an exclusive report from were destroyed so if you're. really in the sense of fire starts may 20th on g.w. . this is g.w. news live from berlin and easter under lockdown churches around the world celebrate the holy day with out their congregations in rome a pope francis calls for global solidarity in fighting the coronavirus pandemic and for cease fires in all conflicts st peter's square normally packed with tens of thousands of worshippers it stands to serve and also coming up. health experts warn

of the corona virus that could have a devastating impact in africa where most hospitals are desperately short of the twins and train staff we go to kenya where the corona virus is also causing financial uncertainty for many. and how much of an impact will the coronavirus pandemic have on society and the way we work we take a look at what happened after the spanish flu outbreak more than 100 years ago. i'm claire richards and welcome to the show the pope has broken with centuries of tradition and live streamed his easter sunday mass for the 1st time as the world's 1300000000 catholics celebrate the holy day under coronavirus lock down pope francis devoted his traditional or be at or be message to what he called this year's easter of solitude and calls for global solidarity. he

swapped his normal audience of thousands for empty pews and the echoes of an empty set peter's basilica. pope francis delivered his easter message behind closed doors amid the ongoing lockdown in coronavirus hit italy. he's called for global solidarity to fight the virus. and. in light of the present circumstances. may international sanctions be relaxed. since these make it difficult for countries on which they have been imposed. to provide adequate support for their citizens and. if i may all nations be put in the position to meet the greatest needs of the moment say no to the reduction if not the forgiveness of the debt burden in the balance sheets of the poorest nations

people would. also expressed particular concern for the future of europe saying you know of a good solutions were needed to get through this tough period. european union is presently facing an epochal challenge. on which will depend not only its future. but that of the whole world. let us not lose the opportunity to give further proof of solidarity also by turning to innovative solutions the. empty pews are a familiar sight around the world whose service is being held in close churches as millions of people have been told. almost all of the united states is under a stay at home order this weekend as the country grapples with the largest coronavirus outbreak in the world the death toll has risen by some 2000 for 4 days

in a row bringing the total number of people killed at to over $20000.00 but as the economic toll of the lockdown mounts the trump administration is considering relaxing movement restrictions in less than 3 weeks we're looking at may 1st obviously we want that to happen as soon as possible i can't predict at this point because as i said things are happening very rapidly but this team this team of doctors this team of experts all of government approach they're focused at looking at. earliest possible time that we can get americans back to wait back to work safely and to give americans the confidence they need to make sure that these are their joining me for more is d.w. correspondent in washington d.c. all over may 1st as a potential target for easing the lockdown what's been the reaction said that as a day well a clear that's exactly what president trump wants to hear he'll of course has the elections on his mind the stock market the economy he's also under really severe

pressure by a prediction of the i.m.f. just a couple days ago that we're expecting the deepest economic downturn in a century and then of course the johns hopkins university who's been delivering the global data of the latest numbers in infections worldwide they've been very critical in responding to that they believe that if the country opens up too early then the numbers of infections and casualties would spike once again. the leader of the expert the national expert here in the united states for infectious diseases and to the fall she says reopening is possible technically but he is rather talking about a faced role old and that means that it's depending on local situations because obviously new york city is the situation in new york city is somewhat different compared to other states across the u.s. particularly in the center of the country and don't forget the state governors will have an important word to say to him they will rather decide based on their local

situation rather than with regards to the upcoming election. we're talking now about lifting a social restrictions but far from that some are saying that these sort of restrictions restrictions should have been brought into place much earlier. you're right claire and those again the corona experts here said today that earlier mitigation efforts would have saved lives and that there was some heavy pushback against those plans and that's very interesting it's a very strong tack in fact against president trump against the u.s. administration because what everyone knew until this point is that the response of the administration has been slow president trump has also publicly not really taken the virus as a big threat in seriously at least in the beginning of the pandemic but to hear that from president trump's top experts for infectious diseases who's giving daily

press conferences also together with him is a strong signal something that trump doesn't like to hear and it's also not looking good for president trump and for now the u.s. remains in a lockdown and briefly what is the situation had been over the easter weekend where you are so far. well in new york city we are getting reports that hospitalizations have been slowing down for quite some days but still the death toll there is speaking about on the other hand there is some hope of course that that might improve and experts also believe that this is proof that mitigation efforts are working on it as out in washington d.c. thank you for that analysis. the world health organization last month warned africa faces a dramatic evolution of the coronavirus pandemic even as governments imposed restrictions to help contain it the virus has spread to $52.00 african countries but despite

a steady rise in the number of confirmed cases the continent continues to lag behind the global curve for infections and deaths in kenya the government projects the country could see 10000 cases by the end of april. it was supposed to be an orderly process but the fence could barely hold back the crowd motivated by misery residents from the slums of nairobi have come in search of promised aid packages. i'm waiting here so that my grandchildren can finally eat again i don't have anyone else. but private donations aren't enough for everyone here in the fight against the coronavirus the kenyan government has drastically restricted freedom of movement for weeks now she you have been able to earn a living the poorest communities have been hardest hit if you have any savings and what money they have goes on food soap and running water a luxuries and everything has become more expensive since the outbreak began most

african states are struggling many are highly indebted with paul the functioning health systems the growing number of corona virus cases threatens to overwhelm hospitals by death for can states are struggling to compete with rich countries on the world market for scarce resources such as face masks or ventilators. bill gates and his wife melinda are appealing for industrial countries to put selfishness aside the couple fund the biggest private foundation in the world which is engaged in projects across africa they're demanding more cooperation between countries and the world health organization right now the number of cases in those countries is still pretty modest but everything we've seen would suggest that they'll be calmly epicenter of the epidemic in the months ahead without major support for developing countries the coronavirus pandemic will remain a global problem. british prime minister boris johnson has been discharged from

hospital after being treated for kovan 19 johnson was admitted a week ago and spent 3 days in intensive care his office says he will not be returning to work immediately johnson's release from st thomas' hospital in london comes as the u.k. death toll from the krona virus tops 10001 of the highest in the world this hospital bids farewell to its most high profile patient as the british prime minister arrives at his country residence to recuperate boris johnson says the national health service saved his life in the last 7 days i have of course seen the pressure that the n.h.s. is under i've seen the personal courage not just of the doctors the nurses but of everyone the cleaners the cooks the health care workers with every description physios review group was foreman says who kept coming to work kept putting themselves in harm's way kept risking these deadly viruses

he survived what so many others haven't as the u.k. passes a grim milestone. today marks a somber day in the impact of this disease the fact that over 10000 people have now lost their lives to this invisible killer demonstrates just how serious coronavirus is and why the national effort that everyone is engaged in is so important the real number could be much higher as the official told does not include deaths at side of hospitals and while the prime minister thanks the health service for saving his life doctors unions are warning that a lack of protective equipment is putting health care workers at risk britain's health minister says the government is working to fix any shortages daily with delivering millions of items to the front line so we're working very hard to resolve all of these individual logistical challenges meanwhile british life is

still on hold this beach in brighton would normally be packed for the easter weekend i return to normality looks a long way off with the expectation that the nation wide lockdown will be extended to this week time to take a look now at coronavirus developments in other parts of the world's turkish interior minister so i'm on soil there has submitted his resignation after taking responsibility for a poorly timed weekend cove in $1000.00 curfew the announcement of the 48 hour lockdown a prompt and panic buying at 2 hours before it took effect on friday night turkey has seen a spike in krona virus cases with nearly 1200 deaths. spain's prime minister hadrons sanchez says his country is far from victory against the coronavirus after the death toll rose again in the last 24 hour period the number of deaths jumped by more than 100 to 619 following 3 straight days of decline but

there were fewer new infections during the same period. the french navy's only aircraft carrier the charles de gaulle has arrived at the southern port of too long after 15 naval personnel tested positive for cocaine 19 the entire crew of around 1900 sailors will be tested for the virus and isolated for 2 weeks. now the spanish flu outbreak more than 100 years ago had a big impact on society a century on the coronavirus is likely to have far reaching effects on both our working and personal lives people are getting to grips with life under lockdown staying and quarantine and new concepts such as social distancing and self isolation but how life changing will this be history might just have the answer. deadly pandemic descended on the world after the 1st world war as if people hadn't suffered enough already the virus known as the spanish flu blew across the globe

100 years ago hitting middle aged people hardest you know. about one 3rd of the german population was sick and to some degree. in all of europe 2300000 people died from because it was a. worldwide at least 25000000 it's going to mean this isn't really a 50000000 or double even that would go to feed. doctors had little at their disposal to fight the virus no ventilators no antibiotics the only thing that helped was keeping people apart from each other. so that's what this is this shows that the most important step in stopping. the spread of the pathogen is separating people by shutting down every day life and interactions. pandemics are both brutal and educational the spanish flu showed that quarantines actually help after the 1st

world war and the spanish flu the economy started looking up the history of epidemics shows that they lead to advances and innovations another example the plague it killed millions of people in the middle ages yet later had extraordinary economic and societal effects. you're watching news from berlin and remember you can get the latest headlines on our web site. i'm tired and thanks so much for joining us. every journey begins with the 1st step and every language with the 1st word has been the. case in germany to learn german why not simple online on your mobile and free. learning course nikos fake german matey.