densely populated areas. under blockade in. the territories fighting to get ahead of the virus. and the virus is also hitting. the military to enforce a lockdown but people are finding it difficult especially those who are most at

risk. and business. and. all others are questioning whose policies are most protected. thanks for joining us. could prove extra challenging for countries without advance health care. gloves face masks and hospital beds are all crucial and they're severely lacking in gaza authorities worry the virus could spread unchecked more than 2000000 people in the palestinian territory live under strict blockades from both israel and egypt. it's been less than a week since the coronavirus reached gaza but already it's clear that the territory

is woefully under quick to cope with the pandemic or thirty's are doing what they can. the. gaza municipality is organizing the cleaning and sterilising of the markets in an attempt to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. we're doing this despite being short of facilities and equipment. it is our duty to try to prevent the virus from spreading. the u.n. has already warned that the crumbling infrastructure will not be up to the challenge basic health care and sanitation it says simply inadequate. members of the palestinian islamic jihad armed wing the al could brigade taking to the streets not to demonstrate or bully but to join the effort to stop the virus from spreading. business to is contributing its expertise this gaza factory is

producing protective clothing for medical workers to its own design. we want to protect ourselves and medical staff production has reached around 1000 suits so far there are 6 factories working for us. mosques in the palestinian territory have closed while mass rallies planned for next week along the border with israel have been cancelled. people in gaza doing what they can to prepare for the pandemic but the poor remain seasoned infrastructure mean it's likely to hit them hard. for more on this story joined a moment ago by mathias he's the director of the united nations relief and works agency for palestinian refugees in gaza this is how he described the situation on the ground i would describe the situation as one. of panic since the

1st 2 cases where announced a couple of days ago and very watery to walk what happened if there is. traction and a serious outbreak as was evidence in your report just now in the hospital sector here is woefully unprepared in many ways been told is for every 100 patients what good you would need at least 5 intensive care unit beds 60 in the whole of the gaza strip so you can do the math as soon as they are more than 1500 people also feel the hospitals would simply not cope so that's one big concern the other concern is that in these crowded conditions you know with 812 people often sharing a 2 bedroom apartment let's say it's extremely challenging. the measures being

advised by the world health organization like social distancing and of course proper hygiene it conditions in terms of hand washing and so on has also a challenge at the best of times. gaza has been blockaded for years by israel in egypt of course how might those countries respond for example is there any talk of temporarily lifting restrictions for humanitarian reasons. well there's a couple of things to say about this so number one there has been over these last 2 or 3 weeks since the koran that reached the region let's say a relatively pragmatic cooperation with the israeli authorities so the goods we have needed to bring in for hospitals and so on as united nations they've been all through and they have also not curtailed the movement of other goods we run for example as astute alteration over a 1000000 people so more than 50000050 percent of gaza's population depend on food

and of course in the lock down it's critical that people have access to food so so far that has not been blocked what has been blocked is movement of people and that's understandable our water it's and are appealing to israel but also egypt as another neighboring country at the international community here is not to forget gaza it is understandable that with this being up and damage and all countries including israel and egypt being affected that the focus is at home trying to keep one's own populations and healthy but an outbreak in gaza will also affect israel and egypt and the last thing we would want is a complete shutting off of the borders people need food and need other materials for the hospital sector and so forth really appreciate your being with us mathias social or direct the virus is spreading across the globe in just starting to take hold in africa with more than

a 1000 registered infections south africa is officially the worst hit nation on the continent the country has just begun a 3 week national lockdown and local authorities are taking a hard line in enforcing it were known i might have known up the army is out on the streets here in one of jhana specs prone neighborhoods it's trying to enforce what seems difficult for many staying at home. for the lead waba family lockdown means 6 people sharing 12 square meters that normally only happens at night when they sleep and they have no running water they have to collect it themselves from a tap a kilometer away. social distancing doesn't really work here but it's badly needed millions suffer from tuberculosis and aids and at particular risk as night. we have no choice we have to come to this place to get water and to go to the

toilet. the main roads are almost empty this is one of the strictest lockdowns in the world only those in essential services such as hospitals are allowed to go to work food shopping is allowed but the queues are often long and few here keep their distance. i know that i can't go to work and that worries me i don't know if my employer will still need me after the lockdown is over. the standstill will likely ruin many businesses in south africa but fear of the uncontrolled spread of the virus is even greater because it could spell the collapse of the country's already stretched health service earlier i spoke to did correspondent in cape town i 1st asked him how well the lockdown has been working so far 3 days in. well you can see it behind me the streets are rather empty just

a few people outside it's going to do shopping which is still allowed there's a plenty of checkpoints on the streets off cape town here but so far so good they are some issues however that i was able to observe for example a big problem is the homeless people you can might be able to see right behind me they're still dozens of them on the street that i've seen throughout town although the president promised a week ago that they will be taken off the streets that the states will take a on them this has obviously not happened also some of the people who work in essential services working for supermarkets for example complained to me that is very difficult for them to get to work public transport is still running for them but they told me the busses overcrowded and this of course should not be the case when you're having a lockdown and when you're trying to stop the spread of the virus and you know i have to say it's difficult to watch the report that we just gave viewers and not ask yourself do these people stand a chance there are fundamental infrastructure problems that make fighting 19 i

think. clearly an enormous effort what is the government doing to address those issues. absolutely i mean the president said we have to do this lockdown because otherwise our health system might just collapse 80 percent of the many poor population relies on the public health sector and it's already now overwhelmed we've created in the report it's could be a major challenge if the numbers continue to increase like they do now experts believe only after 2 weeks of the doc down there's a chance that the number of new infections will decrease but even that is of course not guaranteed and nobody knows how the situation could possibly develop specially in the poor areas in the townships where people live in very crowded spaces under very difficult circumstances how patient can these people be and how will the states cater for them because many of them don't have savings they will not be able to so wife basically if they don't have a job and they don't have anything to do. and you would see emotional reaction that

people are having to this. well i mean you basically are not allowed to do anything any more than shopping or go to hospitals you're not allowed to have a walk to go out with your dog or do some talking all this is banned so obviously it is difficult for people but as i said i think the people most affected are the ones in crowded townships at the moment and this is really interesting in the next week to see how they are really trying to cope with the situation and if the state will really be able to bring the resources to this off the city and off the country to support the poor population ageing increase in south africa for us thank you so much. now to some of the other stories making news around the world. voting has begun in mali's long delayed elections despite concerns about security and the coronavirus apparent pandemic sunday's polls opened just hours after the west african nation announced its 1st coronavirus death and days after opposition

leader. was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen. u.s. president donald trump has backed down from his controversial idea to quarantine the region around new york which has nearly half of all corona virus cases and deaths in the country instead authorities ordered a domestic travel advisory the u.s. has the most infections globally with nearly 125000 confirmed infections. confinement restrictions in hungary went into effect on saturday through april 11th meaning people may only leave their homes if absolutely necessary senior citizens are restricted to schedule shopping times between 9 am and 12 pm others are only allowed to shop outside those times. hundreds of passengers have been evacuated from a luxury cruise liner hit by the coronavirus of panama 4 people died on board the

dutch own. and 2 others tested positive passengers without symptoms have been transferred to a sister ship with ortiz lifted a ban to allow the vessels through the panama canal to florida. now 2 thirds of global covert 19 deaths are in europe and yet one european country is bucking the isolation trend many people in sweden are still socializing in groups and relaxing in the springtime sun despite more than 100 deaths from the krona virus swedish authorities have yet to introduce any drastic restrictions on freedom of movement. large gatherings crowded streets afternoons in the sun in sweden this remains the norm while such scenes fade into the memory of people elsewhere in europe though sweden has more than 3000 confirmed infections and more than 100 people have died many swedes are keeping their cool as the

coronavirus spreads elsewhere in my opinion the sweetest handling the crisis very good. and it's partly because i don't think i could manage being inside the whole day primary schools kindergartens bars and restaurants all remain open though authorities encourage people to work from home and practice social distancing high schools and universities have closed and other measures are gradually being implemented. with extreme color really unprecedented cabinet meeting has decided to ban public gatherings of more than 50 people. from. the stands in stark comparison to other european countries like the u.k. and germany where groups larger than 2 current they prohibited so we didn't flex approaches inciting unease among some health experts. so there's been a growing concern i would say unless scientific community with the. core stuff to which government has taken in through this epidemic and especially because there is

. really a lot of scientific evidence being put forward for these policies in an open letter to the government some 2000 documents are calling for justification for the government's decisions while many people around the world are debating which political decisions will prove the most protective many swedes are soaking up the sun and science of community for as long as they can. you're watching news from girl and more news as always at the top of the. in the global corona crisis you can find more information online fads e.w. dot com and on t.w. social media channels.