this is news coming to you live from berlin as the global number of coronavirus cases passes 200000 new travel restrictions mean long delays at the border crossing some have had to wait in their vehicles for more than 24 hours elsewhere airports stand empty as far lines or around the world council floor also coming up at night i collapse on the sofa i sleep not well because i'm waking up every hour with 9. we visit an intensive care unit that's baffling to save lives in italy's hard hit the

region. and the coronavirus threat at greece's overcrowded camps tens of thousands of people are already living in squalor with little medical care now they're at risk of a potentially devastating outbreak our correspondent reports on the drastic conditions . on the island have left. hello i'm terry martin good to have you with us european leaders say they will do whatever it takes to protect public health and the economy during the coronavirus pandemic chance will address the nation later today meanwhile germany now says it will no longer take in refugees on humanitarian grounds due to concerns over the spread of the virus and france is taking unprecedented steps to tackle it.

operation relocation france's army for pairs to airlift critically ill patients to military facilities these planes are normally used to evacuate soldiers from conflict zones now they are being flown to fight what the president has called a public health war hospitals in the country's east are stretched to the limit france has been placed on a strict lockdown after the number of cases in the country rose sharply. in the a used travel restrictions have seen my a long traffic jams for commuters like here on the german polish border some had to wait in their vehicles for more than 24 hours. you know you've done get out of the park you know it just took us 3 hours to drive 2 kilometers on the motorway the traffic jam here is 40 kilometers long it's catastrophic the police trucks are standing in 3 rows. unbelievable. except

for polish cars at the borders open german registered cars and german citizens are not allowed in while some places face bottlenecks others are empty in frankfurt airport police are screening non e.u. passengers trying to enter the block. as it appears on so it will be a lot more passengers we have to send back to new sure. these people can stay in the transit area get themselves some that eat and drink and then they'll preferably get back on the flights they arrived on it's a week of going through. and adapting to the new normal belgian is the latest e.u. nation to impose a countrywide lockdown challenging times for the elderly who are most at risk this supermarket chain has dedicated its 1st opening hour to seniors only an act of solidarity in an unsettling time. on a number of covert 1000 cases is rising rapidly germany's center for disease

control has now stressed that millions of people could be impacted if they do not all of the measures imposed by the federal and state governments on restricting daily life. let me make this perfectly clear enviousness if we do not implement the program we have created. the measures we recommend for you and which the german government has also adopted for reading are if we do not manage to reduce contact between people for a few weeks then it is possible that in 2 to 3 months we will have up to 10000000 infected people in germany. this will be a considerable burden on our health system. reasons. chief political correspondent linda crane is covering the story of melinda are people in germany largely following the measures prescribed by the government. it's a very mixed picture on the one hand 80 percent of germans say that they find the

measures correct and that they think they're necessary and officially many many measures have been followed for example schools are shut most bars and restaurants are either closed or largely empty large events are being counseled months into the future but informally the picture is pretty different i just came here on my bicycle through beautiful sunny parks and streets and there were a lot of people out who were definitely not following social distancing precautions nearly 25 men watching and or playing soccer for example spontaneously on a soccer pitch groups of people sitting in the sun chatting all of those are potential infection chains and when we also look at the surveys of people here in germany many younger people in the 20 to 29 year old age bracket say they're not taking it quite so seriously now the fact is those young people probably wouldn't

get very ill if they caught cove it but they are super carriers as it's known that means they can infect a lot of very much more vulnerable people so they need to be following this measures and if they're not we may see stricter measures put in place but is what i wanted to ask you there's a lot of anxiety many people are wondering whether the german government will impose a law the way it is already in place in italy spain and france are there any indications that the german government will take that step. it's certainly not impossible i don't think we're going to hear the chancellor say that this evening she is going to be speaking once again to the nation but we're told it will be an appeal to germans trying to explain why the measures are so important and why they need to follow them but certainly in the government still box is is that complete lockdown is that prevention on people leaving their homes for anything but the most urgent business they would probably need to declare

a national emergency to do that but certainly other countries have done it as you said italy spain france so we may well see that happen here borders are already shutting down around germany germany has not been direct neighbors what impact or those border shutdowns having well amongst the impact is that germany has just announced as you said briefly at the top of the show that it will not be taking in any more refugees or application applicants for refugee status in syria and resettlement program now the chancellor did speak yesterday to the leaders of britain france and turkey about this very matter turkey certainly would then face a much bigger burden in terms of the large numbers of people leaving syria for turkey the chancellor has said she would be willing to see turkey given more financial support to handle that burden but that's just one of many many consequences that we are seeing a fast moving story melinda thanks rangers

a day that is our chief political correspondent linda crane. analysts get an update on the latest we know about the corona virus we are starting to understand more about it a new study is confirm previous estimates that the median period for the virus is 5 days patients are most contagious just before they start showing symptoms and in the 1st week of symptoms the virus cannot be spread by patients stool that's good news for caregivers and hospital workers authorities caution that the drastic measures taken worldwide to try and contain the spread of the virus could be extended and last for months. our science correspondent derrick williams has been tracking these developments all along terry this new study out of australia it's providing some insights into how the body reacts to coded 19 what do we learn from it. well the study which was published

a day or 2 ago in nature medicine which is either respected 'd scientific journal basically focused on a single patient who can try to cope at 19 and who hon but only fell ill with it when she was in australia now the researchers said her case was mild to moderate but she was hospitalized but she didn't receive any drugs and she didn't have to be put on a ventilator so despite her hospitalization she had a really a less of your form of the disease but was new and important about her was that the team of scientists there was able to study her a mutant response to the virus and detail for example through blood samples that closely tracked when she began to develop antibodies against this and whether they continue to be present after the infection ran its course so it was it also told them at least in this otherwise healthy patient which kind of immune cells appear and when so they were able to describe the woman's entire immune response and

pretty great detail ok this is just one particular case though how will information like this help us fight the disease. well known how immune responses aurukun when certain processes acted 8 during an infection in a healthy patient's body is important for several different reasons 1st we does have it and when i say healthy patient i mean a patient who go against the infection was a relatively healthy individual 1st because having that information potentially allows us to develop tests that will then as track the progress of the disease in patients more or less in real time that information could be vital in terms of making decisions about when to do what in the course of the infection so that data can also in the long term help us with vaccine developments that could provide some clues as to how and why some people react to the virus more seriously for example

than than others and us monopolies that can help us understand exactly why the immune response is weaker in some patients of course a lot of studies of the corona virus are currently under way what else have we learned so far. well another very interesting study published recently that came from researchers here in germany was aimed at addressing a few other vital points for example it provided much more precise data on exactly where patients are most contagious the researchers eventually tracked birol activity and and the viruses ability to replicate over time in different parts of the body and they looked closely at how the disease might be passed along studying loads and in a group of patients that the over time in a wide range of potentially infectious material light for mucus and blood to do urine and to stool and there's findings suggest that people are most contagious before they have the disease they also discovered that the virus reproduces an

absolutely huge amounts and their patients they found up to a 1000 times more of it in some cases than were usually found in patients infected with other related pathogens like like a sars virus that might explain why the new virus is also so infectious finally as we heard just while ago they were able to to to find they found by role genetic material in store but they also were able to determine that it wasn't active so that's good news for that will have ramifications for medical staff and for and for caregivers as we move forward and more and more people are in fact that so fundamental research is moving forward to count research really that in the long run is going to it's going to help save lives good to hear science correspondent derek williams. well as i mentioned earlier much of europe is in a lockdown but you countries aren't the only ones hunkering down the u.s. and canada which share the world's longest land border are working out the details

of banning all non-essential travel between the 2 countries british prime minister boris johnson has hinted that the u.k. might also have to close its schools as is already the case in many other european countries the czech government is ordering its citizens to start wearing face masks or something else to cover their mouths and noses when they go out in public and japan's deputy prime minister says holding the summer olympics would make no sense if countries can't send out fleets the government says it's still working to hold the games and schedule. well doctors nurses are at the forefront of efforts to save lives in europe's worst affected country italy more than 2 and a half 1000 health workers have tested positive for the corona virus the northern region of lombardy which has been at the center of the outbreak is appealing to recently retired doctors and nurses to return to work to help overwhelmed

colleagues we take you now inside an intensive care unit in italy. the camera follows column as streaming into the a.p. center of the coronavirus crisis in northern italy a hospital increment in the long body reaches she explains what she must wait to keep stuff. surgical gloves shoe covers headgear special gloves that is different to the ones i've got on now and most importantly face masks and protective glasses . mustering into colleagues have lost count of the number of hours they've spent treating patients in the intensive care unit. patients connected to ventilators while lying on their stomachs the pressure makes it easier for oxygen to enter the bloodstream at least that's what's supposed to happen for people suffering from pneumonia but now the method isn't working and the doctors and nurses can't explain why. the problem. unfortunately we haven't seen anyone recover yet in this hospital. ideally we'd like to take some patients

off the ventilator is and see whether they get better. but in this unit of the hospital out of 854 people who were brought here. we've had several deaths and it's really wearing us down because we're thinking we're not in a position to do what we're here for treating patients so they get better by watching them die and inside we're dying to. the hospital interim owner has been taking in coronavirus patients since the beginning of the operation outside they've set up tents for trios sorting patients for treatment. what shocks me is that we have no power in the face of this emergency. of course we're used to dealing with severely ill patients who are close to death and we know what our job is. but we've never had such a rapid influx of people in danger of losing their lives. and it's hard

it's hard for everyone to. the death rate is significant but there has been one ray of light here today a 23 year old man made a full recovery and was able to leave the hospital. with wife at 9 i collapsed on the sofa i sleep but not well because i'm waking up every hour with 9 mans my husband and daughter waited home for me they try to talk to me but i don't really take it in they ask me if i'm listening but i can't. it's terrible. calamus trini will keep trying to help and to heal that is a job at the hospital increment the a.p. same to of the coronavirus crisis. we're looking at some of the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis in a moment 1st let's catch up on a couple of other stories a former vice president joe biden has topped the poll in the in the 3 latest

democratic presidential primaries in the u.s. the voting weatherhead in arizona florida and illinois despite fears about the spreading coronavirus ohio postponed its schedule primary due to the. b.m.w. is shutting down all car production in europe and south africa until at least the end of april the german carmaker said it needs to protect the health of its employees in the company or already had at least 3 identified cases of corona virus . at his research and development center in munich earlier this week and both so i can also announce shutting down plants. well the airline industry could collapse without significant help from world governments that's the dire message from the international air transport association a body that represents the vast majority of global air traffic well the i 80 a says companies will need between $150.00 and $200000000.00 to weather the

pandemic and that carrier in the carriers are short of cash to provide refunds especially hard hit are airlines that rely on the lucrative transatlantic route last week u.s. president donald trump banned most incoming flights from europe for 30 days and the u.s. is imposing the e.u. rather is imposing limitations to german chancellor i'm going back in now says non e.u. residents will not be allowed to enter the block for the same period and it's not just weakening demand is hurting the industry play makers are cutting production as a result of supply chain disruption and employee absences in the u.s. boeing has already asked the white house for assistance and here in europe airbus has halted production in france and spain well chris october from our v.w. business team joins us now from hanover chris up airlines are in freefall how are

they coping with this. rather badly terry several carriers have now halted their operations altogether. subsidiary brussels airlines and austrian here in europe for example egypt air also halting operations and industry experts are saying they'll be more they'll be more to come when we when we look at these cancellations and stopping operations autograph there are a growing number of governments is now rushing towards the airline industry in order to help them there's talk about financial aid financial help australia being one of the most recent countries to provide financial aid to the sector transport ministers are talking about tax relief for the an industry and the united states sector executives are due to speak with president trump about the

matter today airline executives not surprisingly are saying that this is the worst crisis to hit their industry ever worse even than $911.00 tell us what is it that makes this situation so exceptional. well because the countermeasures to fight the pandemic they are laying hand to the very root of the aviation industry is the business model if you're told to stay at home if you're told to distance yourself if countries seal off their borders and if there is a persistent fear that intercontinental travel will contributions to the spread of the virus all of that is a direct blow to everything that the aviation industry stands for and if we talk about the $911.00 terror attacks after those heightened risk frictions and security measures were put into place all of which we've come to terms with these

days but these moves these sort of measures they don't work in this case and then there's the timeframe again if we look at the $911.00 attacks the heightened security measures were implemented term quickly after that and took effect fairly quickly after that whereas here the virus could be spreading for months possibly even longer and the airline might have to deal with the consequences for that amount of time which is an incredible burden for the industry speaking of consequences what options do the airlines have then christoph villi going out going some will go out of business one thing. that is the fear and that's what one industry experts expect i mean there are there's a number of options none of which are desirable i mean we see some of those the grounding of the fleet the cutting of flights you know severely limiting the service also putting staff on reduced work on reduced pay cutting jobs and scale m.

and and british airways have announced there is another way to address this crisis year by amending the terms and conditions of bookings for example letting passengers. allow. you know letting them book with more confidence in the fact in the sense that passengers are allowed to just change their route of travel up to the very last day on their short notice without having to pay anything for it and of course there is the cry for government help we talk about tax relief we talk about the least of fees and obviously direct financial help all of that is being discussed right now some of which has been granted because some thank you very much that was our business corporate correspondent chris look over. well as the virus continues to spread across europe there are growing fears of an outbreak at greece's overcrowded migrant camps last week authorities confirmed the 1st case of

corona virus on the island of les paul's promoting fears prompting fears that it could spread to the islands of tory is more raw a calf refugees they're already living in squalid conditions with little medical care now they're more at risk than ever before. the maria camp was originally planned for 3000 people but now it's housing some 20000 asylum seekers. they live in homemade tents outside the official camp in watts bay nicknamed the jungle. more than a 1000 people share a single water outlet which frequently malfunctions bring me out here of the sea he has not water now we must go. again to hold. its life. sitting in the afghan lives with his wife and 4 children in

a small tent they fled the war in their country and now rely on at 8. this means waiting in long crowded lines for hours to get food avoiding close contact is almost impossible in morea aid organizations say the camp is an ideal breeding ground for the coronavirus. we are extremely concerned about these very cramped conditions there's no soap it's impossible for people to take even the most basic hygiene precautions and that's what's worrying because it means they cannot do anything to stop the spread of the virus if it were to arrive in the camps the aid organization doctors without borders runs a hospital here on the outskirts of the camp there are hardly any coronavirus testing kits and this issue to doctor has many patients already have respiratory illnesses and weakened immunity. which makes it much easier to contract the virus. we have a lot of people who are very vulnerable anyway we have

a lot of very sick children also suffering from chronic diseases diabetes very c.v. and mental health issues and obviously we have adults too have been traumatized so it's difficult to predict but in principle all these people i stream leave honorable to yet another health threat the greek government says it's prepared for this scenario that they're easy to run a crisis plan but the camps aid organization says they get to see it. that's why they're taking matters into their own hands. and team humanity is small n.g.o.s refugees so surgical masks they can make up to $300.00 a day. amazing. sitting there from 7 o'clock in the morning until. evening and just want to do it would tell them take a break they don't want to take a break they just want to work they want to help they know how dangerous this is

everybody knows how dangerous this is because of this threat there's really only one solution which is that the european union must do everything possible to evacuate these people as quickly as possible let's pause morea camp is not a place where you can handle a potential corona threat and the action needs to come now. but is european countries continue to seal off their board is many refugees are afraid they'll be forgotten in the coronavirus crisis. venice is a city that's usually full of tourists and the ongoing law under the corona virus has brought about the at least one positive side effect crystal clear waters in the low gear the city's famous canals this is something residents haven't seen in decades. levels of pollution in the canals of drop. motor boat and cruise ship traffic coming to a birch will haul years. and we have plenty of coverage of the

crowd of virus pandemic on our web site that's a good overview dot com i'm terry martin thanks for watching.

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