the European Commission has launched a
global campaign to find a cure for the
corona virus it says research must be
supported by global cooperation if the
effort is to succeed in just a few hours
the EU secured eight billion dollars in
pledges contributed by world leaders to
accelerate the hunt for a vaccine 1
billion dollars will come from the EU
itself which the Commission president
says will also go towards developing
tests and treatment for kovat 19 the 4th
of May 2020 will mark a turning point in
our fight against the corona virus
because today the world is coming
together governments from every
continent will join hands and team up
with global health organizations and
other experienced partners the partners
are many the goal is one to defeat this
virus world leaders from 30 countries
dolled into the summit announcing their
pledges one by one via videolink Norway
committed 1 billion dollars Angler
Merkel and Emmanuel macron pledged half
a billion from Germany and France each
while non EU members from the UK and
Japan to Saudi Arabia and South Africa
vow to contribute to our Europe
correspondence Gavin Lee sent this
updates probably no coincidence that the
people who make Eurovision EBU and it's
not on this year perhaps it makes up for
the fact that there was more than a nod
I think to the way that they were doing
this with us LaVon the lion crossing
from Paris to Germany saying merci
gracias to the French and Spanish Prime
Minister's many technical problems in
there as well and ultimately every time
she crossed to one part of the the globe
it was either a pre-recorded or a live
pitch there was a message from the
leader for example Emmanuel macron the
French president saying that this has to
be for a vaccine that is universal for
everybody to use in this 7.5 billion or
8 billion dollars has to be something
that everybody can access and it's
affordable but with that came a pitch
from every single country well one
country notably absent for
the summit was the us the Trump
administration says that thanks to his
own efforts dubbed Operation warp-speed
the u.s. is working urgently to develop
a cure for the virus well last night
President Trump predicted that American
firms would develop a vaccine by the end
of the year although he acknowledged the
projection was his own and a shorter
timeline than the one doctors from his
own administration are working with
we're pushing very hard you know we're
building supply lines now we don't even
have the final vaccine Johnson and
Johnson if you look at Johnson & Johnson
is doing it we have many companies or I
think close because I meet with the
heads of them and I find it a very
interesting subject because it's so
important but I think we have a vaccine
by the end of the year well earlier I
spoke to our State Department
correspondent Barbara Penn uh sure about
what happened when the administration
officials were taught today pressed and
a briefing to explain why exactly the US
was not taking part in the scheme
switchin to say they didn't give us a
clear answer at all instead we were
blasted by statistics about what they
were doing and declarations that the
u.s. is at the forefront of the
international fight against covered 19
the the main international donor and you
know the numbers are impressive they
said six point five billion dollars if
you put together what the government and
the private sector is giving towards
fighting the pandemic they said that
they were already giving money to many
of these organizations for which the
vaccine conference was was raising money
and that this was not about pulling back
from multilateral institutions quite the
reverse that they were coordinating
internationally with the g7 the g20 and
that they would continue working
together with European partners so all
that sounded like an explanation for why
they should be at the conference really
I mean it might have been because of who
was there the Chinese over there were
there and the Trump administration has
really stepped up its criticism of China
lately accusing it of covering up
information crucial information at the
beginning of the outbreak which then led
to it going worldwide but also the World
Health Organization was there and the
Trump administration has cut off the
w-h-o saying it's not an effective body
and that it should have challenged China
about the information it was getting but
I'm reading
the lines of Abita we were definitely
not given a clear answer like that it
was not spelled out why the u.s. is not
there yeah I suppose that's all you can
do really Bob but but you know they have
talked about operation warp speed this
vaccination program what are they saying
about how that is going and you know
what the research entails in general
again we were told that they were
extremely active on the vaccination
front that they had been given given
billions and billions of dollars again
both the government and the private
sector towards vaccination development
and research on drugs and so on and the
point was made to them it's not just
about money of course this is about
international coordination for the
development of a vaccine and rolling up
the vaccine and shouldn't the u.s. be
there and again they came back to us and
said look we've put out reams of
research and and resources so they said
fifty two thousand pages of scientific
articles uncovered 19 which were being
used around the world
they had unleashed supercomputers that
were being used in public/private
partnerships with technology companies
and with universities and this had led
to dozens of research projects again
that involved international
participation so we did get a
full-throated
description of the u.s. being very
active on this front just not being
active at a global conference on fight
on finding a vaccine now a raft of
countries have started to ease their
lockdowns in each case the decision has
followed the rate of infection beginning
to fall what psychons has been taking a
look at what's happening it's
interesting isn't it rolls to take a
look country by country and their
different tactics of dealing with this
pandemic over bt yes in the same way
that the experience of each country has
been different and the death rates and
infection rates have been different so
the government responses as those rates
have fallen are also proving to be
different so let's start with Italy four
and a half million Italians of maket
work today after almost two months of
lockdown these restrictions are being
eased but only a little construction
sites and parks are open again and
perhaps most importantly people can
visit relatives though only if they live
in the same region there's one big
difference from life before everyone
going out in Italy has to wear a face
mask let's hear from Naples in the south
of Italy
Loen is there a nation that has shed so
many tears alone can finally grieve
together in Naples today the first
funeral is allowed with a maximum of 15
people as Italy opens up being unable to
say goodbye or visit graves has been one
of the cruelest losses of the lockdown
as the world's longest shutdown of the
pandemic starts to fade outdoor exercise
is now allowed parks and some businesses
are reopening and relatives can see each
other again with distance and masks so
finally people can come and visit the
family members that they've been stopped
from seeing for eight long weeks but it
does present a danger because this train
has come in from Milan in the region of
Italy worst hit by the virus so with
freedom from the hugely increased risk
of spreading the outbreak keep your
distance
there warned before everyone fills in a
form to explain why they're here
Europe's worst hit country is taking no
chances Livia De Santis
last saw her daughter who lives in Milan
in January resisting a motherly urge is
tough normality so near yet so far
[Music]
it's been difficult to not to seek not
to see her yeah why they lost you sorry
but the lockdown has left deep scars we
were taken by police to one of the
roughest areas of one of the --use
poorest regions the wari here is of
organized crime preying on poverty
carpenter Rafaela says with work stopped
he may have to sell his TV to get by
there's been lots more crime since the
lockdown he says even kids dealing drugs
and stealing cars since they need to eat
the Mafia has always exploited Italy's
moments of weakness and this is one of
those moments they give people help but
then ask for drug dealing or money in
exchange a health crisis has become a
social one and this is what other
countries too may face as they reopen
from a lockdown that is stopping the
dying but killing the economy mark Lowen
BBC news Naples no spur Beatty was
saying
Italy isn't the only country starting to
ease its restrictions let's see next
from for BBC correspondents in Europe
the Middle East and Africa first of all
here's Adam Easton in Poland here in
Poland they're reopening museums hotels
and shopping centers like the one behind
me which have been closed now for seven
weeks the number of customers is limited
and they must observe social distancing
and wear face coverings and protective
gloves Poland was quick to introduce a
strict lockdown and the number of
coronavirus infections and deaths here
is much much lower than in many Western
European countries that's why the
government is slowly easing the
restrictions to restart the economy but
the number of cases is still rising and
many parents are worried it's not safe
yet to send their children back to
nurseries and preschools when they
reopen later this week here in Austria
all of the shops are now open again
including hairdressers barbers and
beauty salons and the individual
recommendations that people stay at
except for a few key reasons have
expired which means that people are free
to leave their homes
although when they're in public they're
being asked to keep at least one meters
distance from everybody else you are now
allowed to have an event with the
gathering of up to ten people but if you
want to go to a shop or use public
transport you have to use a basic face
mask covering your nose and mouth now if
everything goes well the government says
that restaurants and cafes could reopen
by the middle of May but they've also
warned that they're ready to slam on the
brakes
if infections start rising again the
government in Lebanon has lifted some
restrictions on movement and allowed
certain type of businesses to open up
again provided that everyone will follow
strictly the rule of social distancing
this is part of a five phase plan that
the government has set out for gradual
opening up of the country that will add
in mid-june where even the airports will
resume operation but that's depending on
weekly assessment that the government is
carrying out on dicovered 19 hid in the
capital Beirut you can already feel the
vibe of the city has changed where
people are going out and about feeling
more relaxed about the situation but the
economy was hit hard thousands of people
lost their jobs and their income during
the lockdown which pushed hundreds of
people into the streets protesting again
here in Nigeria after a five-week
lockdown the government is reopening the
economy the largest economy in Africa
beginning from this Monday here in the
capital Abuja as well as the commercial
hub Lagos a noble state banks
construction sites and government
offices like the building behind me
Federal Secretariat are opening markets
are partially open in to workers in food
processing and agricultural sector are
going back to work but initial white
dusk-to-dawn curfew has been imposed the
authorities say people must wear face
masks while in public adhere to social
distancing rule and take other safety
measures however schools religious
centers and parks remain closed and lot
gatherings have also been totally banned
as Nigeria eases the
locked and gradually medical experts are
urgent caution the situation is dicey
and the virus continues to spread well
next we turn to Spain it started a
four-stage plan to get to what it's
calling a new normalcy by the end of
June already small shops and
hairdressers are reopening and berry
mind it's making all of these moves as
its daily death toll continues to fall
sharply Germany too has allowed
hairdressers to open as you can see
people having to queue with the
appropriate social distance we also know
some schools have opened as well and the
country's widespread testing is being
credited with helping it to do pretty
well in controlling the virus so things
are easing in these countries and there
will be more of that elsewhere in the
coming weeks no doubt it is though
helpful to keep a couple of things in
mind as we watch this the first is that
this is the start of a new much longer
phase where countries will adapt
restrictions according to infection and
death rates to borrow Spain's language
it's a new normal but let's be clear
it's not normal as we knew it the second
point is that scientists still know
relatively little about this virus we
saw this quote from dr. ashish jar of
the Harvard Global Health Research
Institute this was in the New York Times
he says we're really early in this
disease if this were a baseball game it
would be in the second inning and
remember there are nine innings in a
baseball game the point being that this
easing of the lockdown is at best at the
end of the beginning
scientists and politicians now want to
know what level of freedom we can live
with
without the rate of fatalities
increasing sharply again and Babita no
one is sure what we're going to find out
indeed was thank you very much