brent: this is "dw news," live from berlin. tonight, america's largest city braces to become the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. the number of new cases is skyrocketing in new york, stretching the city's health care system to the limit. will a massive aid package help bring relief? also coming up, the coronavirus and greece's squalid migrant cacamps. with tens of thohousands packedd closely together, the threatff infection is high.

activists say the eu must act now to take people to safety. plus, the u.s. government charges venezuelan president nicolas maduro with narco terrorism and drug trafficking. the charges mark a big escalation in washington's campaign to drive would euro from office. -- maduroro from office. the u.s. is also offering millions of dollars in information leading to maduro's capture. ♪ i'm brent goff. to our viewers on pbs in the united states and all around the world, welcome. the united states is well on its way to becoming the new epicenter of the covid-19 pandemic. the country's death toll has now topped 1000, and with nearly 70,000 confirmed cases, the country trails only italy and china in the highest number of infections. the u.s. economy is also reeling, with the crisis fueling a record surge in unemployment

claims last week. meanwhile, the country's largest city, new york, is struggling to cope. hospitals are overwhelmed and authorities have resorted to building makeshift morgues. reporter: fear is growing rapidly across new york, as is the number of people infected with coronavirus. many have to wait in line here in front of elmhurst hospital in queens. doctors worry the health system could collapse. >> we are definitely seeing 30, 40, 50-year-olds with no diabetes, no coronary artery disease, no high blood pressure. very much otherwise healthy individuals. reporter: state governor andrew cuomo is trying to set up as many beds as possible, 1000 in this congress center alone. aside from staff shortages, he is also concerned about a lack of ventilators. >> ventilators, ventilators, ventilators. we need 30,000.

we have in the existing hospital system, 4000 ventilators. this is just in the normal operation of hospitals, etc. reporter: as more people are tested, the number of known infections grows. the virus had spread here for weeks before testing was made possible. new york is trying desperately to stay up and running. subway trains and buses are still operating.g. there's constantnt cleaning.g. but the city is being forced to prepare for the worst. cooler trucks stand ready behind the public bellevue hospital as makeshift morgues. brent: for more on this let's bring in dw's stefan simons in washington dc. good evening to you. is this a case in new york that the authorities have acted and responded too late to this outbreak? stefan: i think it's fair to say you could say this for the entire united states. the response came too late. there were red flags, enough red

flags. and the state governments as well as the federal government came a little bit too late to the party. you will remember that the federal government here, president donald trump right behind me in the white house, made an absolute active effort to downplay and underplay the threat of the coronavirus crisis in the u.s. however, it is alslso fair and must be said, that specifically governor andrew cuomo from new york, and new york itself, as soon as was aware of what was going to come heading their way in terms of this crisis, put really draconic and fast measures into play here. however, whatever you hear from the governor in the next few days, or the last few days in terms of numbers, trajectory, what they need, this is the beginning of a crisis. and new york is already an epicenter, but this is the beginning of what they are looking at. brent: we are talking of half of the cases in the united states

being in new york. why is the infection rate so high there? have medical authorities given us an explanation? stefan: no, not really. it is because, like almost every other metropolitan, super metropolitan area -- but new york is "the" one in america of course -- that the cities are open for business. travel still happened, not just international travel from tourists, which ceased after the europe and chinese travel ban, but domestically also. so, that is how you create hotbeds. let's not forget, california has a big problem, too. l.a. and other metropolitan areas in the united states. louisiana, n new orleans will le one of the next ones, that is what the experts say. brent: we e know the number of americans filing claims for unemployment benefits shot to a record high. last week, more than three million. and the economy before this pandemic hit, the economy was doing very well.

is the u.s. prepared to deal with this shock? stefan: you are absolutely right, you said it, record, record unemployment. just in one week, 3.2 million and something else. this is up from 280,000 just before coronavirus hit the united states. so the stimulus package, $2 trillion. sounds great, is good because it is better than nothing, but all the experts say it is just a band-aid for now, and everybody is expecting there has to be more to come to get this economy, which is in shock right now, out of this state. brent: stetefan simons with the latest in washington tonight. thank you. the united states government is offering $15 million reward for information leading to the arrest of venezuelan president nicolas maduro. the bounty comes as the u.s. justice department officially charged maduro and other senior

officials in the country with drug trafficking. in several indictments, washington is a curing maduro and his allies of converting venezuela into a criminal enterprise and stealing billions from the country. let's take a listen to what u.s. attorney general william barr said when he announced the charges earlier today. >> the indictment of nicolas maduro and his codefendants alleges a conspiracy involving an extremely violent terrorist organization known as the revolutionary armed forces of colombia, farc, and an effort to flood the united states with cocaine. brent: for more now we want to go to dw's correspondent for south america, nicole for lish joining us from colombia's capital bogota. this is not a big surprise. the timing is certainly surprising. do we know why the charges are being filed now?

nicole: not really. over the past year we have seen the u.s. ramping up pressure on the maduro regime. this is certainly not the first time a u.s. government official is calling him a narco terrorist. he has been accused over and over of harboring farc rebels and even hezbollah fighters. so in this is a natural next step, but a very important one indeed. because the u.s. government has gone from calling him complicit in this drug trafficking scheme to actually identifying him as the head of the cartel, a position which he allegedly orchestrated drug shshipments cocoming from colombia to venezuela, provided the farc rebels with weapons, pulled the swings -- strings in parliament to facilitate dropship mitts

going to the u.s. via countries like honduras, and even used farc rebels to train a militia whole sole purpose was to protect the operations of this cartel. according to the justice department, the idea behehind al this was not just personal enrichment. maduro and his allies are accused of trying to flood the united states with cocaine, using cocaine as a weapon to debilitate the citizens of the united states. and there are also reports coming out of the white house indicating that donald trump was growing more and more impatient with the situation not moving forward. so that might have also been a factor in the timing and certainly in this approach growing a lot more radical. brent: we know that the bounty here is $15 million. that is a lot of money to most people. it is not a lot of money in the drug trafficking world. how does the united states think that that amount will help them detain maduro? nicole: for now the u.s. denies

seeking direct involvement in venezuela. so a military operation, they are trying to get their hands on nicolas maduro seems highly unlikely. what this money can certainly help them do is crack the system from within. they are seeking defections within maduro's party and mostly within the military, because if maduro is still in power it is because of the ongoing support he receives from the country's army. the attorney general william barr did not give too much detail about the plans the justice department had on getting their hands on nicolas maduro. so the endgame here isn't compleletely clear. but it seems like they are trying to stifle his support system in order to have juan guaido, the man recognized as the gym it venezuelan president

by 50 countries -- legitimate venezuelan president by 50 countries, move in, and then have maduro extradited to the u.s. where you can be brought to legal justice. brent: nicole frolich reporting from bogota. nicole, thank you. claims for un-limit benefits in the united states rocketed on more than 3 million last week. compare that to just 250,000 the week before. it is the highest ever jump in a single week in u.s. history. the hardest hit sector, services, reflecting the closure of businesses such as restaurants and bars. economists expect the number claiming unemployment and if it's to rise further while much of the united states remains in lockdown. for more now let's go to our financial correspondent jens korte in new york. good afternoon to you.

those unemployment figures are staggering and shocking but not surprising. how is the business world and the markets reacting to them? jens: well, it did come a little bit as a shock. we knew that the numbers would not be good, but actually that figure is more than double the number of what economists expected before. and yes to a certain degree it is no surprise. just look around. a sickly all the stores are closed. it does not matter if it is your hairdresser, nail salon, bars, telecommunication companies. clearly economists expect that we will get a lot of numbers like that in the weeks ahead. brent: today the chairman of the u.s. fed saying that the u.s. is most likely already in a recession. but investors on wall street did not let them phase -- let that

phase them. why not? jens: trading is completely crazy because if you look at what happened in the last three days including today, today futures were up by another 6%, more than 1300 points. so in those three days the market traded to the upside by 20%. we are by now talking possibly about the best week since 1932. so hope is that the federal reserve actually will have more money at hand if necessary, and probably tomorrow the house and congress in general will approve the $2 trillion rescue package. that is not really going to get the economy going now. but, well, it is at least some help, some rescue for some small and bigger companies and also for people who are getting unemployed. but what we have experienced on wall street this week is pretty

unusual, if not crazy. brent: jens korte in front of the new york stock exchange, thank you very much. here are some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world. china has ordered airlines to cut their international flights eveven further to prevent the coronavirus from being brought from overseas back into the country. carriers will now only be allowed to run one route to each country and only fly once a week. china is hoping to avoid a second spike in virus cases caused by people returning to china. the german engineering and technology company bosch says it has developed a coronavirus test that can deliver results within 2.5 hours. that is around twice as fast as the current systems used here in germany. bosch says it's test is 95% accurate, and is designed for use at medical facilities such as hospitals and doctors offices.

the european parliament in brussels is debating special measures to cushion the economic impact of the pandemic. eu leaders met via video conference to discuss steps to mitigate the crisis. but in a speech to lawmakers, european commission president ursula von der leyen expressed her dismay at member states' lack of solidarity, including their decisions to close their borders. >> when europe really needed an all-for-one spirit, too many initially gave an only-for-me response. and when europe really needed to prove that this is not only a fairweather union, too many initially refused to share their umbrella. but it was not long before some felt the consequences of their own uncoordinated action. a successful european response can only be coordinated if our

internal market and our areas work the way it should. a crisis without borders cannot be resolved by putting barriers between us. brent: let's go to georg matthes is following the developments in brussels. georg, we had a pretty strong condemnation there today. where does ursula von der leyen see this lack of solidarity now? georg: let me give you two examples. one is the export of those essential masks, but also protective gear for doctors. and that export did not take place. italy for instance needed those masks, and they did not get them from a fellow eu member state, but in the end they got them from china. another example is the closure of national borders at a time of crisis, creating traffic jams, risking the frequent flow of goods in the internal market.

and that is why ursula von der leyen has said let's coordinate all of this, let's make a european stockpile, let's also make sure we close the external borders so that internal borders can remain open. brent: ok, those are her suggestions. what came out of the videoconference today? were there any solutions that were offered? georg: it looks like we are having a rout here over the financial means to help in the corona crisis.s. in other words, help the economy. there's a draft conclusion of thisis virtualal summit, and in, it says the european stability mechanism should be e used and financnce ministers should look into thahat. there is howowever no mentioning of so-called corona bonds, or mutual bonds in the eu, because behind the scenes already, the netherlands, but also germany said they do not want these bonds. they still belieie that natitios

in europe can get that from the debt market, so they are still stable. so those means are not necessary yet. but the italian prime minister in the meantime has already said he has rejected those draft conclusions, and he has given the eu 10 days to come up with an adequate plan how to financially secure the future of europe. brent: yeah, it seems like we are going from one crisis to the next at the moment. georg matthes on the story for us in brussels. georg, thank you. the coronavirus poses an acute danger to the thousands of people who are living in greece's overcrowded migrant camps. on lesbos and other greek islands, tens of thousands of refugees are packed together in filthy conditions with little health care. an o outbreak ofof the coronavis could be devevastating. reporter: lesbos a few days ago. migrants sew face masks, offering protection to others in the camps here, as well as new arrivals. now though, the island is in lockdown.

built to house 3000, 20,000 pepeople live in this camp. now it is cut off frfrom the outside world. peter from doctors without borders says his organization has long been calling for an evacuation. and now things are much worse. >> they know they are trapped, and they know there are no measures taken by the authorities to protect them against the virus. and that is another issue. so there is a real threat that this will be a medical and a humanitarian catastrophe. but there is also the fear that is going on. you might see a lot of panic. reporter: hygiene is a big problem here. and d with social didistancing vivirtually impossssible, any infection which spread extremely rapidly. there are just six intensive care beds in the island's main town. the very weak and sick including children would have to be transported to the mainland. germany's spd d party has apappd to actction. >> germany and some other

european nations havave offeredo start by t taking in around 1500 people, mainly unaccompanied or sick children. it's just an initial step, and it now needs to happen very quickly. reporter: the european commission is responsible for coordinating it all. an evacuation would be quick to organize, says this migration expert. >> there are 800,000 beds and -- in hotels in greece, with only around 7000 in use. 10,000 people on the islands could be accommodated on the mainland. the international organization for migration is now building temporary safer camps to move people to. reporter: yet so far there has been no evacuation. it is titime for european solidarity. those with refugee status living on the mainland can be taken in by other eu countries, with all the accompanying health care protection they offer. m.e.p. erik has been on lesbos

for several weeks. he has been documenting the inhumane conditions of the camps. >> the eu commission must coordinate the quick evacuation of people from refugee camps to individual member countries, and we must work out how to ensure that hygiene and medical standards are adhered to. reporter: the eu commission says it hopes that countries will be able to begin taking in children within the next few weeks. brent: uganda confirmed its first case of coronavirus last saturday. since then, the number of infections has reason to 14. the president announced a raft of measures today to contain the spread of the virus, including losing schools and businesses and a ban on public transport. the restrictions have left many frustrated and facing economic uncertainty. dw reports from the capital. reporter: the taxi park is one

of our busiest ports. hundreds of thousands of people come here. but this isis how it lookoks to. empty. no public transportation, no passengers. uganda's presidentnt has ordered ththe police and military to ban public transportation in the interest of public health. >> we are from afar. for that reason we cannot manage to access the lower areas, and at this time we are here in town, we have nothing to do. it's likike all life is stuck. >> i am asking the president to allow us to access our social security fund which is there to help us in retirement or when we are physically disabled. because this situation is no different than physicacal disabilityty. >> this is the toughest situation i have ever experienced in my life.

this feels worse than a war. reporter: the shops h here are closed, following the presidential directive. to open only those which serve food. and official items like medical supplies. thousands of people who work here have no alternative source of income, but health experts say that conontent gain -- contn ththe spread of f the virus, everyone must observe social distancing. so far there is no better way to do that than to stay at home. brent: people in germany are looking forward to asparagus arriving in the shops, because it means that spring is here. but supplies of that tasty vegetable, if you like it, may be scarce this year because of the coronavirus. asparagus is mostly harvested by workers from other countries, but with borders closed, they cannot get to germany. farmers fear their crops be left to rot in the fields appealed --

fields. reporter: the clock is ticking for asparagus farmers. up to 300,000 fruit pickers will not arrive from p poland, roman, with the balkans in time. >> the current situation is a disaster. how are we supposed to harvest now? reporter: while germany's agriculture minister stresses that food supplies are safe and sufficient, the government hopes tax breaks for people with spare time will help address the shortage of helping hands. >> we are aware of that situation, and we know about the sources of workers in the fields. that is why on monday we decided to provide other opportunities to the people who are affected here in germany, and to give more flexibility to seasonal workers. reporter: in addition, the government has launched a website to attract volunteerers. wishshful thinking, say many farmers. >> we really needed our

professionals from eastern europe. they do a great job. harvest has started and voluntnteers say t they can worn ththe ternrnoon for a few hoursr maybe on saturday and sunday. but aspararagus grows at leasast seven centimeters a day. it needs to be harvested daily. reporter: asparagus farmers across germany are bracing themselves for having to let theieir food rot in the field. strawberries are next, with more and more farmers fearing this slow to the supply chain can mean the end to their business. brent: unbelievable. people everywhere are finding creative ways to learn and to keep fit under the restrictions imposed during this coronavirus pandemic. here in germany, the country's biggest basketball club as been helping kids who are stuck at home to do both. more and more are tuning into their sport lesson every morning. take a look.

reporter: this 10-year-old is at home a lot just now. schools closed in berlin last week, but that does not mean he has to miss out on lessons. >> it's best to throw the ball from your wrist so that it flies in a good curve to make a go forward from behind your back. that means we bend our wrist and try to throw the ball over our back. reporter: the lesson runs on youtube every working day from the player's dressing room. coaches -- with 120 coaches at the club, they know what they are doing. there dressing room is turned into a tv studio five days a weekek. >> we know the scschools and kindergartens are closed. wenow this is really bad for the k kids, but alslso bad for e coaches. but we knew w we h had to be fa. the firirst day o of no school s

the perfect day for starting. for psychology reasons. somehow we really did it and everybody loves it. reporter: the online lessons have had millions of clicks. they are succeeding in the digital world, if not on the basketball court. he seems quite happy with it, despite having to stay at home. >> i hope they k keep it g goin. it's reallyy excititing and youn learn a lot about basketball. brent: not a slamdunk yet. after a short break i will be back to take you through "the day." stick around for that. ♪ [capaptioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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