anchor: coming up, china's wuhan province reports the first coronavirus infections aenends lifting the lockdown -- since lifting the lockdown/ .uhan i/ welcome back. acrossnement staff france after a slowdown in covid-19 cases and a few whiched hospital beds,

indicates the crisis may be abating. the country is attempting a partial reopening of schools. social distancing rules will be applied. up to half of parents in many regions say they are refusing to send their children right away. let's take a listen to a reporter who reported on this in central france. thihiis set to o be a gradual schools.ng of france's to reopopen if they can meet the sanitary conditions required. already, most of them are welcoming people. this elementary school has already tableled a couple teachr training days before the children will l start to c come. it takes the staff through strict hygiene r rules thehey nd to implement i if they arere gog to seeee people back at schohoo.

ththere are markers with tape dn on the floor to show peoeople te way they must walalk around the school building.g. it is all being closely monitored. no balallgames will be allowed. theyey are not aowowed to shshae any materials. at this school ground, thehe climimbing frames, the slides he been cordoned off. it will be a very different school day for those children who do start returning. priority is being given to the children of emergency workers, transport workers too, those who work in food s shops, the childn of doctors and nurses. this is opening up, but very gradually indeed and with different conditions. there have been dubbed a rather controversial move.

controversial. when emmanuel macron went on nationonal t tv and announced te school had been reopening from 11, there e was surprise a aroud the country, with people e fearg it was too soon, that it would spark a second wave of cororonavirus infections. able to respect social didistancing, especially yououng children,, who would be vectors for diseaease. a lot of people are worried about sesending their chchildren back, whether it could make their children or little -- or more vulnerable members of their families. will it traumatize them more than perhaps it -- they already have been? they could be wearing face masks in school. the teachers and adult staff will be wearing face masks. then you have got teachers who are concerned about heading back

to the workplace and risking infection. teachers unions have been calling on the government to let's that -- to let staffff not come into work if they wish, they feel they are in danger, if sufficient signatory measures are not in place. you have 300 mayors from the paris region writing an open letter to the government, saying may y 11 is too early to reopen schools. anchor: here in paris, commuter traffic on the metetro lines is reportedly lighter than normal this morning. in a special measure to ensure public transport is not overcrowded, commuters have to carry a certificate from their employer if they travel during peak hours. passengers also have to wear masks and abide by stickerss marking out t social distancing. >> a cautious return to public

transport for some commuters. with most french people continuing to work from home, it is far from a normal rush hour. the number of passengers have increased with shops and businesses reopening. having run a skeleton service during the lockdown, the paris transport network has increased capacity to deal with influx. enforcing social distancing on some modes of transport is proving difficult. >>[speaking french] >> with fears of a second wave of coronavirus cases, a number of measures have been rolled out on the metro, trains, trams, and buses.

wearing masks is compulsory. staff have been handing them out at large stations. public transport during rush hour need paperwork. designated bins for passengers to throw away used masks, gloves, and tissues. stickers on seats and the floor encourage social distancing. some stations remain closed. public transport operator says they will be equipped to welcome all passengers by june. u.k., where boris johnson outlined plans for a phased reopening of the country's economy sunday. schools gradually reopening from the start of june, with some shops opening their doors to clients. the british prime minister will imposedd rules would be on people coming in n from the

u.k. gush coming into the u.k. -- imposed on people coming into the u.k.. very slowly limping back to normalcy. >> i if you listen to s sectionf the british press, t tay is thee day t the u.k. was supposed too start going g back to work. in reality, atat small-town england,d, there remaiains prety quiet. the daily rush of commuters into london across ththe utheast hahs largely y dried up. many people working frfrom home. some 6 6 million u.k. . workersr part of ththe furlough schcheme. boris johnhnson was pretty cautiousus in his address to the nation. there was a change i in the tosssage frorom a stay a home those e slightly l less clear sy alert and go to wowork if you c.

leadaders say this puts workek', health at risk. unions askinin for grereater assunceses osafetyty. the britisish public rememains skepticacal abouthe prospectsts and wisdom of loososening restririctions. the majority off those restrictions to remain in n plae fofor now. thee country, which has posted the highest number of coronavirus deaths in europe. the situation differs drastically between the different countries across europe. however, a majority have had one thing in common, they have been under lockdown with businesses closed. showinging at a map which nations continue to confine and which ones are using their restrictions. one country does stand out and that is sweden, which refused to ban people from leaving their homes from the very beginning of the pandemic. for more on this, i would like to bring in doug.

thank you for being with us this afternoon. have beene heard, we discussing europe using its lockdown. even germany, however, is running up againin some roadblblocks. talk us through some of them. >> the biggest roadblock is the fear that the coronavirus may be spreading again in germany, which have been a model of good managemement of raining inin the rus.s. wednesday, we heard angela merkel basically saying that germany was l leaving the first phphase of the pandemic. federal states, the landauu across germany, where announcing relaxatitions of t their social restrictioions. we are seeeeing those reststctions, whwhich have beenn a statate of relaxation, has b n reimposesed in three districts.

what is going on -- and gerermay isis no exception -- health officials havave been warning tt a so-called emergency brake could be applied if needed be. an emergency brakeke to stop t e --cess of re-confinement de-confinementnt if infection rates lies -- rise. the rate in germany y is 50 per 100,000. there already have been numbers showing that the rates are higher thahan that and several f the federal states i mentioned. if that were to o happen acrcros the board inn germany, we could sesee a backpedaling, re: re-imposing of those --trictions, the so-called official saw a risining of the rereproduction ratate. ththe virus spreadining more thn lessening. thatat is happening in germany,o the numbers are being watched closely.

precursor ofbe a the types of emergency brakes that will perhaps have to be applied elsewhere? andor: let's turn to china a cluster of new cases emerging in wuhan, the origin of the coronavirus. some claiming the disease was made in a laboratory. seven new cases reported this monday. a fresh wave of infections, concerns of those. stay with us because i want to come back trade-off with this. -- straight off wiwith this. >> wuhan reported its firsrst cluster of infections since it locked down -- lifted its lockdown. the cases are now in two digit numbers in china. on top of wuhan,n, other caseses were detecected in the northern provinces. these new cases bring concern of a potential new wave of

infections. that is why people hold onto precautionary measures and why some resestrictions are maintaid to limit the risksks. ahead andhas went reopened businesses and s schoo, where childrenen will have to remain cautious. [speaking chinese] bars and restaurants have also reopened. shanghai's disneyland park is the first in the world to reopen for a limited number of visitors. only 20% of capacity. visitors' temperatures are checked at the gate and no one can walk around without a mask, with some exceptions. heard newug, we just cases of infections emerging. does this mean that asian countries will also have to

backtrack, something you mentioned earlier about e europ? that axiomns that where people thinking the worst is b behind us. they need toto exercise cacauti. cityy near shshu han the border of russia and north korea. some reports of chinesese coming back k from rua believed to be briringing somemf the infection n back to that northernrn part of china. in the case of that province, in patemann city, you had a of new infections traced to one womaman in this s city, laundry woworker. what is interesting is that she was not abroad, not known to have had any travel to affected regionons, nor is she knowown to have any contact with known carriers. they are trying to do contact

tracing. 200 76 people ininhat provinince are in quauarante becacause of believed contact with this woman. it is putting all of china on alert. last week, china declalared allf its regions as low risk. shulan city is now an exception. hasyond china, south korea been hailed as a model of savvy cobit management. it only had 256 deaths. a a lot of that was down to very high technology, aggressive contact t tracing, and a culture ofof responsibility among peopo. however, in n south korea i its, inre have beenn new lockdowns nightclubs, bars, discos where new cases have spread, apparently traced t to one man o wewent on a nightclub crawl. they are havaving to l lock dowy a lot of places -- in a lot of placaces.

that is something to watch as well. a country that has been hailed for its crisis managagement havg to backpedal and go o into limid lockdodowns, whihich shows the emerergency brake can be applied at any time and this virus can spread again at any time. it for me and the team. thank you for watching france 24. stay tuned. anchor: welcome to the france 24 interview. we welcome the exexecutive didirector of the world food program. thank you for being with us. program has been helping people around the world.

you recently warned the u.n. that unless we continue our operation to help -- our operation, the pandemic will "hungerfollowed by a pandemic of biblical proportions." are to exaggerating -- aren't you exaggerating? >> i wish i were. before cobit hit the scene, ii have been warning leaders t that the worstcing humanitarian crisis since world war ii. when y you look at the s say hel the s- when you look atat the floods,ratingng, droughts, wars, we will alalreay facing a bleak situation. and then desert locusts hit.

then came at covid. when i was speaking to the united nations security council, i produced the new numbers of the people around the world that wewere marching to the brink of starvation. i am not talking about hungry people. -- there 821 100 million people they go to bed chroronically hungry. additional people are in the brink of starvation. out of that 130 5 million, we supported about 100 million people. m million, 3030 million depend on us 100%.%. ththat is the only food they ge. with covid, we are anticipating another 130 million people on top of the 135 million, bringing a billiononrter of

pepeople mararching towardss starvation because of the economic d deterioration from covid, wars, conflflicts. this is a perfect storm. i i do wish i was exaggerating, but we are looking at what could bebe famines of biblical proportions in multiple countries. >> according to your assessments, you are talking about three dozen countries. thatat is a lot.t. >> yes. sayact, right now, i would five to six countries would be famine nonow if we were not there. we have 10 countries right off the top that have one million people that would getet famine f things deteriorate. , nor ift have the funds the supply chain breaks down. this is an incredible dynamic here. when world war ii hit, the supppply chain wororldwide did t break down. you had supply chain's breakdown

in the war zones, but unlike then, now the supply chain is breaking down around the world. this is creating havoc in many places. moving food,, moving supplies, economic deterioration. it is a disastrous situation. we have got to get the economies rolling. we have got to resolve and f fix both of these issues at the same me.. tony blairas i think said, the cure will be worse than the disease. >> you and other agencies have issued an appeal for a $.7 billion in funding in addition to an earlier call for $2 billion when you look at the economies of powerful, rich western countries in europe, the u.s., they are into o big recesession. how are they going to give money

for communitarian aid when they need to tend to their own people? >> this is a good queststion. i was in washinington, d.c. in e last three days meeteting with united states leleaders. fifirst, you do not want t to st thgoosose that l lays the golden egg. they h he got to revevitalize their own economies so we can keep r receiving the support we receive from nations around the woworld that are productive and successfulul. i understand that. however, having said that, every leader i have been talking to in the last few weeks clearly understands the need of food security. if you do not have food security, you will have destabilization, mass migration, war, and conflict. the cost will be so much more. what we are doing is analyzing out the hotspots, where we see there will be deterioration that will implicate disaster and not

just the african meat region -- not just the african region, but will have security interest in nations around the world. what i have been h hearing from leaders is that we are not backing down. we will do what we can to help. i am very hopeful, but at the same time the numbers are not small. they are big. also, i am asking the world's billionaires, who continue to make money, it t is time for you to step p up in a way you have never stepped up before. people are in need. this is a phenomenon. >> you talk about the trump administration. obviously the u.s. is the largest donor to your agency. we just learned that 20 million jobs were destroyed in t the u.. withthin the month of april alo. so how canan donald trump turn d sayy i am goining to givive mono the e world food p program?

trumpmp, the state has beent -- and it incredible because you watch the news and you have republicans in democrats fighting on everything, but when it comes to international foreign aid, food security, i have talked with the key democratatic and repubublicn senators. they come together on food security and international aid. they are talking a about a substantial increase in fundidig because of the crisis. there is a lot of politics to work this through. when i sat down with trump or mike pompeo, they clearly understand the impact destabilizatioion will have on europe, the woworld, and the united states, so they get i it. they are committed to working with us and i bebelieve they wil come through. but it is a mammoth path. let me say thihis. even if we h have the money -- d

i i am very concerned about that and about people losing their jobs. 20% oflooking about misses from people in countries like ethiopia, lebanon, syria. put that aside. if the supply chaiain down, if u cannot get the food into t the marketplace, to the people thaht arare starving, then you will he famines unlike anything we have seen. that is what we are concerned about. if you have border restrictions, ports closing, farmers cannot get to the market, it is a bad situation. we have got to act and act quickly. >> on africa, clearly you are seeing those things. up until now, the virus has not

hit as much as it has done in china, in western europe, and of course in the u.s. , as some others have been saying, that the worst is yet to come or may be in africa there is better protection, earlier action, or is the worst still ahead? >> i would like to think it is going to be different, , but frankly it i is going to be cataststrophic. the worst is yet to come. i think it is going to be terrible. we are d doing the analysis now. let me give you an example. in syria alone -- we will come back to africa -- we are seeing a spike into million people because of the breakdown in the supply chain. their export50% of is tourism..

in south sudan, 50% is oil. nigeria, 9 90%. i can go from country to country and show you what is already is takingg before covid extent exponential -- is taking its exponential [no audio] [no o audio]

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man: it's been described by the un as a textbook ethninic cleansing. woman: bangladesh has called on myanmar to allow the return of hundreds of thousands of rohingya muslims. they can't cope with the scale of the humanitarian crisis. rape and torture at the hands of the myanmar army. i'm alex crawford, and this is "hotspots." tonight, we're gonna take you behind the scenes of some of the world's hardest-hitting stories. we're in northern iraq, where stuart ramsay has an amazingly lucky escape. ramsay: the chance of surviving that, a flip of a coin, i suspect. crawford: our cameras are rolling when things get out of hand in spain. [gunfire]