captioning sponsored by wnet > sreenivasan: on this edition for sunday, april 12: sunday from home astay-at-home orders remain in place globally. in our signature segment: coronavirus spreads in central at frica, jusas they nearly hit a milestone in the defeat of another epidemic. ♪ ♪ and "dis-dancing: the global dco bringing people together. next on "pbs newshour weekend." >>ma pbs newshour weekend i possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. r wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein family. rosalind p. walter. rb a hope zuckerberg. bl charle rosen.

we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. group, retirement services and investments. >> consumer cellular offers no contract wireless plans that are designed to help you do more o the things yoyoenjoy, whether re a talker, texter, browser, photographer or a bit of everything. our u.s.-based customer service team is here to find a plan that fits you. to learn more, go to www.consumercellular.tv. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbios stfrom viewers like you. thank you. >> sreenivasan: we are continuing to bring you our reporting from multiple locations on this easter sunday. stayin distancing and wking remotely whenever possible. here in new york city, there are some signs the virus may be slowing, but it continues to

spread across the country and around the globe. top news:ed with today's ♪ ♪ for billions of christians thisa was a differener, many across the country and around the world worshipped from tir homes as churches and cathedrals offered broadcast and online services. >> we miss you though. we'd rather you be here, physically. >> sreenivasan: from new york's saint patrick's cathedral to n ery state, t coronavirus pandemic created new rituals foron mil president trump remained at the white house and released a recorded easter message. this easter will be much different from others, because in many cases we'll bseparated physically only from our churche we won't be sitting there next to each other which we'd like to be, and soon will be again. >> sreanenivdespite stay-at- home orders and online services, a few pastors went ahead with services in person.

there are now more than 530,000 co-1nfirmed cases of covidin the u.s. of the more than 20,000 dehs close, to 30% have been in new rk city. but infections are widespread and still growing. the centers for disease control and prevention reports more than a dozen states now have at least 5,.000 cases ea with the different ratesf inngfection and the ri unemployment rate, dr. anthony fauci said this morning there is a thpossibility some areas o country could see businesses begin to reopen next month in what he called a "rolling re- entry." >> it is notoing to be a light switch that we say, "okay, it is now june, july, or whatever, clic the light switch goes back on." it's going to be depending wre you are in the country, the nature of the outbreak that you've already experienced, and the threat of an outbreak that you may not have experienced. i think it's going to have to be something that is not one size fits all.

>> sreenivasan: today, british prime minister boris johnson was released from the hospital after almost a week. johnson was taken to st. thomas' hospil in london last sunday after suffering persistent symptoms from covid-19. he spent several days in an nit.nsive care in a video statement today, johnson thanked the national health service, or n.h.s., for his saving his life. >> in the last seven days i have of co surn the pressure that the n.h.s. is under. i have seen the personal courage not just of the doctors and nurses, but of everyone. the cleaners, the cooks, the healthcare workers of every description. osphysiraiographers, pharmacists, who have kept cominorg to kept putting themlves in harms way, kept riskiusng this deadly vir >> sreenivasan: johnson is not immediately returning to work, and is continuing his recovery at thrye prime minister's count residence. johnson's release comes as the u.k. marks a grim milestone:fi als announced today that virus-related hospital deaths

surpassed 1000. for the second time in a week, queen elizabeth released a message to the british people. in an audio statement, the3- year-old monarch said that" coronavirus will not overcome us." >> this year, eastewill be different for many of us, but by keeping apart we keep others safe. but easter isn't cancelled, indeed we need easter as much as ever. >> eevasan: christians all over the world followed social distancing guidelines on this easter sunday, as worshippers kept their distance. in a mostly empty st. peter's for solidarity in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, saying self-centeredness as the world faces t the challenether. in spain, a national lockdown forced spanish christians to stay at home, and this mass, which normally would have had nearly 2,000 people in attendance, was livestreamed instead. in germany, priests held mass at

a drive-in movie theater. parishioners, in their own cars, could worsp, while still keeping their distance. and in kenya, clergymen wearing masks held mass inn empty church. to hear about how your smartphone could help trace the spread of covid-19, visit pbs.org/newshour to hear our interview with m.i.t.'s ramesh raskar. >> sreenivasan: compared to other parts of the world, coronavirus was slow to reach the continent of africa, but the ctinn is spreading rapidly. the number of confirmed covid-19 cases on the connent has grown to more than 13,000, with around 700 deaths so far. this new pandemic comes at a time when areas in c africa had just about claimed ebola.y in the battle against newshour weekend special video journaorgen samsomoran and bring us the story. >> reporter: on march 3, in this ebola clinic in the city of beni

in the democratic republic of celebrated aestone.workers semida masika was their last ebola patient-- and she was cured. before masika left the clinic for home, she thanked the doctors and nurses who saved her. >> ( translated ): frankly, i don't know what to te you. i only ask god toless your work and your efforts. >> reporter: ebola can cause headaches, fever, and severe hemorrhaging. ibyt's transmitteontact with bodily fluids. without treatment, it is nearly always fat. the outbreak has infected more than 3,500 people and taken mor0 than 2,lives. it was the largest in the congo's history, and the second- largest in the world, after the 2ic014 outbreak in west aa. but now, ebola treatment centers are quiet-- almost. until yesterday, no new cases had been reported since february 17, and the 21-day incubation period was about to expire for theti secon. the world health organization seemed poised to declare that the epidemic was over.

then, a single case was reported. and so, the fight coinues. but getting even this fahas en an extraordinary achievement. ibrahima socé fall is the w.h.o.'s assistant director- general for emergencies response. >> it took a lot of work to come to this point. you have recorded more than 3,500 cases, and over 2,000 deaths in this very complex environment. >> reporter: this outbreak began north of the country.e remote ebola then reached major cities, including here in beni, and risked spreading across east africa and beyond. thousands of intngnational and olese health workers took part in the response. they worked n treatment centers.♪ ♪ and they helped bury the dead. trying to end this outbreak has not been easy. for the past 20 twenty years, this opartf africa has been convulsed by war. that sometimes prevented health workers from reaching patients.t

>> you have mon, you know, more than 100 armed groups operating in that area. so, reach the most remote areas was extremely difficult for our teams. >> reporter: authorities set up checkpoints on major roads to take the temperature of travelers. anyone with a fever was told t isolatthemselves at home, and tracked in case their condition deteriored. health workers had access to a new vaccine, and it was used to immunize more than 300,000 congolese. butof the spread misinformation caused major setbacks. some churches spread falsehoods yiabout ebola, sa, for example, that it could be cured with holy water. meanwhile, other rumors, including one that ebola didn't plot to control the population,a went viral on social media atforms. the result was deep mistrust of the ebola response. many patients rinused to share rmation with medical workers attempting to track and monitor tir contacts.

trish newport worked in ebola treatment centers for the i mnternationical group doctors without borders. she understands why the population was concerned. >> if i didn't trust someone and i had ebola in, the people i didn't trust came to me and they saa id, can you give mst at everyone close to you in your life so i can go to their home and follow them twice a day for i t mistrust culminated in startling violence against ebola responders. rebel groups and angry civilians attacked health centers killing 11 health workers, and injuring dozen the violence prompted ebola responders to suspend operations. some health workers even went into hiding. newport says communities only began to cooperate with ebola responders once they were allowed to participate in their own care more directly. for exampl by building their own isolation and treatment whits. >> s they had a center that they trusted and they felt connected to, it made such a

difference and it made such a difference in the transmission in the community,ecause as soon as someone got slightly sick they just came. >> rerter: meanwhile, medical workers used the airwaves to tackle false or misleading rumors. and brought lessons on ebola and prevention directly to schools and markets. katson maliro worked for the w.h.o. on the communication efforts. >> as the number of ebola cases wentdown the community started to have confidence in us. we told them, oy, you followed our preventative measures, and now look, the disease is leaving your village. that was a huge joy. >> reporter: joy. but, not quite yet victory. even as the democratic republic ocoo is pivoting to stopping the spread of coronavirus by using many of the same measures it has used in the fight to defeat ebola. >> ( translated ): covid-19 is a disease of contact, just that. without contact, there's no contamination. just like ebola.

the fight against ebola helped the commuity understand th f we could alht against other diseases, just by washing our hands. that's so satisfying for us. >> reporter: the world health organization nes that many more congolese are now trained on the treatment of infectious diseases tha theirork during the ebola crisis. one of them is nurse kavira kavota. >> ( translated ): a lot of foreigners me here with their own experience and they trained us. in the event of a new outbreak, we'll be able to take charge of the response ourselves. >> reporter: frontline healt workers like kavota are going but theyear toe on the. verge of oneictory, at least r now. >> reenivasan: what we learned from the ebola outbreak, between 2014 and 2016 helped lay the

groundwork for the more recent respoadnse to the less epemic in the democratic republic of congo. but, as we've just heard, pandemics are hard to contain for a nuber of reasons. lauren baer was senior advisor to secretary of state hillary clinton during the obama administration and says there are still steps that can be taken to help control the world today.pandemic facing the so lauren, what did we learn as a government, as a country from fighting ebola? >> earlys action critical to getting ahead of an infectious disease an forestalling a potential pandemic. and what we realized right from the outset was that this had the potential to be not on a public health crisis, but also an economic crisis, also a grave threat to america's nationalty secuand because of that, because it was such a complex and multifaceted problem, we eded a coordinated whole of

government response right from that's why you saw the obama administration create an ebolaar and that's why you saw it lead in the wake of ebola an entire office within the national security council dedicated to dealing with the risk of pandemics and response to them if they arose. >> sreivasan: what's the difference on whether that office exists at the nfc or it doesn't? the difference is do you have the players and the experts on hand at the outset who are going to help you tackle a problem before it becom a real crisis. one thing i want to convey to the american public is that this didn't have to be this way. we didn't need to be dealing with deaths and just the fear on the scale that we have in the united states here, but what you have with trump and his administration was almost am. perfect st right?

you have a leader who dislikes science, who distrusts experts. so he gets rid of that pandemic response office. he throws away the playbook. he ignores the warning that werh given in his daily intelligence briefings. you've got someone who doesn't like international cperation, so he missed the opportunity at the outset for the u.s. to exercise global leadership and coordinate a global response to coronavirus. he failed to take the early actions like ramping up testing, like encouraging social distanng way back in january that would have enabled us to get ahead of the virus. >> sreenivasan: what are steps the administration can still take that it's in the too later? >> it's never too late to cede control to the experts who really understand the se, how it's spreading, and the controls that need to be put many placeo ensure that we

suffer t least in this country, and interestingly this week, you have seen cries for that from within the republican party itself asking trump to step aside, put the medical perts front and center. the second thing that the government han do, e been hearing a lot on the news about things like the defense producti act, which would enable the u.s. government to ramp up production of things like ventilators and persky fori our l personnel. this administration has invoked, that but they can still do more to ensure that our front-line healthcare workers getting what they need. the other thing the government dinate is really coor action amongst states. the federal government is uniquely equped to set nationwide policies andda sts that all states should be adhering to. and i was reading last night, for example, there are ten states that still don't hav statewide lockdowns. and that's a very frightening

thing when we have seen the speed at which a cluster can arise when people move across state lines. >> sreenivasan: internationally, considering your position from the state department, what can the united states do now to take perhaps,as delayed it may be, a leadership role in trying to coordinate what countries are doing? inistrationp adm needs to recognize that this pandemic is as much afes u.s. global leadership as any war. they canake some of the same steps that they could domestically, which iso say, you need to ede control to the experts on the international stage. we need to keep politics out of this. and we need to allow our u.s. experts to coordinate with public health leaders globally so that we can bring the full weight of the u.s. government to bear. >> sreenasan: one he things, lauren, that we saw w

asian country's, their response, it seemed they had learnefrom sars. what's the case in african countries? are they likely to be more pr or not given that they have faced challenges like ebola before? >> what was critical to tamping down on ebola was the fact that you had a coordinated global response. i would sayy thee less equipped now because we haven't seen that same glob presence we did in the ebola crisis. >> sreenivasan: lauren baer, thanks so money for joining us.> hank you for having me. >> sreenivasan: quarantine means the end of so many normal social orituals, they're almost numerous to count. tet, as newhour weekend's iv feliciano reports, some people still just want to get together and dance-- and they aren't ing to let being miles apart get in the way. >> reporter: each tuesday and

friday night for t last month, dozens of people from across the u.s. and around the world have gotten together for a dance party. as you can see, it arantine-friendly. it's called "the social disdance party." people and it felt really good and it was good to see each anher and get a chance to laugh move our bodies and sweat a little bit. >> reporter: ani taj conceived of the social disdance party last month with some frien and colleagues from the dance cartel, a performance group she directs in new york city. normally, thtroupe tours live dj sets audiencecombines participation as part of its shows. >> it s starting t on us watching what's been happening in other countries that, oh, we might be inside for a while. and there was a kind of gloomy feeling in the air. and i had this moment where i was ke, oh, we're not gonna able to dance for a while.

like the thing that i treat as very ordinary and part o healing and laughing and socializing and like really key to my thriving is not going to be available. and when that dawned on me, i ju, like, i put on social media. does anybody wanet to do a danc party on zoom? >> reporter: the process for partygoers is simple. log into the zoom meeting where the party is held. sehot up your camerausing your computer or phone. finally, log onto another websitcalled mixlr. d.j. set there, created especially for the event, is broaast live. and th... get to dancing! ♪ ♪ ree, butt is participants can choose to donate to the hosts and d.j.'s, or they cagive money to the various causes the organizers call attention to at each rty. the events are advertised on instagram, and people have joined from around the globe. was just filled with such a joy when a new friend would pop to the screen it was literally

like they walked into the room that i was in. i wu'ould be like, oh, here, too. you know, it's like when you're a big house party and another friorend walks through the it had that same feeling. >> you can be on your own dancing and then look to somebody, connect with the moves, i miss this, going to the nightclub and meeting somebody extremely new. and the social disdance is like going to my nightclub. just staying in my house. i think that's the most precious thing. >> for me, when i'm moving in, when i'm dancing, i'm actually able to process my feelings and thoughts about this moment in history a lot better than when so to be able to share that in commueenity vital. >> reysporter: ani taj ith every week the social disdance partyl is proving to fgap for folks who need connection and relief during this difficult time. >> it's freeing, i think, for people to express themselves in

a physical way where they don't have to explain what they're thinking and feeling. and you can kind of like get the fears outhysiologically, because we all have a lot of anxiety and kind of pent up feeling right now. and i know for me thatance is really good for channeling that. so i hope it can be for other peopletoo. >> sreenivasan: as everyone knows, america's children are ing tochool online these days, and how that will affect education is yet to be known. but as newshour weekend special correspondent karla murthy reports, classroom social distancing does not have to mean the end of social traditions. >> reporter: this is what second grade class used to look like at this elemenootary sin new york city. now, it looks like this: >> good morning, jason. good morning, sevens.

>> reporter: but even now, these secondraders have kept up the tarradition of g their highs and lows at the end of the week, and what they're looking forward to. aa roshorn and a bud. >> are you ready to share? would you like thshare? >> ye but i only have a rose. >> that's okay. >>st watching "lego s" with my dad. >> my rose is going to this awesome sea glass beach on wednesday. thisere were like ig sizes of sea glass. >> me and my dad were building garden beds and shoveling dirt. and i thought that was really fun. >> being able to be with my guia gs while doing handwriting. >> my rose was lila's birthday. >> my thorn is not being able te you guys. and, yeah. >> i'm writing a book abouti

mals, and i have some trouble thinking of stuff about leopard frogs. >> my thorn is going to see my grndparents, 'cause they have coronavirus so it's, really hd to see them, like, through a window and not, like, be able to be there with them. >> my bud is making banana brea. to >> it's friday, so it's movie so me and my sister are going to tch "star wars." >> my bud is-- and i have two budseaster and i'm also looking forward to seeing you guys again. >> yeah. same.

>> sreenivasan: as this weekendc and the holidaebrated by millions worldwide, draws to a close, we want to take a moment to again honor the people on the frontlines of this battle against the coronavirus. our thanks to the doctors, nurses, emergency medical teams and scientists and to the wraorkers driving buses ands and others in grocery stores, warehouses, and in shops and stores large and small who are also caring f us in so many ways. that's all for this edition of" pbs newshour weend." r the latest news uptes visit pbs.org/newshour. i'hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. stay healthy and have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> s newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz.

sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein family. rosalind p. walter. lcharles rosenbuckerberg. we tryo live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we e beliking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. group, retirement services and investments. ioddl support has been provided by: aatnd by the corpn for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. you're watching pbs.

ramin setoodeh: who better to get inside an actor's head than another actor? charlize theron: i love when a filmmaker believes more in me than i believe in myself. ramin: variety studio invites you to go beyond theed carpet with hollywood's a list. alfre woodard: my favorite place to be in the world is between action and cut. shia: this job makes me love things. ramin: with adam driver and charlize theron. cynthia erivo and alfre woodard. and shia labeouf and kristen stewart. ramin: welcome to variety studios "actors on actors." i'm ramin setoodeh. in this episode, we'll spotlight some of the most captivating movie performances of the year. adam driver and charlize thefln are known for playined, complicated characters that keep you guessing. in "marriage story" oscar nominee adam driver lends empathy to a portrait of a family man in the middle of a divorce.