South hell region chad announces plans to stop military operations outside the country. And marking the start of easter in isolation not a dam cathedral in paris holds a special so its a year after a devastating fire. Its a grim milestone in the fight against the coronavirus the number of people who have died worldwide past 100001 friday but infections appear to be slowing in europes hardest hit countries the World Health Organization says that doesnt mean countries should ease restrictions which have put half the worlds population under lockdown. I know that some countries are already planning the transition out of stay at home restrictions w. H. O. Wants to see distractions lifted as much as anyone i descend time lifting restrictions too quickly could lead to a deadly resurgence the way down can be as dangerous as the way up if not money properly or more than 1600000 people have been infected since the outbreak was detected in china last year europe accounts for more than half of global cases the us is the current hotspot 8 has the most infections in the world that nearly 500000 that despite that president tom says he hopes the curve there could be flattening ok john hendren is joining us now from chicago john we were hearing at the press conference that President Trump was holding part of the Coronavirus Task force regular press conferences that weve been seeing that he is very keen that the economy should be restarted as soon as possible but he is getting some pushback from his medical experts. Thats right today the tone as its always been was optimism in a more than 2 hour president ial News Conference he cant pushing to open the economy in his words very very soon and by open i mean end the restrictions that require people to stay home and begin allowing those businesses the nonessential businesses to reopen throughout the United States he said that on a day in which the death toll worldwide crossed 100000 he said he hopes to keep the u. S. Death toll below that number and hes talking about numbers like 5265000 dead ideally in his words those are horrific numbers more than all of the americans who have died in all of the wars since since korea in the 1950 s. However it would be much less than the 2200000. 00 eat pointed out who would have died in the u. S. According to forecasts had the us done nothing however medical experts have been pushing back on that and the president insists that he will listen to his medical experts he was roundly criticized a few weeks ago for saying that he would like to open the economy back up by easter that would be this weekend clearly the United States is not ready for that those numbers continue to go up but while Everyone Wants those numbers to go down the president has an additional reason and that is that his popularity seems to taken a significant hit theres a story in the Washington Post quoting a group called Oxford Economics that says his own personal popularity rating has gone down from Something Like 55 percent to 43 percent they predict the u. S. G. D. P. The Gross Domestic Product will drop by 4 percent over the course of the year and that unemployment now at 12 to 13 percent could remain at around 10 percent through the fall and of course his election his reelection ends in november so the president has an additional reason. To try to get those numbers up hes pushing he says hes going to create a task force called the opening our Country Council consisting of Senior Administration officials and private Business People well hear more about that on tuesday when he makes the formal announcement were seeing ospital admissions declining very substantially as i said a nationwide the number of new cases per day is flattening substantially suggesting that were near the peak and our comprehensive strategy is working overtime our guidelines to slow the spread or decreasing the rate of new cases very substantially and will result in fewer hospital admissions and were seeing that its. Incredible i think with with no exceptions its looking like its low. With the president talking about reopening the much of the u. S. Economy theres a new report in the New York Times it says the u. S. Government predicts a spike in deaths in the mid to late summer if indeed those restrictions are a lift in that report predicts that about 100 to 150 days after the mid march orders keeping people in their homes closing most businesses that about 10150 days after that comes the peak in deaths and the later that that stay at home order is released then the more people would end up surviving in fewer people would be infected so the president continues to push for an early opening but medical experts are saying there may be good reasons to wait longer john hendren reporting for us live from chicago john thanks very much indeed well gary coping is the director of the Research CenterInfectious Diseases at Laval University in quebec hes joining us now from there thank you very much indeed for giving us your time so let me ask you given your experience do you think that it would be any sort of restarting any sort of reopening would be a kind of blanket across the country are on how do you think it would play out. Well you know i think every country in every environment will make their own risk analysis and they will legal step by step and make sure that the release of. The requirements that are in place is not going to lead to overwhelming the Health Care System i mean that is the 1st important requirement to go by step by step i think its expected that we will see in those in the. You know a slight increase in cases and the point is to keep that increase under control and to not see a massive wave coming keeping in mind that overall there is some minority of people that develop immunity against this in fact. President tom says that he is willing to listen to his medical experts and take their advice ahead of making a decision about a reopening but given the fact that he is so anxious for all the reasons that john mentioned just a few moments ago to restart the economy do you think that the medical experts will actually have enough power in the law for leverage to prevent the president from reopening too early. Well you know i think everybody is really gonna try to follow the science and make sure and again that. Theyre restart activities is not going to lead to an over overwhelming response or all the number of cases in in fact and that the Health Care System will be able to cope and offered the best care to everybody that contract the infection you know we are reaching it what looks like the possible peak but the possible peak will go down and could come back up and the goal is to to to keep all this under control and to not see a 2nd wave or tarried wave that goes beyond what what the Health Care System can can maintain and can respond to you so i think that you know everywhere at think people are really going to try to follow the science and make sure that they are protecting their population and i hope so of course what do you think the risks are you mentioned in terms of a 2nd and 3rd wave but is it possible to give us some sort of indication of how bad things could get in the event that there is a reopening that is too early. Well you know i think its speculation suid just say whats going to happen maybe one thing for sure is that we see some countries some environment where things are under control and have been from from a while for example singapore thailand and other locations we are seeing activities going back online in china. And it seems to be going well so i think also countries will be looking at one another and what is working and what is maybe not working so well to make sure that they are not opening. Devolve. Social activities and economy captivities too quickly and make sure that again that their Health Care System is able to cope with any surge but you know and then another surge on the control could also be possible again considering that. Most of the people in in those countries are not have not been exposed to and dont have immunity and all this is is you know its still a bit of a. Open box in terms of our long is this immunity going to last are we going to start seeing eye reinfection all this is is it evolving right now so i think again. The basic. Strategy is really to sit on the saw that science on observations and and all they had and follow all the advice of all these experts are socially we are preachers are giving us the benefits of your expertise in this gary coping are we prepared for time thank you very much. Well those positive signs are starting to increase in spain and italy but theyre tell you in Prime Minister says restrictions there will be extended dominic cain has more from berlin. Its a stark example of what the coronaviruses done to this continent the traditional good friday papal Passion Service in rome and pope francis forced to preside over a ceremony with almost no congregation because the pandemic continues to kill thousands of people every day we are particularly concerned by the large number of infections reported among Health Workers in some countries there are reports of up to 10 percent of Health Workers being infected this is another trend. When Health Workers are at risk we are all. But just as corona targets populations so it attacks their economies which is why late on thursday e. U. Finance ministers agreed a vast new credit package for those worst affected fast loans for governments and short term aid to companies which might otherwise go until they had up to around out of a trillion euros a step change in the economic order nice and we did in our union this emergency plan well see all our economic and social fabric as we dive into a recession. But its not enough for several stricken european states italy has long argued for wealthier countries to guarantee the debt of the poorer ones which this deal does not appreciably but the main battle that italy must carry on the european tables concerns a fund that must be finals with a real a chronic sharing of the airport such as with in europe bonds yes the famous euro bonds the font must have a power proportionate to the numbers and with sources that are required by law or economy. I because the impact of the lockdown across Southern Europe is clear in spain the beaches are empty with no prospect of this changing anytime soon on any normal good friday afternoon you could expect this area of central berlin to be packed with tourists and berliners alike all enjoying the sunshine and yet corona means they cant those who are here are doing the exercise theyre allowed to do that many of the shops around here are shut down even the most iconic hotel in berlin and very low occupancy at the ad lot right now all because of corona which is why the staff inside have taken to baking easter themed cakes to provide to the homeless of the city but such gestures alone cannot bring anything. The temporary spite in a pandemic that shows no sign of stopping dominant came out 0. What on yemen has confirmed its 1st coronavirus case the United Nations says an outbreak would be catastrophic prompting fears it would collapse a poor Health Care System a 12 hour curfew is now in place in the region where the case was confirmed or burden man reports. The streets deserted a 12 hour curfew imposed its a moment many feared yemen star support a case of coffee 19 in the southeast import city of us shall have the army medical officials and how to put region have tweeted that the person is in a stable condition in Hospital Health care workers know how dangerous the virus is in a country where half of all facilities have been destroyed by 5 years of war for the north in the city of thank you doctor the perry moods to isolate anyone who shows signs of the illness damage to their market as a bad decision i say when i am an Isolation Center was opened at say un General Hospital as a precaution against the virus and for any sudden cases the center has full rooms it also has 10 beds but the number can be increased to a care unit has an artificial breathing machine and other intensive care equipment. The World Health Organization says its assessing who may have been exposed to the virus. And the charity save the children says there are 700 intensive care unit beds including 65 children and 520 latest for a population of about 30000000 people confirmation of the virus came at the start of a to rekey law to cease fire by the saudi u. A. Led coalition it says the poison is to help stop the spread of the corona virus. Both sides of accuse one another of violating the cease fire. But a spokesman told had to say or they consider the cease fire announcement a media and political stunt i wanted comprehensive deal. But we were very clear before the krona pandemic we wanted the world to stop completely and the siege to be fully lifted the siege makes human too weak to fight the pandemic we didnt say that the ceasefire is rejected but we expressed doubts about the intentions of the saudis who have proved that they havent committed themselves to date unilaterally announced truce. Analysts believe the saudis and the emirate isnt looking for a face saving way out war they cant win the pause in fighting in yemen started as the United NationsSecurity Council held an emergency closed door meeting by Video Conference un secretary general and tony could terrorists says he wants to work towards a cease fire in all conflicts during the pandemic many fear in a country where millions face famine and lack access to clean water its impossible to follow simple rules to prevent the spread of the infection youre about to money out is there are. Scientists in the u. S. Have begun testing an anti malarial drug as a potential treatment for coronavirus patients president john has backed the use of hydroxy chloroquine despite Health Warnings about its side effects how effective it is in curing covered 19 has yet to be proven elizondo has this report. Its being touted as the miracle drug to cure people infected with grown a virus doctors who have tried it on coated patients are saying hydroxy clora keane has shown it potentially as a preventative drug blocking coronavirus and where its already infected a patient it could suppress it doctors who supported use are also relying on some studies that show similar there are some small clinical studies that have come out the one in french france in particular very small not the kind of study that would ever be viewed as a nothing evidence to cause the drug to be labeled for kovan 1000. 00 therapy but it did suggest there are puting benefit hydroxy clear okene has been around for over 70 years and is approved by the food and Drug Administration for f. D. A. To treat malaria lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis through an emergency authorization the f. D. A. Approved the use of hydroxy clerk in on whats called an off label basis meaning that doctors can prescribe it to covert patients with the understanding that the f. D. A. Will not even guarantee if itll work and also cant say if there will be negative side effects most doctors say its far too early to know what the true results are many doctors are skeptical we still need a lot more study studies to be times actually see the it is actually so right now its too early to tell that yes we have something that is working as you know you know actually eating very well do you support the use of doctors trying this on copd patients or do you think from your standpoint it should all wait until theres its been fully vetted i dont want people to have their hopes up that this is the Gold Standard you know resound that the syllable if you will thats not the case its also unclear how the drug might react. People with other conditions in a perfect storm im fragile my potassium is low mine magnesium is low i happen to be on another medicine thats cutie agitating and now i add hydroxy coracle into the mix that could be an explosive combination but until a proven corona virus vaccine is found doctors will search for what ever my work was on do. We how can you jersey efforts to eradicate a bowler in the democratic republic of congo have suffered a setback the 1st person to contract the disease in more than 50 days has died his death comes just 3 days before the country was to declare the outbreak over chads president says his countrys troops will no longer take part in military operations outside National Borders when as one comes as the army ended a major offensive against boko haram which left more than 50 soldiers dead Nicholas Hock has more from neighboring senegal. The announcement was made on National Television the president of chad and then seeing that no charge in troops will be deployed outside of chad and this comes just after the president led on the ground an offensive against books in the lake chad area days ago he announced that he was frustrated with his counterpart the nigerian president. And the nigerians troup inability to tackle boko haram in the region china is the 2nd largest contributor troops in the Un Peacekeeping stabilizing force in mali where armed groups such as alqaeda affiliates. And islam extend in the greater sahara are stepping up their operation and so the country in the sahara region is at a Tipping Point france is struggling it has launched several aerial operation 83. 00 in the last week to try to stem the violence but the announcement that chad is pulling out its troops doesnt bode well for the for the region and there is fear that there could be more violence as charge in troops return home. William lawrence is a senior professor of middle lecturer with American University school of International Service is joining us live from washington d. C. On skype thank you very much indeed for your time sir given the fact that as i understand it the recent offensive by the chaldean troops managed to i think kill about a 1000 books fighters why do you think the chaldean president has made this announcement at this time. Well there are many factors at play certainly the morale of the chatting troops quite low theres a number of domestic issues including a prison riot related to cope that 19 and certainly districts are stretched thin and there were about 6000 troops chanting troops around the late 700 to be diverted from mali back to late chad and there was this large defeat about 2 weeks ago where chad had its largest troop loss in one day ever about 100. 00 troops and that and thats why this operation went forward but its a cheap redeployment back towards that chad sovereign territory to try to guess move in more of a defense mode and often slow to get counterterrorist troops and he attentions to a number of domestic issues were just heard from nicholas hack there saying that one of the considerations was that the president or at least chad itself the chad got to them in government was. Fed up with the fact that it appeared to be bearing the brunt of the responsibility for the fight against particularly boko haram compared to some of its neighboring countries do you think theres an element of trying to get some sort of leverage against those neighboring countries to get to do more and this fight. Yes that is a fact and thats how he feels although he did announce les argus that he would deploy back at some point regardless of what the other countries were doing and yesterday or the day before there was a joint statement by a chat in the nigerian minister that things would go forward as previously planned and so this reversal today isnt really like a logical next step in terms of what they were doing its in the climate backwards its a bit of a retreat and certainly you dont you dont gain leverage by retreating you gain leverage by doing more but certainly there will be. Serious negotiations between all of the 7 or 8 countries involved in countering the 3 terrorist organizations in the area to figure out who will do what because the terrorists dont care about borders and they crisscross across them easily the french are bombing in the area theres americans there it is so theres a lot of the adverts that will be ongoing wherever chad puts their troops but certainly the coordination will have to improve and also if i may add this sort of pulls the legs out from under the infrastructure of all these international of multinational operations that are going to disobey question Going Forward about who will be doing what if the shatt if the chattering army which was the 2nd largest player in all of these 3 zones of conflict calls on its troops out how big a risk do you think is there that this is going to create some sort of vacuum and broken heart is going to have a resurgence as a result of this. 100 percent yes now pull out which is actually 2 factions now under the Islamic State under different acronyms they had to dish in in 2016 in a coup or knaves but they dont really Work Together and some commanders from the larger group down and then i met yuri area had moved towards the group that was fighting. Chat but there will be serious opportunity now that you start to meet groups reaching next maybe put the 2 groups back together because they have the upper hand now and that certainly people very badly for a region in distress the. 19 leaders of Climate Change and poverty. Certainly this is exactly what a number of internationalization are predicting that we may have a worsening of conflicts all around the world because of current endemic stress and each country turning inward to its own problems good to get your thoughts on this William Lawrence d we appreciate your time thank you very much. The worlds top all producing nations have agreed on the need to stabilize the price of oil which is being hit by the coronavirus Pandemic Energy ministers of the worlds 20. 00 largest economies discuss the deal by a Video Conference that follows thursdays agreement by the oil cartel opec and its allies to cut Global Production by 10 percent but the pact was stalled after mexico failed to agree to its share of cuts President Donald Trump has since said the u. S. Will further reduce its output to help mexico jeff colons a professor of Political Science at Brown University and author of petro aggression when Oil Causes War he says its unrealistic to believe the opec deal will stabilize the oil markets over night. Oil markets have actually fallen on news of the deal as opposed to rising as opec plus had hoped that it would happen they were looking for a boost of up to 15. 00 a barrel and in fact prices are going into reverse and thats striking because i think theres really 2 things that are happening because of whats happening here one is that while the deal does contain some substantive cuts most of whats being announced are socalled market cuts meaning that these are the kinds of things that were going to happen deal or no deal these are decisions made by individual producers reacting to the change in Market Conditions that are you know ramping down because of Lower Oil Prices so in some sense that this is more hype than real substance and the 2nd thing that matters for the prices is the fact that there is a can persistent overhang in supply so the expected shortfall in demand over the next 2 months is Something Like 25. 00 to 30000000. 00 barrels a day and this deal is 10. 00 to 15000000. 00 barrels a day so it only goes part of the way to addressing that massive demand shock work and continuing to see oversupply and thats going to drive prices likely downwards as inventory continue to build it is significant in the sense that saudi arabia and a few of the gulf monarchies are changing their strategy to certain degree but much of whats happening here as i said is market cut this is going to happen anyway especially in the United States. Good friday service has been held in paris Notre Dame Cathedral nearly a year after it was devastated by a fire in the french capital under lockdown only a handful of people attended the ceremony that tasha botha reports. The sound of a finding echoed around not too damn the musician dressed in protective clothing because the cathedral is in the least safe after the fire ravaged it a year ago. The archbishop of paris led a good friday ceremony meeting at an ancient representation of a crown of thorns that had been rescued by firefighters with frogs in lockdown because of the Coronavirus Crisis only 7 people were allowed to attend also moments. In the sun usual time we ask you god for all those who are victims of this terrible illness those who are grieving those who have dedicated themselves to hope love each other. The ceremony offered an opportunity for a rare glimpse inside not a dam since renovation work began last year the fire destroyed its roof spire and some of its intricate stained glass windows the site of the medieval and got explained to inflames shocked people around the world nearly 1000000000. 00 in donations has so far been pledged to restore the cathedral but under the french governments coronavirus restrictions rebuilding work has been halted. d the construction site was closed and definitely at the beginning of the confinement like most of the construction sites in the country public authorities made this wise decision churches and other places of worship remain open during the lockdown but the french government has Bound Services and religious gatherings an exception was made for the ceremony not. The far not a dam was a moment of National Crisis the brought people together one year on and another crisis is creating a sense of national solidarity. The catholics in france this easter is clearly unusual obliged to stay indoors because the coronavirus there are unable to attend church will travel to spend time with family and friends for many the ceremony not the dam will be a symbol of hope revival and a moment of contemplation in such difficult times. To say or france. This is all just sit with these at the top stories the World Health Organization has one governments against premier cheerily rolling back restrictions aimed at containing the pandemic it says that while the rate of infection has been slowing in some countries others are seeing on the larning surge u. S. President donald trump is optimistic of the situation in his country and his Daily Briefing on friday he said the number of infections is slowing down suggesting the country is getting closer to the peak. Were seeing hospital admissions declining very substantially as i said a nationwide the number of new cases per day is flattening substantially suggesting that were near the peak and our comprehensive strategy is working overtime or guidelines to slow the spread or decreasing the rate of new cases very substantially and will result in fewer hospital admissions and were seeing that its. Incredible i think with with no exceptions its looking like its slow. Yemen has announced its 1st recorded case of coronaviruses in the city of all shot in the Eastern Region of odd harm all efforts to eradicate a bowler in the. In the democratic republic of congo have suffered a setback the 1st person to contract the disease and more to 50 days has died now its witness. Steve clemons on the bottom line for your weekly take on us politics and society im changing but the institutions frequently dont the system itself is set up to benefit those who understand that you have people who actually believe things that are not true that is a crisis for democracy is a crisis of concentration the bottom line is iraq