this is today every new year's live from phailin german chancellor angela merkel tells the people of germany not to lift a god down as the country eases some of its walk down restrictions to it would be a real shame if we were not to suffer a relapse and. that's a big so we must not be careless were responsible even for a moment that. we speak to help mistaking. what germany is doing to help its european neighbors cheering the crisis also on the program. hit 5

year old mohamed he's one of thousands of children trapped in refugee camps in greece as the threat of the coronavirus looms the situation is looking bleak for him and so many others. and the price of oil drops to its lowest level in decades after the pandemic pauses to monta clubs. hello i'm christine one welcome to the program german chancellor angela merkel has warned that people should not risk all germany has achieved in containing the coronavirus in other words it's a danger to become complacent about physical distance and now merkel's message comes as germany begins to ease some of the restrictions it put in place several weeks ago she wants that if new infections struck growing rapidly again a return to tighter restrictions will be unavoidable. it shopping but not as we

knew it to this store in cologne customers are required to keep a safe distance apart with will that happen when more people come. chancellor merkel announced the easing of germany's strict lockdown just days ago but now she says she's worried people may think the pandemic is no longer a problem. miss india so we must proceed slowly step by step and with caution and really it would be a real shame if we were to suffer a relapse despite being able to avoid that then the and put our initial successes at risk your actions. so we must not be careless or a responsible not even for a moment. retailer patrick cooler in brooklyn near the french border is only allowing 15 people at a time into his shop he has had to improvise a plan to keep everyone safe. we have put

a bill at the door each customer rings the bell and then we let them in if possible otherwise they'll have to wait for perhaps 10 to 15 minutes we put a table in a chair outside that the customer can sit in the sun and read a magazine while they wait. means our land shops with more than 800 square metres of space can also open if they're divided into separate areas that means big department stores can return to business in saxony customers are required to wear a mask and today bavaria has followed suit cloth masks will be mandatory there in shops and on public transport from next week the lack of a single set of rules for all of germany has irritated some of the rich man i would like to see standard rules for retailers across the whole country and i would prefer the rules to be implemented immediately in the different states that germany's retailers are optimistic as they emerge from the lockdown they hope that customers will come but that business will not lead to

a surge in infections. now germany has stressed that digital solutions will be needed to help prevent the spread of new infections in the coming months but germany has often led behind the e.u. countries when it comes to digital technology our chief political editor michelle accrue from the us the german health minister years shun whether this would be germany's a key business hill in risk in its response to the pandemic. well in this federal state of germany we have different levels the community level the federal state level and the national level actually and what we see is yes we should have invested more in previous years in the digitization of truth to actually make these different levels better into acting in a situation like this that new cases that are followed in a community within seconds actually known with with our national city see that it's not yet the case that takes one to 2 days till we have the information here in

berlin and that is just the example but in the very important one to have a real picture of these outbreak that we want to change through digitization and to to actually support and to fund this investments that need to be taken to communities and we really want to speed up that chance in this crisis actually to speed up the digitization and public health system now there's a lot of debate about european solidarity and also germany's solidarity in this crisis germany's taking in patients from abroad how far will german solidarity go will that also include potentially sending personnel or equipment or even as far as corona bonds. well in general for example able to do nate's a couple of 100 years to spain italy france the u.k. countries that we wanted to support that have helped us in the past and so we could . have been helpful for them we have taken patients as you just mentioned from

abroad from other countries we have an exchange i mean there were times when all of us help us and now we can give for example mosques some at least. medical must. or polish neighbor so we want to be of help as much as we can in this difficult case i'm very convinced you know at the very beginning once again in a crisis the european union seemed to be somehow disorganized and it took some time to. we pull everything together but now what we see is all together we are stronger and i'm very confident actually that we are getting out of this stronger than before regarding the economy for example that we have packed a 500000000000 cannot mix tomatoes that is to help to send incentives for investment where it is needed and to help those countries that actually need to invest in the health system as well and it's helpful for us too by the way since we have obviously some economic trouble as well and in this we are

together and that the health system as well as the economic situation many things could also tell europe apart though you say it will be in europe together. as i said at the very beginning there was a stressful time for europe and there is of course as soon as you do you can ask concrete measures concrete packages there's always a discussion which is quite normal because they're different interests between the 27 member states but as always when it is needed we come to a result and what is important for us this as an approach of germany and of many other countries we are in a european solidarity and at the same time we don't want to have any incentives for the future that might lead to the wrong way so as to find the right balance between financial sound and european solidarity and that is actually what we have reached so far so yes there are debates and some of them are stressful but and that is

important in the end we are stronger together. ok you've been listening to the german health minister speaking to our chief political editor michel a coup for them now his a brief roundup of other coronavirus developments around the world the global death toll has now exceeded one $167000.00 according to johns hopkins university in the u.s. the united states has vetoed a g. 20 statement aimed at strengthening the mandate of the world health organization to coordinate responses to the virus spain will last the european union to set up a massive 1.5 trillion euro fund to help countries recover from the economic fallout and the un refugee agency says walk downs are having a huge negative impact on the lives of displaced women and girls since they are now at a greater risk of chip based violence. in early march and number of e.u. countries promised to take in at least 1600 migrant children from camps on greek

islands including the morea camp in lesbos coronavirus and they delayed implementation of the program but now germany and luxembourg have flown out the 1st groups of 70 and accompanied miners children's rights organizations say that's nowhere near enough because thousands of other youngsters many off who desperately need help are being left behind. for many children in the morea camp les bus this is their bathroom and their playground the camp currently houses over $7000.00 children because of coronavirus restrictions none of them are going to school desperately overcrowded moreas now largely sealed off and many international aid workers have left their posts but i wonder what's a miracle really going to live but if the virus takes hold they will need to think about treating the ill all they'll have to think about is how they can bury the dead because that's all they'll be able to do. or say no saying he's from

afghanistan he's been living here for 7 months together with his wife and 2 children they share 4 square meters in a container winter was bad he says but corona has made things much worse hossein and his wife especially worried about 5 year old mom or 2 the boy who was born prematurely and suffers from epilepsy and fainting fits that show what happens if a virus comes here even healthy humans can't find it and thousands have died around the world. so how can a frail little boy look muhammad possibly survive. they don't let more much out of their sight even for a moment the lack of space the noise the dirt it's a terrible combination what the boy really needs are medicine and specialist treatments in a good hospital but not. thing like that exists in the camp. that was why 2 months ago the family got

a special permit to leafless bus but then the authorities cancer the permit because of the color on a crisis. we want them to process things fast so that we can get out of here as soon as possible to go somewhere where our son can get proper treatment and is looked after really all our thoughts and our only concern is with muhammad. the international medical organization doctors without borders runs a provisional clinic next to the camp but are unable to treat chronic illnesses like moments. it's good they say that some children are being flown out by the ad it's far from being good enough when we 1st used it it's a positive development finally. the fronting is moving and filled in are being taken out but these numbers are so small that the question for me is not a question of capacity but it's all an issue of political will. is the pandemic

spreads relief organizations are now calling for the full evacuation of the camp but greece government to get a different approach it has tightened the asylum law and later suspended the law governing the right to asylum for a month. they say the laws changed why is it changed can anybody see this child needs treatment see that this is not a good place to keep him so they can stay isn't this law not considering all these things at all. 'd looking for saying he was saying he says he now regrets ever taking his family on the dangerous journey to europe and many a year now believe that what the greek authorities are said and doing is to use the shocking conditions in the morea camp as a deterrent the message stay away from here right. now to some of the stories making news around the world israel's prime minister

benjamin netanyahu has agreed to form an emergency unity government with news political rival benny gantz this ends a year long political deadlock following 3 inconclusive elections protests were held over the weekend against this and yelled the faces trial on 3 charges of corruption he denies any wrongdoing. and brazil's president abel sonority joined crowds at a public rally in brasilia sunday and criticised coronavirus stopped on measures imposed by state governments brazil has the highest number of infections and less in america but also are has downplayed the threat and urged and reopening of the economy. u.s. oil prices have seen their biggest drop in more than 2 decades they fell by as much as 20 percent during trading on asian markets just last week the world's biggest oil producers came to an agreement to slash oil output but that hasn't solved the industry's problems. it's exactly

a decade since the deepwater horizon oil spill brought catastrophe to seize off the united states now a very different challenge has washed up on u.s. shores creating a struggle for america's oil producers. the coronavirus pandemic has brought economies around the world to a halt dramatically reducing demand for crude by monday u.s. oil prices plunged to new lows. having started this year more than $60.00 a barrel america's benchmark west texas intermediate crude dropped as low as $15.00 a barrel on monday a 20 percent fall during asia trading was the biggest since 1999 with an agreement last week between leading oil producing nations to cut out to put by 10000000 barrels per day hasn't been enough to ease concerns about a backlog of crude has locked down remains in place it's mainly storage facilities

that are filling up. and you're up to date a quick reminder that you can get news and features around the clock on our website www dot com and on the at and twitter at the i'll be back at the top of the hour with more years joins me if you can thanks for your company. combating the corona pandemic. where does research stand. what are scientists learning. background information and news of. our corona update. from the coded 19 special next on d w.