>> this is dw news, live from berlin. tonight in the surge of the pandemic, the governor of new york makes an urgent a appel for volunteers to fight the coronavirus. as the u.s. navy hospital ship, comfort, arrives with 1,000 beds, the governor warns of a staggering number of deaths in the pandemic, most of them are in new york city. also coming up, the coronavirus pandemic, a menace to migrants. aid groupss say t that grereeces

overcrowded migrant camps should be evacuated. they warn an outbreak from the island of lesesbos would be catastrophe. and for millions in india, the fear of starvation, greater than the fear of infection. workers who have lost their jobs try to get home in a mass exodus from the cities. is this a pandemic's perfect storm? i'm brent goff. our viewers on pbs and the united states and all around the world, welcome. tonight it is getting desperate in new york. the state governor, andrew cuomo, has made an urgent appeal for medical volunteers amid what he's calling a staggering number of deaths from the coronavirus. the plea came as the death toll in the state climbed past 1200. most of them in new york city. so far, around 80,000 former medical professionals have answered the call.

meanwhile, a us navy hospital ship has arrived to help relieve pressure on new york city's hospitals. >> aa welcome sight for new yor. as the battle against the coronavirus ramps up. a u.s. navy medical ship with 1,000 beds, docked in new york harbor on monday. the mayor spoke of the city's frayed nerves with hospitals already stretched to a breaking point. >> we've all been thrhrough a lt thesese lastt few weeks. and w we needed this boost. wewe needed this hope that's beg createdd by our brothers and sisters in thehe u.s. navy and e marine corps. reporter: central park in the middle of manhattan is the latest site to be taken over by a field hospital. but new york has been caught in a war of words. president donald trump says that medical equipment already in place should be enough for the

city. but the mayor and the state governor say they both need more help from the federal government to be ready for what's coming. >> it is a fundamental blunder to only prepare for today. that's why, in some ways, we are where we are. we've been behind this virus from day one. you have the scientists and the data projections showing you a curve. ththe curve goes like this. you're over here. prepare for the high point of the curve and doo it now! when are you gonna do it, the night ever? reporter: monday was even national doctors' day. but in new york, they've had no chance to celebrate. they're on the front lines in a city where the coronavirus death toll is riding rapidly -- rising rapidly. >> there is coronavirus fallout for the u.s. economy.

another big retailer is getting rid of workers. the department store, macy's, announcing it will temporarily lay off the majority of its 130,000 employees, without pay. macy's joins a growing list of american retailers who are laying off employees in a bid to save cash while their sales disappear. the department store depends heavily on foot traffic and was already struggling before the crisis. unemployment claims in the united states are ballooning due to measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus. all right. i'm joined now by our financial correspondent in new york. good afternoon to you. macy's laying off its employees. but wasn't that $2 trillion stimulus bill passed last week by the u.s. congress, wasn't it supposed to help these big companies so that they don't have to lay off their workers? >> well, i mean, what's going to

happen is that it will probably help the workers. i'm not sure if they're really getting laid off or if they just have to leave for now and then wait and see what's going to happen. but if you look at it, here in the united states, depending on -- average people get unemployment aid, about 45% of their salary. and with this aid package that congress passed friday, that's actually going to increase the amount that the workers at department storeres like macy's, for example, can claim now. the whole thing is not unlimited, but at least it will help the pain a little bit for those people like in the case of macy's, who are not able to go to work right now or who are laid off entirely. >> and if we look at stocks today on wall street, they're looking fairly good today. how do you explain that?

>> it's a complete disconnect from the news flow, what we see at the markets, the past couple of days. just take last week, for example. we had, as you already mentioned, those devastating numbers from the job market. and what happened on wall street, we had the best week since 1938. i mean, clearly before we hit those huge drops. but there is a lot of, well, gambling going on, speculation. you can't really put it any other way. we did see the blue chips up by almost 700 points here, on the monday session. we did see some bigger losses when it comes to the airlines. boeing, for example, was the loser in the dow jones industrial average. if you look at what happens with air -- we are about 90% down coming to airport and travelers

from today in comparison to the same time last year. so you do see all those effects. but wall street is having its own life here at the moment. >> all right. financial correspondent, joining us from new york. thank you. well, around the world, social distancing has become the new mantra for a lot of people. but in greece's overcrowded migrant camps, that is practically impossible. conditions were already unsanitary there before the outbreak. and many migrants, they, like many of us, have preexisting health conditions. aid organizations are now calling for the most vulnerable residents in the camps to be evacuated to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe. >> in the refugee camp, very few have b been able to get a mask o prototect against coronavirus. there are more thann 20,000 people livingg here, in dire conditions. lack of food, washing areas and

medicine are the norm. >> there is a lot of disease here. people are sick. they have fevers andkin conditions like scaibbies and -- scabies and lice. they cough and have breezing problems like asthma. >> officially there are no covid-19 cases here but also no government plan to prevent them says doctors without borders. such a scenario would be a disaster for everyone on lesbob, refufugees and residents alike. >> we're talking about the children, , pregnantnt w women. and today we're talking about the population of the eldererly, that in case we have the f first positive case of covid, they will be the one paying the price. >> before the pandedemic, germay had agreed to accept unaccompanied minors. that's off the table now, in an effort to avoid bringnging in outsiders from at-risk groroups. opposition p parties have crcriticized l lack of will tod

the humanititarian crisis. >> many pololiticiansns say w dt want a a repept of 2015. but w we're not talking a about millions of people here,e, justa few tensf thousandsds. if you'ree realllly sererus and want to do eveverything posossie to prevent a further oututbreak, then w we have to evacuatate the camps. reporter: a campmp intendede for 3,000 peopople, housing 20,000. that makes social distancing here close to impossible. >> earlier i spoke with the director of medical programs for doctors without borders in athens. he described what his colleagues are experiencing on the ground on the island of lesbos. >> the situation in the camampsn greece is a sitituation that you cannot find a word to describe. 41,000 humans, women and men, are living in a place for 6095 people. these people are in overcrowded situation. on the question, stay home, there is no home. ththese people, they havee lackf access to water points. there's one water point foror

1,300 people. ththere is one toioilet for 200 peopople. anand there i is onehower for 20 people. so there is n no a access to war and sanitation. and thirdly, these people are having an additional problem of accessing health care. since july 2019, the greek government stopped allowing these people to access hehealth care. in addition, their last days, there's a lockdown in the camps. that means that from 7:00 in the evening to 7:00 in the m mornin, these people cannott move outtf ththcamps. that means more difficucult conditions and m without borders in athens. eric is a member of the european parliament for the green party. he spoke with me from the island of lowe's -- lesbos about possible stepsps. i also think it'ss not a a mamatter of p possibilitieses. it's's justt a matterr of politl will.. we have empty hototels all a ard eurorope. we havee to -- we will have to support ththe hotelel industry. they'll be in economic crisis

which also effects them. i think if we speak about hotetels, we canan also speak at cruiuise ships, who are empty at the m moment, we havave the possibilities to deal with the sisituation, herere to evacuatee reregee campsps and we should do that actually, not only b becaue of humumitarian issuess there bt also because the f fight against corona should b be foughtt everywhere. and i don't understand why everybody is talkingng about social distancing in europe. overcrowded d refugee camps cant stay overcrowded. it's also in our interest in the fight against corona. >> talking about the greek migrant camps and the pandemic. well, as more countries impose lockdowns, because of the coronavirus, india faces perhaps the biggest challenge. last week its 1.3 billion people were ordered to stay at home for the next three weeks. now, that's easier said than done. for the millions of day laborers. they may form the backbone of

india's economy but the government isn't giving them a leg to stand on. the lockdown means many lost their income overnight. poor, no money for even food and now trying to make their way home. a perfect storm for spreading the virus. >> social distancing is a privilege that these people cannot afford. all across india, day laborers rush to transportation hubs, carrying whatever they could. the nationwide lockdown has put millions out of work and started a mass exodus from the cities. for thesese people w who are leg new delhi for their hometowns, the fear of starving is currently greater than the fear of infection with the coronavirus. >> if we had food, why would we have left? we're not enjoying this. we know a pandemic is spreading but we were forced to leave. we're taking precautions and keeping as much distance as we can. >> the government did nothing. otherwise we wouldn't have left.

reporter: india's efforts to contain the coronavirus have plungedhehe couountry intoo cha. after transportation was shut down, some state governments arranged buses to bring migrant workers back to their home villages. but in other states, people were left stranded and forced to walk hundreds of kilometers home. day laborers, street vendors and other informal workers form the backbone of the indian economy. with police chasing them off the streets and no savings to fall back on, the lockdown puts many of them at risk. prime minister narendra modi, who had ordered india's 1.3 billion people to stay home has apologized for the hardships they are now facing. >> especially when i look at my poor brothers and s sistersrs, i thinink they must be wondering, what kind of prime minister i am, who has put people in such a difficult situation. i especially ask for their

forgiveness. reporter: so far roughly 100,000 people of india have tested popositive for coronavavirus but experts worry numbers could be much higher. fears are that an outbreak in one of the world's most densely populated countries could result in catastrophe. >> for more, we want to go to our correspondent, joining me from delhi. good evening to you. we know that prime minister modi, he announced this lockdown for the country last week. and he gave the public really just a few hours notice. was he and was his government unprepared for the pandemic? >> the country with such a high population density, the locockdn wass to p prevent t the spread e virus. but as the critics a and opposition have been pointing out, this lockdown was announced without much planning and without much thought. as far as the preparedness is concerned, there a are plentyy f reports thahat shohow thatt in s

of numbers, india is stitill trying to catch up whenn it coms toto the medical equipment available, the number of deaths. the government is trying to build up on this capacity, especially local state governments are doing a good job at that in we know that the country has millions of day lalaborers. and ththey arere now trying to t home. how will they be able to do that, and how will they survive with no jobs and almost no aid coming from the government? >> as you rightly pointnt out, t does form the bacackbone of our economy and i it employs the vat majority of our workforce, most of whom are migrant workers. when the announcement of the lockdown came without much assurance to this one little sector of people, overnight they found themselves without a source of income. the income which did not only feed them but their families, their extended families back home, back in their villages as well. then they realized that they are out of food, out of a place to stay. and the only option that was left for them was to go back

home. it's important to point out that in the conditions in which these workers have made their way back home, you know, cues up by thousands at bus stations, going back to overcrowded conditions, it doesn't only put them at risk for the virus but also it risks the villages and the hometowns to which these people will be traveling. but as i said, these people probably thought that they are not left with any other opposition but to do -- option but to do that, because t they were clueless whether the financial package would come to them. >> there have been some disturbing images being shared on social media showing the mistreatment of migrant workers, particulularly from the state of predesh. what more c can you t tell us at this? >> well, thatt is indeed a disturbing video in w which a group of migrant workersrs, whih includes women, senioior c citin and children, sitting on the ground, and the police officials

literally hosing them down with what they call disinfectant,t, e authorities said it was a mixture of chlororine and water. it basically shows the insensitivity w with which some local administrations are handling this crisis. these migrant workers who already face an uncertain future are being treated in a very unhumane mannerr like this. there are other incenses as well, in which the videos have come o out in in which police officials are being s shown misusing their authority and misbehaving with these migrant workers. >> yeah. those are very disturbing images there, treating human humans lie cattle. the latest from delhi tonight. thank you. here are some of the other stories making headlines around the world. hungary's parliament has voted to give prime minister viktor orban extensive powers to rule by decree. the prime minister says they are necessary to fight the coronavirus.

but critics see it as a power grab and a way to entrench his power. locked down poland is considering postponing its presidential election because of the coronavirus. the president has said that the first round, scheduled for the 10th of may, could be delayed if health and safety conditions cannot be guaranteed. poland has almost 2,000 confirmed cases of the virus. easy jet has grounded its entire fleet because of the coronavirus, joining other airlines. the company says it's not sure when flights will resume but it will pay staff 80% of their salaries f for the next two months. a painting by the dutch master, vincent van gogh, called spring garden, has been stolenrom a a museum in the netheherlands. thieves broke into the singer laren mususeum, which is near amsterdam. the 1884 painting is valued at up to 6 million euros. you're watching dw news.

still to come, a bit of clarity in these uncertain times as a new date is set for the 2020 tokyo olympics. the games were postponed last week because of the pandemic. an estimated one third of the global population is living in a coronavirus lockdown, with restrictions on public life and a ban on gatherings of people. now, this has posed a serious problem for protest movements around the world, from the fridays for future climate strikes to hong kong's pro-democracy protest. but organizers are experimenting with online demonstrations, trying to voice their demands without gathering together. my colleague, he's been following this story for us. it's good to see you here in studio for a chahange. what does an online demonstration look like? >> i think people are still experimenting with this. there's always been some kind of online activism but this is

really forcing their cards right now. they want to find out what works and what doesn't. one good example was a protest organized in germany that's fighting for asylum rights. so they're concerned about the concentrations of people in camps like in lesbos. so they organized a kind of virtual m march thrhrough berli. it had various tactics involved. one of them, you can see here, they had people send sound bites from t the camp, askining for solidaririty. theyey also had people design banners and hangg them outut thr windows within berlin and t ty had a kind of virtual march, like i said, where they went to different institutions in berlin and had targeted tweet campaigns or e-mail campaigns. they said, everybody now is going to tweet or e-mail or phone call the interior ministry in berlin. they did that. they used this hashtag #leave no one behind and it was trending. >> was the hashtag #leave no one

behind, was the demonstration successful? >> yes. that was the number one trending hashtag in germany. it even beat out covid-19, which is a big feed nowadays. they had 6,000 people participate at the height of the live stream. this is all live-streamed on youtube. but the question of w whether or not that's effective, i posed that question to one of the organizers. here's what he had to say. >> right now we have to be creative. we have to find new ways. i think the online demonstration was, for the first thing thahate acactually tried and did, was a very good thing. and also i think for the future, we can use these online tools to react on things very quickly, because you can m mobilize a l t of peoplple o online, in a short time. and you d don't h have to organe anythingng for demonstrations ad lilike ask authorities for permission for the demonstrations. they can activate a lot of people in a short time. but i would say it's like a side

tool of activism. it's not what we want to do in the future. >> but it's probably going to be a very powerful, necessary tool right now, you know. there's been criticism already today of the prime minister in hungary, viktor orban, who has been given the right to govern by decrew. there's no way -- to decree. are there other examples of governments taking advantage of this crisis to put limits on freedom of speech? >> sure, there are. i think we're going to see more and more. human rights have pointed out examples in russia. the government put a ban on public gatherings the very same day that president putin approved a measure that could allow him to stay in office until 20036. the timing was obvious. also in iraq, there's been a protest movement going on since october and that has come to a virtual standstill, after the government put a ban on protests there, back -- at the end of february, when they only had one

case of coronavirus confirmed. now, the tally has risen in that country, but the ban is still effective. it's really shut down the protest movements. i think people are going to be asking, will we get our rights back once the lockdown is over? >> rights can be in danger, especially when people are living in fear. thank you. let's take a look now at some of the other coronavirus developments. the death toll worldwide has passed 35,000. almost 738,000 cases have now been confirmed. italy, the hardest hit country with more than 11,000 deaths, will extend its lockdown until easter. italians have been under lockdown for three weeks already. french health authorities have reported the nation's worst daily death toll, more than 400. france has become the fourth country to cross the 3,000 fatalities threshhold, after china, italy and spien. and -- and spain.

and the price of oil has fallen, the lowest since 2002. it's because of plummeting demand due to the global economic slowdown. ♪[music] >> barcelona players will take a 70% pay cut and make extra contributions to help pay the club's other staff during the coronavirus pandemic. barcelona captain, lionel messi, announced the move on social media today but he criticized club officials for putting pressure on the players to, quote, do something that we always knew we should do anyway. the spanish futbol league has been suspended indefinitely because of the pandemic. the 2020 tokyo olympics will now officially start on the 23rd of july 2021. the paralimbics will follow on august 4. organizers settled on that date today, a week after agreeing to

postpone the games due to the pandemic. reporter: waving goodbye to this year's games, the name tokyo olympics -- tokyo 2020 may be staying the same. the date, certainly not. after weeks of speculation, confirmation the olympics will take place one year later than originally planned. >> i proposed holding the games in the summer of next year and it was agreed. reporter: the decision followed a meeting of the 2020 organizing committee, which was then rubber-stamped by the i.o.c., after a call with all olympic federations. i.o.c. president, thomas bach, said human kind currently finds itself in a dark tunnel. these olympic games can be a light at the end of this tunnel. a so-calld cherry blossom of olympics in the spring had been

considered but organizers preferred to have more time to deal withh the postptponement. >> wewe feel it's better to hold the games next year at summertime for the sake of transportation, volunteers and cket holders arounund the world. for athletes to fully prepare, we need t to give them as much time as possible. reporter: there are many challenges ahead, including ensuring the venues will still be available to use next year. but for the athletes at least, there is now some clarity in the most unclear of times. >> and finally, the characters elmo and this gentleman here, cookie monster, they are adored by children around the world. now they've joined the fight against the coronirus. the two sesame street characters featured a new music public service announcement, teaching kids to sneeze carefully and how to wash t their hands thoroughl. it's going global on a variety

of tv channels a o online platforms. here's elmo getting clean and getting into the groove. ♪ washy wash ♪ wash washy wash ♪ scrub your hands and fingers ♪ and the places in between ♪ >> washing their hands. you're watching dw news. after a short break, i'll be back to take you through the day. tonight, the coronavirus spreading across the united states. the u.s. president predictingg 100,000 people will lose their lives. we'll be right back. all the

tools and medical stuff in fron stretch in order to meet the demands of the corona virus these as another four hundred and eighteen people die because of code nineteen. rose over forty four thousand and now infected. many city the number of deaths spikes again but authorities remain confident that the virus because he's flattening o off to a shop decreased in cases authorities believe looks on measuress putut in place on march fourteenth. last the pale. and