this is the the years life from the number of corona virus infections in the us races are up for health care workers face a critical shortage of protective gear is the trumpet ministration doing enough to deliver aid to the people who need it most also on the program biking through brussels. towards the cities and usually quiet streets as lawmakers in the european parliament debate attack use to help keep the e.u. economy afloat during the crisis.

welcome to the program the u.s. senate has approved the biggest stimulus package in the country's history to cushion the economic blow from the coronavirus pandemic the legislation will provide 2 trillion dollars to help stabilize the businesses and households hard by the outbreak the packagers is expected to be approved by the house of representatives on friday comes as a number of infections source with the u.s. looking likely to become the pandemics new epicenter many health care workers say they don't have the supplies they need. a long line of drivers all waiting to be tested for the coronavirus this is florida but the key right across america. the number of confirmed infections is gathering pace along with the number of those known to have died from the virus as the. scale of the outbreak becomes

increasingly clear doctors are worried about their own safety and a part time we. dared to come to walk by being scared we are trained to see who i am and we're committed to doing mad doc to say hospitals nationwide overwhelmed and there's not enough protective gear there are people that literally are wearing bandanas because they have nothing better to protect themselves from the respiratory droplets of patients who are and who would not and i think that the national shame the us president donald trump downplayed the dangers of a pandemic flu weeks before changing his tone but he has criticized the shutdowns advocated by infectious disease experts to bring the outbreak under control for not going to let the cure every worse than the problem. at the end of the 15 day period will make a decision as to which way we want to go where we want to go the timing and

essentially were referring to the timing of the opening of the century the opening of our country this was a medical problem we're not going to let it turn into a long lasting financial problem an increasing number of states have closed down nonessential businesses heating i mean as hard as this restaurant is trying to keep going by serving takeaways but i own a young mint owns 2 of eateries and pays $12000.00 a month just in rent. he's had to lay off most of his 25 stone off. just taking it all as surprise and also off our feet we don't know how to deal with this every day is a new challenge for us is very challenging and for the most part it's very terrible . we will get through this is the message from one bar owner in california people who have lost their jobs can get a free meal here. a small team does the cooking.

are you scared oh no tom stop it is struggling to make sense of what's happening here in hollywood he has to pay rent of a $1000.00 a day. i'm concerned. all we can do is help each of them help each other and hope for help from washington or japan's government is forming a coronavirus task force as it warns that the epidemic could spread rapidly and widely 14 new cases have been confirmed bringing the country's total to $1300.00 the rival of cherry blossom season and a couple of days of sunny weather have prompted large crowds to gather the governor of tokyo has asked the residents to stay at home this weekend to try to prevent a spike in infections you know that would cause people to russia to stock up on food and essentials. osama donya is in tokyo he's the washington post

spirit chief there welcome to t.w. why does the message about social distancing not seem to be getting through to people at. well so far japan hasn't seen the kind of excel aeration in coronavirus cases that we've seen in so many other countries many european countries in the u.s. . so people hadn't felt the coronavirus was as much of a threat the government had taken a fairly soft line up until now it hadn't been doing making a lot of recommendations it did coast schools but that was about it people were still commuting and as you said last week it was incredible everybody was how on the streets how nami cherry blossom viewing very popular there were there was an indoor martial arts event where thousands of people gathered in a stadium there were thousands of people to see the olympic torch north of tokyo it was as though nothing was happening and compared to the sort of scenes we saw we've

seen in europe and in the us it was pretty incredible for us it was a slight sense of unreality and in the last few days i'm afraid or perhaps fortunately reality has struck home the number of cases is rising and the government is finally beginning to warn people that this can't go on yeah that's part of abstract new reality was the decision to postpone the olympic games . how was that affected mirelle. yes very good question and you know in a way i think this is a relief for japan because there was always this feeling that the government was somehow downplaying academic here because of the landis whether that's true or not that was the feeling you know and to have got this decision out of the way and to be able to move on now japan can kind of focus on the growth of virus and began it without that kind of question hanging over his head whether the olympics of course there'll be another question where they live it's going to take place next year but

that's for next year so now we've got a bit more focus on the coronavirus pandemic and we can hopefully begin to take the sort of measures that other places it's taking to get it under control you know why we don't really know why japan what hasn't taken off so far in japan it could be because people are you know more sensible about social distancing not about social distancing so much but about wearing masks about not shaking hands that kind of thing but we are seeing now as i said in the last few days we are seeing signs that the infection is more rampant the me thoughts on is having more parts of the country and it's hitting tokyo for talking to family for joining us simon daniel from the washington post in tokyo. now to the european parliament in brussels which has begun debating special measures to cushion the economic impact of the corona virus outbreak the measures include a stimulus package and a proposal to set up

a natural disaster fund to help mend the state's stressed public health services like west european cities brussels is in lockdown but you can still ride your bike at the w.'s matters does every day. it's week 2 of the lockdown in brussels i barely recognize the streets on my way to the city center. no traffic jams no tourists and most employees of the e.u. institutions all working from home. everyone is told to keep a distance of one meter and a half between themselves and other people outdoor exercise however is still allowed even recommended among members of the same family living together or with a friend. i hope that it doesn't get any structure simply in terms of managing the family being able to use the park being able to give us an exercise to just us to see if they have to change things and impose

a total lockdown we'll have to accept it. maybe some people take advantage of the freedom we still have. using speakers in cars and even drones police are stepping up checks and surveillance in public spaces hundreds of fines have been handed out i'm told many 2 young people we know and i'm another of children too we know they like to have the social contact we understand it but they have to listen to what they have to do and what they cannot do so they have to respect it as well so what about police officers themselves to to what extent are they concerned if some of them are kind of tired because you not only have to worry about the citizens but also about your family because you have contacts with everybody that's what many cashiers tell me to plexiglas barriers have been installed and a limit of one customer potential metres of retail space has been imposed food

deliveries are still possible and public transport is still running in belgium but there to a limit of 5 passengers on small business and 12 and bigger ones applies in belgium the peak of this epidemic has not yet been reached and many residents expect that the current lockdown will be extended. so here's some more of the latest developments in the corona virus a pandemic 3 months into the outbreak of the global death toll from covered 19 related illnesses has now passed $21000.00 russia is holding all flights into and out of the country from friday and moscow's mare's ordered the closure of all shops except grocery stores and pharmacies from saturday russia has also reported its 1st 2 deaths from the disease and iran is banning travel between its cities the government fears a 2nd wave of infections. russia has used more than

a dozen military planes to carry medical aid to italy supplies to help combat the coronavirus pandemic were dispatched following a plea from its lease prime minister but there are concerns that russia is using right as a political tool to gain influence in the e.u. . this footage of russian military planes landing in italy was sent directly to us and to many other media outlets by the russian defense ministry in an operation dubbed from russia with love moscow has provided italy with special disinfection vehicles medical equipment and around 100 military specialists they reportedly have 1st hand experience fighting outbreaks of other infectious diseases . russian authorities may be keen on showing off their aid operations but in moscow not everyone agrees with the government's policy even if so far only a few 100 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed and russia itself should be

should have everyone in but we need to help our own country 1st. we have to help everyone we can whether it's syria or it's really because the good the river out welcome back to us. makes me want to just russia have enough ospital does russia pay it start to snuff right you for which i don't understand why we are helping europe was it your. butt on state t.v. for aid from russia and china is presented as a moral victory over the e.u. . this is essentially a collets of the european idea of a transition to a different political culture and to change values all those pretty words about solidarity mutual support coming values humanity and human rights they are all gone with the wind. nina while in brussels officials are pushing back against criticism that countries aren't helping each other enough every help is we

. look at that from a controversial point of view china was helping to pass china's helping india pressure that russia is not being affected. thanks good for them and here's a situation that can bring hope to one of the countries in europe which is the most affected italy critics accuse moscow of pursuing a hidden agenda offering aid in return for room support to lift east sanctions against moscow but the kremlin spokesman insists that all russia is trying to do is help. let's take a look at some of the other stories making news around the world the man accused of carrying out new zealand's worst mass shooting in modern history has changed his plea to guilty you know straight and white supremacist is accused of opening firing 2 mosques in christ church killing $51.00 people and injuring dozens more prime minister to send representatives of the muslim community expressed relief at the

change of play a retired f.b.i. agent missing in iran since 2007 has died in iranian custody according to his family bob levinson vanished while reportedly working that as a private investigator iran has long denied knowledge of his whereabouts details of his death remain unclear. well the 400000 people in the u.k. have answered a government call for volunteers to help the country's national health service be deployed delivering medicine to people who can't get out or who've been told to stay indoors and they'll be offering telephone support to people a self isolating alone. and depressed brits stuck at home being offered a temporary solution to their corona lock down a pub in a box london be a make a signature brew is boxing up boxing up cans of different beers along with glasses snacks and even a pub quiz for people missing

a night out they companies delivering the boxes to customers homes in a bid to keep its business afloat and thirsty drink has satisfied. i'll be back at the top of the next day w.'s are covered $900.00 special reports and of course you can always get the latest news and information around the clock. dot com have a good day. combating the corona pandemic. where does research stand. what are scientists learning. background information and news. hour daily corona update. 19 special next on d w. the global

corona crisis you can find more information online at e.w. dot com and on t.w. social media channels. this is the w.'s covert 19 special from berlin after originating in asia reaching europe and northern america coded 19 is now quickly spreading across the african continent over the weekend the nema craddick republic of congo registered its 1st death from the virus now the country has closed its borders and declared a state of emergency president felix says the country is at war with an invisible adversary public life has been suspended and the country has gone into lockdown

closing bars and restaurants and now most flights to and from kinshasa are battened in this covert $900.00 special we're looking at how african countries are preparing for the upcoming challenge on their already vulnerable health care systems. thanks for joining us corona virus is sweeping across africa but the true number of cases is unknown as mass testing has not yet been rolled out here's some of the latest information we have for you the number of confirmed cases in africa shot past the 2000 mark on wednesday now the majority of the continent's 54 countries have registered infections ivory coast and senegal have both declared states of emergency and south africa will begin a lockdown starting on thursday. joining us from abroad seville in the republic of congo is michel yeah he's the program manager for emergency response at the world

health organization in africa also here is birds he's a professor and immunologists at reading university welcome to you both michelle i'll start with you what sort of advisory has the w h o given africa if any. the advisory in fact he went through a different step their 1st step is for iran the containment face is. to prevent local transmission on as much as possible so this has to detect they. cases now that we have a serious inc a local transmission on it we have it in more than 15 countries in africa now the nest is a how to scale up quickly to be able to contain the. situation and also to start preparing for of a mitigation phase and make

a guess on phase is something equivalent to a wide community spread that con is a layer of ice trash they had have this is like what we are seeing now in your european countries now they are all edges are also predicting that african countries fell experienced their peak number of infections this summer now how prepared would you say the continent is he spoke of upscaling the capacity as michel. i would say that some of the 1st step culture respect from quite well by did that thing they put out the cases that's where important to not freak out but 5 a nest is where we need to mobilize maw and we need more at fault we need more support in most of the african countries because it is a step that they will have to deal with and out of people needing intensive have

in their system in many african and for fossett it is you don't have such capacity so they need to think about how to scale up with for temporary treatment such as how to get assessed or are suggesting provide also rescued out to the mice in how to get access to protective equipment so at this level countries are less prepared because they are locking the ressources most of them have their follow up at preparedness and response plan but the supplies and for example is one of the major challenge to fulfill the spot that is utterly gente because we are moving to are they wide contamination in many countries already. now michelle spoke at their off white contamination do you alice see the crisis in africa reaching a similar level to what we're seeing here in europe how would that look like. i

think i think you know that that's what we've you know i've been thinking about exactly that since way back you know when we were hearing about the outbreak 1st of all in will han in china i think one positive is i think the much work has gone on to try and expand for example diagnostic testing services across africa and we've learned a great deal from programs to tackle big infection has such as hiv and malaria so for example simple rapid testing technology is now relatively quick and appropriate to drawl out so we have these sorts of tests here which can be done without in the burra 3 they're not perfect but they're very easy to scale out what i'm hoping is that what we've learnt from those kinds of activities those kinds of public health activities will help to deal with early identification and early

containment in these states but it is a huge problem given that we can't contain outbreaks very effectively in europe i think will be the same in any other country across the world now testing of course a important part of the response to the current virus michel would you say that people are taking the gravity of the situation there in africa seriously. i think most of the. national party to is taking it seriously if we look at all the states often meant tennessee declare it's on that we will start to recall in many african countries that up taking in serious you nest is really for they hold population on and i'm not sure that they have. this level of it wellness as well as. taking it seriously in most of the african communities

there is a lot of room us going to run including men's fault for tricks men so there is a walk to be done and from what we learn from a born out it is that so-called it does need to be fully on board and for that they need to have appropriate information to increase awareness but they need to be fully engaged for them to play iran if we have a community wide transformation is the community behavior that we in part on they way they desist will spread fast within this community and i think learning from hero is time now to take some of the measure of public affairs we for food and gauge went off the community to listen or down the spread and objective is to flatten the. big that's we'll. take control we've this think up our cities thank you very much michel yeah he's the program manager for

emergency response at the world health organization and africa also here is al edwards he is a professor and immunologists at reading university thank you both. now around the world celebrities have inundated us with their song and dance numbers often from home and with mixed reception but ugandan musician turned politician bobby wine has seen his own take widely shared it's a music video reminding everyone about how to purge the spread of the coronavirus wash your hands and keep your distance have a listen. they're very. very very.

right. there but we're now joined by our correspondent joy during beer out she's standing by for us in nairobi kenya joy we just listened to bobby winds up rap slash public service message there for us what sort of a role do pop culture and social media have in getting the word out. a lot actually because when you look at the african demographics at the moment big population happen to fall between the ages of 35 going down and this major concern is for most of people right now are focusing or making sure that the young people get the message because the older generation at the moment does not have

access to technology on a large scale and they are or happen to be the most vulnerable demographic when it comes to the spread of the coronavirus or covert 19 so social media and pop culture is playing a humongous role in spreading the message to last of the young people on the african continent and in kenya and uganda as well particularly so young people acting as multipliers of the message there now that message itself it seems quite simple wash your hands stay home but neither of those things are easy for everyone . indeed access to water is not readily available to millions of people around the african continent and that in itself is a challenge especially in the informal settlements in a lot of areas there are parts of africa say in kenya today what the government

is trying to do is ask the water supply has to be a little bit and weave their customers not up their bills and also and do not switch off there was a connections in a bid to help people flatten the cove of the coronavirus spread that water will be readily available to the people and that even though they might be having a rear is this still going to be able to wash their hands and maybe take care of that problem at a later date and also the government has tried as much as possible to go to areas where there's not enough access to alter to. them and also provide water when necessary thank you very much our correspondent a joy there in a beer out there for us in nairobi and that was our d.w. covert 19 special on africa thank you for watching and will that bobby wine play us

out for more check out our social media channels and to now the milan stay healthy everyone. but that same thing done over. there god never got. my hair very back out above him a line that. says the time of. the result of the markets. the momentum of the working world. news magazine made in germany. that.

has a virus spread. why do we panic and when we'll all miss. just 3 of the topics covered in a weekly radio show is called spectrum if you like and 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 dot com slash science. w's crime fighters are back with the africa's most successful radio drama series continues from the olympus odes are available online to get more so you can share and disco song w africa's facebook page and other social media platforms to crime fighters tune in you know. in the. climate change. comes from the city. let's listen to.

what ideas do they have a father future. d.w. dot com megacities the middle. click church. these days art is big business this piece of canvas for example went 432-8000 euros and that's nothing out of the ordinary in fact prices can easy to go into the millions as will discover later in this show the state of the art is this week's topic.