and burn in south africa, people with disabilities more likely to lose their jobs. in the pandemic black lives matter. shine a spotlight on racially motivated beliefs. same sex marriage is being legalized in more and more countries. discrimination in quality or part of everyday life. for many, we ask why? because life is diversity. to make up your own mind. d. w. lead for mines. ah, there have been many heroes during the corona virus pandemic. the scientists who lead the battle to get to the bottom of the virus health work is he looked up to those struck down by the new infection and volunteers who helped the vulnerable. these are the people we want to pay tribute to in this week's cove. at 19 special

but 1st we want to get into the seasonal spirit at one of germany's famous christmas markets. in berlin. we visit one that's open for business again for the 1st time since the curve at 19 upgrade. ah, after a gap of 2 years, the christmas market at berlin's charlatan book palace is open once again with live music and ukrainian women dressed up as christmas angels as an old friend, sports for their freedom. ambassadors who flying to the palace in our thoughts and turn on the lights of the holiday season, a line of understanding reconciliation and togetherness. and that's more important now than ever before y'all. it's useful for many years. the organizer has had close ties with ukraine, and this year, donations are being collected for ukrainian charities. the market was closed for the past 2 years. due to the pandemic, i'll say, so,

enjoying being together again. the last 2 years have been thing with has i guess the more difficult that we can spend more time with family and a lot of the family miss out on the time with how and she was very small and but i'm really happy that the christmas market is back in the, in front of this most, especially the my, my family is able to visit and we can, we can visit the, the christmas market again together. it's really nice. ones are raw. it's wonderful . just a nice that it's taking place again and we can come here. listen, we're meeting friends here and we'll drink some more wine together with some clue via it's become a tradition once it's mission of yes, i am not just the visitors, the happy that the markets back in business. so in the event is yours, you're sure you're sure that it's very annoyed that it's worked out again after not being here for 2 years. i off of that though, it's supposed to be 3 because the last time was in 2019 auntie wants with annual. i had to put the items in storage and fly off because you can only sell christmas

things at christmas time. so it's great that it's open again. this is concerning the shelter days. yeah, christian banish sells products made by a non profit organization. they are handmade christmas ornaments. they're especially popular handicrafts are a major focus at the policies christmas market. something visitors seemed to appreciate around $1000000.00 people flock here each year during the holiday season . ever changing coven 19 restrictions made life difficult for every one over the past few years? the market organizes says decisions were often made at the last minute on the summer unexpected either of logs off or one of the corona virus restrictions in place at the time forbade the sale or consumption of alcohol in green spaces and a christmas market without mold wine. is simply not a christmas market and so were cancelled both times the last minute. which generated costs, market and vendors were appointed and financially hard. if not,

they were going through tough times as it was suicide and hugging, traveling much, and some of whose families have been in the business for generations were particularly affected, because the pandemic closed down, not just this christmas market, but market san festivities across germany. d as in probably one actually the 1st few weeks were actually really nice home and, and i did lots of things with my husband and kids that we'd never done before because we're always on the road. but then we got board because we really don't know anything else. and i eat of every weekend every week. we're somewhere else. she it was tough on and then there was the financial hit to a few vendors went bankrupt, found to other jobs. oh, have simply not returned the mile advisors on here. you might not some one else used to be here and over there. but during the 2 years when nothing was happening they went bust. so i said i'd take over their spots. one person,

sorrow is another person's joy and i'm like that's life. it's unclear whether the christmas market at the charlatan book palace will go ahead next year or not. but for now, people here just focusing on the present. it's been really difficult. every school was closed for the 1st year with k through though in 3rd, but this year i hope it's going to be like 3 . from a christmas market reawakening to a cove at 19 hero, south africa, scientists played a major role in alerting the world to the 1st variance and profess asulym. abdul karim became the government's top adviser on the pandemic. but his efforts hadn't just and him praise. ah,

this building is at the forefront of south africa's h i v and aids research programs under the leadership of professor salim abdul karim. the durbin based facility has also played a vital research role during the covered 19 penn jillette. good, that's the pandemic emergency is now receding. we are no longer in a situation where we are concerned about hospitals getting overwhelmed. but one of the big concerns remains the level of uncertainty. in 2020 south africa stablished a ministerial advisory committee, comprising scientists, researchers, and doctors. it advised the government on its response to the pandemic. professor abdul karim was tasked by the minister of health to be it's chairperson.

he hadn't consulted me, but he knew i would never say know that when i called upon by my country to serve in that way, i was always going to say yes. so i learnt at the same time as everyone else that i was to chair our countries karone of either us or if it after spending decades helping the fight against polio measles, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases. abdul karim dedicated his research efforts to h. i v. it was this vast expertise that will allow the professor to shift focus when asked to leave the country's coven, 19 response sort of that runs off. so i figure i had developed enormous infrastructure to deal with its h. i v epidemic. it's that same infrastructure that was able to pivot to deal with coven 19. for example, we've always monitored viruses and the genetic sequences for drug resistance,

simply but we use the same technology to look at the variance of coven, south africa, has had a long history with h. i v and has the highest number of people living with the virus worldwide. good afternoon, abdul karim says that in contrast to the denials issued by the government at the start of the h, i. v epidemic cove at 19 showed south africa's current leaders were open to scientific advisor. time that right from the beginning of the pandemic. both the president and the minister wanted to hear from scientists, and the scientists made enormous contributions, testing new diagnostics, doing studies on vaccines. and importantly, the discovery of the beat of variant and the ami convent came from right here in south africa. on the other hand, the south african government did draw

a lot of criticism over it's extremely tough lockdown measures these had a far reaching economic impact in a country already facing widespread inequality and high unemployment. and the effects are still being felt 2 years later. but professor abdul karim stands by the government's decision. you know, we were not directly involved in the decisions regarding the lockdown, but there was little question in my mind at that time. and i would agree with it even to this day, given the level of uncertainty, given our concerns about what we will see in italy in new york city, for how hospitals were being overwhelmed. that action needed to be taken. and it needed to be quite drastic at that time. another challenge presented by coping 19 globally has been the massive spread of disinformation. according to the professor,

this is not only detrimental to science, but to his personal safety as well. for example, when i was advising that schools be open, i was called dr. death, my wife and i both were subjected to attacks and threats. but i was not going to be intimidated. and i was not going to let those threaten those threats. determine what i was going to say or not. abdul careens commitment to scientific fact earned him the 2020 john maddox prize awarded by the nature science journal. he shared the prestigious award with the you. essays, anthony valgy. while many may see the virus tapering off, her weans work is far from over. he currently serves on the world health organization science council, and as a professor at both harvard and columbia universities. so there's little downtime

for hobbies, but strolls along, turbans famous, beach front promenades. give him space to unwind distress and reflect. so i figure is an amazing country. it has so much potential, coven 19 destroyed some of that. and in economic impact, i look to the future, i look to the future where south africa regains its prosperity. but recognizing that we need to be prepared for the next pandemic. abdul karim firmly believes that south africa's resilience can be a source of inspiration to all. for more than 2 years now, global experts have been answering our questions about the covalent virus pandemic

. what do they think are the most important things we've learned from it? and how are we doing now? one of the things that we learn with the pandemic was that even the most powerful and the well developed nations in the world are not ready to handle such a poly health emergency of this scope. and if something worse were to come around, we would all be in a lot of trouble. it took a hugely heavy toll on all nurses and health care workers. and when we have no health, it's like a collapsing track of cards impacting our individual freedoms. our economies, our sense of safety and security. i mean, we did well, we're the clinical trials, the search already in place for that the vaccine rollout sort of the vaccine development and rollout. again, there were already structures and teams in place for that. i never would have sat in early 2020, that we would have had a vaccine newly discovered paris and under

a year. but by all working together towards a common goal, we were able to achieve just that. some pandemic skill set over decades. for example, the 7 pandemic of color, but as far as over 90 goes, many countries have certainly entered the endemic phase with ups and downs. of course i think that there's another and go with with co exist with us for a long time. however, the so sin and psychological impacts of the damage is what we are seeing now. i see a thing in our daily life. the declaration will probably be coming soon, that it will be officially over, but we'll still have those excess deaths and excess ill people from from the corona virus. i don't know when the pandemic will be over. we are certainly in a panic, which most of the world has either now been vaccinated. have had co veda or both. the virus will continue to infect people and everyone will likely become infected and infected again. several times. most of these infections will be, might,

or even a noticeable for those who have escaped infection so far and chose not to be vaccinated . however, the risk of severe illness will remain sheesh. during the pandemic, many health work as the push to the limit in columbia severe labor shortages meant working double shifts was common practice. ah, some staff will also struggling with their own personal bereavement at the same time. now they're hoping to process what happened with the help of therapy. in april 2021, the colombian authorities and marine lifted covered restrictions. many hope the city would return to its normal rhythm that the economy would recover, and every day life would resume, even the hospitals returned to their pre covered routine. none of that made sense to anna maria torres and intensive care, nor sir la coordinate. a kind of my head on ethel, when they told me that it was

a shock overland. how could that be the case? i mean, nothing is normal, everything has changed. everything is different than a found out of mind. knowing that the hospital was now normal, life was normal. that hit me hard because it wasn't true, everything had changed. my dad wasn't there. i couldn't say good bye to him and everything really. it changed for a lot of people come to you, but i'm with her. during the pandemic, anna maria had to work double shifts and isolate from her family. the last time her father called her, she couldn't take his call. i mean they just, i came to endo, by the and i was in the emergency room helping to incubate patience because many arrived that day on wheel. so i was very busy, but my family needed me what kind of work like that? my dad called me was one of what is included in that day. even when i was finally

able to answer, i was told he'd been taken to another hospital and never again would i see him alive because they intubated him and he died a few days later. so it was, i mean to this day, it's very hard. the widow on a, maria's colleague, deanna patricia gonzales explains that the pandemic had terrible consequences for her family to i went on with his it, but i me, i thought it was very difficult for me always and for the whole family because it happened so fast. i will say 40 or 50 of us, got infected dormer all from the same family mohammed. yeah. 16 people died in total deanna. patricia also lost her mother due to the pandemic. her last days were spent in this same hospital where the daughter continues to work to the okay, what else up or just this word i have here from my colleagues, people from my work team, they from this hospital and from other family members. so me has given me the

strength to go on diona, patricia takes part in therapy sessions at the hospital to help her cope with their grief. but psychologists are concerned about the growing number of health personnel who they believe need help to deal with the emotional impact of covered 19 i for what impacts young, not the any, leave your beer, but i, they lived through very complex situations, say they risked their lives and right now that's not being recognized, da, at the mental health level that's had a big impact, which i think we're feeling the effects of now or can it's only before. yes, i'm more in effect though, and we expect those effects to get greater host pandemic. a link, the invitation is to have resilience, but it's not easy to okay, more so i think that many staff are currently experiencing the consequences of facing this pandemic situation is, is that the president, for many reasons,

studies have shown an increase in anxiety, insomnia, and nightmares. and medical personnel who were working during the pandemic the camel's can was for funds for 9 years. we could see that the mental health of our staff was being affect. it was handled when i began to notice that our employees were c cow. support was car, they were looking for assistance and advice. you been with us. that's why we set up the mental well being unit, like as you on that only that there in this parliament pallet. hospital management is trying to alleviate the situation using their own resources. this includes providing spaces where health workers can safely express their emotions. the broken down brown, but i think they appreciate this may. so because there wasn't anything like it before. i mean it's still being used a lot. people come here just to cry to express something with tears and then leave again. john thought i'll go, isn't lemming. with you on said diana patricia gonzales. believe such spaces are

helping her to recover emotionally. from the pandemic dollar. yes. a went that i'm still in therapy. i would i cause grieving is a very long process. this is all and i found it especially hard because so many of my relatives died to love amelia. the therapy helps tiana patricia deal with her emotions. this little doll she made during the session is a representation of herself, her resistance, and her will to overcome her devastating experience during the ban demik. among the 1st vaccines that were approved for use about a year off to the start at the pandemic with those based on em are in a technology they prevented many people from being hospitalized and saved millions of lives. now, scientists, one to reset ways of using that technology, not just to produce vaccines, but also to treat others serious diseases. m r n. a

vaccines work by giving the body's immune system a preview of a potential danger. they contain many copies of a short stretch of precise genetic information. the messenger r n. a. it induces cells to start making proteins that are otherwise only found on a specific pathogen. like the proteins that stud the surface of, sorry, covey to the virus that causes cove at 19. then when the immune system encounters the virus, it's prepared. many experts describe or a nay as medicinal software molecules that don't affect the body directly, but instead carry instructions that have an effect only when they're carried out. messenger r n. a vaccine technology therefore has a major advantage over other platforms. it's very flexible because m r n a is a coating molecule. if you change the code, you change the proteins made from it. so it can be used to also make other proteins

found on other disease causing microbes. but also proteins found only, for instance, in cancerous tumors, various versions of the information molecule do farm more than just safely stimulate the immune system. the family of origin a's place key roles in both metabolism and health ah, and many inherited diseases are caused by faulty genes. which internally to faulty or missing proteins. so r n a technology could help there as well. some patients with genetic disorders might receive the coating molecule as a kind of replacement therapy. for example, regular doses of corrective renee could cause their cells to start making healthy copies of absent or damaged proteins. ah, around 20 or any treatments had been approved so far globally. and dozens more are

in trials in a wide range of diseases. easy to make, easy to alter and packing, a powerful therapeutic punch. r n a therapies look set to have a huge impact on human health in the near future. ah, in 2003, the saws epidemic exploded in taiwan and had a devastating impact. tune thin village, the poorest area in taipei was hit hard back then, as it also has been by coven 19. but community leaders have been taking the lessons learned from the sales experience to help residents cope with the pandemic. it's lunch time. people are lining up from the buffet, but this is not a restaurant. well, it's a local community center in taipei, even during the pandemic, a continued serving meals to the disadvantaged in the neighborhood. and so demand

such sonny and jim for years ago, the center served males around 200 people a day. but since the i demick we've had to the past 5 or 600 deal by been done hung . hey, shane has been the village chief for more than 20 years. it's the 2nd time that he's had to deal with a devastating virus. the 1st time was in 2003 when 82 people in taiwan died of the acute respiratory syndrome. sars da da, 3 thought when saws was identified, our village had the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths. but what, what it's only time one's last was ours case was here to good already by the nearby elementary school was shot for over 2 weeks here until that job. i wondered what of my blog home with e, how me, how they'd manage all summer long. hey shing felt great sympathy with older people who passed away alone and the ones who struggled to find food. he started brainstorming possible ways to help the vulnerable. during the pandemic,

the center became a vase for fighting the virus. when we got mobilized a volunteer team, which provided age sent meals and bought food for people have them. they also took school work around for kids. on those on domine call. drawing on the sands experience hung, hey shing, set up an emergency food distribution system for over a decade. now pan may see, ang has worked with fine. she says, the center responded to the current pandemic quickly. volunteers took turns, sending supplies to those in quarantine and arranged vaccination for the vulnerable . well yacht order, louder? yeah, i kept telling the elderly that they should get their booster shots for their sake and others. they are old and eat together every day. it's the only way of ensuring they and their friends just have a good liason. everyone is still pulling together to prevent further outbreaks of coven. 19 no one here in the neighbourhood contracted the delta variant. nor has

anyone died from omicron. even when taiwan reached peak infection rate, the center was still open to support the community that needs an oil. even during the pandemic of the village chief never stopped. as well as eating in the center. we can still get, take away lunchboxes to south south outside. the volunteers told us to avoid crowds, and i followed their advice all with unhealthy. everything's fine. news of fangs good work. got around and with it more and more donations, he raised the equivalent of a $150000.00 euros to fund thousands of quarantine care bags. his top priority is making sure people have enough to eat or shot that i want to appeal to class for all 319 towns in taiwan. am. if you got young beach food bank could also cover the needs of neighboring villages. so when good, when there's another pandemic or emergency will be able to respond rather than waiting for government help or joking she don't. with selena. these days, the number of coven 19 deaths are much reduced in taiwan 2,

but fung wants to continue ensuring that no one in his community or elsewhere in the country is forced to go hungry. oh this so seated some of the pandemic heroes and our next and final edition you can hear from the team have been producing okay with 900 special for more than 2 years now. goodbye till then. and stay healthy. ah ah, with

a conflict with sarah kelly, my guest this week on comp zone is over now and foreign policy expert who has spent most of her career analyzing vladimir putin, russia. fiona hill joined me from washington where she has advised for us presidents and co author to book on. where does she think the war is heading?

was this plan all along or have decades in power changed? conflict zone in 30 minutes john d w. do you see a does this, he's a young user in to the south of the country because they can no longer afford city life. it's extremely hot, but then a smoking cityscape will landscape 90 minutes, d, w. and what our sport all about in winning fighting scoring we say they're about never giving up the most exciting sport stories about people,

their passion and their drive sport life every weekend on d. w. and making the headlines and what's behind them. dw news africa, they show that the issues have been the continent. life is slowly getting back to normally on the street to give you enough reports on the inside. our correspond that was on the ground reporting from across the continent all the time stuff, the mob you d, w is africa every friday on d w with i just click aware find out best documentary on you to really good morning.

see the world as you've never seen it before. describe no t d w documentary. ah ah, ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin. a massive winter storm threatens holiday plans for millions of americans. their lines have already cancelled thousands of flights, leaving many passengers scrambling. the storm is forecast to bring bone chilling arctic temperatures and snow to much of north america. president biden urges americans to pro.