the you had vaccinated just over 5 percent of their people by the time israel celebrated vaccinating almost its entire population taking the european way may have prevented an e.u. meltdown but it was painfully slow and the too late course the vaccination effort was slow to get going. it's only now that germany is adding rapid test centers and home testing to its pandemic strategy months after austria merkel's new approach of opening up as mutations gather pace is the wrong move says the opposition. i don't think that the measures which are taken between regional leaders and chancellor merkel yes that they will fit you a situation and i think we are heading right into a 3rd way overall support for the government's coronas strategy is still solid at around 50 percent but it used to be more than 70. within 12 months i'm going to

machall went from being europe's to rona leadership champion who managed to flatten the curve to its chancellor increasingly on the defensive over these coming weeks and months her legacy may be written of a corona. let's hear more from political correspondent does simon you're welcome simon how much will yesterday's decision public criticism of the government's coronavirus strategy. well phil the government is selling its strategy as a transition to a new phase of the pandemic and of course talk about easing and opening up is designed to offer people some hope because there's no doubt that people law tired of corona tired of lockdowns they've been in since last november and that have been getting steadily tighter in some places but at the same time some people say you know we will never see easing in opening up or only for a very short time because infections will quickly go back up again they warn and

also the strategy is relatively complicated difficult to digest with opening up and or closing down depending on local infection rates and you know roll out of changes of of measures a 2 week intervals and so on it's not really been designed. to help people to understand it easily that may reduce its impact and we can listen to some of the responses that we gathered from the public just today. i don't want to be in ms merkel shoes i couldn't do it any better that's why i'm cautious with criticism. it's going to step by step isn't that it's the only way to do it it's almost as if people aren't supposed to understand what's meant to happen i think if. i don't know what the alternative is opening everything up again i think you have to do it partially simply because the people want to see some restrictions easy. to simon

young well some good news today after some apparent reluctance german regulators have approved ash was that because corona virus vaccine for the over 60 five's so how much is this going to speed up the country's painfully slow fascination program . here it should help a bit it should mean that the higher priority faithful older people will get their vaccinations more quickly the government's also decided to increase the interval between the 1st and 2nd doses of astra zeneca 12 weeks so that should mean that more people get any vaccine a bit sooner but that being problems public skepticism with the astra zeneca bank seen there been reports of strong side effects so we'll have to see if they see that change in attitudes of this bank scene increases confidence in it but at the same time overall the vaccine program the real problem with it is there's just not enough supply and it's not clear when supply will increase at the moment things are

moving as you say painfully slow. thank you so much. small developments in this pandemic now the medicines regulator has begun to roll in the review russians sputnik being a vaccine paving the way for its potential proven for use across the block sputnik has proven to be more than 90 percent effective in clinical trials the world health organization is warning europe to increase its. new highly contagious strains of the corona virus 1000 defections in europe rose by a 1000000 last week and in 6 weeks of decline and millions of vaccine shots from the free kovacs program due to arrive in one and gold on the democratic republic of congo last week ghana and the ivory coast received the un programs 1st batches. other stories making news around the world now israel australia and denmark have agreed to establish a joint fund to support the research and development of covert $900.00 vaccines

israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu announced the vaccine alliance as he hosts of the leaders of austria and denmark in jerusalem they also open the door to other nations to join the after. a powerful earthquake has struck off the coast of new zealand prompting authours is to issue a tsunami warning the magnitude $7.00 trammell centered off the country's northeastern coast officials are warning that waves of up to a meter could hit the eastern coast of the north island. police in sweden say they're investigating possible terrorism motives after 8 people were wounded in a stabbing rampage they shot and arrested a suspect from an incident in the southern town of atlanta they say i did not and prior information about an attack threat. thousands of members of the chinese communist party a gathering for the national people's congress eventually this year's event is expected to focus on climate change the economy and unrest in hong kong the

congress largely rubber stamps policies drawn up by the party elite. and actually me and know where there is growing international concern of the crackdown on peaceful protesters 38 people being killed on the bloodiest day since last month's minutes to the german parliament has condemned the army takeover foreign minister is calling for the release of all political prisoners and the return to democracy and amount was echoed by the united nations. yesterday she was a protester today perception carries her body through the streets of mandalay carlson a 19 year old university student shot in the head during a protest against the military on wednesday. at her funeral relatives surrounded her open coffin as mourners passed by paying their respects all singing revolutionary songs and chanting slogans. mourning protests gave way to new violence as security forces and protesters faced off again protestors know their

defiance could cost them their lives. we don't want anything from them we just demand that our mother and censored she is back and the powers of the people sans we don't want the military ruling the country that's why we're protesting and i'm also ready to die instead of others when soldiers come back again. and i don't. know. terry to his rant up its response from the show of force scrambling fighter jets to make several low altitude passes over mandalay. such violence continues the question remains who else will lose their life today for the chance of a democratic future. a security teams in the american capital on high alert preparing for another possible extremist attack on the capitol building some right wing conspiracy theorists believe the former president donald trump will return to

power today the justice department has charge more than $300.00 people over the violent siege of the building on the 6th of january. report a problem for the obvious welcome problem what do we know about this alleged plot. all we know is that the f.b.i. and the u.s. department of homeland security joint released a joint statement saying that there was this at potential threat on the capitol building and according to intelligence and on maimed at militant violent extremist groups have been plotting this since late february and what they said was that they want to take control of the u.s. consul and remove democratic lawmakers on or of by march 4th now the militant group also discussed at persuading their supporters across the united states to travel once again at to washington d.c. to take part in this plot and also they did as well using explosives and they are

quote at the quote was to kill as many members of congress as possible during the upcoming state of the union address that what we don't know is who exactly is behind this plot but obviously there in the united states felt that it was serious enough because the house of representatives which was jus to me today on thursday has decided to cancel about meeting the senate on the other hand is going to continue with its plans to meet because at the end of the day they feel that it's more important to meet and push ahead with their president biden's nearly 2 trillion dollar upon them and release they'll explain to us the significance of this day the 4th of march. right well to force the march forward the members of this q a nonce conspiracy theory group is essentially at back open till 933 inauguration day actually in the united states took place on march 4th not january 20th which is what i would happens or of how it has it has happened since then and

the reason for that was that the 20th amendment to be u.s. constitution back in 1903 changed that date and the plant the idea is that of course it is march 4th and the real president in this case president trump will become the president again back in as well to back in 1903 the same year that it was trying to but then president president route of roosevelt ended the united states is linked to the gold standard and president trump has also said that he would like to see perhaps a return to the gold standard the idea behind these conspiracy theories is i hope i haven't lost yet because it is fairly complex is that they believe that this is the the reinstatement of the gold standard and is is something that president trump has been sent back to do and once he is in order a bit once again as the president on march 4th the united states will return to its former greatness.

the sport for you a football giant barcelona is facing more bad news days after their former president was arrested on corruption charges they've been ordered to pay millions of euros in extra taxes european court of justice ruled that the club received illegal tax breaks that amounted to government aid faster was granted nonprofit status 30 years ago the court says that gave them financial advantages of veracruz . ability space x. effort to send people into space as ended in another rocket explosion despite this space x. found it on musk says the test was a success the company's s. and 10 unmanned prototype of blew up just minutes after landing the touchdown represents the 1st successful landing of this type of rocket so shortly after they celebrated the touchdown it burst into flames and musk later tweeted our i p s and 10 or will discharge rockets being developed to carry people to the moon and to

most. that's it you're up to date i'll have more world news of the top of the hour up next here on day w. the latest on the pandemic in our cars with 19 special coverage of. 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 update 19. next on t w. how does a virus spread. why do we parent and when will all the. computer through the text and we couldn't read your blog. if you would like any

information on the chrono wiring 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 and d.-w. dot com look forward slash science. the findings suggest that the laboratory incidents i put disease. he's extremely unlikely and. to explain the introduction of the virus into the human population. this seems to be the consensus after a controversial joint investigation into the origin of corona virus by the w.h.o. and chinese government in blue hunt so where did the virus come from the prevalent theory is that the source code to virus is this so gnosis that it jumped from

animals to humans either from close contact with these creatures. the hunting of exotic wildlife so case closed not quite questions remain. indeed welcome to a night in special monica jones in berlin night took a year for china to allow an international investigation into the origin of the corona virus and then only in a joint mission with chinese experts is beijing trying to hide something that wouldn't be the 1st time that china's handling of exotic animals led to the birth of a deadly virus. wild animals in cages many of them injured and weak it's filthy and cramped and the animals are in close contact with humans. the corona virus may have started to spread in an animal market like this is the perfect breeding ground for new diseases. markets like this provide an opportunity for

pathogens to make the leap from one species to another. in the process the pathogen can develop characteristics that make it easier to spread to a 3rd species in this case to humans. experts have long been warning that the trade in wild animals could be a ticking time bomb more than 2 thirds of infectious diseases that affect humans originating wildlife those include deadly diseases such as the ebola virus sars and hiv scientists call such diseases as it were not it because they originate in animals. who are not of diseases can be dangerous because the pathogen can develop new capabilities in its new host the new host has no immunity so infection can often lead to serious disease. the current a virus pandemic has thrust these wild animal markets into the spotlight around the world many are calling for

a total down. the animals are sold not just for food for private households some species assigned to make traditional medicines or aphrodesiac others and pricey delicacies on restaurant menus. animal protection activists like these in vietnam say that the only way to reduce the risk of pandemics is to pound the commercial trade in wild animals. viruses don't really make a distinction. you know. a lot of the higher trade chain they don't make that distinction which whether their trade is legal or illegal whether their training is for bush meat from of sold for medicine or as exotic pets activists agree the desire for an exotic pattis part of the problem there's a flourishing illegal online trade in them especially involving reptiles. but wild

mammals are also sold online illegally they pose the highest risk for transmitting viruses to humans china has now temporarily suspended the trade in consumption of wild animals but as long as the worldwide market exists the threat of new emerging viruses will continue. to professor fabienne linda you've just seen him in this report he supported the investigation into the origin of the corona virus and he joins us now good to have you with us a project group leader of epidemiology of highly pathogenic micro-organisms of the robot coffee institute here in berlin what was your role in. well i was asked to join the team as an expert on the not to is eases so i have the technical expertise we are looking since many years for the source of human disease in wildlife normally mainly in the tropics in african context so is it a given though after this this joint mission looking into the origin of the corona

virus is it a given now that the virus has actually been transmitted from animal to human and did all of that happen in china. well i think everybody would agree that given that the virus comes from an animal to medically infected humans because we didn't know it from the human population before so that's that's clear the question is not which species exactly were involved. and how did the transmission happen there where is pressed. in that context but that's obviously holes on the agenda and those questions are just raised do we know the answer now which species and how . you know we have very little evidence at the moment which species are involved the only thing we know is that the closest relatives of the origin of one of this to if the virus is found in certain bat species in cells east asia or so that's

a suspicious range of species to look at and a suspicious region to look at as an elf but the only other data not reading leading to to a very good process is at the moment i still have to ask that question though i mean because there is this theory that the virus came from a lap even though an animal in the lab presumably can this theory now be ruled out or are they still question marks. so the theory is extremely difficult to compete rule out. because technically that's a very big challenge haul ever the likelihood that this has happened is extremely low if you consider how intensive we have contacts between wildlife and humans into media tools farm wildlife and humans this simply seems to be the least likely scenario so i think we should investigate this in areas which are the most likely ones and then later we may still come back to the other had processes all right

then let's stick to the transmission from animal to human and i mean even here in germany of course we do have virus spill over from from rodents to human for example every year so when does the transmission from the virus from animal to human become a real problem like the one we're now seeing with this pandemic. so as you said that frequent transmissions and it's not only barra says and if you think about. colon infections like in the food industry that's frequently a problem right so and that's a severe problem we have so the question sometimes a bar is terms into an epidemic or pandemic virus really depends on the property of the virus in the 1st place so is it something easily transmissible from human to human so for example hunter viruses that you find also in germany transmitted from rooms to humans are not well transmitted between humans so they are simply lucky

that the rest doesn't have the property like this all service has you know so that's one of the important factors all the most important factors i would say lastly i mean why does it actually matter to know the origin of the virus i mean what it actually help us fight the current pandemic. it does not help to fight the current pandemic but it helps to reduce the risk of future pandemics to happen and these kinds of pandemics have happened since many many years old a time think about age and the same thing about even measles come from an animal origin or so we will continue seeing these kinds of things so you can only solve a problem if you have understood for only 40 and then you can take the right contemn measures to reduce the risk of the events so this is what we need and we need that from all the breaks happening not only the very prestigious one as this one but we need to understand the mechanisms because then we can do something to reduce the risk all right and there's still

a lot to learn from the current sars code to virus i understand fabienne and then doubts project group leader of epidemiology of highly pathogenic micro-organisms at the robert capa institute thank you so much for your time. now from the virus to the solution vaccines time for questions sent over to derrick williams. well approved vaccines be as effective against new variants of sars cove 2 as they were against the old one the hope is they will be the fear is they won't be there's been a lot of conflicting information churned out on this topic already and with around you know a dozen different vaccines approved in various parts of the world at the moment and and new variants being identified seemingly every day that mountain of conflicting information just grows and grows the most striking reports so far that

a new variant was was steamrolling over a vaccine came from south africa the small study it was based on left some open questions but it did indicate pretty strongly that as for the seneca back scene didn't do a very good job of preventing mild or moderate disease caused by a variant in wide circulation in the country that evidence was enough to prompt the south african government to decide to start using the johnson and johnson vaccine on its health workers instead. so yes there are signs that new variants could have an impact on effectiveness and some back scenes but i'd like to add my voice to a growing chorus that includes many researchers who worry that all the hyped up reporting on variants and studies involving them is actually counterproductive not

only because it frightens people but that it does so most of the time for no good reason the vaccines print lee approved are based on a range of different platforms that stimulate the immune system in different ways some of them might prove less effective against newbury and others more so the thing is even when the virus changes which it will continue to do we can respond like the government in south africa by switching tracks we now also have the technical ability to tweak some back scenes quickly to respond to mutations in the virus so i at least have come to a decision not to let any fears about new variants keep me up at night. now derrick williams there in speaking of switching tracks the german government

has just approved astra zeneca for people over the age of 65 the vaccine from the british swedish pharmaceutical has so far been only didn't say for people under 65 the government hopes the new rule will help speed up vaccination here in germany. and that's it for the day from me in the team here in berlin thanks for giving us company.

got some hot tips for your bucket list. corner. for some. and some great cultural memorials to. come to a one giant trump. i'm. in no mood to be cheery you.

mean by renaming little began to move the lady who it was beginning to. how will climate change your 1st dog and our children die. dot com slash water. this is news africa on the program today and raced in synagogue cashews breakers in the capitol dome car park to the opposition leader all smiles song was embraced. now now before i do is december election when is rubber stamped by standers supreme court judges have dismissed opposition allegations of full freaking. last week to 2 cousins behind ethiopia's 1st digital magazine.