>> this is the w news. china effectively ends is zero covid policy. the virus is dangerous for many. because this blizzard is for the ages. >> 50 people dead. the governor of the state of new york warns further extreme weather conditions.

the russia taking part, it is unclear what test it as of succeeding. welcome to the program. china's pandemic restrictions are said to ease further even though the country is far from herd immunity and cases appear to be soaring. patient has announced it is ending almost three years of border control. as the end of visa restrictions has sparked a surge in flight bookings from china. people have spent three years putting up with travel restrictions, lockdowns, mass testing and other tough measures.

the sudden lifting of these has caught people by surprise. the official reason, the omicron variant is not as dangerous as first thought. at the moment, the pandemic response measures have entered a new phase in our country. we are permitting for preventing infection but also preventing severe illness. the policy change has been welcomed by some people at least. some people prefer control measures. we know anyone outside is clear. what we need now is herd immunity. the government is white right to do what it is doing under the current circumstances. crest of the government is allowed within a up again, that means it can't be that bad.

if the virus is highly infectious and everyone is in danger, the government would not be easing up. >> all of the people have been hard hit. as vaccination rates are low, many hospitals are overstretched and it is estimated that covid-19 could play -- could claim a million lives in the coming months. the exact scale of the epic is hard to judge as china has not published official covid-19 figures since sunday. >> japan has announced it would require a negative covid-19 test from visitors from china. public health officials say herd immunity may be near. the developing has sparked under

debate among lawmakers about remaining rules. >> increasingly, it other religions we can people sick. leading virologists say the pandemic is over. >> naturally cover the pandemic will run its course at some point. i am optimistic that will be the case after this winter. >> the german justice minister believes that this virologists is the very cautious scientist. they are calling for all covered protection measures. masks are still mandatory on the national railway. the coalition partner and government says it is too soon to scrap restrictions. >> he is putting the onus on the state.

if there is no more mutations in the next four months, we will be transitioned into a phase where individuals decide how to protect themselves. >> the coalition partners, the greens are urging caution. >> there is no point in undermining our achievements. we will need to rollback measures sensibly. that way we are in a better situation if the pandemic. >> germany's health minister wants to keep covid restrictions in place to continue protecting vulnerable groups. >> earlier i spoke to emmanuel wheeler about the situation of covid and asked him if he agrees with statements made by some of his colleagues that the pandemic is over. >> a key feature of the pandemic is that we see these rapid and massive outbreaks of the virus. which we have seen.

this combined with a lack of widespread immunity. this is something that will end. we should not judge the severity of a virus and based on whether we call it pandemic or not but whether it has an actual bird i have question is finally opening up. does that pose certain dangers? >> china, as far as we condenser from here, it is quit worrying. tens of thousands of people will die. this will also put this on

supply chains. and even more drops beyond that, what we know is every infection is a specific best moments that the virus could come. this is not something that is generally be expected at the moment. there is not so much immunity around china. this is what we are seeing one year ago with the emergence of the omicron variant in south africa. this is not the same situation. even though there is the threat that complete the new variant could emerge from china right now, this is not being generally considered.

>> we will have to leave it there. thank you. severe winter weather has been pummeling parts of north america. authorities say more than 50 people have died. in new york especially bad. the area around buffalo has been struggling with the weather phenomenon known as lake effect snow. that is when cold air warmer waters of the great lakes and brings the region huge massive snowfall. that is exactly what is happening in buffalo right now along with heavy winds and all of that. corrects a city paralyzed by a mega storm. buffalo, new york is -- is at the epicenter. snow pummels the region.

the governor of new york game -- gave a sobering assessment of the situation. >> we have been through a lot of wars together and this blizzard is one for the ages. it is certainly the blizzard of the century. we are here to talk about our collaborative approach. thousands of homes are without power and a driving ban has been issued. the governor warns that the worst is not yet over. >> we know this term is coming back. anyone who declares victory is as it is over, it is way too religious i. >> president joe biden approved an emergency declaration for new york, offering the full force of the federal government to support the state. thousands of flights have been canceled across the u.s.. >> now we are driving back to

austin. 17 hours. >> back in buffalo, more heavy snowfall is forecast. >> we can go over to that hard city of buffalo, new york where we have bruce on the line. first, it is good to see you inside. can you give us an update on what things are like in buffalo right now? >> things are still not good. the rest of the snowfall has passed our airport which is about eight miles from where i am sitting now. i received 50 inches of snow.

we have never seen anything like this. i am old enough to remember a storm that hit buffalo 45 years ago that was known as the blizzard of 77. we never thought we would see anything like it again. it also buried the city. i was 12 years old at the time. enclosed school for a week which was unheard of. having lived through this past weekend, the storm we are experiencing is worse. >> you are people had accused -- not unaccustomed to weather like this. have local authorities -- national and state authorities been responding? do you really buffalo has been getting the assistance it needs? >> we had the people and the equipment here long before the

first snow fell on friday morning. the precision of the forecast was such that we knew this was coming, we knew it would be a lizard. we know how bad it would be. i think that by friday afternoon,. it would be almost double what saw the airport. that is not unheard of. what is unheard-of is to have sustained snowfall and winds about 40 miles now. even though we had the people and they put in the been here, there was no way for it move

forward. the governor said let's say you had a plan and you are able to navigate the streets, he would not be able to drive more than a little bit. before the white out conditions were such that you could not see in front of you. that plywood have been out of action. that proved to be a deadly combination as we are seeing now. >> despite the preparations, you are veterans of their of wild winter weather. so many people died, people trapped in their cars, people stuck where they were. >> they were driving man's in fact before the snowfall. i can speak to what was going through every person's mind but it is not hard to speculate that if you had lived here for a long

time, you heard about a very bad storms. i think it is possible some people thought it is not going to be that bad. it will not be the worst storm we ever had. throw in the fact that it was christmas weekend and people naturally wanted to spend time with their loved ones, their families and they might have thought maybe i can just try a few miles to visit someone. the reality was you could not. because cars became stuck so quickly, i think that had a chain reaction where you were stuck behind a car. we have been hearing stories of people who could not only never get the car, the snow got so high people cannot open their car doors. it is unmeasurable and hard to fathom how quickly and how hard the storm hit. questing one, stay safe, stay

dry. let's turn to some other headlines. the coleader of a platitude that the michigan governor has been sentenced to 16 years in prison. he was the mastermind to abductor -- of the plan to abduct her. and this 56 people have been killed in south sudan. members -- south korea's military has apologized for its failure to shoot down any of the north korean drones across its border recently. the country's president says he

is launching a special plan to do with drugs. quick south korea scoured the sky, signs of north korean jones. authorities say five crossed over the border on monday with one flying close to the capital. the military has been forced to say sorry after failing to shoot them down. >> our military pass lack of preparedness has caused great concern. the military will thoroughly check each detection has direct access and actively deploy detection devices to strike earlier. >> south korea's president has vowed to take a harder line on the north and has used the

moment to fast-forward his plans, telling a cabinet meeting that the military posturing and redness has been insufficient for years. >> we have a plan to create a military drilling unit tasked with monitoring he military facilities in north korea. we will advance the establishment of the drilling unit as quickly as possible. we will also introduce state-of-the-art drones. cork across the board, kim jong-un is -- the north has fired a record number of missiles and 2022, adding to growing concerns across the region.

>> the government is adding a piece of it in place in february. he said he did not envisage russia taking part here. >> burning buildings, explosions are part of daily life here. russia has again signaled it is ready to negotiate. we are ready to discuss any acceptable solutions. it is them, not us who are rejecting negotiations. ukraine is pursuing its own peace initiative. at a virtual meeting of g7 leaders, president volodymyr zelenskyy outlined a peace formula to end the conflict in

his country. his foreign minister was to schedule a summit before the end of february. >> they say they are ready for negotiations. that is not true. everything they do on the back proves the opposite. >> ukraine is demanding guaranties including nuclear and energy security and food supply. it wants the united nations to mediate although the details are sketchy, observers see the initiative as opportunity. such a summit allows ukraine the chance to break the table. also, to see the global consequences of this war. countries like china or india. the u.n. has reacted cautiously to ukraine's diplomatic push.

it says it could only mediate if both sides make a specific request to the secretary-general. >> a piece of it with both sides not at the table. how that might work is what i asked eric talley from gw's russia desk. -- dw's russia desk. >> we can be sure that ukraine is negotiating with united states. western allies of ukraine will also participate in the summit. i would say it should be a summit or more support for ukraine. ukraine would like to hear about more military support, sending more weapons to ukraine and also about security guarantees. this is a key question from ukraine from the very beginning. one aspect is as far as i

understand, at this point, ukraine is not ready to see rush on the negotiating table as well. the ukrainian foreign minister said first russia should be punished for what it has done and should the occupied territories. russia is not ready to do that. it is process. what we can consider at this moment is that this might be the beginning of a series of negotiations. i think it will take months, maybe even years. there could be a solution. >> as you point out, it would be difficult to negotiate if you are not negotiating with your enemy. how realistic is a negotiated outcome of this war as things look right now? >> at the stage, i would say it

is extremely unrealistic. both sides say they are signaling they are not willing to give up their maximum goals. russia is seen they would like to see numeral weapons delivered to western ukraine. russia insists on ukraine accepting the russian territorial gains. the annexed territories should be accepted as part of russia. this is no for ukraine or the western community. the russian former president said the physical remains a change of government here. president clinton signaled they

will continue their fight. there is no place for negotiations. we are not at this stage yet. >> thank you very much. now, some headlines for you right now. vladimir putin has signed a banning oil exports to countries that have imposed a press cap on russian oil. the band comes into effect on february -- in february. western nations have set a price cap as the into limit muska's ability to finance its war in ukraine. members have put up new vehicle roadblocks. they have been on the rise for weeks. the german government is

trampling on the rights of its serbian minority. christmas time, it is not just a time of joy but there are those suffering from depression. those suffering can feel more isolated than usual. >> happy holidays, they are to guarantee for -- all people. treating depression with museum visits. this is one of the patients in the city. he has agreed to take us along and one of the five participating museums. >> just the idea to go outside and read some other people is an interesting point. >> he has chosen the sewer museum. currently only museum i've never seen. >> it doesn't really matter where you go as long as you get

yourself out of the house. >> applicant my problem and i see the wonders of the world. >> is therapist is an enthusiastic participant in the project. >> it could be useful for everybody that some did not want to go because they are -- they are shy. most patients are interested. >> halfway through the pilot project, other patients reactions are similar to that. >> the patient feels positive emotions and feels that -- >> the deputy buses.

proposed the six-month study and arranged free entry for patients and guests. she hopes it will help museum attendants recover in the long run. >> the health sector was very -- in a very bad situation. the cultural sector was also suffering. we have this question of mental health. taking both the health and culture sector together. >> visiting the museum -- the spanish tourists that she uses art therapy as self-help. >> one i am feeling bad or sad, i usually go to the museum and it helps me. " the deputy mayor says she hopes once the project wraps up marks, the positive feedback she is already receiving will lead to wider adoption of this treatment to prevent spirits

throughout belgium and beyond. >> whether suffering from depression or not, it can be tempting in winter to just curl up and stay home to keep warm. that is not the case for giant pandas. the colder it gets, the more active they are. therefore provides natural protection against the cause of binoculars much. looking at pandas here, this is in central china. they are certainly rolling with the wood the punches. i hope everyone is giving one. that is all we have for you for now.

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>> russian forces continue to bomb towns and cities in ukraine. france 24 reports from one village that has only now been connected to the power grid. an emergency declaration allowing federal support for the state of new york. at least 50 people died across northeastern states due to the subzero teeratures. china scraps mandatory covid