just to experience life simple pleasures. risking it all in kurdistan on al-jazeera. a decade of low unemployment wiped out in a matter of weeks u.s. jobless figures paint a stark picture of the economic impact of the coronavirus. hello i'm barbara starr you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up the new normal for a bit longer the u.k. government extends its lockdown restrictions for at least 3 more weeks why are people from minority backgrounds more likely to get seriously ill from covert 19 in

the u.k. an inquiry is launched by gerry as security forces killed 18 people while enforcing lockdown measures that's more deaths than the fire sits down and the drift for 2 months hundreds of are hinges refugees are rescued but at least $24.00 die from starvation. in the thank you for joining us as we begin in the u.s. where a decade of employment gains have been wiped out in a matter of weeks since stalled from declared a national emergency on the 13th of march that's just over a month ago 22000000 americans have filed for unemployment benefits 5200000 of them in the past week before the pandemic unemployment in the world's largest economy it was at a near record low let's cross to our white house correspondent kimberly halkett kimberly obviously these are worrying figures how do you think the numbers will be

received in the white house. well they're not going to be received well and this is a white house that continues to try to put a positive spin on very negative news but that's going to become increasingly difficult because the numbers are expected to continue to rise in terms of the number of americans that are filing for unemployment claims in the united states in fact it's expected that in the coming weeks that number that we're at right now in the low 20 millions well it could double because the reality is that over night it's predicted that roughly 46000000 americans lost their jobs and the only reason those numbers aren't up at 46000000 right now is that the states where they processed these claims just can't cope with the sheer number of claims they're overwhelmed they're using antiquated computer systems and as a result the numbers we have are not really reflective of how many people don't have a job right now and just to make matters worse quickly the money that had been in

that big rescue package the $2.00 trillion dollars rescue package from congress well $350000000000.00 of it was for small businesses so they could keep people on the payrolls but unfortunately that money ran out today and the effort to get another 250000000000 through congress it failed and so right now there are even more people that are preparing to be out of work and kimberly we know that the president has always been key in the to get the economy going again he was reluctant to suspend everything in the 1st place saying that these the number is well i've been element of urgency and momentum to calls for him and others to reopen the call me. there's no question that the president's under a lot of pressure in fact he had a number of calls not just today but yesterday with top business leaders today was with some governors he's very keen to get this economy going again to open it up again in fact that's what the focus of the upcoming press conference at 22 g.m.t.

will be about the u.s. president says he will have guidelines for reopening the economy we're already getting a hint of what it might look like dr deborah burke spoke in the briefing yesterday and what she told us is that there are a number of states at least 9 that really haven't had significant cases in terms of numbers of cope with 19 and so it seems unrealistic to continue to keep such states close so the president's going to issue these federal guidelines but we should point out despite his claims of total authority it's not his decision the decision to reopen the economy sit with local mayors and state governors and ultimately it will be those that decide when those economies reopen i should point out here in washington d.c. the state home order has extended for another month and today we heard that new york state will be extending as well as other northeast states so this is something that's going to be decided regionally even as the u.s.

president is giving recommendations or guidelines at the federal level can really help with the latest on that from the white house kimberly thank you well for more on this we can speak the dentist mattias a professor. at the city university of new york he joins us now over skype starr thank you so much for joining us you're an al-jazeera obviously deeply worrying figures when it comes to unemployment that we have just read out it's always been a balance for leaders all over the world saving lives and then also trying to maintain the call me going looking at things from the medical point of view do you think parts of the u.s. are anywhere near ready right now to lift restrictions in some way. no the u.s. is not at all ready to see if we relax this and see measures i think many things that need to be in place before they're going to happen 1st so many places in the u.s. are managing or an overwhelming number of cases in hospitals and nice use i mean your and that's certainly still the case here and until we can reduce covert

hospitalizations to a manageable level we can't relent on these physical distance measures a 2nd our health care workers and 1st responders and other essential workers continue to be placed at risk and until we can ensure their safety in the event of a future search we can think about relaxing many of these restrictions and 3rd as we can if we can someday get to a place that's safe for the public health response its next phase really were why are scaling will implementation strategies for testing and contact tracing and isolation and quarantine right now these don't exist anywhere of us it's not scalable and finally i would say to get through this we need better academic intelligence and we really need to deploy the right metrics to be able to rapidly detect where community transmission and hospitalizations are picking up again and when that happens we need to prevent any surges at the so a lot of all those all those elements all those markers that they use just list that i guess focusing on new york or where you are i know it's hard to predict but

what do you think what kind of time scale can you foresee can foresee a time when some restrictions that may at least might be lifted. it's really hard to predict the time but i can say they were far away from that are our hospitals a nice user still overwhelmed testing availabilities no room needs to be in as i mentioned it's really important in the next phase we relax physical just seeing that there be a lot of testing and contact trees and we don't have the resources in scalable strategies even in york city right now for that and so it's going to be a while until we can get those things in place then when transmission is low then we can consider it might be safe enough to begin to pull back a little bit there are a lot of boxes that would be checked it's going to take a while but protection of the public health health care workers and 1st responders is the 1st already you mentioned when transmission is low some european countries

are used as a marker sort of the having the transmission rates when it was half it was a few weeks before do you think that that would be a valid parker and how close is new york for example to that. i think maybe a more poignant marker is when waiting to get hospitalizations in i.c.u. beds down to a level that is well below capacity so that if there's another surge it can be absorbed by the healthcare system i think that's the 1st one but if you want to think about you know markers of your logic transmission we need to be able to get the reproductive number to be low one that is every new case should most replace itself not more you obviously speaking to us from new york which is being very badly hit that's not the situation across the united states and as we heard earlier it's up to the individual governors in a way to decide how and when they want to act do you think that that's wise the

virus knows no borders do you think you can have a situation where some states start lifting the lockout and what others though what would you say that would actually end up making the situation warrants worse across the nation so i think some of these same guidelines apply their heat to be a number of these in place before it can be safe to consider doing not and they need to be able to make sure that there's room in their health care system to absorb a surge if that happened they need to be able to know that they can detect it early and respond to early so i would say before any other jurisdictions that may not be heavy hit by code right now consider doing that they want to make sure there are number of things in place before. denis nash professor of epidemiology from the city university of new york's or sank you so much for your time thank you. for the u.k. now the government has announced the extension of social and economic restrictions

for at least another 3 weeks the foreign secretary dominic rob says now is not the time to give the virus a 2nd chance whether 13000 people have died in the u.k. and there are over 104000 confirmed infections parker has more from london. britain's financial capital quiet empty the wards meant to be the height of the working week it began as a novelty but it's fast becoming an uncomfortable reality and now a bleak message from the british government that while the virus looms and lingers there will be no return to normal if we rush to relax the measures that we have in place we would risk wasting all the sacrifices and all the progress that has been made and that we would risk a quick return to another lock down with all the threat to life that a 2nd peak of the virus would bring and all the economic damage to the 2nd lockdown would carry in a major new study by the office of national statistics half of all british adults

say the virus is affecting their sense of wellbeing contributing to heightened levels of anxiety with many people citing financial worries the virus is affecting the health of the nation in more ways than one and according to recent findings we aren't all in this together we know men are twice as likely to die of the virus so too are those with underlying conditions but also a greater risk people in poorly paid jobs and those from black asian a minority ethnic backgrounds who are 30 percent more likely to become critically ill many of those contracts in the virus are essential workers bus drivers cleaners and caregivers in the national health service. this is marry a guy who argue pong and n.h.s. nurse she was pregnant when she tested positive for covert 19 but died soon after her baby was delivered alive and well by emergency says areon

a formal review is to be launched to understand the deepening disparity in deaths but the suspicion is that longstanding inequalities in wealth and health mean some a more likely to lose their lives leave barca out just era london the europe director of the world health organization has warned countries not to rush to lift restrictive measures the continent's total number of coronavirus cases has almost doubled to nearly a 1000000 in just 10 days meanwhile the president of the european commission admits mistakes were made in responding to the pandemic has more now on the situation across europe. with europe's death toll edging towards $100000.00 the warning from the world health organization and even as some countries plan to ease restrictions the message is clear there's no fast track back to normal lives make no mistake despite this being better we remain in the midst of

a storm several countries are yet to feel its full impact while others are experiencing a dip as number of new cases of over 1000 are falling it is imperative that we do not regard. it's really still has europe's highest coronavirus death toll it's locked down measures currently and on the 4th of may the head of the hard hit lombardi region is calling for businesses to reopen observing basic social distancing rules meanwhile the european union's apologize for not doing more readily march when its really was the only country that has been forced to lock down yes it is true that no one was really ready for this. it is also true that too many were not there on time when italy needed a helping hand at the very beginning and yes for that it is right that europe as a whole office a heartfelt apology but saying sorry only counts for something

if it changes behavior. on thursday spain's health minister said the transmission curves been falling since the end of march but health experts say it's too early to tell if the trend will continue in barcelona the mayor is calling for children to be allowed out of their homes spain's the only european country enforcing such a ban over the border in france at least $668.00 sailors from the shelter goal aircraft carrier and escort vessel have tested positive for the virus the ship turned around mid deployment to the atlantic last week 20 crew are now in a hospital. in germany factories belonging to car makers including folks of are going to invest sadie's benz a planning to restart production next week at the same time as small shops and showrooms reopen poland is set to gradually lift lockdown measures from sunday but it's also told people they must wear a face mask in public. a competitor for me it is uncomfortable but if it's

necessary we have no choice we must abide by the rules such as the summit under just there are people who don't cover their mails when they cough or sneeze in public places so this is an obvious and good measure. even greece they're preparing to spend all of the docs easter at home church is a shot and families called galva. abbas i feel terrible we will celebrate it as if it's just a regular day but we have shown patience. like. the greek government says it will seem start moving more than 2000 delhi and seek asylum seekers from congested island camps to the main lines it's an attempt to stop a couple 1000 outbreak on the igi and islands under a reminder of the challenges europe still faces as it asks itself how long the crisis will continue the team baba al-jazeera. still to come here on al-jazeera the financial impact of the coronaviruses businesses shut up shop china's economy slows

to a standstill forgotten about and fearing the coronavirus refugees in yemen say they haven't received aid months. hello we've got lots of lovely spring sunshine across much of europe at the moment laws the clear skies big area of high pressure still very much in charge acting as a lid on the atmosphere keeping it fine dry bright and sunny but we have got some other way some windy and at times wintry weather up towards the northeast there pushing down across that western side of russia had some nasty storms into greece and turkey still on the cool side here the wet weather will pull out of the way really makes way for this next weather system which will drive its way in across the southwest the spine of portugal seeing some clout and right as we go on through the next couple of days somewhat weather to went to the northwest of from sis

pushing up across parts of southern england and wales through islands 14 celsius in london 25 celsius in paris so we hang on to the warmth at least for one more day so that was into central parts vienna in the sunshine getting up to 25 degrees on friday afternoon that cold on saturday but not too bad at what a weather to the northwest that will make progress towards the low countries a good part of france in some sherry right and we got some shabby rain there just coming across spain and portugal lead to some wet weather too just sliding across the far northwest of africa over towards the northern parts of libya because he wanted to show was coming in here as you make your way through the weekend. a policy imposed decades ago pregnant women parted. selectively goods and when he boards changing demographics across asia with far reaching consequences you're

creating a pool of socially disadvantaged young men so you have the system where people at every level will be get being given money money to agree distro zation or money to get other people to agree to services out there examines the politics of population control. the. the the. reminder now of the top stories on al-jazeera another 5200000 americans have lost their jobs because of the krona virus pandemic is the 4th consecutive week that unemployment claims have surged at least 22000000 people have now lost their jobs

in less than a month the europe director of the world health organization has cautioned countries not to rush to lift restrictive measures the warning was made as the u.k. announced it would extend its restrictions for at least 3 more weeks. at least 24 hinge refugees have died of starvation on a boat that had been adrift for 2 months hundreds of others were rescued by the bangladeshi coast guard on wednesday after their boat failed to reach malaysia tanveer chowdhry reports. out of the darkness figures emerged m.s.e. added exhausted their eyes a measure of the horrors they've experienced. clutching their children or what's left of their belongings the staggering sure the final step and most too much for some. at least 2 dozen growing or refugees are say to have started that on boat after their boat failed to reach malaysia and drifted for weeks. and i asked

my mother died in the boat load of us brothers and sisters are still alive but one of my brothers is missing. the un's refugee agency has sent stuff to help describing the survivors are extremely malnourished and dehydrated. you are still waiting. we suffered a lot we were drift to 2 months and leave the people there were more than $500.00 of us now there are only $400.00 and the bangladesh a coast guard said it got a tip off about the boat finding it after t. day of start off that southern coast was on the same animal by she went to austin i don't think we entered malaysian morse's 3 times but they didn't meet us and many of us died in the haze and sweets there were too many on buddha women and children on the. dock a tribune newspaper is reporting the boat was turned back from malaysian waters because of coronavirus restrictions the coast guard says it's looking into whether

the group was fleeing myanmar or the crowded refugee camps in bangladesh the un says there are going to are the world's most persecuted minority that also the law just stateless group denied citizenship by me and mark where many have lived for centuries hundreds of thousands of rowing does have crossed the border since 2017 when me and mars military launched a crackdown against them those camps are locked down they don't even have internet services they don't have adequate health services the children can't go to school and so people are making a dangerous and perilous voyage to try to get to a better life in malaysia malaysia is very reluctant to have more people arrive at their borders and there was a previous boat they came april 5th where over $200.00 rohingya made it to langkawi they're still in quarantine and there's concerns about what's going to happen to them. the u.n. has offered to help move this group to quarantine facilities and treat those

needing medical care well that immediate future may be certain inside the one many here where hoping for. dhaka bangladesh. nigeria's security forces have killed 18 people while enforcing coronavirus lockdown measures the national human rights organization says that's a higher death toll than the 12 lives the virus is claimed according to official government figures the army and police have been deployed to enforce restrictions in the megacity lagos the capital of and states sparking deadly confrontations in some areas i mean did receive more now from the capital of. 18 people have been killed and 8 of them were actually killed by allegedly killed by correctional officers in the prison officers in the northwestern state of ca to the state then the police were accused of killing 7 individuals army allegedly responsible for 2

of the deaths and a local committee enforcing the lock down in southeast nigeria was also responsible for one killer of one individual now security forces in nigeria have been accused separately by individuals or osment during this the during the lockdown in several states which see in security forces mountain roadblocks in towns and cities checking cause checking for identities and all that and in the process we were told there were reports from various parts of the country alleging that several abuses had been carried out by the security forces apart from the usual demand for bribes of people who were harassed and in the case of the 18 people these were people who were shot for either allegedly violating the lockdown order of one offense or the other. the pandemic will calls asia's economic growth to stall at 0 percent for the 1st time in 60 years that's the latest dire projection from the international

monetary fund the outbreak has taken an unprecedented toll on the region it's expected to rebound next year but the outlook remains and source. and china will release its latest quarterly gross domestic product figures on friday and analysts are not expecting good news the world's 2nd largest economy has slowed to a standstill because the corona virus outbreak and small businesses are among the worst affected the trainer you reports now from beijing. empty chairs at empty tables this beijing restaurant once served $200.00 customers every day but because of the coronavirus pandemic it's now struggling to survive owner joe tao was forced to close the u.s. themed diner for almost 3 months in a 1000000 years. there is no cash flow if we are open and cash flow is the most important thing for a restaurant we are still paying for the rent and stuff wages plus there are

accommodation in beijing we've taken a really big hit small and medium sized enterprises have been worst hit by the health crisis local kovac 1000 infections have eased in china and life is slowly returning to normal but many businesses have been forced to close for good this restaurant's trip was once bustling with customers but since the beginning of february it's been quiet foreign business owners are also suffering they're requesting more financial support and an end to the ban on foreigners entering the country we need there really. a measure be sure to relieve your region it's a matter of life. for these companies actually should be thinking negatively. some retailers attending to of logging on live streaming to sell products but for many such efforts to adapt to the outbreak won't be enough and analysts don't

expect the world's 2nd largest economy to bounce back before 2021 right now the biggest challenge chinese authorities there is actually to stabilize on employment because our there is a weak demand from domestic market and also foreign markets chinese appliance make a high sense laid off over 10000 workers this month following a drop in sales more than $20000000.00 people nationwide are expected to lose their jobs by the end of the year dotel is doing. we think he can to retain all of his stuff he started offering harm delivery and reopened to the restaurant this week albeit under strict conditions. though more than 3 people cut ate at one table and they have to sit at least one metre apart beauty is only accommodated their capacity says all he can do is wait for economic stimulus measures for a coronavirus a vaccine and for customers who often now few and far between between

e.u. al-jazeera beijing this place people in yemen say their living conditions are deteriorating and many are concerned the coronavirus could reach their camps that's the spot a 2 week ceasefire designed to help stop the spread of the virus it's feared any outbreak could be devastating val has the story. living in a quagmire rebuilt camp in yemen a southern region of large hosts nearly 400 families they fled the fighting in the western city of her day that nearly 2 years ago escaping with their lives but little else we haven't received relief aid for 9 months relief organizations have stopped coming here and because there is a curfew in place people cannot get to work they can't meet food medicine carpet blankets and much more most of the people in the camp are women and children finding food is a daily struggle drinkable water israel. so is

a decent education for the young. these are their homes this is what happens when it rains yemen has been at war since 2015 when saudi arabia and the united arab emirates start of the conflict with the who the shia group that had taken power by force in the capital sanaa according to a recent report by human rights watch more than 17000 civilians have been killed and injured and more than 20000000 are facing food insecurity of those 10000000 are at risk of famine and now this the threat of course on a virus one of them i have this is a dangerous disease and threatens the whole world so we must protect ourselves and our children the 1st confirmed infection in yemen was announced last week. that are we have suggested a few measures that includes distancing between tents and preventing gatherings with support from unicef but we need sen you could print medicines and to turn our

stuff and how to dispense they needed care in case of an outbreak of the disease this camp is just one of many across yemen there are 10 more in this province alone in the northern region of how the who this camp is another instance of the misery that war can bring human is already one of the poorest countries in the region it's now divided between warring sides foreign and local the conflict is hampering the work of relief organizations. the un has called for a humanitarian ceasefire to allow aid to be brought in and virus measures implemented saudi arabia announced a cease fire but was to take effect earlier this month but a new saudi air raids on fighting on the ground have been reported by who the official media it to me is the continuation of a war that has destroyed almost everything its primary victims are too young to act or even to understand the united nations says more than half of the 24000000 people

in yemen who need humanitarian help children their future and out of yemen as a viable state could be at risk unless it is allusion to the conflict is found to have a divide. and you can find out much more about that and everything else we've been covering on our website al-jazeera dot com. and now a reminder of the top stories on al-jazeera another 5200000 americans have lost their jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic it's the 4th consecutive week that unemployment claims have surged the outbreak has forced the closure of all non-essential businesses at least $22000000.00 people have now lost their jobs in less than a month before the pandemic and employment in the world's largest economy was and near of record low. the europe director of the world health organization has warned

countries not to rush to lift restrictive measures the continent's total number of coronavirus cases is almost double to nearly a 1000000 in just 10 days while the president of the european commission admits mistakes were made in responding to the pandemic the u.k. government has announced the extension of social and economic restrictions for at least another 3 weeks foreign secretary dominic rob says now is not the time to give the virus a 2nd chance more than 13000 people have died in the u.k. and there are over 104000 confirmed infections the very clear voice we've received is that any change to a social distance social distancing measures now would risk a significant increase in the spread of the virus that would threaten a 2nd peak of the virus and substantially increase the number of deaths it would undo the progress that we've made to date and as a result would require an even longer period where the more restrictive social

distancing measures. nigeria's security forces have killed 18 people while enforcing coronavirus lockdown measures the national that's according to the national human rights organization and that's more deaths than the 12 that the virus has claimed again according to government figures the army and police of being deployed to enforce restrictions in lagos the capital of and all goodness states sparking deadly confrontations in some areas and the pandemic is expected to cause asia's economic growth to stall at 0 percent for the 1st time in 60 years and it's the latest dire projection from the international monetary fund the outbreak has taken an unprecedented toll on the region it's expected to rebound next year but the outlook remains uncertain those are the top stories the stream is they have no news and half an hour thanks for watching but i.

k and you are in the stream and the home the dish and this is my living room i am going to be broadcasting from my living room for goodness knows how long and that is because the team stream is not just talking about social distancing we are practicing safety distancing but it doesn't mean that we cannot be connected to get how indeed that we do that if you choose shows and discussions if you will a new chief you can actually have a conversation with i guess you to talk to them you can push back if you want to and of course we're always on twitter a.j. street so the conversation today.