political correspondent kate brady kate hi we heard they're urging solidarity between nations what does he mean by that and what's germany's role. well germany certainly plays a huge role in their response not least of all here in your report germany is indeed the largest economy and we've slowly seen germany take a less nationalistic approach to its response to current virus something that we saw among many e.u. member states initially with border closures and bans and limitations also been initially put in place when it came to the exports of medical protective gear but we are now seeing of course germany taken many patients from neighboring a new member states into its intensive care units of course germany luckily hasn't been quite as badly hit by coronavirus as some other states and on top of that we also saw the finance ministers come to agreement this week on a huge financial aid package which aims not only to question the economic impact of the coronavirus now during the crisis but also in the aftermath so of course as we have formed in my ear how germany and especially how germ

well for more i'm joined by political correspondent kate brady kate hi we heard. solidarity between nations what does he mean by that and what's germany's role well germany certainly plays a huge role in their response not least of all here in your report germany is indeed the largest economy and we've slowly seen germany take a less nationalistic approach to its response to current virus something that we saw among many e.u. member states initially with border closures and bands and success and survival of the eurozone as well. and we've also heard chancellor angela merkel addressed the public several times on this topic and she's the one with the power to make decisions why did president stand much use to give this address this weekend. well it very much comes down to the fact that it is east of this weekend and like in many places around the world easter is a huge religious festival here in germany but also it's something that's steeped in tradition it's a long weekend when people would usually be taking a long weekend away or visiting family and friends spendi

recommendation for future conduct during the pandemic i'm joined by the political correspondent kate brady for more on that hey kate so what are the main issues that are being addressed in the report . i think the biggest takeaway if anything from this report is that if there is indeed a relaxation on the restrictions currently in place here in germany within the next week or so it will certainly be a very slow very gradual process but there are several aspects that the report focuses on one of the main points perhaps is the re opening of schools here in germany particularly for all the students out the recommendation that's been made in this report and it's saying particularly for all the students that this could perhaps be possible as of course they will be most likely to be able to adhere to those social distancing rules making sure that students perhaps are still making sure that they're staying a safe distance apart from each other and also even being able to wear masks and so some of the last children to here would return into education or daycare would be the youngest children here

she said she's very worried about that going forward let's bring in our political correspondent kate brady for more on that hi kate tell us why the chancellor sent its all concerned. well it seems to me that one of the main concerns particularly among the state premiers of the 16 states around germany of the last couple of days has been focused very much on the actual easing of restrictions and not making sure that the the the restrictions that are still in place of being a did too so we're talking about social distancing rules that are still in place making sure that those were at least 1.5 meters between the people making sure that you're not going out in groups larger than 2 people making sure the people you are with are from your household instead it seems that there is a bit of competition going on between many of the state premiers around germany right now to try and prove that they can relax their restrictions the earliest of course germany does have a federal system which sometimes works in its favor but of course if we do see a negative effect from the relaxation of these restrict

joined by date of a new political correspondent kate brady she's the author of the report you just saw hey kate so you were actually at a friday's full theater protest today here in berlin how did those who took part manage to avoid breaching the social distancing guidelines. they certainly wasn't like any fridays or feature protests i'd covered d.w. before very quiet only a group of around 20 people working there putting out those cars in front of the bundestag this morning and which is exactly how they were able to jeer to the social distancing rules currently in place here in germany and ensure that they were keeping at least one and a half meters between each other but everyone was in good spirits this morning there were a couple of local officers out from the local police authority as well but everyone seems to be getting along just fine and the protests went ahead as planned. just how much has the corner virus pandemic hurt the fridays with you to richmond well of course a friday is a future demonstrations haven't been able to take place for weeks we've seen in previous weeks tha

let's get more on this now we are joined by dint of you political correspondent and kate great kate brady from berlin so kate tell us these recommendations here from germany's national academy of sciences what do they actually mean. well what it means basically is that we could indeed potentially see at least a relaxation of those restrictions that are currently in place here in germany and which were implemented on the announcement by german chancellor angela merkel on march 22nd but of course if you look very closely at some of these recommendations that have been made by the institute it does indicate that it would be indeed a very slow very gradual return to any kind of sense of normalcy here in germany and even though there is the suggestion that perhaps schools could reopen even that would be for a very small groups of maybe around 15 children to make sure that students would still be able to practice social distancing for example and also if you look at the recommendation that perhaps restaurants could be opened again that people could go and be closer in closer contact with each o

for more now i'm joined by the political correspondent kate brady hi kate so we see chancellor merkel playing very safe over there wasn't so forming her approach. well clearly there is still a lot of concern and we heard that voiced by angle america today that we could see the progress that germany has made so far in the fight against 19 pandemic going to waste if people are cautious enough and if they don't adhere to the social distancing rules are still in place and there is concern we've heard that voice earlier today as well by angela merkel. according to reports at least in a meeting with some leaders or other leading figures in her conservative party that she warned that there was too much focus on easing travel restrictions particularly in the different 16 states around germany rather than focusing on making sure that people are still are daring to those social distancing measures that are still in place are making sure that people are still keeping at least one and a half meters away from each other making sure that people are gathering in groups of no more than 2 and that peo

our correspondents around the world about easter in the time of coronavirus right now let's go to kate brady in berlin kate a german chancellor angela merkel urged people to stay at home during the easter holidays are people complying. it certainly seems that people have heeded the words of the german chancellor this weekend she spoke a couple of times earlier this week telling people to stay at home and that the decisions that people made this weekend as to whether they went out on a could indeed have a huge role in the decisions made by the government this week when they meet to discuss the future of restrictions to slow the spread of current virus here in germany and certainly i was out earlier today here in berlin and it certainly seemed that there were indeed fewer people on the streets than yesterday so large a speaking at least according to authorities as well people do seem indeed to be listening to the advice of the german chancellor and staying at home and of course following those rules as well when they do go out and keeping their distance from others so how is the government abl

but with political correspondent kate brady and i asked her how likely is it that the german government will follow those recommendations and ease the walk to. i think it's certainly too early brant to be talking about implementing or rather implemented all of these lifts on the restrictions are currently in place of course the measures that were put in place a few weeks ago now also going to be in place until april the 19th and these talks are set to be help between the german chancellor angela merkel and the 16 state premiers on wednesday now there was indication last week from the german chancellor that if there was indeed a steady and continuous flattening of the curve here in germany that that would perhaps give way to a relaxation of some measures here of restrictions at least that are currently in place on movement here in germany the question is whether the fall in the new number of cases here in germany that we've seen over the left over the last 3 days is the question is whether or not that is steady and continuous enough of course another thing to look at as well is the fact

of more i'm joined by political correspondent kate brady we heard steinmeyer there urging solidarity between nations what does he mean by that and what is germany's role. well certainly we're seeing germany's role of just we've already seen this week in the last couple of weeks germany's certainly been taking on more of that responsibility that she talked about especially when it comes to the number of patients from italy from spain from france that have now been admitted to intensive care units here in germany where of course germany luckily hasn't been hit quite as badly as in other neighboring european states and we also saw as well the some final cohesion between e.u. finance ministers this week of course there had been some criticism from other e.u. other eurozone states specifically towards germany towards the netherlands towards austria who would initially blockaded this idea of corona bonds of mutual eyes debt that could have potentially acted as a question in the aftermath of the corona virus crisis but there has now been a different agreement between e.u. finance ministers

that was kate brady there reporting earlier today now here's a brief roundup of other coronavirus developments around the world the global death toll has now exceeded 167000 that's according to johns hopkins university in the u.s. the number of dead in france due to the pandemic has just surpassed 20000 spain will ask the european union to set up a massive 1.5 trillion euro fund to help countries recover from the economic fallout and italy reports its 1st drop in the number of active cases and the lowest death toll in a week question what if you have a product no one needs and there's nowhere to put it and it becomes worthless right well that is what has happened to or oil thanks to the coronavirus pandemic demand is low storage facilities are full but producers while they keep pumping the us bitch marked up a u.t.i. fell into negative territory for the 1st time ever today below 0 dollars a barrel analyst say this month's decision to slash output by $10000000.00 barrels per day well it wasn't enough to stave off a demand shock all triggered by that microscopic pathogen named corona. in early m

more on this i'm joined by the lebanese political correspondent brady hi kate so the german government has called this easter holiday a fork in the road that decides whether the restrictions can be relaxed what do you think's likely to happen well certainly there were some murmurs of cautious optimism here in germany last week by from the german chancellor angela merkel herself as well as the health minister that the curve here in germany does indeed appear at least to be flattening in flattening and about half of the of the confirmed cases of coronavirus here in germany now which is around $126000.00 in total about half of those have people have now recovered so say that is some sense of cautious optimism here but those restrictions that have been in place now here in germany since march 22nd particularly when it comes to school closures closures of nonessential shops also in place until this coming sunday but we are now expected to see some progress made this week when angela merkel herself discusses a possible relaxation of those restrictions with the state premiers of germany 16 st

worse let's talk a bit more about that i'm pulling in my colleague our political correspondent kate brady she's here in berlin good evening to you kate the authority here in germany to make face masks in public mandatory that lies with the states and not with the federal government what we have seen in the last week is one state following another almost like dominoes falling falling how do you see it. exactly but every day has been a domino effect in the past week or so and it's only been a week today since i came out and address journalists announcing that many of the social distancing measures would be remaining in place for another couple of weeks but that some shops would be opening and now at the time a week ago merkel said that she strongly recommended that people wear masks but they would not a libertarian of course that has now changed and why seeing germany's federal system in action here and i think there really is a sense of peer pressure as well that we've seen play out across germany in this past week and of course none of the 16 states wants to be seen as the weakest link th

used for that all important contact tracing for more i'm joined now by the political correspondent kate brady she is on the story for us here in berlin good evening to you kate is the german government what are you hearing why clee to implement all of these recommendations to ease these restrictions. i think it's certainly too early brant to be talking about implementing or rather implemented all of these left on the restrictions are currently in place of course the measures that were put in place a few weeks ago now also going to be in place until april the 19th and these talks are set to be help between the german chancellor angela merkel and the 16 state premiers on wednesday now there was indication last week from the german chancellor that if there was indeed a steady and continuous flattening of the curve here in germany that that would perhaps give way to a relaxation of some measures here restrictions at least that are that are currently in place on movement here in germany the question is whether the the fall in the new number of cases here in germany that we've seen over the last ov

kate brady there in berlin we're going to some sports news now the president of world athletics sebastian coe has told you that athletes who would have missed the talk of the big this year because of doping bans shouldn't be allowed to compete next year the postponement of the games means athletes who have served bans for doping offenses this year will be cleared to take part in 2021 that's because under current truths doping bans of based on time periods and not events cole said what's fair and what's legally acceptable sometimes differ i've always believed that athletes that hurt being caught don't. damage the school it damaged the ready. and that's why the work of the athlete integrity unit is so important why not try taxing clean athletes this is important only getting rid. of the cheats and yes i would rather not be in a position where those athletes are able to compete again having not really so. competition lately that is extremely difficult and the invites we have taken on that is that i'm afraid it would be in a very litigious world the open to challenge germany's professional so

economy elsewhere as it comes to terms with the economic impacts of the kovac 19 pandemic ok that's kate brady political correspondent thank you here's a look at some of the latest developments in the coronavirus pandemic the global death toll from cova 19 has surpassed 190000 according to johns hopkins university the number of confirmed cases is approaching 3000000 china has reported no new con coronavirus states for the 9th straight day and just to 6 new cases 2 of those were brought from overseas with 4 domestic cases poland would extend closures of schools and pre-schools by a month until at least may 24th but the country's presidential election is still set to go ahead on the 10th of may and hungry plans to replace it struck down which included a blanket curfew on the entire population with more targeted mission is from early may the new rules are to focus on those at high risk. now europe is trying to soften the economic blow dealt by the coronavirus e.u. leaders have signed off on an emergency rescue package to help countries deal with the immediate fallout of the crisis they also agree