beethoven's 9th. one of the more stores on t.w. . this is the w. news live from berlin could germany's virtual lockdown be starting to bring the coronavirus under control the streets have been deserted for only about a week yet germany's leading public health institute believes the lockdown may already be bringing results that's as chancellor merkel herself goes into self-important. also coming out india's cities close down as the number of

coronavirus cases rises we'll take a look at the impact of the virus there and in other asian countries and pressure builds on the tokyo olympics the japanese prime minister acknowledges for the 1st time that postponing the summer games may be inevitable as canada and australia say they monsanto. i'm sumi so much going to thank you for joining us german chancellor angela merkel is in quarantine at home after a doctor who treated her was diagnosed with the corona virus merkel's cell faisel lation comes as germany's lead in public health institution the up at cock institute says it has detected the 1st signs that the rise in the corona virus might be leveling off in germany now chancellor merkel who is $65.00 went into quarantine after being vaccinated against a different virus by a doctor who later. tested positive spokesman says she will now be tested daily her

last act before going into quarantine was to announce sweeping restrictions on freedom of movement and social interaction. angle americal about to announce the most severe restrictions on freedom of movement seen in germany since world war 2 the corona virus continues to spread rapidly convincing the chancellor that further containment measures are needed so far it had largely been left to states and municipalities to curb the contagion creating a patchwork of rules and guidelines the new measures will be rolled out across germany. we have discussed today how our counter measures are working we have no vaccine and we have no drug against the disease all we have firstly the efforts we are making to prepare our health care system especially hospitals for the expected continued high rise in infections. and

secondly our own behavior. that is currently our most effective measure. in a video conference medical and state leaders decided to ban gatherings of more than 2 people excluding families and housemates she thanked the population for observing measures and guidelines already in place. it's wise. i know that it entail sacrifice both economically and on a personal level when shops have to close and it's not possible to socialize it's even more painful not being able to visit grandparents or meet friends we all have to live without this for a while i am deeply touched that so many people are following those rules. but with me. within an hour of america leaving the press conference news she was going

into quarantine broke the chancellor has put herself at the front and center of germany's response to the pandemic anglo-american now gets to lead by example. and let's bring in our political correspondent kate brady with the latest on the story hi kate what does this mean that the chancers going into quarantine how will this affect her ability to govern. well so for us i mean we know that machall has moved most of her meetings and conferences to video calls over the next couple of weeks in what should be required to stay in quarantine harlem of course as you said as we heard there in the report sorry she is leading by example but a lot of business it's a case rating of business as usual she is trying to continue and take part in as many meetings as possible and of course there are a lot of issues to be dealt with at the moment possible increases and measures in the coming weeks even and of course today we also saw the usual cabinet meeting as

well which she took part in via a video call so she is trying to continue her work as chancellor as much as possible while still remaining at home of course we haven't yet got the test results either the german government spokesperson stefan ziba said that the chancellor will be tested regularly in the coming days and of course the public will be informed over a result as soon as that. kate meanwhile germany's public health institute says there are signs that the rise in new corona virus infections in germany could be leveling off let's listen to that you're. seeing signs that the exponential growth is flattening off slightly from school. but i will only be able to confirm this trend definitively on wednesday. but i am optimistic that the measures are already having an effect which is very early because they have only been in place

for a week. or a kid so how would that news possibly affect policy i mean could we see some of the restrictions that are currently in place actually relaxed. certainly unclear as to how quickly that might change policy but it's very unlikely that we'll see a change within the next couple of weeks mean as we heard there these are strict have now only been in place for a week we saw those heightened just yesterday so it's very unlikely that we're about to see a turnaround of course should those measures be suddenly lifted we could indeed see pockets of the of infection spreading across germany again so certainly the the plan now is to keep those measures in place most of these restrictions school closures for example as well are in place until april the 19th so it's very unlikely that we'll see a change before the end of these initial measures kid how are things looking on the economic front or the finance minister all of charles has been announcing

a big stimulus package i mean is this going to be enough if this crisis goes on for an extended period. well it certainly seems an unprecedented numbers come out of germany today the german finance minister and vice chancellor scholtz announced that there would be some 600000000000 your bars available in credit to larger businesses here in germany and also a supplementary budget has been announced of some $156000000000.00 euros which would indeed break germany's debt break which is very much in srong mind into german constitution so of course not only are these huge numbers that are being thrown around here in germany in a bid to to limit the impact on business in the economy here in germany but this really is unprecedented the german economy minister peter out my i said earlier today as well that these are figures that are just not being seen in germany's post-war history and there's also an extra 50000000000 euros that will be made

available to freelancers for example just small business owners and they will be eligible to direct payments or some 3000000 people could be ready to benefit from these payments which are being handed out by the german government in a bid to protect the economy and these stream of measures that are coming out today our correspondent kate brady reporting there for us thank you very much. now authorities around the world are taking ever more drastic measures to try to slow the spread of the virus the confirmed cases globally have nearly doubled in the past week let's take a look at the numbers now at the current tally by the johns hopkins university in the u.s. now counts more than 339000 infections worldwide almost 15000 people are now known to have died of the syrian government has confirmed the country's 1st official case

the united arab emirates has announced it is suspending all passenger and transit flights for 2 weeks dubai international airport is one of the busiest in the world and the mayor of new york has warned that hospitals are just 10 days away from running out of basic supplies that city is the current epicenter of the u.s. break. now there have been some worrying coronavirus statistics coming out of parts of asia while china seems to have brought its outbreak under control the number of cases in india has soared of the last 3 days to 425 a with 8 deaths in thailand the confirmed cases have more than doubled to more than 700 but there's been just one death there here's a roundup now of what's happening in asia. no man's land the streets of delhi deserted emptied of millions of people now under lockdown here until march 31st the order applies to several cities and districts across india the only reason to

be outside getting food or other essential services those flouting the strict measures got a scolding from prime minister narendra modi. he tweeted even now many people aren't taking the lockdown seriously please save yourself and your family please follow instructions seriously. restrictions are also ramping up elsewhere in asia in thailand's capital bangkok major shopping malls under orders to close. but the new measures triggered exactly the scene authorities want to avoid laid off migrant workers crowding the city's bus station trying to get back home in indonesia some limits on life in jakarta but no lockdown bars and cinemas have shuttered and people are advised to work from home but president yokoi doto has ruled out a nationwide lockdown instead he's ordered mass testing and 200 hospitals to be

prepared for the anticipated surge in coated 900 patients. here in beijing despite the reported drop in numbers the virus still looms large over public behavior temperature checks and social distancing are the new normal. i think it's basically under control. and now most of the cases that are increasing are imported. and it looks like there's no more new domestic cases found i think it's quite safe. a sense of security yet to spread to the rest of asia where the battle against coronavirus for many has only just begun. now the tokyo olympics in july and august could be postponed because of the

coronavirus japan's prime minister shinzo r.b.s. now acknowledge the possibility of pushing the event back abhi had previously insisted the games would go ahead as scheduled at the international olympic committee open the door to a postponement on sunday when it said a final decision would be made within the next 4 weeks but it added that a cancellation was not on the agenda now canada and australia say they will not send teams to the games if they go ahead as planned in july. and we have mark meadows from sports with us to tell us more hey mark it does look like a postponement is increasingly likely i think it's almost certain though that the games will be postponed probably until 2021 possibly july or august 2021 and you know there are over options consolation but it's clear that the japanese do not want to do that they invested so much money in these games at the last count was about $12600000000.00 and it's only going to rise so this cancellation just isn't possible basically

a scaled down olympics this year with no spectators and maybe less sports it's possible but i don't think anyone really wants that that's not what the olympics is all about and we actually heard from the japanese prime minister shinzo our way earlier today in parliament and given this i.o.c. 4 week window it's pretty clear now that postponement is most likely. the i.o.c. decision is in line with what i've said we want to hold the events in its complete form if that becomes difficult we will think of the athletes 1st and foremost. we may have no option but to consider postponing the games or. committee. mark where do you think we are hearing these words from bob a now that the pressure to postpone simply become too much yes it's become overwhelming and especially from the athletes themselves i mean it's very hard to find an athlete who actually wants to go to the olympics this year canada the olympic committee there is going to even further they've effectively boycotted any games this year they said in a statement it's not safe for our athletes their families and the broader canadian

community astray has said something similar they said they had to make a call now and basically tell their affleck's to train for 2021 because obviously with the coronavirus pandemic all the athletes training schedules have been completely up in the air everything's all over the place qualifiers for the tokyo 2020 even if it was to happen this year a lot of the qualifiers have been postponed so we don't even know which athletes would be tokyo 2020 and then we've also had sebastian coe the head of will def let's fix he actually wrote a letter to the i.o.c. saying that it is neither feasible nor desirable to hold the olympics this year now one of your one of your major sports doesn't actually want to be there and it's pretty clear there's no way tokyo 2020 can happen all right mark meadows from sports reporting for us thank you very much mark. right you're watching the news coming up next caution carona looking at the spread of the virus i hear in germany

don't forget for all the latest information on the corona virus pandemic around the world please go to a website to do that you dot com we have information there also what to do if you think you might be infected and how to keep yourself healthy and safe thank you for watching. on a crowded and they will not succeed in dividing us about not succeed in taking the people off the streets because we're tired of this dictatorship. taking a stand global news that matters. made for mines.

how does a virus spread. why the repairmen and when we'll. just through the technical.