this is g.w. news live from berlin donald trump on the defensive after coming under fire for his handling of the coronavirus crisis the us president said his actions had saved hundreds of thousands of lives and then aired a self congratulatory video criticizing the press also coming up on the show. here in germany with the easter holiday weekend now over the country's most prestigious science academy says it's time to start cautiously lifting restrictions. and imagination and knows no bounds when it comes to social distancing people around

the world put their ideas for coping with the coronavirus into practice. i'm claire richardson and welcome to the show u.s. president donald trump has defended his administration's actions over the coronavirus crisis saying the spread of the virus is slowing but his daily press briefing at trump rounded on journalists who criticized his response accusing the press of spreading fake news meanwhile in new york governor andrew cuomo said the worst could be over for the hard hit state. new yorkers being the state hardest hit by covert 19 and it was also battered on monday by bad weather. health care workers had to contend with heavy rain and high winds at this emergency tent facility in central park and they were not the only ones weathering

a storm in washington u.s. president donald trump faced criticism over his handling of the crisis at his daily press briefing the president surprised journalists with what some are calling a propaganda video defending his response. and then he went on the offensive. and remember this everything we did i was criticized because i was too early. if i waited longer it would have been you would include if i went way early if i went 3 months earlier i would have been criticized you know criticize for being way too early. i think. i've educated a lot of people as to the press and i would love to be able to say that we have a very 'd honest press. said as administration with finalizing a plan to reopen the u.s. economy when questioned on who would decide on relaxing lockdown rules trump said

he would be calling the shots it's a decision for the president the united states with that being said we're going to work with the states because it's very important several state governors on the east and west coasts are discussing the best way to open their economies and ease stay at home or does new york governor andrew cuomo seem to suggest he thought it should be largely up to individual states not the president. he left it to the states to close down and that was state by state this issue without any guidance really he took the position that it was a state's decision and then the states were responsible for purchasing supplies etc with infection numbers in new york beginning to play the colts to loosen the lockdown a getting louder but the road back to normalcy will be a long one. tell us more i'm joined by d.w. correspondent all of our in washington d.c.

all over as we saw trump defended his response to the coronavirus reaction what did you make of what he said well this is one of those press conference clearer to be remembered a highly unusual press conference with a very very angry president trump lashing out against his critics against the media he also insall to journalists in the room you just heard his sound but they are so really strongly trying to defend himself and also very special moment in the press conference when the wide holes. showed a campaign style video where they actually defended the handling of president trump's handling all of that this is one of those videos that you would actually see on a campaign rally but not a government press conference of course so it really shows that president trump got under pressure u.s. networks later called a video a propaganda video and that happened after the fall of president trump's leading

expert in infectious diseases. in directly criticize president trump saying that many lives could have been saved if the government had acted earlier that's right there's been some controversy surrounding trump's response to a direct. me to dr anthony can you tell us a little bit more about that. right and that controversy began after those policy remarks that i just mentioned and today president trump read tweeted a tweet where someone called for firing anthony fall and then there were additional media reports that trump was actually planning to do exactly that firing his coronavirus export expert excuse me which he then later rejected as fake news so big controversy here leading up to that press conference late later anthony fall she was trying to put that into perspective in that press conference he said he had a bad choice of words he also said that trump acted when he told him to with

regards to the shutdown of course a budget with regards to the important assessment that he made that lives could have been saved had the government acted earlier he stayed on message and it is a very serious situation for trump you can see that in his response as well election here in the united states is coming up and president trump really got on the defensive so as we've seen that back and forth between fouchier and trump can you tell us how the situation in the united states has been developing all right so there's another debate. right now going on and that is about when to reopen and who's in charge of reopening the economy is that the governor's is that the president so a total of 9 u.s. states is now trying to organize themselves trying to lift those stay at home orders new york is one of them they have seen a dip in hospitalizations over the last days but andrew cuomo new york's governor stressing that the situation is still very bad that there are 2000 new cases every

day and that you have to be very careful when reopening the economy warning about a backlash correspondent all of a ballot in washington thank you very much. well could this be the week we began a leaving the lockdown that's the question many are asking here in germany the country's influential national academy of sciences has recommended that some of the restrictions imposed to contain the virus could begin. the report comes as the number of new confirmed cases in germany fell for the 3rd day running. blame it on the sunshine germans flocked to nearby lakes and pocks to soak it all in over the east a long weekend police patrolled popular areas but found most were abang the restrictions . as long as it's necessary i think the rules of fine health has to come 1st and life musing would definitely be good at some point we need to start earning money

again. this soon may be coming germany's most influential science academy has recommended the lockdown slowly be lifted primary and secondary schools would gradually reopen with the extra precautions in place and if social distancing rules are enforced stores and restaurants could follow the academy says the government should also make it mandatory to wear face masks in public. we can learn from our neighbors in asia and i think mouth nose protection must become a social standard for months. politicians a yet to agree on how quickly the lockdown should be lifted does remove he does so we must continue to look at what effect it has on the number of infections in some places we may have to reimpose certain restrictions in the coming months members and members chancellor angela merkel is due to hold

a video conference call with the state's leaders on wednesday. with the restrictions set to expire on sunday she says the academy's position will play a role in deciding germany's path forward 4. well meanwhile spain is loosening its coronavirus lock down and allowing some construction and factory workers to return to work the move comes as the number of new cases has slowed in recent days the government hopes it will help boost an economy that's been battered by the lockdown. sanctions 1st steps toward life after lockdown in madrid these workers are back on the job for the 1st time in weeks they've been allowed to return to work in hopes of getting the country's economy back on its feet even with covert 19 still claiming hundreds of lives every day it's a tightrope act the prime minister said was necessary. i mean the thought the virus

threatens to take lives and at the same time crush the economic and social fabric of our country which is why this decision requires a combination of measures to prevent contagion to allow the recovery of our health system and to avoid the paralysis and collapse of our economy in a short and bloomers to replace. the nearly a 1000000 jobs have been wiped out since pain went into lockdown in mid march employers say nothing now to reopen businesses while observing strict safety measures could prevent more job losses. the moment columbus remote the new insights the company has not had to consider laying off workers we're going to try to get all the activity going again and keep the jobs that way it was for the good of. all workers are wearing masks and gloves we have stocked up on sanitizer and we're actively looking for more mosques because we don't know how many times they can be reused but at the moment we all have enough for the moment to remember if you're

going to misquote of us but. yet even as pain moves cautiously toward reopening the economy sobering reminder as of covert nineteen's terrible call persist in madrid these doctors and nurses paid tribute to a colleague who contract at the virus he was one of the many health workers around the world who have died trying to save others during the pandemic. time to take a look now at other news around the world indian prime minister narendra modi has extended his country's coronavirus lockdown speaking in a televised address to the nation he said current measures would remain in place until may 3rd india has recorded more than 10000 cases of covert 19 and over 350 deaths from the disease. israel's president has granted prime minister binyamin netanyahu and his rival benny gantz more time. time to form

a new government they now have 2 more days in which to overcome their differences in coalition talks that yahoo and guns have campaigned against each other in 3 inconclusive elections in the past year. u.s. senator bernie sanders has endorsed and joe biden as the democratic party's candidate for president sanders appeared on biden's live stream encouraging followers to unite to defeat donald trump in november's election rush sanders last week with drew from the race to become the party's nominee. and much of the world's population has been driven into lockdown to prevent the spread of the corona virus and that's created a lot of stress for those stuck at home but also allowed creativity to flourish let's take a look at how people from indonesia are getting to grips with those social distancing measures. when the moon comes out ghosts roaming the streets of indonesia's java province. but they're not souls damned to wander while

repenting their sins they're volunteers scaring people into staying home an. effort today 1st of all we want to be different secondly we want to create a deterrent effect because poor kong is spooky and scary so when we show up it's a deterrent to getting kids to wear masks has been tough for many parents around the world. this chinese man created a full body anti-virus suit for his son so he could take him to a shanghai park he said a tough goal. or my son is wearing it during the epidemic or hope to provide him with total protection and isolation. if anyone bothers him the boy looks like he can handle himself. meanwhile in the u.s. state of maryland a wine store uses a dog named soda to bridge the 2 metre gap dictated by social distancing guidelines

so to is much more than a curiosity he's a social media hit who's bringing in new business. another comedian i thought. on facebook and i just had to i love why it's so i love i love dogs you put the 2 together that make the drive out. and in belarus the coach of the dynamo breast soccer team came up with a novel way to keep players from getting demoralised by playing in almost empty stadiums mannequins adorned with the faces of fans who've sent their pictures and. while the virus continues its path of destruction and the should haves like these help make social distancing just a little more interesting and perhaps even fun. you're watching news from berlin remember you can get the latest headlines on the new app or on our website d w dot com and you can follow us on twitter and instagram too at the unit i'm claire

richards and there will be more news at the top of the hour for now though thanks for watching. we're all set. to go beyond the obvious. we're all about the stories that matter to. us. whatever it takes. people are running now for. a little bit d.w. it's made for minds.