Afghanistan stepping up its efforts to contain 19 but now faces an extra challenge from the thousands of people who are returning home from iraq also coming up tonight the coronavirus brings some good. Pet store around the world with millions of home in the. Millions of our 4 legged friends are getting some quality quarantine. In the shelters are also seeing a surge in adoptions in the. Viewers on p. B. S. In the United States and all around the world well we begin tonight on this april 1st in a new month with a new worries about the corona virus pandemic governments around the world are scrambling to find ways to stop the virus and that includes reese. Strictures on peoples movements italy is in its 4th week of a nationwide lockdown while this appears to be helping in the fight against the coronavirus it is also hitting the countrys economy hard people are losing their jobs and their earnings and fears are mounting that frustration and desperation could soon become something much worse italys streets empty like they have been for the past 3 weeks. Police are in patrol to ensure citizens only leave their homes when strictly necessary. The lockdown has altered daily life in italy and brought the countrys economy to a halt all nonessential businesses have had to shut down many people have lost their jobs or have seen their salaries cut some are now unable to afford even the basics. Authorities and individual citizens have stepped in handing out meals to those in need but these initiatives are hardly enough and the risk of social unrest in italy is growing the mayor of naples has warned that the lockdown cant continue indefinitely. But he still we will soon need something close to normal economic activity. Otherwise not only will we have thousands of coronavirus and deaths but we will also have millions of Unemployed People youll need each local body like you know organized crime will stop and it can spend money and it will stop and it can spend it faster than the government. Will stop in sicily police are patrolling supermarkets after reports of shoppers refusing to pay italy isnt the only nation with a lockdown is hitting the poor hardest it might again prove to be an example of whats to come in other countries paralyzed by the coronavirus crisis. Well for more now im joined from rome by our correspondent sima good to good evening to you samer how serious are fears that the wong or the walk down goes on the more it could foster crime and social unrest. Well i think the fear of the virus now is also turned into a fear of people just not having enough food and what that can lead to i mean the concern particularly is in the south of the country and this is traditionally the area that is poorer it also has a higher Unemployment Rate and it also has the presence of organized crime gangs that are ready to take advantage of desperate people now we see seen the factories are closed because of the lockdown and you have businesses that are feeling was suffering ordinary people need not be able to get their salaries at all and even if you have a plan to still work thats undeclared illegal work that might have run out and you may not even have access to the benefits that may be available for others so weve seen as that report mentioned about supermarkets where people are trying to run in and get the food for free and the police having to come in and patrol that youve also seen reports about people begging for loans in banks because they simply cannot make ends meet and so in such a situation thats where the organized crime groups can get in because theyll have the liquidity in order to give these and reasonable laws to people all give money in exchange for recruitment into the organized crime gangs the government has said that theyre providing some money to the Town Councils to give out food vouchers to those who are desperately in need but fishel is in the south say that this is me not be enough and we know the italy has always been a story of 2 different worlds the north south divide how is this how is this crisis playing out differently across the north and the south. Well aside from the economic differences because of course is affecting the entire country but as we as weve mentioned in the south in particular in terms of the prices of this corona virus emergency even the head of the Civil Protection services here in italy says that the emergency is not north but the risk is still high in the south and weve already seen clusters forming in the south and a numbers of infections rising in sicily companion and poorly as well and officials there are saying that it desperately in need of protective gear in particular to help ensure that this infection rate doesnt increase even further and create a fund a militancy down south all rights similar to the latest tonight from rome sima thank you heres a look now at some other developments in the pandemic the World Health Organization has voiced deep concern about the rapid escalation in global spread of covert 19 there are now 205 countries affected and more than 900000 cases around the world spain has recorded a new daily death toll 864 and a total of more than 9000 covert 1000 related deaths and germany is extending its current restrictions on public life to limit the spread of the corona virus that extension by 2 weeks until april 19th a group of scientists have announced a new study into the corona virus theyre hoping that a hard hit region on the french german border can help shed new light on just how the infection spreads. This is germanys. Heinsberg is the german epicenter of the corona Virus Outbreak now its about to be turned into an open and the dollar tree. As one of the countrys worst affected regions heinsberg has reached the point where we can now see new infections declining so here for the 1st time we can ask the question how high the ratio of those really is who were sick without ever being diagnosed writes happen doctors are teaming up with pollsters to analyze a group of 1000 people in this Small Community of going ahead following carnival celebrations in february the town saw a sudden surge of corona virus infections those responsible hope the mistakes made back then may now produce some good for others in the end we might end up not just being those who were in the spotlight for being the region where things were particularly bad maybe we will also be seen as those who handle the situation well. Its hope taking samples from all aspects of daily life will shed some light on how fast and in which ways the virus spread it is probably mostly in denial of the problem is that we are currently relying too much on mathematical models and if only one factor turns out to be wrong the whole calculation collapses. The team of scientists hopes to be able to present the 1st concrete results on actual infection ratios by the beginning of next week. Well is your smartphone helping the government tray sure every step the German Government is hoping to launch a smart phone. People if they come in contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus studies show that this Contact Tracing method is highly effective against epidemics but germans they are known for their protection of their privacy and this project it wasnt popular until very recently. Using mobile phones to tackle the corona virus without a massive increase in state surveillance for weeks over 100 experts from 8 countries have been working to achieve this goal now theyve come up with an app that uses Bluetooth Technology to anonymously monitor whether other users are nearby for a certain period of time. If a user has tested positive for the corona virus other pieces who were in contact received a warning. Works on a voluntary basis privacy will be strictly respected because we will on no account to use personal data or location data neither will data be saved over a long period but rather just the 21 days. Germanys business friendly Free Democratic party is among those to back the idea the the platform the of this platform is the european solution it conforms to Data Protection regulations and respects society our values and can contribute to Health Protection from the finnish tap isnt ready yet and the German Government says the newly announced project is just one of many options it is considering it can mean you know you didnt have to spend as cunts i can tell you now that the head of the Chancellors Office thinks the app is promising and welcomes the fact that a cross border solution is being worked on at the leak then to push buttons function yet. The projects developer say an app may be ready to stand. So weve got a possible tradeoff here between Civil Liberties and Public Health im joined here at the big table by. I wonder why does the German Government think that a Smartphone App can help where quarantine rules have not worked well as you know people are still coming in contact and a lot of people dont quarantine strictly until they feel sick but the problem there is that people are contagious even before the feel sick so the government wants to know who theyve come in contact with before then to alert those people and get them in the corner and this is a very effective method against the spread of a virus but only if you have massive amounts of data and that has been made possible through digital surveillance and thus the app big data big brother how do germanys efforts compare to other countries well germany is behind the curve at this point south korea is an example of a country that was in front of the curve they really rolled out a lot of surveillance and a lot of Contact Tracing right at the beginning and they seem to have been able to stem the growth of the virus in their country there are about 10000 germany is about 70000 cases and still rising. The difference there is that south korea gave Carte Blanche to their center for Disease Control to look at the personal data of people who come down with copa 19 that means Video Surveillance that means credit card history everything thats on your cell phone the data has access to if youve been diagnosed with toba 19 as you know that wouldnt fly in germany germans are famously protective of their data theyve lived through quite hard times when it comes to surveillance so there theyve been a lot more protective of that but the app now seems to have some protections against that you know. If and when it comes out i mean do you basically this is a question do you trust the state to you. Use your data just to make sure you dont get sick right i think a lot of people would very easily give up their data to avoid a catastrophe but at the same time i do think that they have done a lot with this app to protect the data because theyre using Bluetooth Technology and that would just mean that the user of the app would know whether or not theyve come in contact with somebody with the virus and not the government hopefully if they do it that way then i would download it yes. I mean thank you and heres some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world lawmakers in ukraine have passed an historic reform bill and that opens the way to unlocking an 8000000000 dollar i. M. F. Loan package. Lawmakers were masks and gloves to show that they want to protect themselves from the coronavirus when they passed the reform bill in the United States las vegas authorities have converted an elf door parking lot into a temporary homeless shelter in the pandemic the measure it has sparked outrage with critics pointing to the thousands of empty hotel rooms in the city theres an estimated 6500. 00 people without permanent housing in las vegas and britain has turned a London Exhibition Center into a temporary coronavirus Field Hospital it will treat up to 4000 patients who were struck down by code 19 were previously fit and healthy sicker patients and those with Underlying Health conditions will be treated in regular hospitals. Afghanistan has recorded nearly 200. 00 corona virus cases and 4 deaths of the ortiz there are taking steps to halt the spread of the vaccine but after years of war the Health Care System is weak and would be easily 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 the pandemic 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. Mad all right its 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. The number of afghan refugees returning has increased massively. Theyre afraid of the coronavirus in iraq and the not finding work because of the. 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 hiran 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. Earlier we spoke to young general secretary of the Norwegian Refugee Council we have asked him how dangerous the coronavirus pandemic is for those living in camps for displaced people. What it is horribly dangerous because remember that this place 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 said place this camps settlements may be traps where the virus will fright 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 small water and sanitation were trying to also provide more space for the the refugees so they can have some physical distance and thought perhaps we would also be able to put up quarantined tents and the like but its a race against the clock well over one what overstretched. That was young there with the Norwegian Refugee Council lets take a look now at Business News the German Government is funding start ups with a rescue package worth 2000000000 euro the finance minister says that many innovative Young Companies are already struggling with liquidity and finding it difficult to secure loans they need support so it was not to endanger their existence and endangered the years of research and development that they have behind the german sportswear giant adi the us has retracted its decision to delay paying rent on Retail Stores forced to close because of the coronavirus the company had come under fire for taking advantage of a Government Support scheme critics say the help was not intended for large profitable companies. It was bound to happen the us shell producer Whiting Petroleum has filed for bankruptcy protection making it the 1st signs of u. S. Oil Fracking Company to be pulled under by plunging Prices Crude Oil is hovering around 20 dollars a barrel this wednesday weak demand due to the coronavirus and a price war between saudi arabia and russia both contributed to the plunge the Shale Oil Boom in the u. S. Has transformed Global Markets but Many Companies they flourished and they also carry heavy debt load us. For more now lets go to our financial correspondent gives quarter in new york yeah this was going to happen these Fracking Companies are starting to focus now how worried are american Fracking Companies at the moment. Well phillys the industry is freaked out you already mentioned that wreckers already do run high debt that was even before the crisis survey hit and now there are some estimates that was oil prices around to 2025 dollars a barrel that actually about half of the Fracking Companies in the United States actually might have to file for bankruptcy and that is