>> this is dw news from berlin. chancellor merkel warns the country to remain vigilant saying it is to lead to consider easing restrictions on public life. scientists in germany study and area hit hard byby the pandemic and get some encouraging results. we will hear about their discoveries. britain's prime minister moved out of intensisive care after three days of treatment for

covid-19. he remains in hospital and is said to be in good spirits. and u.s. unemployment claims hit another high and the imf w warns poor countries could be hit hardest. welcome to the program. germany's chancellor says she sees signs for optimism in the fight against the coronavirus. social distancing has helped slow the spread and the number of new infections is going down. but angela merkel warns now is not the time to ease the lockdown. >> deserted streets in the german capital. a common siding countries facing coronavirus around the world. according to experts in germany,

the restrictions on movement seem to have a positive effect. the number of new cases appears to be leveling out. with the long weekend looming, the german chancellor has warned against getting complacent. >> we must not allow ourselves to be lulled into a false sense of security. we should be happy more stringent measures are not necessary. this means we cannot be reckless now. we must not allow ourselves to be lulled into this false sense of security. you get a little hope and then you become a little more relaxed and then you are careless. no. we have to stay focused. the situation is fragile. germany announced plans on thursday to increase domestic production of medical gear. asian manufacturers are responsible for 90% of the world's masks.

as a result in our discussions about procurement and the purchase of personal equipment, especially medical masks, we saw the first steps of progress. some companies that operate in germany are investing in increasing the production of the material needed for masks. signs of cautious optimism in germany. but the debate over an exit strategy to lift restrictions will resume after easter. phil: a professor of pharmacology at the university co-authored a new research into one of the worst hit coronavirus regions. welcome, professor. we will start with chancellor merkel's statement. is she right it is too soon to relax measures? >> i think she is right nonoto

relax measureses. it depends on thehe extent of control measures. there is a spectrum you can do. she's right to be careful about it and do it step-by-step. it is all in the definition of the right relaxation in the future. there could be different steps. right now we have a complete lockdown globally. they can install measures, very effective ones, that are not identical as a complete lockdown. it is about the right reduction, not being fully careful about the sisituation and control measureses and everything to dot stepep-by-step, debt does s notn normality. it will stay very controlled. phil: how long do you think

before life can go back to normal? prof. hartmann: what t is noror? peoplele say after corona it is prprobably not likely. not as normal as we are use to. but i thinknk in the longer run, we can reach a situation where a maximum of hygiene conditions will lead to a situation that almost looks normal, in a few months maybe. we don't know when that willll . the likelihood we can develop a situation where we install measures that are good enough to reduce the burden of the disease is not so unlikely. not normal, but close to normal. we don't know when the time will be. phil: normal with gloves and

masks. let's have a look at your study. 1000 p people in the district we tested and 15% have had the virus. they are likely to be immune. >> scientists have taken a look at a region hit hard by the coronavirus. the affected community shows that 15% of the population has tested positive. >> we gave people a questionnaire and used the method to verify if an infection was present. we took a blood sample and used an antibody test to see if the person had experienced an infection. >> the scientists calculated a mortality rate of 0.73%, five times lower than the u.s.-based johns hopkins projected for all of germany. this may lead to relaxing of restrictions in some areas of life.. expertss w warn spspecial measus

favoring older people should be a priority. >> the average age of death is 80. it's important to protect to the elderly. >> this area narrowly missed a catastrophe. had the virus been detected later, the situation would be worse. the curve of the number of infections has begun to flatten. phil: some interesting work, professor. you found the virus is much less lethal than you initially expected. why do you think thahat is? prof. hartmann: it's important to understand what we are looking at. if you talk about the fatality rarate,, it depends on what youe refeferring to. if you are referring to ill patients, the number will look different than the people that

got infected, may be asymptomatic, also severe. it depends on the group you are referring to. what we know and this is the importanance of the study. i have to emphasize this is preliminary. we will present these results in a publicatiti once we e have everything together. becaususe the issue is so urgen, we communicatete some of the e a alrey.y. the 15% i is t the infected peoe in a c certain population. this number was not known. it is not all over in germany. it is in this specific village,

this town. that helps bececause we know how many people died of corona. that number can calculate it is five times lower than the calculated numbeber. it is the same number in the sense of it is a different group you are referred to. what we say is the fatality of all people that had contact with the virus that got infected and have measurable antibody responses, they could be asymptptomatic, mild diseaeasese whole spectrum. the fatality of those people that got the virus, it is much larger than the ones that are registered officially, but we know the numbers. this is zero pointnt 37. we expecect this numbeber not te so much d differentnt.

this is the first number. one important thing to consider that we have a situatition witha susuper spreading event. this i is why the percecentages- phil: w we will l leave it ther. thank you for joining us, professor hartmann from the university of bonn. boris johnson has been moved out of intensive care. his spokesman said the prime minister had been moved back and would receive close monitoring. he was admitted to st. thomas's hospital on sunday with a temperature and cough. he was moved to intensive care on monday after his symptoms worsened. he is said to be in good spirits. we can get more from our u.k.

correspondent who is in lockdown in london. welcome. there must have been a sigh of relief at this news. >> yes, definitely tonight. not only on a personal level but also political one. no country can afford to lose their political leader at a time like that. dominic rabb was deputizing for boris johnson the last few days. he took some leadership role wild boars johnson was self-isolating. there was a lack of leadership and mixed messages during this time. that is also why there is a sigh of relief now. downing street has said he has been moved from intensivive care back to the e hospital ward. he h has receceived oxygenen trt over the last days s since he ws brbrought to the hospital. they say he will be closely monitored inin the early stagesf his recovery.

that suggests he will not be back at work yet. phil: how is his illness influencing attitudes toward the coronavirus? charlotte: the prime minister himself seemed careless. i think that reflected in many people's attitudes. of course that has changed and it goes to show the virus does not discriminate. definitely more people became more careful. it's also because of the numbers we are looking at in the u.k. that people are getting worried. we are at a point to the death toll has reached 8000. it is comparable to italy and spain, the rise of deaths per day. the national health service is becoming overwhelmed. some places are at a breaking point. hospital beds are filling up. wild boars johnson seems to be out of the woods, the country is

not. phil: any word on when he is expected back in office? charlotte: not yet. early stages of recovery. that could take a few days. if we look at the other covid cases, i don't know at this point. phil: charlotte potts, thank you. now we will take a look at other coronavirus news from around the world. the pandemic has killed 100 doctors in italy. the deaths include some of the medics the government called out of retirement a month ago and it is estimated 30 of the nursing staff haveve dieied from covid-. israel streets are empty as passover gets underway. families would normally get together, but the pandemic means celebrations are confined to individual households.

the government has shut down public transport until sunday morning. france has been under partial lockdown for more than three weeks. the social distancing measures are likely to be extended. president macron is going to address the country net week. our paris correspondent shows us just how small it has become. >> i have been confined to these 30 square meters four weeks now. i go out once a day for one hour. i need to fill in this form with the date, the departure time, and specific reason. i'm allowed out for an urgent medical appointment or if i am summoned by a judge. today i have to buy food. bakeries like this one have been

allowed to stay open despite the lockdown. they are considered essential services. even here business has suffered. our turnover has gone down by 40% and we had to put employees on unemployment. we don't know for how long this will go on. it has taken time, but now most of them understand the rules of social distancing. paris is normally bustling city. not these days. the lockdown was stricter than in other countriries and yetet t only of the french are following the rules. >> in some some berms and regions, people are not observing the lockdowown. that negates everyone else.

that is why we are cracking down on such behavior. we have given out hundreds of thousands of fines. one person was caught infringing the lockdown 10 dayays and was sentenced to three months in prison. doctors agree people should comply with the lockdown. they say it is the only way to slow down the spread of the virus. we have run out of available beds in intensive care units and have to make tough choices. people over 75 are no longer taking in those units. that is the case in hospitals in paris and eastern france. we are not equipped to do massive testing and handout masks to everybody. for now the lockdown will have to stay in place. the government has announced the

lockdown is likely to be extended further. i'd better get myself home now. before i go back into isolation, there is one thing i can do, even if we have to keep our distance. join in the evening applause for all the heroes in this crisis that -- health-care care personnel, groceryry personnel, and my local bakery. [applause] phil: to india and a decision to designate 20 containment zones in the capital. these are hotspots where the coronavirus breads. other states have named such zones. the decision comes in the midst of a nationwide lockdown of the 1.2 billion people. rules are even stricter as our

correspondent explains. >> these containment zones are considered hotspots. coronavirus cases have been identified and t there'ss an expepectation of a proliferatit. these zones have been completely sealed off while the residence can step outside to access essential services, this is not permitted within these zones. all essential services s will be provided to them at their doorstep. on this stretch, there are vendors that are packing vegetables and handing them to a security guard so they can provide these vegetables or essentials to the residence inside. another difference is while the media is a part of the essential service, it is not allowed into these containment zones to break the chain of transmission.

this will be an important part of india going fororward and fighting the spread of the virus. the lockdown is supposed to end next week. it may be extetended. a decision it t is e expected lr this week, by saturday. the prime minister in consultation with other leaders is likely to come out with a decision about if the lockdown is going to be extended. phil: now to the united states where the federal reserve has made 2.3 trillion dollars in loans available. the money will be lent to households and businesses and it ptor and the package announced last month. our financial correspondent is in new york. what is behind the latest

package? >> no central bank has done anything quite what the federal reserve is doing at this moment. already a couple of weeks ago the federal reserve did help u.s. banks to prevent a financial crisis. liquidity to prevent a capital meltdown. now we see those guarantees for loans to midsized companies and communities and u.s. states. what the federal reserve is trying to do is prevent companies filing for bankruptcy and also the population will stay solvent. at this point the stock market reacted in an upbeat way, it is up by about 500 points and the

dow jones, the best week since 1930 eight. phil: interesting that happens as the u.s. is announcing rising unemployment figures. what does that tell us about the jobs market? jens: the numbers are stunning. if you look back a month ago, we had weekly unemployment claims around 200,000. within three weeks we have 6 million plus claims. estimates are all over the place. some feel the unemployment rate could reach 30%. that is precisely what the federal reserve tries to prevent. there was maybe one good thing about the crisis because the reserve already tried all kinds of methods to prevent a complete meltdown of the economy.

we can go back to those days and use the same methods s or even heavieier methods to prevent tht so we will see unemployment reaching figures in the double digits. phil: jens korte in new york. thank you. some breaking news reaching us here, the eu finance ministers have reached a deal on a multibillion coronavirus rescue package. it has access to credit lines available until the crisis is over. we can speak to gail in brussels. tell us more about the deal. >> we have learned the meeting of the finance ministers was a videoconference that has been postponed for hours. it has now been concluded with

applause from the ministers from the 19 euro zone countries that have the euro currency. they have been asked by leaders to find an economic answewerto find a system how they can address the economic concerns in europe. it looks as though an agreement has been found. phil: what will it mean for countries with weaker economies like italy and spain? >> italy and spain were unhappy with the first line of answers. two weeks ago the meeting of the finance ministers put forward a number of things that will also be part of. they made clear to leaders they need more help. the money that is being put forward in different funds, we are looking at billions of euros

from the investment bank, from the rescue fund, the stability mechanism and from a short time work scheme the european commission has put up. it was 100 billion. so these three things are probably in that package that has presumably been agreed to by the ministers. particularly the netherlands were concerned about the european stability mechanism conditions. they were the one country among the 19 that said we want to stick to tough conditions if italy and spain want money from the fund. it appears this has been resolved. phil: briefly, other strings, what conditions have to be fulfilled? georg: remember the financial crisis when greece was about to

fail, the stability mechanism was put in place. this involved tough regulations, controls for brussels, from the monetary fund itself. whether austerities put into place, whether the necessary reforms in the economies are made. that is something italy and spain do not want to see because they. the stigma they are put in the same box as economies such as greece. phil: thank you. we will take a look at m more ws the pandemic is affefecting the global e economy. the imf says the pandemic is causing the worst economic fafaout since the great depression of the 1930's. 170 countries are e expected t o see e a decline thisis year. emerging economies will be the

worst affected. russia and saudi arabia have agreed to a cut to daily oil production. welcome news for the commodity market. weak demand has driven prices to an almost 20 year low over recent months. with the easter holiday approaching, prince william and his wife have paid a virtual visit to a school which is open for children of frontline staff in the u.k. the royal couple are in lockdown at home and the children are in the northwest of england. >> my name is lloyd. >> how are you? >> nice to meet you. this is william next to me. are you holding up xers of your mommies and daddies? >> yes. this is a picture of my mom.

i am really proud of her. >> can you hold it up to your left? that's it. brilliant.t. look at that. wewell done. >> i i a agree. you u should be proud of her. they are doing an amazing job. thank yoyou. phil: we will have more world news at the top of the hour. you can get the latest news on our website www.dw.de. i will be back in just a moment with "the day."

twenty four i'm from twenty four .com. that's a danger the uk's prime minister has left intensive cat boris johnson spent the past three nights on thee close medical supervision. becacause of it nineteen infection. fronts that has about twelve thousand dead g. two hundred nineteen but therere's beenen a full number f patients in intensive care. nearly seventeen million more americans jobless since the pandemic hit the u. s. two million signing this week along