♪ brent: this is dw news live from berlin. a warning from germany, there will be no quick and easy end to the pandemic. the health minister said world will be dealing with the virus for a a long time to come. orders of flu vaccines have been increased to prevent a double whammy vital hit this fall. britain's coronavirus death toll jumps i-45 hundred in one day,

but is -- by 4500 in one day. is that from a switch in statistics? protesters in lebanon return to the streets. the lockdown silenced antigovernment protest actions, but that is no longer the case. german fans not ususing socicial media. they are not allowed in the stadium to follow their teams, so they found cardboard and got out scissors and glue. we will show you what they put together. ♪ i'm brent goff. to our viewers on pbs and around the world, welcome. we begin with a stark warning about when the coronavirus pandemic will become history. germany's health minister said

the country faces a long-haul before approaching any end to the outbreak. germany is buying more flu vaccines to prevent it -- a double wave of infections in the fall. >> the latest figures from the robert caulk institute show how it has developed in germany. the technician show how many people became infected and when the -- the ban on public gatherings took a while to make a difference. the closing of schools brought infections down considerably. the german health minister said the number of registered acute infections has been falling for two weeks and has been at 37,000. regional differences remain. testing will be stepped up even further for half a million tests -- from half a million tests

last week. >> we will introduce more regular testing in care homes including four a symptomatic patients. we are -- including for asymptomatic patients. we are reporting negative test results. work on an anti-covid-19 vaccine means germany has taken a step forward. a first group of 12 participants have received a trial vaccine on wednesday. with the progress of infections still unpredictable across europe, germany's foreign ministry has extended the global travel ban until mid-june. heiko maas says europe needs to find a corrugated approach. -- coordinated approach. >> the last three weeks, we have brought thousands of tourists from all over the world back to

germany. we will not carry out such an observation -- operation this summer. protesters and pressure groups are urging the german government to ease even more of the restrictions. the state premiers of germany's 16 states will reassess with chancellor angela merkel. brent: let's talk about that. i'm joined by our chief political correspondent melelina crane. good evening to you. let's take a look at the graph and pull it up if we can. we see new infections in germany rising initially. they seem to start falling once the country's schools were shut. it has been mostly don't hope --

downhill since then. so the logic seems reopening schools would be a big risk. is that the case? melinda: yes. i think the award -- thehe authoritities are aware of that. it is a a differentnt priority,e simple reaeason. school attendance is mandatotory in germany. schools, p pils are required to go by law. learning at home under thehe supervision of parents is the exception in t this country. there has been a pususto get schools reopened. also for t two other reasons. a lot of concern about the effects onon pupils being s siay isateded, partiticularly kids sm troubleded families where t thee may be d domestic violence, also kids who might not have access to digital technologies being used by teachers. anand the burden on parents whoo

are tryingng to do w work from e and take care of kids. for r all of those reaeasons, a priority on reopening schchools and clear knowledge it could be a r rk. thee authorities of federal anad state level have madede clear ty are e watching that number o how thee infections spread. ththey wl be reconsidering if the number goes up. brent: we hope it does not come to that. let's talk about the vaccine trials. people will see that story and they will ask, does it mean we can look f forward to getting covid-19 vaccinations soon? melinda: i w wish it were ththat simple. there is exciting innovatation n tes s of the search for a vavaccine. thhead of ththe w.h.o.o. said ts is goi t to be a dififcult have -- path, which will take a while

and we are not guaranteed to get the vaccine at all. and the tests will have to proceed cautiously because there is no treatment or remedy for covid at theheoment. ifif people get deal in the process of testing the v vcine, tetests will have toto be stopp. even if vaccines look promising in e every, they m may -- in th, they may prorove ineffecective. fromasast experiencece with cora viruruses, people who get them, the immune system forgets it has had the contagion and reset if it ever had d an experience with cororonavirus. it will be difficult to come up with a lononterm effective vaccine. and rampingg up production willl take quite some titime. we are not going to be able to look forward to a vaccine.

brent: it is the truth tonight. thank you. as melinda said, many of germany's schools are going to reopen monday with children learning at home the past six weeks. teachers and parents have discovered a new reality. dw news has been speaking with teachers to find out how this new style of remote learning has been working out. >> this is m maximilian. he would normally be in class with his students now. because of the crisis come all german schools are partially still closed. so instead he s streams his math lessons live e from his living room almost every day. >> for mathshs lessons especiaiy

it is a great way to teach. i can interact, communicate and react to spontaneous questions if i have to. reporter: despite all of his efforts, he knows a major element is m msing at ththe moment. >> two thirds of the students are doing well with online assignments but they miss the social contact. reporter: the 16-year-old misses her classmates, but she can spend time in her garden with her favorite pal at the moment. this is where she watches her teachers' online lessons. she says it is not the same as being in a real classroom. >> it is much h more difficult o lelearn w whout havining a teacr who helps you and tries t to explain things in different ways. you can ask questions but it takes a while before y you get n

answer. it is not the same. reporter: despite the lack of pepeonal intereraction, there ae benefits. >> i am l learningow to mananage mymy time anand use the day wisy to send off my homework punctually and might be learning some self-disciplinene. reporter: she is over several million who are learning at home but not all have the technical capabilities she does. that worries this man. >> students who grew up in difficult family situations of our big challenge.e. they are hard to reach. teachers and childcare workers have a hard time getting in contact. reporter: maximiliann felt -- found a w way to get t in touch. > there was a reason i becama teacher. i wanted to work with h children andd people.

now i work from home and hardly ever see the students. we can't wait for schools to reopen. reporter: he plans to continue offering onlinine lessons in the future but only as a supplement to his real-life teaching. brent: from education to economics, germany's economy is expected to shrink more than 6% this year because of the pandemic. that would be the biggest slump in europe's biggest economy since record-keeping began in 1970. and it doesn't stop there. here is what germany's economics minister said earlier. >> for the first time in many years, we will initially see a drop in employment levels. that is a regression and it will be painful. even though it is a fraction of what your other -- the other european countries are facing.

brent: from germany to the u.k., britain's coronavirus death toll has risen by 4500 in one day because health officials are now including nonhospital deaths in the count. the total number of committed to covid-19 stands at 26000 and includes people who have died in all settings including nursing homes and care homes. this provision means the u.k. has europe's second highest level of deaths in the pandemic kind italy. let's take this to our correspondent in london. good evening. why has the u.k. changed its counting methodology? reporter: the government came under intense pressure hearing what was going on in care homes and across the communities, that

people were dying but the deaths were not recorded as c covid deaths.. the government gave into pressure a and didided to publbh the new numbers. they paint a more, true picture of what is going on inside the country, how far the virus has really spread and how deadly it has been. these numbers suggesting the only vulnerable and older people are affected here and dying but also the death toll included a 14-year-old otherwise healthy boy. brent: that is disturbing. given the lack of widespread testing in the u.k., there must be worries that the real figure is much higher. reporter: those worries are justifiable because the government has not done testing outside of the hospitals through

this week, which means those deaths that were not tested positive for covid-19's in the community or in care homes are not recorded and officially named as covid deaths. experts, nurses at the care homes, care workers are saying people are dying in the hundreds of thousands and the numbers are much higher. the office of government statistics, who takes care of the death count, is suggesting the u.k. death toll is at 40,000 which would make it the most affected country in europe. brent: amid so much death there is news of new life. the prime minister has announced he has become a father again. tell us about that. reporter: he became a father today to a healthy baby boy.

kerry simmons gave birth to the boy in a london hospital this morning. we don't know more about the circumstances but boris johnson was president. we saw a -- present. we saw him beaming and joyful returning to down street. the delivery -- a tough time with boris johnson being treated with covid-19 and his pregnant fiancée that isolating. they have both recovered. they have a healthy baby boy. his sixth kid. he is planning to take paternity leave later this year. brent: thank you. here is a quick look at the other stories making headlines around the world. fire at a warehouse in south korea has killed 38 people and

left 10 injured.d. it broke out in n the city o ofn xian -- incheon. in germany two suspected far-right extremist have been charged with the killing of a pro-migrant politician, walter lubcke. he was a part of a angela merk's cdu party. he had defended refugees in his home state. hollywood star -- bollywood star irrfan khan has died. he became known for his roles in slum dog milliononaire and lifef pi. he announced he was diagnosed with cancer i in 2018. he died in a hospital in mumbai. at least one person has been killed and several others injured in a prison riot in sierra leone's capital freetown.

a major fire broke out. this comes to days after authorities confirm an inmate tested positive for the virus. protesters in lebanon have returned to the streets of cities across the country for a second day. one demonstrator was reportedly killed, fueled the deepening economic crisis free lebanon has seen months of antigovernment unrest, now compounded by a growing anger at the lockdown. reporter: another night of violence in lebanon. in the northern city, firefighters threw rocks at security forces and they responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. the anger of the crumbling economy, growing day by day. >> this is the beginning of the road. this is just the start.

reporter: lebanon is grappling with the collapse of its currency, soaring inflation and rampant unemployment, worsened by coronavirus lockdown. for the lebanese on the streets, the fight is existential. >> we are day laborers. if we work, we eat. if we don't, we don't eat. i hope the situation changes for the better. reporter: lebanon's banks have borne the brunt of the. . freezing access to cash as observed -- prices soar. >> be a little bit human and listen to these people dying from hunger. reporter: the lebanese army has deployed across tripoli to contain the unrest as the government works on a rescue plan to take the country out of its current turmoil.

brent: let' go to our correspondent in beirut. it is nighttime, around midnight where you are. what about the protetests? are they y continuing across lebanonon? >> they are. in tripopoli for examplele thehe pepeople came baback to the s s. the violence, compared to the past three days, it is not compared to the past three days. at this moment all we can talk about is the streets with fire and the stones throwing. even in sight o of the majojor cities in south lebanon, we had clashes between the isf forces and d protestersrs who through molotov cocktail on one of the

centntral bank branches in the city. i am in beirut. you can see they are taking extra meaeares in beirut surrounding the main branch of the central bank. brent: we understand the coronavirus restrictions are making things worse. how badly a athe pandememic affected t the c country? >> it affefeed the country big-time. first of allll, the economic, failing economy and the collapse of the lebanese currency added to the apparenent -- [indiscernible] outbreak in lebanese streets. this weeeek the governrnment stt to a slow -- maybe this reason was mainly behind the protest in the streets as in this case, let

me mentition one thing, momost f the protesterers -- they d don't take the needed memeasures to protect ththemselves from coronavivirus. they tolold me straightfororrd theyey prefer to die from virus rather than from hunger. brent: our correspondent joining us froro b brut, wherere you can see it is a tense situation in front of the nationanabank. thank you very much. >> thank you. brent: now to zimbabwe where the pandemic is hitting farmers hard. local farmers in the european markets where they export produce have been closed by the lockdown's greatest latest hardship comes as farmers were starting to recover from the cyclone last year. our c correspondent r reports. reporter:: it has been a year since the cyclone struck this

court a culture farm. extensive -- horticulture farm. extensive damage. recocovery had slowlyy started,t now the coronavirus has come. >> our farm.m. and then since then the e prices have beeeen depressed and demand has been low. equally as hard hit is s r freighght out of the country. there has been a l lot of flighs thatatave been canceceled. reporter:: the main crop, these flowers for export to the markets, they can export up to 2 million stems per season, but this year they may not achieve half of that. the coronavirus pandemic forced a wide closure of flower

markets. alalthough somebody's number -- zimbabwe'ss numumber of infectis is low, it is the economic impact citizens will have to deal with. the country is in a lockdown for five weeks with little ececonomc activity. certainly the governmentt wilill come up with stimulus packages. small-scale horticulture and food farmers who are recovering from the impact of the cyclone in 2019 are hit hard now. access to local markets has become very difficult because of the coronavavus lockdowown. >> the banana sales are my lilivelihood. the family depends on the banana sales revevenue. school fees comes from the minutes. salt and sugar comes from banana sales.

if we don't get in market, we will die of hunger here. reporter: zimbabwe is facing its worst economic crisis in recent times. the country is blacklisted by international moneylending institutions and may not even benefit from any coronavirus bailouts. farmers like e alan baileley are onlyly hoping for aa slowdowownr sudden end of covid-19 for people to return to normal life again. brent: from the fields to the skies, airbus reporting a first quarter loss of 500 million euros wednesday, citing a plunge in orders and deliveries. the european playmaker warned the crisis is in its early stages. airbus refused to issue any long-term guidance for investors. the ceo says the country is bleeding cash.

it has furloughed thousands of employees and taken out billions in loans. as football fans await their teams to return to television screens, supporters of the german team glovebox are trying to solve what they see is a bigger problem. how do they remain part of the action when they are not inside the stadium? reporter: all this s iet in german fooootball. the singing b birds has replaced the screaming fans. this is likely to remain for many months. >> is difficicult to watch a gae on tv instead of being there live in thehe stadium. on tv you don't get the emotions you can get being in the statans with fririends. reporter: for the diehards, football withohout fans is unthinkable. they are making cardboard cutouts of their fans that of

themselves to remain part of the scene. people can take a photo of themselves which is printed on cardboard and -- taken to the stadium. >> is cardboard -- this hardboard mate -- football doesn't t work without fans. >> almost 10,000 orders have been placed. the club are big fans of the initiative, so much so that the players and the coach have got themselves a place on the north terrorists. even opposing fans are on board. touching show of solidarity. >> it costs 19 euros. by buying it, three companies will be supported. two euros will be donated. reporter: she hasn't t ssed a home game in 40 years.

now she will have a proxy presence as she and thousands of others wait to join the chorus once more. brent: you are watching dw news. after a short break i will be back to take you through the day. tonight, u.s. gdp shrinks. are we heading for a great procession or will it be -- recession or will it be the corona depression? [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪

the uk's covered nineteen death toll jumps by nearly four and a half thousand. because cat home deaths are included for the first time. the places the uk behind it to leave us the third worst affected country in n the world. and now head of fronts. of the three million are infected worldwide and the world of death toll now stands at at leasast two hundred and seseventeen thousand. germany braces for its deepest recession since nineteen seventy because of the corona virus pandemic well the rest of europe some of the same economic fate. french ftb