a reminder of the top story we're following for you this police and protesters have clashed again in spying after crowds of people rallied to protest the jailing of left wing. was convicted on charges of glorifying terrorism and insulting royalty and songs and tweets. that's it for now coming up next not a special don't forget you can always get more on that they at and t. w. dot com as well for now i'm at the house thanks for watching. the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. as the rate of infection in developing what does the latest research say. information and context the coronavirus update nineteen's. on t w. children to come

to it's. one giant problem and when you get in on the. side of the legal situation if you leave town. how will climate change affect us and our children. and e.w. dot com slash water. new covert variants out of the making the buyers more transmissible they're up ending efforts to control infection rates. this month south africa council plans to give people the astra zeneca jab after finding it wasn't effective enough against the local variant. it was definitely disappointing and here in the. much

slower than expected efficacy of. time is ticking no one knows when and how you variants will affect transmission and whether the current back scenes will work. the u.k. is stepping up testing to stop virus variance from spreading up to 10 percent of positive tests to send to labs for further genome analysis. in the global fight against co that 19 is mutations that are preventing the next great challenge and here in the u.k. authorities are taking up the fight directly into people's homes. they're doing door to do the testing in areas where limitations have been found to go to identify cases before they have a chance to spread. it was just one case of the south african variant found here in this community that launched this door to door testing scheme but the concern is

that one case could just be the tip of the iceberg ordinarily only a small amount of positive covert tests to screen to meet haitians mean that when they all found authorities here a cracking down hard it's thanks to genome sequencing that authorities can pinpoint where. the u.k. is the world leader in sequencing analyzing 10 percent of positive covert samples for the emergence of new variants. in toto the team of the u.k.'s pivot 19 genomics to suit him is responsible for almost half the world's poor by sequencing. work that will continue to prove crucial as more mutations in marriage i don't think we've seen the full spectrum of mutations that could arise so the very common in england at the moment 117 that's very good at spreading but actually what i'm looking for very carefully is the tensions going into that there isn't that also impact on immunity and that's what starts to worry me considerably and that is what

we're seeing in the in the u.k. but no population is immune to meet a sions that's why professor peacock says genome sequencing needs to become a global priority without comprehensive international screening it speeds new more dangerous variants to take hold putting vaccine programs at risk we take actions will be in the 4 corners of the year and there'll be lots that we don't know about that would be quite concerned if we did know about now the reason that support of all of us is because some of these variants are actually going to lead to a challenge in terms of immunization now that is really critical as we go forward we need to know what the virus is doing so that we can keep up with that scene development work is already being done to modify that seems to protect against existing variants. professor paul heath is the chief investigator at the u.k.'s novak spanx in trial he says he's confident sequencing can help manufacturers keep ahead of mutations one of the beauties of be revaccinated

technologies or platforms that we're seeing. in the production of 19 backings a very recent and lexapro and so it's entirely possible that modified vaccines will emerge very quickly from. their point vaccine manufacturers vaccines will lie. they have to adapt in the meantime identifying and isolating mutations will be an invaluable tool in the cat's announce game between vaccines and variance. julian tally is a consultant virologist at the leicester royal infirmary new mutations a cold variance of concern how concerned are you. so. i'm not that concerned i think and actually we need to adapt to these variants i think most people concerned because they may go transmissible so they may

overwhelm health care services that this isn't just transition and there's also some action to skate properties that some of them are showing that maybe the effects of the current vaccine well don't sort of as we do have years of ok so no panic yet but what about various variants tell us about the bristol liverpool variant the south african one. yes there is no current variant the 117 did not have the 4 at full claim mutation that seems to be conferring vacuously properties but now the bone 7 can bring us acquire the 4 it folk is now called a crystal variant but also the previously existing circulating strain from the original who hunt chinese variant has done quite well for 4 as well but. so ok it's not kind of infiltrating the u.k. so it'll. be 2 viruses and then of course these $44.00 plays already present in south africa in very early brazilian variants seems to be

a kind of global adaptation to the human host ok you're just breaking up a little there but i'm getting the gist of it what what is the data actually show us about these variants. so erosion of the moment 7 ken rahn seems the more transmissible there was in fact confounders and that since he's probably more quickly throughout you keep up later and also in other places like australia for example and perhaps journey where you've got some cases the bristol a little too various have come on top of that may wash as in fact escape properties . additional research on the region of the 17 variant suggests some. increased severity but that hasn't been separated from the normal winter seasonal effects of enhanced. what i think of it c g 2 pieces in conditions like hypertension diabetes heart disease etc so there is still some. doubt about the.

true effect of that of clinical severity also the original even $17.00 very they can't very may have a wider spectrum of clinical symptoms compared to the previous circulating strain and it may well be that it becomes more more it's was pretty symptoms and less with things like loss of taste and smell but again this is ongoing that number still needs to be proven creased for we can be definitive about this and what about the effects of weather at the moment of cold weather and hospitalizations as well. yes that's what i just mentioned the seasonal winter cold may exacerbate a lot of the cable but it is that these patients present with and giving the impression that it is very has more severe at this time so they have this is the can't vary the on certain variance. we haven't they to the liverpool boss the 1st to make a comment like this with the dates so from the ones certain temporary suggest will

transmissibility and more severity the onus at least being hostile people to hospital wasn't hospital there's no increased mortality and the relative increase in socal severity is about 30 to 70 percent compared to what it was in the previous original one tourney strain of the variant again that's subject to indoor crowding during winter and hence mortality mobility due to these preexisting conditions during the cold winter months so i think it's not entirely certain yet but there's very it's really causing all this extra effects separate from the winter indoor crowding and the winter increased mobility mortality of those priests in conditions and just really really briefly in which direction do you think sasco veto was actually evolving now. oh i think we'll see the artist evolving to a more transmissible has that up to straight with the ether at footscray and it just will me just to see what the also heard as well as the south african brazilian

service and the fact that these for the full play 5 award influence of mutations appearing independently across the world different variants from different countries suggest that these are the true. beaches that we're seeing now that's the human population julian tang thank you very much for your questions now here's our science correspondent derrick williams. i've heard that like influenza sars cough too is destined to become endemic even with widespread global vaccination is that true this is another $1000000.00 question that no one get knows the answer to but increasingly it appears to be yes to understand why let's look at all the things that would have to happen to make the answer know instead in other words what would it take to put the genie back in the bottle and eradicate covert 19 completely well as one w.h.o.

official put it that's a very high bar several factors would play key roles and whether or not we can even hope to do it one is the extent to which people are protected by a natural infection and the vaccination we now know that getting sick with covert $1000.00 provides a protective shield for at least half a year or so but not a perfect one and people can get reinfected after time has passed which is is not a surprise as that happens with other coronaviruses too assuming reinfected people also in fact others which is a pretty good bet that you end up in the long run with a circular fairly stable system. of a certain number of people regularly passing it along to a certain number of others whose immunity has lapsed it's endemic if vaccines can

spur long lasting immune responses and and help prevent transmission to things that we still don't really know yet then it would give us a fighting chance of breaking the circle but but that would take moving fast with vaccination programs on or on a really massive scale worldwide because we're also in a race against a new taking viral enemy with with new variants arising all the time and as long as the large numbers of people remain unvaccinated wherever they are they'll continue to provide a reservoir for the virus and also a space for it to evolve potentially turning progress we've made so far into a 2 steps forward one step back situation. before i ruin your day though please remember another important thing we can still end this pandemic even if sars code

too does become endemic all that means is that once we have the situation at hand to some extent in the future we'll have to react quickly to help breaks with effective control measures and we've been developing an arsenal of those for a year now. there could never my day thanks for watching stay safe and i'll see you again very soon here on d w a bite. into the conflict zone to sebastian. this year didn't start well for the european commission its role after the code of nigeria vaccine for free why he slammed those 2 little phone too late my guess is we failed also those are the great commission moderators. the new initiative in the us to silence the criticism of the commission

on the challenges of incumbency conflicts of. next off difficulties. there has been nothing but sadness and anger for the past year. on. she was their son brother and on the sidelines in the final terrorist attack along with 8 other people on the motive this clear. justice system in the family's personal feeling to provide answers to many some despondent. 60 minutes on d w. the but why did this person comes home. there are many answers the badami.

abandon the result mosque that can be done the be. done fans. make up your mind. body double shot. no one can teach the european union lesson missed the bulk of democracy we are i think. you would succeed this year didn't start well for the european commission its role out of the cove of 19 vaccine has been widely slanted is too little and too late but now it's decided to invest millions into researching new coded variants and to try and get some better headlines my guess is we can brussels

as the great commission them are going to see enough of a new initiative be enough to silence the criticism of the commission and the charges of incompetent. margarita she was welcome to comfort zone thank you for having me you're pouring tens of millions of euros into research on new covert variance tell me this isn't just a elaborate p.r. exercise to boost your flagging image of the commission. no it is not it is the response to a genuine war that we have both here in brussels and in the capitals of our union because the mutations are happening and these mutants are practically everywhere

so we need. to barrel to our vaccines problem we need to develop this capacity to anticipate to adapt and facilitate that work. to be able to cope with all these potential threats risk to the audience there's a lot of work going on in this field at the moment anyway the world health organization said in january that it was coordinating a massive amount of research on the same subject and drug companies are of course working on 2nd generation vaccines to take account of these new strains so what are you bringing to the table that's going to be new. we're bringing to the table. speed authorization procedures through our european medicine say agency that would allow these companies not to research meat from scratch but the able to update. the files on the basis of which they're already there vaccines authorized in the european market where bringing money because for sequencing testing and clinical

trials at the scepter scale we need your funding and more more than anybody else we need pressure pressure to everybody involved to anticipate events and prepare. this is something your strong point so far has it i mean the issue isn't money we know you've got plenty of money frankly the issue given the painfully slow rollout of existing vaccines is whether your competent as a commission to manage all these projects are you. i think the story has not been told of the european vaccination strategy and the success of our plan will have to be assessed not at the beginning of the process but at the end of it we have pre-purchased 2300000000 doses of vaccine for all europeans we have bought the 25 percent of the global supply we have already dispatched

30000000 doses in europe and we have already vaccinated 22000000 europeans this is not. a lot of success this is success in the making our own existence there she announced last week the commission president let's face it was forced into a humiliating admission but the e.u. was as she put it not where it wanted to be in combating the virus this after hailing the rollout as a great european success story but it hasn't been has it fact is you were late in granting vaccine authorizations too optimistic about the production of the vaccine to my even believing that all the doses would arrive on time you are 3 months behind the u.k. in ordering some of these vaccines you admitted all this this was all admitted but there was no apology why why was there this apology this is the european union in the european union politicians do not authorize boxing's they don't have knowledge

eyes i ever do have an independent regulatory agency. and i think the process we are not in the course this is not a sprint it's a mar now yes to the question of apology that i leave the humiliating part to you to to describe but this was something the president stated the obvious that these companies with whom we had contractual relations and they assumed contractual obligations were not ready at the beginning of these contracts to put the capacity the contracts would have required it and they are sorting this release out as we speak so the apology was an apology of the moment of the start of the contracts i'm telling you again if you will succeed in our still a vaccination strategy the fact is mr sheena's that people will have died in europe waiting for you to take decisions and get them the vaccines that could have saved their life someone should take responsibility for that and resign or is there no

accountability in this commission of yours. we are fully accountable to the european parliament to which we which we invested us in all took a year ago and the european parliament is fully in line all governments are member states in making this european programme of oxidation a success i leave it to your imagination what would have happened if instead of the european strategy member states would have gone it individually fighting each other over vaccines the big member states would have swapped the market the smaller member states would have never had access to the vaccines so we are making this work for everyone and it's working believe me when you say this but this week the senior liberal m.e.p. and former belgian prime minister gave a half star accused. fund their line of prolonging drastically the coven pandemic on mainland europe and the huge cost to lives and the economy he called the

management of the bank then we got a fiasco and said after 2 months the rollout of vaccines is dramatically low in europe so you're painting a very different picture from the one that members of the european parliament are seeing you're in trouble if figures like miss the 1st half start are turning against you in this way. you are quoting one of the 751 members i can't hurt others if you like i don't know either but you should call the majority to make the point that the european parliament is against the commissioner of exit strategy you know in brussels that is what they call the intellectual appeal of pessimists somehow to be trendy to be more durned to make headlines have to be a pessimist in the brussels bubble well i do not believe in the school of thought and monotonous and i repeat what i told you earlier this european strategy is working at the end of the process you will see that will be one of the most

remarkable european success ever well that's what you say about key figures are losing patience with you in germany for instance the chief minister of bavaria marcus accused the commission of lacking the necessary sense of urgency and following the typical normal bureaucratic e.u. procedure he's right isn't he people have a right to expect better from you don't bet. of course people have a right to expect though to also distance myself from comments coming from a country like germany where the election is already underway and where many key players are jogging for position i handle the elections and they always find very convenient to target brussels on basically everything you know so when you find it convenient to give me a success story which hasn't yet happened because you're under political pressure at the money on the huge political pressure because of the role of the vaccines you

know and for the history of failure dealing with this pandemic i mean last year there were admissions from underlying that the fundamental purpose of the e.u. which was unified decision making has been sorely lacking she said at the time when europe really needed to be there for each other too many initially looked out for themselves when europe needed an all for one spirit too many initially gave an only for me response the commission is the european union's executive if you can't unite this union isn't it time to hand over to some people who can i would agree with you that the beginning at the beginning of the pandemic our member states last march reacted a bit like individuals individuals stormed the supermarkets and bought toilet paper and passed hoping that they will survive the mc member states closed borders they produced export bans they try to compete against each other but that only lasted 3

to 4 weeks after really members are still closing borders germany knows border last week in southern borders causing traffic jams back into italy ignore limbo ignoring the justice commission ows the warn that it could lead to. been disrupted this now considers the member states at the time it were all states what the point i was trying to make before you interrupted me. is precisely that we given the interdependence of our single market the integration of our supply chains we can do thinks together only we can do things better only if we do them together and this is happening as we speak and again let me tell you that from borders to public procurement to pulling money for research to buying vaccines all this is part of a common european response which is working well you say it's working and i've

quoted you people who don't think it is working how do we know for instance that there won't be a repeat of the january 30th fiasco where your commission panicked about the shortage of vaccines and threatened to kick a clause in the northern ireland protocol but would have blocked the vaccines from reaching northern ireland the decision was rather reversed after 10 days in an international outcry you're not telling me that that was part of your success story are you the best the measure was not. related to northern ireland or article 6 in protocol the measure which was a pilot was a scheme for an export or a station procedure that would allow the commish to know what's happening with that seems produced in the european market but i don't know the impact of northern ireland that it would have authority or i don't know how in protocols there was a negative impact on the on the northern irish border which was remedied i would say instantly on the same date and for which president underlined herself admitted

that this was an administrative mistake that happened against the very broad which we needed and we still need by that time to know who exports where but scenes important produced in europe under contract obligations with europe you said it was an administrative mistake whose fault was that. well sometimes you know we have to go in to alter sonic fast procedures because when you put in place an export authorization scheme you don't have the time a week or 10 days to organize things you have to do it in a few hours now but i asked those whose fault it was who's going to the people going to take responsibility for this the president herself took responsibility publicly or be at or be at the european parliament twice last week she said that seat assumes personal responsibility for the minnesota mistake that happened on that day and which was rendered rectified to our sleep. so how do we know it's not

going to happen again one of these administrative mistakes i mean this this caused an enormous amount of diplomatic backlash for you didn't the irish government wasn't informed in advance nor the british government nor the northern ireland assembly island's own ambassador called it a very serious mistake how do we know you're not going to do it again because what lessons have you learned from that well let me repeat that when the commission takes market related measures on export authorizations we have to go very very fast otherwise these measures will be. violated by events on the ground so this isn't to have been taken on in an afternoon and i tried to explain to you that these were decisions that were valid because we need this market export export of radiation systems to know how the vaccines are being exported and to whom from europe the

fact that a mistake had happened which was corrected immediately does not mean anything especially when the president of the commission herself took it on herself and publicly in front of the european parliament assured me base that this will not happen again you say there isn't mean anything but it's max of chaos right at the heart of your commission doesn't it crossed wires panicky decisions no thought for consequences no found pound in control you proud of all this look i can spend also too much time using objectives but i belong to a political school of thought that i'm not more interested in now hns and inverts i don't think that you know value judgements in the confort of the studio can sort out a very complicated situation we are fighting fire in a once in a generation threat to humanity and to europe and we'll do everything that it takes to get it right and we are getting it right. so i prefer to be positive to be

optimistic and look with confidence future it's not just with the pandemic that we've seen missteps as we saw them the other day when your foreign policy chief you know as a barrel visited moscow many m.p.'s m.e.p. said he allowed himself to be totally humiliated and achieved absolutely nothing last week 81 members of the european parliament called on the commission president to fire him should he be fired do you think again you are courting a relatively small number of men the peace the european parliament has $751.00 members and the majority for the parliament to take a stance is half plus one that wasn't my question i asked you whether you know. i'm answering your question before the high representative example or l. is that moscow do you know do happen to know how many ministers of foreign affairs

of member states had already. the answer is that's a no man's neither here nor there is something that several countries in poland on the whole take states told him not to go why were you present their warnings not listened to 1st of all he went on the basis of an agreement by the ministers of foreign affairs council to go to we were surprised to see that no one bothered to criticize the 19 ministers who went to moscow before him but everyone rushed to attack again brussels scapegoating brussels and blaming everything on brussels it's again very convenient very trendy it makes you popular it produces good lines but it doesn't sort out the problems we are in the business of sorting out problems but you didn't sort out any problems and he didn't sort out any problems because he went with no fixed agenda then

a well it's easier to gauge when saxon simbo engagement sessions and foreign minister level that's what diplomats are supposed to do prepare high level meetings to the smallest detail and find something the ministers can agree on burrell 40 knew better and he didn't did it let's see about that let's see how the noise around this visit materializes in terms of policy i'm not sure that everything has to be judged on the basis of what happened in a press conference there were meetings before the press conference and after the press conference and the foreign affairs ministers of the european union are meeting next week to assess globally the situation and move accordingly in the collected money so the story has not yet been top of this visit well it's going to be interesting to see how you move in a coordinated manner because half the problem is that the seems incapable of unified action when it comes to russia you couldn't even issue

a collective statement after the poisoning of the opposition leader alexander valley because it was vetoed by the hungarian leader viktor orban so you one more example want to have a disunited multilateral body that can't agree on clear objectives. sorry to break the news but the european union does not have the capacity to decide on foreign policy on the basis of qualified majority foreign policy is still probably the only one together with the only policy where you name it. and unanimity allows everyone to stop everybody else so of course we can sell flagellate and regret and love meant that the founding fathers and governments sailed to break this last guru of european integration introducing majority voting in foreign policy but that's the situation so you are describing a situation which is given and on the basis of which we tried to do as much and as

best as we can tell it from the foreign policy chief then the problem is we have a foreign policy chief but you don't have a unified foreign policy was the point of my job let me remind you that we are already have sanctions against russia on the start of the we are already reviewing periodic lease sanctions that have been great unanimously and we do have many other instruments and decisions that have been agreed unanimously but of course we do not have qualified majority that would have allowed us to use to move differently because of the situation and we can spend time lamenting it or regretting it but i don't think we can change it at this stage mr margarita's china has also benefited from the e.u. the lack of a consistent foreign policy hasn't it you you trumpet human rights as a central value to the european union but you threw those considerations to the wind when you signed an investment deal with beijing last month and you the only

assurance from china about human rights was a meaningless and totally on in forcible commitment to make sustained and continuous efforts to ratify intervent international conventions on forced labor. in other words they do their best no timescale maybe 10 years maybe a 100 who knows but why don't you admit it you got nothing from the chinese do nothing but ok again living the objectives sides on this earth nothing is a noun. the substance of this of your question with this agreement the european union paint a level of protection of investment by european companies in china that our american partners or friends already have so this was not an apocalyptic mill think it was aligning european interests to a level of protection that other western powers already enjoyed with china so i'm i

think it was a necessary agreement a welcome agreement and an agreement that creates more jobs and more certainty for the company set for the economy and i would also take issue with your assertion that this was done at the back of human rights precisely aspired of this agreement there are concrete references to the need to ratify the ilo agreements on child labor or there are relevant considerations of the situation in young the european union will continue to engage with china in a principled and at the same time problematic way you didn't impress the european parliament did you there was scathing condemnation a resolution which was unanimously passed which said by rushing to reach this agreement while not taking concrete action against ongoing a grave human rights violations in hong kong province and tibet the e.u.

arrest undermining its credibility as a global human rights act or the chair of the parliament's delegation variations with china rinehart critic of us said it's ridiculous for the e.u. to try selling vat as a success. you didn't you didn't convince them we no one can teach the european union lessons about democracy and respect of human rights we are the world's epicenter of democracy and good governance wherever you look at it probably we're going hungry and can you honestly say that can you honestly say that let me rest discuss hong kong and then i'm happy to go to poland hungary and hong kong where gravely concerned the situation there is against everything that we stand for we have repeatedly expressed both at the commission at the council of foreign affairs ministers are our position and the situation against the democracy

pro-democracy fighters and activists of candidates and these concerns have been put to president xi by the european leaders in their meeting on the 30th of december just just wordsmiths the margarita's you have leverage real leverage with this. financial agreement with this trade deal with china and you didn't use that leverage we used it to the best possible outcome at a level comparable to what our american friends did when dealing with china so this was not something that. failed us than we lived up to our standards the references to i a low resolution child labor situation i clearly established let's just look briefly at your claim that the european union is the most advanced model of democracy in society in the modern world seems like a classic exaggeration when you look at poland and hungary. according to human

rights organizations human rights watch for instance says 10000000 eve citizens in hungary are effectively living under or thora tarion rule in poland the government is accused by the self of violating the union's laws undermining judicial independence in bulgaria torture is rife along with massive corruption at all levels of government how does that fit into the most advanced model of democracy in society in the modern world. the rule of law and the respect for the rule of law democracy and fundamental rights are the jewels and crown of the european union their non-negotiable i do not deny that in certain parts of our geography the their way to history and authority to authoritarianism and tyrion is still has. a resilient presence if you like and we are now for some years working very very consistently and i would say aggressive to remedy these

but colleges in making clear that the rule of law has to be respected by all member states at all levels using their selling drug area that for 14 years but instead of doing it on li but threatening the nuclear button awful article so many of the treaty we have now recently introduced a new approach through a european rule of law make is that allows us on a yearly basis to scan examine the situation in all our member states from the point of view of rule of law in gauging dialogue abstract and instead of correcting making sure that we shape the situation the way we like it we have introduced and mechanism on conditionality with respect the rule of law in the next e.u. budget we have very many open infringements are and if their hands are these as you

sound with them i recall that we're running out of time unfortunately we run out of time although this ecosystem will produce change ok thank you very much for being on conflict and thank you for your time thank you for having. the be. the be. the best.

to. come. to nothing but sadness and anger for the past years to come and. she was there son brother. shot i am not terrorist attack along with other people on the motive this is clear. the justice system the economy

slowing to provide. some good. 30 minutes on d w. a a a a life on earth one of a kind and the big gigantic coincidences the be improbable happen the awfulness of it they are the creation of. our solar system without a planet is a bit like winning the lottery. what is earth more unique. in 75 minutes on d w. 1700 years of jewish life in germany our series this week on arts and culture we journey from berlin to munich to meet cultural leaders commemorating the past taking

creative risks and building community 700 years of jewish life in germany. this week on our sin culture on t.w. . how does a virus spread. why do we panic and when will all this. introduce through the tax and weekly radio broadcast. if you would like and more information on the crown a liar 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 d.f.w. dot com slash science. young german. and jewish. i'm jewish so was it. does that

mean. in daily life. and at school isn't the same we should not be given a special status but be completely normal beyond this look of shock like wow there's a jew at our school dance about thing 11 teenagers 11 stories. ok so i'm jewish and so is. young german and jewish starts february 20. on b.w. . rick. this is the deadly news and these are top stories police have clashed with thousands of protesters in spain during demonstrations in support of rap artist herself it was jailed for insulting the monarchy and glorifying terrorism in his lyrics protesters in madrid and barcelona have been demanding his.