this is the daily news live from berlin a staggering death toll covert 9 has now claimed more than 50000 lives in germany but the government tells people there's reason for hope and asked them to not let their guard down and also coming up back on the table america's nuclear arms deal with russia is up for renegotiation after the kremlin welcomes u.s. president biden's proposal to extend the treaty and

a showdown between the australian government and search engine google is threatening to escalate we'll tell you why the battle is being closely watched around the world. and they are thank you very much for your company everyone well we begin sadly with some sobering news here in germany the number of deaths from the coronavirus pandemic has now surpassed 50000 at a briefing a short time ago the head of germany's public health institute said the figure was distressing he's urging the government to maintain its tougher national lockdown until there's a massive drop in both deaths and new infections one of the biggest problems is the situation in nursing homes across the nation. the vaccine rollout is well

underway in german nursing homes bought they remain a big coated 19 hot spot there are currently outbreaks in hundreds across the country he even as the overall infection writes steadily fulls it's a reminder that germany isn't out of trouble yes it's not good we currently know of around $900.00 outbreaks in nursing homes there are probably on reported cases. but there are homes we very few or no cases of covert 19 days homes are often better results have been his sanitary measures and more professional knowledge and support this should be the case in all no saying hard is the chief concern for hill for thought arties now is getting on top of the threat posed by covert 19 mutations this is one of the main reasons germany's current lockdown was toughened and extended until mid february that and trying to bring down the stubbornly high real number of infections and deaths each day. if you can see the numbers are heading in

the right direction but they are still too high. and that's what this is all about . intensified if it's which are not easy if you didn't have a good mind some for so that we can bring the numbers down to a point where we can gain control over the pandemic once again. we can tell you but it's germany's president is encouraging people to light candles to remember the 50000 people who have died from cove at 19 in the country. is planning a memorial service for after easter sadly by the end they will be many more victims to add to this week's terrible milestone a terrible milestone indeed let's cross now to our political correspondent linda crane who is tracking these developments and melinda 50000 people who died what is the situation right now in germany. it is still grave as we heard in that report

the numbers are coming down somewhat after having peaked in december for example in december we were seeing close to $200.00 new cases per 100000 rez. residents that is now down to about 115 per 100000 but as the health minister of aid made very very clear today the numbers are still too high we had 17000 new cases in the last 24 hours and they are too high especially because we are now seeing these new mutations it's not clear to what degree those are present and spreading here in germany but certainly the south after the african mutation is known to have occurred here in germany and the fact is with case numbers that high if these very transmissible mutations really gain

footing then we can see the infection rate go way back up very quickly which is why it is so crucial to keep that lockdown in place as we heard today and as your report also mentioned especially grievous the conditions currently in old age homes but that is of course a very interesting dichotomy there infections are falling slightly but we're strictures are being tightened how does the general public feel about that. i think there's some restriction fatigue setting in the polls show that there's still a very high willingness to be compliant with the restrictions but people are somewhat exhausted and frustrated by the fact that these restrictions are often imposed on a piecemeal basis then lengthened appear to killer lee for families the closures of schools and kindergartens have made it very very difficult and again they're just when people have got used to one time frame suddenly it's being extended for now

till mid february but we heard people some of the official saying today that in fact we may not seeing a lightening of the infection rate as we go into spring and early summer as we did last year there may be different circumstances in place and that's a very dreary prospect for a lot of germans in the remaining 20 seconds that we have there have been major problems with the vaccine a roll out so how is that developing. well continue to be difficult is germany simply ordered too late therefore it doesn't have an adequate supply at the current time then there's often often been distribution problems with the vaccine because in fact distribution and logistics very complicated with this vaccine bottlenecks with the producers particularly with pfizer rebuilding one of the factories that's producing the vaccine coming here none the less nearly one and a half 1000000 germans have been vaccinated and we're hearing from the authorities

that all who want to be vaccinated can be by the end of september political correspondent crane thank you. well no where in germany is the death rate higher than in the eastern state of saxony there so many people have died that funeral homes are struggling to cope and as we report many of those left behind are in shock over what just happened. there should be a moment of prayer but there's no time for that there are simply too many coffins too many deaths arriving at the do a bone crematorium in saxony. and some days there are more deaths than we can actually cremate on a single day with the strenuous for our employees because there's also no end in sight as in.

there if. we are standing in the morning hall of our crematorium. it usually accommodates 90 people for the funeral services. unfortunately we had to convert the hall into a storage space because we could no longer keep up with the deaths if they were finished. it's a difficult situation for us. because relatives can usually say goodbye to their loved ones here. but at the moment that's not possible because there's no purely. no room for a funeral service not all of the coffins represent deaths from the coronavirus but many of them are marked so. these people had to end their lives without a final hug from their loved ones. luth spanish cares for the bereaved he is a pastor and do about. family sometimes only realize how dangerous the coronavirus

can be once they've lost a loved one to it. when does your liberal me and i have contact with families who have lost a relative because of covert 19 will score and they are in a state of shock and reconsidering things switched on this 1st phase of mourning the so-called shock phase lasts longer for that because something inexplicable something in comprehensible has been added namely that this pandemic is a pound to me. the pandemic is far from over. many more will be carried out here get a hold is worried about the future. but if i was going to assuming that the number of infections remains high it follows that the number of deaths will to get out of it isn't nominal and that means we won't see any relief here until mid february at the earliest of the kind and finals and. it is

a winter of mourning and as it is in many places in the world during the pandemic. heartbreaking report there let's take a look now at some of the other developments in the pandemic the european commission says it will seek clarification from pfizer over new delays in delivering covert 1000 vaccines to e.u. countries well earlier the 2 parties said there would be no further delay next week after supplies slowed in recent days and portugal is stopping flights to and from the united kingdom starting saturday when a covert 1000 variant 1st identified in the u.k. for a devastating surge in new portuguese cases and media reports in hong kong suggest tens of thousands of residents will be placed under lockdown for the 1st time to contain a new outbreak the measures will cover is small but densely populated part of the kowloon peninsula. now for

a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world a spokeswoman for jailed a criminal critic alexina volley has been sentenced to 9 days in jail after calling for a demonstration. kiera hearing that lasted just 5 minutes she was attained along with other volley associates ahead of protests planned across russia this weekend in support of the jailed kremlin critic. funerals have taken place for the $32.00 victims of 2 suicide bombings in iraq's capital baghdad the services were held in the early hours of friday in the shrine city of new jobs so-called islamic state claimed responsibility for the blasts is the deadliest attack on baghdad in 3 years. authorities in china say it will take at least 15 more days to reach a group of gold miners trapped underground they've delivered food and medicine to some of the men who have been trapped for 11 days following an explosion one man is

known to have died while. japan has dismissed a report claiming its government has privately concluded that the 2021 tokyo olympics will have to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic a british newspaper reported that japan's japan's rather focus was now on securing the games for tokyo the next available year 2032 of the 2020 year venter was already at the spawn due to the pandemic and is set to open on july 23rd. u.s. president joe biden is seeking to extend america's nuclear arms treaty with russia what's known as the new start treaty well the existing accord was signed a decade ago it caps the number of nuclear weapons that both countries can deploy but it is due to run out in february and by had once a 5 year extension the kremlin says russia is also interested in extending the pact

and is waiting to see the details of the u.s. proposal. and we have team coverage for you a u.s. correspondent currently not is in washington and correspondent teri schultz in brussels of the seat of nato want to go to d.c. 1st to work early enough this why is president trump proposing extending this nuclear weapons treaty with russia. well this treaty that would limit the united states and russia to no more than $1550.00 plight warheads would have of course to ensure stability between both nations and it is again an effort to keep and to extend international arms control and white house press secretary exact he said yesterday this new start treaty is in the national security interest of the united states especially now when the

relationship between the united states and russia is quite inconsistent and we should also point out that this is the last remaining q.s. russia arms control treaty in the united states and is therefore even more important in order to keep a certain civility between both nations especially because russia already called for an extension of this in a clear treaty for some time about the trumpet ministration they had rejected the president putin's call to accent this treaty for one year and provided this has obviously been one of his priorities regarding russia terry you've asked the secretary general of nato or mr stoltenberg what he thought of barnes announcement sic listen to what he said and they dramas have made it clear that they all support. the new store because we meant on calling our show to respond in a way to the u.s. . proposal and that was the nato secretary. is this treaty so

important to nato the extension of it. well a lobbyist lee european governments are not parties to this treaty but europe does make up the mass of land in between the u.s. and russia and nobody wants to see nuclear tipped missiles flying over their heads so it is very critical for european governments that this final treaty that remains between the u.s. and russia is stabilized now as was mentioned the trump administration but wanted to extend this only for one year and 2 to bring in china and that was something that just wasn't going to work russia bolt at this the negotiations were very difficult and didn't make any progress so it's now very key that in these these few days before the treaty expires on february 4th that the u.s. can get moscow to agree to its proposal to extend it now for 5 years then the 5 in ministration presumes that negotiations will resume on open.