empty city center could become the new normal and how thank you chief political correspondent melinda crane. so here's a look at some of the other developments in this pandemic the u.s. drugs regulator has announced that its analysis of the modernity vaccine indicates that it's safe and 94 percent effective meaning emergency approval could be granted in days and the drug rolled out next week officials in south korea say the capital seoul has only 3 intensive care beds left in a city with a population of nearly 26000000 the country's reported a record surge in cases over recent days and scientists from the world health organization are planning to visit the chinese city of new han where the corona virus was 1st reported they want to find out how it jumped species from animals to humans. european parliament awarded the opposition leader. top prize at the top human rights prize on behalf of democracy was to kind of sky asset be aboard was an important marker of the fight for freedom in the country he's been living in exile since denouncing the results of a presidential election in august of hi

let's go through some of this with our political correspondent melinda crane goodsir melinda so no german angst when it comes to the country's medical infrastructure what do you make of the. i guess you could put it like that as you said only 30 percent 6 percent are worried or very worried that there won't be sufficient capacity to take care of patients that's more than we saw say back in may approximately about the level that we had in april but 2 thirds say they're really not very worried and the fact is there are currently 4000 intensive care patients with co fit that is filling up around 25 percent of intensive care beds but the fact is that germany is quite well positioned when it comes to intensive care units with one of the highest per capita levels of intensive care beds of any industrialized country so that i think explains why people are relatively confident despite the fact that intensive care capacity is shrinking that there will be enough for a crunch ok but there are some concerns about the strict contact restrictions in germany on those restrictions limit the number of peo

empty city center could become the new normal for now thank you chief political correspondent melinda crane. months of restrictions on daily life of change german spending habits a few places to go people have been turning their attention to their homes which is good news for the country's financial produces. a warehouse photo shoot close by berlin starring chairs tables and sofas. online furniture trade a home 24 is making pictures for the company's website 180000 articles are on offer with new models joining every day. since the pandemic struck online furniture sales have shot up by 50 percent. the money that people would otherwise have invested in holidaying abroad is now going into home improvements says the company's c.e.o. . we weren't expecting such a boom initially we were also gripped by a sense of insecurity but then we responded very quickly and learned fast. what we have been expecting for the last 10 years is that online furniture demand will start to climb the same way it's been doing for ages in the electronics and fashion sectors. the company sales warehouse has furniture pa

let's bring in chief political correspondent melinda crane he is standing by at one of burnham's most popular shopping districts linda i was also one of those people out and about yesterday trying to do some last minute shopping it was really busy consuming it's a little different out there today. absolutely eerily quiet if you know what this absolutely beloved shopping district would normally look like i'm standing on germany's famous. behind me is a landmark in all of europe europe's largest department store also berlin's absolute landmark the car david a if you were here then you probably saw that yesterday there was still a line stretching around the block people trying to get in there to do their last minute shopping and now the grocery department is still open but as you can see the entrance is absolutely devoid of shoppers and in fact all we are seeing are lone pedestrians an occasional couple or family behind me if i go over here you can see germany's famous memorial church the good. and perhaps known to some of our viewers is the place where the attack on the christmas market

that was melinda crane here in berlin well here is a list of the lockdown changes that are now in effect here in germany all non-essential shops and close the only exceptions supermarkets pharmacies and banks schools are now closed as well and companies are being urged to allow stamp to work from home chancellor angela merkel is appealing to the public to limit social contacts during the holidays a maximum of 5 adults from 2 households are allowed to meet indoors there is no limit for children under the age of 14 and there will be no sales of fireworks to help and force a ban on public gatherings on new year's eve. as we reported the timing of this lockdown is not the best in fact the german chancellor and many physicians wanted a hard lockdown months ago that includes dr viola prison from the max planck institute so what is there any clear. already not critical thinking and we don't make them either bright calculations about it it's absolutely clear that as soon as cancer numbers add you know this threshold of 13 peikoff 58 cases then the control is much easier why is that we have the h

that was melinda crane here in berlin well here is a list of the lockdown changes that are now in effect here in germany all 'd non-essential shops of close the only exceptions supermarkets pharmacies and banks schools are now closed as well and companies are being urged to allow stamp to work from home chancellor angela merkel is appealing to the public to limit social contacts during the holidays a maximum of 5 adults from 2 households are allowed to meet indoors there is no limit for children under the age of 14 and there will be no sales of fireworks to help and force a ban on public gatherings on new year's eve. as we reported the timing of this lockdown is not the best in fact the german chancellor and many physicians wanted a hard lockdown months ago that includes dr viola prison from the max planck institute so what is very clear. already not to tell thinking and we don't make it my brain to calculations about it it's absolutely clear that as soon as cancer numbers add you know this fresh out of 3558 cases then the control is much easier why is that we have the health authorities

let's bring in chief political correspondent melinda crane who is standing by at one of britain's was popular shopping districts in the i was also one of those people out there about yesterday trying to do some last minute shopping it was really busy assuming it's a little different out there today. absolutely eerily quiet if you know what this absolutely beloved shopping district would normally look like i'm standing on germany's famous. behind me is a landmark in all of europe europe's largest department store also berlin's absolute landmark the car david a if you were here then you probably saw that yesterday there was still a line stretching around the block people trying to get in there to do their last minute shopping and now the grocery department is still open but as you can see the entrance is absolutely devoid of shoppers and in fact all we are seeing are lone pedestrians an occasional couple or family behind me if i go over here you can see germany's famous memorial church the good death. perhaps known to some of our viewers is the place where the attack on the christmas ma

let's bring in chief political correspondent melinda crane he is standing by at one of pennants most popular shopping districts linda i was also one of those people out and about yesterday trying to do some last minute shopping it was really busy consuming it's a little different out there today. absolutely eerily quiet if you know what this absolutely beloved shopping district would normally look like i'm standing on germany's famous. behind me is a landmark in all of europe europe's largest department store also. absolute landmark the car david a if you were here then you probably saw that yesterday there was still a line stretching around the block people trying to get in there to do their last minute shopping now the grocery department is still open but as you can see the entrance is absolutely devoid of shoppers and in fact all we are seeing are lone pedestrians an occasional couple or family behind me if i go over here you can see germany's famous memorial church the good death. perhaps known to some of our viewers is the place where the attack on the christmas market occurred

thank you chief political correspondent melinda crane. so here are some more developments in this pandemic the u.s. drug regulator has announced that its analysis of the maternal vassie indicates that it is safe and 94 percent effective meaning emergency approval could be granted in days and the drug rolled out next week south korean officials say the capital seoul has only 3 intensive care beds left in a city with a population of nearly 26000000 the country's reported their records in cases over recent days and scientists from the world health organization of planning to visit the chinese city of woo one where the corona virus was 1st reported i want to find out how it jumped species from animals to humans. now to some of the other stories making news around the world people living in the path of a superstorm set to hit fiji have been want to secure their properties or flee to the nearest emergency shelters with or as a warning that cycle of yasser is strong enough to a room building's. japanese prosecutors have charged a man with murder

that was melinda crane here in berlin well here is a list of the lockdown changes that are now in effect here in germany all 'd non-essential shops have closed the only exceptions supermarkets pharmacies and banks schools are now closed as well and companies are being urged to allow staff to work from home chancellor angela merkel is appealing to the public to limit social contacts during the holidays a maximum of 5 adults from 2 households are allowed to meet indoors there is no limit for children under the age of 14 and there will be no sales of fireworks to help and force a ban on public gatherings on new year's eve. as we reported the timing of this lockdown is not the best in fact the german chancellor and many physicians wanted a hard lockdown months ago that includes dr viola prison from the max flung institute . so what does very clear. already logical thinking and we then make in one of the great to calculations about it it's absolutely clear that as soon as a case number. you know there is a fresh out of 2558 cases then they control this much easier why is that we have the heal

let's bring in chief political correspondent melinda craned is standing by at one of burnham's most popular shopping districts linda i was also one of those people out and about yesterday trying to do some last minute shopping it was really busy assuming it's a little different out there today. absolutely eerily quiet if you know what this absolutely beloved shopping district would normally look like i'm standing on germany's famous course. behind me is a landmark in all of europe europe's largest department store also berlin's absolute landmark the car david a if you were here then you probably saw that yesterday there was still a line stretching around the block people trying to get in there to do their last minute shopping now the grocery department is still open but as you can see the entrance is absolutely devoid of shoppers and in fact all we are seeing are lone pedestrians an occasional couple or family behind me if i go over here you can see germany's famous memorial church the good death. perhaps known to some of our viewers is the place where the attack on the christmas market occ

crane. thank you so much. and as melinda referenced more on the developments in tree or later on in the show, because right now the local police are holding a press conference and covert. 19 next has dominated headlines this year. but there is another pandemic that still affects and kills millions of people around the world. united nations figures now show that 38000000 people are living with hiv last year, and nearly 700000 have died as a result of their hiv infection. but prevention and treatment measures are showing promise. in the last decade, the number of new infections has decreased. look at that, it's a dow words, a slope there for you. and so as the number of people whose death was caused directly by aids or factors related to the immune deficiency syndrome, it experts predict that trend will reverse this year because of the covert, 19 pandemic, and lock downs, causing a shortage of hiv medication. it's estimated there could be an additional $1400000.00, deaths caused by hiv. as a result, drugs are essential to mana

our chief political correspondent linda crane is with us hi melinda this image of the chancellor kneeling what made that moment so special well we have to remember that the wounds of the war were still fresh at that time by no means did a mensch already of germans think that they shared a collective responsibility for the crimes of the 2nd world war germany was just beginning its ongoing process of coming to terms with those crimes and then comes the spontaneous gesture of humanity and humility by the chancellor himself and it truly was spontaneous surprise not only his hosts the polish government but also very much his own staff and he later wrote about it saying confronted with the enormity of that horror and the tragedy i did the only things human beings can do in such a situation i fell in many it's well if 50 years ago at that time many germans didn't condone that just how do they look on it today that's true these days the gesture is commemorated on koans on postage stamps there will soon be a memorial to polish victims of german war crimes right here in the center of berlin and we

parliament they will date of his chief political correspondent linda crane followed that speech in the german buddhist target she joins me now melinda chancellor merkel closed her address with an impassioned play for stronger action and it was a very animated quite unusual for her what do you make of it. i make of it that in fact she sees the situation as very serious indeed she assured in that appeal by saying i believe in the power of reason she also believes in the power of science she herself is a physicist a scientist so she quoted germany's expert counsel the lay of which is said very clearly we need tougher restrictions on gatherings on the people being able to meet on store closing times or rather store opening times mainly saying that we should have a prolonged christmas vacation during which the shops remain closed and the chancellor sensually reiterated all of that saying that history and science have shown that the 2nd wave of infection is always more painful and more difficult than the 1st and that we are in the middle of this 2nd wave she cited very coolly numbers from back in september and compared them with the numbe

in the area want to turn now or to chief political correspondent, linda crane, who is following breaking developments and melinda. any more details that have been released not a whole lot more. we are expecting to hear more from local and regional authorities in about 2 hours from now what we know so far as you said, the driver of this vehicle, 51 years of age, german lives near the city of the 20 year. he was driving a heavy s.u.v. coming from an old roman gate of year and went straight through a protester, ian zone. they are for at least a kilometer apparently. now, although we do have restrictions here in place in germany because of the pandemic, in fact, shops are still open, so there were quite a number of people in that pedestrian zone. and as you mentioned, there are 2 recorded dead so far, and a number of casualties that may be as high as 15 with nurses at the local hospital saying some very seriously wounded are police treating this incident as an accident or as an intentional act so far we know nothing certain about the driver's motivations and also not about his condition, the mayor of tria, referred

old who lives in the area i just turn now to our chief political spot, a mill in the crane for the very latest on, melinda, what do we know? well, so far, not a lot more than what you have just reported. but we expect to hear a press conference from state and local police and authorities at just about an hour from now. so at that point, we will hopefully get more facts. as you said, the driver of this vehicle was 51 years old. he resides in the area, he is a german citizen, and he is not known to the police as someone for example, with right wing or terrorist connections. he drove his vehicle a very heavy s.u.v. for up to a kilometer through the pedestrian zone of tree. and it's perhaps worth noting that although we do have corona restrictions in place in germany, many shops do remain open and therefore this pedestrian zone was certainly not empty. and as you mentioned, the german media are reporting as many as 15 wounded. at least 2 dead. one or 2 newspapers reporting actually that more may be dead. and among them, what from what we've heard, including from the minister president of the federal state. th

lockdown then with the news that chief political correspondent linda crane who is on the 1st one of most popular streets welcome melinda what's it like there today. where you know this is the absolute heart of berlin's shopping district the famous. normally i'd be hard for me to talk to you phil because in fact we'd have traffic jams we have crowds we have christmas music playing that's not the case today behind me is a berlin landmark europe's biggest department store maybe you can see the entrance here over my shoulder the fact is on a normal day in the christmas season a 100000 tourists and berliners would be flocking here to do some shopping today that has utterly different in fact to the luxury grocery stance here in the cottage in the cottage they are open but there's scarcely buyer in sight or if we look a little further down the street we can see another berlin landmark the memorial church. some viewers will surely remember that that was the site.