Stay disciplined that we keep our distance and follow hygiene of rules and. Anyone who has acute respiratory symptoms should be tested for the virus because the capacities are that they should be used. Also coming up tonight police raids across the country germany bans the Islamist Group hezbollah and labels it a terrorist organization and members of peace potty and nothing more then to speak of bullies ryle hate is an anti semites people who not only called into question israels right to exist but also openly call for its destruction. To our viewers on p. B. S. In the United States and all around the world welcome we begin the day ending april counting what weve lost and. What weve say just one month ago on the last day of march there were 857 cells and confirmed cases globally of covert 19 the disease caused by the new corona virus today on this last day of april that number stands at almost 3000000 250000. Was without a doubt a month that belong to the pandemic today to more than 230000 people have died from the virus but there are inspiring numbers reflected in the tragic ones more than 1000000 people have fully recovered since the pandemic began may will most likely be a month in which the negatives and the positives both continue to grow however in more cities in countries around the world we are seeing increasing efforts at returning to some semblance of normality you can call them baby steps or 1st report walks us through the latest here in germany chancellor Angela Merkel defended a step by step approach as she outlined details of the latest easing of her strict since in germany following a Virtual Meeting with the 16 state premiers its been the 5th im strongly convinced we can best walk in the interest of business but also of social contacts if we focus on taking small steps to whats allowing more contacts but if we dont have to take steps back and thats why we have to stay careful and have to hit to measures of high teen. Under the new rules religious gatherings are allowed again provided hygiene and distancing requirements are met in church is synagogues and mosques visits to zoos museums and memorials will also be possible again under the same requirements intensive care units and hospitals will stop receiving noncode that 1000 patients again and playgrounds can reopen as early as this week. But 2 decisions were postponed for now one should geminis bunda sleekest Soccer League resume its season with games behind closed doors and to just which requirements need to be met before schools and child cafe still can reopen gradually. Said it was important to get a clear idea of the impact of the fast steps to ease the lockdown 2 weeks ago before deciding on the next steps and that will happen next wednesday. Well listen to the scientists follow the data we have heard those commands ever since the pandemic began and they became more relevant as lock downs were imposed and entire economies were shut down as consensus here in germany over restrictions appears to be waning fresh appeals to people and policy makers to stay with the science listen to what the head of germanys center for Disease Control and prevention the robert Cork Institute said today this is us this virus is in our country and will be in our country for months thats why we have to live for months in this socalled new normality where we have to make sure that the virus has this will chance as possible the spreading. And that will continue to be the case as things stand at the moment. Until we either have a vaccine that will give us the immunity we need when we are vaccinated and have a good vaccine or what we have better medicines that will allow us to treat the infected better foster. The. My 1st guest tonight is one of the us is leading Epidemiologist Dr jennifer warney is professor in founding director of the Epidemiology Program at the university of delaware she has trained Rapid Response teams for outbreaks including the 2009 swine flu pandemic dr warning its good to have you on the day this is your 1st time you were happy to have you here id like to get you. Take on the ebola dr ram to severe yesterday the top Infectious Disease expert in the u. S. Dr fell to revive hopes of using the drug to treat 19 take a listen to what he said although with 31 percent improvement doesnt seem like a knockout 100 percent it is a very important proof of concept because what it is proven is that a drug can block this virus so after doctor found she spoke the stock market jumped and it was easy to think that we have a new wonder medicine here against the virus maybe if you could give us a reality check please what is the reality about this medication. So i think this is a really important finding because to date weve had no pharmaceutical interventions for coping 19 so weve been relying on the type of individual and Community Level nonfarm ical suitable interventions like social distancing a stay at home to control transmission and so to put this in context these trials showed a Recovery Time reduced from about 15 days to 11 days so thats why this 30 percent improvement comes as a comparison tamiflu which are that we use a lot if you file for seasonal influenza when given in the 1st 48 hours of infection it typically reduces our Recovery Time by one day from the sickle 7 to 10 day course of infection so among older adults it might be a little more effective but this is important as i thought High Risk Group so this reduction of about a 13 pretty good in comparison with what were usually expecting from an antiviral ok from a possible treatment to a possible vaccine one day here what do you make of reports this week that researchers at oxford who were already working on a different corona virus and have now switched to the new coronavirus they hope to have a vaccine by the end of september the end of september it isnt too good to be true. God i think that it probably is if were talking about a vaccine that would be widely available so a couple of coffee outs are not the capacity to ramp up production is going to be severely limited even if a vaccine was available by the fall it would only be available for use among highly targeted groups of high risk patients and i think we also need to consider what the uptake would be on a novel vaccine so even though the centers for Disease Control and prevention in the u. S. Recommend seasonal flu vaccine for all americans over 6 months of age the typical population coverage is less than 50 percent even though the science is clear that reduces hospitalization and death so if we have a vaccine available how many doses will we have and what would be the accepted. And you know we hear time and time again its all about testing testing and testing theres been praise for south korea taiwan new zealand and germany for rolling out massive testing early on that is not the case in the United States why are we about to start the month of may with doctors across america still crying out for more tests i honestly do not know why our testing in the u. S. Has been such a mess im not an expert in the supply chain issues that just certainly impacted the availability of the test kits and every agent needed and i was the samples but our strategy remains an adequate because were not getting the task down to the lower levels of Public Health the state and local level which is where the contact with the populations that are at high risk are so much of whats needed to move forward with the plans that we have in place now for relaxing social distancing for a lot of on relatively untested diagnostic technologies and in contrast to the countries you mentioned that have been more successful in rolling out mass testing testing in the u. S. Remains highly decentralized responsibility of the state. Yeah theres a very good point to bring out the virus calls in the pandemic now is thought to have originated in bat but u. S. Intelligence has confirmed that it is investigating the possibility of the virus having leaked from a lab in china have now if that were to be proven true would it have any impact on how we are reacting and dealing with this pandemic does it matter. Dont think that it is true i think that the genetic analysis is showing that pretty clearly and it far more likely that this is traditional. Ira from an animal to human pose i think the difference here is that opposed to keep our eyes when we had the 85 in one hand and extreme it was highly inefficient transmission person to person so the severe disease but inefficient transmission and when we had a pandemic influenza in 2000 i it was a fish and a person to person transmission that the infection was not very severe and we get here with a very serious and highly transmissible and i think that this is something that we should expect to happen in crop overs. Are global world weve heard that many times for many scientists saying that were encroaching on perhaps places we shouldnt be i know that your research focuses on the impacts of Natural Disasters on Public Health do you classify a virus jumping species as what weve got right now and causing it and then causing a pandemic do you classify that as a Natural Disaster or would you say thats just a natural occurrence. I would say that its not so much that the virus be seen but that we have a combination i mentioned before of a disease that very easily transmitted including by people who are 8 and magic operating in this environment of the curing Global Connectivity pandemic of that is that theyre in this that our main concern at this point was that we would exceed our local capacity to respond. But i think we need to remember that even prior to 2001 our public appearance and responses were considering pandemic as a potential disaster we needed to prepare for the few 1008. 100 not been and there are few pandemic we faced with h one n one. Have not impacted the u. S. In a meaningful way you know and i think you bring in a good point there that at the end of the day we pay when we dont prepare for what is coming dr jennifer a warning epidemiologist at the university of delaware dr worry its good to have you on the show we appreciate your time and your insights tonight thank you thank you. Well the police raids began early this morning after the decision had been made here in berlin the German Government has banned the iran backed Hezbollah Group and at the same time declared it a terrorist organization the decision puts germany on the same page with the United States and israel the military wing of the group was banned in the European Union 7 years ago hezbollah is a shiite military and Political Group based in lebanon on just before dawn police here in berlin and in other german cities raided properties connected to suspected hezbollah supporters. Early morning rids 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 following the ban on his blog i missed 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 organization 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 meat cleaver these are Party Members of peace pati and nothing more than despicable israel he says an anti semites people who not only calling to question his right to exist bot also openly colfer its destruction of. Questions regarding hezbollahs operations in germany arent new in the center of the balloon the saga adopted a motion urging the government to outlaw all of hezbollahs activities in the country. Hezbollah supporters have repeatedly brandished the groups flag and used anti israeli slogans at rallies the ban now allows authorities to outlaw the use of hezbollah symbols at gatherings and on publications and the groups asses can now be confiscated. Israel in the us have welcomed germanys move to completely outlaw hezbollah they know hope that other European Countries will follow suit. Or we have complete coverage of todays decision by germany im joined tonight by Hong Schindler he is with the counter extremism project in new york in berlin and he spent time in iran is the security liaison at the German Embassy in tehran and joining me tonight from beirut in lebanon is correspondent baso a reading to both of you gentlemen welcome basile let me start with you is based in lebanon it is in the parliament it is a force to be reckoned with in the country has there been any reaction to germanys decision. Oh but that is nothing to date about the sound of silence i tried to have some comments from a governmental side or as well as well but that if used to do so today at the same time that it was a Cabinet Meeting to discuss the Current Issues and that didnt but they didnt come across this topic as well as there was a weekly meeting for his will and piece of luck and their gifts confidence they didnt comment at all about these issues usually such commands will be handled by his will not secretary general has on the notes on the internet on the whole you month for the muslims you should he focus on the religious issues and keep the political stance on to the last friday of this months which is called by has been a good day or your criticisms date yeah ok so silence there in beirut mr jenner the German Foreign minister announced this decision in a tweet today and the 1st reason that he listed was hezbollahs refusal to recognize the right of israel to exist did that surprise you because that is nothing new theres nothing new in that statement. Thank you very much for having me obviously as you already pointed out this decision came along and liberation even the parliamentary vote and was the last stage in a very very long discussion you have to look at his fall in 2 ways at the one hand this is a Terrorism Group and i think todays decision reified that it is but it also is a veritable Crime Network including inside german rocket carrying a gun running drug dealing where all of what he is or sympathizers and members of his what i think in germany to raise funds for the organization so what is the big threat to germany mr schindler is it has been the terrorist group or. The criminal gang money launderers both problem however you cannot treat that terrorist aspect of the Group Without declaring it a terrorist school and you cannot create a terrorist group if you just simply only as a crime and now that uptick life is very much gone online we have seen a ramp up on like activities. As well in germany and without todays decision that was nothing that can be done with todays decision of course they can the u. S. Ambassador to germany released a Statement Today praising germanys decision Ambassador Richard grinnell wrote and we can show our viewers that germanys efforts to confront this threat especially its legal ban on any hezbollah activities on german soil are exactly what is needed throughout europe we call on all European UnionMember States to take similar action so that from the u. S. Ambassador mr schindler todays move could be seen as berlin falling into line behind washington is that what has happened. And to be very frank this is not the 1st u. S. Administration of called for jam nato to look at his fall models now and to look and act on that European Union to look at what i will closely in a way this is not a process that started with this u. S. Administration and this is not a decision about them it took because of us that was racial as far as i can see. Basel you know up until recently were very recently the German Government refused to ban hezbollah because of the groups presence in lebanon and in the Lebanese Parliament will germanys decision to hurt hezbollahs credibility among the lebanese people what do you think. Let me put it this way germany. Is a neutral and trusty partner so should. The us to kates. Thoughts at all between hezbollah and israel. The prisoners are sure according to this at least succeeded at least in 2 times to find a law is that the pose the. As well as well. As i said and you took the word in july 2006 judgment if you dont under 50 its soldiers in South Lebanon you ask if peacekeepers known as unison according to the script he considers a 17 a long and to make that mistake made shock some are because germany according to his a lot its the closest european friend to you not and. Your money is also as a one off the it on commercial partners with iran you know its interesting germany does have those ties with iran mr schindler syria has condemned germanys decision today how big of a role is hezbollah playing in conflicts around the world such as the war in syria. Well i mean as i think its figured out and all of that is definitely indispe