A some restrictions to keep the economy moving. And resistance to lebanons Financial Rescue plan as the government turns to the International Monetary fund for help. Hello thanks for joining us an experimental antiviral drug has been authorized by the u. S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency use in treating coronavirus patients 1500000 vials of the drug death of a year will be distributed to hospitals from monday the f. D. A. Gave its approval after a government sponsored study showed the drug shortened patients Recovery Time by about 31 percent. When the president brought the pharmaceutical companies here to the white house you were among them he said we wanted you to move quickly on developing a vaccine but he said develop therapeutics as quickly as you can we were told d that it was possible that by the spring we would have therapeutics and standing here on may the 1st the very 1st therapeutic with the emergency use authorization the good work of f. D. A. Is now available and but donating 1500000 doses our task force will be working very closely with billy had to make sure that those medicines starting on monday are distributed to hospitals where patients are struggling in serious conditions with the coronavirus today lets bring in our White House CorrespondentKelly Hockett and the president kimberly has been a vocal supporter from death of fear as a possible way to bring the coronavirus pandemic under some sort of control. Yeah even when initially it had not yet been proven to have any sort of effectiveness and this is where the president got into a little bit of trouble and was the subject of quite a bit of controversy given the fact that he has no Public Health background but was giving essentially medical advice now all this has caught up to the president s recommendations in essence what were saying here and what the Coronavirus Task force has been saying is that there has been sort of an emergency authorization that has been granted by the food and Drug Administration in order to allow this to be used death of a year in the most severe of cases in other words when the benefits outweigh the risk for the most sick patients with cove it 19 that if it hospitalized potentially using oxygen or even on a ventilator rino that often people do not recover so its important to note that this is not f. D. A. Approval or food and Drug Administration approval that requires a very detailed review this is instead an emergency authorization one that the president was eager to put forward and we should point out that what this does this is not a cure what this does a shorten the Recovery Time what it does is it essentially blocks something that the virus needs in cells in order to thrive and survive so this is essentially an advancement in treatment but in no way is this any way closer to a vaccine that is still by some projections in the early projections it could be at least a year or longer before that is developed so this is sort of a breakthrough when it comes to treatment but again the cautionary message is that this is certainly not a cure ok it can really thank you very much for that update from the White House Well the World Health Organization says its confident the coronavirus is natural in origin so that comes after speculation including from the u. S. President that it was created in a law. We listened again and again and scientists who looked at the sequences looked at this one of us and we were assured this virus is natural in origin what is important is that we establish what that natural host for this why this is. And and the primary purpose of doing that is to ensure that we understand the virus more we understand the animal human. Interface and we understand and of the human species barrier was breached the purpose of understanding that is that we can put in place the necessary prevention and Public Health measures to prevent that happening again anywhere of self korea and india have stopped using chinese made rapid coronavirus test kits after they were found to be faulty scientists in south korea say hundreds of people who had recovered were found to be positive for the disease when they were retested they blame shortcomings in the test itself and said the patients were not reinfected india had bought half a 1000000 kids from china before also discovering in accuracies china has defended the products lets bring in chris smith hes joining us from cambridge hes a consultant virologist hes also the editor of the naked scientists podcast thanks very much for your time well get on to the issue of the chinese faulty test kits according to india in a moment but 1st let me ask you about the developing story ram deaths of we are now being approved for emergency use in treating corona various patients over in the u. S. What do you know about this drug and how it will actually work. This is an antiviral drug it was developed during the a boner period about 5 or 6 years ago and unfortunately for gilliatt who invented it it didnt work very well against a boa but what does look more promising is its action against this new coronavirus the way it works is that the drug molecule looks like one of the Building Blocks of the Genetic Information of the virus so when you take the drug it goes into the cells and gets activated in the cell and then when the virus is trying to grow in one of your cells it mistakes this drug molecule for one of the normal genetic letters that it would be inserting into its genome that its copying to make new baby viruses and when the drug molecule goes into the d. N. A. Or r. N. A. Of a growing virus it distorts it and disrupts it and stops it growing so as a result you end up with a virus with a broken genome and so its a bit like a computer with the operating system corrupted it wont boot up so the viruses you make are completely defunct and when given 2 cells in a dish which are infected with the virus it slows down the growth of the virus when given to patients with the virus it makes them recover a bit quicker and it also slightly improves the mortality rate when you give it to people who are severely on whether by slightly i mean in people who were not given the drug the mortality rates about 11 percent and in people who werent given the drug it was about 8 percent heres the thing chris smith i mean there was some concern by some people over in the u. S. That this was a drug that was totaled by the president himself and now in the absence of other treatments when it comes to the coronavirus and the promising data or that weve seen from this study with deaths of year this drug may be fast tracked in a way do you share that concern. Well all drugs have side effects and all drugs need to be tested carefully before the used on people and used on people at scale but its impossible to flush out all of the side effects without trying these things 1st and were in a situation here where extreme measures are needed because were in an extreme circumstance and sometimes its actually more effective and safer in the long run to try these things and try them where youve got little to lose and make the important measurements you need to make to find out whether or not you can save more lives or not so in this instance i think given that this already has a track record of having been tested well be it for a different virus or not i think actually a lot of the bad side effects are already defined or the safety profile is pretty well understood so i dont think that this is in any way incautious is its an experiment worth doing all right and while i have you with us let me ask you about the report we were mentioning a moment ago about china south korea and india accusing china having faulty rapid test kits what do you know about this i mean china is defending itself but is it clear to you have these rapid test kits are actually faulty or is it down to some sort of human error. The problem is that this is a brand new kid on the biological block weve not known about this virus for anything more than about 5 or 6 months and as a result we havent had time to do what would normally take years the viruses that are common human pathogens that we have to develop good quality tests for those tests have been optimized developed tested road tested retested improved over many many years here were trying to do this in a real hurry and as a result we have got all the wrinkles out yet one other wrinkle with coronaviruses is that this new coronavirus is one of a family and the other 4 commonly circulating coronaviruses affect humans but if youve already been infected with some of them its possible that when you take this test it may confuse the new one with some of the ones youve seen before so its not straightforward to just knock out a test that would discriminate accurately in favor of this new coronavirus thats the ideal thats what we want but it takes time to get there and people are in a rush to do this and sometimes when you rush you make mistakes all right chris smith we thank you very much for speaking to us from cambridge and. Coming up here from the aljazeera news hour 5 weeks after coronavirus restrictions were imposed the South African slowly began to emerge from lock down. And the u. S. Democratic president ial hopeful joe biden denies allegations of Sexual Assaults made by a former senator. But 1st canada is banning assault style weapons after the countrys deadliest mass shooting 2 weeks ago the ban comes into immediate effect but there will be a 2 year amnesty for people to dispose of weapons they already own while the government also plans to introduce a Buyback Program last month 22 people were killed in nova scotia when a man dressed as a policeman went on a shooting spree. These weapons were designed for one purpose and one purpose only to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time there is no use and no place for such weapons in canada lets bring in daniel like joining us from toronto what more did the Prime Minister have to say and what more are we learning about this legislation daniel. Well this obviously as you said comes in the wake of the shootings in nova scotia 2 weeks ago but frankly this government Justin Trudeau government has been promising action on gun control now for 5 years since it was 1st elected 5 years ago its now in its 2nd term so theres been pressure on them to come up with Something Like this and clearly the horror of the worst mass shooting in the countrys history really sort of motivated them to get moving on this its an extremely detailed piece of legislation doesnt have to be passed by parliament its got some legal virtue that allows it to be passed just by the cabinet for now but its Something Like 69 pages long this single law and most of that thats a list of various types of assault weapons that are going to be banned some 1500 of them and i have to say that most of those seem to be variations on the a ar 15 thats very familiar to people whove seen Mass Shootings in the United States but also here in canada such a weapon was used in 2017 by the quebec city mosque a gunman who killed 6 people using such a weapon there immediately illegal theyre now completely illegal these weapons but the 10s of thousands of people who do own them and there may be in excess of 100000 who have them legally here in canada they have 2 years to get rid of them to dispose of them safely and legally they cant sell them in the country if they can make legal export arrangements they can sell them or the government saying they may bring in a buyback plan so thats all taking effect immediately now what gun control advocates are saying is that this is a welcome step but they want to see action on handguns those are largely restricted in canada but most gun crime here is committed by people using illegal handguns that are smuggled across the border the very long border from the United States there are no measures that are taking effect here that are going to affect that there will be probably some talk of a handgun ban in individual cities well see if that takes effect as for gun control or gun rights people and we have some not quite as vocal as in the United States they say this is a politically expedient move that really doesnt address the underlying issue that there are too many illegal handguns in the country so moving forward canada now has no assault rifles legal within its borders thank you. Lebanon has officially signed a request for assistance from the International Monetary fund to help fix the countrys crippling financial problems the government says its one measure to save the country from bankruptcy but that hasnt stopped taking to the streets again it was with the crowds in beirut. Keeping the hope for change alive lebanese return to the central beirut square where calls for a new leadership rang out 6 months ago theyre back in the streets after a lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus was weeks of closures heard an already collapsing economy there is uncertainty about the future as unemployment rises. Im 33 years old i have been graduated from University Like 10 years ago. A person like me should be in a senior position like away so its because of the overall economy situation which was caused by the subsequent governments cabinet has already defaulted on its debt for the 1st time in history we. Called for the world bank and you must give us loans to put us even larger public privatizing the whole. State and i dont think that can help 6 prices of basic goods have increased by more than 50 percent while the local currency the leader has depreciated by at least 60 percent peoples incomes and savings have lost value. But the situation. I guess the burden on the business because when the inflation im buying their own restaurant now its a bit difficult. The price. And the people are still paid the same in the lebanese lira 30 percent of registered companies have closed and the Labor Ministry says 20 percent have reduced employee salaries by half the fatness but what about the dismissal of workers and the closure of organizations. Have been the biggest concerns the ministry has put forward a plan to solve huge unemployment and to protect the rights of workers but that will need money and the government has been unable to provide for the most basic needs as the state nears bankruptcy the some people fear the country is sliding into chaos the middle class is becoming a work government figures show up to 75 percent of a nation of 5000000 people need help while 45 percent live below the poverty line. Human rights watch is warning more than half of lebanons people are at the risk of going hungry the government may be promising better days ahead but admits the road will not be easy so who their beirut. Is extending whats been the Worlds Largest coronavirus lock down by 2 more weeks but restrictions in some low risk areas will be eased from monday with piron im has the latest from new delhi. In the last nearly 6 weeks of the lockdown in india the government has divided the country into green orange and red zones depending on the number of cases and the stage of transmission and its announced that while the National Lockdown will continue for another 2 weeks that they will be a considerable easing of restrictions mostly in green and orange zones so watch as of may the 4th all goods are allowed to be transported there will be buses in green zones but with 50 percent seizing capacity taxis are allowed to green and orange zones but with only one passenger things like all construction and industrial activity is allowed even in red zones in rural areas now over the last 10 days we have seen easing of restrictions in a number of sectors most notably agriculture indias biggest employer and all the businesses which supported and all standalone shops even those selling non essential items have been open for about the last week so one of the restrictions that remain in place while there is still no air rail travel hospitality Restaurants Hotels remain shot into state movements no movement between states and things like cinema halls you know malls sports complexes for main shot and they will be no political social or cultural gatherings. The number of deaths in the u. K. From coronavirus has risen to just over 27 and a half 1000 but elsewhere spain appears to be showing signs of recovery and soon baba has a latest on the virus and youre. Throwing things are going in the right direction in spain Health Workers celebrating the closure of a huge Field Hospital installed at the end of march in madrid largest Conference Center but although covered 19 infections are holding these facilities will remain in place in case theres a new outbreak in the 110th of them all and i feel happy because we have won the 1st battle of this great virus lets hope it was the war but if not we will return here with more strength than before to continue fighting spains had one of the toughest lock downs but from this weekend people will be allowed to leave home for exercise on their own of course the crisis is having a huge financial effect here to the government now says it expects the economy to shrink by 9. 2 percent this year the only places in europe with higher official death tolls than spain or italy and here in britain following fierce criticism over the relatively low covered 19 testing levels the British Government has been increasing its capacity it wants to put in place a network to test track and trace people with the virus as it looks to ease lock down restrictions and its announced its a past its target of 100000 tests a day for the end of april testing is crucial to suppress the virus i know from personal experience to just how much people with symptoms want to know if theyve got t