a venture just don't lose your grip. it's the treasure map for modern globetrotters. discover some of europe's wykard breaking sites on youtube and know also in book form. ah, ah ah, this is a w news line from berlin. europe get ready for a new wave of army kron infections. it's fair. the case numbers will spike to record levels following holiday travel and gatherings to how well is germany doing

. on germany may well have a new government, but it's head of state looks likely to stay the same as friends. well, to shy my wins, political backing for a 2nd term is president plus the use tattoos are about to get a lot less colorful will tell you why. and why tattoo artists in arms ah. until gale, welcome to the program. years preparing for a new wave of color 19 infections to start the new year. their affairs, the only cron variant will cause case numbers to climb to record hives increasing pressure on hospitals and leaving many workplaces short of staff. here in germany, health officials, a warning that the true scale of the crisis is not yet known because of a log in testing and of reporting of cases over the holiday period. while

ami chron numbers have exploded across europe, germany has buck the trend. here, infection numbers have remained relatively low over the past few weeks, but that com may be deceptive. cases have been under reported over the holiday period and many think a steep rise in the infection rate is inevitable. and for the 1st time in weeks, cases of actually started to go up. but there's a marked shift in where the virus is heating hardest, where it's just a few weeks ago, the south eastern region. so the biggest number of infections now it's north, west and germany, that is seeing a spike in cases. this is likely due to the spread of army kron cases from neighboring netherlands and denmark that have seen a sharp rise in new infections. austerity is fear, a new wave of infections could affect the running of critical infrastructure such as hospitals and other public services. this is prompted a debate on changes to quarantine roles with officials suggesting shortening

isolation periods for people who test positive for cove at 19 munoz. all for him are allows for, if every one suddenly drops out, then we can close the whole store. if just one person is left, they can't move from one department to the next and then do the checkout at the end . that's impossible this order. while most people in germany support the measures currently in place nationwide some 35000 people took to the streets again on monday to protest against germany's corona virus restrictions. many protesters are also angry at the new government's plan to introduce a vaccine mandate. more and more politicians have come out in favor of it, but it will be up to the german parliament to decide with a vote expected at the end of february. for how do we make sense of the fact that surging infection rates have been matched by surgeon hospitalization rates? will i put that question to martin mckee, who is professor of european public health at the london school of hygiene and

tropical met? i'm not sure city coupling. what we are seeing is that the risk of hospitalization is much lower than it was without earlier variance. but we are seeing that as cases are going up, hospitalizations are going up all be at not to lot, not the same extent. i think what we've seen with success a variance is that they're changing in terms of their transmit civility, but they're also changing in terms of the pattern of disease that they're causing. and there is no diet that oma chrome is causing less severe lung disease. although there are still some concerns about his impact and other body systems, but it is good news compared to what it could have thing. and so the arguments will, will be hard in capitals around the world are certainly are around europe. so was this about army crohn? was this about government actions? was this about government over reactions or was this about vaccinations? was what you're taking this this, this machine with so many moving parts? well, it certainly wasn't a bad overreaction when a new very comes about,

particularly one like, oh mac compton has so many different mutations compared to what has gone before. a would have been crazy not to have responded very rapidly to taking the precautionary principle. dot said yes, we have been relatively fortunate. the difficulty is that this is a variant that is evading. to some extent the existing back seems not the vice interest. so hugely important, protecting against the other variance. there are also providing some protection against film across, but it is able to break through both prior infection. and the facts and facts and asian adopt clearly is a challenge of what we are seeing. and the number, if you're really all of the european countries, is that even those that were bringing the rich time very markedly, like austria, particularly germany, the netherlands, were beginning to see an uptick again. and that's rather concerning. right? another is news, another varian that's been detected in france and traced back to camera room. it's hard to keep track of these. this is another one that we should be concerned about,

or if it's just part of the process of, of what cove it does. i think we need to be concerned about all of these. and i think one of the messages that needs to come out very strongly is that europe in countries need to increase their sequencing capacity. there are some countries united kingdom, denmark are doing very well in terms of the proportion of cases that are sequence, but not everybody else is. so therefore, we can easily be missing that with this particular barry and dorothy looked like it's having some localized credit. the minutes, but it doesn't seem to be competing. omicron as far as we can tell up the minute. so there is likely they're likely to be other areas that are going to be causing us more problems. but i think we just need to keep an eye on this one or not. perhaps get too worried about it tonight. and that's very clear. thank you so much for joining us, professor professor martin mckay from the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine. thank you. let's take a look at some more of the latest developments in the pandemic starting in israel, where the prime minister set

a 4th vaccine shot significantly increases antibodies and diminishes the risk of infection and hospitalization of taliban. it was announcing the preliminary results of a hospital trial a day after the country began a new booster campaign for the over sixty's. china has locked out another city after just 3. a symptomatic cases were discovered. residents of usual age had non profits of have been confined to their homes since that monday evening, and only allowed to leave under exceptional circumstances. and sweden's king and queen have tested positive for the current of virus desperate people say they are fully vaccinated. and if only suffered mild symptoms most or is making a news around the world now, starting in sit down where soldiers have used t a gas to disperse demonstrators in the capital. cartoon. clashes were reported in several places, including near the presidential palace. so dense political crisis has been deepening, the prime minister quit on sunday after failing to find that deal to please the

military and this pro democracy apartments. radiant state media reporting that 8 people are dead. following flash flooding in the country south. a days of having rain hit the region north of straight to fall moves uranium red crescent says 20000 people have been affected. brazilian present jaya, both in our own will not need surgery. his doctors say they say his condition has improved since he was hospitalized in south power. on monday he sought care to treat a blocked in test and it resulted from a wound incurred when he was stabbed on the campaign trail. in 2080 german president, son felt a shy my looks likely to get a 2nd term as head of state after securing the backing of the coalition government . the greens were the last of the 3 colon from parties to endorse him, and he's not forced to be elected on the 13th of february for another 5 year period . at present time, i was a long time member of the centre left social democrats,

the party of chancellor elections. look at more from the douglas, chiefly to episode mckayla cooper. i welcome mckayla. so let's talk about the role of 1st of germany, sir, president of book what, who, who is a, what we know who he is. what does he do? well, the role of the german present is as head of state. it is the highest ranking official in germany at the same time. it's a largely ceremonial role, and that's why we keep talking about german chancellor's plural. now, no longer dest angle or mac, or, but the president does have a vital role at crunch times, for instance, leading up to the final term of anglo marco. it was frank vita stein maya, who knocked heads together and basically pushed his own social democrats, who really didn't want to go into government again to do so out of a democratic responsibility. he, it also is

a moral authority here in germany. he has court on the country to stick together as throughout the pandemic and other issues and frank by dust, i may, himself, he is, after all, germany's former foreign minister, and that is still very much tangible. so if anybody is the face of germans debility politics, continuity, particularly in this time of change to new that government, it's found quite a stain mom and he will stay in place. most likely i am why we're the greens are apparently initially hesitant to support him for a 2nd turn. well, the greens actually contested an election with a female top candidate then failed to come 1st and they were also the ones who felt most that it really was time for woman to stand. a green woman potentially to stand . there was a lot of internal debate within the party, but they've just entered government or on rather a more shaky ground than the predictions throughout. 5 the election campaign showed,

so i think it's safe to say that they simply did not want to rock the boat with their bigger coalition partner, their social democrat, s p d and frank by dusty my after or was part of the s p d. so for now, they chose stability over taint on this one. so with all 3 coalition partners assigned up to this, does this mean that front routers shine meyer is a shoe in there'll be no a rival for the presidency. while the m conservatives are planning it to put up a female earned candidates, but no name has been mentioned there yet. so it could well be em very much, a little contest going into that and certainly a very safe majority as it's looking now for frank y destiny my in that national assembly that only comes together to elect the president. thank you so much for that. me, hannah did of his chief political editor, mckenna, cooper and tattoo artists in the european union will have to limit themselves to

a much smaller pallets of colors from now on ear official. so you, barnum, thousands of chemicals used in tattoo inks, will protect the public from hazardous substances that could cause cancer and other illnesses. one last design in blue before the new e rules came into effect. colors like this one are now banned from any tattoo artists. it's hard to accept lisa from the gulf, people that a lot is based on speculation. there are no real fact that somehow justify van and our experience here in the tattoo parlor proves that what i've seen shows something different. oh, heard of it right now. it feels more like harassment than a sensible band that would protect people with the e u band. these colors because they are suspected of causing cancer. for example,

because the concentration of certain chemicals is too high. dermatologist britta lake, whom agrees that some of the substances they contain could be dangerous. if harm isn't improper, the colors enter the body. what exactly happens then? we don't know for sure. part of the colors remain in the same place. other parts travel through the body. if they contain carcinogenic substances, they can have an effect on all the organs and organic. the e u commission says tattoo artists were given sufficient notice and that safer alternatives for the colors exist. the artists complain that the ink manufacturer is reacted to late. because i and there could be delivery bottlenecks which lead to in shortages. the artists now have to bridge the time without bright colors. after the corona virus closures, it's another blow to their livelihoods a month ahead of the winter olympics in beijing, china a saving off its olympic, a bubble, everyone involved will have to stay inside

a so called closed loop to prevent the spread of cov 19th from the moment they land in china until they leave the country athletes, staff, and journalists will have no physical contact with the outside world. these are the strictest rules for a mass sporting events. since the pandemic began the state of british rock icon, david bowie has sold the publishing rights to his entire body of work. a massive deal with want to chapel music includes hundreds of songs from the music legend 60 here, korea. including of course space oddity. and here, the news comes days before the 6th anniversary of his death. and what would have been his 75th birthday? on the 8th of january, his music continues to inspire fans around the world. ah, with this is d w coming up next a news, asia young. any of this debate?

government plans to raise the marriage age for women to $21.00. so what's behind these proposals and what problems are they supposed to? so i just a month ahead of a beijing winter games will preview the spectacle and review calls to boycott the event bliss a child has those doors and mo, d, w, use asia, a just a moment. i'll be back at the top of the out of the day with us and you to subscribe to lead to t cooper and they.