it doesn't matter, the only carrier is walked, we'll hook people out. we shed light on the opaque worlds who's behind the benefits. and why are they a threat to whistle oak creek wolves starts january 5th on d, w k. ah, ah ah . is his date, any news live from berlin? the pandemic overshadows another holiday season. as christmas begins, for many people have faced with the top choice of taking the risk of seeing their

families and friends or going it alone for a 2nd here in arrived. also coming off, china is scrambling to maintain its 0 coven 19th strategy, as it prepares for the upcoming winter olympics. while the highly infectious omicron, very at full speed jig to change tack. ah, i'm rebecca writ as welcome to the program. usa alliance have canceled dozens of flights. i think the spread of the army kron corona virus variant among its staff. united airlines and delta announced 200 flight cancellations today on christmas eve . just as the holiday season approaches its peak travel disruption has left christmas plans for many in disarray for a 2nd here running. ah, another covert christmas. and another difficult choice,

as well in the crone continues to spread millions around the world must now decide between canceling the trouble plans or taking the risk. thousands of new yorkers have lined up for the coven tests and booster shots as the city braces for a surgeon. cases after christmas was reported to my family at urban madison's elderly after school children. so as not so much support for myself as it is to protect those along across the atlantic, christmas travelers in spain of facing the same tough choices, coven, 19 cases are written old time high. but for many seeing their loved ones is worth the risk. how gay noise 11. although this is not the best situation yet, i have had to evaluate whether to live like last you know, when i could not do this or take a little risk, or there is sassy. and i have taken a re saturday about one handle, maybe

a fathom i go to visit my family who is also stayed at home. and we will try to enjoy christmas the best we can, but always with caution. the uncertainties persist worldwide for the 2nd straight christmas under the pandemic. meanwhile, china is re dabbling efforts to keep the virus in check ahead of the winter olympics. in february paging has been pursuing a 0 covered strategy since the start of the pandemic. but it's unclear if this approach will continue to work, given the increased transmitter ability of ami kron. there also concerns that chinese vaccines are ineffective against the variant ah, at this logistics up for the winter games and bridging technology, place a vital role in epidemic prevention. these remotely controlled vehicles reduce human to human contact will be used to deliver goods into the close loop bubble were athletes and other participants will be locked inside during the event known.

with regards to logistics, we've put a lot of emphasis on epidemic prevention of delivery goods, including the protection of logistic workers as well as the goods or what he told us. even before the emergence of the army crunch variant, china's capital had taken a tougher approach to containing cove at 19 visitors to beijing must show a negative test taken within 48 hours before arriving. many flights from high risk areas in other parts of the country have been cut best been a flare up of loca infection clusters for almost 3 months now. and the cost of china, the recovered strategy, has become more evident. but with the winter olympics approaching, the authorities are even further stepping up their efforts to keep the virus under control in an updated playbook of co, 19 protocols for the games. organizers advising, but not requiring participants to get a booster dose of 16 more than 10000000 or about half of all people and paging have

already had a 3rd ship. people don't seem too concerned about the army kron variant. i think people have strong awareness that, that any prevention and control in beijing, i don't think it will come to beijing any time soon. still on the chronic capacity to spread quickly, has cast uncertainty over the country and it's 0 cove at pandemic strategy. early studies show the 2 main vaccines use in china, made by sign of farm and sign of egg offer almost 0 protection from our micro infections. in one study conducted by a team at the university of hong kong, researchers said that among a group of 25 people fully vaccinated with a sign of ex corona, vic, none show detectable levels of neutralizing antibodies against the very end. think it is important to continue to monitor the vaccine effectiveness in the field as ro, i mean, aster design, the dest, you, generally, there have been good predictors as to what happens in the field. that i,

real ultimate in we are trying to achieve is to protect against severe disease and that china has yet to approve overseas developed shots and has relied on home grown vaccines to protect its population of 1400000000 people. it now faces the prospect of having to develop more efficient ones before it can shift from its continuous isolation. as go now to a correspondent, family and catch my her file that reported giantess from beijing. authorities in china, clearly on high alert or just this week china put the entire city of she an under locked down following a minor outbreak there. what's the situation? well, you can call it the most severe lockdown since the early days of the pandemic. he and will hon. the city of $30000000.00, and it's basically sealed off. i mean, nowadays people are allowed to leave their homes, but only every 2nd day. and only one member of every household is chosen to go

grocery shopping and that's it. and with that example, you can see that of course, if you cut the, are human contact to a bare minimum, then that strategy works. the infection numbers are really low. and even today there's only 50 cases, mostly in seattle, the city that is under locked on. so probably they will get it under control, but are clearly the human cost and also the economic cost is very, very high school that we saw some of the preparations. china is making a head of the winter olympics in beijing. and that in your report there, what measures is china taking to prevent an army crown outbreak? yes, the organizers have acknowledged that there will be, am a locker infections during the game. so that's very obvious. and, but they try to minimize it. basically the concept is um they implement a very, very strict covert bubble dream, the olympic games which will be much more strictly enforced and comp birth than what we had in tokyo during the summer games. so there's literally no contact

between the people who are inside of the olympics. so does the journalist there fleets, the volunteers at the, at the rest of the population? am, i've had a look at the olympic venues. i mean, they are literally fences and different zones. so it's really impossible to have any physical contact with people in the other zone. however, window, i am infections to detect them very early. there will be, am daily testing. so every, every person inside the bubble has to undergo a p, c, r test every day. and if someone test positive, then he or she has so 1st go in, in his or her room to isolate, then there will be a medical person to do another test. and if that test positive again, then the athlete will be, am, carry to hospital and then has to current in there. and that's of cause for concern for many athletes because they don't really know how many weeks or possibly months they have to stay in, in a chinese hospital, a lot of precautions there by the sound of things. but what about vaccines?

and most people in china at the center of actual the center of our farm which and as you suggest in your report, don't appear to work against army crunch. and does that mean that the chinese are in effect, unvaccinated what i mean? clearly the recent vaccinations at a approved they don't offer an exit strategy from the 0 cove strategy that the government is implementing that they did their drops of exceeds the domestic ones, but cove it on the cross, the game changer researchers and hong kong said that even 3 shots of the domestic chinese vaccines don't offer enough protection against omicron. so of course they are developing new of x scenes, but so far the authorities here have not approved any foreign vaccines. for example, pfizer madrona, it's not available to the population here. and yet it's basically really bad use because for the foreseeable future, china will not open up its borders and that could last, at least for another year,

possibly even longer or i have in thank you correspondent, 5 and pret mount reporting from beijing when it's 10. now to some other stories making headlines this hour, south korean president, moon j in has pardoned his disgrace. predecessor park, good high for the sake of national harmony. park has seen, has been imprisoned since 2017, after receiving a 22 year sentence for crimes, including taking bribes from samsung and other conglomerates. she'll be released from jail next week. the former american police officer came potter has been found guilty of manslaughter in connection with the death of a young black man. dante wright, pontus said she confused her hand gun with her taser when she shot and killed right . in february, the american author joan did in has died at the age of 87, from complications from comp, parkinson's disease. the novelist play write an essay. it was best known for her

descriptions of american culture during the tumultuous, 1960 s. she was one of the pioneers of the new journalism movement which combined reporting with a literary voice. hundreds of women have protested in sudan following allegations. that security forces had sexually attacked, at least a dozen women and girls. several western countries have condemned the troops use of sexual violence as a weapon and demanded an independent investigation. a recent study in australia reveal that 70 percent of cove at 19 patients who were treated in intensive care still have symptoms 6 months later. many people with what's known as long covert suffer ongoing breathlessness and associated anxiety in one of our more no notable reports of the past year. we look at how the english national opera is using a variety of techniques, including of course, singing to help long covert patience,

blowing bubbles to help with young cooper. susie zuba is a trained vocalist. she is developed special grieving exercises covey patients and for some of them is a bit too hard work at the moment. but what it does is it just allows your voice a little bit of a chance to and press sheba says it's thanks to susie that she feels well again and is able to take of new hobbies. just a year ago, she was suffering from a lung infection and needed oxygen. 3 months on i remember feeling so fatigued brat, less literally from my bed to the bathroom. i will just get breathless. ah sheba never dreamed of all people. singers from the english national opera would be the ones to help her breathe. arms down to show the height. in weekly zoom sessions,

participants learn to relax and improve that posture and most of all, to pre and just hold that for a moment. we think a lot about low in breathing down because if you're over breathing, you're taking in lots of air and actually tend not to be expelling the air. so just giving people tools to slow things down and anchor them in the moment is really helpful. oh baby, so ah, being part of a group is hugely important on me. don't go against her again to me. i could have never imagined coming out of that dark mass all by myself. so it's been a huge support system for me. it's like my family now. we had, i guess you can say a common purpose to get better and would be more beautiful. wait till things are

long for out, and heal them at the same time. music and meds that have come together in this unique project. and it's been so successful that it's now being rolled out in coven clinics across the u. k. so my ha sheba dreams. i've seen you on a real estate together with others like her. and that dream could come true, may oh, as soon as will be restrictions, allow english national opera plans to state it very special opera with cubic patients. love to breathe again through singing. ah, that's a news update this hour. he'd like to see more on covered, stay tuned after a short break alcove at 19 special program is on. we'll have more headlines for you at the top of the hour, but we lady, now we the look at how various cities around the world have dressed out for

christmas. it's all about the lights, lots and lots of lights. i'm rebecca riches, thanks for watching. ah .

the fight against the corona virus pandemic. how has the rate of infection been developing? what does the latest research say? information and context corona i was off day because at 19 special next on d. w. t w's crime fighters are back with africa. most successful radio drama series continues for them. all episodes are available online . and of course you can share and discuss on d, w, africa's facebook page, and other social media platforms, crime fighters, tune in now. ah, ah. the corona virus pandemic has also become an inequality pandemic. never before have we seen such a single tanius increase and the gulf between the haves and the have nots around

the world. the virus has exposed fet off and increased existing inequalities of wealth, gender, and race. hundreds of millions of people are being forced into poverty while the richest, both individuals and corporations are getting even richer things to soaring stock prices. the crisis has exposed the inability of are deeply unequal, economy to work for all. at the same time, it's revealed the vital importance of government action to protect our health and livelihoods. this is your coven 19 update? i'm chelsea delaney, in berlin. no part and the world has been untouched by covert 19. but the effects had not been evenly shared. the world's poorest had been hit, especially hard by lockdown school closures and disruptions to health care. this next report take this to the suburbs of calcutta, india, where internet poverty has worse and throughout the pandemic. for 20 years to buy

his focus has been working with the 8 organization german doctors in the suburbs of calcutta. he saved countless lives during that time. but now covet 19 has made life here even tougher than it already was. masks and disinfectant, too costly for most and it's virtually impossible to stick to corona virus health regulations jamini and he lost it. he should get those in the inner city areas where we work at typical and the and family of 7 has run 10 square meters of living space, etc. and what that means, the already have to sleep on bunks and then shift the 1000. if on top of that we say now please keep your distance from each other. it would almost be cynical to demand something like that. phosphor sunni, so us is on to bias. fogged knows how tough life can be for people. here in 2020 indias economic growth dropped by 23 percent. the corona virus lockdown had disastrous effects and overwhelming majority of the population

a day laborers. according to a study by action, aid, 80 percent lost their employment as a result of the pandemic. here lockdown means starvation. the situation is not that different in many latin american and african countries. in early 2021, the international aid organization oxfam published a study called the in the quality virus. it showed that since march 2020, the number of people living in poverty has risen from 200000000 to 500000000. on top of this, 621-2000 people die each day from starvation, english, and field and, and that's at the end of the day, how many governments in the global south have been forced to make some very difficult decisions. unlocked ons that because of the non effects of locked downs

are far more serious for people, there's more than we in the global north can really imagine in go by an ordinary foster. additionally, any improvements made to providing access to education for children have been negated by efforts to curb the pandemic. according to unesco, more than 880000000 children worldwide have suffered educational disruptions as a result of partial or full school closures. built on the dance and education is the key factor when it comes to helping people escape poverty. and, and we now see that as a result of the pandemic, as many as 33000000 school age children are not returning to education. researches like debt left molar man from the university of bon have been collecting data on corona virus regulations and africa. fact is, africa is young. people over $65.00 who are the most at risk age group make up just 4 percent of the population there. that's and contrast to 20 to 25 percent in the

global north for didn't want to send a visit, raises the question as to whether the tough corona virus regulations may end up having far more serious consequences than the pandemic itself. as deepened him, is it? during the pandemic, agriculture and trade have suffered prices for staple foods have more than tripled . farmers were not allowed to sell their goods at markets. rural medical staff were recalled to the cities. one, no, but all that on us. i'm one obligation from a project i'm involved in, in ethiopia, as he says that the government's actions have resulted in a disruption of relationships on 2 levels and in length. first of all, between rural communities and neighboring small towns and large cities and the capital of this high. and secondly, deal to a certain extent between the rural population and state institutions. on former

german development minister, gout miller has said, quote, far more people will die from the consequences of the locked downs. then from the virus itself. we talked to murphy, a flat spot, former parliamentary state secretary to the federal minister of economic cooperation and development. we asked her, what long term damage could come about? from the pandemic restrictions, equality i showed napoleon, the worse consequence of the pandemic has clearly been hunger. asked estella those in formal jobs. you don't know if i for government relief, spend one about nor do they have health insurance. i don't have a whole that the 2nd direct impact is not only the effects on health and the current of virus itself. but rather the interruption to wider vaccination distribution of all kind with 9th and deals. for example, that for national programs against missiles, yellow fever and whooping com, martha didn't get feedback inquiry was on the african continent alone, experts are predicting an additional 400000 deaths due to malaria and

h r i v. along with another half a 1000000 deaths from tuberculosis. although these numbers are very high, few people were paying attention to the problem of tuberculosis. the same thing is happening in india, where all the focus is on covered 19 as young up to you when i started 20 years ago, around 500000 futilely here died frontier berkey los is on indian booklet rosa. as you see that has a slightly improved lot, it's now about 350000 or 400000 people die from an annual yacht and indian long to work with. all these figures are on the rise again, and yet they are really reported on one side effect of the global fight against covered 19 has been that the overall global health situation is deteriorating. tourism has also largely collapsed world wide. 25 african countries are on the

verge of national bankruptcy. germany's foreign development minister called for a 50000000000 euro stabilization program, made up of european loans and emergency aid aid organizations like oxfam or calling for an internationally financed global social security fund. time is of the essence evolving. may i get it? we need more money, me and i want people to commit to fighting both the immediate and long term consequences of the pandemic of ignorance. otherwise they will come back to haunt us. that is of once we did select, that's because the worst the situation gets, the more people will try to flee poverty and disease, leading to more migration without much needed aid. the global south may be sit back decades in its development. but right now, industrialized nations are busy with their own crises, that inequality virus will likely cause long term damage around the world. now

it's time for you to ask us to answer shares of your question for our science correspondent derek williams. oh my, are vaccines still not universally available? many of the experts i've read tend to talk about 2 different aspects of this issue of the 1st is vaccine shortages, which are caused by factors rooted, mostly in logistics. for instance, i'm the fact that production of any medical product is going to be limited by bottlenecks in upstream feed stocks of the ingredients that go into it. it simply takes time to ramp up the entire production chain of these highly specialized vaccines to the kinds of scales that we need to fight a global pandemic on the challenges surrounding vaccine transport and distribution

also contribute to shortages. but at least the vaccine shortage problem is theoretically solvable, right? i mean, we just have to get production up to speed and we're doing that. but the same can't be said for other factors that have gotten in the way of universal availability. they are what the experts mean when they talk about vaccine inequities on the program that was supposed to prevent them. the kovacs initiative has struggled from the beginning to meet distribution targets for poorer countries. not only because the logistics are hard, but because wealthier countries quickly snapped up nearly all of the available stocks for their own populations. according to the w h o. vaccine manufacturers are currently churning out around one and a half 1000000000 doses of vaccine every month. so the issue has now become

a lot less about shortages and a lot more about ongoing lopsided allocation. and that's continuing, even though we know that the fastest way to end a pandemic is to make vaccines universally available. ready how scientists are still learning about the am a crohn very and of the corona virus. but already there is evidence that it may be of aiding as existing vaccines. also worrying, research indicating that important therapeutics called monoclonal antibodies might work poorly or not at all against the new variance. monoclonal antibodies which are produced in bio react us mimic the naturally occurring antibodies made in the body . often infection with sas cove to if given to patients whether they are still in

the early days of the disease, they can help mitigate the cause of cove at 19 and prevent it from progressing to a more severe stage. at least with early a variance they did, but the latest results conclude that in the case of only chron 2 of the 3 mono clonal antibody treatments regularly used in the u. s. those manufactured by fama giant eli lilly biotech summary generally, would not help prevent serious illness in leapt tests on cells, only the monoclonal antibody therapy made by black. so smith klein continue to have a significant impact on omi crohn's replication. thanks for watching farming in kenya, without harmful chemical pesticides, not feasible. you didn't, you can produce enough of it to be able to put on

a cbs farming end up raising because really, while the politicians are still debating, the 1st farmers are very successful with this guy, red degree rica now law. nor did i not do or wondering that that is no town full to our cost or my pico africa next on d w. now to nuclear power, that's what the brock doth protest is about. one last time after 35 years of struggle. by the end of 2022, germany will start using nuclear power. other countries, meanwhile, are stepping up production. why is that global 3000? in 60 minutes on d, w o. in the landscape,

a reflection of a turbulent history. the cities, the mosaic of different people and languages o e. ron's mountains reveal unparalleled beauty. that is well yeah. i saw the scenery is magnificent particularly warm in our a special look at a special country. iran from above. starts december 27th on d. w. were oh, a own this chill we often meet people with brilliant ideas about how to protect the.