[000:00:00;00] ah ah ah, this is dw news life umbrella and china signals apr relaxed. ation of its strict coven measures to major cities ease restrictions. but demonstrators continued to

clash with security forces. last former chinese government official, victor gao. if this is the beginning of the end of china's viewer coverage policy, also coming up on world aids day, we look at how south africa is using preventative measures and new drugs to tackle the other pandemic that is far from over. and in the world cup, elation and argentina after the team progressed to the round of 16, we're bringing reactions of brain upside is. we're fans are hoping 2022 will see that when the world's cup or a 3rd time. ah, i'm sarah kelly. welcome to the program. china's top covered response official has signaled a shift in the strict policies that provoked protest on a scale not seen for decades, vice premier son to lon,

towards health officials that the country corona virus approach is entering quote, a new stage in cities like one joe. and john king have already started easing restrictions, but phasing is still committed to cracking down hard on demonstration. frustrating boiling over in wine, joe, and scuffled with covey workers in shanghai. rare public displays of anger with china's strict cobra policies. in recent days. in many cities, they moved into something even bigger with protests as calling for the communist party. and gigi and ping to go there day beg themes that reminded many of the piano men protest the 1st feeling that came to my man when no reason is very incredible,

port test across china was the spirit of the night. 89 has come, a key in beijing responded by unleashing a fierce crack down, deploying huge numbers of police to stamp out the demonstrations. but it has also signaled changes to the strict cobra policies that have angered so many the elite ok. on wednesday, vice premier soon john learn told health officials china was entering a new stage in its pandemic approach. due to increased vaccination rates and experience with the corona virus funky. in gwen jo authorities of already announced an end to mass p. c. r testing and lifted locked downs across the city. all part of a drive to implement cobra rules with more local flexibility. according to

officials. beijing said is also planning to step up. vaccinations of the elderly, lagging vaccination rates among the old have been used to justify the current 0 covey policy. with protest seemingly stamped out for now and a shift away from the approach that provoked them in the work. beijing may well be hoping the biggest challenge to its authority in decades is already behind it. for the earlier i spoke with victor gow, vice president of the beijing base, the think tank center for china in globalization. he's also a former government official and interpreter under former chinese leader dang chow ping. i asked him whether we were witnessing the beginning of the end for china's 0 covert policy. first of all, are there have been changes to the original version of the dynamic 0 cove it policy ever since the end of october. however,

you may know for sure that moving from the original version of the a dynamic, a 0 covey policy to the new version is, 1st of all, uncertain. and secondly is very risky. moving from one version to the new version is actually a very dangerous period of time. and the government has been very cautious in moving from one version to the new version. and therefore, the protests you talk about are very unfortunate things because they do not know that the transition has already started from the end of october. and the reason why the transition needs to be handled very cautiously is because if you do not handle it cautiously in the transitional period, there may be massive amount of p bride may be infected and a very large number of people who may die you there or i think we need to proceed forward with great caution,

and we need to move in the same direction rather than for example, getting agitated and lose control of the situation. go. you talk about danger and caution. and i'm wondering if that also extends to the political sphere and, and the chinese communist parties grip on power. because we've been seeing over the past as anger pouring out on the streets over the 0 cove at policy. some protesters actually calling for the removal of liter sheesh and ping is the party backed into a corner right now. does it have no other option than to change course right now on this 0 cove, its strategy allow me to share my view with you and your audience. if anyone believe that instability and chaos may break out in china, this column view is completely out of patch. ah, with reality is on the ground in china. let me emphasize that china is the most

stable and most united country in the world by any stretch of the imagination. now, the protests did happen suddenly night. in most cities, they died down the quiet down. and the reports above the massive amount of protest in china are very much exaggerated and do not reflect the real dynamics on the ground. electric water gal. let me clear about it for you. oh yeah, let me put it to you than than, than why then have we been seeing these images and i mean they're on video so, so they're out there of police pursuing protesters, checking people's phones on public transport, visiting people at home. i mean, they appear to be afraid of something is, is this really the right way to deal with the concerns of chinese citizens struggling to, to cope with coven measures and, and angry about it? and i, we do have is, are several points now in the past 3 years because of the dynamic, 0 covey policy. do people have complaints to peek poor, have frustrations,

or have they suffered inconveniences? of course, however, i hope everyone in china need to realize that all these frustrations an obsessive inconveniences we suffered are for one goal and one purpose only. that is to minimize the deaths among the chinese people and to prevent as many people in china from getting fictions as possible. that's a goal, worthwhile for china to show to pursue. and china thus has achieved the lowest amount of deaths and lowest amount of infectious up to today. china as a country has all the resources to be proud of this great achievement. no other country can ever think about maggi china's great achievement. seeing saving many people from death and saving as many people as possible from infectious. now, ever what i like as they put it to you in that higher tax because because i wanna,

i wanna ask you about now going forward and how, how well china is prepared now going forward to deal with the threat of this virus . because i mean, if we look at just, for example, your vaccination uptake among the elderly it's, it's relatively low compared to some, some other countries. and when we look at how, how china is prepared, your own vaccine has also not been performing as well as western m. r n a best vaccines. german chancellor, olive schultz was in china recently. i just want to play quickly for you something that his spokesperson said this week on china and the vaccinate vaccine situation and get your reaction after. like not diane, they're punting me, most ones. angus, perhaps after 3 years it's been demick. it has to be said that europe, germany has that very good experiences with m r n a vaccinations that one's counselor does. the german chancellor made this clear term discussion partners auto in his most recent visit to china, but a little more than 3 weeks ago. so i english please portmanteau to schema. he went on to say that germany's biotech is involved in

a joint venture with china. ting utilized the, the bounty pfizer of vaccine is this now the way going forward from china's fight against cove at 1st of all, from the very beginning of the outbreak of the panoramic, china was one of the 1st countries to successfully introduce vaccines to the chinese people as well as sharing the vaccine with a w h o and with more than 100 countries in the world. no, no country after today has a perfect version of vaccines. every vaccine has some problems. all we does is, and i think it's up to every country, all of the pharmaceutical companies, to constantly improve axis, including china. now talking about the vienne t and the german, a government and german companies. my wish is that china and germany can mutually acknowledge each other's vaccines and provide facilities for each other's vaccine

to have access to the other country. this is very important. china will never accept any vaccine for any other country unless that country given if it's bad property, even if the looks of her citizens health. mister, mister, go. no, you are wrong if, if you are so concerned about my this is hell. why, why once you administer at the most effective vaccine? listen, your assessment is not accurate because the chinese vaccines have been very popular in china. i have received a 3 those inches plus another dosage more recently. and i think it is a fault of oak. it is effective. however, on the other hand, the virus keeps very h, u, p keeps changing, and every company need to really update its research at development to make sure that the strength of the vaccine will keep up with the variation of the virus itself. but talking about china, giovanni,

1st of i hope they will recognize on knowledge each other's maxine and then they will give reciprocal treatment to each other's vaccine providing all the facilities, an access and convenience for each other's country to use their okay at reciprocal of axis. this is the right way forward, and i hope such international cooperation, not only between john and germany, but between china many other countries. ok will further increase and strength them . but to deny acknowledgement of the chinese version of the vaccine and demand to access to china is a little bit absurd, commercially, as well as politically and victor gao. this is a certainly a conversation to be continued. and unfortunately, we find out of time here on the program, so we have to cut it short, but i just want to thank you for joining us for sharing that perspective and, and view from patient. we appreciate it. thank you. here's a look now at some other stories making news around the world. on

a one day visit to beijing, european council president child michel met chinese leader. she's in tang as he seeks to sure of diplomatic and trade ties. he also discussed protest over china 0 colored policies and signed the book of condolences for former chinese president young fame men the human rights to say that a man has been shot dead by security forces in northern iran for celebrating the iranian football team. defeat against the us and exit from the world cup. many iranians refuse to support the national teen in response to the violence government crackdown on n p brushing protests. it is world aids day, but with global efforts to battled the corona virus pandemic, there has been much less of a focus on h. i. v aids the un estimates that at last year, around $38.00 and a half 1000000 people around the world. we're living with h i v aids. and although the virus is claiming far fewer lives than it did at its

peak in 2004, 650000 people, died of h i v related causes in 2021. there was still no age having vaccine and that makes preventable measures to avoid infection even more important. the african region has the highest number of people living with the virus. adrienne crease reports now from cape town and south africa, where trials for new preventative methods, old hopes for driving number sound. once a month, since their medical penguin comes to this health center to get a package of prep, a daily pill of the pre exposure prophylaxis, protects people from getting h i v. when having sex. so my family generation to generation it's, they do have their age of a positive. so i came here to take friends because i wanna, i don't want to be that puddle fudge action that is hitting a repository. the health center of the desmond to to health foundation doubles up as

a research site for many years residence in the massive familiarly township have been participating in clinical trials 18 year old marvel bengal ana is also considering taking part in a clinical trial for prevention options. and injection instead of a daily pill. recently we had the breakthrough of that day per injectable, that only had to be given every 2 months that cavity, grover, long acting injectable. and at the moment in this very vicinity, we are testing a 6 monthly prophylactic injectable, known as lemma kappa via. so if we can get to a point where young people round the world, only have to take an injection every 6 months, twice a year. that would be an extraordinary breakthrough. linda. gail becker is a leading infectious disease specialist overseeing protocols for several prep and h i v vaccine trials. she praises the achievements in the past. in the ninety's, hundreds of thousands died of aids. now,

anti retroviral drugs allow patients to live a normal life with a normal lifespan, but the crisis is not solved, particularly in the global north. there has been a, you know, turning away from a chevy. i think many people think the pandemic is over far from it. we had 4000 young woman, became infected with h. i v in the last week alone. and we still have a $150000.00 children newly, and it was a chevy every year. and there is still a pandemic raging in many parts of the world. it's almost like we've written half the book and you know, we walking away before the rest of the, the book is, is finished am. and that to my mind is a, you know, is, is, is a catastrophe because of all the investment we've had in the last 2 years could be lost. if we don't actually finish the story. then jim ever been guar,

i wants to play her pass in finishing the story back at home. the 18 year old is busy, convincing friends to take crap. little articulate because they say little eaten daily peel because they're not sick. i think it's to get people more to catered about it. mouthful, bengal on assess her generation is the 1st one to openly talk about h i v. an important step to end the pandemic. and earlier i spoke with amanda banda, a, an advisor on infectious disease policy, and advocacy for the doctors without borders access campaign. i began by asking her about the advantages of the new a type, the injection. so i think that one of the advantages that i would highlight is, is the, if you can see that the printer injectable has the potential to reduce 79 percent of infections. and that's

a real big number. and i think we cannot compare to what, which is important the auto group has been able to achieve. and i would say the fact that or so young girls and women are not taking and then and everybody else is taking the pill every single day. has a big chance of also increasing adherence to this drug and also reducing, you know, the stigma of having to go back and forth to the clinic. and i think that it also has very important advantage on the health system because it means that also like you know, clinicians and doctors and nurses and not having to see, you know, more clients at the facility, you know, coming for a printer. you know, we feel when it's appealed, it means that, you know, instead of those regular visits that they can have given also that the most context they faced in stock also means that, you know, they having to see less people at the clinic on a regular basis. because people on the coming once every 2 months. so if you have

to then put it in to the big picture, how effective would you say that preventative drugs have been at stopping the spread of h? i v aids in south africa. they have been very effective, i mean, but i think that this is definitely going to be a game changer and something that we should, you know, look forward to and, and, and, and, and, and jump in as soon as possible. looking at statistics in south africa in the past 10 years, for example, we have about, you know, 45 percent of the u. e fictions, of course, have been updated and prevented using, of course, a combination of drugs, but also at the interventions. but that's still very worried, you know, 45 percent is not a lot in terms of, you know, new prevention is averted. i think that we have the hope that with this new injectable, that number should really get high and get us to the targets that we would like to see. how are you seeing in your work, the main obstacles to getting preventative medicines out to people?

you know, work definitely the price is the big obstacle, like the current you injectable that has been released. you're looking at an annual price based on the information that has been publicly released from the the producers of these injectable is about $240.00 to about $266.00 a year. i mean, compared to the appeal which has been about $40.00 a year, the piston. this is a huge, huge barrier. and i hope what we are hoping and working around is to ensure that people can access, you know, the injectable, at a comparable price of $40.00 a year, you know, which is what the current or is priced for. so price is the biggest barrier considering that most of the countries that have effected that are facing you know, huge challenges and high burden of h a v. i also

a lot of them are low income. and so money is an issue and, and having a price predict at this price is, is quite prohibitive. of course, there are other barriers, and i would like to mention of course, i think, i mean, this is a big issue. there's a lot of need also to raise awareness that does exist and that you know, it's safe to use and very effective. and among other barriers, i think in some countries is policy, you know, restrictions with young girls, especially if you're and i said in age like 16 or 18 and you cannot access such products without consent of parents. and i think that these also happen to be the most effective populations. thank you so much, amanda banda for joining us. as we mentioned, you're an advisor to doctors without borders access campaign. and we appreciate you your time here in the program. thanks for having o. at the football world cup and katara,

it was group seized turn to play and pray with every team hoping to advanced to the knockout stages of the tournament. despite leonor messy, missing a penalty, it was argentina getting a crucial when over poland. the 1st score was a bit clumsy. alexis mcallister shot, went off his foot down to his chin up against the post and into the go. in the 67th minute julian alvarez made it to nil and that was how it ended argentina when the group followed by poland, who's fans and players saw a few minutes after the game that they too at advanced and back in buenos i, it is thousands of supporters filled the streets and celebration following argentina's victory. the 2 time world cup winners had fans biting their nails after losing their opening match and could tar. but now everyone smiling beds in buenos aye. this wind from uncertainty to pure ecstasy. who knew?

we're the corporate america winners would advance to the knockout stage in cutoff. ivan is his goal. i loved it. i'm a broker fund, but well, it's a great go by who. yeah. nobody's. oh you did. yeah. can tell us i'm, when was he or very moved. the match was a show, the best match of argentina so far. beautiful. and with a lot of faith in waiting. we suffered with that miss penalty. nobody but nothing. now and with a lot of hope in waiting, i guess any more dc will be champions. first, we will be australia, then france, and then the final against england argentina's last world cup victory was in 1986. and if the south american nation winds the party in the streets will go on non stop, because for them, it's a summer event. and with france already guaranteed to advance

australia and denmark competed to join them in the knockout round. here's how that came unfolded. denmark shoot, they intend to ride from the start, but 10 minutes in australia, keep them at rhein was in the way of doing much leads, fer pressure continued, but either australia's defense stood strong or denmark wasn't accurate enough. astray us 1st charms came just before half time, but denmark's christians and in the right spot, with the clearance. after halftime australia dominated the game, but the shot from just outside the box was cleared by the danish defence. 5 minutes later, jackson irv on short, went over the bar and captain mux hopes alive just after the one hour mark, australia, 2nd half dominance paid off. matthew leki with a clinical finish. one mill, austria denmark with the last chance of the game. but australia held

on the screws or through to the run of 16. a disappointing woke up for denmark comes to an end and we can afford to another intense day. here's the schedule for the final group stage matches in group f, croatia, face belgium, and canada. meet morocco then in group e, japan play spain and germany is up against crow, costa rica. germany suffered a stunning opening defeat to japan, but salvaged age wrong with spain in their next game. germany were eliminated at the group stage in russia 4 years ago. and they don't want the same faith in katara d. w. sports correspondent jonathan harding is covering team germany at the world cup and guitar. and it won't be easy for $116.00 who are currently bottom of group e to advance the next round. but here's what has to happen. germany and lots of stages of tournaments have hardly been friends of late. they have one when in the last 9 tournament games, not

a particularly good record. they have to be close to reach today to send a chance of advancing the 2020 to welcome up in katara. at the same time they need spain to be japan, or if that game is a draw germany to school, at least 2 goals, anything else? it's time to get the calculators out and it gets complicated. the most important thing is for germany to perform on the field. there been a lot of our field distractions at this tournament. and in recent months, for the german team and the f. b, it's time for them to show that they can perform. if not, they'll be heading home. and it will feel like russia all over again. up next in d, w. news, asia, why thailand has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in southeast asia and what is being done to prevent the damage this is causing and here are the top stories that we're following for you. china's top covey response official has hinted at a relaxation of the hard light approach that has sparked on rest and disrupted the economy. big cities like long show and chunk ching have already started using

corporate restrictions. satellite imagery from a russian air field suggest that moscow may be gearing up for a massive aerial assault on ukraine. ukrainian military officials say that the bombers are likely to be used to strike ground targets, especially energy infrastructure. in watching data, the news live for land to stay with us if you can for today you news asia, you'll be joined by my colleague the rash banner jean. i'm sarah kelly in berlin. there's always more on the website, w dot com. and you can also follow us. thanks for watching. take care. ah ah,

with ah ah. will you become a ready?

no, with hackers, paralyzing your societies. computers that out for you and governments that go crazy for your data. we explain how these technologies work, how they can go for but how they can also go terribly, watch it now on you to the world cup in could talk about exactly important tim version important because we are here for you with report and background information about the football figures, the toner, everything you need about the 2022 world cup. on d. w. and

shell filled with explosives, a symbol of power, rebellion your sensuality. by royalty and icons like a magic wand. to grounds for divorce. guy with a calendar for cultural history, wet honey stacking, dots december said on d w, this is either been used asia coming up to dave, thailand's deadly gun culture. 24 children died and a shooting spree nearly 2 months back in a childcare center. it's opened old wounds for other victims of gun violence and