this is d.w. news line from berlin italy sets a grim record in its struggle against the coronavirus almost 1000 people have died there in the past 24 hours from covert 19 that's the highest daily death toll in any country since the outbreak began also coming up south korea has been called a role model for flattening its coronavirus curves but fears of a 2nd wave of infections are growing as the country reports and taken cases.

on call assman thanks for joining us italy has set another record for the most deaths from corona virus in a single day nearly $1000.00 people have died in the past 24 hours bringing the total death toll to over 9000 that's the highest number of any country and health officials say the worst may be yet to come hospital wards are still full although doctors say the number of patients is now studying contagion rates also appear to be slowing giving hope that the strict social controls may be working but the lock down is hitting the italian economy hard with churches and charities struggling to care for people in need of basic supplies. are those bring in journalist seema go to she's following the situation from rome simo 1st of course just let's talk about the bad shocking number nearly 1000 people dead in just 24 hours of is there a sense that italy is is now approaching perhaps the peak of this crisis. well

col what the officials are telling us is that it is not near the peak it is not in the declining phase inside we heard from the representatives of it to these national health institute and they say the only thing they can point out terms of a slight light at the end of this dark dark tunnel is that the curve of contagion appears to be slightly flattening especially since the 20th of moxon they believe that that is a good sign now the president of the long but the region that's the hardest hit region that saw some 50 percent of those deaths that we saw in that one day close to $1000.00 that massive figure he said that the region may see a decline in the next few days it's hard to understand how these figures work with such massive numbers but what's clear as well is the members of the institute of

national health that told us it's inevitable that the lockdown period at least will be extended beyond that april date that was set earlier in this crisis we've been seeing is uplifting videos of italians singing from their balconies what is it like there now i mean how difficult is it to keep that sort of spirit going in italy. well call those flash mobs seem to have stops i mean just dealing with these depressing figures is just hot to grab at the immense nature of this tragedy you know talking about figures that could be a small village an entire village being obliterated just in the space of 24 hours it's absolutely heartbreaking i think some italians maybe even many italians found some solace perhaps on friday when we saw pope francis go to st peter's square and give this prayer to help those that are suffering and to pray for an end to this

pandemic it was very traumatic those images of rain on what was a n.-t. simpy to swear in the pope francis standing in the middle prayed for this at the same time it's those health care workers there are the frontlines fighting this battle will so far $46.00 doctors have died as a result of cold it 19 and more than 6000 health care workers are infected and they are the ones of course on the front lines of the pandemic sima go to for us in rome thank you for your porn. here's a look now at some of the latest developments on the corner virus pandemic chancellor angela merkel's chief of staff says germany will not loosen restrictions on public life before april 20th at the earliest sri lankan police have arrested thousands for violating a countrywide curfew they are meant to can train contain the spread of the virus

and the world health organization says norway and spain will be the 1st countries to start testing drugs to find covert 19 officials are testing for medicines that are considered to offer the most promise in combating the new disease. well spain. italy on friday. with more than 770 people dying in 24 hours or than 60000 people have been confirmed to have. 15 percent of our health care. a burial in hazmat suits. one of thousands of victims of the corona virus outbreak in spain. hospital staff in madrid don't need to see the statistics to know spain does not yet have a handle on the epidemic. it has been a deadly week for the country 2nd and daily fatalities only to italy. of

a quick in and medical staff has left doctors and nurses overwhelmed amnesty international reports that over 9000 spanish health service workers have become infected with the virus more than any other country. even healthy face isolation once they return home careful not to spread the disease to their families. having a hard time you feel very lonely and then you go home and you're alone again you remember all the images you saw during the day and you keep thinking and thinking and you can't rest. with the images in your head of everything you see here it's very difficult to disconnect it's impossible because you also feel helpless and sad . but their work is not in vain thousands have recovered because of their efforts.

at this field hospital in madrid 34 year old grass yellow alone so is going home. one of the local the guy who was 19 and i was in this hospital for the last 4 days . and i have to say that in the beginning i had a really bad time because they had that feeling of not being able to breathe. but things to all the support i received here all the measures that they've taken it wasn't so hard. no medicine that will go for a long so the ordeal is over but for spain the path to recovery is still uncertain . now to some of the stories making news around the world u.s. president donald trump has signed the largest stimulus package in modern u.s. history the deal will now 2 trillion dollars to be brushed to states and businesses that are struggling to make the crisis the bill was so send a direct payments to tens of millions of americans. china has scaled back its

restrictions on the original epicenter of the pandemic the city of han has now partially reopened after more than 2 months of near total isolation people are now allowed to return to han but no one is yet allowed to leave the city. south korea is tightening border controls after reporting a spike in corona virus cases and now it's in forcing 2 week quarantines on all passengers arriving from the united states similar quarantines had already been in place for travelers from europe so-called walk through testing stations have been set up capable of more than 10 tests per hour south korea reported $146.00 new infections in the last day $24.00 of them came from airport screenings still one news agency reports that the number of people who have recovered from the virus as for the 1st time exceeded the number of foreign. patients.

are let's bring in frank smith now he is in south korea's capital seoul frank south korea has reported a increase in new infections we're hearing where exactly are those infections coming from well most of those infections are coming from the southern city of daegu in the province of goings on that's where that shinji that cold had a series of meetings in early february and patient number 31 really spread the virus to hundreds of people there also as you mentioned we're seeing an increase in the number of arrivals coming into south korea's incheon airport bringing some more cases into the country but again most of the cases are surrounding debut in that so central area of the country i mean this is exactly what the south korean government and fact many countries in the region were worried about the more you make you

contain the original outbreak you flatten the curve and then all of a sudden you start to see these new hotspots sparking up again right. that's right we saw this with a call center here in the south korean capital seoul people are getting a little bit complacent and they're not observing the degree of social distancing that they were before here in south korea so the korea hasn't implemented a complete lockdown that we've seen in other cities and and other countries but they have been gauged in intense government sort of p.r. campaign they've also said that they're going to charge people and there perhaps will be suits brought against people that go out with the virus there was a mother and daughter pair that traveled around you i learned in south korea and spread the virus there and they may be liable for a suit of up to $100000.00 so 3 is also 'd implementing some closure some parks

were closed with cherry blossom festival is coming in this week the government is going to decide what to do with schools there they're set to reopen on april 6th but that's likely going to be extended are there still then enough encouraging signs do you think in south korea we've been holding up south korea as a success story what do we make of the of the recent numbers and numbers and how south korea has dealt with the pandemic well one thing that's happened in the last couple of days as well we've seen 10000 cases now more people more than about $5000.00 have been released after being cured of the virus so that's a very positive sign so 3 it continues with its strong testing and tracking measures which include you know mobile applications where you can see on your on your phone where people have gone and where people have contracted the virus but still it's the social distancing campaign that the government here is looking at and looking to really more strictly enforce our correspondent frank smith reporting

for us from seoul in south korea thanks very much. the sporting world has come to a standstill amid the crown of iris crisis but many of its biggest names have used this free time to help out in the battle against the pandemic serbian tennis superstar novak djokovic is the latest to step up with a 7 figure donation. novak djokovic is a man more used to picking up 7 figure checks them to during the moat but the 17th major winners pledge of 1000000 euros to buy medical equipment in his native serbia sees him join a growing line of sporting stars and institutions who are using their financial muscle to help battle the coronavirus pandemic in football by a munich's prolific. said goodbye to a few of his gold bonuses as he pledged a 1000000 euros to germany's fighting fund. a separate initiative called

we kick. and you're sure commish raised more than 2500000 euros in its 1st few days in france paris and german raised over 200000 euros for local medical staff battling the coronavirus by selling it a new special edition strip bearing the words need all the united. reigning european champions liverpool meanwhile had a simple message of support designed to give medical workers a much needed lift. thank you to all the incredible people who are. services. workers if you want out there. some believable you are going. on behalf of all of us from elop see i would like to say thank you or. germany. the typical show of solidarity from the club whose motto is being echoed across the sporting world you'll never walk alone.

yes listen. if they're all spanish while powerhouse real madrid have joined the growing list of sports teams and athletes that are pitching in to find the coronavirus like many football grounds in europe real madrid's 80000 seat stadium as looked like this deserted since matches were suspended earlier this month but now it will be phoning in this time with donated medical supplies the club is encouraging partners sponsors to provide donations to help madrid fight the violence. but don't forget you can always get news on the go just download our app from google player from the app store and that will give you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for a new breaking news and if you find yourself part of a news story you can always use that to your app to send us photos and videos to

tell us what's going on where you are. as a t.v. news a reminder that before you go all the latest headlines around the car available on our website that's d.w. dot com and we have more news coming for you at the top of the hour on aspen things who want to. do secret indiscretions or. is it too soon. or the story behind the music. before the age of reducing.