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for a long time and we must come together to double up and share the tools to defeat it. amy: is the number of confirmed covid-19 cases worldwide approaches 4 million and the pandemicic coulde wiwith us fofr montnths or yearars, we look ate drugs like remdisiver r being produced by gilead which has the patent for the drug and is poised to make massive profits even as the company announces it will donate some of the medicine. >> we want to make sure nothing gets in the way of these patients getting the medicine, so we made a decision to donate about 1.5 million miles of remdisiver. pres. trump: that is very exciting. contributionr toward helping people. amy: we will look at patents versus the pandemic with writer achal prabhala who says we will find a treatment for coronavirus, but drug companies will decide who gets it. but first, we go to russia where the coronavirus is spreading rapidly with at least 1 10,000 w cases a day and the second highest infection rate in the world. president vladimir putin's approval rating is plummeting.

the coronavirus preventative measures need to be preserved or expanded. taking into account all factors and risks. amy: we will get an update with joshua yaffa. all that and more, coming up. welcome e to democracy now, democracynow.org, the quarantine reportrt. i'm m amy goodman. the u.s. coronavirus death toll continues to climb e even as 41 states have announced plans to partially reopen their economies. officially, more than 73,000 u.s. residentsts have died of covid 19, more than a quarter of thelobal tololl, though many researchers believe the true figure is likely tens of thousands of deaths higher. this week a university of wawashington studydy predicted e

than 1 1 thousand d u.s. resides will die of covid 19 b by the ed of the summemer as statates looe and stay at home and social distancing rules. in texas, leaked audio of a conference call reveals republican governor greg abbott knew his plan to reopen texas' economy would result in more coronavirus infections and deaths. the 17-page report by the centers for disease control and prevention offering step-by-step advice to local leaders onon whn and how to reopen public places has been shelved, with one cdc official saying the document "would never see the light of day." on capitol hill, the house appropriations committee heard testimony wednesday from two medical experts who said not a single state or territory in the united states has met all of the white house's own criteria for safely reopening.

dr. caitlin rivers, a professor at the johns hopkins school of public health, said states lack adequate diagnostic testing and the capacity to carry out contact tracing. and she warned many of the states that are reopening have rising rates of coronavirus infections. >> it is clear to me we are in a critical moment of this fight. we risk complacency and accepting the preventable deaths of 2000 americans each day. we risk completely in accepting health care workers do not have what they need to do their jobs safely and recognizing that without continued vigilance, we will again create the conditions that led to us being the worst affected country in the world. amy: not testifying wednesday was dr. anthony fauci, a top infectious disease scientist on the coronavirus task force, who was barred by the white house from appearing before the house appropriations committee. a nenew report finds the u.s. private sector lost more than 20 million jobs in april as

coronavirus lockdowns came into effect, by far the worstst one-month surge in job losses ever recorded. the u.s. unemployment rate is now at levels not seen since the great depression. this morning, the labor department is releasing its latest weekly unemployment figures, with economists expecting another 3 million new jobless claims filed in the week ending may 2. meanwhile, an alarming new report by the brookings institution finds nearly 20% of u.s. children ages 12 and under are going without enough food during the coronavirus crisis. and "the washington post" reports not all u.s. residents are impacted equally. a poll found that 20% of latinx workers and 16% of african americans report being laid off or furloughed compared with 11% of whites. in ohio, republican governor mike dewine sasaid tuesday he'ss cutting $775 million from the state budget over the next two

months. the austerity includes $210 million in cuts to medicaid, and nearly half a billion dollars in cuts to education. governor dewine said he won't tap the state's s $2.7 billion rainy day fund. >> we received a lot of questions, are you going to pull down the rainy day fund? the answer is, yes, we will, but not in the next two months. amy: governor dewine's budget cuts came as president trump said congressional proposals to fund state governments during the pandemic were unfair to republicans because "all the states that need help -- they're run by democrats in every case," trump said. he made the remark tuesday from arizona, a state whose republican-led government projects a budget t shortfall of as much as $1.6 bibillioby the enend of thehe fiscal year. the united nations said wednesday it needs billions of dollars in additional funding for humanitarian aid, as the pandemic has sent food prices soaring even as millions of workers have lost their jobs.

the u.n.'s humanitarian affairs office says only about half of the $2 billion in emergency funding it requested in march has arrived, although the office now says it needs nearly $7 billion n to help the e most vulnerablele countries. meanwhile, the head of the world health organization warned governrnments thatat lift wednesday remain-at-home orders too quickly run the risk of new waves of coronavirus infections and deaths. this is dr. tedros adhanom ghebreyesus. >> those returning to o lockdown remains very real if countries transnsition the extremely carefully and in a phased approach. amy: in brussels, european union leaders warn the 27 nation bloc is facing the worst recession in its history, with forecasters projecting a 7.4% drop in economic output. the dire news came as germany

began a phased reopening of its economy, with schools, day care centers, and some restaurants set to reopen with social distancing ruleses in effect. in italy, covid-19 deaths have hit a nearly two-month low, while france is set t to end its lockdown on may 11. the spanish governmement has announced an investigagation ino whether ththe closing ceremonynf spain's s largest field hospital during the coronavirus crisis, which took place may 1, violated spain's emergency decree and social distancing rules. over 1000 people crowded into the closing ceremony of the ifema field hospital, set up in a vast convention center that played host last december to a united nations climate summit. images of the event show people packed together, not observing the two meter social distancing rurule. venezuelan state television has aired video of a captured u.s. mercenary who was arrested after taking part inin a failed attemt toto topplplnicolas mamaduro's

government. the coup a attempt occurred on sunday when 10 armed men landed in a boat near caracas. venezuelan authorities killed eight of the men. two men, both americans, were captured. in the video, luke denman said he was working for a florida-based private security firm called silvercorp usa run by a former green beret and for juan guaido, the u.s.-backed venezuela opposition leader. >> my responsibilities to civil court are writtenen in a contra, described in the contract, anded by jordan goudreau juan guaido. amy: president donald trump wednesday vetoed a bipartisan senate resolution aimed at limiting the president's authority to attack iran without congressional approval. it is the seventh time trump has used his veto power since taking office. democratic senator tim kaine had introduced the measure after trump ordered the assassination of iranian commander qassem soleimani in january.

president trump got into a testy exchange wednesdayay during an oval offffice meeting with medil workers markining national nurss day. sophia adams, president of the american association of nurse practitioners, told president trump she'd been forced to use a single n95 mask for weeks due to a shortage of personal protective equipment at her new orleans hospital. sporadic, has been but it has been manageable and we do what we have to do. we are nurses and we learn to adapt and do whatever the best thing we can do for our patients to get the job done and get the care provided. pres. trump: sporadic for you, but not for a lot of other people. >> i agree, mr. president. pres. trump: i have heard the opposite. amy: at least 27 u.s. medical workers have died of covid-19 amid critical shortages in ppe. national nurses united has been demanding for weeks president

trump use his authority under the defense production act to speed production of n95 masks and other desperately-needed safety equipment. in michigan, three african americans carrying large rifles escorted state representative sarah anthony, who's also african american, into the state capitol in lansing on wednesday. michigan state law but allows people to carry firearms inside the capitol building, though it bans protesters from carrying signs. last week, a large crowd of heavily armed white protesters swarmed into the building and tried to take the senate floor. on tuesday, governor gretchen whitmer condemned the protesters, saying some of them carried nooses, confederate flags, and swastikas. they were calling for the reopening of michigan. in colorado, medical workers celebrated at a va hospital in aurora wednesday as covid-19 patient reverend terrance hughes was released. the 56-year-old leader of denver

civil rights community was the aurora ba's first coronavirus patient admitted on march 9. he spent seven weeks on a ventilator and at one point, fell into a coma before his recovery. a top republican fundraiser and longtime ally of president trump has been tapped to head the u.u. postal serervice. louis dejoy will serve as postmaster general at a time when the nation's mail service is facing steep losses in revenue. the post office, which has come under attack by president trump, recently warned it may not survive through summer without major federal l assistance. propublica repeports that on the same day that repupublican senar richard burr s sold off much of his stock holdings ahead of a coronavirus-fueled market crash, burr's brother-in-law also dumped significant stock holdings. burr's brother-in-law, gerald fauth, sold as much as $280,000 worth of shares on february 13

-- one week before the stock market began plummeting. as chair of the senate intelligence committee, burr had access to privileged information about the severity of the emerging pandemic. in immigration news, a 57-year-old man from el salvlvar is the first person to die of covid-19 while in custody of immigration and customs enforcement. carlos ernesto escobar mejia came from el salvador with his family in the during the 1980's country's u.s.-backed civil war. he was the youngest of five siblings and the only one who hadn't been able to obtain permanent residency. escobar mejia had been detained at the for-profit otay mesa detention center near san diego since january. at the time of his passing, he had been in the hospital on a ventilator for over a week. "the san diego union-tribune" reports as of tuesday afternoon over 200 people in custody at otay mesa have tested positive for covid-19 as the jail has the largest coronavirus outbreak of any ice jail in the u.s.

this is asylum-seeker oscar nevarez diaz, who's jailed at otay mesa. clubs he was so sick and he kept complaining about it. he would not come out of the room. the only thing they would do when he complained, they would take him to sick call and the only thing they would do was give him pain medication or cold medicine. they don't care here. they don't care about us as human beings. they don't see us as human beings. they see us as immigrants, less than human. we are fleeing our country because we are afraid for our lives. we come here is a safe haven and now put in a situation where our lives are in more danger than back in our home country even. amy: otay mesa is owned by the for-profit corecivic. nationwide condemnation is growing over the killing of ahmaud arbery, the 25-year-old african-american man who was shot dead while jogging by two

brunswick, georgia, in shocking video emerged this february. week showing the two armed men waiting to attack arbery while he ran down a narrow road. the men have been identified as former police officer gregory mcmichael and his son travis. a friend of theirs filmed the video showing the ambush and the killing of artery. -- arbery. basketball superstar lebron james tweeted -- "we're literally hunted every day/every time we step foot outside the comfort of our homes!" democratic presidential candidate joe biden condemned the killing writing on twitter: -- "the video is clear: ahmaud arbery was killed in cold blood. my heart goes out to his family who deserve justice and deserve it now. it is time for a swift, full, and transparent investigation into his murder." there have been no arrests so far in the case which is now going to a grand jury. cellphone e footage has emergedf

a lolos angeles police d departt officer repeatedly punching a man being arrested in the neighborhood of boyle heights in late april. the videdeo shows the man with s back to where the officer standing near a fence with his hands behind his back, when one of the officers began punching him behihind the h head and bod, hitting him over a dozen times while yelling profanities. the man then tries to take a few steps away from the officer as the e officer walks totoward him again punchingng several times more. the man doesn't fight back. the police o officer has sincece been ordered t to stay home pendnding intnternall ininvestigation. he has been identified as a 20-year lapd veteran named frank hernandez. "the l los angeleles times" reps hernandez has been involved in three on-duty shootings during his career. in 2010, he shotot dead a 37-year-old guatemalan immigignt manuel jamines, sparking

protests. in india, atat least nine people have died, including two children, anand hundreds of oths are hospitalized after a gas leak from a chemical factory in the south-eastern region of the country. the styrene leak came from a plastitic plant ownened by south korea's lg corporation and was attributed by indian police to two massive tanks left unattended since late march amid thcoronavirurus nationwidede lockdown. it was the worst mass poisoning in india since when gas leaked 1984 from a peststicide plant in the central city of bhopal, killed an estimated 20,000 people. betsycation secretary devos unveiled new sexual wednesday assault policies for college and school campuseses tt weaken t the rights of sexuall violence survivors while bolstering protections for people accused of sexual harassment or assault. the new rules -- set to take effect in august -- alsoso redue the legal liabilities against colleges and schools, and narrows the scope of which cases schools and colleges are required to investigate. advocacy groups supporting survivors of sexual violence have vowed to fight the new policies.

vanita gupta, president and ceo of the leadership conference on civil and human rights, denounced the rules saying -- "this is all part of this administration's ongoing attempts to undermine the civil rights of students. all students deserve an educational environment free from sex discrimination and violence." and those are someme of the heheadlines. this is democracy y now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. when we come back, we will look at the rising rates s of coronavirus in russia and we will l look at patenents and the pandemic. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: inin't nono mntain n gh enough." boston children's cosese and chchoi from m ound the world

featurgg massachusetts bnn era a st andrerebaker and it is dedicated tohehe sta of massachusettgegenerahospspit an all hlth careororkers around t world. this idemocracnow!, decracynowrg, the arantine report.. i ammy goodm here in e epicenter of the pandemic, broadcasting from the studio. cohohost nermeen shaikh is broadcasting from home to protect against community spread. nermeen: good morning, amy, and welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. turning first to russia, where the coronavirus is spreading rapidly, with a rate of newew infections that is the highest in europe and second only to the united states worldwide. after weeks of reporting a seemingly low number of cases, infectioions have explploded in russiaia this week, , with 10,00 new cases a day since sundayay. ththe number of rereportedasasei more than 177,000 with more than

half of the infections in the capital of moscow. but moscow's mayor says the numbers there are likely three times higher than rereported. meanwhilile, russia's covid-d-19 death toll hasas passed 1500. more than 100 medical workers have died fighting the virus and many have reported lack of personal protective equipmenent. three dodoctors mysteriously fel from hospital windows ovover the past two weeks. two of them have d dd, while one is hospitalized.d. the hospitalized doctor previouslyly posted a video on social m media calling out the lack of memedical equipment and the fact he had to keep working dedespite testing positive for covid-19. russian authorities say they are investigating all three caseses. this comes as russian prime minister mikhail mishustin, who had been appointed by president vladimir putin to lead the response to the virus, has been diagnosed with covid-19 and is self-isolating. two other cabinet members have also tested positive for the virus.

on wednesday, president vladimir putin said russia should not rush to lift coronavirus-related restrictions. >> preventative measures need to be preserved or expanded. somewhere it is possible to plan a reasonable lifting, but only based on the opinion of scientiststs and specialalists e taking into account all facactos and popossible risks. i ememphasize we must not rush o lift coronavirus-related restrictions. any negligence or haste can result into a breakdown or step backward. she price of the mistake is a the safety lies in the health of our pepeople. amy: putinin's apprproval ratins dropped to 59%, the lowest it's been i in 20 years. for more, we go to moscow, where we're joined by joshua yaffa. he's the new yorker's moscow correspondent and the author of "between two fires: truth, ambition, and compromise in putin's russia." welcome to democracy now!

joshua, it is great to have you with us. why don't you just lay out the landscape for us during this pandemic. how has russia been affected as we hear about 10,000 new infections in the last 24 hours? >> sure. the trajectorory come as mucuchf you outlineded in your introduction, throughout march, russia looked like itt had -- he did have a relatatively low n nr of att least officially recognized cases at a a time w n cases wewere spikingng in much f eueurope andnd beginnining to sn the u.s., new york especially. russia had a few hunundred case. it looked like either russia was going to get a a delayed -- the national level epidemic in russiaia would come with some delay or maybe russia might avoid the worst effects of the pandemic, as we have seen in someme countries in central l ad eastern europe. a momoh and c change later,r, ss the answer is pretty clear. russia just was a bit slower in dealing with were facing the full brunt of thisis pandemimict

it is facing it quite dramaticalally with the statists youu laid out inin the introduction. thee great -- growth of new cass is only second to the united states. with over 10,000 new cases n n every day, that puts russia in the number two position, bringing the total number of 177,000, alalso putting rurussia i in the top i think six or seven for overall cases throroughout t the entire pandemic. it remains largely, but not exclusively, a muska phenomemen. like london in the u.k. and n nw york in the u.s., it is the epicenter of the epidemic will stop aboutut half or more of all known cases in russia are in moscow and every day when that new case count is released, about half or more are moscow cases.

it is very much a talele of twoo countrieies. you haveve moscow, which i is bg extraordinarily hard-hit, then you have the rest of the country, where you do have isolated pockets of infefection. i wrote a story for "the new yoyorker" lastst weeeek about infection clusters that were breaking out at some of the remote -- remote oil and gas fields inside e siberia and the arctic we you workers living in very cramped conditions, turning those worksites into hotspots. i i think that is th main worry for the rurussian government gog forward is how much this coronavirus on the russian scale continues to be a moscow issueue and how much does it turn into a natitionwide one, like in so may capital cities around the world, but i think in russia, all the more dramatically, russia is a very different place than the rest of russia, especially when it comes to things like infrastructure, per capita spending on health care, and other measures, transport, other

infrastructure questions. you have not necessarily seem momoscow hospitals stretched beyond the breaking point. they had been pushed to the limit. you've seen announcements from hospital directors as well as more informal announcements from doctors about being pushed really up to the limit, but still perhaps s moscow hospipits are abable to manage even this spikike in caseloaoad. a differerent story entirely whn he gets to the provincial regions in russia a athe natitional skill epidemic begins to filter out into the regioion. i think thatat will be a m muche dangerous and potentially disastrous story for russia. joshua, in a piece you wrote earlier this year in march, you talked about various people whom you spoken to in different parts of russia who told of having coronavirus symptoms, attempting to get tested, and not being able t toe tetested foror coronavavirus.

we know testing has been a major problem across the world, including in the u.s. so could you say a little now about what access to testing is like in russia and to what extent that accounts for reports , fore 10,000 infections example, in the last 24 hours? >> like yoyou mentioned, testitg was a problem in russia inin eay and mid march just likeke it was everywywhere. there doesn't t seem to be manyy countries in the world that was able to keep up with testiting o man. i heard lots s of cases o of pee who seemed be suffering from the classic coronavirus symptoms who were not able to get a test. testing is farar from perfect nw but certainly y has been rampedp extensively. moscow is clclaiming it isis dog about 50,000 tests a day. testing has become mumuch more widespspread while still not coming anywhere close to capturing the actual neeeed.

the momoscow city government dos puput forward this argument that the reason you're seeing such ha spike in casases is now the testingg resources and the ability to test has been buiuilt up to a level where they can go out into ththe population andndt people.. ththe numbers are not necessariy -- are reflective of increased testing rather than a spiking spread of the virus, but t thats impossible to check stop moscow city government is very much part of the kremlin overall political machine, runun by a mayor who is very muchch a loyal member of putinn's political and or circle even as the mayor has emerged as a somewhat, if not exactly independent, then a kind of parallel voice and source of authority in d dealing with coronavirus -- at least here inn moscow. but very hard to fact check some of these clalaims coming outut f the moscow city government. but that does say the moscow city government is sayiying, for

example, about half the casess been identified thesee days, people tested positive are asymptomatic, suggesting at least in moscow the testing is able to get out into wider seve of thehe population, not just people showing up at hospitals who are sick. we have seen relelatively young ages of those testing popositive people, under 40 or 50, which suggests it is not just a very sick who are being tested butut there's a proactive testing regime. though justt like everywhere, as i have been saying, it is obvious the official numbers off people whoho have tested positie nowhere matches the real caseload. you even hadad moscow's mayor today in an interview reveal according to his own or the mayor's offices own estimations, the realal numbers of those infected in moscow is about 2% of the population. soso 300,000 people. that is more than three times the 80,000 people who are

officially registered d as coronavirus-positive in the capipital. nermeen: joshua, did you also talk about the cuts that were made to russia's health care service and how that has impacted russia's response to the crisis? i mean, ththere have b been reps of ambmbulance drivers having to wait for hours outside emergency wards before the patients that they have are let in. story of said, the russian health care really varies whether you are talking about ththe centnter off moscowr the region. those e provincial regions have been especially hard-hit by a series of reforms that arare knn orwellian optimization. there was "optitimization" which resulted in the closing of regigional and provincial health

care centers, merging at various hospitals into one, essentially depriving localities that have long had hospital for -- or clinic in their area, leaving them without one for people to travel further distances. all of that weighs heavily in a negative wayay when you have a global pandemic. it is so impmportant and potentially disastrous if it goes the virus reaches intoo those prorovincial locations. you just don't have hospitals and doctors who are equipped not toto deal wiwith them. you already had a number of doctors in the region make appeals through social media and elsewhere talking about the lack of protective equipment being forced too work excruciatingly long shifts without the necessary safety measures and without the necessary equipment and gear in the hospitals to treat and care for patients. so health care has really been an arerea that has been,n, if nt

neglglected, you c could say was even targeted for budget c cuts and austerity in r russia in the papast severalal years, whicich, leaves them m in a very vulnerae weight in termrms of dealing wih coronavirus. amy: could you talk about these ththree doctors that commit mysteriously fell out of hospital windows after complaining about the lack of protective gear. talk about what happened and what is happening with doctors. two of them died, what is in critical conondition.. >> t there is onee c case justst outsidide of moscow w and anothr one in siberia and a third i believe down in southern russia. as youou said, those dococtors n some waypopoke out about whahat they were observrving with coronavirus in their own facililities -- in the case of this young amy lynn stryver,, recorded a a video t talking abt the lack off protectctive

equipmpment, quite curioususly e ton surfaced before hisis fall record another v video in whiche leadingack his words, many to believe he was pressured into recording the second to do in which he recanted his earlier criticism. other than thahat, it is hard to say what exacactly happened inow those three e cases. i know m myself another journalists, westetern and russians come have and try to talalk with colleaeas and doctors w who care for these individuals to try to understand the circumstances of whetherer they were accicidents or someteg more nefariousus. i think k it is worse rememberi, sadly, a and tragically, suicids of doctors, nurses, and o other health c care workers a phenomenon we are s seeing in te west. there e have been a numberer of cases in thehe u.k. and i in the u.s. as well. there is a dark precedent for medical personnel t taking their own lives, people who are on the

front lines and dealing with coronavirus. as to what actualllly happened n these three cases, we just don't have enough inforortion yet.. as i said,d, i know myselflf anr peoplele are trying g to get toe bottttom of these cases. but to say anything more w would just be speculation at this point. amy: let me ask you about putin himselelf and his whole approac. here in the united states, we are the a visitor of the pandemic in the world, -- epicenter of t the panandemic ie world, but russia is moving up quickly. it has the highest rate of infections in europe, the second highest in the world. can you talk about how he responded at first and then over all, as you are saying, the difference between what is happening in moscow or the infection rate is considered extremely high and in other places, even in the closed cities, for example, that make plutonium, where we hardly know anything about them, what wouldd be happening now? >> sure.e.

what has been intereresting to observee for people like myselff whwho watch russssia closesely d handsputin closely is how ofoff almost absent he has beent various points of the crisis. we are used to thinking of putin as is very dececisive, almost omnipotent leader who inserts himself into any crisis and extracts maxaximal personal advantage by bebeing the one who is seen,n, in his own way, resoe that crisis. we have not seen that here. putin has taken a somewhat backseat or allowed himself very conspicuously to take a backseat, puttining other people in charge. you mentioned the prime minister mishustin who himselflf has come down withh coronavirirus and i n hospitalal in moscow as wewell s the moscow mayor who has emergrd as one of f the more forceful or visible government officials in dealing with coronavirus. i've have heheard various explplanations as to w why putis

chosen to sit this one out, relatively speaking, or not sees the reins as we have seen him in previous crises. one explanation is at this stage rule 20 years in, he sees himself as anan almost messianic figure. what interests him is engaging in negotiations with the opec cartel, managing trump, reasserting russian will and influence in europe, and that as airus to him seemed technical question, not on the level he sees his own rule at this point. another reason just gets to the nature of machiavelli and politicall calculation. no guarantee as we have seen in recent days thth the virus is going to decrerease or in some y dissipate in rusussia anytime soon. the effects could be very damaging, not justt the health efeffects but the economicic effects. russia expects to go into

recession this year. the coronavirus global downturn paired with the collapse in oil prices is hitting the russian economy especicially hard. it i is quite possible putin chalice, that you're only likely to lose popularity y so he ismac allowing other officials to take the lead and take t the blame. it has beeeen interesting to see how putin has not been front and center but let these other officials lead or not evenly because there isn't really a cohererent nationwide strategy. it is hard to talk about one top-down policy flowining from putinn a and the kreremlin allle way araround theheountry, whwhih leads to come as you alluded to in your question, we haveve tald a bibit about very disparate and kikind of h helter skelter o ous

througughout the countryry. moscow is the cocountry's main hotspot, but beyond that, yoyou see these outcroppingngs of cass in places s like remote oil and gas fields of siberia and t the arctic, numbmber of regiononal hospitals, i including inn the northern republic near the arctic circle.e. hospitals ththere becamame super spreading locations of the virus cocome alike we have s seen,adl, in lots of other countries. the virus is popping up in somewhat random and unexpected plplaces throughght the rest of the country. if those points begin to connect and the virirus reaeally seeps o the region in a more widedespred way as we have been saying, that could be something that t is prf even more for the russian authorities to manage then n the national epidemic that so fafars largely y moscow-based. about the want to ask

kind of response from russians to how the government has dealt with this crisis. there are dozens of online protests demanding greater financial assistance and compensation. 1/5 of employees, 20% of employees in russia have already been either -- have already either lost their jobs or are on unpaid leave. what kind of financial safety net as the government provided? second, you mentioned the economic impmpact of this crisis in the oil industrtry. i mean, the oil industry in russia employs i think something like one million workers. could you talk about both these things, what kind of safety n nt the russisian governmnment has provided for those who have lost ther jobs and the impact of

combination of the collapse of the oil prices and the coronavirus emergency?y? >> sure. your first question, there have not been many measusures at a a, whwhich is leaeading, in my esestimation, morere to the down popopulation, not the spread of the virus itself, but the spillover economic effects that are notot really tl with in a coherent, top-down way. i think that is proving g more - taking more hit on putin's rating that even the virus. absent forceful response, what he has done is announced a series of so-called nonworking holidays for the country. these are not officicial quarantines, that is left up to governors and mayors. decreed that inin ththe citity of moscow, t thered be a a quarantine. alall putin has done is announce

these rolling of nononworking holidays. that means thehe government does not obligate itself to pay any sort of white skill compensation ,, not to employers and not to employees. putin said no one should d lose theieir job as a reresult of ths crisis, but all employers should continue to pay salaries. but with the russian government not providing widescale ecoconoc reliefef for those employers for small and medium busininesses, there isn'n't any money to pay those employees. it is a bit of a paradox that the kremlilin has not really resolved. i think it is going economic frustrations that are leading to that sort of -- it is not exactly protest mood because there isn't really anywhere or anyway to protest right now. that may be one thing that h hes ththe kremlin squeak through ths crisis even if support for putin and his policies continue to fall. it is not just difficult, but impossible to gather people in the streets right now for a

protest. oil, ihe question about think what is more important financially for russia is not even the amount of people employed in the oil and gas sector, relatively speaking, the extraction of oil and gas is a pretty labor and intensive inteteprice compmpared other fos of economic activity, but itit s exextraordinarily important for the russian budget. halfieve half or more than of all russian workers one way or another depend on the russian budget. they can be considered state employees and one form or another. so having money in the federalal budget to then distribute around the country, that is what is extraordinarily important.. in recent years, the russian budget has been balanced think about 40 dollars or $45 per barrel of oil. oil has gotten much lower than that in recent weeks, stabilized a bit. but if oil stays low for

considerable a amount of time,, that will reallyly take a big chunk out of the russian budget. it is the ability to spread that budget many y around the cououny that hasas been important factor for 20 years of relative, if not stability, at t least longevityf the putinn system.m. amamy: joshuhua yaffaa, ththankr being with us, moscow correspondent for "the new yorker." author of "between two fires: truth, ambition, and compromise in putin's russia." when we come back, we look at patents versus the pandemic. we will speak with a writer who says we will find a vaccine, but drug companies will decidede who gets it. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy:y: "the drununk and the equilibrist" sung by elis regina and composed by the great brazilian songwriter aldir blanc, who died monday at the age of 73 from covid-19.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.o.org, the quarante rereport. i'm amy goodman. as the global death toll from covid-19 tops more than 265,000 confirmed cases worldwide approaches 4 million, the head of the world health organization has urged the world toto unite o defeat the disease. close just the number of new cases is declining in some cases, it is mounting in others. this virus will be with us for a long time and we must come together to doububle up and shse the t tools to defefeat it. amy: this comes as new clinical trials by the national institutes of health of the experimental anti-viral drug remdesivir show it reduced hospitalization stays for people infected by the coronavirus by 15 to 11 days compared to a

placebo treatment, but did not significantly improve survival. meanwhile, the food and ugug mininisttion g gnted authorization frayay to phpharceuticic giant gilead scienc f for ergenencyse off remdesivir to treat paenents withovovid-1 pavavinthe wawa for broader e.e. president umump anunceced e office,m the oval joined by gilead's chief executive daniel o'day. this is o'day. >> we want to make sure nothing gets in the way of patients getting the medicine so we made millionon to donate 1.5 leles ofemdedesir. amy: gilead's nanations pepectedo bebe eugh fofoat least 140,000 patitsts, depependg on t t number of days they need to be tread.d. a draft poport projects covid-19 cases will surge to abou 200,0 0 per d day by junene 1. gilead started developgg mdisisiv in 2020 as a potential ebola treatmen theompany's toll

venue fr thehe dg coululd top $11 billi if it iss a succesulul trementnt f covid-.. mararch gilead sought an orphanan drug designation for reremdiser, class given treaenents f rarare diseases, but scscindeitss request after blblic ocry.y. it recectly spent a company-record o$2.4.45 llion in theirirst qrterer tlobbyy congress a t the wte h hou. some membe o of coressss a now askingow much nsumers ll pay fothe drug for moren how mu drugs like remdisiver will cost and who gets access to them, we're joined by achal prabhala, coordinator of the accessibsa project, which campaigns for access to medicines in india, brazil, and south africa. wrote a piece with nobel prize-winning economist joseph stiglitz on "patents vs. the pandemic" and his recent piece for the guardian is headlined "we'll find a treatment for coronavirus -- but drug companies will decide who gets it." he is joining us from bangalore, india. welcome to democracy now! explain inould fully

using the case study of remdisiver, who profits? who o gets access? how impoanant is ts drurug? clubs thank you very much, amy. the situtuation with r remdesivs very, veryry interesting bececae it is the e first treatment approved by the e fda for use against c covid-19. i think eveveryone agrees - -- e medical consensus is it i is a greatirst treatatment. it is by noo meaeans the l lastd we will see e more coming up as clinical trials concludeded. remdmdesivir is owned by gilead. daniel stunned to hear o'day, the ceo repeat on your show, that t he will do his best to make gilelead available to eveveryone around ththe w worldd that h he had donatated a large numbmber of treatatments to t te

united states. because g gilead's track recordn dedeliveng accccess to m medici, not jusust in thehe u.s. bubut elsesewhere, h has been horribl. the trump admininistration has coincidentally suing gilead for the unauthororized use of u.s. gogovernment patentsts f from tc --t are used in drugs thahat thdrdrug is what t many can tak, preventitiveeasure against hiv and aids. it costs $2525 a month to take n india. the e price of the u.s.s. is $1, which obviously acts as a deterrent t to find that drug ad thereforore constitutes a public healalth hazarard. the track record in brazil has been equally abysmal. they b brought to market in 201a thahat is the first ever treatment designed against hepatitis c, which is a

debilitating a and fatalal disee that affects many y peop in middle incomome cotries li bril and theormer soviviet union. six yearsfter they introduced it in 2019, the cost of the d dg , $8000 a year, wch meant the braziliagogovernnt c cou nonoafford to buy enough of .. meant 1 14% of all brazilians who needed tha drug in n at was a wellununded blic h hlth system couldld get it, w while e rere and many died on theay, welded brazilian goverenent battled b battled gead for more cess tohis excellent cure fohehepatis c. the trk record is high suspt.t. cynical - that from phpharmaceical comninies he be harming lights for at lstst ree decades. it i only in the last threoror

ur y yea that there is been a visible impact th these pharmaceical monololies have had any richer countries especially thoithoutut univerl healthareystems, like the unid states am glad ere are re and more action on this issue now in countries where much of the lolobbyingnd m much of the marketing and much of the stock market value of these companies is based, because that indicates that perhaps there will finally be some action on raining and ththese pharmaceutical monopoli, both by society as well as the states that actually allow these monopolies to exist. nermeen: you talalked about gilead's record with both hepatitis c medicine as well as hiv/aids, but one of -- not just gilead, of course, t that has ththese patents and over prices the drugs.

life-saving drugs. one of the most stunning examples is, as you know, pneumonia for which a v vaccine whichng existed over pfizer pharmaceutical holds the patent, and still 100,000 children below the age of five die every year in india alone from pneumonia. could you talk about the steps that the international community , multilateral organizations like the who have taken to limit the power o opharmaceututical compmpanies and having these patents anand setting these exexorbitant drug prices that he such lethal consequences around the world, but e especially in e developing w world? >> i i will start with the last part of your questioion, which s whwhat steps s states have t tae

starklkly terrain andnd the pri. ththe answer is,s, very little. what steps have e who takeken? a lilittle more. th c could do o a lot more.. the e truth is, a lot t of us hd out hope for r when this pandedc will end, thinking it will endnd en treatmements and d vaccines emerge, , when a cure emererges. but my e experience and ouour expeperience in poor p parts ofe woworld, we know bitttterly than once ae fightht begins treatment or vaccicine emerges.. the distance between washington, d.c., and johannesburg isis abot 8000 mililes. it took eieight yeaears between6 and 202004 for aids drugsgs, w h turned a d death sentence into a chronic cocondition, to travel that distance, w which takes 16 hoururs by plane, whilile millis died simply bebecause of mononoy prices that had toto be dismantd anand reined in.

the other vaccine yobrbring is a very interesting and tragic examplef the ways in whi vacces fail. pfizer, the news version off the vaccine, it is pfizer's single , bringing in $5 billion revenue everythg onon ur.. pfizer is a companyhat we associe with dgs like litor r anviagra. that in ct,, it is vaccici agains pumonia tt is the single biggest revenue generor r thisisiant phaacaceutil coany.y. pfizer says the ccinine about $850 in the u u.s th o offert thrgh vacacci itiative to subside pri to e indianovernmen a$10 per course the problem is $10 a coursese

represen the highest price the dian goverent pays for any vaccine. 20 to 30 times morore expensivee than any otherer vaccine they procure. as a rest, the government can only afford to buy enough to trtreat a very small prproportif the children who need i as aesult, tragigilly, there aree ovever 0,000 dehs corded,nfanant aths, fr pnmomonia,hichch ia perfecy preventable condition. it has been prentable since the 1980' but it still continues the journey from new york to delhi, which is also 8000 miles, which should take 16 hours, is actually infinite. we haven't even made that journey y yet. this is instructive for covid-19 because of any treatments and vaccines that come out of the billions of dollars that are being thrown at pharmaceutical companies come in something like 75% of all many that has been pledged byby richountry govemements,he e.u.nd the u.s. come has ne to prate

rporatio. not a single dollar or euro of thatat money comes with h any stipulations for accesess. you have peoeople like ththe gid ceo sayi nice things about access and trust us, which is difficult to do given the record, and you have the eu saying come again, , somewhat meananingless latitudes around access and making sure poor people in developing countries will be able to access the drugs and the vaccine. we know from history that is just not true. unfortunately, there is a very easy way to guarantee access, which is to simply strip all monopolies of any products that is created for thehe detection r trtreatment of covid-19. but nonene of the agreements tht the government has signed d with pharmamaceutical companini -- which agagain, runs into t the billions of dollars -- mention

anything about patents or monopolies or access. and that should be very worrying to us. amy: there is a precedent for this. the polio vaccine. asked byusly said when edward morrow, who owns the patent? he said, "i would say there is no patent. could you patent the sun?" what a difference the polio vaccine meant for so many. could you and by talking about our group, what you'u'rere fighting g for and du think you cacan win? you brought up jonas salk. he is not just responsible for the polio vaccine, which c chand the course of humanity, he was alsoso responsible for thehe fit flu vaccine, which came out of similar m mid-20th centy y effos in thehe united states, which ws publicly oriented. theyey weree offendeded publicl, somemes s by auaual cititizens mailing in checks. and deftftly byy governments wht

ththat time during the worldld r ars,- during theorld wewere trying to protect their soldiers on ththe battlefront. the original flu vaccine, whichh billions havee taken over manyny decades, is a publicly funded effort, which did not have a any protecection and has beeeen run since the 19197's ouout of a wondnderful n network at the whn geneneva, w which releases s two recommdadations annually, set ouout what straiains of the flu virurus should go in. it is a collaboborative effort, 110 countntries, governrnments collaborate.e. anand anyone can n then manuface the vaccine b basedn the foformula. the u.u.n. just set out inin onf its many y complicatedldly w wod revolutions that theyy intend every treatment -- amy: 1 10 seconds. cooks to get to everyone everywhehere. at c can onlyy happen if the vaccine and treatment can be

manufactured by everyone, everywhere. amy: achal prabhala, thank you for being with us, coordinator ibsa project. re

♪ thank you for joining us. this is nhk "newsline" bringing you the latest at this hour. we start here in tokyo where ththere are some encououraging s in the effort to keep the coronavirus from spreading. officials announced 23 new infections in the capital on thursday. that's the smallest increase since march 30th and the fifth