♪ >> this is dw news live from berlin. tonight, get well wishes from around the world for britain's prime minister, boris j johnson. on his second daday in intensive care. johnnn remains conscious and is not on a ventilator. the foreign minister is stepping in for the prime minister but only when necessary. that leaves unanswered one question, who is in charge in the u.k.? also coming up, what to do in

europe from preventing a pandemic from becoming a an economic depression. and, denmark starts a slow lifting of its coronavirus restrictions. it plans to reopen daycare centers and schools beginning april 15. it is the first step to relaxing a three week lockdown, but is the government, is the danish government putting danes at too great a risk? ♪ i'm brent goff. to our viewers on pbs in the united states and around the world, welcome. as world leaders sent messages of support, boris johnson remains in stable condition in intensive care at a london hospital. johnson spent 12 days in

isolation after testing positive for the coronavirus. he was admitted sunday evening to the hospital because his symptoms were not going away. >> on monday, after a night in hospital, boris johnson insisted there was no cause for concern. just h hours later, his conditin had deteteriorated. >> ass we speakak, the prime minister is inin intensive care gangng looked aftfter by his mel team, receiving t the very best care and our hopes and prayers are with him and with his family. >> downing street says johnson is conscious and in good spirits. he is getting oxygen supupport, but he i is not on a ventilator. >> my thoughts are with him and his family because obviously it is a worrying time for them and his loved ones. it is very serious. if y you go into intensive care, obviously they are at great risk. >> for those who might not have beenen taking it s seriously, in

affect people who are normally healthy and include myself. i thicket has been a wake up call. >> i think he is getting the best of intention. i only h hope the rest of the reddish population get the same attention. unfortunately, it will not be the case. >> in the meantime, the foreign secretary has taken over the prime minister's duties. world leaders have been sending messages of support. >> sending my best wishes to prime minister boris johnson for a full and speedy recovery. my thoughts are with you and your family right now. hope to see you back at number 10 soon. hang in there, prime minister. hope to see you out of hospital and in perfect health very soon. get well soon, boris johnson. thinking of you, your family and all of our u.k. friends at this tough time. >> queen elizabeth has also sent a message and -- a message to his family and his pregnant

fiance, wishing the primeme ministster a full recocovery. ministsters have faced calls toe more transparent amid concerns they underplayed how serious johnson's condition was. for many, it is a reminder the coronavirus does not discriminate. brent: tonight, the death toll in the u.k. from this pandemic now stands at more than 6000. the number of confirmed coronavirus cases is much higher. that figure includes prime minister boris johnson. let's cross to london. what is the latest on the conditition of the prime minist? >> the prime minister remains in intensive care at st. thomas's hospital. it is one of the best hospitals in the united kingdom, justst across. the river from downing street. he is receiving oxygen treatment. he does not have pneumonia.

he is not on a mechanical ventilator at this point. this is all we know from downing street from the officials. of course, downing street or this government has not been very transparent with its information in the past. this leaves many british people worried about their prime minister at this point. brent: what about their prime minister and who is actually running the country. the admission of the president to the hospital on sunday left the foreign secretary in charge. what do we know about him? talk to me about the role he is having to play. >> in the beginning of the crisis, he was asked to deputize for boris johnson should he become incapacitated and that has happened. he is a newcomer cut government. he does not have much experience. he is a foreign secretary. he is on johnson's cabinet because he was a firm brexit supporter.

he will have to unite the government at this critical time and when asked what kind of authority has two run the country, -- he has to run the country, he did not give a clear answer. he says it is a collective responsibility. it left the impression there is a lack of leadership at this critical time. brent: there has been criticism on the slow rollout of testing for frontline medical staff in the u.k. what is the state of the country's response to this pandemic tonight? >> it has been very slow to begin with. the prime minister took this crisis lightly. the restrictions on public life here came a little too late to start the spread of the virus. the death toll is rising. the cases are rising at this point.

the number of people admitted to the hospitals is rising. london is a hotspot at the moment. hospital beds are filling up quickly. we are hearing from doctors and nurses they have never seen scenes like this before and that it is hard on them and nerve-racking. the problem of testing you mentioned, testing is only done for severe cases in the hospital. the unrecorded number of cases is high. there is the issue of ventilators. there are not enough ventilators at this point. british industry is producing them, but the question is will they be ready in time for the peak of the virus outbreak here? brent: with the latest on the prime minister's condition. thank you. it was another grim day for new york as the cities death toll from the coronavirus sword close to 3500 -- coronavirus soared

close to 3500. governor andrew cuomo said the number of deaths in new york appeared to be leveling off and showed that social distancing appeared to be working. the assessment did not stop the pain of those in the overstretched hospitals whether as patient or as medical professionals. >> as new york city's doctors work around the clock to save lives at makeshift hospitals like this one, the governor's daily messages are sounding increasingly bleak. more people in the city have died from covid-19 then perished in the september 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. tuesday's number was espcially grim. 731 people dead. the largest daily number recorded so far. >> behind every one of those numbers is an individual, is a family, is a mother, a father, a sister, a brother. a lot of pain again today for

many new yorkers. >> the speed of destruction has been staggering. new york city registered its first infection only six weeks ago. since then, it has become the national epicenter of a tragedy that is playing out around the world. attention has been drawn to the leadership of u.s. president donald trump with many criticizing him for ignoring scientific evidence and failing to present a coordinated response. meanwhile, the economic consequences are already painfully apparent for a leader who has been keen to judge his performance against that of the stock market. the economic outlook can be described as nothing less than disastrous. brent: a staggering number there. our financial correspondent joins me now outside of the new york stock exchange. good afternoon to you.

the governor of new york declaring this the deadliest day for the state in the city since this pandemic began. you would not know that if you are looking at the performance of the markets today. why is that? >> grim news out of new york on one side. whwhat investors on wall street were bidding on were reports the rate of new cases seems to be slowing. wall street is not necessarily doing what is happening but what investors believe will happen. overall, the m market was s up t some point by more than 900 points. the dow jones industrial average.e. we lost all of those gains and if the last minutes of trading because wall street might be too optimistic at this point in regards to the economimic impact of this crisis. therefore, all of the gains we saw earlier vanished in the

final minutes of trading. brent: the u.s. treasury secretary says he needs another $250 billion for the small business loan program. we are just getting a report, jp morgan says there have been 375,000 applications. those numbers are astronomical. >> they are astronomical. in the first phase two weeks ago, we got the relief package for small business owners in the amount of $350 billion. obviously there is some high demand for that. we thought maybe by the end of the week, we might get the additional $250 billion if approved by ththe senate.. overall, small business owners and small businesses are the back phone of the u.s. economy when it comes to u.s. employment and economic growth. it is crucial to save those

small companies, those small farms either way even with those loans. it is likely the unemployment rate meanwhile will bebe reachig double digits. millions of jobs getting lost in the next couple of days and weeks. this problem could be crucial to help those small business owners. brent: 300 75,000 applications. that tells you the economy is in need of major help. outside the new york stock exchange in new york. thank you. finance ministers in the european union have been holding coronavirus crisis talks by video crisis -- by video conference. they have agreed to finalize a rescue plan for member states worst hit by this pandemic. on the table is a safety net worth half a trillion euros. there are deep divisions about the best way to spend this money. >> thihink outside the boxox.

that is what council president michelle told the finance ministers. three potential measures to breathe life into eurure's vivis hit econonomy. first, you adapt its bailout fundnd with a firepower of 4100 billion euros. that saved greece during the financial crisis. secondly, an extra 200 billion euros in loans foror small and memedium-sized countries from te european investment bank. finally, a scheme suggested by the e.e.u. comommission worth 10 billion euros. it would encourage companies to cut workers hours, not their jobs. hard-hit nations such as spain and italy welcome to the idea, what they say they need more. so called corona bonds, , a new

type of f public debt instrument backed by the euro zone. so far, austria, finland and the netherlands opposed the idea. a financial expert tells me the sitions onon mutual eyes to o tt have been -- on mutualizezed det haveve been softening. >> they s should not be seen asa backdodoor entrance t to a fiscl union. it would not b be acceptable to the north of europope. the north h of europope is not t a permanenent transfer union toe created. it needsds to be temporary and targeted towards thehe coronavis cost. if that is achieved, joint debt issuance should be feasiblble. >> the french finance minister already floated the idea for a common e.u. . fund and the dutch prime minister also has a plan, one offering grants to those in need rather than a a loan..

plenty of material forr an outside the box solution. whatatever is agreed with the finance ministers goes to e.u. leaders for another video conference later in the month. brent: let's pull an hour e.u. correspondent who filed the report -- pull in our correspondent who filed the report. have to find common ground. this is an unprecedented crisis. where are they in that pursuit right now? >> the meeting started an hour late. ministers during the meeting took an hour break from the meeting. the reason is they had a lot of bilateral meetings. a lot of talk on the sidelines, extra videoconferences taking place between member states. a real effort to find a solution, find an economic answer to the problems europe faces. the bad news is, the divisive

issue of corona bonds. the good news is, n nesters will only have to file a list to state leader -- ministers only have to file a list to state ministers brent:. it makes you wonder, how -- the 3% of gdp budget deficit rules, that has been thrown out the window. who is to say the same thinking is not going to apply to euro bonds? is there anything keeping these rules in tact? >> limits on public borrowing have been scrapped more than three weeks ago. there is no more rules on state aid for companies. i remember the two of us talking during the use summit over the key issue of how important the stability pact is.

now, all of this is history. what the you tries to do hereres not only provide -- what the you tries to do is provide reassurance to the world to show europe is prepared to take all of the measures that are needed to support the european economy. brent: it seems like a different world we were talking during the summit. thank you. here are some of the o other headliness that are making news ththis hour. thousands flocked to leave t chinese cityty of wuhan as authorities lifted a more than two month travel ban in the city where the coronavirus s pandemic began. the site -- the skylight was s t up to celebrate the end of the lockdown. the japapanese pririme minister declared a state of emergency today to stop the spread of the coronavirus in his country. the measure is in place across tokyo and six other prefectures.

authorities will have more power to order citizens to stay home and close businesses. germany is planning to accept 50 unaccompanied minors from micro-camps on the greek islands. the children are to be brought next week. they will be quarantined for two weeks. several other european union countries have agreed to accept minors from the overcrowded minor camps. germany's largest airline is shrinking its fleet and closing down its budget airline subsidiary. it is part of the major restructuring as the travel industry cripples -- industry grapples with the coronavirus. who fonda says it hopes to find jobs elsewhere in the country. with the coronavirus still claiming lives and paralyzing societies all around the world, it might not seem to be the right moment to talk about lifting any lockdowns, but denmark is about to start doing that.

today, the danish government announced it will begin lifting restrictions after easter, albeit very slowly. >> for about four weeks, it has been quiet on the streets of denmark. now the restrictions on public life are to be dialed down. people in copenhagen have mixed feelings. >> i think it is too early. >> in my opinion, it is the right thing to do. i'm not worried it is too soon. >> of course there is discussion whether infections will rise, but i think it is a good move. >> the biggest step is the reopening of kindergartens in schools after easter, but only certain classes and age groups will be allowed back. strict home-office rules for private-sector workers are also being relaxed. the reasoning for the move, the number of covid-19 patients in hospitals is beginning to fall. >> the message from our health ministry is that it is reasonable and appropriate to

begin a controlled reopening of the country. but it comes with conditions. that we all continue to keep our distance, wash our hands, and avoid groups of people. >> denmark's borders will remain closed until the 10th of may. the ban on large events and festivals will stay in place until the end of august. brent: for more, i want to pull in my colleague. we have to let our viewers know peter hails from the great country of denmark. it is good to see you. how in the world was denmark able to get this outbreak under control so quickly? peter: i think denmark did a couple things right. it was v very quick to reactct. we saw the first case reported on february 27.. less than two weeks afteter, the government went aheadad and s st everything down.

schools, restaururants, day cace cecenters. it closed its borders and put tight travel restrictions in place. he ordered everyone to stay home and work frorom home except emergency workers that obviously have held up the country in the health care system shades theyy bent -- in the h health care system. they bannened gatherings s of 10 people or more there was a big stick. another ththing it did right was it has carried out a high level of testing. last week, we saw o or 2000 teststs per day. now we are looking at 10,000 tests b because it is including these tests to includedeeople with mild symptoms. health e experts say theyy coule looking at 15,5,000 tests next week. ththat has resesulted in a low l of infections.

we are l lookingng at less than0 just over 200 deaths. a mortality rate of 4 4%. thatat is a thirdrd of what we e lookoking at in italy. that is half of what we are seeing in france and the u.k.. brent: you said working with a big stick. denmark is a small country. is the model that denmark has created here -- do you think it is something that can be copied by other countries that are trying to escape the nightmare of this pandemic? >> it is a great question and an important one. it would be grereat to say, shut down everyrything anand do a lof tetesting. it is not quiuite as s easy as . denmark is in a privilegeged position. it is -- that has the best functioning health care systems. it has universrsal health c car, means everyone is getting the care they need.. politicalllly, it is a social democracy. ththere is a high level of trust in the government. people believe the government works for them.

the government has earned the trust by being transparent, communicate and clearly from day one. nearly 80% of the public approves of the government's handling. compare that to the u.s. where the majority disapprove of trump's mishandling. it is hard to replicate everythingng denmark has, especially during a crisis. there are important lessons for government to lelearn, be transpsparent. turn the public -- irna the public -- brent: it is a good time to be a danish citizen tonight and this week. pepeter, bringing usus the latet from his -- from here in berlin but from his home country in denmark. sports news now. mortar -- motor racing, formula one losses have laid off nearly half of their staff because of

the pandemic. senior management including chase carey have taken a 20% pay cut. a similar move has been made by three formula one teams including williams, mclaren and racing point. formula one has had to cancel several races and is struggling to deal with the financial impact of the pandemic. earlier, we spoke to formula formula one world champion. he says rescuing the season will requirire creatity i includingna change of didirectn. >> i hope they can still stage a couple of races maybe they y can become a little bit creative and do double-header weekends. on saturday, goes one way and sunday, goes the other way around. that could be an idea. nobody knows when the first races can be held. itit helps we can hold races without t spectators. ththat will allow summarizes to happen sooner -- ofof that will

allow some races to happen sooner. races can thehen be held. thatat is an advantage. the biggest issusue at the m mot is the financial sitituation for some of ththe smaller teteams. the f1f1 circuit needs all teams to partiticipate. if two or three smaller teaeams drop out, it is nott a great sport anymore because t there ae not enenough teams competing. that is the focus at the moment. brent: speaking with us earlier. for many christians around the world, this coming sunday will be an easter unlike any in living memory. countries with lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, people are left to celebrate with no church services, no family gatherings and no easter egg hunts for the children. who said the easter bunny is also under lockdown? who said the easter bunny is not essential in these trying times?

our sources are telling us that peter cottontail may just be hopping down the bunny trail this weekend. >> will be pleased to know we do consider both the tooth fairy and the easter bunny to be essential workers. >> new zealanders take their easter's seriously. so do the swiss where many of this year's batch of chocolate bunnies are dressed in protective masks. they stay safe on the way to their customers' mouths. this may look like a medical laboratory, but it is an italian chocolate egg factory. the owner has rolled with the new challenges of distributing eggs during the coronavirus crisis. >> since we could not sell them in stores, we ship to the mall. there were more orders than ever before.

in greece, dr. bunnies can even bring candied medical equipment. their diagnoses are not considered reliable though. in case people eat too much of the sweet stuff, just remember, they have allow the tooth fairy to continue the rounds as well. brent: you're watching bw news. after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day. tonight, risking their healthh o get out the vote. america and the pandemic and democracy. we will explain right after this. ♪