In a new language like spanish, french, german, italian and more. Babbels 10 to 15 minu a lessons are available app or online. More informan, babbel. Com. Narrator funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. By judand Peter Blum Kovler foundati; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. And by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Announceew and now, bbc world n. The world health organizathen declared toronavirus a pandemic. The virusit 118 countries and killed 4300 people. We are deeply concerned by the alarming levels of spread and severely, ander sy, and alarming levels of inaction. In italy, doctors have been telling the bbc about the desperatsituation. Harvey weinstes sentenced to 23 years after bei convicted of Sexual Assault and rape. Anchor o the coronavirbreak has been declared a pandemic. Here is the who. We are deeply concerned by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction. We have met the assessment that covid19 can be characterized as th is the first pandemic caused b coronavirus and we ha never before seen a pandemic that can be controlled at the same time. Anchor therenire various deons of pandemic. We describe this term as meaning disease that is spreading in multiple countries around the world at the same time. The question i does this shift in categorization mean a ift in policy . Reporter this will not change anything, it will change very bettle what countries are doing use they have already had Close Relationships with these countries over weeks and telling em what to do. This is really it is not surprising that this word is being used it mowed change very much on he anchor this graphicho the spread of the disease around the world. The bigger the redgg circle, the the outbreak. The who says there are more tha1 and more t00 people havees died. One consequence of this pandemic is the pressure on hlth care systems. In iran, and italy. This is putting had police this is putting italys Health Care System, one of the most developed in europe, putting it under strain. We have seen footage from hospitals where intensive carese units have bee off set up in hospital corridors. There are fears that if this virus spreads significantly to the south where the health care is not as welldeveloped, that could have a serious et. The coronavirus is rapidly claiming lives. And not just the elderly. Young medics in their 20s. Th thousands of confirmed ca the hospitals cannot cope, nor can the staff. This is one of several makeshift hospitals beg set up. Anchor asases rise, so will the pressure on health care. Here is angela merkel. When the virus is out there, the population has no therapy exists. Than 60 to 70 will be infected as long as the situation continues. Anchor while that is around 50 millioneople, if that happened, a small proportion of care, that would swamp theal German Health system. Earlier, she outlined the best way to avoid that kind of scenario. In a situation likehi the most effective means against the virus iso gain time, reduce the pressure on doctors and hospitals. If i a lot of people werto become ill in a short spacef timet the mffective tool is to slow it down and stretch out its development. Anchor the idea is often called flattening the curb. This is a graphic from the New York Times which is based on a reporthe fromdc. The writer shows a surge in infections the red shows a surge in infections. It goes beyondothisd line which marks health care capacity. Mothere will be largets of cases, it focuses on slowing the spread, it takes longer to play out. You never reach that moment were a Health Care System cannot cope. There are a number of things one can do to blend it. You look at the curves of tbreaks, big peace and calm down, what we need to do is flatten that down. That would have less people infected that would have less deaths. You do that by interfering with the natural flow of the outbreak. Anchor the manner popularized this graph m thener popularized this graph use this to teaches classes, but it has gone viral after it was linked to the virus. He says, it is the difference between finding an intensive care bed and ventilator or being treated in the parking lot tent. He is live with us. Thank you for your time. Can you expand on what governments can do to flatten the curve . Ty can begin tote iso and treat the sick, quarantine the people who they contacted,e cle hools and prevent the spread of disease to children, and encourage social distancing. People eping people apart. Maybe folkser work hours so they dont go to work at the same time or make sure when people are in the same place, they areot close to each other. We need to protect ourselves individually by washing hands and using hand sanitizer. Anchor there is discussion about when best to bring those measures i the u. K. Is acknowledging they may come, but not cominyet. The challenge and starting to soon is people become complacent and say,hat is the point . If you wait too late, you are dealing with a situation like in ity. That timing will be critical. Experts will tell you, when cases start to spread within the community from person to person, the challenge we have with this virus is people are contagious even before they show symptoms. They dont know they are spreading the disease until maybe they havdone it. Anchor t there a third scenario we can add to your graph, where goverents take irrelevant measures but still the number of cases take Health Care Systems beyond their capacity . If it is about flattening the curve, maybe we dont do it as completely as necessary, but anything we cado to lower the peak and prevent everyone from getting sick at that same moment is going to be an improvement and hopefully reserve some of that capacity for the people who need it. Anchor ne final question. Is there a choice between trying to contain this virus t aing to flatten the curve . Can those two things be working against each other . At ts point, this is not going to happen. This disease is going to spread, a pandemic of this type will move itself into every community in the world. The question is whether have vaccines at that point to prevt a further spread o it and whether we are protecting the most vulnerable people, the elderly and folks with compromised systems, making sure they are the ones most likely to die. Anchor ou we appreciate joining us. You can heamore about flattening the curve in the coming days and weeks. Leme update you on the situation in italy. Eithe whole country is locked down. There are more developments today. We will get to those. First, i want to ask a question about if you are asking. Y is it leaving so badly affected . Ere is no doubt that it is. It has been spreading at speed rufrom fy, the number of cases was below 900, now we are lookingt a situation where is over 12,000. The mortality rate in italy is 6 . Compare that with south korea, a similar number of cases, the speed at which it iswipreading is s. Yes mortality rate is less than 1 , which begs the question, why the difference . I the firsue is the rate of testing. Is graphic compares eight countries, south korea is doing 4000 tests per million people. Italy is doi 826. Fewer tests mea mild cases going undetected, a lower number of cases, which pushes the italys number of cases may be higher atts mortality rate lower. The second factois italyas the second oldest population in the world after japan. 65. Of the population is over ol people are more vulnerable to this virus. The third factor is timing. The outbreak italy started in february when a man wa diagnosed. Because february is flu season, it is start early cases were missed. Started unnoticed, by the times we realized it, there were transmission changes happening. The fourth factor is population density. The outbreak from south korea to italy, thek outbr the north of italy is where you find as major cities, more proximity between people, higher rate of infection, greater passion on hospital resources. Here is a surgeon there. I call it a kind of wartime. Nobody has mentioned this kind of crisis. Anchor 92 hs of den italy have been in the north. What began in that region in february as a concern is now a national csis that has been washed with apprehension. Lets have a look at what has been happening in italy today. These are pictures from a hospital. We will talk about the Health Care System in a moment. Those quarantine measures are still in place. The pope has been deliveriro his messagesbehind closed doors. It is quiet in milans main airport. This is rome, whe police are checking people coming in and out. You have to have a reason to be the move, an urgent reason. The latest numbers we have out of italy are there are more than 12,000 cases andore than 800 deaths. We have been told close to 200 people died today at almost 6000 people in the hospital. More than a thousand of those are in intensive care. All these things are putting pressure on the Health Care System. This picture has been shared on social media. A doctor cradli the country in r arms. Mark is in northern italy, speaking to health care workers. He tweets, it is not every day a doctor brings tears to your eyes. Italys medical staff are doing an incredible job. They are extraordinary heroes. Here is one of the doctors mark oke to. The first diagnosed italys first case of the virus. 60, 70, 200 patients in our Emergency Department and we have me hours where the oxyge supply were on sufficient were insufficient. We were in a war scenario. Anchor the dtor told mark there has been no new cases over the past 24 hours. Demonstrated that we are on the right pathway. I am quite confident that this could be the right way. Anchor there is smart talking us through the qua. Ntine measur reporter ahe measuresecting pharmacies only allowing customers in one at a time. The cafe tables must be a meter apart. They were close at 6 00. If youome over here, a childrens playground over there is closed, as our schools, universities, theaters, and other venues. Anchor there is one resident. People are startingwake up to what is happening, not only because of the measureske that had been but because of the way they were communicated. I think the government is trying to make sure people should not panic with this. At the same time, it is important to be responsible in this moment. Anchor the pernaking these decisions is the prime minister. We heard from him earlier. I have declared on behalf of a government that were not close to the idea of adopting more restrictive measures. The day before yesterday, we did introduce restrictive measue s for the whuntry. We are happy to follow the requests based on the curve of the virus contagions. Anchor tre are not enough resources. Oce government is trying to recruit retiredrs to help and it is allowing students to gradua early. A team from china is on its way to italyo help with expertise and they are bringing ventilators and famasks. That a staff in ventilators, t in terms of buildings, does italy have enough hospitalso house the patient . Ta has enough hospitals, it does not have enough intensive care units. They are trying to set up makeshift hospitals with beds. Interestingly, some guidelines were issued tod for doctors and nurses about how to behave something of an ethical dilemma because in certain situations, doctors will have to choose who they can treat and who is too liold and noly to recover and might be lt to die. Anor we will talk about Harvey Weinstein, he has been sentenced to 2years. Anchor bethlehem and locked down after an outbreak at a hotel. Locals have said they have never see e town so quiet. Is a disaster. Everything is closed in bethlehem. Universities and schools stopped. Itt hould be my lasmester at university, bui dont know when i will graduate andhere is no work so it really affects me. Fi have a lot friends, they lost their jobs right now. They are wfuried about the re. Because of the coronavirus, shops, restaurants, all of them are closed. Aipeople are a we face a lot of pitical problems in bethlehem, but this is something ndo for us and t know how we will manage it. Anchor we are in the bbc news room. The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Lets bring some more stories. The taliban rejected and offered by the afghan president to release 1500 militants from prison. They wanted 5000 prisoners to be freed before beginng peace tas. Cawyers for the former van treasurer who was convicted of child sex abuse had been laying out their final case to try to overturn his sentence. Herv is ing a six year term for sexually aaulting two choirboys. Russian pranksters claimed they spoke to princearry where they liat her father. C tte they managed to make two calls to the prince in canada. Buingham palace has declined. To comme the markets have just closed in new york and it has bee wak to remember at it is only wednesday. What is the story . Rtre it is hard to believe it is only wednesday, but we saw u. S. Financial markets had a massive drop in trading again today. They are and what is considered a bear market. When you see a drop of 2 or more. It significant because on tuesday, we were talking about these big gains on financial markets, but today they have erased those gains and fallen anchor help us understand what you mean by a bear market beyond just a drop. How traders are allowed to behave . Reporter tre is a lot of significance. It means that encouraging one we had been skiing for a long time for so many years, it is now seeming like it is coming to an end. Investors arend pessimistic they are trading in that way. The big question is, what is driving the market right now . What is driving them is we have not seennyind of proactive action. Remember on monday, we heard from president trump, who said there will be some economic stimulus. There has been two days since we heard tha no real announcement has been me. Some embers of his administration have spoken about a possible tax break to the payroll tax. There has beenutalks a delaying tax filing deadlines in the united states. No concrete details and no other stimulus package. That has investors nervous about what kind of health they were get at the virus spreads. Anchor thank you vmuch. Weill turn to another story from new york. Harvey weinstein was sentenced to 23 years for rape andexual assault. And 2017, a journalist describes the scenetr in the com. She says he was cuffed to his wheelchaird and rolay. Thwomen who testified solved afterwwods. Sin testified in the trial. Many more have come forward in the last three yearto detail harveys actions. The guardian produced this montage. One of them is a former assistant to Harvey Weinstein. She had to si an nda for 20 years and was ohey able to tell story recently. At the time, we were told to treat this time of our lives is a black hole. Anybody. Owed to speak to we had to provide a list of people within our friends and family that we had spoken to aboutorking for Harvey Weinstein. We were cut off from professional assistancof any kind. Any doctor or lawyer or therapist that we wanted to see about the iident would have to sign an undertaking with Harvey Weinsteinsawyers before i could speak to them. It0 was a suffocatingars. Two yearsft signing the nda, i attempted twice to commit suicide. Anchor Harvey Weinstein has disputed the allegations. He addressed the court for the first time wednesday, saying he had remorse, but described himself and otr men as totally confused by the situation. Here is his lawyer speaking after the sentencing. Harvey is confused. He feelsad. He believed he had relationships with women that were different than the way they arnow characteouzing them. Ifook at their conversations, it would be realistic to believe that. Youes look at the wayca spoke about him on recorded ons, it would b realistic to believe that. That sentence that was handed down by the court was ocene. That number was chor sorry about that. Lets bring in someone live in new york. Tell us about the reactns from people attending the sentencing today. Reporter the Manhattan District Attorney said this sends a message to sexual predators t take notes. Wwhheard from the victid , you heem speaking, giving victim impact statements, they spoke about how this has impacted their entirees l scar them for lives. One of them said she was hapec that this coon means no other woman will fall victim harvey weinste, but angry he s not own remorse. He is stl dying t effect he has had on these women. Aor big momenocial justice campaigners, silage breakers, other women who e accused Harvey Weinstein. They have said his legacy is forever going to be as a convicted rapist and is will help Going Forward with other victims looking for justice. Anchor for those campaners, it is a symbolic moment because the Justice System ha always been seen to be on the side of women makingle these tions, but today it was. Reporter that is exactly right. Statistically, rapists are not they usually get off on these types of cases. It is hard to try cases when it is he said she said. From the beginning, experts saio this could be shot case. They did not have much forensic heevidence, it was whr the jury understood that these women did not have to act like the notion of how a perfect victim is. These women continued having contacts with Harvey Weinstein. The defensive playo that. What the drivers said is they understood attacks can happen in consensual relationships and look at the evidence of the attacks. As far as the sentence, harveys victims have been used to disappointment. Even though he was convicted, they were concerned the judgeve could im a slap on the wrist. Instead, the judge gave him 23 years, saying while this was his first convictn, it was not his first offense. Anchor thank you very much. Harvey weinstein sentenced to 23 years in prison. Our lead story is the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic. If you want more information on the story, information about how best to fend ts virus off, Public Health information, reporting, the bbc news. You can download the bbc news app. Byebye. Presentation of this program is provided by. Woman collette guides travelers to experience the world in more than 160 destinations acro s five travel styles, lill group explorations. Their inclusive tours feature local guides, cultural experiences, meals and accommodations. Since 1918, collette has guided travelers ound the world. Learn more at collette. Com smallgrou man babbel, an on by language specialists teaching spanish, french, and more. Narrator funding was also provided by, by judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. And by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. Thk you. Narrator youre watching pbs. Ator funding for entation of this program is provided by. Woman collette guides travelers to experience the world in more than 160 destinations across five travel styles, like small group explorations. Their inclusive tours feature lol guides, cultural experiences, mealaccommodations. Since 1918, collette has guided travelers around the world. Learn more a collette. Com smallgrou