is what allows us to live and survive good why do those the environmentalists sued global 3000 on t w and on. this is. from berlin tonight america's largest city braces to become the epicenter of the pandemic the number of new cases skyrocketing in new york stretching the city's health care system to the limit more people are dying health care workers are missing critical supplies in the worst is likely yet to call also coming ain't

shame on you europe coming from the chief of the european union. and europe really needed to be there for each of them too many initially looked out for themselves. when europe really needed and all full one spirit. too many initially gave only from meet response commission the president and criticizes a lack of solidarity and coordination can the e.u. come together to tackle the coronavirus crisis plus the us government charges venezuelan president nicolas maduro with narco terrorism and drug trafficking charges marking a big shift in washington's campaign to drive with your words from office the u.s. is also offering millions of dollars for information leading to his capture.

i bring golf it's good to have you with us the united states is well on its way to becoming the new epicenter of the code 19 pandemic the country's death toll has now topped 1000 and there are now more active infections in the u.s. than any other nation in the world the crisis has hit the american economy hard feeling a record surge in unemployment claims meanwhile the country's largest city new york is struggling to cope with everything critical supplies are lacking hospitals are overwhelmed and authorities have resorted to building makeshift more. fear is growing rapidly across new york as is the number of people infected with corona virus many have to wait in line here in front of elmhurst hospital in queens doctors worry the health system could collapse we are definitely seeing steady 4050 year olds with no co-morbidities no diabetes no coronary artery disease no high

blood pressure or. other very much otherwise healthy individuals state governor andrew cuomo is trying to set up as many beds as possible 1000 in this congress sent to unknown aside from stuff shortages he's also concerned about a lack of ventilate his ventilators ventilators ventilators we need 30000 we have in the existing hospital system 4000 ventilators this is just in the normal operation of hospitals etc as more people attested the number of known infections grows the virus had spread here for weeks before testing was made possible new york is trying desperately to stay up and running subway trains and buses a still operating this constant cleaning but the city is being forced to prepare for the west kula trucks stand ready behind the public bellevue hospital as makeshift mokes. the european parliament in brussels is debating special measures

to cushion the economic impact of the pandemic and the e.u. leaders today they met via video conferencing to discuss steps to mitigate the crisis but in a speech to lawmakers european commission president or so a friend ally and expressed her dismay at member states lack of solidarity including their decisions to close their borders when europe really needed an all for one spirit too many initially gave on only from e response and when europe really needed to prove that this is not only a fear whether you and. too many initially refused to share their umbrella but it was not long before some felt the consequences of their own uncoordinated action a successful new peon response can only be coordinated if our internal market

and our shannon area work of the way it should a crisis without borders cannot be resolved by putting barriers between us no barriers let's bring in our correspondent much as he has been following the story for us from brussels good evening to you georg i mean that was a pretty strong condemnation there by the european commission president where exactly does she see that lack of solidarity. a number of things brand really limiting the exports off a mask soft of protective equipment was just one example it including germany by the way took the european commission the threat of infringement procedures until germany moved indention and changed those exploits prohibitions but also closure of national borders and that is why was enough on the line has throughout the week emphasized coordination coordinations you can close individual borders but you need

to coordinate those steps and the hope is now that on this as summit then the closure of the extra borders has already been agreed the hope is that in journal border closures can so be prevented but also that stockpile of false equipment a european stockpile can be created in order to stop those export pounds you leaders they discussed are tempted to discuss the way forward today in a video conference summit but they were unable to come up with a joint statement from that meeting georg what is going on there. what looks like that we have a serious rao here over the response the economic response to the cruel corona crisis this has been a draft. for this summit but it appears that the spanish and the italian prime minister announced that they rejected that conclusions because they feel that the

economic response in that draft conclusion is too weak and they would like to see a stronger response initially leaders had the idea that the european stability mechanism which has a firepower of some 400000000000 euros a 400000000000 euro heavy fund that finance minister could have looked into how that could help states that are struggling with debt in europe but what they would like to see is so-called corona funds euro funds in other words the idea that europe as a whole it jointly borrows debts creates debt and that is of course something the countries where you have low interest rates like germany austria and the netherlands who are the strong economies they have behind the scenes have already rejected that idea of corona bonds and what happens if this this ultimatum comes to passkey or what's going to happen the brand that's the $1000000.00

question and that is probably be why it's takes a so so long for your leaders to find a response to that ultimatum that italy and spain has given the you now 10 days to sort out what they will do it to come up with a stronger economic response that is and so michel the head of the european council is working behind the scenes now really hard in order to come up with a conclusion you are much on the story for us from brussels tonight thank you. the u.s. government has announced that it's offering $50000000.00 in return for information leading to the arrest of venezuelan president nicolas maduro the bounty comes as the u.s. justice department officially charged with 0 and other senior officials in the country with drug trafficking crimes in several indictments washington is accusing madeira and his allies of converting venezuela into

a criminal enterprise and stealing billions from the country let's take a listen to what u.s. attorney general william barr said about that announcement earlier today. the indictment of nicholas madero and his co-defendants alleges a conspiracy involving an extremely violent terrorist organization known as the revolutionary armed forces of colombia the far and an effort to flood the united states with cocaine. for more now we want to go to the w.'s corresponded for south america nicole for the she joins us from colombia's capital bogota good evening to you nicole let me this is not a big surprise that the timing is certainly surprising do we know why the charges are being filed now. not really i mean over the past year we've seen a very us ramping up pressure on them and to a regime this is certainly not the 1st time a u.s.

government official is calling him a narco terrorist he's been accused over and over of harboring fark rebels and even has fighters so in a way this is a natural next step but a very important one indeed because the government has gone the u.s. government has gone from calling him complicit in this drug trafficking scheme to actually identifying him as the head of the company little solace the cartel of the sons of position in which he allegedly orchestrated drug shipments coming from colombia to venezuela provided the far gravels with weapons pulled the strings and venezuelan foreign policy in order to facilitate drug shipments going to the u.s. ally of countries like the one doris for example and even used fark rebels to train a militia whose sole purpose it was to protect the operations of this cartel according to the justice department the idea behind all of this wasn't just

a personal enrichment maturer and his allies are accused of trying to be flooded the united states with cocaine using cocaine as a weapon to debilitate specific reasons of the united states and there are also reports coming out of the white house indicating that donald trump was growing more and more impatient with the situation not moving forward so that might have also been a factor in the timing and certainly in this approach growing a lot more radical you know in the nickel we know good's the belge here is 15000000 dollars that's a lot of money to most people it's not a lot of money there in the drug trafficking world but how does the united states government is going to help them detain. well for now the u.s. denies seeking direct involvement in venezuela so a military operation they're trying to get their hands on nicolas maduro seems highly unlikely but what this money can certainly help them do is crack the system

from within they're seeking defections within the party and mostly within the military because if manure 0 is still in power it is because of the ongoing support he receives from the country's army the attorney general william barr didn't give too much detail about the plans the justice department had on getting their hands on nicolas maduro so the endgame here isn't completely clear. but it seems like they're trying to to to stifle his his support system in order to have one by jove the man who is recognized as the legitimate venezuelan president by 50 countries have him move in and then have him extradite mature oh to the to the u.s. where he can then be brought to justice you know that is a possible legal way right there to get your oath to the united states you go

through this reporting tonight from bogota nicko think you know people everywhere are finding creative ways to learn and to keep the restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic here in germany the country's biggest basketball club well berlin has been helping kids who are stuck at home to do both more and more are tuning into elbows sport lesson every morning. 10 year old levy is at home alone just schools closed in berlin last week but that doesn't mean he has to miss out on lessons. beth nissen is not. best to throw the ball from your wrist so that it flies in a good curve to make it go forward from behind your back means we bend our wrist and try to throw the ball over our but. sports lesson runs when you choose every working day from the players dressing room with a 120 coaches at the club know what they're doing but they've had to quickly

develop the knowhow of a professional film company what with their dressing room being turned into a t.v. studio 5 days a week the new. guys who chose the new better. more severe form 'd of. service. earlier. or for college. and some low. everybody else has the online lessons have had millions of clicks alba berlin are succeeding in the digital world if not on the basketball court levy seems quite happy with it despite having to stay at home. i don't know how hope to keep it going it's really exciting and you can learn a lot about basketball. ciao. 2 points

not of just are those do w. noosed for all of us here in berlin thanks for the company we will see you tomorrow everybody take care. of. combating the corona pandemic. where does research stand. what are scientists learning. background information and news. our daily corona update. coded 19 special next on d w. how does

a virus spread. why do we panic and when we'll all miss an intruder through the tax and a weekly radio show is called spectrum if you would like any information on the crown of irish 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 cord slash science. we have a simple message for all countries test test test. a simple message yes a simple solution are not sure and certainly not all countries have been employing it the fight against corona virus has multiple fronts testing tracing infection

chains racing to create vaccines and treatments or seeing what already exists and what could be adapted to treat the novel coronavirus how should countries prioritize i'm joined on and those are the kinds of questions we want to answer in this d.w. 19 special it's the same one scientists and government officials have a grappled with since the beginning of the outbreak now back to the message to test test and test south korea was one of the countries which followed the world health organization's advice most diligently and managed to flatten the curve here's how south korea did it. korean hospital has created a new system for testing patients suspected of suffering from the corona virus coded 19 after an initial consultation patients enter a booth to have samples taken and talked to

a medical technician using an intercom. so young he on had developed a fever and other cold like symptoms and decided to get a test just to be safe. manya gave border if you don't know that you have it the pandemic spreads even if you're a little anxious it's good to have a test at 1st i was scared when i had about it but it wasn't as painful as i thought and it was actually kind of interesting. a lot of. the booths are the brainchild of dr kim saying gil early designs were quickly put in service on march 10th the booth helped medical workers process patients 10 times faster than the traditional procedure. what got you prior to the introduction of the system patients were treated in large negative pressure reims which take a long time to sterilize and ventilate it's inefficient and doctors and nurses had to meet people face to face and were nervous about exposure and tie it this physical separation is safe and enables print examinations. dozens of

hospitals in south korea and abroad have expressed interest in implementing a booth testing system although these prototypes are not scaled for manufacturing dr kim has shared his know how. testing has been a key pillar to south korea's response to the corona virus outbreak seeking to flatten the curve and reduce the number of new cases without implementing a complete lockdown test kits manufactured here have been exploited to other countries to strengthen their response to the pandemic. drive through testing has also been an innovative way so 3 has battled the corona virus outbreak despite fewer coronavirus cases in so 3 in recent days medical intern part chance who argues for rapid testing. the number of confirmed persons is gradually decreasing. the most important thing

to get rid of the epidemic is to identify the suspects or patients as soon as possible and have them self isolate overseed necessary treatment so if you have even a little fever or suspected symptoms it's recommended that you go to the hospital and get tested or condone people. after examining 4 hours of patients drive through in booth testing have only uncovered a few cases of the coronavirus but they have offered a lot of reassurance to a nervous population. joining me now is al edwards he is a professor and immunologist at the university of reading in the u.k. welcome al now south korea's method seems to be working so why aren't all affected countries doing mass testing if they can it's a really good question i think that the video you just saw gives you some glimpses as to why testing itself is a very valuable tool but it's quite labor intensive and it has to be done really

carefully because if you do testing in a way that isn't properly and safely controlled there is a risk that you can also spread the virus or put your health workers at risk when they take those samples so it's a delicate balance and it needs a lot of manpower well because of the complexity of this task we can imagine that not all countries are able to enroll this kind of mass testing what would you recommend for those countries. so i think the most important thing is to spread the resource you have wisely so what's really important is to 1st of all prioritize people who are in hospital and also health care workers because these are the most vulnerable people and also the most exposed people and by prioritizing the use of your testing results and by using that smartly as possible even if you have limited testing results it's still incredibly value and it gives you so much

data and so much information about what's going on what about home testing kits could they help at all yes so there's a number of different technologies and tools out there. these can even be a simple i have one here at this little plastic that could potentially be used at home this kind of technology is going to be incredibly useful but it does have to be used very carefully so when you do a lab test you have the best possible accuracy if you do a home test they're not quite as accurate but they're more convenient so you have to make sure that you use the best possible science and medical practice to use these tests effectively rather than just using them without proper consideration now testing is of course one issue but how much of an issue is for example global access to vaccines and treatments going to be are we in danger of seeing

a 1st conference served approach which could prioritize rich countries for example . yeah and i think that's already happening to a degree with testing even the better of countries getting 1st access to testing technology and unfortunately i could see the same thing happen with our appease there's some really good news and some positive news which is that people seem to be incredibly open to sharing the information they have about improved treatments and that's vital everybody has that knowledge but whether we can see the same sharing of resources i'm not so sure about whether that resource in terms of ventilators or when vaccines start to be manufactured whether people will share them around i'm not sure whether that's going to happen we'll have to see. information sharing as well as resource sharing it's going to be vital thank you very much edward he is a professor an immunologist at the university of reading in the u.k. thanks for your insights. now vaccines seem to

interest many of you as you've been sending us your questions in the last few days our science correspondent derek williams has some answers for you take a look. why will it take so long to come up with a vaccine the problem with developing any pharmaceutical product is that it has to go through an exhaustive testing process with the vaccine you 1st have to identify good potential candidates and that when astonishingly quickly this time within weeks of identifying the virus and sequencing its genome researchers begin talking about candidates but that's just the start you next have to test your candidate for safety usually you do it 1st in animals and then in increasingly large groups of humans but only after a candidate has proven safety developers usually begin looking at actually how effective it is so even if and when you're a candidate fulfills all of those criteria you still have to ramp up production to manufacture hundreds of millions or even billions of doses now there are ways to

speed the entire process up a little bit for example by by running some of those trials in parallel rather than one after the other but that approach has drawbacks to and that's why most experts usually predict that we won't have a vaccine ready to distribute on a wide scale for at least a year and a half. why do people talk so much about a vaccine is a medication more important. medications are of course important for limiting the impact of the virus on patients around the world but long term to defeat the disease we need what's called herd immunity and the best way to get that is through vaccines if we don't develop vaccines experts currently estimate that between 50 and 70 percent of us would have to get covert 19 before herd immunity kicked in and stop the pandemic naturally but along the way it could potentially kill millions of

people so a vaccine offers a safe alternative to achieving immunity in a large percentage of the population an ounce of prevention is really. worth a pound of cure that's why although treatments are very important long term that scenes are even more so is that research on how existing drugs affect 19. a range of potential drugs that might one day help treat kovac 19 have been trialed around the world but we don't really have many results for any of them so far the world health organization is looking at 3 candidates in particular that have shown some promise 1st it's examining the effects of a stablished anti-malarial drug song coronavirus symptoms. sponsored trials are also ongoing for combinations of antivirals that have already been approved for treating a hiv and finally one of the most promising substances is

a compound called rendez if here it was originally developed as a potential treatment for ebola but it didn't work out for that disease as well as hoped retrospective testing however showed that it did affect replication in the summers byron's so hopes are high that it might also affect that pathogens close relative the new coronavirus the best thing about all of these candidates is that most or all of the development has already been done for them so production could be ramped up quickly if they did prove effective and these clinical trials we should know soon if any of them work. before we let you go we step away from the sobering world of tests and vaccines $20.00 in lighter fare one restaurant in hanoi has created the corona burger so far only available in vietnam but it looks set to take off the world wide it's a beef burger in a green tea stand by bought the restaurant owner is there lighted with his creation

he says business is good i know hopefully remind customers to wash their hands before eating. and there are swiss confectioner's that reminding us of the season but also of the times when chocolate easter bunnies a decorated with little face masks. and that was our d w covert 19 special for more do a check out our social media channels and genelle them thank you for watching and stay healthy everyone. including africa. in the morning sees the students in the afternoon i reporter. tara is taking their camera workshop. in her free time she goes out and reports on ecological issues in her home country south africa it makes new people aware and it

makes them one gets to initiative and joined us for. an extra. in the. fridge but. what's in store. for the future. we're going to get. insight. into. what secrets lie behind. discover new adventures in 360 degree. and explore fascinating world heritage sites. w world heritage 360 now it's now. it's for me. it's for you. as for. beethoven it's for.

beethoven is for. is for a lot. beethoven 2020 to 250th anniversary here on. it's no secret that our planet's resources are doing lee on the climate crisis is real that's why i'll show. off as ideas on how we come protect our environment welcome to the show i'm now tie in lagos nigeria and

a one welcome for me santa tino giffen kampala here in uganda the hot.