this is g.w. news live from berlin and italy pauses to pay its respects to the victims of the corona virus pandemic. roams mayor joins in observing a minute of silence in memory of the more than 11000 italians killed by the virus we will bring you the latest from rome also coming up in spain fears grow for elderly people amid reports that some nursing homes have been practically abandoned by workers relatives are turning to digital technology to help keep in contact.

i'm sara kelly welcome to the program italy has held a minute of silence to remember the 11 and a half 1000 fellow citizens who have died in the corona virus pandemic carrara her . primary. class nationwide were lowered to half mast as here in rome as overburdened hospitals and health workers struggle to cope italy remains the epicenter of the pandemic in europe with almost 102000 people infected a nationwide lockdown has been in place for weeks and the government has warned that it could go on for much longer. and joining me now from rome is correspondent

seem a good death so you know it's striking really to see this shift in italy since the outbreak began i mean we had videos a few weeks ago of residents on a balcony singing and now silence and you're absolutely right sara i mean it's from singing to silence singing for solidarity and signs really to remember all the victims the more than 11500 victims people who have died with covert 19 as well as to all of the health care workers that are fighting this infection this fictious disease and it's important to remember all of that more than 11500 victims did you do have at least 61 doctors that have lost their lives to quote 19 of the flags wolf flying at half mast all throughout ichi as well as at the vatican and a real a somber reality of that stan greenfield for many people to remember that said that the authorities are trying to stress the fact that the number of new infections

does appear to be stabilizing and some pro projected that perhaps the peak of infection could arrived within the next $7.00 to $10.00 days and in the meantime we know that residents have been under strict lockdown for weeks now it was supposed to end on friday but now it's been extended until at least april 12th that's easter sunday how are people coping with such a long lockdown like this. you know you're right it's day 22 now of this lockdown and for a lot of families of course there's a massive psychological stress just being cooped up at home and having to juggle work life as well as family life and school life for their children that's for those who are lucky enough to have jobs unfortunately there are those that are really struggling literally to make ends meet because you're either unemployed or for instance particularly in the south of the country which is poorer and has a high unemployment rate you have people who often do clandestine work or work in

the black as they say even that work has run out and so they are struggling just to buy food to feed their families and that's why the government has set aside 400000000 euros to be distributed among all the town councils that they will use to set up so that people can feed themselves and their families and there will be an additional 4300000000 euros of help on its way that said though there is concern about the economic impact all of this is having here in italy and there's some concern that the european countries north should be doing more to help in italy and perhaps create a more. solidarity in terms of helping italy deal with its debt crisis as well and so a lot of need is as well as regional officials have written a letter to germany for a greater coordination is as one has done after will war 2 all kinds of

measures on the table including a so-called corona bond seem a good day joining us with the view from rome today thank you. and spain has europe's 2nd highest death toll behind italy with nearly 8200 deaths with elderly people at high risk nursing homes in spain have been overwhelmed by the number of infections there are reports of poor conditions and relatives fear for their loved ones because they are banned from visiting that our correspondent john philip schultz has this report from seville. what is happening behind these windows concerns many spaniards almost 2000 nursing home residents have died after contracting the coronavirus every day more homes are affected rafael moreno's uncle has parkinson's and lives in a nursing home in southern spain a while ago he learned that the 1st cases of coronavirus had been diagnosed there too since then he tells me the residents of the nursing home and their relatives

have become increasingly worried. so what are they doing to do with the difficult situation. the care workers complain about terrible conditions in many homes they say there's not enough protective clothing and that hundreds of their colleagues are infected authorities are investigating reports that some workers went home after the 1st cases were identified leaving residents forgotten in their beds the dramatic situation in many nursing homes has shocked people here in spain the spender

society takes pride in its strong family ties and in taking well care of people possible criminal neglect and the feeling of helplessness among family members. it starts to affect the so. and a lot of spaniards fear that the situation in nursing homes might get worse in the coming days. in the nursing home where more dangerous lives then management has set up what's approved now that i fail and the other relatives feel a little bit closer to their loved ones. while brazil has latin america's highest number of reported coronavirus cases more than 4500 but that hasn't stopped the country's populist president i had a boss an audio from downplaying the danger posed by the pandemic for sales health minister has openly contradicted the president saying people need to protect themselves through social distancing now social media giants are stepping into the fray they are removing posts showing that the president is disregarding public health advice. brazil's far right president jebel sonora likes to portray himself

as a man of the people. but his closeness to the people in these images has proved too much for social media platforms facebook instagram and twitter. they've now removed this video accusing both sonora of putting lives at risk by ignoring official guidelines on social distancing but also narrow is unrepentant. this total isolation if it goes on like this in the future we will have a serious problem with the brutal amount of unemployment it will take years to resolve. the president alleges his aim is to protect the poor who are suffering the most those jobs are destroyed because of quarantine measures he say's people need to get back to work. but this stance has put him at all it's not just with official advice from health professionals

imploring people to stay at home. but also with the majority of brazil state governors are many local politicians they have busy repurchasing venues such as the samba drive in rio turning it into a shelter for the homeless and vulnerable for the duration of the pandemic bracing for the onslaught. i think everyone's appeal is stay at home the home is this one it will be the spaces that are being offered so the ideal is that they stay here and do not walk around the streets and be exposed to such a lethal virus these for our views if you don't want as a number of infections and deaths increases another big concern is how to stop the virus spreading among cities favelas here there's often no running water or electricity and people are increasingly dependent on food handouts so let's take a look now at some other ways that coronaviruses affecting people around the world

russia has reported its biggest one day rise in new cases some 500 bringing back countries total to more than $2300.00 authorities in belgium have confirmed the death of a 12 year old girl infected with kovan 19 although serious infections among the young remain rare several countries have reported exceptions and the world health organization is warning that even though the focus now is on europe and the united states the coronavirus pandemic is still quote far from over in asia and the pacific region. and the german football league has confirmed that the restart date for the bundesliga will be april 30th at the earliest germany's top tier league has been suspended since march 13th the clubs agreed on tuesday that the suspension should be extended because of the coronavirus however games may still be played behind closed doors when the season resumes there are 9 rounds of matches left in the car and. let's look now at some ways covert 19 is

impacting the business world french president emmanuel mccrone has issued a call to manufacturers in his country and elsewhere to ramp up production of protective gear for key workers on the coronavirus front line including facemasks mccrone was visiting a plant friend of france's leading mass producer. ford and general electric said that they will produce 50000 emergency ventilators in the next 100 days joined carmaker g.m. in the race to repurpose factory lines to produce ventilators hospitals across the u.s. are urgently seeking the devices as they deal with an onslaught of coronavirus patients . let's see how the financial markets are doing now for more i am joined by financial correspondent conrad who is in who's joining us from frankfurt so we had today the end of the 1st quarter of 2020 it started out strong then came the pandemic where do we stand right now. well sarah of the german share index

dax is currently trading $3500.00 points lower than at the beginning of this year which is a loss of 25 percent due to the corona pandemic whether or not this is it whether or not the upcoming quarter will bring a strong rebound is too early to say at the moment most of the news coming from companies is about scrapping dividends scrapping forecasts warning about more difficult more difficulties to find financing delayed general shareholder meeting stuff like this so you know the news is not so that investors would really would like to invest in stocks right now. and we also have germany's economic advisors saying that a recession is inevitable that you know if we're looking at the levels down there on the stock market in frankfurt for example. how bad do investors think that this

could really get. well there's a lot of hope that the worst case scenario by the council of economic advisors to our government a contraction of g.d.p. this year here in germany of 5.4 percent will be the worst case scenario and i can tell you there's a lot of hope that we are going to see a strong rebound after that corona hit the broad economy it hit everyone but when it's gone everyone might be ready to just go back to work and produce a recovery that at least is a lot of hope of the trading floors comrade bruisin in frankfurt thank you. or heading to japan now or a surge in corona virus infections in the capital tokyo is putting the government under pressure to declare a nationwide lockdown 2000 cases have so far been confirmed throughout japan in a bid to contain the virus many employees are already working from home and that's

quite a novel concept in the land of so-called salary men the long suffering worker drone chained to his desk for long hours. casually dressed as his daughters play nearby yuki such as work environment is far removed from a typical japanese salarymen tokyo's decision office workers are expected to spend long hours at their desks but the corona virus outbreak has forced employers and workers to adjust to more tell you working from home it's getting a cautious thumbs up. and all. what's good about telly working is that i can have more free time i usually spend 2 hours in total commuting which i now use to take care of things at home. dot i like very much that i think you know that. the government wants to encourage more women in the workforce in japan and this requires men to pull their weight on childcare and housework while one 5th of companies offer

a tele work option just 8.5 percent of employees have tried it out. experts venus from berlin we'll have more news at the top of the hour i'm sara kelly. combating the corona pandemic. where does research stand. what are scientists learning. background information and news. our corona update. from the coded 19 special next on d w. this

pandemic is is is overwhelming it's just so many people that need the breathing machines that just simply haven't been manufactured yet. imagine you're a doctor and have a 30 year old patient and an 80 year old both infected with the coronavirus both showing severe symptoms and both need an oxygen moms but you only have one who should produce this kind of decision is called tria which is french and it means deciding who has a higher chance of survival and is given a higher priority in medical treatment and who might be left to the. doctors around the globe are taking these decisions right now what does that mean

for those doctors and what are the ethics behind 3 os that's what we're looking at today and all special coverage of the covert 19 crosses your own d w i'm god all things welcome. it all comes down to how well the health system is prepared for a pandemic in the end it's the number of intensive care beds and ventilators that counts currently most health system outside italy and france are holding the line but around the world hospitals are filling up trio might become a reality for doctors sooner or later. this is the worst case scenario when treating patients in front stopped as a force to make life or death decisions patients over the age of 81 not be put on mechanical ventilators this process is called tria. the term comes from the french for t.n.a. it means the sourcing of and allocation of treatment to patients modern medical triology was invented during the napoleonic wars france spain and italy of the

worst affected countries in europe more than 100000 people have been infected with the virus in italy unknown nearly 12000 have died and the longer the crisis continues the more often doctors are faced with making some very tough decisions and to talk about those decisions are now joined by dr to be a scorsese a physician and the epidemiologist the director also the director of the institute for public health at berlin started to hospital professor vinca physician teaching medical ethics at heidelberg university let's start with you dr cord we're not yet doing triology in germany are doctors well prepared for taking these decisions. well words are so well prepared against other doctors in the world in training and the hospitals and physicians already stationed. theoretical as in when

what's reaction is necessary in germany it will be very challenging for a doctors and medical teams here as well. to put how does trash work in a hospital is it just one doctor who ends up being the only one responsible and carries this burden well there are certainly operating procedures in place so it's going to imagine eventually you have a very short time to decide in which case it will be left by its leading position in the medical teams on the side will get it going to legs or not so it's going to be a very challenging situation so therefore the support of the local law structures the hospital as well as the legal system is very important to support these medical teams to make these decisions but talking about these procedures a professor how can doctors and hospitals actually prepare for tria. but i think. from an ethical point of humor and prepayment for these decisions is crucial for 2 reasons but personal uniform rules in order to ensure fair occasion

of resources. across teams across units and hospitals and because doctors in their everyday clinical don't and i'm not familiar not at ease this as such decisions because the traditional clinical ethics is patient centered and not at for allocating patients to different levels of contingency care so from an ethical. need to korea are 2 areas i think the 1st victory out for courts that provides for a step by step evaluation and criteria for rare cases of patients and in germany several medical association pettish recommendations but we are protocol last week with their ketamine for ethics in medicine in the lead and 2nd each hospital tested if and how it does feel it should be implemented and believe therefore

a tree asked teams that include expertise of intensive care physicians. maybe even clinical ethics committees can support in setting up these processes think the most important think is s. and thing as doctors that there are only if they give it a place not to charge for the responsibility taken in these decisions that's one key issue of course but what about normal doctors saying in the community village doctors who have covered patients do they also or might they also face these ethical dilemmas. i think not those that this end is and their decision on. who gets under ventilator is obviously not the primary care physician that they have at their tree as decisions if there are many patients who are going to transfer to the hospital. if there are many patients in need so i think this same criteria of seriousness and and

commodities that go into the trash or the courts in the hospital can also be applied in the periphery for nominal primary care physician. at least of importance for him. coming back to you how well can you predict actually whether a person will probably die even if treated isn't that also a bit of a lottery. but it certainly is a lot of parameters medical history medical experience of the treating physician at work are to support your decision but there is no certainty to the minute decision is he is the right one also there's only. so you can spend it it seems made a different decision so they're coming up a situation that will be a circle a learning curve. and they're in conservative best to really use the r for the rest of the large professor winkler coming back to you as an ethicist

what can you tell a frontline doctor who is facing a decision like that could you give us an example. well i think 1st it would be employer groups or to acknowledge that these are tough decisions that kind of head out specific our conduct as ethics and some are to test the church if you have such dilemma and then coming back to those rules and protocols that we have now is set up saying. there are different faces of the pandemic and if you have not enough. tests for our patients who needs you have to pray or test so it's. certain that you will and that they will survive and then others and there we have clearly led made out criteria so that this was a good set is the current situation up the patient come a bit at peace for

a peace and criteria but for example age just not a credit here that went into our recommendation said chumbley and if i think the 3rd thing that i would recommend is make. a way out of a terrible suppliants in secular absolute terms because you know that this is a serious stress and more and other west wrestling situation and this church as a bit you know in the hospital it's will relieve the stress that happens in trio situations professor you have in there and started to be asked for thank you very much. and i was every day here's a science correspondent stary quill him for a couple of answers to questions that you have sent him keep them coming today it's about how men and women can be differently affected by covert 19 it's the covance gender gap. money suggests men are more likely to catch covert $1000.00 than women

is that true it does indeed appear that men are more likely to test positive for the disease than women are in other words men make up more than the 50 percent of confirmed cases you would expect if the virus infected men and women with equal frequency. are men more likely to die from coven 1000 as well. here the data is this more conclusive and what it's saying is that men are more likely to die after infection with coke at 19 then women are the numbers are very striking for example in italy where over 70 percent of the confirmed patients who succumbed to the disease were men so the coronavirus really does appear to be more lethal for men than it is for women. so why are men more vulnerable than women. like so much else about this virus we just don't know enough at this point

to really pin down why it's killing more men than it is women but researchers have hazarded some guesses on average worldwide more than women do men pursue behaviors that are considered to be health risks like smoking tobacco or we're drinking alcohol and everyone should know those risks those unhealthy behaviors can also lead to what are called co-morbidities those are conditions like hypertension or a cardiovascular disease or chronic lung disease and many of the victims of covert 19 were elderly men with co-morbidities yet other researchers are trying to cast some light on the issue by focusing on the biological and genetic differences between men and women could estrogen be playing a protective parole for example maybe there are also some well documented immune system differences between men and women and what's most probable is that all of those factors social behavioral biological that they're all going to play

a role in why covert 19 is hitting men harder than it's hitting women there's not going to be a simple straightforward explanation. on the derrick williams there keep the questions coming and that was all covered 900 special for more on the pandemic to check out our social media channels and our website that's the w dot com of course which is dedicated covert 900 pages in 30 languages and now we want to leave you with a few images from that egypt the famous prayed for and pleasant with messages of unity and solid doubts with those battling noble caracal and i was across the globe 1st time last night stay safe. thank you those keeping us safe flashed across the towering structure at the giza plateau.

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