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tv   Auf den Punkt  Deutsche Welle  April 30, 2021 2:00pm-2:45pm CEST

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upgraded memory of the for. curing ignorance starts may 3rd. this is coming to you live from berlin india's inoculation drive crumbles long queues for a back scene that doesn't call as several states with. the country is battling a record breaking spike in coverage 19 infections and deaths also coming up in israel dozens dead and many more critically injured after a stampede at a jewish festival the 1st big religious gathering to be held since the government
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lifted some coronavirus restrictions. treading in donald trump's footsteps we look at the republican hopefuls trying to win the former u.s. president support and a springboard to the political big time. hello i'm terry martin good to have you with us. india has set a daily global record of new coronavirus cases for more than a week now with an average of nearly 350000 infections daily deaths have nearly tripled in the past 3 weeks but most experts are convinced the numbers are being under reported the international relief effort has been stepped up but many indians are still struggling to find medical supplies including oxygen and the wait for vaccines continues. in the south west indian
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state of carola they wait. wait for a vaccine that doesn't come. stuff at this center ready but they have nothing to give. them so no. doctors include. these make of that nation but that is not vets and with those. it's a similar problem across india with vaccination centers forced to close just as the government says all adults are allowed to get a jab. we don't have vaccines right now we'll let you know as soon as we get them. the hunt for oxygen also continues across the country refilling centers like this one overwhelmed. i've been waiting for hours for my cylinder with
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oxygen supplies make up some of the aid that being delivered to india from across the world. this international relief effort has become a major mission. united states delivering supplies worth more than $100000000.00 in the coming days to provide urgent relief to our partners in india. but there's also frustration india is densely populated and yet mass gatherings including fist state elections in west bengal have been allowed to go ahead. people have been gathering a lot there's been a lot of gathering in terms of people going out to the markets. there have been some rallies going on and people have been going to different festivals. where you know for all health workers across india the situation has become
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a nightmare it's reached a point where crisis is a very mild word for it. but the battle to keep this country breathing must go on if you know everything for more on what's driving the cove in 1000 crisis in india i'm joined by just benita in india thanks for being with us dr. another day with record high infection rates in india how do you account for these extraordinary numbers. i suppose there are 2 or 3 different reasons that we're going to have to consider the 1st is many of last letting down the isle of god or one of the last 34 months when the infection believe what had gone significant was probably in august september so that has resulted into being mixing with people look more care less and so on and so forth you know you shouldn't door
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opening a market economy which means people who enter getting out of the houses and hands more interaction with the other and that is where the problem lives but it's also very important that all what misbehaviors the leaders that the population young and he looks up to or reach out to political leaders as well as if there are problems what peculiarly bad examples of how things should not be portrayed because there was a cool moment. where hundreds of thousands of people are i should say probably a 1000000 people who are collected in a photo call me big in gadgets water and or sorting duty different standards than when to go that which were addressed by. the senior v.p. there is up on the party and every rich man want better or worse yet our people
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must be one of the bunch of you ok. yes that is also the widest mutual to spots of the virus itself indeed which are apparently there is another variant that's been identified there that is wreaking havoc on the population starting to morrow every adult in india i understand is eligible to get a job a vaccination but some backs nation centers are closing because they've run out of vaccine where are the vaccines. this is a good question in the sense of the production capacity of the largest manufacturer in the word c demonstrate your india most significant bottom plate was used for approximating indian india indian population what are the capacity of that instability or sort is not enough to cover the people so essentially the factories the media are pretty good the 2nd thing you said was spot of 5 things very simple
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that scene so even 2 together believe you can and will that see number 3 was danny fatah made it clear as it is i've lost. 50 plus age group for the 1st time. we were close in song and 45 years in the fall of each of these 2 hour or so study to complete their career goals this approximation earlier and are we going to fight in body in knots the government in india has been severely criticized for how its managed the crisis you yourself said they provided to some of the political leaders at least and religious leaders a bad example or officials now recognizing how bad things really are. off issues that they think 9 seen them 1st because despite the process is the norm whereas before spring there are bad acknowledgment has me who are you that
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ford is not nice is that he talked about the right sector for short so barack goes without saying nobody is really good except he is our hardest part but our believe government of india don't use billing except in might do you have a gift in the form of oxygen cylinder arse and be easy and manipulators it almost ensure that the family has safe and be got infrastructure to ease fodder from any quitters so in that sense that if your nation is very much there dr thank you very much for taking time to talk with those that was just of a need to include it india thank you in. well as you saw in our report international aid in the form of oxygen and other medical supplies has been arriving in india to relieve critical shortages among the countries contributing is germany which is providing 50000000 euros of goods for people here in the german
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capital watching the crisis unfold it's a welcome sign of solidarity. a little bit of india in berlin this hindu temple is in the middle of the german capital the temple is still under construction before the pen demick artists traveled here from india to work on it that's unthinkable now many in berlin a concerned over the spiraling crisis there. it looks horrible looks i feel quite helpless in a situation i don't know what to do really i think as much help europe can send is good and europe has promised just that the german health minister and nouns that assistance will soon be on its way. so his thank you to your health ministry will contribute to the overall government aid package of goods to a value off 50000000 euros. those are 120 ventilators medicines especially around disease media and masks which we have in stock and should help and this emergency
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is on the north indian so that. the head of germany's infectious disease agency says billing must help india curb the spread of covert 19 supposed to me this pandemic will stay with us for a long time and it can always come back to us as long as not enough people are vaccinated that's why we have to keep our eyes on the development in other countries because the 1st lot of aid will be sent to india on saturday the lynas think it's coming not a moment too soon. find out is that germany is a rich country if we can afford it why shouldn't we help others. then isn't a don't have the possibility to do what is needed and it's right to help. question 200 india has received offers of support form at least 40 more countries next wednesday germany will ship an oxygen production plant off to india.
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let's bring in lester here he is a member of the german parliament representing the opposition free democrats the f.t.p. serving on the hawks foreign affairs committee mr lector thank you very much for being with us germany is sending a letter to be received mr martin great to have you germany is sending some emergency aid to india to help battle the covert 19 crisis do you think the government is doing enough. well actually you'll see that the u.k. and u.s. aid already doing things. they already send. medical supplies to india and we still organizing it that's not correct on such and such a critical situation like in india so in the past you've accused german government of being too slow and bureaucratic in delivering aid in emergency situations it sounds like you're saying the same thing now why do you think that is well actually
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as they are wanting out of supplies now in india and we all know about sequential situation the fall of the health system down bambino what it means how system is under pressure we at that in germany not to but actually what's going on and yet it's a crisis well all democracies on the books have to have when that's possible. you're calling for germany to lead the way in donating unused vaccines to poorer countries do you think the current circumstances allow that is germany have an excess of vaccines. well we need to be to be a gathering outbacks in swat now and we are going to have. each week from now on on on the beginning off made but that's not a problem that's a back seems down than it yet they all but the what able to do if it's 110000000 people that's more than germany has and have a 10 spot the have to see that india was 1200000000 people. in
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a critical situation right now and all what we can do to help them should be made a way to both of them ok that's india much of the world is clamoring to get their hands on the back scenes of course we have the kovacs initiative that's intended to help provide back scenes for for low income countries do you think that the kovacs initiative is working the way it should. well it's dotting to do so but it's one year after the pandemic begin again and so at the end it's a little bit late that what we are doing now is. on february on the bionic security council that we are going to spend 1500000000 euros look over and there's a tiff before it was 4 on that 1000000 on the and the us explained that they are
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going to get $3200000000.00 for the. callbacks initiative that's all too late because we have to add that all along well because it's not a good thing to have to mutation. welt and only the west gets a correct medicine and fact that it's elected thank you very much for taking time to talk with us today that was only select a member of the german parliament from the f.t.p. it was a puzzle thank you. and we'll have much more on the situation in india in our special coverage in today's program. well as the current a virus rages in india brazil is also struggling to gain an upper hand over the pandemic brazil is now the 2nd country in the world to have lost more than 400000 lives to cope with 19 that's after the united states. a group of brazilians took to rio de janeiro's famous copacabana beach to highlight the bleak marker they laid
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out in body bags across the sand as a way of mourning brazil's debt. so you look at some other developments in the pandemic worldwide. around the world cases of the virus have now surpassed $150000000.00 more than $3000000.00 of those infected have died germany's biotech and u.s. company pfizer say they have filed an application with the european medicines agency for use of their vaccine in 12 to 15 year olds and thailand is imposing a 14 day quarantine rule for people arriving from abroad isolation periods were recently relaxed to help revive the country's tourism industry. it's in israel at least 44 people have been killed or in around 150 others injured in a stampede at a religious gathering attended by tens of thousands it happened at mount meron in the northern part of the country where ultra-orthodox jews were holding an all
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night prayer and dance celebration. wrapped in ecstatic song and dance footage from social media shows the crowd at the annual celebration shortly before disaster struck. at around 1 in the morning i witnesses said they could feel a crush beginning to build. there was a terrible load and what happened then was like a carousel one person pushed another person so everyone was pushed right and left and after 20 minutes people started suffocating so they wanted to get out but no one was able to get out. there were people under me who weren't breathing anymore there were horrible screams of i can't breathe and slowly there were also places where the screams had stopped. my legs were trapped i couldn't move them. face down i could lift my head
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a little. i tried not to strain too much and keep calm and strengthen my faith god will save us. mayhem unfolded rescue teams rushed to the scene ferrying the injured to ambulances. children separated from their parents were hoisted into the arms of emergency workers desperately trying to reunite them with their families. 5 police closed off road access and the military was called in to assist efforts to clear the area. just. through the worst disaster. terrible. thing. for a friday the. authorities say panic broke out on the steps in this narrow passageway after people slipped and fell and those behind them stumbled. many of the victims were either trampled or suffocated to death. it was
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the 1st large scale religious gathering to be held legally since israel lifted most coronavirus restrictions. but despite their successful handling of the pandemic health authorities have warned against holding an event of this size. the lag religious festival is particularly popular with israel's ultra-orthodox community police report nearly 100000 people attended the gathering which they say is 4 to 5 times as many as should have been in a location like this. all from i'm joined by dog is all whom you saw in that report he's with the volunteer medical services association you know i did. mr marshall thanks for being with us you've been at the scene of the stampede tell us how could this happen. yes that was a terrible terrible night your work started out and the best of all of it joy happiness
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and dance turned into israel their worst tragedy. i think the simple answer to your question and having many many people thousands of people in a very very small perimeter and simply overwhelming you could believe with a little alleys in which you so i needed to go people trying to trying to leave this event this celebration that was taking place it happens every year what went wrong this time so i think this is a reason something that every year we discuss in preparation as a risk of the going to happen because of the amount of people what i think was different this year than every year was 2 main factors number one is it's the 1st major event as you mentioned 2 to occur after listening closely
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and restrictions and people that have been locked away and not participating in any events nor are religious nor civilian events for a year and a half men encourage them to to want to go out and practice their roots religious beliefs and ceremonies and that's the one hand of the 2nd is the fact that it's on the weekend and because they are orthodox people so they have to be back before sunset on friday so it all raise all the pressure down to this one very short period of time of thursday night i think a combination of both. what might have been the major factors that led to the overwhelming of this small area do you think this tragedy could have been prevented . possibly my mom my guess is that it's obviously been investigated by the police who are overseeing the man in charge of the sort of.
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dance we're more focused on the response mechanism but i think that definitely this has been discussed before and it didn't really media is talking about this and showing how in the past year and many agencies there have been. and i like that the risk of having so many people we're talking about 800000 people or 8 per. piece of land and it which is very very tight. so perhaps there was just simply too many people for that amount of space one of the biggest challenges being faced in the aftermath of this disaster now so i think 1st of all dealing with a media if they aftermath. you know bringing comforts of their families and closer and burial and treating 150. people adults children teenagers that have been injured in this in the deaths there and then further moving on is looking at.
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who to perform these future events in this place it will not be able to be as it was anymore as i mentioned this really is it and a bit and it's the work level i think it was the ready to clear minister as the worst disaster civilian disaster in israel since. mr muscle tank you very much for talking with us today that was doffed my eyes will vice president of operations with united. so you like some of the other stories making headlines around the world today russian authorities have declared opposition politician alexina bonnie's organization to be a terrorist and extremist group and it is a patient of the ruling regional offices of these political network disbanded on thursday the lawyer defending the bodies and to corruption foundation even pablo announced an end to operations he was detained by police early on friday.
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trust regulators have charged with abusing its market dominance saying that the company forces developers to use its own in a payment system to offer their products in the store the charge could lead to a fine of as much as 10 percent of global revenue. the pikalyovo kaino in guatemala is gushing a lot of residents are concerned it could spread to nearby communities including the densely populated capital guatemala city just 25 kilometers away volcano has had high levels of activity over the past 2 months. u.s. president joe biden has marked his 1st 100 days in office with a visit to the us state of georgia which helped cement his election victory along with 1st lady jill biden he attended the drive in rally to promote his plan to rebuild the u.s. economy and reduce income inequality biden is proposing 4 trillion euros in
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spending to increase support for families and middle wage workers. but for the plans to take hold he'll need support from the republicans opposing him in congress including those who still swear allegiance to donald trump though the former president is out of the national spotlight he's working to build a new center of support from his home in florida. sumi some misconduct reports. palm beach florida this is definitely not washington d.c. but it is a growing hub of political power within the republican party that is its headquarters mar-a lago the primary residence of donald trump he may not be president anymore but he is creating a fortress of money and influence to defend his legacy and possibly his future. palm beach is one of the wealthiest counties in the u.s.
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it has long been a center for conservatives and republican fundraising the money is still flowing but traditional party structures have been weakened and a broad group of people are being drawn in. melissa martz's an attorney and a republican running for congress she believes president trump is shaking up the establishment and making way for a grassroots movement to people like her i view president a strong patriotic i see him as somebody who is sincerely fighting on behalf of the american people and aligned with him. the very important for me and what i'm doing . martz is one of a growing number of republican candidates and lawmakers making the trip to the president's command center and looking for his support former white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders held a fundraiser here she's running to be governor in arkansas south dakota governor christie noem came to mar a lago 2 she might want to run for president in 2024 and remember the former
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ambassador to germany richard he was at mar a lago amid rumors he's planning to run for governor of california but does he ex-president of a growing circle around him actually control the republican party elizabeth newman says not yet she's the co-director of the republican accountability project an organization that supports the non trump wing of the party she doesn't believe trump himself will run again she's calling on fellow republicans to stand up to those who would run in his image. going to take time to kind of. effectively convince the base that that at that grassroots level that there is an alternative that is healthier and good for the country and good for the party that is not donald trump. but some might be difficult to convince nearly 45 percent of registered republicans still support trump more than the party itself the spans in palm beach still see the former president as their undisputed leader. it's hard to
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tell which way the tide will turn but as florida heats up the action will die down for a bit president trump will fly to his golf course in new jersey for the summer months he might be doing some fund raising there but he will surely be back. you're watching get all the news up next our talk show to the point looks a truce to blame for india's mismanagement of the coronavirus. i'm terry marshall thanks for watching.
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to the point of a strong opinion a clear position on some international perspective such as the ultimate covert catastrophe soaring infections are the most at 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 entreprise to the point.
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that good news the t w. how does a virus spread. why do we panic and when we'll all miss. trying to just 3 of the topics covered and the weekly radio program. if you would like and more information on the crawl of virus 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 look forward slash science. in the height of climate change. africa's most of. what's in store for the time. one team has to have for their future. c.w.
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to construct a mega city the multimedia inside cooling the times are. global ideas of peace on this way to bring you more conservation. how do we make see the screener how can we protect habitants we can make a difference global warming geos environmental series and global $3000.00 on d w and all mine. india is in the throes of the ultimate covert catastrophe recording more infections per day just short of $400000.00 at the moment officially than any other country since the pandemic began with hospitals at breaking point forced to turn patients away and oxygen running out the death rate climbs relentlessly sick people and their families search desperately for help and for answers how did it come to this
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is the government to blame coronavirus in india out of control. welcome to to the point it is a pleasure to welcome our guests my colleague who works in our department and says accountability must follow this disaster and to be escort is also with us here in the studio he is professor of public health at epidemiology billions shot it a hospital and she says the devastating situation in india should remind us that the covert 1000 pandemic is far from over and that we need to make all efforts to control the spread of the disease on a global level and finally it's wonderful to have with us joining us remotely
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from delhi and. she is correspondent in india and she says the indian government's blame game and mismanagement of the pandemic has unnecessarily endangered millions of innocent lives. let me begin by asking you. i know that you yourself lost a family member in this wave of the pandemic so can you tell us a little bit about the current situation as you're experiencing it. yes i just. still buy husband's father and i think. he would have $24.00 of us because. he was a senior officer of the government if you get the latest from office. and i didn't see it in the it to
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a government post. which is also in asians. who work for the government but he did not get it. and by that i mean court if. there. wasn't so but that's the situation at least he got a right now couldn't situation this. medicines oxygen. coming on in social media and it's in. my. outside. that is level of oxygen fighting and that was not given to me you know. in the hospital or into or for. that oh bad situation isn't any i get is it unable to get access to. that number that i mentioned 400000 new infections a day it's always emphasized that these numbers are probably incorrect and that the
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in official tally is much higher can you take a guess at what it could be. according to only suspect 80 i think if and he is probably somebody right now i think the government needs 204 if. he is saying it's in millions. if not given that it is the meeting that he. or 5000000 over the next one to 2 months and i think is a conservative estimate problem is that a lot of that. because of when they are not in. a lot of these you know they won't . even be i think to do this in your mind of other than don't. even want to. get into a norm. and i'm sure that it is
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opinions have. just so many people who are into this and getting the late night even actions i mean i'm an elitist each a statement if you like in the book. and i like the live. and. another big issue is that i want to believe if you have more reports from over they also are also getting in what is. the this is like a lot of us do not want to. thank you michael. thank you very much. let me go to paris and ask you what you're hearing from home things about things as bad as it could be and just to give you an idea of how. at the start of the week you had the federal government telling people in delhi where mosques sitting in their homes imagine that you cannot trust the air you breathe in your own home in the national capital of the biggest democracy on the planet
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a country that is one of the top 10 economies in the world and that really gives you just a bit of a hint of the magnitude of the disaster and the what is also evident. it doesn't even cover what is happening in india it is objectives combined and still short it is a tragedy it's a horror story it's a disaster it's an embarrassment and it's too short of describing what is happening but you have the talking there just to point out the undercounting of deaths in the manner in which the described that was happening last year as well i have friends who suffered from going to give you an example a friend of mine was at a climate auto for his uncle's funeral last year and last year a private auto workers were saying we have never cremated so many bodies in one day and exactly what uncle tom mentioned if you want the death registered as a covert 1000 death which is to say it says that on the death certificate it means the state takes over and you can't even touch the body or. your loved one you cannot wave them a final goodbye which is strange because now that is what is happening
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automatically so a strong incentive there to not register cove 8900. dr chris let me ask you about the discussion around this new variant of the virus b 1617 there's a lot of discussion but apparently no clear answers on whether this is responsible for the surge we're seeing in india this variant apparently is not only more contagious that possibly also can dodge the immune systems of people who have already been vaccinated no one has a breakthrough infection do you think that's what's behind this 1st of all it's important to understand that in the course of a virus infection variants are developing so if many many people are infected that's exactly what we see in india right now there is a high chance that the virus mutates so there's a new very and so i think we're not talking about one variant in india to several
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variants right now which makes it to the situation even more complex and is also defeat. really analyzed the data precisely so how much more does it spread how much more dangerous is it does it give a more severe disease or is it allowing even people who are in munich and steve to be reinfected so that's very difficult if you have a disaster in a country like how can you do research while people are dying on every corner so to say so we have to be calm but be very careful in looking at the data and also seeing whether disston also applies to other settings because a variant spreads in a specific setting it when so it so to say because it's spread small likely doesn't mean it's spread things to not necessarily so we have to be watching but i think right now the situation needs a direction and hopefully that we can solve this spreta soon i want to come back to some of the facts about what we know what please yeah yeah i just want. a lot of.
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india and. you know what. you know not all of the human being that. i love my food a lot of. their midden and. so this is what that means. let me ask you. because. correct me if i'm wrong but until not too long ago it looked like india was actually doing pretty well. and it absorbed the 1st wave of the virus and maintained a pretty low official death rate what went wrong. what did a lot of. the 1st one if the government is very. we have
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a heightened state so even if it actions if you want to get don't it's to me what they will be a lot of. a lot of the. adults adjustable even if they need . they do need oxygen and they get the government does not need. that. back in states the other issue is is this what you. meant does not. give it doesn't. it i just it is. a known and it is i think the government so there have been all those things not you know not get rid of. not the same back in other countries that india themselves i mean. i'm now the action that the government is not enough yet i think the prime minister of india was. in need. of yesterday he did say that
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even in the state it was a question or to say that big a symbol of democracy. even why would you and other people want an illustration of so many who have. thank you very much and i want to come back to that in just a moment but there's let me come to you because you're opening statement talked about the need for accountability and i'd like to talk a little bit about accountability on the part of whom and for what let's take a look at these pictures that were taken 2 weeks ago during the festival of mayla this is the largest religious pilgrimage in the world i'm hoping we can guess there we go there we have the pictures the largest religious pilgrimage in the world millions congregate in the city of trying to walk not a lot of social distancing going on there. many say this is simply let their guard down citizens of course did let their guard down but then you must understand that
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the has a central place in their villages and the cultural life of india what needs to be pointed out here is that this particular 100 was actually. it was brought forward this year on the advice of astrologers that is how important the virus of astrologers is for this government or over the advice of scientists and just to go back to the double mutation that. the 1st reports of this double mutation emerged in october last. and the camilla went ahead in january for 2 and a half months you had these visuals on a daily basis and these are people who come from all corners of india and then go back to those corners of india just to give you an idea of how important this is and how infectious and what a super spreader event this is the former king and queen of nepal who visited camilla went back to my father they were diagnosed with cover just last week that is how much of a super spreader event this was and the question needs to be asked why was this
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allowed to go ahead why was this brought forward by a year on the advice of astrologers at a time when the 1st reports of a double nutrition had emerged in india in october and then the gender thing you have the prime minister saying to the world economic conference india has done a fantastic job fighting back the covert pandemic using people centric approach looking at the visuals coming out of just barely there is nothing people centric about. to be escort should prime minister modi have seen this health crisis coming as we've heard from. he was saying not too long ago that the country was in great shape now we are hearing doctor here colleagues begging the prime minister for help for oxygen for medicines for support should he have not seen that the country's medical system would hit a wall well. we know that scientists since months and months and months we
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notice this can happen this can happen anywhere else in the world to specific setting in india with that many people housing situation close activities so it's not a surprise that is disaster right now is happening and yes the politicians should be aware of is and should have been aware of this and should be advising the public to react differently and not allowing such super spreads events and now obviously it's much much too late and any country with the best health care system in the world would not. managing that many people getting sick and death many people dying that's just not possible for any health care system and particularly in india right now it's really dramatic and we have to hopefully get international support that the situation can be stabilized talk to us a little bit about the indian health care system i was looking at some statistics and apparently india spends a little over one percent of its gross domestic product on health how does that
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compare to other emerging economies and also to what the w.h.o. recommends in terms of public health spending well you always can do more for sure and each country is well aware to tell it is an important factor for its population but as i said if you have that disaster that many people getting ill and sick and severely sick and dying you could spend 20 percent as would not be enough that's really a disaster and so that's why it is so important that we understand on the global level also in germany that this can happen and we have to be very aware of ways to avoid this. because she we're talking about bringing forth bringing forward on the basis of. recommendations and so on even as the country's health system was wobbling and doctors were issuing those appeals that i mentioned prime minister modi himself was.

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