the number of current avars cases globally is now approaching 200 thousand
eight thousand fatalities as people in the US and in countries across the world
begin to adjust to life under lockdown in isolation the United States and many
European nations have this week installed measures to stop the spread of
coronavirus including curfews and restrictions and movement today let's go
over to Germany to learn more about the situation there joining me live from
Berlin is Hans Brandt from DW news Hans great to see you now first of all give
us an update on the Cova 19 outbreak in Germany and across Europe well the World
Health Organization has said recently that the global focus of the corona
outbreak that covered 19 outbreak is not in Europe after cases in China have been
reduced substantially in Germany at the moment they are somewhere between 8,000
and 9,000 confirmed cases and about less than 20 deaths across Europe one has to
talk about about 80,000 confirmed cases and somewhere between two and a half
thousand and three thousand deaths in Europe it's mainly Italy that is
affected at the moment there are more than 30,000 cases alone in Italy but
also the case number of cases have increased increased drastically recently
in Spain also here in Germany all of Europe basically is experiencing still
an uptick in the number of cases and the worst situation has not yet arrived
everyone is warning that the number of severe cases that is going to be
admitted to hospital is likely to increase very very significantly in the
next few days right so you're bracing for the worst there now Hans how is it
affecting the daily lives of Berliners and the German people I mean are there
lock downs or curfews in place yet the German government has in fact not yet
imposed a curfew or a lockdown but it has made it has said that all shops have
to be closed since yesterday shops across Europe across Germany that do not
sell essential goods have to be closed also cinemas
theaters fitness studios all those kinds of institutions are closed there are
only shops that are open though those that sell in essential goods such as
food and medicines so there is very little reason for people actually to
leave their homes and they have been urged to stay at home to not to avoid
contact with other people so that the Y virus cannot be spread so easily
at the same time German hospitals are reporting that they are slowly getting
more and more strange that a number of cases is increasing they are about at
the moment 500 cases of covered 19 that are being treated in German hospitals
but one is expecting that number to rise well into the thousands within a couple
of days the situation here in Berlin on the streets is very quiet there's hardly
any people on the road only people that really need to go to work are going to
work everybody officers working at home in other countries the situation is even
stricter curfews have been imposed in Belgium in France and Spain in Italy and
there people are in fact being punished if they leave their homes without
permission that is not the case in Germany at the moment now how much of an
economic impact does Germany and Europe expect from this current Avars outbreak
are there any support measures or stimulus packages that Germany is
preparing yes indeed the impact on the economy has been severe here in Germany
and across Europe stock markets have also dived by more than 20% in recent
days there was a slight recovery yesterday but that's certainly not
something that one can count on and the economy as a whole obviously is more or
less shut down there's very few flights for instance that are still flying since
a lot of international destinations cannot be reached any more for instance
the United States is not accepting any travelers from Europe at the moment at
the same time Europe itself the European Union has imposed the ban on people on
citizens from other countries outside the European Union actually entering
this continent in the next 30 days so there's no flights coming into Europe as
well and here in Germany the government has announced that
we'll have at least 500 billion euros available to help companies that are in
trouble and that really goes across the entire economic spectrum from simple
restaurants to very very large companies through Airlines and so on even the
German car makers folks wagon and mercedes-benz have now decided to stop
their production here in Europe because there can at the moment not continue not
secure that production for various reasons so there is in the sense also an
economic slowdown in some cases even an economic lockdown
absolutely well I hope you stay safe there Hans Brant correspondent for DW
reporting live for us from Berlin many thank you Hans