Interview, i indian aututhor Arundhati Roy assesessed modi i exploiting the pandemicc to incite the persecutions of hundred ai muslims in the nation. I am phil. Welcome to the program. Germanys Health Minister says the countrys coronavirus outbreak is now manageable, and the National Disease control agency has confirmed that the infection rate has now declined to less than one. Germany has seen one of europes highest number of infections, but low death rates. Officials attribute this to testing. As the country looks forward to next weeks easing of gradual lockdown measures, jens spahn is s still u urging caution. Germanyss strereets are empty. Its stores still closed. A result of the countrys strict physical distancing measures. After almost a month, the restrictions are proving successful. Germanys hospitals have i. C. U. Space to spare. At least 10,000 intense jimmy v care weds are available. This means the Health Care System has not yet been overwhelmed by the pandemic. According to authorities, this is because germany managed to flatten the curve and reach an important milestone, a muchawaited drop in the infection rate. The reproduction number we calculate is currently 0. 7 on average in germany. Of course there are regional differences here, too, but it is clear this reproduction number has continued to fall, which means that on average, each person who is infected no longer nebraskas another person. These encouraging numbers are what the German Government has been aiming for. They show that the spread of the virus is finally slowing down, although there has been a recent rise in the death rate. For weeks, german chancellor Angela Merkel has been explaining the need for a drop in the infection rate. Leaning on her scientific bracket to clearly explain how it works. But she hasnt been calling for a leensing of restrictions. Germany is doing relatively well managing the epidemic. That makes us humble, not overconfident. The call for caution has been spelled out by the last three days, which have seen a daytoday increase in both cases and total deaths. Germany still faces months of struggle with the virus. Even with the gradual loosening of the lockdown, people are being asked to accept restrictions as the new normal, while efforts continue to expand testing and develop a vaccine. And that is likely to take months of contains taking research and cooperation with scientists and governments around the world. Well, straight to dw Political Correspondent simon. Lets talk about that reproduction number. What is it so important . Phil, there has been a lot of focus on this number, and as you heard there, the head of the institute, germanys main Public Health ips tuitt, was saying that the number is now at 0. 7. What that means is that if you have 10 people who are infect the with this infected with this virus, on average they will infect only seven other people. On average as fewer people are infected, as those people are recovering, there are even fewer beginning to get sick with the disease. That should mean that in turn ultimately the death rate will come around. At the moment it is around 300 a day here in germany. But of course that reflects the figures of the infected from sometime og. There is equally a possibility, offense, that as it begins to get into care homes perhaps, god forbid, then we might see the death rate go back up again. So as well as testing then, lots of tests at the start of this pandemic what, else has germany been getting right . A lot of people said that the testing really is the core of it, but also of course a pretty robust Health Care System, it would seem, which has really been able to ramp up fairly quickly andd has been able to deal with the number of cases arriving. We have seen that again today in what the Health Minister was saying. Germany currently has around 10,000 intensive care beds, though they are not being used. That just shows you they have quite a lot of room to maneuver. Indeed the minister, tshwane open, said that up to 75 of those beds would now be made available to treat other european can patients from other European Countries if that is desired. So germany has got a strong Health Care System and that has really served it well in this crisis. Thank you for that, simon. Now, a clearer picture of post lockdown china is starting to emerge. The pandemic has left the countrys economy reeling. Figures for the first three months of this year show the first drop in output for nearly 30 years. The death toll in the city of wuhan where the virus was first del tekotted has been revised up 50 . The lockdown may be lifting, but the virus has left its mark. For the first time in decades, chinas economy has plummeted. People can return to work, but with virtually no command, many businesses remain closed. Car sales at first dropped and then plummeted, down 21. 6 in january, and then down 92 in february according to the China Association of automobile manufacturers. China, home to the worlds second largest economy, has released its First Quarter g. D. P. , a drop of 6. 8 . 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. Of course the situation is dire, awful. It is disastrous for me. Ive get no idea how i can get through this year. There is no hiding from reality. My business might not survive this year. Then i might be unemployed. What on earth i will do next year, i dont know. Chinese officials released another startling figure. The number of coronavirus deaths in wuhan has beenn raise to almost 40,000. That is a 50 increase from earlier numbers. The news has fueled concerns that china has coverered up the true extent of the outbreak, an accusation the country denies. Lets go through this with our reporter based in china for dw, but travel restrictions means he is here in germany. What does this 50 upward revision of chinas death toll tell us . S . Well,l, thehere have always doubts a about the official didivision. There have been reports about corpses being cream eighted without being registered, although the people died from the symptoms o of covid19, especially in the earlier days when testing was not widely available. So it is not a surprise that the death toll is higher than the number we knew until yesterday. The question remains of course is this now really an accurate figure or no . Chinese statistics, especially in this situation, are opaque and we have no way of verifying this. On the economy, this latest Economic Data makes sad reading. What impactt is t that l likely have on daytoday life there . This data reflects the first three months of t this yeaear. This was s januarary, f februar march when the peak of the crisis and the lockdowns went babasically thee whohole of chi it stood still, all the shops and restaurants, except those who catered foror necessary nee like food or pharmacies. All of the others were closed, and factories stood still. There is no surprise here that there was a drop, the sharpest drop since 1967 in the economic performance. The question is now will the economy get back on track now that many of these restrictions arized. There is a let put out about that. People are still wary and we really do not know to what extent the economy y is already runnining, the factories a and compananies are already runnnni be it that t the demand from he in germany and otherer westerer countrtries that a are now unde lockdown is of course not there, and exports thus have plummeted. Thank you fofor that. We will take a quick roundup of coronavirus developments around the world. The death toll has exceeded 150,000 according to Johnshopkins University in the u. S. Frances death toll neared 19,000 after more than 1,760 people died in one day. Officials say the spread of the disease says it appears to be slowing. Britain has launched a task force to spearhead efforts to create a coronavirus vaccine. More than 800 people died in the u. K. On friday. Well, the u. S. Government is providing stimulus check toss millions of people affected by the pandemic, but at least one group wont be getting those. That is undocumented mcgwire rant workers. This has prompted the state of california to step in to protect a group that makes up a 10th of its labor force. The program to provide stimulus payment toss undocumented immigrants in california is valued at 125 million. Most of the funding will come from the state, but a large part is also coming from philanthropic partners. Regardless of your status, documented or undocumented, there are people in need, and this is a state that steps up always to support those in need regardless of status. 10 of californias work force is undocumented. 10 . Any overrepresentation of that work force is undocumented in the areas that are so essential to meeting the needs of tens of millions of bjornians today. Many undocumented workers are key to the agricultural and food sectors as well as manufacturing and construction in california. Newsome added that tax money spent now will keep people from getting sick, nebraskaing others and overburdening that states emergency rooms. The payments arent as large as the federal stimulus checks. Undocumented mcgwire rants are eligible for 500 a person or 1,000 per howls hold, and that money will help bolster the california economy. Indias population of 1. 3 billion is half way through a sixweek lockdickau. The government insists the restrictions are key to breaking the chain of infection. But critics say it also tapes an element of privilege us prejudice. Our corporate has been to the Northern City of mirhut to find out why muslims are stataging what somome are calliling coron jihad. T three more weeks of lockdown, of businesses closed and restricted movements. But these men are fuming about something else. Abdullah rashid, a shop keeper says islamaphobia in india is at an alltime high. He squarely blames the indian media. Corona has arrived. This is what they say when they see muslims. They are beating us, shouting at us saying here comes corona. Is this a way to behave . There is a limit to our patience. The jim demation started after an event the discrimination starred after an islamic secretary was recognized as a corona hot spot. Many attending became covid19 carriers across m media. Many chance said this was an attempt to undermine india. These allegations also have had a severe economic impact. Mohammed would normally travel through different neighborhoods hawking his wares. Some of these were predominantly hindu. Now, people refuse to let him in. Everyone is turning us away. The residents say dont sell fruit here. Go back to your own neighborhood. The popolice are stotopping us, too. They are beating us. These muslim vendors can now only sell goods in their o own majority muslim neighborhood. Business has dried up. Elsewhere, lemieuxors are circululating abobout malicious intent. They are citing reports of muslims e entering neighborhood and spitting on peoplple to spread the coronavirus. They are barricading the areas to prevent this from happening. Even ruining members have claimed thatat members of this secretary have deliberately spread the virirus. India should have been free of coronavirurus by now, but these members have acted likike suicide bombers. These suicide bombers should face the strictest possible legagal action. They should be punished in a way that generations to follow will be too afraid to commit such crimes. The allegations thele secretary hahas spread d the vi on pump are still unfounded on pump are still unfounded. But fear a and angnger across communities persists here. For thesese m men, religion has become an added burden during the long lockdown. Earlier we spoke with Arundhati Roy in delly, and she gave us her take. The fact is it is not a crisis yet in india. Did stheems all of us knew it seems that all of us new it hamels put it own full display. We are suffering not just from covid, but from a crisis of hatred, from a crisis of hunger, and of course the lockdown in india is not a lockdown. There is no physical distancing. There is just physical compression. But really this crisis of hatred against muslims, it is coming of course on the back of a massacre in delly which was the result since december of people protesting against the ante muslim citizenship law. Today as we speak, under the cover of covid, the government is moving to arrest young students, to file cases against lawyers, against senior editors, against activists and select wals. Two of them were recently put into jail. So there is nothing i can say to the government. The only people i can speak to are people in india and to the world outside request not to take this lightweightly. Honestly, the situation is approaching genocidal. The governments agenda is here. Since then, muslims have been lynched and hunted down. But now the stigma with this illness has left Government Policies on the street now. You can hear it everywhere. Arundhati roy. Now, brazils president has fired his Health Minister over the countrys response to the coronavirus pandemic. The president , who has himself come you said fire for schmitzing the disease as a little fluke says that while life is priceless, the economy needs to return to normal. Workers in the countrys Informal Sector have seen their livelihoods destroyed by the pandemic. Iii 1yearold lesnar leticia used to work as a manicurist, but there is no work anymore. Her and her husband laffoon in a tworoom house in one of the many poor enabled in Arundhati Roy. I have been without income since the start of the quarantine tie. Before that i had my clients. I could buy things for the house and my children. My husband was also working. But since coronavirus, we dont have anything. A group of volunteers is distributing bags of food for 600 of the 25,000 families living there. Among the beneficiaries are independent workers who have not received any income since march when the restrictive measures were announced. In the community there are a lot of people who are street sellers, people working today to eat tomorrow. And because of the quarantine, coerce are closed. If they dont work today, what are they going to eat tomorrow . In the meantime, the government at least announce thad tens of thousands of independent workers in brazil will receive about 120 during the pandemic to helm them deal with the crisis. Some of the other stories making news. Us also asking has urmed creditor nations to create debt freezes on developingg countries. It said that africa needed more than 200 billion to respond to and mitigate the coronavirus pandemic. President trumps former lawyer, Michael Cohen is reportedly being released from prison early because of the pandemic. He has served a year of the three years. The first after Company Children to leave greek migrant camps to relocate to germany are arriving this week. Greaths has been accused of not providing good conditions. They will be relocated to did a dozen e. U. Member state. But the process has been held up by red tape. Arrival in luxembourg. These were the first children to be relocated this week from the refugee camps on greek islands. 1,600 unaccompanied minors have been relocated around europe. An initial 53 will travel to germany on saturday. We are striving to provide hip as part of a european solution. We offered that early on. Already on march 8 the German Government decided to accept at least 350 children from the camp the. Five of the chirp will eventually travel here 0 just south of berlin. There mike shubert has been demanding action from the German Government for months. We certainly could have taken more. We said that in january. For me it is a first step. I am quite a positive person, so i see it as an initial step in getting people here. But more have to follow quickly. The german interior minisist says huge numbers of players and bureaucracy is slowing down the process. Due to coronavirus restrictions, t too, t the chil arriving in germany will complete a twoweek quarantine before moving on to other cities. Thousands of miles from the harsh conditions of the camps they left behind. One of the problems with tracking the coronavirus is unreliable statistics. Various countries have different ways of collecting the physician, while other try and hide the facts. One thing that could help improve accuracy is an app for smartphones. But some people are reluctant to Download Software that could encroach on their prifes. But that is not the case in iceland. Almost completely unobserved, icelands largest geyser erupts into clear blue skies, with few people to see. Today these two made the trip. We wanted to see some of the sights without all the terrorists here for once. The coronavirus has completely halted icelands usually thriving tourist trade, leaving tourists to enjoy the wonders in relative peace. Where they travel and who with is logged in a mobile app. More than half the nation is rental sistered. This makes it easy to track the potential spread of the virus. We needed Something Like this from the very start of the outbreak when it was crucial to track people coming into the country frfrom abroad. At the beginning of march, holiday makers from iceland contracted the virus while skiing in the alps. Until then, coronavirus hadnt found its way to the small island nation. Almost immediately, he voluntary testing was offered. Every day the chief each epidemiologyist updates the public. We have performed a higher percentage of tests on citizens than any other nation. We place he nebraskaed patients and those they have come in contact with in quarantine. So farm that has been around 5 of the pop playstation. For every one person to have tested positive, ten have been placed under quarantine. The result, 0 eerily quiet streets in the capital. But locals are 100 behind of the measure the. Everything s on following the measures. Only when we all participate can we slow the spread of infection. To go we flaten the infection curve and the number of new cases is falling. Whether or not locals is permitted to visit spots is up to the app. It may have its draw backs, but there are other things more important. The app is fine, but it is a bit spooky. Everybody constantly knows where you are. But there are lots of apps like that, and this wont isnt too different. We need it now. Anybody wishing to visit iceland on holiday is required to spend two weeks in quarantine first. The rule is simple. You can do what you want providing you do it alone. The japanese photographer, Yasuyochi Chiba of a. F. P. Has won the preths just World Press Photo of the year awamplt his shot shows a group of young people during the uprising in sudan last year. This years prizegiving event has been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The competition focuses on Global Political event, especially crisis, wars and other catastrophes. One of the most compel events last year was zanons peaceful uprising that was violently suppressed by Government Security forces. The people first turned against the dictator, bashir, and then against the military ruling council. They prevailed and that is what is captured in the winning picture. He hit the shutter while one shouted out peace poems. His facial expression and voice impressed me. I could not focusing on him to captpture the moment. The jury had to choose among almost 75,000 photographs from 4,000 photographers. Nearly all of them show images of protest and conflict. By contrast, the winning picture is free of violence. This image speaks to the most Important Development in africa, acknowledges, but also vovoicing a s sense of hope. The winners werere selected bebefore the o outbreak of the coronavirus pandememic. The awards ceremony in amsterdam has been canceled. We will have more world news at the top of the hour. Join me in just a moment for the day. Have a good one. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] ed by catherine nichols. France twenty four advanced twenty four. Com. The ongoing coronavirus lockdown is startiting to bear fruit in fro. Save the countrys Top Health Official with the total number of infected patients in hospitals pulling for third consecutive day. Good news from germany with the governments announcingng that the outbreak s now under control certain shops will finally be allowed. It is the weekend im sure. The clothes only sweeps across the Financial Markets is in rates are made in thee combat against is
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