Iraq. Im still go welcome to the program governments around the world are scrambling to find ways of limiting the spread of the coronavirus many have imposed restrictions on peoples movements and by told to wash their hands and keep our distance from others in many places especially in asia people are also told to wear face masks but how effective are they opinion here in europe is divided well hear from an expert in a moment 1st this report. Face mosques for years theyve been part of daily life for many in asia and now for parts of europe theyre about to become say to us troops decision to make it compulsory to wear the mosques in supermarkets has sparked a debate in neighboring germany. The town of you know has now become germanys 1st to announce similar measures though given the shortage of face masks the city has encouraged people to sow their own its a move large be welcomed by the residents. I think its a good the more that stunned the better and the more everyone does it the sooner well be free of the virus i have 6 simple masks at home and then push comes to shove also my assumed. I think its a good idea in principle the problem is that there simply arent any masks makes. The World Health Organization is among those saying theres little Scientific Evidence showing that basic masks once not intended for medical use affectively prevent Healthy People from catching the corona virus but some experts advise that they could be useful as a barrier to stop those infected from contaminating others. Masks for nose and mouth are relevant for the protection of others if someone is infected and masks keep the virus droplets from flying out when someone sneezes or coughs. To avoid flying could be. Up to now the insistence by many western countries that the widespread use of masks is not necessary has surprised many in asia that people have worn face masks for years because of air pollution but in this pandemic theyre practically a civic duty in europe that attitude is now increasingly gaining ground. As if im dr Alexander Edwards hes an immunologist from the university of reading in the u. K. A welcome to day double talk at whats whats your position on the dates the use of face masks by the general public during this pandemic. I think its a really difficult one to judge because we have i absolutely agree with the w. H. O. Guidelines that proper. Officially. Protective equipment is absolutely essential for those people who are working with patients but the question here is about whether you should wear just some kind of Face Covering a tall and whether that would be helpful in day to day life and unfortunately i think that we dont have enough data to suggest one way or another. So given that we dont have the data then presume presumably. You can wear them or you cannot wear them and theres no sort of we dont know how good or bad they need to be yeah i think that thats the current difficulty i think one thing i would do though is that because there are shortages of personal protective equipment such as face masks for many frontline clinicians i would urge people not to try necessarily to deplete supplies of the really very high quality respirators and face masks which are known to be effective because if people in the street are wearing those then that may mean that doctors and nurses and other Health Care Workers dont have access to supplies and that would be a really bad outcome but in terms of people wearing some kind of Face Covering even a scarf in the street its obviously not harmful its not doing anyone any harm to do that so maybe that should be considered alongside using a handkerchief when you cough and washing your hands frequently as it is a general hygiene requirement this turn to the general business of this pandemic ive seen a us estimate a quarter of people with covered 19 showed no symptoms how much of a concern is that. So i think that this is the driver behind a very very rapid spread and increase in numbers that weve seen across europe in the usa the most likely explanation for that enormous exhilaration is that a lot of people are spreading the virus without really realizing that they are sick and thats why were having these sort of rather Dramatic Movement restrictions because we cant identify every Single Person infected and therefore we have to just stop everyone moving around but the real difficulty is that the kind of studies that we need to be able to identify how many people are infected without symptoms are actually quite difficult to run and theyre actually quite timekeeper time consuming laborious so well start to see more of these studies coming out and being published but we wait anxiously for that Scientific Data to really understand the situation so while we are in the midst of this pandemic all sources around the world are trying to flatten the if they do manage to flatten this kind of infection what do they need to do to stop it spiking again. Is again the really important question i think the w. H. O. Is recommendation of test test test becomes really important because once you have a low level of infection in a population it becomes more realistic to restrict the movement of people who are infected was allowing everybody else to get back to their normal business that will be difficult but we are starting to learn more about how to do that and expand testing capability to make sure that when we get to that flattened point that we can start coming up with safe returning to work protocols good talking to thank you for joining us dr Alexander Edwards from the universe you buddy. No i was take a look at some more of the latest developments in this pandemic china has reported for the 1st time on the numbers of asymptomatic cases it says 1300 people have tested positive although they have shot without showing symptoms the captain of a u. S. Aircraft carriers quarter version to help to quarantine his crew of 4000 the Theodore Roosevelt is docked in qualm in the pacific with the disease spreading rapidly on board the 12 year old go as died in belgium shes thought to be europes the youngest victim so far meanwhile france the u. K. And spain all recorded their highest daily death tolls on tuesday and afghanistan has recorded nearly 200 coronavirus cases and 4 deaths of orders theyre taking steps to hold the spread of infection but after years of war the Health System is weak and would be overwhelmed if the number of cases grows as it has in other countries the countrys problems are exacerbated by the return of thousands of people from iran one of the countrys worst hit by covered 90 spraying down the streets of kabul in a desperate attempt to stave off a deadly disease afghanistan is one of the worlds poorest countries its Health Care System is no match for a pandemic thats spreading across the globe like wildfire. As the number of coronavirus cases here rises the government is taking measures to contain the outbreak the western city of herat is eerily calm shops and mosques have been ordered to shut down maddow more as a coronavirus keeps spreading theyll be in a minute terry and catastrophe the government must take serious measures to help like most afghans the residents of herat a poor the government has ordered the release of hundreds of inmates to prevent crowded jails from becoming infection hotspots. But afghanistan has bigger worries than its prison population millions of afghans have been displaced during years of conflict many have fled to neighboring iran one of the countrys worst hit by the corona virus pandemic those people are now streaming back in their thousands all are potential carriers of the disease. Only if. The number of afghan refugees returning has increased massively. Theyre afraid of the coronavirus in iraq and theyre no longer finding work because of the economic downturn. Government is concerned about the huge number of people returning among the most vulnerable to the virus is afghanistans internally displaced population many of them live in sprawling camps on the outskirts of hirano which is close to the Iranian Border here survival is already a daily struggle camp residents depend on critical help from overstretched International Aid agencies whose work is now made even more difficult by the Global Pandemic so how do you protect refugees during a Global Pandemic the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council welcome to d. W. How dangerous is the coronavirus pandemic for people in displacement camps like the afghans we saw. Well it is horribly dangerous because remember that displace that refugees have fled from their homes from that communities from their space from the hospitals that may be bombed too small a confined space is very often where they thought they were safe now these places camps settlements may be traps where the virus will thrive and humans will be very very vulnerable so we are in which a Refugee Council working very hard in afghanistan in iran and in 30 other countries were trying to provide more handwashing facilities more water and sanitation were trying to also provide most base for the refugees so they can have some physical distance and thought perhaps we would also be able to put up quarantined at tense and the like but its a race against the clock well over one who overstretched isnt as these are the very things that youre trying to provide as aid agencies water space a sanitation those are exactly the things that were missing a big complaint about before this pandemic hits. It indeed so we try to tell the refugees displaced people to wash their hands all the time keep a distance not spread the deceaseds keep stay in in their own quarters they tell us when you do not work in the Informal Sector we will stop we have no clean water how can we wash our hands hold the time and we are 10 people put canned and the next tent is set is it is 2 meters away how can you have physical distance so i think this this is really a moment of reflection for the robust north from where the virus now spreads and where its created havoc in new york and spain and italy. Is spreading to the vulnerable south and to the rough on the river which are the displaced and the refugees the must be solidarity now and must be more injection of humanitarian aid to. Get an interruption of that just like to pick up a point when when you talk about the robust noles which of course is also fighting this pandemic how do you respond when industrialized host countries say well we dont have the results is to protect the migrants of were already struggling to protect our own populations. Well the everybody is trying to protect their own population and weve all been in quarantined of course just 2 weeks in quarter time because they came from from abroad had to us slow but since were all in the same boat and since there will be a flattening of the curve in the north because of all of these enormous measures it is in our interests and in conformity with our ideals to not let the virus get permanent strong how holmes in the south and in in places like afghanistan or iran so close to has to be the same cant kind of packages intend notion of solitary did that there is now for National Solidarity if its only america 1st europe 1st russia 1st and not humanity 1st it will come back to haunt us forever what begging that when you look at this as an International Effort but talking to you young egeland secretary general of the no major Refugee Council thank you so much thank you. Well in sport the tennis season has of course been hit by the coveted 1000 pandemic but it hasnt stopped one of the sports biggest stuffs from keeping his skills in top full Roger Federer shot at this video on twitter just by the snow in switzerland he managed to pull off some nifty trick shots hes been out of fashion since january after knee surgery but he joked with fans that he hasnt forgotten how to play. Stay w. News live from done and well have more on the coronavirus coming up in just a moment and dont forget thats more on the web site d w dot com good. Luck. Were all set. To go beyond the obvious. Were all about the stories that matter to you. Im doing. Whatever it takes. To run a not. A good. W. Made for minds