationalists Prime Minister Narendra Modi previously calling his nomination to the post quote a tragedy i asked her how the Coronavirus Crisis was exacerbating religious tension in india. Although the r. S. S. To which more the lot of which is the mother ship of the. Has long said. Should be in the lead in its go to have likelihood of the muslim the be near to the jews of germany and if you look at the religion you know using call who it was very much like. Diceless was huge against the jews to death or were there to stigmatize so theres nothing i can see to look to the government thats all i. Can speak to people and to the world outside not to do this lightly because obviously the security is the proof. You know because the government agenda has been and it says the sky muslims have been lynched muslims have been hunted down but now the stigmatizing even with this illness has left you know Government Policies on street now you can hear it everywhere and though the it comes with the threat of extreme levels and of really i mean already started building the Detention Center of the cities for that new law with now letting you know this for the duckie with this illness to do to create something which the word should really keep its eye so i cannot exaggerate the threat more so you say you say that the crisis here is approaching genocidal i mean that that is really shocking if it has if it has gotten to the point you wrote recently in a piece sort of related to best you said that the tragedy is immediate it is real it is epic but it is not new it is the wreckage of a train that has been careening down the track for years whose eyes have been closed and who else eyes need to be open right now in order to prevent what you see as the threat of us of a genocide. Well that you actually that was talking with the u. S. Census too by the way that well applying what ive seen out who died of those was either of those you know every International Leader there is being and a lot of welcoming the Prime Minister who who is really. You know part of this whole agenda the middle who tries to cave a statesman why when the violence truthout in fact the massacre waiting there have been well timed with you know and trust is nothing no one said anything and you know the indian media doesnt match the Mainstream Media history in the genocidal media not for the passion that is was enough not all of it but a lot of it to the t. V. Anchors are like a Single Member of the lynch mob sitting in the back to the you so you see what happened in places like rwanda and the rule that immediately there and you see back and you get in its that then suddenly im here im not even meeting to talk about the crisis or how the back of the on millions of people in this country millions. This time she went to a 1000000000 people who were shut down because for our little notice each b. M. S. Learn ousted the Lockdown Team and millions the stranded on the sea with new food with nowhere to go and walked hundreds along with the school to their villages where they were not allowed. And the president deepening the crisis of the. And that was our royal novelist in delhi speaking with us earlier well scientists have discovered what they believe is the worlds longest animal off the coast of Western Australia the socalled zoids have merged into a floating colony that is at least 46 metres long it was found by an underwater robot that allowed researchers to explore deep sea canyons and coral reefs around australia that had never been seen before well these creatures. Basically clone themselves thousands of times and they Work Together in order to form a gelatinous string. Youre watching live from. Dont forget you can always get the latest on our website dot com you can also follow us on social media thank you so much for joining us. Combating the corona pandemic. Where does research stand. What are scientists learning. Background information and. Our corona up to. 19 special next on d w. Every day counts for us and for our planet. Global ideas is on its way to bring you more conservation. How do we make see the screen. How can we protect our tests. We can make a difference. The idea is environmental series in the 3000 on t. W. The World Health Organization is facing growing criticism not just from the u. S. President has the w. H. O. Been handling the pandemic as well as it could or have there been shortcomings before we address these questions lets have a look at what the w. H. O. Is and what is within its record. Hell for all that is the primary goal of the World Health Organization 7000 employees work for the Specialized Agency of the United Nations. W. H. O. Provides guidelines on Healthy Living for example on the prevention of diabetes or the dangers of smoking. The Organization Also said standards such as in quality. Role for food or medicine or with regards to water or air pollution. It promotes the development of Health Systems in developing countries and the production of vaccines. In the event of a crisis such as covert 19 its role does not extend beyond assessing the Global Situation and giving recommendations the w. H. O. Has an annual budget of around 2000000000. 00 to compare the United Nations Childrens Fund spent 3 times that amount in 2018 welcome to this edition of covert 19 special here on the news im Chris Coburn Roland its good to have you with us the number of global corona virus infections has surged past the mark of 2000000 and fighting a pandemic in real time makes an accounting of potential missteps difficult but as the outbreak progresses there are people calling upon the World Health Organization to explain past actions in dealing with the coronavirus. Under some are 312019 chinese authorities told the World Health Organization about a mysterious flu like illness spreading in the city of one han 2 weeks later the w. H. O. Published a tweet it would be haunted by preliminary investigations conducted by the chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human to human transmission of the Novel Coronavirus identified in new han china. The next day a man flew from move on to the u. S. Becoming the countrys 1st case it would take another 2 weeks before this statement from the w. H. O. Im declaring a public roads emergency of International Concern over the global outbreak of. Coroner voters. Cases around the world snowballed at an alarming rate blowing past 2000000. 00 as of today u. S. President donald trump under heavy criticism for his handling of the crisis sought to level blame at the w. H. O. He accused it of failing to hold china responsible and of withholding early Vital Information our countries are now experiencing and look all over the world. Tremendous death and economic devastation because those tasked with protecting us by being truthful and transparent failed to do so. Dealing with a pandemic in the present makes looking back at past taps difficult but as the death toll mounts so do the calls for accountability who should have behaved differently and when the w. H. O. Me over the world some answers. Now we would have liked to talk to a w. H. O. Representative about this issue but he canceled the interview on short notice so were grateful to be joined by. A Senior Researcher on governance for Global Health at the Berlin Social Science Center welcome to the program ana we just saw in the report it took the w. H. O. One month after it 1st learned about the virus in china to declare an International Public Health Emergency and declared the outbreak a pandemic on march 11th was the organization too slow to act. Well i guess we are seeing accusations of inappropriate slow or risky responses to their coverage 900 and then everywhere not the last with regards to how the u. S. And the u. K. Have been initially dealing with the outbreak so why would we assume that an organization thats made up of 194. 00 Member States that has virtually no sanctioning power a very small budget and a huge mandate is free of the power politics that surround this endemic of the power politics that we can witness nationally and internationally so the doubly joe is like all other International Organizations the pending on reliable information from its Member States on contagious outbreaks of contagious diseases and its also heavily mocked of course by so called health the promise see that is attempts by the most influential Member States and that includes the United Nations states and china to push through this the interests not only in times of crisis but always so theres i mean that the w. H. O. Did not get the proper data from the chinese well its always a very sensitive. Issue particularly when were talking about. Infectious diseases that have a tensional to develop into a pandemic weve already seen that doing the sars outbreak in 2000 to 2003 and it is it happens very rarely that International Organizations that depend on their Member States for financing for support openly criticize. Particularly individual Member States for their behavior so its a very what we have seen as i can over a typical behavior of an International Organizations and i think its also a rather bizarre and naive picture of International Organizations that we assume theyre somewhat beyond a politics. So the criticism that not only the u. S. President donald trump has voiced regarding this behavior of the of the w. H. O. But has been echoed by other governments around the world theres some merit to it. Well youre pushing me to make a specific argument i would say yes the International Organizations that are that large and that have that little autonomous power are very prone to reacting slowly and weve also seen that governments have reacted slowly even though they may have more they all that they have much more Decision Making power so and it is undeniable that what we are seeing here in the context of the job but also the why the United Nations system is a struggle between the United Nations and United States and china ok over like that with or a teen these organizations and that includes of course also that we are seeing the chinese trying to take advantage of the w. H. O. In that situation ok and lets talk money lets talk financing the u. S. Says its freezing its share of the w. H. O. Funding 116000000. 00 annually how big a blow is this. Well i mean its seems extraordinary because we are its now all over the news better also of quite typical behavior for the United States and in order to put pressure on International Organizations and its also. The so now its like this big threat of freezing the funds it has done this before in the 1970 s. For example when the w. H. O. Moved to the us health for all of gender that you just mentioned in the teaser ad was accused of being a communist organization bed all countries in the world have. Very much reduced their regular budgets to the w. H. O. Which means that it has been lost in the town of me over the past 2 decades roughly and is that a problem theyre losing autonomy financial autonomy well it is a problem its a problem because it gives the organization very little leeway in setting its own priorities it makes a sudden sceptical to powerful states that then push in and try to capture the organization and its also it leaves a void thats very often then filled by for example private philanthropy and like the bill and Melinda Gates foundation and that are then beyond any kind of parliamentary or democratic control so this is this is not typical to that average or were seeing this everywhere in multilateral organizations that at the moment and i was proud of the Berlin Social Science Center thank you for speaking for just dont. Think next of all your questions the one about the growth of ours and then think that youve been sending us and the man to answer them as our science editor derek williams. Is math testing for coded 1000. 00 a better approach and then only testing for severe cases when its grown increasingly clear as this pandemic progresses that the countries that took fast action have had the most success at keeping death rates down and a key measure they implemented early on was testing as quickly and as widespread as possible because we still have no treatments testing only severe cases at this point mostly only provides us with statistics like how many people cope with 1000 has killed from among the total number of people who have tested positive for it widespread or mass testing on the other hand has the potential to be a powerful tool for for prevention if youre able to detect cases through testing before people even begin showing symptoms you can limit their contact with others and really cut the number of other people they give it to so mance testing is a goal that many countries are now setting but of course its also quite a tall order in terms of the resources that it will swallow. Is it true that 3 variants of the virus exist and if so how are they different to. My wrist is a walvis they spread through populations often quite quickly thats what for example has kept us from developing an effective vaccine for hiv and it would actually be strange if source code too wasnt changing and and theres evidence that it already has a recent study led by researchers at Cambridge University identified 3 different variants of the disease in 160 patients with one type most common in asia and the other 2 mostly found in europe and the us the 3 types very. In terms of their Genetic Signatures armed with information like that an important next step will be to determine whether those and possibly other variants affect different populations in different ways and the data might even help us predict future global hotspots. And that wraps up this edition of covert 19 special for more on the bend i make visit our social Media Channels on our website at the w dot com which has information on covert 930 languages now before we let you go will take you back to where it all supposedly began a went to market in war hong kong and china is thought to be where the coronavirus 1st jumped from animals as humans for the uninitiated what markets a wide range of Fresh Produce some thought though not all sell live on the markets were shattered during the lockdown but have now reopened a controversial decision in the theme still ongoing and thanks for watching take care. Environmentally conscious living. With maximum comfort. Her north korea from tanzania is helping make it possible he started with sustainable ideas in his own home. You know hes inspiring others to innovate and his invention school eco out for go. Next to. Be in good shape. Its a delicate subject that makes some people uncomfortable. If youre bald. And another group in paris devoted. To this diagnoses and presents. A program dedicated to the topic of menstruation. Good shooting. In 60 minutes on t w. Like. Oh ok. My goal or just was. For the russian. State. So many different walks of life. Some are. Ugly. But all of them come straight hard to explore see you because theres no more you delusional marsh were injured. From. The law to their final resting place in russia. W. Documentary. Hello and welcome to another edition of well we highlight environmental topics on ideas from europe and Africa Saundra to nobody on this week well be looking out the many ways you can recycle plastic west im in kampala uganda and as always im cohosting we have my colleague. In nigeria has