office workers from commuting as much pushing their employers to let them work from home. for possible nighttime curfew they're already in place in some regions along with stricter border controls but it's unclear whether they would be imposed nationwide. well a chance on america is meeting with the state leaders as we speak of joining us now as you know we have a little correspondent in many shots has anything come out of that meeting yet. yes news agency reports of something that has not been confirmed by the government had the news agency reports that the chance that i'm going to america and the state premiers agreed on reconnecting the current i logged on until february to 14 this comes as no surprise given the current situation was infection rates are still fairly high regional leaders and a chance of also agreed on making surgical mask meant at mosques mandatory in

public transport so we've just mentioned this is already decays in bavaria always as a b. 2 mosques mend the tree and now on the working from home we're hearing that originally it is an angle america founded agreement on these was a bone of contention for a very long time and now the ministry of work should send out a directive to companies to facilitate and enable working from home whenever it is possible until now it was only a recommendation but i'll tolerate is that scientists say that we have to reduce contacts no it's only work but does so on the way to work and where it is not possible office is must be reorganized so there will be a few people in a room as possible and medical or f.s.b. to mosques should be provided by the employer if the employees have to be on sites up why are the current measures that are in place which are pretty strict where they're not working. well now wacking if you look at a 7 days incident rated as a round $130.00 cases but and it has any negatives that's that's not the higher

than the critical already critical trash old of 15 factions found 8000 inhabitants but back in december it was out to most 200 but the number of infections and deaths are still too high these is not going down fast enough and as a raise between trying on the one hand to reach immunization through vaccination and also watching out for a new strain used trains of the virus that are coming out exactly talk to us about that because there are growing concerns about these new strains and a new strain of the virus has indeed been discovered in a very what more can you tell us about that. exactly does a new virus variant which has been discovered in a very in hospital it was found in 35 kind of in 1000 patients that we don't know yet if it's more infectious all dead buried under current a virus but less like the good news it's less bad than the other news is that so

far medical experts say that the variant variants found so far don't reduce the impact of the vaccine or the server learning. shaz thank you so much. let's take a look now at other developments in the corona virus pandemic the number of people in england with coronavirus antibodies is estimated to have almost doubled from last october to december about one in 8 of those tested in december showed signs of a past coded infection offices the national statistics office meanwhile says average life expectancy in the country fell by around half a year in 2020 by and that's mainly due to the coronavirus france has seen more than $70000.00 covert related deaths since the start of the pandemic and an independent panel of experts has criticized china and the world health organization for their response to the pandemic panels that china should have implemented public

health measures more forcefully from the outset and that the w.h.o. should have declared an emergency sooner oh short while ago had the opportunity to talk to the co-chair of that panel ellen johnson sirleaf the former president of liberia and nobel peace prize laureate and i asked her whether this global pandemic could have been avoided if the w.h.o. had acted more assertively and china have been more forthcoming. absolutely. if china has given information on some of the early findings about a breakout. if done oh i had the captive nest of all a timely any threat to alarm system yes it could have been avoided i think the report is very clear. on why this is so we believe that you debbie issue a communication system is to our needs to be in the in the digital age we think

also nations could have done more to use beef and ignatius griffin show that you know a mask source so this is in context racing all of those step that help support could have been given in order specs so yes i think through timely and effective alarm system yes this big m 8 could not have spread at quickly and s. intensity intensively as it did. sirleaf there speaking a 2 earlier cheers to marx donald trump's the last full day as president of the united states while mr trump will leave the white house with what some opinion polls say are the lowest approval ratings of his 4 year presidency he will also leave washington d.c. in a state of high alert the f.b.i. is vetting all 25000 service personnel involved in president elect joe biden's

inauguration on wednesday officials have expressed concern about a possible insider attack or another potential threat security concerns have gripped the city since a violent mob stormed the capital on january the 6th. in washington usually buzzing with people and traffic know a ghost town. on the other side's traffic jams and checkpoints a city split into the center has become a militarized zone. and the u.s. capitol remains under a strict lockdown just days before the presidential inauguration we are just outside the closed perimeter and this is close as the general public can get to the u.s. capitol which is currently cordoned off by a 3 meter high fence and razor wire which is currently installed on top of the fence we're going to go inside the perimeter now to get

a glimpse on the preparations that are underway for an inauguration day that will be unlike any other in american history. soldiers instead of visit or as some 25000 members of the national guard securing the capitol grounds there has been some concern about a potential inside threat as not everyone is happy with the new president it's a sticky situation as far as politically but. i have my own i have my own thoughts below but in uniform i you know i can't convey them but i'm here to do a job i'm here to follow the orders or going to say she's doing and we're carrying on with that mission. president of the united states joseph jr and on the west side of the u.s. capital some normalcy is coming back rehearsal sense soundchecks where 2 weeks ago thousands of supporters stormed the symbol of american democracy.

the rehearsals for the inauguration ceremony were just completed and on this very long usually thousands gathered to cheer for their new president well this year many things will be different fear of an attack on the president means. ceremony with hardly any guests the national mall will remain shut down and authorities asked citizens to stay far away for the sake of their own safety. and the downtown area buildings have been boarded up again after a year of protests and a pandemic these views have become a common sight for many washingtonians but businesses are suffering the business was not from last 8 months because we're in the commercial area and this is the commercial hub of all the offices around us are closed and the security has beeves of so much uganda and we're moving over delivery business but mostly all the roads are closed. a life behind fences and roadblocks those who live here can't wait

until the new president is sworn in. as of that and mexico's president under arrest money. has urged the incoming u.s. administration under joe biden to make a major reforms to its immigration policy his appeal comes as a new caravan of migrants from one door us attempts to make its way through guatemala but guatemala as foreign minister has said allowing them to cross through his country and reach a potentially close border with mexico could create a humanitarian crisis and he's asking honduras to help organize for their return. what started as a deterrent soon turned into a real use of force on monday guatemalan security forces despair star users of 100 migrants they're stranded in the department of don't want to continue their journey towards the united states is the 3rd time in recent days that soldiers have clashed

with the caravan of migrants which includes women and children. to mount as government accuses the caravan of being infiltrated by criminal gangs and says most of the migrants did not have the negative coronavirus tests required to enter the country. now they are being sent back to honduras even though they insist there is no home for them to return to. cuba. i don't want to go back i lost everything in that country. the clashes with guatemalan troops have sparked new tensions between the 2 central american neighbors 100 says human rights commissioner urged kratom allare to treat the migrants on their soil with respect. now all eyes are on mexico and how the government there will react if the caravan manages to cross and reach its border. but. we should have a dialogue with the migrants. this. destroying.

wonderous that is and in guatemala. so that they can be looked after. and so that they don't enter any country by force. by. the migrants are not expected to give up their mission after all it is the incoming u.s. administration that is feeling their hopes joe biden has just to take office on wednesday promised during his campaign to reform the strict migration policies imposed by his predecessor donald trump. before we go on to remind you of the top story that we're tracking for you this hour. corona virus infection rates are trending in the right direction in germany but as chancellor angela merkel says to meet with public health officials tougher measures and an extended long down are on the cards for february. a mile of rock and roll and that's it for me for now and our

entire instinct up next is the facility with the our program 19 special show and also going to the top of the hour. the fight against the corona virus pandemic. has the rate of infection been developing what does the latest research say. information and context the coronavirus not day 19 special. on t.w. . how does a virus spread. why do we panic and when will all this and. just through the tactics and we couldn't read your show is called spectrum if you would

like and the information on the coronavirus or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast you can get it wherever you get your podcast you can also find us at the. science of. the world spend 2020 on defense. trying to play catch up against a fust moving pathogen. with the simple tactics like mosques or social distancing. but in the medical field innovation became the name of the game scientists develop vaccines at breakneck speed putting governments on offense there in ocular eating whole populations to outsmart face quickly little competitor and looking at other

ways to innovate our way out of a crisis. a survey by the consultancy mckinsey shows 90 percent of executives from all fields expect covert to change the way they do business but it's an opportunity few feel equipped to pursue the study also shows commitment to innovate fell last year except in the pharma and medical sector. is this simple lightbulb a weapon against the coronavirus. rosario valas think so together with other researchers the doctor invented this l.e.d. lamp its light has certain frequency characteristics which could destroy the coronavirus. this one bulb is similar to an ordinary one you screw it in switch it on and it works. in the light and then destroys all microorganisms by destroying their structure that is the outer membrane and in the

case of the corona virus probably also the protein spike the sting. used by this is already worked with bacteria and a series of experiments carried out by the researchers together with the italian military have now also shown that the special l.e.d. light destroys the corona virus and it's not harmful to humans either. now we have to fine tune the whole experiment in some way because we must not forget that up to now we have done the whole thing and laboratory conditions which are different from the normal environment. the coronavirus pandemic in italy has also inspired other inventions for instance when ventilators became scarce and hospitals and doctors sounded the alarm these young researchers quickly developed a valve model and their start up company the valve can be produced with a 3 d. printer and attached to a standard commercial sports snorkeling mask. the next day we took this to the

hospital they tested the ventilator for half an hour then a doctor came and said they work we need $100.00 of them within the next 24 hours. another new invention is this anti covert carpet it reduces the amount of bacteria and viruses carried into rooms from outside step on at once and your shoes are disinfected the carpet automatically releases disinfectant when it senses when. the inventors of the anti coronavirus lamp hope they to consume implement their disinfectant and hospitals and schools. and let's talk to economists. from the swiss science and technology institute. a lot of the know how behind these sorts of inventions was around before the pandemic why weren't they already in existence i mean they would have made our lives so much better and could have stopped more than just the corona virus also the common flu and many other things.

that is true and that's a very good point you say that necessity is the model or if inventions are not actually see the needs for these new technologies. and decide there is no. barriers willing to buy these products which did not exist before and certainly not to the same extent so we actually do see young person in a vision because of the needs and markets they're full and then we seem to be outdoing else selves on other levels when it comes to vaccines say developed a record not only just one we've got more than one. truth. and we might be worried that we are wasting money so on the one hand we are putting a lot of resources on developing vaccine research your has been more than 200. mints but only 100 winners and so as much as you know we praise the winners and we might even complain that immediately money we should not forget that

a lot of actually losers and very long for us we've invested more lives. and just wasted money. a lot of ways to competition in other words we could be working on other fronts not just vaccines but also treatment. yet more than that so of course we're putting a lot of money and brains into comics ready to eat shoes but we should not forget that the earth is other problems that we need to tackle and so we've been diverted a lot of research with from from all of these other questions so as much as research is accelerating we might be worried that there is a slowing of research in these other. she's a science back to innovation what about the sharing of the knowledge of something like a vaccine as some of these companies are holding on tight to their pate and sunday . true lots of knowledge has been shared scientists do talk to

each other and we know a lot and you know we collect information from from various from countries and institutions know the length of the fact that firms wants to keep their ip rights for really as just business as usual and i know that some some some some people in some countries complain about you know the strong enforcement of ip for vaccine research to be good but we should not forget that for private firms that are juicy to produce those as boston on the. government can actually save the patents parties ask for computer licensing and stop producing the facts and themselves so based on that what would you say the role is that money does play in innovation in this case is that profits that's driving innovation these big divisional profi is 70 driving. innovation. but

nevertheless many many many people in the in the pharmacist getting just 3 are not just much of it that might when you know these are people working on you know. people to really care about getting out of the crisis and out back who are mississippi is the mother of invention that is you know very broad as well of course isn't it also in times of crisis and when there's a lack of funds that we become more innovative. that is very much true and we have seen so price and you know cost you know that i do the early days of the underneath on respiratory devices and we're seeing very very creative solutions and also history suggests companies that invest in innovation through a crisis outperform is in the recovery. is that what we're going to see in this case do you think. most likely. a crisis is the group that is a good soundtrack to invest in innovation but it's very short forms unfolding and he can afford to do so and we should not forget that research has been i mean you

know issues research and innovation not an incoming book in general has been slowed down people have to stay at home and might not have easy access to the lab so it's extremely challenging to maintain a high that if you ration very despondent in particular and the big question will we innovate enough to prevent the next pandemic and then but we can certainly mitigates effects and the only way we can do so is by keeping investing in a strong science society we need a strong science because then we need to fund universities but not on the need to have. an appropriate me gratian body so think of that of the developers the pfizer by your intake vaccine one of of again it's actually a turkish migrant right and so we need to work on a strong science system and that goes as far as immigration policy is an indication ponces and it's on me with you know high performing knowledge states that will be

able to meet to get your sense of the mexican didn't get from the e.p.a. f l thank you very much for being on the show today. thank you and he's our science correspondent eric williams with your questions on the coronavirus. lessons are we learning from covered 19 that might help us deal with the next pandemic this excellent question has way more answers than i can go into here but some lessons are obviously more importance than others at the top of the list i'd say is what we've learned about rapid response a sars coup for 2 completely out ran our ability to get on top of it early because it could spread faster than we could react i don't want to go into why or who supposedly did what wrong early on because because i think it makes no sense to

play the blame game but it does make sense to look at how we can speed up international response to spillover events like the one that started this pandemic because if you can be certain of one thing it's that they're going to happen again in the future and that means in my opinion giving the w.h.o. or a successor organization the money and real backing it will need to recognize threats declare emergencies and react faster and more independently of the nations that make it up a 2nd important lesson that people have learned from this pandemic i hope is that human health doesn't exist in a vacuum that it's closely tied to the health of the environment we actually all know that already things like air or and water pollution kill millions of us every

year and and the repeated emergence of new diseases is directly tied to the fact that we know really can and do go to pretty much. every corner of the planet while destroying the habitats that act as buffer zones between us and pathogens that can jump the species barrier when that happens that science can help but it can't provide instant fixes and where science can really help most i think is not in the accelerated development of vaccines although believe me that's been really amazing to follow but instead now through its potential to help us reach the longer term goals of greener more sustainable society it's ones that recognize how dependent our own health is on the environment around us. on they forget fine dining in the pandemic but that's not stopping stock shifts from

opera falling themselves example receiving his the mesh last ah this week as a restaurant am has been serving up creations from a food truck all for takeaway obvious as for cooking you can touch people something generally off balance in this crisis. thanks for watching stay safe and see you again so it.

imagine how many portions of lunch us right now in the morning climate change different office doors this is my placing way home just one week. how much worse can it really guess. we still have time to an ongoing. process. can you hear me you know yes we don't need you and i last years gentlemen's hans now when you bring your uncle out man call and you've never tired

to have a surprise yourself with what is possible. really what moves time and want. to talk to people in full time on the way out maurice and critics like join us for metals law stocks. this is africa coming up on the program down send in the streets of benghazi the election results are going for the stock contrast to the despair felt by our best in the central african republic forced to flee the country as rebels try to take down the government also coming out. keenly following calls proceedings.