black coal. oil thomas' starts december 4th w. this is e w new swine flu from berlin tonight the pandemic its grip on germany as tight as ever germany's public health agency warning that the country is still far from reigning in the 2nd wave of the coronavirus the daily number of deaths this week the highest since the start of the pandemic also coming up a moment of reckoning at the un general assembly world leaders convened for

a special session is there a little time lateral way out of this pandemic. i'm off it's good to have you with us we start tonight with the latest from the pandemic here in germany and the news is not good the head of the country's public health institute says that germany is still nowhere near bringing the 2nd wave of corona virus infections under control a partial lockdown in place since early november has stabilized the numbers but those numbers remain too high. the coronavirus pandemic is not yet letting up in germany. the head of the country's federal health agency issued a stark warning. many people are still getting infected with cold and

19 and the numbers are still too high they are on a plateau but they are not yet falling noticeably. we also see that the number of serious outbreaks and deaths is increasing from week to week but since both of these always occur with a certain delay we must expect many more here. germany has been under a partial lockdown since november 2nd the daily increase in new infections has leveled off with just over 22000 cases recorded on thursday but this but the restrictions on public life the numbers haven't dropped significantly and this week the country reported a record 487 deaths the highest death toll since the onset of the pandemic with no clear change for the better insight chancellor angela merkel announced on wednesday that the partial lockdown will be extended until january 10th restaurants bars and leisure facilities will remain closed and context will be restricted some

say even that is not enough the southern state of bavaria is considering tougher measures. in the coming weeks we'll really have to ask ourselves whether all these measures are enough whether we can keep the country in a sort of half sleep like this or whether we should be clear and consistent and impose even stricter measures in certain areas with some exceptions will be made over the christmas period to allow friends and families together. in berlin some think a loosening on restrictions over the holiday is a good idea while others fear it may be too risky. it is very difficult at the moment people can't meet with friends they can't see or their grandparents maybe these few days will have a positive effect on our lives and. this will only make things worse if we pas the restrictions and then we have to be back to the virus again for. still some long weeks of coronavirus restrictions

ahead with hopes pinned on the forthcoming vaccines are let's bring in our political correspondent emanuel it was good to see you let me ask you what is the plan here in germany for rolling out the vaccine. well brand vaccination centers of being says have that right this moment around the country this should the 1st one should be able to open within 2 weeks but at 1st they want you know vaccines for everyone else production goes to supply will of course increase over time with production there will be a 2 phases to t.j. during the 1st one so probably still this air vulnerable people will be prioritized i'm thinking by diogo these people in hospitals 1st responders and vaccinations will take place in those centers and through mo by the teams for example homes then there will be a 2nd phase one step vaccine will be more broadly available to general population

who will have access to it and a vaccine will be available at medical practices just like any other vaccine that should be probably next year early next year and we know that the partial walk down is going to stay in effect the new year january 10th i think and yet we're still not seeing a lot of progress in bringing down the number of new infections why use that. because it's partial so it takes time for number of flooded number of infections to significance they drop right now at the light lockdown has stopped exponential growth suggested good news but it hasn't significantly reduced the number of infections today we so more than a little over 22000 new cases but on they want to current lockdown that means like on the 2 that would that's number one is over 23000 so we do stagnate with significantly more deaths at the moment this partial lockdown has to be extended until january tends with some areas it was particularly particularly high infection

rates i'm thinking about nuremberg in bavaria it was some districts in saxony where tougher restrictions have been implemented it is just a restriction as we know we're going to be eased from christmas into the new year how do we know that then it will not be creating a super spreader of it. well sort of plan is to allow more people up to 10 from 2 different households to gather at christmas but this is up to local authorities to a low rates or not here in berlin for example into german capital the mayor and michelle miller has decided to not alone loosening autocar interest tractions which are 5 people mark simone for 2 households because the 7 days incidence rate in the german capital is too too high and i got marco had warned at time and again that there was a need for tougher restrictions and she called for individual restaurants ability to avoid socializing and to avoid traveling when this is not necessary to virus one take any holidays over the christmas season yeah that's true the virus certainly

does not observe in the home but it is in my grandchild's the latest here in berlin and i thank you. covered 19 and the road to recovery is the focus of a special session of the un general assembly almost $100.00 world leaders are taking part today meeting coincides with the release of a u.n. study that shows that more than 1000000000 people could be living in extreme poverty by 2030 due to the long term effects of the corona virus and the gathering is intended to galvanize nations to take collective action u.n. secretary general antonio good thérèse criticized some states for going it alone and failing to heed the guidance he stressed the size of the challenge facing the war vets seems may become available within the next weeks and months. but let's not fool ourselves. and vaccine cannot undo damage that will stretch across years even decades to come extreme poverty is rising the set of famine looms

we face the biggest global recession in 8 decades and these incredulous facts are not due to cover 1000 alone the out of result of long term for the gili these inequalities and injustices that have been exposed by the pandemic it's time to reset or that was the head of the un speaking there i'm joined now by in the case in never in jews in charge of the vaccines initiative of the africa centers for disease control in addis ababa welcome to the program you would secretary-general antonio terrace is painted a grim picture of the future if the world does not start to cooperate in this pandemic what do you see as the role of the african continent here. so the little tanks to take so much for didn't. really need to 2 percent.

of the continent actually. could be induced pates of kopi 19 in africa so as. the africa c.d.c. vaccine strategy early enough we were really told it could be 19 vaccine strategy already on treat keep pillows want was really to accelerate african involvement into clinical development and the 2nd is are to the axis of supply meaning how being it really defines him to kill him and system in place and also a strengthening money functioning capacity for production of coping and tieback seams and also making the billabong continent and lastly. get the sure that we have uptake for vaccines going into vaccines once become available and

having it due to the 3 system i think that's what the continent has been prepared so far to be able to cook discreet of coffee 19 in africa although are are you sure though that that africa is going to have equal access to these vaccines as the rest of the world. no i think excellent questions really joy politics and then he. complex questions but yes we we have a part of this strategy may sions some to africa you know chip person x. tab leash and that's we can saks in a position tax team and that tax team actually has been. reached out to different facts and manufacturers those that you have so far had to resort least both. johnson and johnson to notice of the pharmaceutical companies to ensure that

you secure a least a couple of those those a split a continent over. yeah i hear you what happens if there is a situation where there is a shortage of vaccines do you have the capacities in africa to pick up the slack and to produce vaccines to carry you over. excellent one under that 2nd collided nation we acknowledge that this limited capacity on the continent to be able actually to produce enough vaccines for hopeful but a couple last weekend and also we're also acknowledge the fact that the a civil countries that are already secured those fall more than what is actually would be required to use and it's probably time to enter copilot

corporations who some of these countries to be able to have access to go some of the. full. over ok mr in them we appreciate your time in your insights tonight thank you. our let's take a look now at some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world the german city of tree year has held a minute of silence to honor the 5 people killed when a vehicle into pedestrians on tuesday a 51 year old man is in police custody prosecutors say the suspect was under the influence of alcohol there are no indications of. british police say 4 people have died and one is injured after an explosion at a water treatment plant in southwest england the blast near the city of bristol is believed to have involved a chemical tank because of the incident is still unclear. firefighters in australia

are struggling to contain massive wildfires devastating a unesco world heritage site fraser island is the largest santa ana wind in the world the fires have been burning now for 6 weeks and have already destroyed almost half of this unique natural paradise. the flames here have been raging on for weeks with more than a 1000000 liters of water and extinguishing agents firefighters are battling the blazes to no avail more than 80000 hectares of land have already been scorched we've been reporting 50 percent of the all in has been affected by the fog we're probably not seeing the end of it yet. and indicate exactly what that's going to look like in the end because we're trying to limit it as space we came. with a length of 122 kilometers fraser island is the largest sand island in the world and has been in unesco world heritage site since 1902. the island is particularly

popular with camping tourists with freshwater lakes and mangrove swamps fraser island is characterized by tropical rain forest which is currently still unaffected by looking at the next few days to say what the wind does the money. wins which are helping us in this in this work we know that if we have winds kick up on the weekend it's going like things will get hotter authorities suspect the blaze was started by an illegal bonfire in mid october this week the situation was further aggravated by the force of an ongoing heatwave tourists have been instructed not to travel to the island fraser island is known by native aborigines as garri which means paradise. far and finally before we go you might remember the mysterious story from last week of these strange middle monolith found in the desert of utah we know another one has been spotted on a hiking trail in southern california local media reporting that unlike the utah original. this one is not bolted to the ground and could be tipped over. the

monolith which disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared captured the imagination of many with its references to the classic movie 2001 space ots is similar structure has also been spotted in romania. the mystery continued just today with the news i'll be back at the top of the hour with more world news followed by the day i hope to see. the fight against the coronavirus tend to have much. has the rate of infection been developing what does the latest research say. information and context. on t w. i'm not often but. i guess

sometimes i am but i. think stephen for german culture of looking at stereotypes a question that is in the future of the country. do you. think for this drama there you go that's all that. i'm rachel joins me from the german fundy. post. now more than ever it's important to stay as healthy as possible coming a balanced diet is can help. the world health organization suggests easing a variety of food from different groups. including plenty of fruits and vegetables . w.h.o.

also recommends eating a diet rich in whole grains and snuffs. limiting your intake of sugar salt and fast. practicing good food hygiene to avoid becoming sick of food point is easy. and limiting your consumption of alcohol. research shows improving nutrition helps of course bump tomorrow immune function. so if you catch cold it 19 your immune system may be better equipped to fight. this. 1000 special i'm kate ferguson thanks for joining me the past few months have been tough living in constant fear of getting sick or losing your job can make you feel like you're not in control one thing you do have some agency over though is your diet and as our next report shows good nutrition can have

a major impact on health outcomes so thank you i'm not a huge fan of. few really like hospital food but it's more than just a question of taste you tradition is vital and most clinics and hospitals pay too little attention to a well balanced diet dr viola andreessen from hamburg has been dealing with the effects of poor hospital nutrition on patients for 20 years so i should mention these people simply are more at risk of being in the i.c.u. for longer of having to stay in hospital longer of increased complications or read more at risk of dying from their disease. geriatric physician dr martin has many week patients and he sees the dangers of poor nutrition every day. even on balance a diet especially in the elderly causes them to lose weight quickly and lose substance the body can no longer heal wounds as quickly people get dizzy they fall over problems flare up in days and weeks when the food on liquids are not balanced

and above all not sufficient and. just. the doctor's experience is borne out by a major swiss study. 2000 participants with already poor nutrition took part in the study 1000 were given regular hospital food the other half were given a healthier alternative within the group that received the superior diet outcomes were significantly better with 15 percent fewer complications and 27 percent fewer deaths a few days of hospital food won't harm most people but the very ill have often already lost weight and strength before hand here at the israel hospital in hamburg a specialist nutrition team takes care of these high risk patients selecting them for special attention as soon as they're admitted in a 3 day period 21 of 53 newly admitted patients were noticed by the experts.

there are various methods for measuring malnutrition this device measures how much strength there is in the hands. or how much muscle and fat tissue is on the back of the hand. or even how is body tissue composed a special scale shows the proportion of muscle in fashion. out of course blood values is there a lack of iron sodium potassium or protein. patients who are malnourished are given extra care special nutrition filled shakes with cucumber or beetroot an extra protein or sweeten group unama and chocolate to improve strength and charge the batteries for recovery. protein helps to heal wounds for example zinc serves to ward off infection. the key to making a full recovery is freshly prepared food rich in nutrients clinics pay proper

attention to nutrition a lot can be achieved through normal diet sometimes it only takes a little extra effort with nutrition to achieve great results here. let's talk now to professor anika back now from the institute of nutritional sciences at the university of geese and professor wagner at the study we saw in the report just now really reiterated what an incredibly crucial role in nutrition it plays in our general health and as well our ability to heal do you think this issue is getting enough attention during the pandemic. i think the effect of nutrition on our house in the context of the current condemning is under estimated a high number of people suffer from different diets dependent diseases such as obesity diabetes type 2 and hypertension and we know that these patients have a significantly higher risk for severe courses of 19 that means sped through a sustainable change of unhealthy dietary habits towards

a healthy well balanced diet will improve diet dependent diseases and similar tenuously would decrease the risk for severe course of the covert $900.00 facts however as a change in our nutritional behavior is a long term goal long term concepts need to be established and strongly promoted which is currently not the case i really want to zone in now on obesity which you mentioned it is of course a major risk factor for becoming seriously ill or from covert 1000 why is that exactly. so obesity is the main risk factor for the development of several co-morbidity so that predispose forcibly of course of a convert $1000.00 infection that includes especially hypertension type 2 diabetes mellitus and. reach out well known to be responsible that people get seriously ill but also in the absence of these co-morbidities obese people are at a higher risk for a severe covered course as most obese persons are in the state of

a pre-diabetes that also increase the risk of infection. and there's also been some focus on the role reach out well known to be responsible that people get seriously ill but also in the absence of these co-morbidities obese people are at a higher risk for a severe corbet course as most obese persons are in the state of a pre-diabetes that also increase the risk of infection. and there's also been some focus on the role that mr mehndi could play in helping to protect against the virus what can you tell me about that. so for a well functioning immune system becoming day is of course essential of you to mins and minerals and therefore in adequate supply with vitamin d. it's also essential to protect us against invading pathic genes and also the against infections like with sask up to that currently some discussions about daily supplementation with vitamin d.

to support our immune system in the fight against cope with 19 ever if we look into the currently available study says no evidence provided that a high dose by to me supplementation. prevents from a soft cover to infection of would help to recovery from an infection indeed what we should definitely avoid is a state a fight i'm in deep deficiency in case of in a proof item in d. deficiency of course it would have me do should be supplemented and in case people would like to supplement vitamin d. although as i mentioned evidence is currently missing they should make sure that they not exceed the recommended daily upper limit of 4000 international units. ok and of course they all have different dietary needs but what general advice would you have for a basting and unity best time. so that our immune system will work roya well i recommend to stick to a plant based diet containing high amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables that

provide high amounts of essential vitamins and nutrients and i recommend also to consume whole grain foods when it comes to cereals or bread and also include pulses in the day diet as they have fiber rates and for them all suggest to stick to vegetable oils with high amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids and what we should do is to lower the consumption of for example sugar sweetened beverages and streets and also we should limit the consumption of meat. ok and finally this is a question that's come up a few times is there any risk of being infected with the coronavirus through food. so the data that is currently available does not show any case where an infection occurred through quantum united truths however when we prepare food we should stick to the hygiene rules this means of course we should to room regularly wash our

hands keep our fingers away from from the face and also if we prepare meat we should make sure that it is through all good tips professor anika by now from the institute of nutritional science at the university of faith and i thank you so much thank you. time now to answer one of your questions about the coronavirus over to our science correspondents derek williams. what impact is the parent to make having on the hunger crisis. predictably cove at 19 is making it a lot worse according to the united nations world food program which is the organization that was awarded this year's nobel peace prize the number of people worldwide who suffer from crisis level hunger could almost double by the end of this year it also says that the region hit hardest so far is latin america

that's followed by central and southern africa and and oxfam estimates that if we don't do more to limit the social and economic impact of the virus up to 12000 people a day could soon be dying from the effects of undernourishment just to compare even on the very worst days for mortality so far in the pandemic there have never been more than 10000 tatts attributed to the virus in 24 hours i think that the most this has aspect of this crisis is that with the exception of a few countries food is actually available in many of the places that are suffering most of famine isn't being only driven by a lack of food but also by the simple fact that people no longer have the means to buy it the hunger crisis is not only expanding rapidly because of disruptions in supply chains although that's certainly contributing to the problem it's also due

to dropping income among many of the world's most vulnerable the poor who simply can't afford to buy food for themselves and their families anymore and the crisis isn't just limited to regions that face problems before the pandemic began tobit 19 it is now also impacting food. security for people in the middle and high income countries from from india to brazil to the u.s. . and if you have a question for derek you can email feedback dotting the shot to w dot com using the word expert in the subject line for me and the team it's goodbye and take care.

to the point strong opinions clear positions from international perspectives. can the fragile peace just declared in ethiopia as a great profits be sustained ethiopia's prime minister i'll be op ed from the nobel peace laureate to amount of work that's our topic on to looking. to the point. next to the t w. how does a virus spread. why do we panic and when we'll all miss him. just through the tactics from cover and weekly radio show is called spectrum if you would like any information on the crown of virus or any other science topic you should really

check out our podcast so you can get it wherever you go your podcast you can also find us at. one slash science. people looking for comedy. there are many answers. to. and there are many resumes. and there are many military service to. make up your own mind. for minds. of. the ethiopian leader who won a nobel prize for ending one of africa's longest running conflicts has for the past

month been waging a war of his own making in early november prime minister abu ahmed announced that he had ordered troops to respond to an allegedly deadly attack on a government military base in ethiopia's t great profits leaders there say the to grant people are being blamed for tensions that surfaced as a hobby implemented reforms and postponed elections due to cove it can heal is divided country.