in the stories that shaped the way karen r.t. moscow rolls out automated id checks to allow essential travel around the city during the long time that after the digital pass scheme suffered glitches on the city's metro. doesn't make sense. also to come from my medics in the usa their lives are being put at risk by the government's failure to supply all schools with protective gear and french teachers and doctors criticize president plan to reopen the school. calling it a mature and dangerous.

so they welcome the latest developments and look back at what's been happening to you over the last 7 days you're watching the weekly here in r.t. international let's start then with the latest numbers on the pandemic because more than 2300000 cases have been confirmed across the globe at least 161000 people have died with the highest death toll in the united states and so far more than 606000 people have recovered from the virus. orthodox christians around the world are celebrating easter sunday but for most going to church is not an option this year due to the pandemic so in russia services are being live streamed while the leader of the russian orthodox church patriarch carol has people to stay at home and pray lead in overnight be too late

because of christ the savior in moscow attended by a small group of clergy traditionally thousands do gather better light candles from the holy fire flown in from jerusalem meanwhile the russian orthodox church has given some recommendations on how to bless the traditional east to cake at home and president vladimir putin sent out his 6. we're going to present what it was lugar these east celebrations are happening at a time of restrictions there necessary to battle the disease known around the world we are closely analyzing the experience of other countries to understand the situation and see the risks and assess what to do in any scenario it we will do all that is necessary to stop the pandemic there is no doubt that rush will make it through these challenges with dignity happy easter stay happy and healthy but in russia 361 people have lost their lives to the coronavirus and there are almost

43000 infections the majority of those are here in moscow and this week the city rolled out a digital past scheme to ensure that people only use transport for central purposes after some early setbacks the system is now fully automated saskia taylor reports. this week saw a few changes in the way russia is fighting to create a virus outbreak on wednesday a new pasta stove was rolled out right here in moscow brought to teach you imitate people's movement around the city and that's going to remain in force until at least the 1st of may now i can show you this one here is my it's got my name it's got my possible data it's also got my employees information and the most important thing is the possible code right the very top and i need this to get to watch child from a taxi from pretty much to go anywhere other than to throw out the rubbish walk the dog go to my supermarket or my local pharmacy but there was

a few teething problems at the beginning the site you register on crashed because of high it tomatoes and on the bus state they came into force they have kids to do more harm than good. it's not surprising that initially the reaction to the pasta was a bit mixed with whom we get a curse or not this doesn't make sense but also move everyone is and know what all they say as usual do it right now and never once started applying for possums and the server crashed yeah i do this but it's idiotic these kind of what those cannot so it's not a quarantine at all these are the right measures and should be strictly implemented but they must remain reasonable so the program that was told that was that each and every time it was physically being checked by the authorities obviously creating crowds but tell from next wednesday the system will become fully automated you'll have to link up the metro card to travel permit online and if you haven't done that

the bar isn't the magic just way open and you won't be allowed through much more efficient now a similar formal streamlined system has also been created because we heard stories here of people waiting for hours to get that documents checked but now the cameras will be scanning to see which victims have the right. minutes and which don't now and not the big announcement this week was spending the night 'd may that is the annual victory day parade along with me yeah it is possibly the most highly anticipated event in russia and canada so a bitter disappointment especially as this year was going to be extra special about it as it marks 75 years since the fascism but a large gathering of people especially welcome to factions who are in the out risk category was something the russian president said was simply not justified at this point i wanted to change the show joy and postpone the rehearsal for the military march on red square and postpone all of the mass gatherings to celebrate 75 years

since the great victory we have been promised you that will be held in 2020 just at the late date i do in the summer. so those are just some of the key decisions that were made in russia this week was seeing how it started to dealing with 19 in various ways to try to keep the country safe so we can all return to normality as quickly as possible. world wide a currently working flat out to develop vaccines and treatments for k. with 19 and in russia patients who have recovered helping doctors by donating their blood plasma with antibodies to 4 transfusions one of the 1st stone this talked us through how it works. i became a donor 2 weeks after i was discharged from hospital as far as i know there was the time when the concentration of fan type bodies in my blood had reached its peak i

received a call from the hospital and they asked if they could pass my personal data to another medical institution and then a team of medics from school if i saw schemes to cheat came to take my blood for testing 4 days after i learned the results were good enough to be a donor. so. the procedure itself is rather simple and takes about an hour during this time you're surrounded by medics who are monitoring your condition it's not scary it's fast and causes no pain we're losing sleeping consciousness anyone who came through this could lead infection could do the same it was said my plans might help 2 or 3 people who are about to be put on ventilators. or gets musgrove you'd better put on a medical mask yourself and then see people wearing masks and hazmat suits and run you for a month you shouldn't think this won't happen to you i thought i was immune to this disease because i hadn't been ill for 13 years but it happened anyway it's better

to stay at home for a month or 2 than stay in a great forever. now the united states has registered more than 39000 deaths from cope with 19 according to official dates or at least 27 doctors and nurses died from the virus but the media has been reporting much higher figures so medics have taken to the streets blaming the government for the severe shortage of protective equipment. i was was like he was really. well this rally took place outside a hospital in new york which has been devastated by the pandemic medics carried signs demanding urgent action to get supplies of pain painting personal protective equipment to school where it's needed the state's death toll now stands at more than 17000 and motions boiled over to the protests with nursing saying they are risking their lives government incompetence. just.

what we need to do so i discover on oh my dearest friend that i mean if you do not give us. the work as well i wonder. let's think about the fact of the mount sinai bosses right now are in their mansions in florida while their nurses are dying because they can't get the proper v.p. and they just don't give a damn they don't care about all the lies the loaded the gun they played russian roulette with working people's lives and with training the consequence. aside from the lack of protective gear their medics in the us to say that the health insurance system is putting people's lives at risk to a post by a nurse was widely shared on facebook derek smith recalled the final words he heard from a patient who was put on a ventilator they were he was going to pay for it the nurse spoke to r.t.

. it was really sad because someone who is you know potentially going to die the last thing you should be worried about is how to pay for their health care it's speaks to a misallocation of you know we have almost endless discretionary spending for militarism. we recently just you know injected $1.00 trillion dollars into the stock market you know just that. but when it comes to health care you know the constant question is who's going to pay for it which is the same question as the patient ironically. and you know it just shows where the priorities are i don't know that it's necessary to have a multi-billion dollar annual military budget you know which with our allegedly hartmann of defense where i think a real honest effort to defend would be with providing care for our citizens especially with the amount of people that just lost their insurance that's types of their employment as you know a lot of people just lost their jobs with this pandemic so meanwhile france has one

of the world's strictest lock downs with hefty fines for people who break the rules and speaking earlier in the week the president did say that the measures will have to be extended until may the 11th safe on 19000 people have died from coronavirus in france and the new mccrone admitted that mistakes have been made. it to demean it doesn't got me to say the epidemic is still not under control we need to continue to make every effort to try and stem the spread of this virus because the more we do that the more we will be able to save lives a lot. of these so who are we prepared for this crisis well i think the answer would be no we won't but we have to admit our errors we made difficult decisions when dealing with incomplete information changing information about the viruses well the containment measures have dealt a heavy blow to the french economy with restaurants and cafes out of action many owners do say that they won't have the finances to reopen once the pandemic is over

meanwhile present one is calling for schools to resume normal activity in mid may but many teachers do think that this could be premature a shot at the now reports schools could start to reopen from may 11th that was the announcement from president matt groening prompting a wave of criticism not just from teachers but doctors too this choice reveals an absolute lack of logic it is very difficult in a school environment to enforce social distancing measures and now the 1st environment that the president wants to reopen is the school environment how does it no longer carry the same risks. well the federation of french doctors says it's worried the target date could generate an unnecessary risk and is premature children do not necessarily follow instructions they will naturally play together and risk bringing the virus home that criticism seems shock but perhaps given that

almost in the same breath mark or announce that restaurants bars cinemas and museums would not be reopening until further notice that's left some teachers groups reeling. who are we going to return with young children and adults packing the small classrooms 20 square metres maximum the school cafeterias a crammed with 500 people inside it's completely incoherent to leave bars and restaurants closed because of 20 people you know the same time open a school with some 502-1500 students one of macro given reasons for reopening schools gradually was to fight against social inequality hold off on the demand only too many children notably in poor areas in the countryside are deprived of school without access to digital tools. since schools closed in march teachers have

been educating their students online they have been public television services broadcasting lessons to the nation yet despite these new concerns when the government about students for ling behind the education minister genre show blanca recently advised that they should take a break over the easter holidays for one teaching union there is a clearer motivation behind the return to school we have the impression that we are being personally author of the economy it seems like the school is being used to the big childcare service so that mom and dad can go back to work that's also the belief of the teaching collective. the red pens. this is an irresponsible decision driven by economic interests life is more important health is more important than the economy. the red pens also say there needs to be a concrete plan to protect not just those who work in schools but the peoples to.

get what we are waiting for is a more viable situation mass testing including immunity to mosques in large quantities and although i won't be ready in $26.00 days it's impossible a full plan hasn't yet been formulated about how schools will reopen schools will though be disinfected and full classrooms will be out of the question that's according to france's education minister sure michel but for many teachers the devil will be in the details will they get face masks how will they enforce any social distancing that still mandated and it says longer says the return will not be obligatory how can the government be sure that the most deprived students well actually come back to the classroom. r.t.

paris meanwhile more than a 1000 sailors on board a french aircraft carrier have tested positive for cave 19 charles de gaulle is stopped off the country south coast but it's not the only ship to have been affected by the virus. well despite the risks to save his life the writer sector general believes that the

real danger does lie elsewhere and sultan berg has accused adversaries including russia of trying to exploit the pandemic the security challenges have not diminished because of called with 19 on the contrary potential adversaries look to exploit the situation to further their own interests terrorist groups could be emboldened we see a continued pace of russian military activity all were operational readiness remains under ministry and our forces remain ready vigilant and prepared to respond to in the thirty's we did speak to a retired u.s. air force left and colonel who does think that france should have learned from america's recent experience of an on board and bright. the group that is most sickened by this is not normally the age group of soldiers or or navy. servicemen so you know it's not that dangerous per se like in terms of life and

death but in terms of operational capability yet bethink because if a 3rd of your crew is sick and not functional then your ship is not functional well he knew like you think that social distancing and things like that could work with those things are not going to be possible on a close quarters ship of any type i actually am surprised that the navy doesn't seem to have reacted and learned from that type of situation because we had that months ago and we can see how it was handled and also what the vulnerabilities were very much a bureaucratic response as opposed to real leadership it seems a little too little too late. if you decide what america's death toll spirals the new york times has begun blaming russia to you saying that kremlin propaganda is making that worse we'll have the details on that story today.

join me every 1st week on the alex simon sure and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business i'm sure business i'll see you there. welcome back to the weekly now the new york times is accusing russia's president of personally helping to spread 19 in america according to the paper kremlin propagandists have done that by discrediting the american health care system our senior correspondent. so it's a closer look at the story. nowhere in the world is it as bad as in america

a quarter of the world's confirmed infected are in the states the economy's on the brink of ruin millions fighting in employment someone has to take the blame preferably someone smart we want to look into the world health organization because they really are. they called it wrong they call it wrong they really they missed the call blame the world health organization blame the chinese blame conspiracies and of course blame russia a decade of health information promoted by president vladimir putin of russia has certain white confusion hoods major institutions and encourage the spread of deadly illnesses the new york times lies right off the bat there is no widespread confusion in fact americans trust in scientists and doctors has grown yeah off the year according to pew research a record 9 in 10 americans trust scientists and doctors and less than half of

americans trust the media or the new york times apparently for good reason experts fear that it will foster public cynicism that erodes washington's influence as well as the core democratic value of relying on demonstrably facts as a basis for decision making the facts as follows in january it was the new york times that misled and misinformed potentially millions of americans about the pandemic telling them it's nothing to worry about and that the new kills more people reaching an audience is saw a brace of than any russian bought network given the checkered history of coron teens throughout history they've been used to persecute the marginalized lawmakers in the media should rigorously examine the bases for any such restrictions and seems trump followed the advice he read in the new york times. delaying almost every measure against the virus from mass quarantine to international travel

restrictions to the last moment a device that has potentially could tributed to the deaths of thousands of americans sure they apologized and admitted to being wrong but it was too late mr ferguson has worked hard to encourage americans to see vaccinations as dangerous and federal health officials as malevolent and here we thought it was a matter of public knowledge that the united states is the capital of the world's vaccine movement a movement that was birthed not by putin in the k.g.b. but by a british position who were really nice leaning vaccines to autism the alleged autism vaccine connection is perhaps the most damaging medical 100 years even today masses in the united states refuse vaccinations because of the 998 snowball the reason it snowballed this because the media gave a controversial research paper ad side including the new york times which gave

a platform for conspiracy theorist and vax to speak the spite the overwhelming majority of the scientific community insisting it was nonsense it is absurd to accuse the n.y.t. of helping birth the anti vaccine movement 20 years ago but to some reason it's ok for the new york times to accuse others of spreading simulate this information the russian president has waged his long campaign by means of open media secrecy of trolls and shadowy blogs the regular cost american health officials as patronize ing frauds putin didn't put a trash bag on that nurse when american sea then says dressed in trash bags they lose faith in their system in their leadership because their leaders have failed them not because putin said so everybody involved. if we are such a weak sister we deserve the right protection to be in that environment that is in

the little bit $98.00 look at all the charlatans the bloggers the televangelists who are being watched by millions of americans i believe that putin do you see behind america's faith based medicine coverage. only. was it puton or american politicians who cut funding for counter pandemic programs was its russian boss who urged americans elderly to sacrifice themselves so the economy could keep running i think all of my my fellow grandparents out there are going to be smart we all want to live we want to live with our grandchildren as long as we can but the point is our biggest but our biggest gifts we give to our our country and our children and our grandchildren is the legacy of our country we can go on and on about how american media and politicians bungled this pandemic

caused untold suffering but instead will end with this quote from the new york times itself it is worth remembering that disease or the fear of disease can bring out the worst in humanity and demick so often feet scapegoating jews were widely blamed for the black death creating a fertile field for demagogues the difference this time it's polluted. now the pandemic has brought entire economies to a standstill with factories closed rights empty and planes grounded the resource of being a shop in pollution levels in many parts of the world the contrast is striking.

you can watch that weekly here on r.t. we're back with more news you in about a half an hour from now are safe to stay at home to stay safe it's like. 50. banks geysers financial survive until they say money to the relatives of clergy abuse it this is the central plank support dying at the moment i don't call them right now so stop. the world

is driven by shaped by. the day or thinks. we dare to ask. and.

not call them out as you. don't receive. enough funding the conductor cannot senior from another 3 small. interest to the. to the north on 2 because you can see small stuff to do justice to this whole supposed. little fuzzy. and if you see the needle in the keys to the phone find the keys she showed him he can open a business and melissa says he come along that long to the bathroom a little bit longer than just to. walk as he is. the next. day the city. these days.