this is deja vu news of live from berlin germany numbers spiral further out of control the country's disease control agency reports a record number of daily infections of nearly 30000 of its warning germans to reduce their social contacts chromatically or face tougher restrictions false of coming up. the u.s. takes a major step toward talking the prone of up and expert panel endorses the biotech pfizer vaccine full approval is now expected within days paving the way for america to move ahead with mass immunization. and e.u.

leaders resolve the budget blockade and pass a massive new spending plan at all soon billions in coronavirus really. a michael thank you so much for joining me the latest coronavirus numbers are in germany has again hit another record of new infections nearly 30000 cases were recorded in the past 24 hours and 598 people have died another record for germany weeks of partial lockdown have been slowed the spread of the infection enough much tougher restrictions seem almost inevitable now with political momentum building for a hard lock down over the holiday. with only 2 weeks to go until christmas the looming question across germany is will

a hard lock down come before or after the holidays at its weekly briefing on wednesday germany's robert cock institute said it was alarmed and that it was bracing for a significant increase in case numbers. and so called us does. our calculations show that the plateau we're on is extremely fragile. the situation could easily typically end leading to rapid exponential growth story. the situation is especially problematic in assisted living facilities according to german authorities residents of nursing homes are at more risk than ever. currently we're seeing double the amount of outbreaks in assisted living facilities then in spring and every outbreak affects a lot of people are tough and. several german states are now considering tightening the measures already in place berlin's government is considering closing all non-essential retail before christmas the busiest period of the year winter break

may be extended and schools could return to distance learning ish below but i believe these 2 and a half 3 weeks will give us plenty of opportunities regarding disease control. state leaders are now hoping to set out a coordinated plan in a meeting with chancellor angela merkel. if you get a moment of fun also if you miss the gathering looks likely to take place on sunday . we were very interested in getting together as quickly as possible in order to rapidly gain clarity about the path our country will follow you to open door at one point they're cute. in light of recent developments religious services over the holidays are also being scrutinized. even i wouldn't if there is a possibility of a religious gathering endangering lives i'll be the 1st to call things off. the so-called most wonderful time of the gear now marked by deep concerns

a new lockdown in germany isn't a matter of if but rather when. w. reporter under shelter north joins me now anya how worrying are these numbers well we saw there a lot of the head of the river constitute speaking in that report and he even yesterday described the figures as worrying now yesterday we were at 23000 today we heard it a huge leap of 7000 infections 230000 infections over the past 24 hours and nearly 600 dead over the past 24 hours. and one massive thing there what constitutes warned about it's really worrying that the number of new infections among the 80 plus older people is $250.00 per 100000 that is way above the german average and of course those are the people that's the group of people that a. much harder hit by the virus are likely to be hospitalized with

a virus life more likely to die from the virus so we may well see over the next few days or weeks even more deaths more hospitalizations and generally the the figures in germany overall are very high i mean it's 150 per 100000 compare that to say the united states a country that we talk about is being really hard hit by the pandemic and it's only $63.00 per 100000. figures really aren't looking good at the moment to really put it in perspective as real know germany instituted a partial lockdown back in november again i think it would be a gross understatement to say it doesn't appear to have worked so what went wrong well the restrictions just went strict enough it's as simple as that i mean the goal was to bring the figures down in time for christmas so we can celebrate

christmas which seems ironic now and compared to other countries we just you know jamie just didn't do enough it was a looked on light and really were. in the lock down a tour it was more you know it was simply the closure of pas restaurants shops stayed open yes there were restrictions on the numbers of people that rollout to meet but it clearly didn't do enough compare that to france the even the u.k. where much tougher restrictions were imposed and you can see the figures actually clattering going down in germany yes it's you know it's dampened the the rise of the virus but it just it just really we can see it today from those figures just not enough so now i'm going back is due to meet with the premise of the of the of the individual lender here in germany because of course we have federal system so everyone has to come together and agree on a compromise and that was new to take place on sunday now that might happen even early of course looking at these figures it's obviously that they take new measures

and stricter measures as you reported on your show for north thank you so much let's take a look now at some other developments in the krona virus pandemic australia has cancelled the production of a local code 1000 vaccine after some trial participants returned false positive the results for their testing proved the hiv wasn't there the government will in stance secure vaccines elsewhere scientists say the pandemic is the main reason that global c o 2 emissions dropped by 7 percent this year the biggest fall ever they say it's because people are travelling less but they expect additions to jump back up after the 10 democrats. the u.s. appears on the verge of approving the country's 1st corona virus vaccine an expert panel of scientists and doctors and reviewed information on the shot and are recommending emergency use of the biotech pfizer vaccine their endorsement paves

the way for the country's food and drug administration to issue the necessary final approval once that happens the 1st shots could be given within days regulators in britain and canada have already approved of biotech finds a vaccine for use in their countries. joining me now is dr peter chin hong he is an infectious disease specialist at the university of california san francisco dr welcome to. a panel of experts has indorsed the pfizer vaccine so what has to happen now before it's formally approved well the advisory panel endorse it by 17 to 4 hours so they expectation is in the next 24 to 48 hours we should have the official emergency use off right the ship which will then lead to people being able to be immunize in the 1st week.

so let's talk about next steps how quickly could a vaccination program start and what exactly will it look like. well there is a frequent so to speak war where there are a few hospitals that have been given. authorization to begin. amongst the earliest and these are the health care workers emergency room staff intensive care unit stuff people who do diagnostic testing that's in the health care setting and then in the community there will be vaccines rollout drug stories to schools and then they'll begin this tribute thing the department defense has its own distribution so you can see that multiple different layers and pipelines to get vaccine in the united states. dr i have to say depending on who you talk to where you are it's easy to get the impression that there are equal measures of excitement

and skepticism around the world when it comes to this vaccine what's the attitude among the american public when the attitude is any creasing go in approval slowly in the summer it was 50 percent to restore what the box he was being used for political capital in an election year that they approve rating when you have to fight 60 percent in the last month or so we're hoping that it's higher but again a lot of it was mired by you know the current administration. dr peter chin hong think you so much for your time thanks so much for having fun let's take a look at some of the other stories making news around the world at this hour time magazine has named us president elect joe biden and vice president elect kamla heris person of the year for 2020 they were picked a head of health care workers battling the covert 910 demi the racial justice

movement and president donald trump since 1027 time has been honoring the person or people who most impacted the news during the calendar year. according to hong kong media democracy activists jimmy why has been charged under the controversial new security law he's accused of colluding with foreign forces and in danger in national security law is the most high profile person yet to be charged under the new law police say he will face the charges in court on saturday. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has welcomed morocco's decision to normalize relations in a deal brokered by the us donald trump broke the news on twitter calling it an historic breakthrough under the deal the u.s. will recognize claim over the disputed western sahara morocco is the 4th arab nation to recognize israel in recent months. 3 weeks before britain

is due to leave the european single market huge lines of trucks have formed at the english port of dover and the channel tunnel both he crossing points to the european union but british companies are scrambling to stockpile goods ahead of a potential deal. now leaders in brussels say they have come to an agreement on the e.u.'s $1.00 trillion euro budget it includes hundreds of billions in coronavirus relief funds member states poland and hungary had blocked approval of the budget because it allows sanctions against member countries to breach democratic lost but a compromise brokered by germany which currently holds the e.u. presidency ended the deadlock. french president in man with shows covered 900 safe kisses as a greeting german chancellor angela merkel waved the atmosphere seems jovial when

leaders gathered in brussels but behind closed doors it was a different story. i never seen that and difficult long reach is behind us and i never remember i don't remember any negotiation as difficult tense and strong as it was of a so-called regulation to mortals and to a little bit more so for the only way the. material is material from what i've yet to keep the polish prime minister and hungary switched to oban had threatened to be to the entire e.u. budget over plans to link fence to respecting the rule of law all other leaders criticized them for jeopardizing the european union because a lot was at stake to be precise $1.00 trillion euros roughly one trillion for the next 7 year budget and a $750000000000.00 guru yes q fund to help breathe life into the virus hit economy

. but just in time for dinner a compromise tabled by german chancellor angela merkel seemed to do the trick the deal is not without controversy the changes could see real floor proceedings to light by years in the case until after the next election but it seems this was a concession that had to be made to unblock desperately needed funds before christmas. celebrations got underway in berlin on thursday evening to mark the beginning of the jewish hanukkah with what is most likely europe's largest menorah the 10 meter tall structure was set up in front of the city's brandenburg gate the lighting ceremony was attended by leaders of the jewish community along with german health minister. but this year's event was without the crowd student kovac 19 and was streamed live online instead. you're watching news from berlin up

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