summit the world trade organization supports the idea along with the u.s. and several other countries but germany has voiced caution saying it's not the best way to ensure vexing equity and that protection of intellectual property is vital. in the global race for corona virus vaccines by antec pfizer was 1st out of the gate a proud achievement for buy on tac the german company that went from start up to pharma superstar now in the debate over waiving patents on proving 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 sean had this to say the least if the real product it 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 problem should be fixed 1st. world we need to do is tackled the real problems such as call outrage 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 earned a tremendous amount in this this year alone on covert backing $7000000000.00 us dollars provider that seems like more than a sufficient 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 porto for the summit alexander welcome joe biden has backed away before vexing peyton's

is that one powerful voice enough 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 culverts they see patent waiver and this is also understandable because the 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 vaccines we heard from the italian foreign minister saying that there must be an equal access to patents and the french president. told reporters here in porto that he is open to discussing that idea however earlier he also stressed that the bottlenecks are not patterns or prices but the production capacity and make seen exports and this seem this seems to be a position that many other governments in the european union is sure there was a letter sent by the french spanish and swedish governments and the belgian government saying that they are very willing to share knowledge and technology proactively with auburn nation so that didn't sound like they would be willing to

really give up the patents beyond the hot topic of patents it's been called the social summit what makes this different from previous e.u. summits. both 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 a work contract that was the main topic of this meeting here in porto however and now overshadowed by the discussion about imports. and still call that a vaccine patent waiver. alexander phenomena important many thanks. to india

now where the coveted 19 caseload continues to rise at a record pace on friday alone the country reported of 400000 new infections and nearly 4000 deaths actual numbers are feared to be much higher international aid is 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 crim atory 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

a lack of oxygen. on. one of the. percent percent of. positive word i swear it was but there's more than for people. the reporting of. these people could have a greater chance of surviving the crisis there in the queue to be vaccinated but the role in slow jams are in short supply. international aid has begun pouring into india. supplies of medical equipment are now arriving from all over as other countries wake up to the scale of the tragedy and the threat posed 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 is anger too. with some asking why the government has decided to allow election rallies and other large events. call it the system or government or whatever was it necessary to conduct elections right now. for this nominee and countless question comes tonight. and him now as some of the other developments in the pandemic in the world health organization as authorize the emergency use of china cinephile vaccine it's the 6th vaccine to be approved by the. u.k. officials said people under 40 should be offered an alternative to the astra zeneca jab she 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 other attractions. and he

now some of the other stories making headlines around the world the u.s. justice department has filed criminal charges against the 4 former police officers involved in the killing of george floyd who men are accused of willfully violating floyds civil rights and for failing to provide medical aid close died off to one of the offices on his necke for more than 9 minutes. 25 people have been killed during a police operation against alleged drug traffickers in brazil rights groups are calling the death toll from the raid in rio de janeiro to be reprehensible it demanding an independent investigation. for what germany heads into an election lighted this year with the latest ship rice wide open for the 1st time in nearly 2 years the environmentalist green party is now leading in the polls the survey puts them 4 points ahead of angela merkel's conservatives the greens well they recently selected aniline a big block here to run for chancellor in september and sofa she's proving to be

a very popular candidate. right after the nomination of a no they loved their book as chancellor candidate for the greens polls showed her party in the lead ahead of chancellor angela merkel's conservatives a temporary bump many thought a brief surge on the back of her designation and a difficult few weeks for the ruling conservative bloc but almost 3 weeks later the bear book effect appears to be sticking. the greens are now pulling ahead of the c.d.u. c.s.u. with a 4 percent increase compared to a month ago the conservatives have dropped 4 points and their partner in the current government the social democrats have also lost some support it's not only the green party and the enough they have of herself is riding high 28 percent of germans would vote for her if the chancellor could be elected directly a few percentage points above her opponents for the conservatives and all of shows

for the social democrats the rise of the green party goes hand in hand with the drop in the government's approval ratings a majority of germans now say they are dissatisfied with the work of the government after record approval in 2020 skepticism has grown about the government's crisis management during the 2nd and 3rd waves of the coronavirus pandemic and it shows the election is still more than 4 months away and anything could happen in the race but these numbers show that the greens pose a serious challenge to america's conservatives. it what he did i believe news coming up next in data believe news asia the pulse is a huge spark interviewed 19 cases of crosses in the making that could be even worse than in the neighboring india. one of our spheres are also spreading at mt everest dozens of sea climbers have been evacuated from the base camp some of them fled to tested positive. ben will journey with a camel to bring him

a gift of literacy to kids who are getting to live. that and more with melissa chad in news i just shortly will see you again at the top of the album at now from the huffed of the same here in berlin speech. the world. the face of against the corona virus pandemic. has the rate of infection been developing what does the latest research say. information and context the coronavirus not today coming 19th. on t.w. . ready to get a little extra. places in europe or smashing all the records

stick them to move to the french or. just don't lose your grip it's the treasure map for globe trotters discover some of europe's record breaking sites . also in book form. whenever a shipment of biotech pfizer coronavirus vaccine arrives in south africa. it makes the headlines. because the country's vaccination program has been struggling because off to a late start 1st using astra zeneca job down to its effectiveness against the variant spreading rapidly in the country. then south africa turned to

johnson and johnson's vaccine. that rolled out due to concerns about side effects. with a 2nd wave of infection now behind life is starting to appear normal in south africa but it may not be staying down when i. look into this covered 19 special on rob what's in the crown of our situation in south africa has relaxed in recent weeks the country is now one of the world's hottest lockdowns to worrying waves of new cases behind it the number of new daily infections around 2000 a day just a 10th of what it was in late january the 2nd peak you can see that but the improvement is despite a slow start in south africa's vaccination campaign and it's possible with a mutator fires fairy and adrienne creech reports. camps bay in cape town concern about the pandemic seems far away here in the last days of summer many

people are still socially distancing but the mask mandate is rarely followed to be honest i'm just enjoying the phoenix today and the start of the law. the law if you like the weekends are just 2 minutes these days you know i mean i think. i am happy that i'm free i'm able to come to the beach and have fun and think. most of the beads you see windy but i even in the summer you seem. like all of a sudden luck people couldn't come to the beach. away from the fish interlingua see you know seeing the sun but this is like. life was coming that the normal the economy's been open like in europe we had many of those. humans are going to. be random opposite. and then me anymore and i mean

we want to sustain destruction and more. and you know that it's all the. local population. antibody studies show that almost half of the population of cape town has already been infected in densely populated townships the rate is even higher the excess death rate suggests that more than $150000.00 people have died of corona virus during the pandemic. virus just involve gun pizer worries that a mutation could be more resistant against vaccines as well as the antibodies people develop after early infections similar to the brazilian mutation time but this hasn't been verified by studies there's still no proof of a higher death rate among the new mutations and there are glimmers of hope that district with. the data are badly effected during the 1st wave seems to be less badly affected during the 2nd wave and that makes one think of 1st somehow

protected if it is some something like a evidence of some protective effect even picture with the previous top bar is no it going to be but would be think is that if you've had in fiction with the new variant of virus you would be immune also against any preceding wards and that is the good news. pis and his team are already preparing for the 3rd wave and they're increasing testing capacities since so many rules aren't being adhered to the number of new infections could start rising again. so we can now speak to cheryl color. and here is the head of the center for risperidone disease at south africa's national institute for communicable diseases thank you very much for joining us on the covered 19 special how would you characterize the coronavirus situation in south africa is there a feeling that it's over the worst. so thanks for having me i think you know right

now in south africa case numbers are i had a relatively low level and they have been reducing since the peak of stick and wave around the new year but i think me you know wouldn't characterize it as the. risk is over and we know from from previous waves you know case that has reached a high levels and then they came down but they certainly remains a risk that case numbers may increase again so right now you know except in a small number of provinces case numbers are generally at a low level but if that doesn't mean at all that they'd be complacent will think that the society will remain at this level you know you're working on the assumption that there will be wave or a you i suppose hoping that it can just be avoided it. well so i think. you know if we look at or think about the possibility of a 3rd wave we know that we have no experience to large waves in south africa but

there have been a number of studies looking at population immunity a proportion of people that have been infected in the country and while here in some areas of the country immunity levels appear to be fairly high even as high as 65 the scenes i mean in the areas of the western cape we we we know there's been intense transmission other areas have much lower levels of people that have been affected just sitting around 3030 percent so so based on that i mean it would appear to be lacky that there will be a 3rd wave. and and you know that also taking into account the fact that restrictions have relaxed substantially since the peak of the wave mostly around trying to get the economy going and generate economic activity so i think most experts would agree that it is lacking that it will be another way inside africa as opposed to difficulties perhaps 2 to predict the timing and the magnitude of that where one of the things i suppose you're hoping is have got wave off with

facts and nations but the vaccination program isn't going as well as might have hoped. so i think pixelation got off to a slow start there was hope largely related to concerns about about the new period which which did emerge in south africa really around the time of their running out of the vaccination program so to happen till now at about 350000 health care workers have been vaccinated through a program. really focusing on health care workers out of about 21500000 potentially eligible health care workers but i think south africa is planning over the next few weeks in fact to move into a match more x. cayle intensive vaccination program the plan and number of several 1000000 doses are expected to arrive in the country over the next few man. their target group is expanding within the next 3 weeks to include individuals over the age of 60 with

a plan to to really decrease that age been quite rapidly over the subsequent months i'm certain there is a planted need to abscond explanation repine any eventual target is really to get to about 2 thirds of the population vaccinated towards the end of this year into into next year. you know he had restrictions song for example of the use of the astra zeneca vaccine and also there was a pause at the johnson and johnson x.e. as south africa tied its own hands by making these restrictions. well i think every i think the 2 issues are different i think the johnson and johnson was a pause with regard to safety concerns and i think that you know that's quite a normal thing in media other countries in europe and other parts of the world also instituted a pause in response to the safety concerns until we got information they confirmed that the vaccine was safe yes that may have had

a negative impact on the existence of the vaccine but you know i think that again may have been experiencing in other parts of the world with regard to astra zeneca exene i think it was it a complex decision. and you know i think it's yeah but i wouldn't say we've tied our hands i think now the government has really secured. you know supply of a number of other vaccine products which are suppose coming into the country over the next few weeks. i thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us cheryl cohen from south africa's national institute for communicable diseases. now it's time to answer more of your questions about science correspondent rick williams. is there any conclusive evidence for avoiding alcohol before or after receiving a covert 19 vaccine. asking for conclusive evidence for anything in this pandemic is setting the bar pretty high which is why most of the commentary that i

read on this topic has has been pretty head and and i couldn't find any really clear directives issued by trustworthy health care bodies like the c.d.c. or the w.h.o. saying you should stop drinking completely before or between vaccine shots maybe it's best therefore to start by looking at the conclusive evidence that we do have we know alcohol abuse is bad for your house pretty much everyone agrees on that and there are convincing studies out there showing that one of the things regular heavy alcohol consumption impacts negatively is immune system response there are other studies however showing that light or moderate drinking doesn't have the same impact and even some indicating it might actually bolster your immune response so so most medical professionals appear to be adopting

a kind of middle of the road approach to this question and saying hey it's fine to have a celebratory beer or a glass of champagne after you've been vaccinated but adding that it's never a good idea to overindulge particularly after receiving a vaccination after all aside from the potential direct health considerations of that having a hangover would almost certainly make any potential vaccine side effects even less pleasant to deal with us. eric williams that and before we go a reminder that nowhere is safe from covered 90 not even the highest place on earth more than 30 climbers have just been evacuated from the foot of mount everest after taking over from coronavirus. suffers a 2nd wave of infections the country's tourism sector depends on the thousands of

people who come every year to climb the world's tallest mountain it's now trying to recover from a total shutdown of the himalayan summits last year. that's all from this data you covered 19 special for more check out speed away dot com 90 taken. to.

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fighting against prejudice i don't hold a boy. for a record. deal of stores the big state. trying to it's still it's a 17 w. . you're watching news asia coming up today 1st india now now paul facing a covert search the worst the country's experienced since the start of the pandemic what is the government doing and what does the country need to turn the tide we'll take a closer look nepal's coby crisis has even reached mt everest the story of how the coronavirus scaled such heights. and in pakistan will share the story of roche on the camel who has the important task of fighting illiteracy in a remote part of the country.