A record breaking charity walk to raise millions for Health Care Workers battling the coronavirus. Im phil gramm welcome to the program germanys chancellor has announced a further easing of the countrys coronavirus lockdown after consulting with regional legions leaders im going to map will set museums galleries places of worship and childrens playgrounds would be allowed to reopen but major events such as professional football matches remain banned until the end of august and the chancellor warned that the easing of restrictions could be reversed if the rate of covered 1000. 00 infection increased again. Chancellor Angela Merkel defended a step by step approach as she outlined details of the latest easing of restrictions in germany following a Virtual Meeting with the 16 state premiers its been the 1st im strongly convinced we can best work in the interest of business but also of social contacts if we focus on taking small steps towards allowing more contacts but if we dont have to take steps back and thats why we have to stay careful and have to hear to measures of hygiene. Under the new rules religious gatherings are allowed again provided hygiene and distancing requirements are met in churches synagogues and mosques visits to zoos museums and memorials will also be possible again under the same requirements intensive care units and hospitals will start receiving noncode that 1000 patients again and playgrounds can reopen as early as this week. But 2 decisions were postponed for now one should germanys blunder sleeker Soccer League resume its season with games behind closed doors and to just which requirements need to be met before schools and child care facilities can reopen gradually. Angloamerican said it was important to get a clear idea of the impact of the 1st steps to ease the lockdown 2 weeks ago before deciding on the next steps and that will happen next wednesday. More from Political Correspondent hans welcome hands. On the details of todays decisions. Well yes the the major decision is the decisions are that there will be no major gatherings of people no very large crowds will be a lot until the end of august that includes obviously soccer matches with the public and attendance of not clear whether soccer matches behind closed doors might possibly be allowed before then it also includes obviously things like Music Festivals large demonstrations large gatherings of any kind will be banned until the end of august but there will be an easing in areas of society where the politicians concerned feel that opening these institutions is not going to endanger society very much these include museums and monuments zoos and Botanical Gardens but also it includes the allowing Church Gatherings or a religious meetings and also reopening playgrounds for children in all of these cases obviously restrictions that will still be in place restrictions regarding hygiene and social distancing but at least these institutions will be able to receive the public again and to give us a sense of the balancing out what the chancellor and those regional leaders have to perform with this. Well there obviously are under a lot of pressure from society especially from industry from business at the moment there are literally millions of people in germany who are not earning him any money at the moment hundreds of thousands of companies who are not earning any money many of them are being threatened with going down the drain as it were so that theres a lot of pressure but against this pressure the government has been saying one needs to take these things slowly if one relaxers the restrictions too quickly there is a great chance that there will be reemergence of the virus in a lot more strongman and that will push push back the entire society will be counterproductive so there is an appeal from uncle america and her colleagues in the various regions and germany for people to show some more patients. To take this step by step and the steps are roughly 2 weeks apart so that one can measure the effect of each step within those 2 weeks good talking to you thank you for that Political Correspondent on sprint well we can speak not to call it lauterbach hes a member of germanys parliament and Health Care Expert for the s. P. D. The Coalition Partners in chancellor merkels governing. Coalition robbie usefully hes also a professor of Health Economics and epidemiology at the university of cologne and welcome to d w professor what do you make of the steps agreed today. But since you know just watch and only the steps taken today announced that they are result of those steps. Im chris measures of hygiene and so should is the insane. Clearly more it steps would have been called the things that are locked on whats necessary what their email. And in my opinion i would even a great thought so far for a couple of additional 6 in order to suppress the virus even more than you were able to do all the armchair years as you currently observe son whats it been 0. 75911 is but its not perfect in my personal opinion if we had lingered on for a couple of additional weeks and you would have had surgical mask of ale of a far larger percentage also population and tracing at a veil of what those are probably said would have their hair even more and more and then we would ease locked on to the measures and they appear to be reasonable measures and not too dangerous blair said we havent decided on the schools and on the lets hear kindergarten so far because theyre there im really worried that we go one step too far but this has not been announced and theyre not and i should also mention and personally again against having soccer games even result. In the public because i think that is giving the wrong signal that set point ok well lets lets take the 1st of those points with the schools he said no decision made today on schools but that is that this isnt already been taken germany asked us to reopen schools from a next week you believe that to be a mistake. Well there was a decision that we all kinds of school for some classes for the final classes basically and i and i would not have done so i think it was a mistake but nevertheless 2 days i was. Taught rumors about openings discords for example for the chair learn that im not in final classes and im not saying it is their final years of lets say. Middle school or. Low flow and if they had opened the school beyond what has already been this and i think that would have been problematic guy who understands. For openings will be decided in and often say yes its the biggest state us in mit he said its a case that happened so theres a mistake but im glad thats such a this was not made nationwide right and i would not even have all kinds of schools on finally yes i just want to pick up on the point that youve made a couple of times on the lockdown youve said that you think it was a mistake to start easing that and on opening schools youve said that you think its a mistake to start opening them as well so in both of those issues you say you believe the government to be making a mistake yet you support what theyre doing. Well i suppose there was not more than zen has been known as the myth of the of the basically have strategies which we can follow because we want what we decide to do is basically we decide that a standard you want is publicly calls a kind of a hammer and then strategy that we have mentioned or lets say a suppressive virus to some degree and now we allow it to dance and the laws are fair you all of one and. Basically try and look at all as your system is all wrong and on target if was ever being straight so far she. Would have tried to basically a racist as a virus and essentially erase it and that would have. Made the story to carry on so and so locked on for to us were unique selves so its a very nice. There are is a very rigorous tracing effort most likely including a placing at mess testing and also. Additionally basically. Social distancing. But thats but you would have been able to follow up on cases but now its their decision notion has been made we have opted for what is going to hammer and dance style it year give and set to base decisions were better better then look at. What was actually the monitor by some also mean it was a states are thank you to expected and been demanding some of those good talking to thank you so much for joining us professor cammarata bought from the social Democratic Party and the university of color. Thank you so much. Now lets round up some of the latest developments in the pandemic yemen has reported its 1st 2 deaths from a corona virus the u. N. Says it fears the disease could be spreading undetected in the war torn country russia has recorded its highest daily increase in infections it now has more than 100000 confirmed cases south korea has reported no new domestic cases for the 1st time in 2 months and the Czech Republic says the spread of the virus is contained after 8 consecutive days a few of the 100. 00 new cases. Well since the corona Virus Outbreak began the advice has been to stay at home and save lives but for some this is where theyre actually the most vulnerable to Domestic Violence agencies say that surging numbers of abuse cases are going unchecked because restrictions on physical distancing mean victims especially children ive known to turn to. The look down for many means living on top of each other no playgrounds for Young Children schools and day Centers Closed everyone is finding it stressful and its worse for families where Domestic Violence is already a problem agencies supporting women said tax are on the increase. We know from the cases were seeing that it nearly always affects women who have been subjected to long term violence by their partners and who now cannot get away because they have to stay at home. Its just as bad for the children as there are so few opportunities for them to get away from it. When police or social services are brought in it generally means theres been a serious incident social workers at one agency which helps young people are especially concerned. Because its much quieter than usual and that is very worrying for his office or. Thats because agencies cant make home visits at the moment and can only talk to families on the telephone its the same for doctors teachers and neighbors who would normally pick up on women or children being abused. This is extremely concerning schools and day centers often bring is in children in a place of a trust and is about any problems of course thats not happening at the moment its all of it not really here to complete their. Children subjected to Serious Violence may be placed under protection orders at butlins criminal Investigation Office its often the youngsters themselves who report the offenses. Most often throwing in rows of ice and ones we hear about most cases when the children if it did get a bit older. Juveniles often go to the Police Station we family members all call emergency numbers. But we also get reports from doctors and hospitals what were not getting at the moment are reports from schools and day centers of once. You toss. Restrictions on leaving home are often the trigger for violent outbursts. We know there are parents who resort to violence to stop their children going out of course that is not acceptable and the children themselves often go to the police it seems many families who are didnt really need help are using the corona restrictions as a pretext to break off communication your glommed of course we favor it because of a coronavirus and very adoption in contact that it will be difficult to reestablish dialogue. They may not be possible for us to step in because some families have retreated into themselves often well if you live for me its routine. The authorities are appealing to everyone to be on the lookout for signs of Domestic Violence and if necessary to call the police. Or from suggestions that in injecting disinfectant can help be coronavirus to conspiracy theories that the 5 g. Mobile phone network is somehow linked to the pandemic has been know and the fake news during this crisis now a new Fact Checking website has been set up to combat some of the while the story is appearing on social media sites the w. C. Alex Forrest Whiting can tell us well welcome alex so tell us about this new site. Well its called in for tejan and it is an independent Fact Checking site has been set up deliberately because of the trainer virus and because of all that misinformation and disinformation thats being spread now the platform allows people to send a message for a link to the group a fact check is who will then investigate whether something that they may be uncertain about is true whether its full of bull whether its perhaps unclear now i spoke to one of the kind of founders use of british politician co Damian Collins and he explains what people should do if they are unsure about such in content theyve seen. I dont know if you will come to the copy proven that either that this is a really serious issue if people call back up what theyre saying with facts dont spread them into something the current yet the established whether that is a full stereo or uncertain very about how it started or what shows it that dont share that. And do they actually stop people sharing these full stories. Well its a good question because of course the stock is prolific but what the platform invitation has done is it set up a social Media Campaign called isolate the lines so whether it is claims for example that disinfectant can peer code at 19 as was apparently suggested even by the us President Donald Trump or whether its Something Else the key message here is to not spread that information but Damian Collins wants to go even further and he wants to make it a criminal prentiss for anyone to knowingly and maliciously spreading that disinclination about the virus and yes that should include anyone in power. If a world leader knowingly is sharing information that is false it could lead to whole the ship the cool air and indeed twitter i think took hours of messages from the president of brazil which they thought were potentially harmful could lead to physical harm if the advice that followed so absolutely they should. And what about the social media fives themselves theyre hosting this fake news yes absolutely and Damian Collins has as a politician in the u. K. Spent many years trying to earn more pressure on governments to regulate Companies Like facebook trisect exceptional larry says some of them have done a better job during this coronavirus pandemic he still thinks that it should they should become liable if they do not take down information that is made and he also thinks its crucial that he networks that he distributing this stuff are tracked down and they are stopped because otherwise there will be no end to this battle i thank you for that alex Forrest Whiting. Lets take a brief look now at some of the of the stories making headlines around the world the u. S. Officials say a man has been arrested after opening fire on the Cuban Embassy in washington so far to say an unidentified person are fired several shots in the early hours of thursday the countrys secret service is investigating no one was injured. And when the traffic jams of up to 30 kilometers of the border between kenya and uganda because of mandatory coronavirus testing the controls were introduced after several kenyan Truck Drivers tested positive drivers say theyve been waiting in the tailbacks for days. South koreans are celebrating the birthday of the border at a temple in seoul worshippers the candles and incense and prayed under mountains but they offered prayers for those affected by the coronavirus a stuff held up signs encouraging certainties to say. India is mourning the death of actor Ritchie Kapoor a bollywood i come whose career has spanned half a century he died from leukemia home thursday at age 67 his passing comes just a day after another indian film legend come on dying in mumbai aged 53. 00. Germany has banned the iran backed Hezbollah Group had declared it a terrorist organization the move is in addition to a 2030 e. U. Ban on hezbollahs military faction and now includes all activities by its political wing as well as a shiite militant Political Group based in lebanon early this morning German Police that took action against suspected supporters in 5 towns and cities. Early morning ribs with dozens of police and special forces in cities across Germany Police searched mosques associations and private residences collecting evidence to be used for investigations into hezbollahs activities. Were searching for locations here in berlin annoyed her and following the ban on his blog the aim is to find out if theres a connection between these locations and hezbollah the organization which is now outlaw. Hezbollah doesnt have an official presence in germany but a network of associations is thought to provide Financial Support and deliver propaganda for the group while the groups military arm is classified as a terrorist organisation in the entire you most countries havent banned its political wing on thursday germany moved to do just that. It said it could not tolerate hezbollahs anti israel positions these are these are Party Members of this party and nothing more than despicable israel hate is a