this is the news live from berlin bringing social equality to the european union a small task for the $27.00 member states but it's the focus of an e.u. summit in portugal looking to transform would create more gender equality and fight poverty also in the program international calls to white patents on code with 19 vaccines and growing the u.s. backs the idea that germany the proposal and sides with drug develops and even the

accounting to catch a break more than 400000 new coronavirus cases for the 2nd straight day is getting through that experts fear the crisis will get worse before it gets better. a math and how welcome to the program we start this hour in portugal where top european union officials are tending crucial talks in the city of puerto the meeting is dubbed the social summit because of the focus on finding ways to fight poverty in a post coronavirus world european commission president frontline is at the summit in person along with the majority of the blocs latest the host of the event portuguese prime minister antonio costa the highlight of the cost of unstable working conditions and gender inequality also said new ways of working including

from home and on digital platforms needs to be breaking like. meanwhile the push by the world trade organization to temporarily suspend patents is gathering pace with many countries showing support but germany has forced voiced rather caution sign protection of intellectual property is the best way to support and foster innovation. in the global race for corona virus vaccines biotech pfizer was 1st out of the gate a proud a chief meant for biotech the german company that went from start up to pharma superstar now in the debate over waiving patents on covert 1000 vaccines the german government is siding with drug makers saying the protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and must remain so in the future the limiting factor in the production of vaccines our production capacities and the high quality standards not the patents. germany says industry and government should work on transferring

technology to new manufacturers if they want to scale up vaccine production quickly and jab at the biden administration german health minister again spun had this to say the least if the real product isn't patents but production capacity and availability then i'd be delighted if the united states is now willing to allow the export of doses manufactured there just like the european union. was indeed an export fights with. the us is just one of the wealthy nations accused of vaccine hoarding extending their immunization programs far beyond their vulnerable populations while poor nations go without the pharma industry says that problems should be fixed 1st. what we need to do is tackle the real problems such as caller id ridge comes face to share those is within the next few days or weeks not

in 45 months of to be vaccinated everybody in our countries we need to look at the trait barriers we are which are hindering the ramping up of supplies and we need to improve the efficiency because there are scarcity and bottlenecks and supply chains to patent wouldn't give you a single dose more that for many global health advocates removing patent protections is the right way forward companies have learned a tremendous amount in this this year alone on covert backing $7000000000.00 us dollars for pfizer that seems like more than efficient amount to be investing in innovation in the future moreover patent protection didn't deliver the fact that we have now significant government intervention and government investment from across the world has done that for us. the discussion about patent waivers is only just getting started and it could take months whatever is decided it wanted to rest the immediate issue of making more shots to end the pandemic.

brussels' bureau chief alexander phenomena is in port au for the summit alexander welcome joe biden has backed away before vexing peyton's is that one powerful voice and not to make it to the top of the agenda among european leaders. well yes indeed this indeed to this issue is very high on the agenda here and this must be a bit disappointing for the portuguese government that organized this summit to talk about social issues and social problems and the european union. the e.u. leaders are definitely going to talk about a potential covets they've seen patterns waver and this is also understandable because you asked and now it's been has definitely put a lot of pressure on the european union and the e.u. leaders to find a common position germany's position is that it wants to protect the intellectual

property of drug companies what's the position of the other you states. well we have seen a couple of very positive responses the dutch trade minister for example said that this is a good idea to waive intellectual property rights on the scenes we heard from the tele and foreign minister saying that there must be an equal access to patents and the french president. told reporters here in port au that he is open to discussing that idea however earlier he also stressed that the bottlenecks are not patents or prices but the production capacities and make seen exports and this seem this seems to be a position that many out of governments in the european union assure that there was a letter sent by a french spanish and swedish government and the belgian government saying that they

are very willing to share our knowledge and technology proactively with auburn nations so that didn't sound like they would be willing to really give up the patents beyond the hot topic of patent that's being called the social summit what makes this different from previous use summits. all front and center of this meeting was the idea to really talk about taking more action to tackle social problems in the european union especially when we think about the economic fallout of the pandemic and the european union has been criticized for example by the united nations that they are not doing enough to to salsa economic and social problems in the block. and says that more than 20000000 workers at the european union are at risk of poverty due to a precarious work contract that was the main topic of this meeting here in porto

however and now overshadowed by the discussion about it. patent waiver. alexander phenomena import of many things. were india's coded 19 caseload continues to rise at a record pace friday alone the country reported of 840-0000 new injections and nearly 4000 deaths actual numbers are feared to be much higher international ideas starting to trickle in but for many in a country ravaged by the pandemic that helping hand comes to light. this is the bitter reality of india's covert emergency nearly a quarter of a 1000000 lives lost as the bodies mount the criminal jury a struggle to cope. and there's no end in sight to this crisis. hospitals to a buckling under the pressure. there's a lack of beds and

a lack of staff but the one crucial thing that has made this 2nd way different and more devastating than lashes emergency. is the lack of oxygen. what the. percent percent of. those those but there's more there for people and also the process of recording. these people could have a greater chance of surviving the crisis there in the queue to be vaccinated but the role being slow and jobs are in short supply. international aid has begun pouring into india. supplies of medical equipment now arriving from all over as other countries wake up to the scale of the tragedy and the threat it could pose

to their own populations. but the aid cannot arrive quick enough to slow down the dying. families are helpless as their loved ones succumb to what research is say is a far more infectious strain of the virus. but there's anger too. with some asking why the government has decided to allow election rallies and other large events. just on the more call of the system or government or whatever was it necessary to conduct elections right now and i was not. for this family and countless others that question comes too late. or i can bring in daily bureau chief and read the chamber now and later what's the situation today well at the new some extent the numbers speak for themselves and now that you should recognize the new infections now obviously their bias is on the rampage across the

country in some areas that this some signs of improvement daily for example saw a slight drop in numbers in the last 20 or our worst and also gone by there seem to be signs of improvement there these 2 cities were the hardest hit but that my wrist has spiked in other parts of the country states in the south and in the east and we played in your reported by election rallies in tract some of the states where elections were held the cindy absolutely huge surge the most worrying at the moment is actually news coming out of rural areas for example in the unsuitable to the least people say the situation there is dire and infections are going up and right away here that international aid is arriving is making a difference on the ground up. given is reaching the people who need it yes it's making a difference jenny for example sent a huge consignment of yesterday and today and yes that is more my oxygen generation

and this is going to be assembled and become operational in the next few days a team that's going along with the understanding medical team which will set up this oxygen plant as well as trained all the people you know to use it and the capacity it has anthony is it can generate 100000 liters of oxygen a day even less access to that kind of oxygen in the medical facility which is in the story in the outskirts of delhi it's a huge game outside of those particular examples what's the latest on oxygen supplies across the country are there any signs of relief and is it reaching those who are native and in the still a big oxygen crunch in the country and if you also think about the scale of the spending money the need for oxygen has gone up 7 fold in the last few weeks so there are cities like david suggested you're not getting enough they want 700 metric tons they have less and even south carolina for example had an oxygen

surplus and now it's struggling people getting stories to write it all in the city of chennai image in southern india where people are just like hospitals are not generally out and back and all of bangalore route is the latest hot spot where we're getting distress calls but you know how oxygen is in very short supply the prime minister has a meeting with his ministers and he's hoping that some of these what us as jenny problems and some of the what the what ifs we need to audit the supplies of oxygen i chatted. delhi bureau chief amrita to my many thanks. well here now some of the other developments in the pandemic in germany's health minister says new coded 19 cases are falling but warns of weeks or months more restrictions u.k. officials have said people under 40 should be offered an alternative to the astra zeneca jeju to a small risk of blood clots and in new york the city there wants to offer vaccines to tourists jabs would be given out at times square and attractions well

authorities in egypt are worried that the ramadan fasting month could excel or write a 3rd why eve of the coronavirus the government is ramping up counter measures but it's not only social gatherings causing concern there is also a growing vaccine skepticism evening means customers can break their fast and order food at ha some one office restaurant in cairo he's delighted to see them and glad to be able to open during the 3rd wave of the pandemic. the one who was it would be a terrible if we had to close again i would have to stay at home and would not be able to feed my family this is the only job i know how to do it in the. pew out on the street wear face masks doctors have been warning for weeks that socialising during ramadan could act as a super spreader but most people are not worried.

they seem to get even they're not afraid of god it was safe he will decide. we're not getting vaccinated but we're careful so far so good. only around one in a 100 to.