political correspondent thomas sparrow welcome thomas does this german announcement mean that berlijn has now given up on the notion of european solidarity when it comes to fighting this pandemic. no i don't think that this means that germany has given up on the idea of european solidarity means probably that germany of the german government at least is trying to be more pragmatic when it comes to the procurement of vaccines in this particular case and it's also a very controversial one the german government stressed that it would enter into bilateral negotiations with russia simply because the e.u. commission had told 'd different countries at a meeting this week that it was not going to sign the e.u. wide contract with sports as it did for example with other vaccine producers like biotech so that's the reason why germany decided to go it alone as i stress feel it is something that is indeed controversial there are people criticizing this move by the german going on but the german government has stressed that as long as the sputnik the is approved at a european level then germany cou

and correspondent thomas sparrow joins us now from berlin thomas i.c.u. staff in germany are warning that there are not too many beds left how hard is this 3rd wave hitting the country. it is certainly hitting the country very hard in particular because of the more prevail and corona virus variant which has been described as more contagious and contagious also for a long gun which has led to an increase in the number of corona virus cases here in germany and also by the way to a growing debate about what path the country should take in the next few weeks and in the next few months this is by the way a debate on a situation that is not only happening here in germany also in other european countries and in many of germany's neighboring countries as well which only makes the situation here in this country more and more difficult and more and more challenging there are a few caveats a few good news spot of all this situation one of them being that the number of deaths have been going down and also a positive development when you look at the infections among g

and political correspondent thomas sparrow joins us now from her lead thomas i.c.u. staff in germany are warning that there are not too many beds left how hard is this 3rd wave hitting the country. it is certainly hitting the country very hard in particular because of the more prevail and corona virus variant which is being described as more contagious and contagious also for a long gun which has led to an increase in the number of corona virus cases here in germany and also by the way to a growing debate about what path the country should take in the next few weeks and in the next few months this is by the way a debate on a situation that is not only happening here in germany also in other european countries and in many of germany's neighboring countries as well which only makes the situation here in this country more and more difficult and more and more challenging there are a few caveats a few good news spot of all this situation one of them being that the number of deaths have been going down and also a positive development when you look at the infections among g

we have our political correspondent thomas sparrow on the story for us hi thomas so we heard the head of the c.d.u. party there are calling for a tougher lockdown here in germany how likely is it that he will get his way. well mr lasher comments were met but were met with criticism here in germany by other state premiers who believe his comments were too imprecise who believe that he was actually creating more confusion at a time when germany needs a line on clearer decisions as to what the path forward is but it's important to me to also add that mr lasher is not the 1st politician here in germany to call for stricter measures to call for a stricter lockdown especially as numbers of infections continue to rise so it will be interesting to see exactly what state premiers and the german chancellor decide when they meet next to the next meeting scheduled for april the 12th although it could be brought forward if the situation continues to be as difficult as problematic as a tease at the moment and thomas how determined still about the prospect of a tougher and longer lock down germans a

the regional level is indeed very serious thomas thank you so much our political correspondent thomas sparrow. to northern ireland where a week of violence shows no sign of letting up raising fears of sectarian conflict not seen in the years rioters have been battling nightly with police and belfast ignoring lawmakers pleas for calm the unrest began last week in british communities with tensions high riposte sprague's of trade rules them arland sympathizers took to the streets with their response. conflict in belfast on a scale not seen in years. crowds exchanged petrol bombs and stones across the wall built to separate northern ireland's unionist and nationalist communities. a flare up of the sectarian violence the vast majority in the british province want to see consigned to history. there can mean no p.s. in our society for violence or the threat of violence on it most all just as it was wrong in the past and was never justified so what is wrong i am counting the justify. the violence began in unionist neighborhoods where most people want to remain part of the united kingdom the tension h

let's bring in our political correspondent thomas sparrow for the latest on this story hi thomas so that was the head of the conservative city you party there are calling for a tougher lockdown here in germany how likely is it that he will get his way. lushes comments were met by criticism by other german federal states who believe that his comments for example were too imprecise or that he was adding to a general sense of confusion here in germany because of those patchwork measures that you mentioned swim in your introduction by presenting that idea of a breach lock down when already there are various terms here in germany to describe those different phases of lockdown which many has faced in the last few months so there's no such entity that germany will go to a tough lock down in the next few days but there are certainly calls not only by mr lasher but by others as well to try and make sure that germany adopts measures to try and curb the coronavirus pandemic in particular that very difficult 3rd wave of the coronavirus pandemic german chancellor angela merkel has also been reportedl

let's bring in our political correspondent thomas sparrow who's following the latest developments on the story for us hi thomas let's start with the situation right now with the virus because i see you steph here are warning that there are not that many beds left so how hard is this 3rd wave hitting germany. and it's not only about i.c.u. stuff coronavirus cases are also increasing in germany the 7 day rate very important here to decide further restrictions is also above the $100.00 limit so a very important statistic there so you can clearly say sumi that the coronavirus pandemic in particular the 3rd wave is hitting germany very hard and one element to explain why it's hitting germany very hard it's one of those variants the b 117 variant which has become more and more prevail and here in the country is partially behind that rise in infections now it's important to stress that this is not only a problem that germany is facing many other european countries are facing a similar situation and that includes some of germany's neighbors as well the situation is there for a very difficult

let's bring in our political correspondent thomas sparrow who's following the latest developments on the story for us hi thomas let's start with the situation right now with the virus because i see you staff here are warning that there are not that many beds left so how hard is this 3rd wave hit in germany. and it's not only about i.c.u. stuff coronavirus cases are also increasing in germany the 7 day rate very important here to decide further restrictions is also above the $100.00 limit so a very important statistic there so you can clearly say sumi that the coronavirus pandemic in particular the 3rd wave is hitting germany very hard and one element to explain why it's hitting germany very hard it's one of those variants the b 117 variant which has become more and more prevail and here in the country is partially behind that rise in infections now it's important to stress that this is not only a problem that germany is facing many other european countries are facing a similar situation and that includes some of germany's neighbors as well the situation is there for a very difficult o

on our political correspondent thomas sparrow is following all this forest told us more than 25000 new infections in the last 24 hours in germany what are those numbers mean. well they mean on the one hand at the situation remains very serious here in germany when it comes to the 3rd wave of the corona virus pandemic that's something that german officials are very much aware of and that's part of all the discussions here as to whether germany should go into strict restrictions or whether there should be some loosening of those restrictions but there is a very important caveat to these numbers terry because it is still unclear whether old those numbers are actually current or whether they're represent also a backlog related to the east break it is normally the case here in germany that on weekends or when you have a holiday public offices public health offices do not tend to report all their information until a few days later so it is still uncertain to what extend these numbers do reveal a very concrete increase and that's why there are discussions now about what they could mean and wh