we shed light on the opaque world who's behind benefits. and why are they a threat to whistle o peak world starts january 5th on d, w. mm. ah ah, this is d w. it's coming to live from berlin authorities in europe and the u. s. scramble the slow, the spread of the all me. kron buried the netherlands heads into christmas lockdown, closing hobbs and shops. while the u. s. experts plead with the population to get booster didn't think twice about traveling. also coming up chile,

alexa left this candidate to become its next president, former student protests liter gabriella burridge won a convincing victory over his fall right rival and influenced league, a soccer primer to leapfrog labor crews and to jump into 3rd place in the last match before the winter break. ah hello m terry martin, thanks for joining us. authorities on both sides of the atlantic are scrambling to slow a highly contagious variant of the corona virus. in the u. s. top health official antony fall. she is urging people to get booster shots. wear masks and reconsider travel plans as the army kron variant spreads. well, the one thing that's very clear, and there's no doubt about this as is extraordinary capability of spreading. it's

trans miss ability capability. it is just, you know, raging through through the world really. and if we're going to deal with armor crohn's, successfully vaccinated, people need to get boosted and obviously people who are not vaccinated clearly need to get vaccinated. now, more than ever. well, that's the word from the top health official in the us will. european governments meanwhile, are clamping down on public life to battle, the new strain, the netherlands has come, become the 1st to impose a strict lockdown over christmas for many across the netherlands. it's the very end that killed christmas. thanks to the highly contagious army chron. the government has ordered all non essential businesses to shut till mid january christmas gathering limits. mean people will only be allowed full guests around the tree. on the holidays. on the street, there was surprise not at all today as of the regular control, and we thought we had it under control that we done everything we could live functioning with fully vaccinated. you do everything you can to support society

a bit. but in the end, it all goes wrong anyway, i was unable to able to get a google cups for walk like so. i thought that if the numbers started to increase i, i expected that there would be a strict to lockdown, but not so soon. look down my new not new to my the netherlands neighbors are watching the spike in omicron cases with alarm. while germany has rolled out a christmas lock down, the country is trying to slow or microns spread by severely restricting travel from the u. k. where the variant is rapidly becoming dominant, their britton's health minister has said they will act if necessary to contain the viruses spread the plan b meshes. stand marks already shot fiances and museums. the very end to counts for a 5th of new cases there. with all micron already present in around 90 come trees

and spreading fast. the well look set to start to not the yet locked in battle with the korean a virus. let's bring in peter chin hong, here he's a professor of medicine at the university of san francisco in of california in san francisco. good to see you, doctor general. we're seeing rapidly rising. only kron infections here in europe is the rest of the world on a similar path. the rest of the world, terry is definitely on a similar path. if not worse, we have to fastenal seat belts for water will be a tremendous ride. if you think about 3 things that will affect transmission of population previous immunity, we know that omicron is 5 times more likely to be to cause re infection than other variance. vaccines have not had high uptake in many countries under round the world as low as 6 percent, which may not protect and don't even think about boosters. and the 3rd at risk mitigation, lot of pandemic fatigue, lot of mass,

not where it. so i think we're in for right here in europe, at least, and in the us as well. most governments are pushing people to get their 3rd vaccination, but will a booster be enough to get on top of this? here? it wouldn't be enough. terry, you'd still need the extra risk mitigation of factors like wearing mass doing diagnostic tests, but it does give us the best armor. if you think about some of the initial studies, 20 percent protection against infection. if you're a presentiment, omicron, if you get a boost, say you can go up to 55 to 80 percent, but again, not a 100 percent, so you need the other stuff. but we do believe that even with 2 doses, you will be protected against serious disease hospitalization. death, perhaps, unless you're older and 65 or immune compromise. and you mentioned the risk of re

infection earlier with all micron to eat. do we have enough data yet to know how dangerous only kron is compared to the delta variant? well, i think the study from the university of hong kong or hong kong is instruct. in this regard, they found that omni cron produces 70 times more virus in the airways. but when you look in the lungs, there isn't a lot of virus. they're suggesting that it's very transmissible without causing a lot of information in the organs. we do know that in south africa, in delta you get about 20 percent hospitalization. with only crohn tube was sent, a studying u. k showed no difference. but even if you do thing that it's causing fuel hospitalizations, when you have a turbocharged, transmissible virus or even a small percentage of a large amount of people could potentially strain hospitals. what advice would you give people going into christmas week?

well i think about the a, b, c, d e's is assess the destination. you're going to high amount of virus or, and assess yourself for your immune compromise on boxing. in all your old and 65, you may worry, be definitely getting a boost served from what we discuss. i see vaccinate via children if they're eligible. d. do diagnostic tests like rapid testing before going in and any gathering. like a family reunion and e. everything else where? well fitted mass and get your flu shot. dr. peter chin hong thanks for talking with us. that was professor peter chin home at san francisco university, california, san francisco. my pleasure, terry. thank you. now to chile, which has elected a former student activist, become its next president, left us gabrielle burridge, who's just $35.00. defeated as far right rival antonia cost by

a wide margin wider margin than expected orchard victory promises a shift toward more progressive policies and a generational change to ah, historic and jubilant victory. with 35 year old gabrielle. but it's chilly now, has its youngest ever president. he was helped to vote the barricade to take to the stage and recognized the people who have put him in power. the left wing fullness student leda had tapped into that anger at the country's economic model. and the inequality it has brought to when 56 percent of the vote. what is it again and i guarantee that i will be a president who cares for democracy and does not risk it. who listens more than he speaks, seeks unity, and attends to the needs of the people daily. i will firmly fight against the privileges of a few. and i will work every day for the quality of the chile and family. he'll let

you know that from you to his promises range from protecting the environment to tackling chiles, private pension system. and his followers are full of hope. a nameless can wait any moment they legal. i mean, none of that is no place in the history of chile. surely emotional, more coverage was made so much progress. now we will move forward with social rights and continue to advance and fight against the far right with them. c with a high though to turn out burridge squarely beat the far right candidate. jose antonio cast, but cast was dignified in his defeat. either middle, you get or said a courtesy that asking i was to do is congratulate gabrielle bowditch. he deserves all of our respects. he won sally many children's trust him and we hope he will lead a good government going and in a ways we can without legitimate differences,

we want to hound our nation. and we'll said when i bought it, they bought a lot by the that night though, belonged to butch, who harold's, a new political dawn for chile boaters in hong kong. meanwhile, have mostly stayed away from a legislative election in which all candidates were betted for their loyalty to beijing. the hong kong electoral affairs commission said voter turnout was just 30.2 percent. that's a record low for the chinese administered territory. legislative poll was hong kong 1st since beijing imposed to sweeping national security law and reform the electoral system. many opposition candidates have been silenced, jailed or have fled the territory or talk during the is the editor in chief of hong kong, free pressed an independent english language newspaper in hong kong, and joins us now. tom, less than a 3rd of voters even bothered to cast their boats in this election is staying away from the polls. the new way of protesting and hong kong. after all other options

have been banned. in a scheme that may have backfired trans buses and metro journeys were free of charge yesterday. and they were packed on congress seem to be off hiking and shopping. most most polling stations were very quiet. none of the color drama, or even debate. we used to seeing that at this time, we witness a trickle of mostly senior votes as going to pass that ballad during these newly restrictive holes. 10000 police officers on the streets, 9000, and see corruption, officials, and all 153 candidates. if you said were vetted with several layers of probation committees, each undergoing a national security pro, some holes who defined themselves as centrist moderates or non pro establishment. none of them were able to be able to vote. it seems only one got into the chamber because as you say, most of the traditional pro democracy figures are right behind. balls in self that

fall abroad have quit politics own they banned from running. isn't this a huge embarrassment for the administration in hong kong and for beijing for that matter? i mean, how can the hong kong leadership sell 30 percent voter turnout as a popular mandate? well, the chief executive carry lamb saw this coming and said a week or 2 ago that a low turn that might suggest that the government is doing well in the credibility is high. but this morning, moments ago, she both questions about the record low turnout figure saying that she was very satisfied and that the campaigns were beautiful. it chamber was widely representative, despite the fact that there is less democratic representation. the truth is though they were very concerned about turner special cues for the l gimme a covey tracing up we've been using here was suspended holding stations. banners, posters, ads just plastering the city. and they made it illegal to avoid cult with the 10

arrests. so they wanted it to look credible today, having to now spinet as invested harry lam, escapes to beijing. tom, thank you very much. that was tom grunted there, the editor in chief of hong kong, free press. chinese tennis star, pang shy, has retracted her sexual assault allegations in her 1st foreign media interview. hank claim, she never accused any one of sexual assault despite the social media post in november. that said, a former chinese minister forced her into having sex. hang says her post was, has been misunderstood. but the women's tennis association which suspended all tournaments in china earlier this month says, is concerned about her ability to communicate freely and called for a transparent investigation. in the buddhist leg,

it was the last round of matches before the mid season break on sunday top for hopefuls labor couldn't traveled to this season. surprise package. fryeburg who ended the year with a win to keep them on course for a champions league finish. fryeburg fans could toast to a fantastic 1st half of the season with their side consistently in the top 6 since matched a 2 in front of a limited crowd of 750. the hosts had the early chances but couldn't convert and to leave accusing. jeremy from pom handled the bowl in the area, gifting the hostess. a penalty having missed from the spot last weekend, vincenza veto stepped up again and was almost to come this time. his cheeky chip gave lucas rabinski the slightest hope of saving it. ah visit his leave accusing. we're looking to turn the tide off to 2 windless matches, and on the stroke of half time they equalized defend the unit and towers

unexpected overhead kick t w. childless at an geese to level the schools. after the break neither side got to close until the 84th minutes. when substitute kevin shot, a grab the late winner that sent his side up the table in to 3rd place. pushing labor cruising down to 4th, a disappointing end to the year for the visit. but a happy stop to the holidays for fly book, which coach kissed and life was already celebrating, perhaps a little too vigorously for this staff members comfort. up next april and christmas market terror attack 5 years on thanks for watching. take your time for an experiment about time. it can be measured precisely and yet each person experiences it differently as if there are different forms of hon. a dimension and it will.