you should really check out our podcast you can get it wherever you get your podcast you can also find. dot com for it slash science. this is d w news live from berlin and urgent appeal if you're president of fight against coronavirus german chancellor angela merkel calls for solidarity. the situation is serious take it seriously. since german unification note since the 2nd world war there has been no challenge to a nation that has demanded such

a degree of common and united action merkel is calling on everyone in germany to protect the most vulnerable including the elderly also on the program in the u.s. donald trump labeled himself a wartime president the fight against the pandemic he wants to invoke legislation to speed the production of critical medical equipment and protective gear. and preparations for the olympic games come to new plane leaving japan to pick up the olympic flame from greece but as the coronavirus and then express a growing number of athletes want the games cancelled. i'm told me a lot of thanks for joining us german chancellor angela merkel has addressed the nation in a rare televised speech saying 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 coronavirus infections in the coming months if its citizens don't adhere to measures outlined by the government. berlin's most famous locations should be bustling with tourists at this time of year but due to covert 19 they currently surrounded by empty streets it's also highly unusual for a german chancellor to make a televised address but i kill americans said these are extraordinary times and she urged all citizens of germany to seriously consider their own obligations to society the situation is serious take it seriously since german unification no since the 2nd world war there has been no challenge to our nation that has demanded such a degree of common and united action minds on this only dollars us 100 and called

wellness league she said germany was in a good position but warned that it could not be complacent for those who do fall ill that accident of that germany has an excellent health system perhaps one of the best in the world we can take some confidence from that but our hospital stay would be completely overstretched if too many patients with us have the equating and long queues to be tested for the covered 19 virus and there were reports of people elsewhere in the country lining up for long periods before finally being tested across the country germans are having their nerves tested new border regulations on the polish border causing massive traffic jams as far as the eye can see. in many places authorities have begun extending police patrols to enforce new regulations on which shops are allowed to remain open cultural establishment schools and nurseries are supposed to be closed along with most known grocery shops.

our officers are on patrol all around the clock with 2 groups of $100.00 each in addition we have undercover police officers and their only mission is to enforce the regulations. so far the german government has resisted placing a nationwide curfew such as in spain france and italy but that could soon change. which germany now says it will no longer take in refugees on humanitarian grounds due to concerns over the spread of the virus the announcement comes despite fears of an outbreak at overcrowded migrant camps around the world last week greek authorities confirmed the 1st case of coronavirus on the island of less posts that's led to concerns that it could spread to the islands morea camp where refugees are already living in squalid conditions with little medical care now that even greater risk you don't get to show reports that. 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 what's been nicknamed the jungle. more than a 1000 people share a single water outlet which frequently malfunctions when we arrive here we see here is not water now we must go again to hold. it's our daily life. sitting in afghan doctor 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. tough. 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 kids and this is shortage of doctors 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. a mental health issues and obviously we have other holds true have been traumatized so it's difficult to predict but in principle all these people are extremely vulnerable to yet another health threat the greek government says it's prepared for this scenario that there ease

a chronic crisis plan but the camp's aid organization says they get to see it. that's why they're taking matters into their own hands. and team humanity n.g.o.s refugees so surgical masks they can make up to 300 a day. amazing. sitting there from 7 o'clock in the morning on till. evening and just want to do it would. want to take a break they just want to work they want to help they know how dangerous this is everybody knows. 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 it's 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 borders. many refugees are afraid they'll be

forgotten in the coronavirus crisis. u.s. president donald trump has signed a relief package designed to cushion the blow from corona virus among other things the legislation includes free testing paid sick leave and food and medical aid now trump has likened himself to a wartime president in the fight against the virus he says he'll move to invoke the defense production act a measure that would allow the government to force u.s. industry to speed up the production of critical medical equipment and here's more from the president's press conference on wednesday. to this day nobody seen a day like that what they were able to do during world war 2 and now it's our time we must sacrifice together because we are all in this together and we'll come through together it's the invisible enemy it's always the toughest enemy the invisible enemy but we're going to defeat the invisible enemy i think we're going to do it even faster than we thought and it will be a complete victory it will be

a total as mentioned in that report donald trump made a major announcement about what's going to happen in the u.s. reporter publicly and as has been following this could you simplify what this defense production act and tails what donald trump is chasing well basically defense production acts permits president trump to essentially order manufacturing industries to produce in this case medical supplies and medical supplies could be hospital mosques and protective gear for medical workers at to deal with this covert 19 crisis so what this act basically it allows the president to have sort of special powers basically and it was something that dates back to 1950 it's been used before in the united states plenty of times but also what's interesting with president truman perhaps also not very shocking in some ways is that he's tweeted this evening a message which is sort of contradicted what he was saying earlier he said that he

only signed the defense production act to combat once again he's used this term the chinese virus should we need to invoke it in a worst case scenario now of course saying a worst case scenario based on the situation in the united states has perplexed many americans will say and he has also mentioned deploying naval warships to the east and west coast why is that being done well we just heard him actually mention there i mean he went into detail what they looked like and which was also quite interesting to hear considering that's probably the least most important information but they see the reason is because you know there is. a pretty grave situation particularly in places like new york and we know that the new york governor andrew cuomo as said that the conference ship is going to be heading to to new york harbor what we don't know is where the other ship is going to go at the moment but also in the united states media is reporting that it could actually be weeks away from arriving and we also don't know exactly where on the west coast at

this ship that is going to be based and then there's the economy that's been a major worry we've seen markets plummet how is trump planning to steady this ship well obviously this is one of the big concerns for president trump you know the economy is one of the areas where president trump has basically based his success as a president and also with his grave situation happening at the moment we're seeing how that's affecting all aspects of the united states economy and there's an aid package at the moment and one is that there is a one trillion dollar plan and that's going to be directly for businesses and individuals the senate has also passed a corona virus bill that's the 2nd one at president will have to sign that also basically expand sick leave and also it provides funding for free testing so basically what we're going to be seeing actually in the next weeks is that there could actually be direct payments being made to americans being sent directly to

them and then there's going to be a lot of help for businesses one final and quick note the u.s. kind of the border has been closed only basically for non-essential traffic that is the only thing that is permitted to have a fully i guess thank you. non-sport 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 the current circumstances but the i.o.c. is insistence on holding the games has sparked criticism both from athletes and 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 nor olympic delegates on board. yet there has been no indication from the you see

that the games will be for sport and and japan is pressing ahead as planned must have to him or we the government would like to work closely together with the i.o.c. tokyo 2020 and the tokyo council to prepare for games there will be safe and secure for athletes and spectators. when you meet 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 4 tame ice hockey gold medalist with canada called it insensitive and irresponsible reigning olympic pool vault 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 count don't clock ticks down the seconds till the games but olympic fever is notably absent in

a city that has also fallen victim to the coronavirus market 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 our shores he told you 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 and give us a little listen i. really practice underway and anticipation of the flames arrival whether it will light the olympic cauldron as planned on july 24th depends

on the i.o.c. as ability to weather some of the heaviest criticism it has ever faced. this is news live from berlin we have much more coverage of the coronavirus pandemic on our website including information of what to do if you think you've been infected by some d.w. dot com thanks for she. love. to go beyond. the insole to. the stories that matter to. her. whatever it takes. a running now to explain a little nugget w. made for mines.