if you miss it it'll come around again in 2040 if you want to see it this bright you going to have to wait another 400 years and with everyone on this planet trying to stay socially distant because of coronavirus other planets are managing to get closer together. al-jazeera church on some thailand. so this is the answer these are the top stories and more than 40 countries have closed their borders to flights in travelers from the u.k. due to concerns over a mutated strain of corona virus the british government says it's working to ensure that freight including food supplies will not be affected e.u. member states are preparing to roll out the pfizer buying tech coronavirus vaccine after it was given the green light by regulators france germany and italy say they will begin mass vaccinations as soon as sunday the number of corona virus cases in

the united states has now gone past the 18000000 mark this comes as politicians in the u.s. are rushing to finalize a $900000000000.00 covert 19 package to help businesses and families have until the end of the day on monday to vote on the deal and prevent a government shutdown but if you're castro has more from washington d.c. . now that what this bill contains it's massive really i know we're focusing on the coded elements but this of course keep the government running for the next fiscal year there's also many measures unrelated to cohabit unrelated to federal funding that have all been thrown in there in this lame duck session but on this covert piece we're looking at $900000000000.00 worth of economic stimulus that's going to be in the form of direct payments to americans extending unemployment benefits helping with rental assistance food assistance things that american families are desperately needing right now the president of central african republic has criticized groups behind an escalation in violence head of this week's election

there have been growing tensions in the lead up to the december the 2700 and the recent trips to the country to help deal with the van the government has accused rebels backed by the former president of attempting to stage a. cut of 1st shipment to the pfizer buy and take trade of ours for accidents right in the capital ready for distribution of the elderly those with chronic illnesses and front line workers will be 1st in line once rolled out again. u.s. attorney general william barr says that russia is behind what's been described as the largest cyber attack on american government agencies and companies president donald trump has suggested without evidence that china could be responsible. there's a headline scope more news coming up here on ars or right off the inside story africa.

out of control and spreading fast the highly contagious corona virus strain in the u.k. borders are being closed in europe flights canceled around the world so where does it leave the global fight against the pandemic this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program. it may be up to 70 percent transmissible a coronavirus variance in southeast england is spreading and spreading quickly but health experts say there is no evidence it is more deadly or will react differently to

a vaccine prime minister boris johnson has impose stricter restrictions in some parts of the country it's believed the virus mutation was 1st detected in september and the u.k. government has been aware of it since last month scientists wanted tougher lockdown measures introduced then but johnson's been accused of ignoring their pleas the world health organization said it is working closely with the u.k. to understand what impact the variant could have on how we deal with the pandemic the strain has so far been detected in the netherlands denmark italy and australia the netherlands was the 1st to announce a 2 week flight ban to the u.k. on sunday several other e.u. countries are also now suspending transport links with britain kuwait was the 1st non european nation to impose a travel ban on travelers arriving from the u.k. while saudi arabia has suspended all international flights for a week and germany has called for a coordinated response to the crisis to avoid it spreading elsewhere. some countries already started in occupation schemes and others are now receiving supplies of the pfizer vaccine but while rich nations have rushed to sign

multi-million dollar deals there are fears those less well off will miss out campaigners war 9 out of 10 people in at least 70 poor countries won't get vaccinated next year however the world health organization says almost $2000000000.00 doses of potential vaccines have been secured under a global initiative for low and middle income nations the doses could be shipped out once approved in the 1st quarter of next year. all right let's bring in our guests in lancaster we have dr mohammad wanted a viral adjust and lecturer in biomedicine at lancaster university emanuel couple bianco is director of the head of health at the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies he joins us from geneva and in london max lawson head of inequality policy at oxfam international welcome so much to each of you emmanuel let me start with you today as i understand it scientists are concerned

by the variance in the coronavirus but they are not surprised by the variance in the coronavirus why is that what we know that virus notate stocks part of what they do and so we were not surprising to see what they should in. very case but what we are seeing is a very high number of patients and they are indication of all potential higher transmissibility of the virus science is actually studying to better the information that we do have and we need to keep a very close eye on on these virus and understand better how it will be functioning i was a functioning and what kind of additional risk the virus a present for the not only the u.k. europe but the entire world mohammed health officials in britain say that this. you know virus mutation is proving to be up to 70 percent more transmissible but

that estimate is based on modeling and has not yet been confirmed by lab experiments correct well that's true that's true i mean if we do look on to this new variant we have 17 different mutations that that is making this particular variant a bit more prominent than what we would have expected from other viruses and out of those 173 of them they are of particular concern one of them is 5012 and mutation and that is really the basis that this why this is a highly transmissible and i mean at this moment if we look onto the positive cases in greater london and so these region 6 out of 10 positive cases belonging to this new variant so that is really it is defining its nature and becoming a dominant in this part of the ward max it's been reported that the w.h.o. says that this mutation of the virus was identified in london as far back as

september should more have been done sooner to try and understand this variant and to try to stop it spread. i think definitely i mean the the lack of transparency the poor governance is not unique to the united kingdom but you can see big mistakes have been costing lives that will cost lives the sooner the world can respond to developments like that it's a bet the key to all of this is vaccinating the whole world to have a moment we're looking at situation where rich countries are holding the banks and protecting the big pharmaceutical companies whilst the rest of the world has to watch and get scared of this new variant emmanuelle several countries in europe have started barring travelers coming in from the united kingdom but british officials have said that this variant has already been detected in other countries

by by boring travelers now i mean is it essentially too late to be doing this i mean is it more likely that this mutated strain of the corona virus is already out there. but the indication is that taken various virus may be already out there these is a precautionary measure that many countries are taking based on preliminary information you may remember of the big discussion back in march about closing over airspace and delays of about you many countries i think that countries are taking a much more proactive stand at this point and and i think that is understandable based on the information that are available but again we'll have to follow the science in the next few days and weeks to clarify they risk into to this specific variant how many scientists have been on the lookout for mutations that could

potentially enhance the virus going forward how long would it take for the corona virus to evolve to the point that a vaccine would be rendered ineffective is that something that could happen quickly or 'd would this take much more time. well we do know that most of the viruses particularly the art in a virus is and sauce to use one of those are in their lives as they mutate much more than the d.n.a. viruses so therefore they accommodate to the mutation over the time source to is not too bad in accommodating mutation so at the moment what we have seen one to 2 mutations are occurring puerto montt so that mean by no 20 points mutation have already occurred in this. and then when we talk about the vaccine efficacy the vaccine induces of responses against the area of different a lot of components so few of those mutation even if those are carolled together we're not going to is not going to make

a vaccine ineffective but the important point is that if this colliders keep mutating and it would accommodate all of those mutation to the extend that most of those important sides are mutated into a newer version. at that point the vaccine yes because you would become very low or negligible and that that will take time it's not going to happen overnight but example this particular area and although it was detected back on 20th of september but that does not get into you that this has been there on. 20th of september it might have been accommodating to it for a longer time so a lot of those do take time to mutate at the point of near the vaccine or to become ineffective emanuel i saw you nodding along to a lot of what mohamed was saying there so i want to get your response to what he was talking about the media response is that we do have a vaccines that are now expected and not already being distributed and and b.z.'s that one of the best tools that we do have to reduce mortality due

to dish. and these is likely is vaccines are likely to continue being expect the for the foreseeable future so i want to make sure that we keep that hope of all of the vaccines and we we do all what we can to ensure that everyone everywhere in the world can have access to to vaccines soon as possible and for me and for the red cross in general is a top priority at the moment and for for the entire year that we have i hate max i want to ask you to expand on a point that you are an important point that you were making just a few moments ago which is you know about how wealthy nations are buying and hoarding more vaccine stock than they need i mean that is a huge concern right now the people's vaccine alliance has said that unless drastic measures are taken nearly 70 lower income countries will only be able to vaccinate one in 10 people in this next year how much obviously does that concern you and

what can be done to combat this. well it's very concerning on the one hand you have a situation where i know i know 10 people in the majority of developing countries watching this program will not have access to any safe or effective vaccine before 2022 obviously that's completely unacceptable and on the other hand you have rich nations that have bought enough vaccines to vaccinate every single one of the citizens 3 times so 3 times more vaccine than they need and that's obviously a crazy situation but then you add on top of that the fact that the thing that is all to fisher the rationing supply in the world is that despite public money being used to develop these vaccines bendings of dollars of taxpayers' money the lawsuit is for these vaccines have been given to huge pharmaceutical firms like fries who cannot produce enough for the world at charging a very high price so you have

a situation where rich nations have enough vaccine but they're paying a very high price for it even though they funded the research themselves poor nations will be lucky if they get this vaccine before 2022 and that was even be full of this new variant this new me tyson which shows you just how important it is that we get the whole of the world back to 1000 as fast as possible otherwise you could have a situation where rich nations vaccinate their population that continues to me tell you 1000 other countries and then they find that vaccine to ineffective so we have to break through this system of monopolies and high prices and pharmaceutical corporations and mass produce vaccines for the world the way to do that is to have open licensing our print recipes if you like for these vaccines so that companies and vaccine produces all over the world can mass produce the safe and

effective vaccines as fast as possible at the moment. that is not happening mohamad in south africa version of the virus has emerged which seems to share some of the mutations found in the variant that has been discovered in england what else do we know at this point about that variant yes the this old house we're going to variant basically as well as the brazilian variant those were having mutations similar to this variant in the u.k. those were independent evidence because those were identified quite early in time and then lot of research has been already conducted on to those if we really toss late those impact onto abyss. this new variant here in the u.k. it appears that it would certainly have impact onto the truss miss ability but it didn't have any impact at all to disease civility as well as onto the vaccine se i think you see as it stands emmanuel you know vaccine has it in c.

is is such a big problem right now are you concerned that news of this virus mutation will make people who are already skeptical of taking the vaccine think that since there is a new variant it's not worth getting vaccinated i mean is this only going to increase vaccine has it in c. and the anti vaccine sentiment that is out there. well the problem vaccinated then t.e.'s real and he's big and there are a number of researches that i've demonstrated that are only trying to percent that all 'd of the population around 30 percent that are ready will be ready for a vaccine right now and certainly the news about it are and can add to more and more as you can see i think what we need to do is really working in transmitting the the right information about to be the importance of vaccines how important they are to save lives for the people that are most vulnerable and then continue

investing in that communication that he's certainly going through through radio and television but particular needs to go. particularly in that he knows what will a should i don't have access to too traditional or social media to ensure that actually the acceptance for toward a vaccine increases because we know at least one of the best tools that we do have to to stop the spend that make macs when it comes to distributing a limited number of vaccines it seems like the only criteria that has emerged thus far globally i'm speaking about is that along with essential workers the elderly and people with chronic illnesses are on the list 1st to get the vaccine 1st going forward from your vantage point what other criteria should government it's take into account when it comes to distributing the vaccine as an example in the u.s. minority populations are disproportionately affected by covert 19 how should

governments going forward go about determining who the most vulnerable populations are and whether or not they should be prioritized as such. i think it's a great question i think you know you have a situation where. people of afro descent in brazil are 40 percent more likely to die. than white people so you know you obviously. you can have a. ringback critical debate in every country about who desperately needs this vaccine and then you have to look at the economic impact to in many poor countries the economic impact is taking as many laws leading to hunger leading to destitution so you know we need to look at economically active groups and what can we do to get our economies going to but i have to underline the point i made earlier which is all of this is entirely academic when there are simply not enough vaccines not

being produced for the vast majority of humanity it's an academic to discussion when they don't even have enough vaccines to do the health work and let alone talk about other groups when rich countries can vaccinate everybody 3 times out of us i think the primary thing we need to do is fix the supply 'd problem the way to do that is to face down problems to corporations reduce the price of mass produce a cheap and effective vaccine which is ultimately is in the interests of rich countries as much as in the interest of developing nations emmanuel from your perspective what you just heard max speak about you know this potential of of you know collectively facing down pharmaceutical groups trying to ensure that it's not just the rich nations that are being able to hoard the vaccines trying to ensure that there is more equitable distribution there are enough doses to go around to vaccinate everybody in the world no matter you know the financial status of the country or the group is this something that's doable given the structures that are

in place. something very difficult if i can bring the radio of the whole. certainly referring to callbacks which is an initiative that has been launched this year that aims to bring it. $1000000000.00 this to little income countries it's a multilateral initiative that has been put together but it will cut the county's ation with them we thought they were going to dish out like a legacy and safety and the idea is really to bring this equity there was a. press statement a press release last week that actually confirmed that 2000000000 those it should become available for 92 low income countries to starting in 2021 with the 1st those it's going to 2 health workers and then progressive lady reaching up to 20 percent of the of the people coalition in these 92 low income countries this is a massive study diety effort that has been ongoing and i think requires more

support financially but as he's going to have an effect is these going to solve the problems of anti-world north but he's these going to address some of the make with these yes and i think callbacks is a good instrument that need continued support and advocacy from everyone who is a commitment to fair and equitable distribution of. the hammond have there been any more advances when it comes to medical therapies to treat covered 19 is there any consensus at this stage when it comes to for example monoclonal antibody therapy yes absolutely advancement have been made for for defend actually to mention as well as the vaccine i mean we generally talk about pfizer madonna vaccines but of course. johnson johnson all of these are progressing down the line as well and i mean add in the point being made earlier it's not just 'd the commitment i think it's the scientific and pharmaceutical structures that's going to contribute into

active equitable distribution but in terms of the type you take certainly that monoclonal antibodies or on the horizon if you will the monoclonal antibodies have had it is that allowed not to have it. well but certainly the progress all are being made max the european union has been so criticized this past year for its handling of the pandemic you know there are meetings going on right now to try to get to some point where there is more coordination between countries because there is so much fear about this new mutation are there any indications that the european union will do anything differently this time that it has learned its lesson from the failings of the past year oh i certainly hope so i think you know within the european union you have some of the governments that have handled this crisis is best in the world so you have some really good experience and to be honest you're

sitting here in the u.k. i think i'd rather be any year in terms of our government and our ability to handle this crisis all governments are under pressure but i think it's crucial that. governments like me you and joe biden the president of legs look beyond the very short vaccine nationalism to think of the bigger picture and to invest in banks 1000 the world in a safe and effective way as quickly as possible they have the means to do this you know i mean we're all very very happy and hopeful seeing those people being back in 1000 in the us in the u.k. we need to see that hard and that faith in the future spread all over the world and that's only going to happen if rich nations in the e.u. in the us commit to free and safe and effective vaccines for absolutely everybody and the only way they would do that is to smash through the system of pharmaceutical profits and monopoly the convex set up is good as your interviewer

said even if it manages to do what it set up to do which seems very unlikely and we saw it leaks just a week ago saying that it's actually at risk of fabian bennett. only be able to vaccinate 2 out of 10 people in developing countries by 2022 we have to do better and that than that we've got to do better than that for the people of those nations but also as we said earlier on if we want to stop this virus in its tracks the virus anywhere is the virus everywhere so we can't do that through a rich country charity can't through it through donations has to be about a systematic attempt to flood the world in cheap and effective vaccines and that's kovacs but it's got to be a lot more than that emanuel do you believe that these new restrictions are being put in place in england are going to complicate the rollout of the vaccine. i'm not sure about about that i think the vaccine say the world will roll out there

will be some as if there is a but is also a lot of people who recognize the importance of having the vaccines and it will be efforts made to ensure that particularly health care workers social workers can can receive this vaccine the sooner soon as possible one thing that i want to also to mention if you allow me a moment is why the vaccines are being rolled out in the u.k. and in us in the rest of the world in the future we need to remember that this process would be a slow process and so public health measures that have been put in place over the past several months going from from the physical distance it to the use of mask and sometimes impose or all of all of the hard restriction will have to continue if you want to contain these these spend them again the same time we will need to strengthen you know countries the ability to do testing the contect tracing the isolation and quarantined cases that effect the control of

a few demick spouses through the contact rates of that s.t.d. on that tracing and the isolation and the something that we will continue to have to do all over the world and improve in the way we do it and how many let me ask you to expand on the point that emanuel was making i mean from your point of view does it seem to you like people around the world are understanding that it's not just the vaccine that's going to wipe this out that the vaccine perhaps is the beginning of the end but that these practices that emanuel spoke about just a minute ago social distancing mask wearing you know all the other guidelines that are in place to try and help prevent the spread of coven 1000 are people from your vantage point understanding this or do they just believe that hey this is going to be gone soon. well the last majority of people not only in the developer but also in their developing where they assume that the vaccine is a magic bullet and it's going to change the whole scenario that what we have been through in 2020 but i think it's a great responsibility on the government on the community level to penetrate the

information to make sure that people understand that this is not the magic bullet this is certainly a good start into ending to spend damage but the vaccine that we are having they are still lifesaving that seems these are not the one that would be. blocking the trust mission of the infection certainly we have to follow all those public health principles for unseeable future until we reach to the herd immunity at that point we will be in the position to really slow these are destruction and try to get into new normal all right we have run out of times we're going to have to leave the conversation there thanks so much to all of our guests dr mohammed when he had emmanuel couple bianco and max lawson and thank you too for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our website at 0 dot com and for further discussion go to our facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle is at a.j. inside story for me how much of a room and a whole team to buy for now. when

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if you want to help save the world. sneeze and hero. i don't know how the top stories here on down to 0 and more than 40 countries have closed their borders to flights and travelers from the u.k. due to concerns a very mutated strain of corona virus the british government says it's working to ensure that freight including food supplies won't be affected i said bank has more from london. here's a few chore to disappointing many to stock up on supplies u.k. flights banned from dozens of countries but prime minister johnson.