this is news coming to you live from berlin. the coronavirus world leaders pledged 7 and a half 1000000000 euros to help fund vaccines treatment. but how much will it take to make it all available and affordable for everyone also coming up a nation of dedicated drivers proves reluctant to find again german car dealerships have been reopening from the law for 2 weeks but customers or flocking to the showrooms also on the program electric racing is real and virtual

braces. for the pandemic but drivers are competing on these kinds of. we'll take a test drive. and welcome to the program the european union has joined the race to develop a vaccine against the corona virus by securing pledges worth almost 7000000000 euros nations from around the world join the european commission's pledge conference on monday as world wide death toll from the buyer has succeeded a quarter of a 1000000 commission president is calling it a victory for global cooperation but the fundraiser was just as notable for the no shows let's start the pledging e.u. kicked off its fundraising drive. in the hours that followed beamed across the.

globe the kingdom of saudi arabia has pledged $500000000.00 even pop icon madonna made a last minute donation of a 1000000 euros it wasn't enough to reach the fundraisers target but housed in a fonda line insisted it sent the right signal yes today is a defining moment for the global community at a time when we're sitting for a lower part than usual the world has shown it is standing closer together than ever before but not quite all of the world a chinese delegate took part but didn't pledge any money russia and the united states were both absent from the conference for her part the german chancellor apparently couldn't resist a jab at the u.s. president. as a time when we don't always see multilateral cooperation as i would like and i think today's a very important signal of hope. germany was one of the leading donors pledging over 500000000 euros the money is earmarked for international health organizations

and research networks in a bid to speed up the development of a vaccine many scientists say it could be 18 months or more before a vaccine is ready for widespread use and when it is more money will be needed to ensure it can be produced in large quantities and distributed for a fair price around the world. today's sprint was a great start for our match the fun the marathon is the way i had now we need everybody on an abort the united nations secretary general antonio caetera she described the funds as a dime payment he said that to reach everyone everywhere the world must raise 5 times that amount. of more now i'm joined by mohamed one near his verandah just from len castor university in the u.k. thanks for being with us this morning 7400000000 euros was raised in the pledge

drive for vaccine research how was that money going to help us fight the caret of others. i think vaccine are really very expensive also says south mainly the development is not really too difficult and it's less crime taking relatively cheaper to do but the main meet your infrastructure required is to take up a bill or to use it in such a way that it wants vaccine become available it is manufactured in the shortest possible time and it is just too good to have any cordon off the border and this became even more importance of this a 1000000 team because we know that diseases many insects here so even in one country in the ward is still reporting a disease that going to start would be hanging on 'd the who are at the same scale as it has being back in january so therefore the effort is really have been started to ramp up back up ability and have enough resources that once we need to have the 5 we have them source and they are. as an epidemiologist or varada just in your

case what do you see as the biggest challenges in tackling this pandemic. i think there are there are issues at all scales for example about you talk about a bit of molecule perspective the major challenges that came now has been the infectiousness of this disease i mean we haven't seen such an infectious disease in recent time at least in the living history because if you look on to it out of it didn't we months in the beginning the disease our support in every corner 'd of the word infectiousness has been a great surprise and it comes to some surprises because what in the beginning we've been thinking is that this corona artist would be almost the same as the color of us as we have seen previously but it turned out to be different i mean although that the significance difference is not the only one to do percent defense is in the genetic makeup where when it came up in terms of inducing immunity in terms of infectious nestle in symptomatic area all those things have been different from

other one so the top challenge is almost before we keep hearing that it's going to take 12 to 18 months to develop a vaccine do you think things can be accelerated given what's at stake here and all the resources being thrown at it well normally vaccines are really lent to brostrom who develop the vaccine have normally 10 to 15 years to develop an effective vaccines and the short test time has given for the mumps vaccine deco 5 year and that was the record short s. time will go in 19 the timeline has been set up for 18 months so this mean even if we court which time short on gravity processes in order 'd to look a development process we will have the vaccine on the other going to use. at the end of this year but certainly not before that and that is against the race against time 'd and the money we have so far. thank you very much for talking with us that

was muhammad one near over ologist from lancaster university. now it's going to round up of some of the latest pandemic news around the world german state premiers are expected to approve a plan to allow shops to reopen and to get bonus league soccer matches going again with new zealand reporting no new cases for a 2nd straight day prime minister just sent our dan dialed into an australian cabinet meeting to discuss reopening borders between the neighboring countries malaysia and india have begun to ease part of their low down measures but most governments have urged caution as cases continue to rise and thailand reported its lowest number of new infections since march 9th with one new case and no new deaths . german chancellor angela merkel is set for crunch talks with the car industry bosses today to discuss measures to lift struggling car sales the meeting comes one day after survey data show the sector is in its biggest slump in almost 30 years

among the proposals on the table are car buying incentives and here in germany car dealerships have been reopening over the past 2 weeks demand was down by 80 percent during the last down and car dealers ability to recover their losses but customers been slow to return to showrooms. the cars sit. on they wait. and they waste. these are worrying times for car sales people. want to go for these are tough times in the 2nd hand car business demand is down 80 percent the only thing running the a normal levels is bulk purchases such as large companies they are still ordering vehicles we might see only a 10 percent slump in that sector. bent bealefeld is already expecting to make a loss in the current financial year he's responsible for $200.00 employees in his

4 car dealerships 80 percent of the sales people are on reduced our work schemes every single one of the 700 used cars that does not sell quickly gets older and decreases in body you in a sense it's dead capital a visit by a potential buyer has become a rarity regardless of special offers reduced our work schemes and financial grant aid are important on effective measures b.w. also helps with cash flow builds don't need to be paid until later this dealer's hoping for more. people in movement who would like to see sales incentives as well as various measures to support companies for example we're talking about a bonus for scrapping old cars to encourage the purchase of new environmentally friendly cars for example that would help us a lot of. in the meantime they have to be patient keep dusting off the cars and wait for the good times to come back. for brief look at what impact

the coronavirus is having around the world german airline is holding a general meeting to discuss details of a government bailout c.e.o. was expected to confirm that the future of tons that is at stake a possible rescue package is said to amount to 10000000000 euros with the german state taking a 25 percent stake in the for. the vice president at amazon has resigned after the company fired whistle blowers who have raised concerns about 19. the dismissals were quote evidence of a vein of toxicity running through the company culture in april hundreds of amazon employees in the u.s. went on strike over conditions. in the formula electric racing series on hold drivers are having to make do with competing on virtual circuits for journeys maximillian races for the b.m.w. team it's an ideal way for drivers to maintain their skills. just 3 months ago

maximilian. great seeing being the youngest ever race winner and the coronavirus has stopped him in his tracks the 22 year old is proving just as it is on the virtual race track he's won the 1st 2 races of the race at home challenge series. home series. by. goods or across the line he wins the race. second place just 7 tenths of a 2nd we were racers we want to beat the others this allows us to live out our competitive sides. 12000 simulated takes working from home so whole new level. throw in a few 1000000 more and you get the machine. drivers can get to the racetrack during the corona. virus pandemic. typically spends 2 days a week honing his skills on the simulator.

he often focuses for a racing driver it's very important to be able to adapt to different environments like a new car or a new circuit and by using a simulator you can fine tune and perform well in a short period of time. jogging also plays its part in keeping considering good physical shape he'll be raring to go as soon as the situation allows it. performing artists have had to get used to smaller venues and audiences than they're custom to during the law here in berlin residents of retirement homes have been delighted by visits from the american organist cameron carpenter and his portable organ the american cameron carpenter is considered one of the best organists in the world he usually forms a big concert hall. and

exclusive show for the residents of the berlin nursing home thanks to cameron carpenter and his push to pull electronic organ. for me it's a great chance to get to play live music for people and in public here in the time of around and that's kind of unthinkable. 32 concerts in 4 days a performance shed still made possible by sponsors local authorities on the police . the locations aren't publicized ahead of the events to avoid large crowds gathering on the program dedicated to just one musical maestro johann sebastian bach.

box music is is quite quite unique it's why i consider him so such an important composer and the best composer that music means that i can cram a lot of quality into a very short amount of time because we only have 20 to 30 minutes at each location . full you need to spot that's the most so carpenters bringing on his mini tour to the elderly isolated in berlin because of the pandemic. goalless neck i really enjoyed hearing bach here he's a spy got the budget and he's like it so you can type i really appreciate it because of the current situation we're here in a senior citizens resident somewhere based isolated at the moment. and for the world famous musician a chance to take to the stage despite the coronavirus restriction.

you're watching news don't forget you can keep in touch with the news on our website that's d.w. dot com and you can follow us on twitter and instagram t w news i'm terry martin thanks for being with us. combating the corona pandemic. where does research stand. what are scientists learning. background information and news. hour carona update. 19 special next on d w.