This is joining us here with your global news update this is r. T. Lets begin with the latest figures on the covert 900 pandemic there are now more than 2400000 confirmed cases worldwide 166000 people have lost their lives the majority in europe and the United States and 636000 people have recovered from the virus. Lets turn 1st to germany which is starting to lift its month long lockdown after declaring the corona Virus Outbreak under control but the economy minister has warned that the measures could be reinstated if the situation deteriorates starting monday shops in some regions are allowed to open schools and restaurants remain closed in berlin the restrictions of course widespread frustration with some people taking to the streets into all of it has more. Germanys minister for Economic Affairs coming out and saying that showed people stick to those social distancing protocols that are still in place even if they are being eased then germany could well perhaps avoid a 2nd lockdown he said essentially as long as people dont go running around like headless chickens and immediately back out onto the streets trying to live their lives as they were and things would be ok thats not washing with some on saturday here in berlin we saw a group of well around 250 people demonstrating against what the current measures that have been put in place and where they see the government here in germany taking us as we try and battle against coronavirus without a year im here to stand up for my fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution and when a right to demonstrate is taken away and we cannot raise our voices against justice that makes us take to the streets out of those of you just to the spread of the virus isnt that bad the measures that have been introduced arent reasonably good still are politicians go down the same route and say look down remains in place perhaps right until they have a vaccine the monitoring app is voluntary but well see how it goes of the spike those people being unhappy with whats being done we are seeing an easing of some of the restrictions here in germany from monday some shops that are under 800 square meters will be allowed to gradually reach open that will be with restrictions on how many people can enter the store there will also be hygiene standards that need to be met when looking to schools well were looking at the 4th of may for the moment that is under constant review and could well be changed in the future some states though have said they may be on a different timetable in no way is this going to be a national. Timetable thats laid out for when germany will be reopened market soda whos the head of the state of bavaria has said this his state may well work on a diff. Timeline the message from the government though from the Central Government here in berlin is that this isnt the return to how things were that germans will have to adhere to some more restrictions some more social distancing some more anti corona measures otherwise well things could go right back to square one kind weve got and thats to inflict their new guarantees of the infection could keep happening out there also risks and when we take the small steps towards opening up we must keep an eye on the impacts and more the means for the whole system and almost for matters of health the statistics were looking at here in germany is around 150000 confirmed cases of corona virus with around 5000 people sadly having died from the virus its a much better ratio than most other european nations its a much better ratio than much of the comparable nations of a similar Socio Economic background what thats been put down to a lot of is the amount of hospitals in germany the amount of hospital beds available the amount of protective equipment available for those working in those hospital environment and the amount of testing that has been carried out here in germany when it comes to the economy though while some are a little more concerned we are expecting perhaps a contract ssion of around 10 percent in the German Economy for the 2nd quarter of 2020 what were hearing from the finance minister all af scholtz though is that perhaps things could be a little bit improved and couldnt be it could be a little better than that should the economy kick on in the 2nd half of 2020 however the minister for Economic Affairs peter out myers a little less optimistic than his coalition colleague saying that times are tough and people need to be prepared for that the. German economys. A more serious situation than anything weve seen since the war including any financial crisis not only are companies suffering losses theyre fighting for survival our hope is that with the help that weve provided we will be able to get through the toughest period of the damage so that we can avoid job losses and bankruptcies all the latest from the World Health Organization is to those countries like germany that are starting to lift some of their coronavirus restrictions saying that people shouldnt think of this as a end to this situation that they should think of this as the next phase of whats happening in that pretty much echoes what we heard from chancellor Angela Merkel when she addressed the german people on t. V. Earlier this month when she said essentially there wont be an end to this or return to normality until we have a vaccine that works this isnt the end of the story when it comes to corona its certainly not even the beginning of the end of the story it could well be the beginning of the next chapter when it comes to how to germany deals with it. We spoke with neurosurgeon mohammed a roofs who said that most European Countries are not yet ready to lift their containment measures. I dont think the majority of countries in europe have peaked regarding the spread of the infection of course we should continue being disciplined in every single country in order to be able to achieve positive results all over europe the most important thing in our life is health and only then follows the economy and other things however every single case should be looked at individually if the infection rate continues to decrease we can slowly carefully start launching the economy step by step of course it makes sense to take necessary precautionary measures in those federal states that are affected the most for example in bavaria the Movement Restrictions have been extended taking into account the infection rate there it makes total sense to me. The french Government Faces some tough questions as to why it allowed last months local elections to go ahead despite the pandemic around that time several elderly regional officials including tom as contracted the virus passed away and the council official in a suburb of paris is now accusing the government of putting people at risk. Dot com what you will starve caught the virus 69 and was taken to hospital for 10 days because of the contagion that most likely took place on election day the government is responsible putting so many people in so many cities at risk with restaurants and facilities be close shortly before election day is something i can hardly understand why did they send us to vote just days before the national lockdown. The 1st round of local elections was held on march 15th about 7 weeks after the 1st covert 19 case was detected in france by that time schools and restaurants had already been closed as part of containment measures the 2nd round of voting was later postponed and no new data has been out so far and the new micron admit is that allowing the vote to go ahead in march was the wrong decision. If the science counsellor told me that keeping municipal elections would endanger french Peoples Health i would not have kept them i take full responsibility for the decision i had no one the country to think that there was manipulation that people could say i had found an excuse not to organize and. Johnno a person here again believes that the safety rules on election day were widely disregard it. About children so to nearly gone some of the polling stations had no medical gloves there was sanitized a job the rules were often ignored there were a lot of people particularly during the vote count 2 people sitting on each side of the table when they should be just one social distancing was less than a meter that led to a lot of stuff constructing the virus in vineyard and across the country and we also learned to protect ourselves we felt that we were risk of being the 1st to contract with lawyers. The u. S. Death toll from covert 19 is sought by almost 2000 in the past 24 hours to reach a total of 40000. 00 it is by far the highest figure in the world and Public Opinion is divided over president Donald Trumps handling of the crisis in new york a group of protesters dumped fake body bags outside trump Tower Holding placards with the message trump calls death the city has borne the brunt of the pandemic with nearly 14000 fatalities in americas south the midwest in shows of support for the president and his demands to reopen the economy with more details his Artesian Well in vogue. All americans just like everyone else in the world are facing an indiscriminate and powerful enemy is invisible enemy is tough and its march and its a vicious but true to form the only thing uniting people in the us is disagreeing on how to handle this threat trump and co have a task force churning out daily briefings which people either love or hate to pens on who you ask and the country split about 5050 when it comes to the administrations overall handling of the outbreak will come as little surprise to many that those numbers fall pretty neatly along party lines you know while all the top brass in d. C. Keep repeating that this is no time for politics and name calling before doing just that lives are at stake this is not a time for name calling or playing politics i want to remind everyone here in our Nations Capital especially in congress. But this is not the time for politics and less politics and investigations have already done extraordinary damage to our country in recent years by clashes are confined to capitol hill in new york city the place hit hardest by the pandemic doctors nurses and ordinary citizens have been protesting against trumps policies is completely incompetent at his job he tries to pretend like its a 1980 s. Boardroom and its not you do not gamble with peoples lives that is morally bankrupt all of these things that lead to more darkness here and more illnesses and more economic damage if it wasnt for the truck thats breaking it wouldnt be anywhere near this bad so for many of the president s not done enough but on the other side of that coin are the hundreds of people protesting in states like nevada wisconsin and minnesota calling for an end to stay at home orders and giving trump a gold star already when he said were standing we have right where her have a Party Responsibility for iraq no need to tell us how to take a quick break right here in rome right now are very much rather. Than using our Constitutional Rights and were falling under a dictatorship and thats not harassment trump being trump he went ahead and tweeted out a rallying cry of a liberation from lockdowns and a number of those states that had already seen protests and that led to a slew of criticism that the president is fanning the flames of unrest in his own country not that they needed any help trump defended himself saying particular states have gone too far and then threw in some comments about the 2nd amendment for good measure because a gun debate was what this pandemic was really missing but i think some things are too tough and if you look at some of the states you just mentioned it its too tough not only relative to this but what theyve done in virginia with respect to the 2nd amendment is just a horrible thing they do a horrible d thing the governor and all of that only further ruffled the feathers of a number of governors. You are already pushing back against trump the president of the United States has the authority to do what the president has the authority to do which is very powerful he does not have told to a 3rd his proclamation is that he would be killed thats what a king is a king has told to authority that statement cannot stand a tweet coming from our president to liberate virginia i would just simply say that as the governor of the commonwealth of virginia along with his staff is fighting a biological war do not have time to involve myself in twitter or to have an american president to encourage people to violate the law i cant remember any time during my time in america where we have seen such a thing this is a such as schizophrenia so everyone continues to become even more diehard and their opinions like the government should be handling it but without taking away our freedoms theres on the federal aid being sent to states that need it but how dare you cut back on help to Foreign Countries we should all stay inside and less we dont want to send out free money but not before trumps name is on it and then theres those carefree floridians who couldnt care less about any of that as long as they can finally hit the beach again which they did in massive crowds the 2nd they were reopened so much for social distancing eyes it seems to have become political because of the contradiction you know any time president takes a certain course of action the political left wants to basically stand opposed to it in that creates and festers you know these sort of divisions in america well i hope that it does in time to unite the nation it would be nice to finally see that but unfortunately i think the United States to that point right now because of their so much of mr rection in so much Bad Information this disseminated by the Mainstream Media that is going to be next to impossible to ever own. Really have 6 a country that united in that way i think that the 2 party system has really polarized of the country in terms of politics and its going to take a long series of political margaret coming out in taking power before we ever really see a united little cold room america. In brazil the cove in 1000 death toll is now approaching 2 and a half 1000 the highest figure in latin america the president s handling of the outbreak has proved highly controversial but over the weekend major cities saw protests in support of sonora and against local curfews sweet months an hour and sacked his Health Minister for demanding tougher lockdown measures the president himself has resisted any form of shutdown and repeatedly downplayed the dangers of the virus so we strictures on movement in brazil have been enforced at a local level the firing of the Health Minister prompted a mixed reaction. Working to care for them so i see this is an ordinary process in government the Health Minister was out of step with the policies being led by the president and i think he got caught up in all the hype as a minister he has to be accountable for his actions and the same goes for anyone in Public Office or things just dont work with a couple of young we still trust the outgoing Health Minister and we hope that the new minister can build on what is done. When you look at the situation the government is in now its going to be difficult to change anything or make any progress i dont see that this move will make any difference because of all the corruption in the government most narrow said ministration is corrupt. In the brazilian city of man hours hospitals have been overloaded with covert 900 patients bill years have been posted online and broadcast on national t. V. Showing dead bodies in hospital wards alongside living patients still fighting for their survival and those images of calls widespread shock and anger but a spy the rising death toll in brazil president wilson says that the country must push to reopen its economy. I know life is priceless but the economy and employment must return to normal. Brazilian journalists plain old man says that president johnson are always prioritizing the interests of big business over those of public health. Those 2 letter es subordinate to the financier lol these we have to pull the things the beginning those groups are against silvio isolation because they dont once i did we stop the abuse was. All of his that count visions measures to fanatic also makes when we go out towns and believe that criticizing social isolation hes going to be held by do who had fear to get without joe and in common he wants to take these a blue tint with the current i was trying to use to balance self hes not worried about peoples lives hes not worried about them going to go to hell this. Is a come scientists in the u. K. Have question towards the corona virus originated from the chinese city of who has more on the after the break. Colby 19 pandemic only sees much of the world. But it is also devastating than demi has been painful recovery from it maybe even more is it of asias fox. Welcome back a team of researchers led by a Cambridge University geneticist is claiming that the covert 19 outbreak did not start in the chinese city of as is widely believed the scientists lies the genetic material of the corona virus and traced its mutations and they found 3 distinct variants of covert 19 the final one of them being its final human efficient 4 we spoke to the geneticist behind the research we have identified 3 major variants of the corona virus and the original type according to a comparison with the bat corona virus is the 8 time that is found in china moderate frequencies but surprisingly not at High Frequency and will be the major and then you have a c. Type which then occurs outside china mainly so the 8 hope is more common at the early stage of the outbreak in other parts of china but not not in hand which was a bit of a surprise to us since the virus appeared various conspiracy theories have been circulating online and in the media one popular version is that the virus was produced in a