Weekend since the august president ial election that saw opposition groups that opposition groups say was rigged. U. S. Services started to question any county sheriff the judge nominated to fill vacancies on the countrys highest Court Republicans are rushing to confirm before novembers National Election the products and services are focused on health care on the 1st day of hearings in the Senate Judiciary committee. Well so far germany has fared better during the coronavirus pandemic than many of its european neighbors but the number of new hotspots across the country is on the increase especially in urban areas that has prompted a range of new restrictions which differ from state to state even lots of people and certain about the rules. 2 weeks of fall vacations are in full swing for many people across germany but travel will be difficult this year especially for those living in the countrys socalled corona virus risk areas. Various areas have surpassed the threshold of 50 infections per 100000 residents over one week including german cities like berlin munich frankfurt and cologne. To try to stop the spread of the virus many german states have introduced travel restrictions for people who live in the risk areas in the states they cant stay in hotels or guest houses unless they show a negative covert 19 tests no older than 48 hours or quarantine for 14 days but other states havent imposed restrictions the picture is chaotic making it hard for people in germany to understand where they can travel to and under what conditions the federal government is the fending the measure but critics say the Domestic Travel restrictions wont help stop the pandemic and will put a strain on germanys testing system. In my opinion really a reasonable. Measure because most travelers are no really infectious so they are low risk. With the number of very important and very very p. C. R. Tests in order to make sure that. It is also very burdensome for the travelers and it is basically useless for controlling penned in germany. The new restrictions have disrupted travel plans at a time when many families across the country normally go on vacation people are frustrated by the lack of clarity. On the one hand i think its confusing for example i live in brandenburg and work in berlin and sometimes i wonder which rules apply where this always leads to some confusion and i would have liked more consistent rules i would prefer some uniform rules citizens would be more aware and maybe the rules would be communicated better. And if people understood the measures better maybe more would respect them. German chancellor Angela Merkel will meet with state leaders on wednesday as. This isnt of the accommodation band grows they will try to bring some order to the chaos. Scientists of war the arctic ocean is dying after spending a year studying Climate Change in the region the german ship has just docked in its home port of bread one half of after completing the largest Arctic Research expedition ever the Scientists Say that if the wall of warming travel observed in the north pole continues there will be ice free summers within decades theres a closer look at historic expedition. Good september 29000 the German Research vessel palash then sets out on a historic expedition with hundreds of scientists from 20 countries. Their destination is the polar region there him to be a new insights into almost swiftly changing climate. You know tobar the ice breaker docked onto a huge ice floe and locks into the ice. The scientists set up their state of the art instruments to money toward the flows lifecycle from its formation to its credible destruction at the end of the arctic summer and. The doctors. The arctic is heating up at a much faster rate than the rest of the world we see a dramatic change we need to understand that process as the arctic is an integral part of the Global Climate system if we dont understand whats happening in the arctic we cant predict the climate in our letter toots thats what were here for we need to collect the data so that we have a Solid Foundation for basing political decisions. From their floating lab the scientists took water samples examined the arctic flora and fauna measured the sea ice and launched weather balloons all in extreme conditions for months they worked in total darkness at times the temperature dropped to almost minus 40 degrees celsius. Getting supplies through to the researchers was a constant challenge but everything went according to plan until the koran a pandemic threatened to undermine the complicated logistics chain. To pull ashton was forced to temporarily abandon the flow and head to the norwegian port of. The corner. We faced huge challenges because of the pandemic we were forced to replant the entire logistics how to replace the crew deliver supplies and refuel the ship we had to complete and we organize the entire process its a unique situation and were happy we found a quick solution or one of the 1st set of data kept up. They got the flow resurging were resumed as expected rising temperatures credulously melted the ice until in late july the flood finally broke apart. The group scrambled to save their quick meant. In the last 12 months they have collected over 100. 00 terabytes of data which will take several years to evaluate but one thing is already clear the polar ice is melting and at an even faster rate than the scientists feared. Lets talk with. Director alpha vegan to institute which led back expedition welcome to you didnt we already know that Arctic Sea Ice was shrinking fast. Yes but weve done it for us and from start to change the Arctic Sea Ice and havent throughout cintron sweat 101 planet around a terrace and are actually focusing on the night when its cold winters are done and when the c. S. Rephrase probably rephrase as last time before because of the warming oceans. We heard in the report that youve collected all these terabytes of data what is it that youre hoping to find in amongst all of that right some people need to understand that ocean as an ocean kind of as sea ice and winters that there are no since theres no one out there around to know or no data and so our climate models. Really good observations dont send someone some some problems that we have to forecasting where the sea ice shrink and some other time when the absence on the time in 2 or 3 and 5 decades how will the arctic ocean behave is the c. S. Goes away and so are many questions after where and i on our planet was i think very long lots of patients 10 years ago all sorts of scientists was and has now been lucky the simplest just that and its so important that you have these synchronize youre out measurements for the very 1st time a lot faster than such an address i was just under 25 years ago ok so this is important to build sort of accurate model of thought for weather forecast. And of the way that the climate is changing and i wondered did the actual presence of the ship. At the pole does that actually affect such a delicate environment. Well of course like the simplest presence would have an impact just exactly at that one location nerds app for example i. Just started it he said someone was up times and those kinds of things are always the no mans science when you know some of us present the changes experientialism so thats not you. I think it was so many people out there that had a clear concept an observation for example of how i felt as though that where thats part of the eyes of all that went free we set our observations and seas away from the self we talk about that is a good measurement up in the atmosphere as far away from the said we have samples that show that we could but its all out in the area ill get impacting the results that we have so i would think that might change the why yourself of the facts that we somehow understand what. It is now 10 degrees one already compounds the ones ive said you have not isnt something this is something that intercepted because this is something that is for real reason and eyewitness acts that we are communicating. He said well constantly guessing what the state of our planet theres no quick word about coronavirus which is a part of every day. Which is a part of everyday life here on dr life and. How much is it is it affecting life on the boat. Oh that was are quite dramatic because from our long list of things that could potentially go around during the last war thats because we sign of everything but we couldnt proceed and they havent now the that ended that had led to a lockdown i am quite certain toast probs already by much thats totally affected the way they could exchange our personalities 5 status as well as the scientists so we had to revise plans that i was the people of kenya as they are and then relied on the us to provide a new plan to provide exchanges who are happy with instruments energy and food and so on and thats they will manage cities and as it seems a science is a group with the help of so many nations around i mean thats us and 20 nations rather than that mission and its always that it makes me able to carry out the mission had to go this route and were so happy that with the. Yes from the Alpha Institute speaking out and. Thats a chill up thats up more world news at the top of the hour coming up next over the latest news about the coronavirus and ive covered 19 special im good at. Combating the corona pandemic. Where does research stand. What are scientists learning. Background information and. Our corona update. 19 special next on d w. This is so no story a stubborn rice farmer from thailand. His problem. Is crew go no chemicals. And he was. Just students are not good tests dont stand a chance. Train in successful. Ducking out of me starts october 15th d. W. 1000000 deaths a grim milestone for a pandemic thats not even a year old in 10 months more people have died from coven 1000 than from hiv malaria the flu and cholera combined hefty body counts for a microscopic pathogen and some experts think its an undercount. The pandemic isnt done yet cases are spiking in india and europe complacency and frustration are growing. People had a fear of the coronavirus in march and april but they dont anymore some are also leaving their homes because they have to go to work. They dont have any money and they dont have any other options. As the numbers continue to rise how long before the next milestone. This is due to these covert 900 special a low and welcome to the show im Stephen Beardsley in berlin 1000000 deaths in 10 months what began as a mysterious respiratory disease and who han china has now spread around the world leaving a significant body count in its wake and showing little sign of abating in the near future is a look at how we reached this point. The 1st Death Outside of china was reported in the philippines on february 2nd just 12 days later france confirmed the 1st victim in europe at the end of february the United States reported its 1st death. On june 28th the global death toll hit half a 1000000 and just 3 months later the millionth victim was confirmed. The u. S. Has the highest death toll so far it also has the highest number of cases followed by india and brazil. Spain has the most confirmed infections in the European Union with cases surging across the world experts expect the global death toll to climb rapidly in the coming months. Now one of the countrys worst hit by the pandemic wasnt on that last list pru which is topped 800000 factions has had one of the worlds highest mortality rates and its economy has shrunk by a whopping 30 percent but new cases are slowing and thats prompted the government to begin easing restrictions many fear that theyre acting too soon. Finally able to be by her husbands side just doesnt cemetery in northern peru is the final resting place for local coronavirus victims now that restrictions have been eased relatives are allowed in to visit even though it isnt at the spot ana maria and her husband had planned for when your message got up and when i went to town to make burial arrangements they told me i couldnt bury him in the plot we had chosen. I was told that an order had been issued that everyone who died from cold it had to be buried in this summit area. Others are still fighting for their lives perus president says the countrys Health Care System is stronger now than it was at the beginning of the pandemic. And the government is expanding testing including in low income areas of the capital lima. So with the rate of new infections on the decline the government is pushing ahead with plans to reopen more of the economy. And even start letting in International Flights starting with neighboring countries but some Health Experts are warning against reopening to fast. Reopening gyms bars discos and other forms of entertainment will be terrible. Yeah. So yes it could bring about a 2nd wave quicker i want to see window and i think we definitely need to reconsider these steps. To fear is that peru could repeat the pattern of other countries seeing a rise in cases followed by a new wave of mass burials. Im joined now by alan lopez hes an epidemiologist and professor at the university of melbourne which is where he joins me from professor its good to have you on the show youve said that this death count could actually be a vast undercounts by how much those how to save it is probably likely to be somewhere between 30 and 60 percent of an undercount huge number of factors why why is that what are those factors. Oh its full of principle factors stephen that i think youre driving the numbers down one is that doctors are still learning how to apply the w. H. O. Rules to certify the deaths in this getting used to that until they get used to it properly theyll be undercounting did secondly good 19th. It kills people in ways that were still learning about in other words if they magnifies out the background risks if youve got hypertension if youre a smoker if youre overweight if youve got chronic lung disease then its likely that code 19 is going to be more serious for you and will kill many of the people with those conditions those comorbidities thirdly chrebet 19 is having a big impact on Health Services so in developing poor countries were seeing programs essential programs like h r v control t v leiria are all being affected and so many of the people who need the services are not getting them and are probably dying as a result and even in rich countries we see people not turning up to Cancer Screening when they should be and finally and perhaps most importantly many many deaths in the world go on counted about one 3rd of deaths go on registered each year and even many of those that are registered dont get a proper current cause of death so its likely that covered 19 suffers from or was conditions as well you mentioned the comorbidities can we say if theres a profile of the average coronavirus death from what we know about the death count so far well the main thing that drives that to find 19 deaths is a the vast majority of people who die from code of 19 die about the age of 70 and 6 ratio from the countries where we can count it reliably suggests that for every female who dies theres about 3 miles so weve got a fairly clear idea of the age and 6 composition of mortality are we slowing down the death rate since weve been going at this for about 10 months now having learned enough to slow it down. The answer is no we have not slowed it down i dont know whether weve learnt enough to do that but we certainly havent applied it death rates are rising were seeing 2nd wave several countries in europe weve seen those in my country and australia deaths are rising theyre rising steadily and theyre going to rise a lot further. When should we expect the next milestone say 2w3w do you have a production. So difficult to predict but my prediction is that by the end of this year by december 31st with probably see at least 2000000 possibly as high as 2 and a half 1000019 deaths worldwide professor are deaths the best way to understand the impact of this disease in the pandemic. I dont think so i think the actual numbers of this is frightening as they are and as troubling as theyre going to be dont tell the full story covered 19 kills people primarily at older ages and in terms of Preventative Priorities that Public Health need to be concerned about we talk about the number of years of life lost on average from prone each day and in terms of code 19 most of those who died go out over a season so they tend to lose much less years of life than for example a comparable number of deaths road traffic accidents for example kills 1200000 people every year vast majority of those are a lot younger than the code did some say you could argue that road traffic accidents or to be getting at least as much Public Health attention for prevention as code 19 all right professor and epidemiologist from the university of melbourne thank you very much thank you. Well our science correspondent Eric Williams has been busy looking into your questions about the pandemic over now to derek. Many of the social controls put in place are based on asymptomatic transmission what evidence is there for such a phenomenon. Do people who are asymptomatic transmit source code to to others and if so then how infectious are they this has been one of those issues thats proven theyre a difficult to come to grips with in the course of this pandemic for for a couple of reasons 1st of all because we only really recently began to detect asymptomatic people on a wide scale 2nd because todays asymptomatic patient can turn out to be only present or not and start showing symptoms tomorrow and were pretty sure that presumptive medic carriers can be highly infectious 3rd because the viral load and asymptomatic patient carries is usually very similar to that of someone showing symptoms so so what evidence is there that people who test positive for covert 19 but dont ever develop symptoms how likely is it that they can infect others. A preprint paper set for publication soon shows how tricky it can be to prove but but the researchers think they did it on a flight from italy to south korea carrying nearly 300 passengers who at the time displayed no 19 symptoms before boarding all of them were given and 95 masks and most wore then throughout the flight except at meal times and when they went to the bathroom when the passengers arrived in seoul they were quarantined straight away for 2 weeks and all of them were tested on the 1st day and the last day of that quarantine 6 people tested positive for covert 19 that 1st day of quarantine but they never developed symptoms they were confirmed asymptomatic carriers but one woman who tested negative on the 1st day of quarantine developed symptoms on day 8 of it she had set a few rows away from an asymptomatic patient and used the same bathroom as them because of the timing and what we know about the viruses incubate period the researchers concluded that she was very likely infected by one of the asymptomatic passengers on board the plane. Sounds kind of like a Sherlock Holmes mystery doesnt it it just goes to show you though how difficult it is to acquire and interpret this kind of evidence many studies have tried but so far none of them has been clear cut enough really for big Health Authorities like the w. H. O. Or the c. D. C. A to take a stand on the issue. Our science expert Eric Williams there and that is it for this edition of covert 1000 special you can find more coverage of the pandemic on our website www dot com to check us out on facebook and twitter as well im stephen bears in berlin as always likes watching. For you. Dubliner on facebook and twitter to date and in touch. Carefully. Today. Discover the. Lead. Subscribe to the documentary. This is the meaning of africa coming up on the program. Public anger problems the path of a Notorious Police unit in nigeria but that does not appear the protests as we find out why. I lasted its back to school in kenya but only for some its a happy return despite the new restrictions