you know a. good complaint. from young people who didn't have the solution for the future belongs. to 77 percent now every weekend on d.w.m. . europe's economy shrinks during the 1st quarter pandemic lockdowns and slow start to vaccinations put a damper on spending even as manufacturing comes along in countries like germany take a closer look. companies join the effort to help india has a huge spike in crowbars cases there leads to supply shortages in hospitals. also on the show in colombia tens of thousands protest government plans to tax smaller incomes the plan the government claims is necessary to offset economic damage from the pandemic. welcome to the show i'm severely in berlin the years old

economy struggled to shake off its pandemic woes in the 1st quarter of the year contracting 6 tenths of a percentage point from the last 3 months of 2020. the biggest drop of the 3.3 percent contraction france and belgium were among a handful of countries eking out like growth the german economy shrank by 1.7 percent private consumption felt noticeably during the quarter while the manufacturing sector there remain relatively strong the 1st 3 months of the year coincided with new coronavirus fire it's arriving on the continent leading to various lockdown measures. are let's bring in carbo's in frankfurt conrad put this figure into perspective for us. well 1.7 percent decline in the 1st quarter that's a bit more than what you know a majority of economists at the stock exchange on the financial markets had really predicted but other numbers really what counts can we really make the numbers the

leading guide line at the moment when you can when you do make decisions for investments on the markets i think what's really important is the psychology behind it shows that really all germany is in the waiting hoping that the lock downs are really over more and more vaccinated people are able to take part in everyday life again will we then have a recovery and at a strong and with the recovery be as strong as everyone predicts can also the question of whether this figure captures realistically the economic damage when so much of the service sector in so many countries is closed for example here in germany the restaurants and retail have been closed for months. that's right and that is of course something that is so much you know weighing on the on the souls of everyone in the country because we see how all the restaurants are struggling

that closed they only sell to the street you know packaged packet shrewd and stuff like this and they all waiting to come back and of course as so as everyone you know it's spring outside the weather is really nice and people really would like to sit in those street restaurants again. right conrad bouzid in frankfurt thank you very much. we'll shift gears and go over to india where the explosion of corona virus infections has pushed the country's health care system to the brink of medical oxygen in particular is in short supply medications are running out other nations have offered their support as have some companies. the fever has so many here tonight the relatives of this young woman it's a desperate time his plea is granted she's taken into hospital at a time when many of new delhi's hospitals a turning people away a lack of beds medicines and oxygen meaning they simply can't help.

german industrial gas company has flown 20 tons of liquid oxygen to india siemens is providing medical care to enable widespread testing indian american head of google parent company alphabet stand up pichai and microsoft c.e.o. . pledge support on twitter google is doing $133000000.00 for medical care. supplies are coming in from all around the world australia the us russia and the united arab emirates more than 40 countries have sent bentonite has oxygen tanks protective gas and rapid tests even pakistan with which india has a tense relationship has pledged 8. our correspondent to deride joins me now from mumbai and he. give us an idea how critical are these supply shortages right now. as we have just discussed there 40 countries have already sent oxygen and different

kind of someplace to india but still the people are still struggling to get the supplies because as you understand it india is a huge show griffey and there is a sheer shortage of medicine socks and soon beds and hospitals so people are still struggling very very hard in fact to do also in the i'm going to new record and so the number of restored it has been huge debts have been huge so yes people are still struggling it will take time. but he was all there that their global corporations that are responding but also many corporations in india. because the oxygen the need of oxygen is 840 increased we were speaking to someone some of the companies and they have told us that the demand is it for increase and it will be one didn't need to mean that it will normally sold therefore didn't need to mean we have to will to this and have demanded just overwhelming. these are any understanding of why oxygen wasn't sufficient in the 1st place was this just

something that could be expected given the explosion of these cases or was the production levels are sort of lot of again with have an understanding about. the piece as we all do not in the in the in the other case load is made and because somebody had to go man and the people of the country will complacent detente and they have been the way it is and new an order you know we were not there panned eventually is india's infrastructure infrastructure was lacking in a lot of senses and you never saw this coming so obviously vendi need it force or extra oxygen we need medicines we need the beds basic the basic infrastructure is crumbling because you were never prepared for this me never saw this coming is there an idea that the country itself can ramp up production to meet that need you said mid may of course and i guess that's assuming also that other countries' supplies well the big players in the country don't otto's the money in those of the current. shipping in. don't go mendham student on such meaning they have that have

been a strict order book from the center and the state governments across the country that nobody will use a new york city airport in industrial activity although you don't believe you will be sent towards the hospitals and to which people but obviously as i've said made to me is a long process there are a few 15 more days to go and as you can see the numbers are rising every day and explicit saying it's just the start so obviously i would he is thinking of how we can ramp this up it's a big us are the supplies are coming in now are they reaching the places where they're needed the most. as i just told you because india is a very big joke roofie and so structured transport was logistic was has always been a challenge so obviously people are as all the countries are sending it across 40 countries are sending it across but it will take time the big cities like mumbai delhi battle hyderabad are some cities where the government have been able to make

a treaty but now go cases have started coming in from the ruling their mandate is no rule that you know going to d.v.d. no internet no hospital and no infrastructure so how we are going to meet these someplace and really build it is the big question right now do you right in mumbai thank you so much. let's take a look now at some of the other business stories making headlines. the trust regulators have charged apple with abusing its market dominance saying that the company forces developers to use its own in app payment system to offer their products in the app store charge could lead to a fine of as much as 10 percent of apple's global revenues for. germany and france will receive $300000000.00 euros from the european union to cope with the effects of the pandemic germany says will go to improving distance learning for students the money comes from the react to each new program which has a size of 55000000000 euros. pfizer has begun exporting its coated 1000 vaccine

from the u.s. 1st batches were sent to mexico it's possible now the trumpet ministration will barring exports has expired many countries where the virus still rampant are struggling to acquire supplies. amazon's pandemic boom is showing no sign of slowing down the company saying its 1st quarter profit more than tripled from a year ago to $8100000000.00 fueled by the surge in online shopping revenue came in at over 100000000000 dollars the 2nd quarter in a row that the company has passed that milestone. right over latin america where colombia is also battling a very deadly phase of the crowbars outbreak country recording 700000 new cases on thursday and earlier this week a whopping 500 deaths and a 24 hour period to offset the huge economic hit the country's taken during the pandemic the government wants to start taxing smaller incomes it's a plan that sparked massive protests. for days colombians have been protesting

plans to boost tax revenues that they say would heed the poorest hardest the current of our spend their make has left the south american country in its worst recession in half a century the government says it needs to take just except to avoid a runaway budget deficit it says the proposed tax reforms are crucial for colombia to keep its investment grade depth rating but they would lower the threshold at which people become liable for income tax the protesters say that it still poverty for millions just as the country enters a new love. this march is the biggest display of outrage against this government against the tax reform. and against the labor pension reform. the government has gone against the country and the country is responding in more than $500.00 communities of. income inequality in colombia is

among the highest in latin america about half the working population depends on informal work the world bank warned 4000000 people more than one in 10 threatened with poverty in the next few years undoing the successes of the last decade and that was before the proposed tax reform anger has long been growing against the government of president even but now as ducasse administration fails to get the pandemic under control that anger has spoiled over. we've been reporting for a while now but the semiconductor shortage disrupting industries around the world and our european effort to increase local production is gaining speed major egypt makers including an x p phinney on an l. are in talks to join a new european semiconductor alliance according to recent reports the wants to double its market share of global 2. production by 2030 the chip shortages expose

europe's reliance on asia and the us and ro production auto makers like folks waga industry chief is scheduled to meet friday executives from chip giants intel and taiwan's t.s.m. c. . and finally a german cars are often associated with have to and horsepower but today it's a celebrated stepchild of the industry that has an anniversary it's been 30 years since the last trip bonce rolled off the production line it was produced in communist east germany almost unchanged for decades powered by a smoky to show khinjan the trabi as it was known for spires way more than 10 years for delivery because the planned economy there was so inefficient production ended soon after german reunification but car still has its fans and is sought by collectors. all right here's a reminder of our top story this hour. being you economy shrank to in the last quarter by 0.6 percent in germany down by 1.7 percent pandemic lockdowns are

a slow start to vaccinations put a damper on spending. that's it for me in the business team to check us out online for more dubey dot com slash business mix watch. come up. 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 special. on t w. ready to go to more extreme. us places in europe are smashing all the records stick into

a good shirt. just don't lose your grip it's the treasure map for globe trotters discover some of your record breaking sites. the truth also in book form. maybe it's a pill. or a spray. a liquid medicine. an easy and safe treatment to talk at some risk of 2. it would be given immediately after diagnosis ideally it's available over the counter in a pharmacy a cheap tablet with bearable side effects. we have fraxinus we even have drugs that help with the most serious symptoms of code 19. in the hunt for drugs scientists are exploring many different treatments. but where are we in the search for

a pill. good question welcome to our current 19 special i want to johnsonville and good to have you with us and wouldn't it be wonderful if we could just pop a pill in covert 19 would be nothing more than a nasty cold science is working on a variety of therapies but it's somewhat slow going. how do you switch off the coronavirus render it harmless german scientists co-write therapeutics set themselves this task a year ago 12 months later they seem to have achieved their goal. most drugs currently in development target mild cases of covert 1000 illnesses. are drug is special they designed to cure serious illnesses as well. into. their research and initial clinical tests which have been running for a few days were primarily financed by private investors and government funding from

the state of lower saxony. but now the company needs more funding. of course we want to be ready to meet market needs and our goal is to get the emergency approval by the end of the year. then we would have to produce in sufficient scale that we can supply patients with the necessary medication. currently the german government offers funding of $50000000.00 euros which is split between several companies. this compares with over 740000000 euros in funding for vaccine research. we need tens of thousands of volunteers for testing that's what costs a lot of money and where you simply need larger sums. by money. when you vaccinate healthy people you need a lot more healthy people then when you're testing a drug that is targeted at the sick. bike. recently however the

federal government appears to have rethought the issue and further funds have already been announced. we lost many many months because the financial resources were simply not available for the drug developers we can no longer afford to keep wasting time and. color a therapeutic says it needs 50000000 euros to reach the emergency approval stage german government funds won't be enough for this so the biotech start up has been speaking to international investors. now antiviral treatments attack the virus and stop it multiplying but the virus doesn't fight fair using our own cells to reproduce and finding a treatment is difficult of the best of times let alone during a pandemic. so far the only antiviral drug approved for the treatment of covert 19 in germany is ramdev severe studies show a 33 percent reduction in the duration of the illness. there are other treatments

being developed. american pharmaceutical giant marc is working on a similar drug called new pair of air and pfizer has also started human tests on an antiviral drug. if the immune system overreacts in a later phase of the disease steroids such as dex a method zone come into play it's the cortisone the curbs the immune system in germany 2 decks of metazoan is used in severe cases it is when the patient receives additional oxygen. there are also preparations for antibody treatment which helps prevent symptomatic infection the drug from us pharma giant regeneration helped former us president donald trump. antibodies are also found in the blood plasma of recovered covert 1000 patients there affected pens on the severity of the illness and how long ago it was germany's public health body the robert cock institute says deployment in severe cases is possible.

you know in state a man is a senior id physician of the department of infectious diseases and respiratory meds since at university in berlin as a very good to have you with us especially because you are now offering the use of clonal antibodies in short in a b. or mab in the so called cold map outpatient clinic in berlin what exactly does this therapy offer. well we offer treatment with one of the 2 avail of mono clone the antibody product. these mono clone a n t e buddies tag a protein off the r.s. cough to virus and they have a potential to prevent. the progression to a c v a d g's and any bad symptoms and limit the progress in patients with

mild to moderate cold but these these particular the we know that in those who have not developed yet. in the genus antibody response we know that there is potential that these patients benefit from this kind of therapy and who are these patients that are actually illegible to benefit from it is it available to everyone. well. there are some criteria which we look at to. finding the right patients. we look for patients who have new or positive tests so we. need a. test p.c. our reside which is not order then 72 hours. to provide. that security that we only treat patients in the early course of infection. and

we know close certain risk factors in the patients. which are for example age or immuno. suppression for example are purely patients who are on x. to shimon therapy because our. cancer. patients who are are going transplant patients and therefore immunosuppression are candidates for the treat men and other patients for example who have received medication or just qadri took similar patients who. are candida. people with down syndrome are patients kidney. failure patients patients on chronic him a diagnosis patients with obesity with the see the.

elevated body mass index of over 35 example and you probably have to probably you probably need to go to your own g.p. and basically prove that you are one of those patients who who actually can get to this kind of treatment but could this therapy also help prevent an infection. well there are some. preliminary results showing that it could prevent infection but the results from randomized controlled trials are not published yet so we do not use it as a prevent shoot let's say as opposed to exposure prophylaxis when you assume infection so we so far only use it for patients with a provan infection in which we use their p.c. our results are. now of course i have to remind you that we're all dreaming of

a simple cure as we said at the beginning of the program a pill a spray something like that to help us through infection how realistic is that notion. of course that's what we are green heart. we do not greedy have anything the clothes coming up closely for example just appear of course as the trials going on and really looking for treatment options but so far there is no serious single a pill for example. which we can hope to be the future easy treatment of this document from the shariat a in berlin thank you so much. let's get back now to the root of our troubles and that of course is the virus and its variants time to hand over to derek. is it possible that the same variance arose independently without travel in

different places. the answer to this touches on one of my favorite evolutionary concepts called convergence it's basically the idea that when different species face similar environmental pressures in different places then nature can come up with remarkably similar solutions to cope with them a good example of convergence is for instance the the protective spines that are embedded in the skin of both porcupines and hedgehogs the trait didn't arise just once in a common ancestor and then get passed down it evolved independently in both species because a spiny outside is clearly a good defense against predators if you're small and slow and just want to be left in peace the ija leaves and then sets viral genomes also change

constantly and it happens a lot faster than with animals because by iris is replicate so quickly and abundantly the vast majority of those changes will be neutral or even harmful but a tiny number of them will give a virus an advantage for example a mutated gene might change the spike proteins on its surface in ways that allow the virus to slip into cells more easily and because the source code be to genome is is actually pretty small the chances of specific identical mutations like that occurring in different places at different times. this is actually fairly high so we are seeing some of this sort of genetic convergence but because variants also collect many other highly individual mutations as they evolve

genetic sequencing still allows us to tell them apart. there is williams there and he'll be back again tomorrow to answer more of your questions just post them on our covert 19 you tube channel for now that's all for this edition of out a big night in special thanks for watching. to

the point of. a clear position some international perspective. it's the ultimate covert catastrophe soaring infections particles that breaking point a death rate that keeps shattering records are missteps by the government to blame coronavirus in india out of control that's our topic up to the point to the point. of the us on the d w. india's coronavirus crisis i

d w news special will look at the drastic situation and down and the impact of the triple mutation on. country how can the rest of the well how legwork and be done for the people and how can endure bring the situation under control a special edition of news on the virus crisis in india starts today at 11 u.c.c. on d w. sleep. listen carefully to the goal is simply. to be a good. place to discover the world. plenty.

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is news coming to you live from berlin india's evacuation drive crumble long queues for a vaccine that doesn't come as several states while. the country is battling a record breaking spike uncovered 19 infections and deaths also coming up in israel dozens dead and many more critically injured after a stampede other jewish festival.