this is g w news live for 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 in to sell sporting teams 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 fare and in other asian countries.

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 michael self isolation comes as germany's leading public health institution the robert costa institute says it has detected the 1st signs that the rise in the corona virus might be leveling off in germany a chance america who is $65.00 went into quarantine after being vaccinated against a different virus by a doctor who later tested positive michael spokesman says she will now be tested daily her last act before going into quarantine was to announce whipping restrictions on freedom of movement and social interaction. it's an unusual sight. brandenburg gate deserted in the middle of the day. it's a similar picture elsewhere in the german capital as people start heeding the call

to stay indoors areas normally bustling almost empty but experts say the decision by many to stay at home could be impacting the number of infections you're. seeing signs that the exponential growth curve is flattening off slightly looks cool but i will only be able to confirm this trend definitively on wednesday but i'm optimistic that the measures are already having an effect. which is very early because they've only been in place for one week. and. unlike other countries germany has so far held back from imposing a rigorous nationwide curfew instead appealing to people to restrict their movements to a minimum. nonessential shops and schools are already closed but on sunday the government tightened measures aimed at curbing the spread of the virus under new

rules people must maintain a distance from one another for at least one and a half metres and only go out with members of their own households or in groups of 2 at the most chancellor merkel said this was the only way to save lives 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 socialise. it's even more painful not being able to visit grandparents or meet friends we all have to live without this for a while. and now michael herself is subject to restrictions quarantine in her apartment in the center of berlin is set to last 2 weeks the chief of staff says he's optimistic she's not infected. d.w. correspondent is covering this story for us hi anya what does medical going into quarantine mean for her and also her ability to govern.

well so we i know america is well and she's not showing any signs of covert 19 symptoms so she is doing what a lot of us are doing right now at the moment she's working from home. vice chancellor. who held a press conference earlier today confirmed that she has been taking part in the weekly cabinet meeting not in person but via a conference call she will remain in current time for a full 2 weeks she will continue to work from home and this means this well that she can't speak in the german bundestag this week as she was scheduled to do instead. the vice chancellor will speak and he will explain to the parliamentary once the measures taken by the government and the aid package

which the government wants to bring on the way. america will be tested on the coronavirus regularly spokes person stephens i both said this will happen and i'm quite sure that he will communicate the results and we mentioned that the germans public health institute says there are some signs at that the rise in new corona virus infections in germany could actually be leveling off how could this affect policy making. well i don't expect that it will effect policy making straight away the measures which have been taken only in place for for a week now some of the stricter measures measures only since yesterday and as mr wheeler from institute said he will only know in

a couple of days if the curve is indeed flattening and if the measures help and it would be an unreasonable risk to live in this these measures prematurely so i expect we are stuck with it for quite a while the measures the government has announced yesterday include reducing social contact most germans are more or less confined to their homes this will stay in place for another 2 weeks and there are other measures like the closure of universities and schools and i expect that this will be active for another 4 weeks till after the easter break and i just quickly you know germany also announcing a big stimulus package for the economy is that going to be enough if this crisis goes into an extended period of time. it's a massive aid package of 750000000000 euros partly it's

a fund to help the bigger players to get access to credit but it will also help small business and freelances artists very small business but if this will be enough we will only know in respect i hope the vice chancellor and finance minister said he hopes that it will take effect and will help save jobs in germany. reporting for us thank you. germany's health system is struggling to cope with the crisis hospitals and clinics are busy doctors' practices in a rural areas are inundated with calls from concerned people and they have to contend with even greater shortages of both staff and equipment. the streets are deserted in the town of. we're on our way to visit

a family doctor she's had to deal with a sharp rise in the number of people consulting her since the corona crisis began. yanna courses spends up to 15 hours a day advising and treating patients a practice is in a near constant state of emergency it was particularly crazy at the beginning of the outbreak like ours where there was chaos people coughing and sneezing on each other everybody had lots of questions and badly needed advice and information it was too much all at once or. the doctor now divides patients into groups anyone who wants to see her has to phone 1st and ask its details and the doctor then decides whether the patient needs to come in a tool the aim is to break the chain of infection and especially to protect the chronically ill they're particularly at risk if they contract corona contemplation of the time we split up our consultation times in the morning we see the chronically ill then i do consultations by phone then the smear tests that need to

be done and the final part is for those who might just have to check with the stethoscope off for an infection that approach went a long way towards easing the stress but now her assistant dr is sick and calls can hardly keep up and next patient is an ambulance driver he has a chronic cough which has recently gotten worse. the doctor writes in a sick note but there's not much you can do to reassure him. that if there's already something wrong with your lungs and then you contract the coronavirus it can go badly for you i am a little panicked. a bit panicked there's no reason to panic. keep calm and carry on that's perhaps the doctor's greatest challenge at the moment she's running out of facemasks and has no proper protective clothing on top of that the authorities have provided conflicting information with regard to protective gear we're told at the beginning that you could only carry out

a corona test if you had the full equipment then another authorities that just go ahead and test and we do need to test after all this huge uncertainty now she take samples wearing a surgical mask and her husband cycling goggles she's turned her yacht into a kind of dr in facility so that people don't have to come into the practice at all . i think it's important that we make progress and i want to do my part in that what do you mean by progress and also because then we get accurate information on say how effective isolation is the response was sluggish at 1st. yana growth expects corona virus infections in rural areas to rise sharply in the next couple of weeks she and her colleagues are doing everything they can to avoid getting sick themselves so they can continue to help those who urgently need it. well there's been some worrying statistics are coming out of parts of asia while china seems to have brought its outbreak under control the number of cases in india has soared

over the last 3 days to 425 with 8 deaths in thailand confirmed cases have more than double to over 700 but there's been a just one death there here's a roundup 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 dodo 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. over in the gym 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. let's look now at how the ongoing health crisis is affecting the global economy with travel restrictions the shattering of retail businesses and orders to stay indoors people's livelihoods are on the line and the u.s. banks are predicting the country's g.d.p. to drop by as much as 30 percent and a slowing economy needs job cuts one economist predicts u.s. unemployment rising from 3.5 percent to 30 percent in the coming months central banks are setting up bond buying the programs pumping hundreds of billions of

dollars into their economies but experts say that's no cure all no amount of cash will on freeze the economy until the pentagon make is over. now the tokyo olympics in july and august could be postponed because of the virus japan's prime minister shinzo obvious now acknowledge the possibility of pushing the event back had previously insisted that the games would go ahead as scheduled 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. now in the last few weeks it's become a popular way to get themself isolation with others saying from your balcony here in germany there are even linking up across the nation. in the land of beethoven it could only be the great composers ode to joy from his

9th symphony musicians adventurers and professionals joined up to create a nationwide symphony orchestra on sunday evening this year marks the 250th anniversary of beethoven's birth were. coming up next you get these corona virus special and a few in just a minute's time stay tuned for that. the global corona crisis you can find more information online at d w dot com and on t.w. social media channels. how does a virus spread. why do we have it and when we'll all. be just through the topics covered in

a weekly radio show is called spectrum if you would like any information on the coronavirus or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast you can get it wherever you get your podcast you can also find us at. science. this is deja vu news in berlin germany in isolation mode what to expect from the partial shutdown just ordered by the government and why. critics in some countries are demanding the opposite they're calling for controlled herd immunity but what does that mean and what are the implications. plus a race against time how the german biotech company keoghan this repairing for a run on coronavirus test kits. i'm serious i was going to thank you for joining me on today's covert 19 special the coronaviruses continuing to spread also in germany

convincing chancellor angela merkel that stricter containment measures are necessary until now it had largely been left to the country states and municipalities to the contagion an approach that has created a patchwork of rules and guidelines the new measures are to be rolled out nation wide let's hear what the german chancellor announced. we have discussed today how all 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 than infections. and secondly our own behavior. that is currently most effective measure. the new measures machall and state leaders decided to implement ban gatherings of more than 2 individuals with the exception of families

and people who live together in one household now restaurants bars and cafes and other non essential service providers must also close businesses offering food delivery and collection will be allowed to remain open commuting to work helping others and exercising alone outside will still be permissible the measures will initially remain in place for 2 weeks the new measures are one step closer to total lockdown but not there yet and germany's the strategy appears to be to ramp up the strictness of measures in a controlled way as it seeks to limit the spread of the virus and keep the numbers of severe cases manageable for the country's health system. and when other european countries there are also ongoing discussions about what measures to introduce and when some countries are focusing on the best ways to reach what's being called herd immunity a critical point in a pandemic when the number of people who have grown immune to the virus automatically limit its spread now for weeks the british government for example of

voided implementing restrictions on wider society if the goal appeared to be to allow members of the community who are considered less vulnerable to be infected in orders to reach the tipping point of herd immunity sooner but after models show how badly u.k. hospitals would be overwhelmed in such a scenario and the potentially hundreds of thousands of deaths it would cost priorities have shifted nonetheless british prime minister boris johnson remains hesitant about curfews. a point that i think people. understand about the timing of these measures you go to impose it is these interventions in the spread of the as he did the moment when they can have the maximum effect to go through with the have diabetes is hope is pretty tall that's what we're going to to impose. cook using provisions on movements and so on so if you wait until

i ask until it's the right moment to do it and that's always been how we being god's right let's bring in our science correspondent garrick williams for more on this hi derek so is now the right time for britain to be implementing these measures are they coming too late. well i think that most experts would say for us johnson has gotten something very wrong here starting with the use of the word and to have it play the thing as epidemics like when we're seeing don't follow intubation or hunches they follow certain statistical projections which is why i repeat able to model that mathematically the big fallacy with this comment is that from a prevention point of view the time to impose curfews on lock downs is not when large numbers of people are getting the disease it's before a large numbers of people begin to get the disease that's the only way to slow it down because there's an incubation period new infections and deaths are going to continue to rise for at least 2 get 3 weeks even after strict social distancing

measures have been imposed so we'll only see the consequences of what we do today in 2 to 3 weeks that's one of the lessons that we've learned from china and italy if you wait until numbers shoot up to react with measures then ultimately many more people are going to get the infection and that's going to kill a lot more of their convention this concept of herd immunity can you tell us more about what exactly it means and what role that plays in slowing the spread of the virus. well herd immunity is when so many people in a population are immune to an infection that effectively stops the disease from spreading there are 2 different ways that a person acquires immunity that you catch the disease and you build up an immune response that prevent you from being infected by the same bug in the future where you're vaccinated which fools the body into responding like it caught the disease even though it didn't but to return immunity it doesn't matter which of those 2 ways people have developed an immune response what's important is that as the

number of people who are immune to the bug rises in a population it begins to spread more slowly let's say that at the beginning of an outbreak when no one has an immune and infected person gives it to 2 other people but once 50 percent of the population has acquired immunity an infected person can only give it to one other person rather than 2 that's because the other one would have been they would have given it is already protected because they're immune so rising immunity and the herd in society as a whole is puts the brakes on the spread of the disease so are there ways to actually control the process of reaching herd immunity. well most researchers i've been talking with to say it's an interesting thought experiment one that you know this idea of controlled herd immunity but it's one that has a couple of very serious flaws 1st we still know very little about about immunity to the virus or how long it lasts we assume there's going to be an immune to fact of some kind after someone gets over $1000.00 but we still don't know enough about

that it's a it's a major risk to just allow the virus to spread when you don't know whether people could quickly get it a 2nd time then there is the question of how controlled and what all remaining you know the point behind social distancing measures is to slow the spread of the disease to flatten the curve and so you have medicines and vaccines and place herd immunity can also be reached with vaccines and they don't kill people if you allow people to catch the piracy but in a controlled setting then some of them are going to die and it's far too easy to imagine a scenario where intentionally allowing people to catch the disease could spiral out of control and bring down the health system so the message most researchers are sending as i think of course we want herd immunity but trying to get it by intentionally allowing people to get sick is going to cost lives probably a lot of until we have medications and a vaccine as tough as they are lockdowns and social distancing are better choices and what is the latest that you're seeing from researchers in the fight against the

virus. well there's a story on that seems that caught my eye surely this weekend's german biotech cure back which we've been hearing a lot about in the news is so confident that its approach is going to we're that it announced a few days ago that it's already broken up production of its bits or and they've backed seem candidates even though the company is still in very very early testing you know if you recall we've been hearing from top built authorities that it'll take at least 18 months for a vaccine that's really been for widespread use and that's because there are a lot of regulatory hoops to jump through starting with safety issues and you have questions about the fact of this it just takes time but if you're confident a product is a good chance of working you can start making doses while testing is going on they don't work out you've wasted time and effort but if you do then you save a lot of valuable time who knows maybe they will see an effective vaccine by me that you're after all that would be an amazing achievement thinkers crossed for a cure that and all the other companies out there trying to make all right that

some promising new thera derek williams did have you sign thank you very much well as we just heard here in germany pharmaceuticals biotech companies are racing to come up with a vaccine for the virus and to think of solutions to take pressure off of the health care system now one german company called key had keenness producing diagnostic tests for coverage 19 and it's had to overhaul its operation in response to the crisis. start ferric here again can barely keep up with demand the biotech company produces molecular diagnostics equipment now including a rapid test for the novel coronavirus production has been ramped up paris. yes i mean i could start side we've increased our output by more than 70 percent in a very short space of time. so on we're increasing production to such an extent that instead of producing $1500000.00 tests per month we'll be making $20000000.00

per month by the end of the yeah and that's one test is needed per patient we've introduced a 3 shift per day system 7 days a week. the company reacted quickly to the new coronavirus outbreak testing equipment that's been on the market since 2018 has been upgraded and can now diagnose a person for corona virus in just one hour. this rapid test is intended for use in hospitals and of our trees and it was approved for use in europe last week. as i have always fought on busy and this is a global challenge and the situation varies from country to country especially in how quickly they recognize the virus and whether or not they acted quickly asian countries like south korea responded much more quickly than countries like the u.s. demand to storing all over the world and so it's a global challenge to make testing facilities available everywhere staring. key

against track record has also piqued the interest of other companies hoping to cash in. u.s. law mica is now set to buy key again for around 10000000000 euros right in the thick of the current crisis. shareholders have to approve the acquisition before it goes ahead. people across europe are being told to stay indoors many countries have severely restricted freedom of movement from parts of the u.s. to argentina the philippines and some countries have even declared a national lockdown in a bid to slow the spread of the virus it's a very different picture in japan coronavirus infections there have been increasing at a slow rate but experts fear that could suddenly change as the famous cherry blossoms start to appear various festivals are still set to go ahead and authorities fear that japan could witness a surge of new cases as people head outdoors to mark the start of spring.

right thank you for watching a covert 1900 special here on g.w. we have the latest on the pandemic on our website t.v. dot com we'll be back with you at the top of the hour. climate change. to stephenville. environ. mental friendships. of globalization affairs biodiversity species conservation exploitation the quality. of human rights displacement. the global impact of local action. global 3000. next on d w. is

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