this is g w news why they're from berlin tonight in the unprecedented fight against the coronavirus german chancellor angela merkel calls for unprecedented solidarity. the situation is serious take it seriously. since germany unification. since the 2nd world war to has been no challenge to a nation that has demanded such a degree of common and united action the chancellor is calling on every person in germany germany to protect the most vulnerable in their country also coming up as

the global number of coronavirus cases talks 200000 new e.u. travel restrictions mean long delays at border crossings some people having to wait in their vehicles for more than 24 hours others are not getting through it all else where airports stand empty as airlines around the world cancel flights plus. at 9 i collapse on the sofa i sleep but not well because i'm waking up every hour with 9 and will visit an intensive care unit debts battling to save lives in italy's hard hit global r.t. reach and the preparations for the olympic games continue with a plane leaving japan to pick up the olympic flame from greece but as the coronavirus pandemic spreads are growing number of athletes want the games cancer.

i've got off to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and all around the world while the german chancellor angela merkel has addressed the nation in a rare televised speech saying that the country faces its biggest challenge since the 2nd world war this as the country's top disease control official warns that germany could be dealing with 10000000 corona virus infections in the coming months if its citizens do not adhere to measures outlined by the government i am addressing you today in this unusual nana because i want to tell you what is guiding me as chancellor and all of my colleagues in the government at this time that is part of an open democracy that we explain our political decisions and make them transparent that we do all we can to justify and communicate our actions so that they are understandable. and common and i truly believe that we will succeed

in the task before us so long as older citizens of this country understand that it is also their tomsk. that was joins us on the medical there let's go now to our chief political correspondent melinda craning good evening to you linda i mean there's so much about this speech that stands out but what do you say what stands out particularly from merkel's words. well 1st of all simply the way she addressed the german people she has never done this before in her very long time in office except for her new year's speeches this is the 1st appeal of this kind that she has ever made and for her it's really her blood sweat and tears speech her delivery may have sounded low key but the fact is the words she used to i simply never heard her speak like that they were very personal they were very urgent there was even something that for her amounts to pathos and i think that as

strong as some of this language was saying that this is the biggest challenge the country has faced since the 2nd world war and that's a high bar given the fact that germany went through the cold war i think it's undoubtedly correct to say with this kind of life and death threat looming that it is indeed a challenge of that nature and surely she has done her absolute utmost as a communicator to bring that home to the german people do you get the impression melinda the the chancellor's message that it will hit home that people will you know react positively to her buhl. hard to say the picture is mixed at the moment the pretty drastic measures that were put into place early this week have been followed to some degree in the official sector that is to say schools close in bars and restaurants mostly closed and or almost empty big events being canceled but the

fact is that if you go out on the streets and into the parks at least here in berlin you see that a lot of people are absolutely not respecting these new these new requirements and particularly young people now they may be thinking to themselves well even if i got sick it's not going to really do much damage to me but the fact is they are known as super spreaders they can carry this infection on to the elderly and the vulnerable and that's the whole point of what she said but will these young people pay attention when the chancellor speaks in this very old fashioned way on national television let's hope so but it's far from clear here's another excerpt from the chancellor speech to give us i appeal to you will to stick to the rules we have put in place for the foreseeable future. we as a government will continually check which restrictions we can lift but also which need to be kept in place she did not want. total walk in the country.

do we expect the german government did to consider the out in to take further measures to contain the spread of the virus i think if we see the numbers keep going up and if we see that many people are not practicing social distancing absolutely i think that's in the toolbox i think it's something that the government absolutely would consider they'd have to issue a declaration of national emergency but i think they'd certainly get the support for that at this point in her speech the chance or mentioned the german economy the health of the german economy take a listen. these are already difficult times for the economy the businesses large and small for shops restaurants freelances the weeks ahead will be even more difficult but i assure you the german government is doing everything it can to lessen the economic consequences and above all to save jobs. we

know that the german government is in a very india's position with a budget surplus so what is the government already doing on this front there are so many different instruments being considered at the moment that i can't take you through the whole panoply but let's just look at a couple of them support for small businesses and freelancers who are basically facing an existential reduction of demand then there's the whole system of short work which is a system that's long been in place here in germany part of this social market economy basically what happens is that when firms face a drastic reduction in demand like the w. dime learner shutting down their production for now those workers are not laid off those workers still get paid to they get paid not their full amount of wages but 2 thirds i believe it is and the government helps to top that up so that not all the

burden falls on the employers it's to the benefit of companies because they can keep their skilled workers it's to the benefit of the workers because they can maintain some economic stability and it's to the benefit of the macro economy because it keeps money in circulation those are provisions that have been proven time and again to help in a crisis and germany is in an enviable position in that sense as well all right to our chief political correspondent melinda crane with analysis of the chancellor speech melinda thank you. italy has seen a new high in the number of deaths and new infections 475 people have died of corona virus there in the past 24 hours italy's death toll stands at nearly 3000 that's almost as many as in china many european countries have closed their borders and e.u. leaders have also imposed a ban on travelers entering the e.u. and france is taking unprecedented steps to cope with the outbreak. of

operation relocation france's army for pears 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. the e use 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're gone 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 police trucks are standing in 3 rows.

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. that i just want to dismiss as it appears on so it will be a lot more passengers we have to send back than usual. these people can stay in the transit area get themselves some to eat and drink and then they'll preferably get back on the flights they arrived on it's a week of confusion. and adapting to the new normal belgian is the latest e.u. nation to impose a country wide 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. in the united states president donald trump

himself to a wartime president in the fight against the coronavirus he says that he will invoke the defense production act in case it's needed which would a while the government to use the private sector to accelerate the production of needed equipment traub says and he plans to send hospital ships to affected areas in the country we're sending. upon request the 2 hospital ships are being prepared right now of the massive ships. and there the big white ships with the red cross on the it's one is called the mercy of the other is called the comfort and. in tip top shape they were still will be they're getting ready to come up to new york i spoke with governor cuomo about it he's excited about it and i also we haven't made the final determination as to where it's going to go the west coast. the comfort is located down in san diego and it's going to be we'll be picking the

destination fairly shortly or let's take the story on the w's or stuff on the monkey is in washington d.c. good evening to you stefan so trump says he's a wartime president invoking the emergency authority of the defense production act to run us through exactly what this means. well 1st of all that means that he calls himself a wartime president now a significant change in attitude and maybe a realisation that he has a real real problem on his hands remember a few days ago just a few days ago the president was busy downplaying and playing the entire thread of the coronavirus calling it reeks before that even a hoax however the. law we're talking about nollywood he said walking no is making it's basically an enabling the government to direct industry segments to produce specific things that means for example to nail down mess why mess because

the a united states health system and hospitals are totally overwhelmed already are not equipped to handle very many more. coronavirus patients so the health care workers can't work without mess because they have to protect themselves the president has now more leeway to tell for example a company called 3 m. not to produce post it's not masks yeah it's a very good point let's talk about what donald trump said today at the press conference he referred to the coronavirus as the chinese virus and what happened when a journalist challenged him on this today. all of president was defiant and said he had no reason of not calling it the chinese virus because there's where it's came from but of course you know it's not just the president trying to rebrand and coronavirus as the chinese virus secretary of state my pump a are calls it and called it yesterday the wound on virus of course the chinese are

not really happy about this and there's many people here many observers experts and just average people americans who say like that's a wrong it is a coronavirus doesn't matter where it comes from and beads dangerous why dangerous because of course asian americans are looked funny here in their polling on the streets and that is not a very comfortable position for them to be in if the president of the united states is now branding the problem the united states with has with this virus as the chinese. virus it was not uncivil that's what it is irresponsible but we know that not everyone in the united states sees this virus as a serious threat and a new poll shows that the political divide between democrats and republicans is amplifying that. so most of the democrats most of the americans who call themselves democrats or say they would

vote democratic party they are absolutely appalled of the performance and failure of prudent management of this whole crisis by this administration and they actually don't believe anything or hardly anything what comes out of the mouths of this administration anymore now it republican voters it looks very very much different and maybe this has to do something with for example that fox network the conservative right wing network here in the united states just recently changed its tune from downplaying the coronavirus now calling it a crisis to you know that's a very good point to make to funds he was there on the story for us in washington d.c. stephanie thank you. well doctors and nurses they are on the front lines in this battle against the virus in europe's worst affected country italy more than 2 and a half 1000 health workers have tested positive for corona virus and the northern

region of lombardy ridge 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 northern italy. the camera follows column as streaming into the epicenter 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 cumbers headgear special gloves that a different to the ones i've got on now and most importantly face masks and protective glasses. must greeny and 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 into the bloodstream at least that's what 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. we need a successful case to know that we're doing the right thing. up until now mr rayney says 107 patients have already died 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 in promoting has been taking in coronavirus patients since the beginning of the operate outside they've set up tents for trios sorting patients for treatment or. 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. it's hard it's hard for everyone. but 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. at 9 i collapse 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. get it it's terrible. calamus trainee will keep trying to help and to heal that

is a job at the hospital interim ana the same to of the coronavirus crisis. the italian doctors and nurses they're working overtime or we have some of the w.'s correspondents around the world to give us their assessments of the coronavirus from their locations. i could never have imagined that people in europe would ask me to send them this 10 minute misers from night. but nothing is normal these days here in west africa a region that there are already safe haven for the structure here it's a challenge just say no watching this believe us people are fighting over while it before in parts of the world considered much better off the government house down. colleges gyms and ferment pools across the country and as a vice private company is one law for them froyo to work from the streets however bad

a business of usual look because shops i markets remain open some states have employed some ban on gathering for more than 50 people though interesting name debbie the one exception that is being made is for weddings since in the soviet union and accidents war is usually hushed up people in russia often think the government must be hiding something from them so when it comes to the coronavirus many people here don't trust official reports and to say who are is that the true extent of the catastrophe can only be guessed at. from the beginning of the crisis is about to have taken trusted steps to slow down this pride of covert 19. is various returning from any country have to go straight into self quarantine for 14 days furnace cannot enter the country and less have a place to quarantine. reporters there around the world with the coronavirus forth as they get some of the other stories now making headlines b.m.w.

is shutting down all car production in europe and south africa until at least the end of april the german carmaker says that it needs to protect the health of its employees the company already had at least 3 identified cases of coronavirus said its research and development center in munich earlier this week dying more and volkswagen also announced that they are shutting down plants the no frills airline ryan air has announced it's reducing its flight schedule by 80 percent until march 24th which is next wednesday and that from then on it says most if not all wrong air group flights will be grounded only very few flights mostly between the u.k. and ireland will insure essential connections millions of poor indians may get compensation for income lost to the nobodies. stayed home to the famous taj mall is the 1st to begin calculating to qualify the state one of the poorest in india

will make online payments to poor and daily wage laborers if they lose work because of the pandemic. former us vice president joe biden has topped the poll in the 3 latest democratic presidential primaries in the united states the voting went ahead in arizona florida and illinois despite fears over the spreading virus ohio postponed its scheduled primary due to the pandemic. flu. in sports the international olympic committee like the japanese government has refused to postpone the upcoming summer games in tokyo amid the coronavirus pandemic it acknowledged that there is no ideal scenario for the games under current circumstances but the i.o.c. is insistence on holding the games as part criticism both from athletes and from within its own ranks. the official tokyo games plane about to head to greece to pick up the olympic flame and bring it back to the host country but as with so much

else recently nothing is quite as it seems the coronavirus crisis means that there are no olympic delegates on board. yet there has been no indication from the see that the games will be postponed and japan is pressing ahead as planned must have to himmel we the government would like to work closely together with the i.o.c. tokyo 2020 and the tokyo council to prepare for games that will be safe and secure for athletes and spectators. when you want them. but the i.o.c. stance has come under a welter of criticism both from within and without the organization canadian i.o.c. member hayley wickenheiser a 14 ice hockey gold medalist with canada called it insensitive and irresponsible reigning olympic pool of all champion catarina stephanides of greece said being

asked to train every day meant the i.o.c. was risking athletes' health no not just in 4 months time. in tokyo the countdown clock ticks down the 2nd still the games but olympic fever is notably absent in a city that has also fallen victim to the coronavirus because if we say will hold the olympics with fans in the stadiums then without doubt people from all over the world will travel here that increases the risk of death a virus can be unknowingly reintroduced and that worries me a lot watching. others worry about the impact on japan should the games not take place. on or shortly only the games are one thing. what worries me a lot more. is what it would all mean for the economy. for my business of course. but the whole situation in japan is very worrying

i'm just about the same but. really practice underway and anticipation of the flames arrival whether it will light the olympic cauldron as planned on july 24th depends on the iowa seas ability to weather some of the heaviest criticism it has ever faced. well the president of the international olympic committee thomas pocock knowledge is that criticism but he says a conference call with athletes representatives on wednesday was quote very constructive he adds that the i.o.c. heard the concerns over athletes helped and preparation difficulties as the virus wreaks havoc across the globe we were confronted with many questions concerning the qualification is the stem and the restrictions being in place now but we were also very constructive in a way that it was in consideration of the way through tokyo and.

there everybody realized that we have for the still more than 4 months to go and we will address these action and we will keep acting in a responsible way. that was thomas bach they are president of the international olympic committee with the 2020 european championship postponed until next summer due to the pandemic germany's national soccer team has joined the efforts to contain the outbreak by donating 2 and a half 1000000 euros the team germany among the favorites to win the championship called on fans to show solidarity as well and donate to social causes during this crisis the team's donation went into a coronavirus fund raising service here in germany. or let's bring you up to date now on what we know the latest on the coronavirus

a new study has confirmed previous estimates that the median incubation 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 a patient's 2 that's good news for caregivers and hospital workers authorities are cautioning that the drastic measures taken worldwide could be extended and that they could last for months. this is g.w. news after a short break i'll be back to take you through the day we'll be right back to.

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beethoven 2020 than 250th anniversary here on de dumb you are. grappling hooks some. expressed feelings i am not very creative yet but i would love to be considered an artist one day looking for new perspectives. to escape not to leave the replaying this break through the economy doing things differently. come to the place where we reflect on society on. the top.

10000000 people infected or an entire country in lockdown which pandemic possibility will it be in what was perhaps her most important address to the nation german chancellor angela merkel has warned that the threat of the coronavirus outbreak is the greatest since the 2nd world war and appeal to everyone to do what is required of everyone and to do it now before time and wives begin slipping away i'm bored golf in berlin this is the day.