Corona jihad. Hello im christine want to welcome to the program cities across china may be lifting their lockdowns but the damage to the economy caused by the current virus is only now becoming clear output fell by almost 7 percent in the 1st 3 months of this year the 1st time in 3 days as factories shops and transport closed down. Chinas economy has virtually come to a screeching halt. Car sales at 1st dropped and then plummeted down 21. 6 percent in january then down 92 percent in february according to the China Association of automobile manufacturers. Their Industrial Production also contracted dropping 13. 5 percent in february year on year. The chinese are once again venturing outdoors many workers have returned to the factory and businesses have reopened but it will take time for Global Supply chains to recover especially since other large industrialized nations are still in lockdown and theres little demand for goods and supply parts from china. The impact will be felt everywhere given that chinas share of the global g. D. P. Is almost 1000 percent more than double what it was during the sars epidemic of 2002003. Its still too soon to make reliable forecasts but the International Monetary fund anticipates that this year will see the worst global recession since the Great Depression of the 1930 s. With the recovery only starting and 2021 and only if dependent make is under control by then ok for more on the Economic Impact all of us in china im joined by catherine she is the director of Fidelity International in hong kong hello to you catherine so we have a number 6. 8 percent contraction in chinese 1st 4 to growth is that in line with what you were expecting. Well it was very much in line with what the market was expecting and considering china was in full lockdown during this 1st quarter again not too much of a surprise but we are seeing from a sector perspective for example manufacturing up 8090 even 100 percent utilization rates some of the services in consumer 6 is a bit more difficult to call but we are expecting to see this pent up demand coming through at some stage especially for certain segments. I mean im not one for 14 days and pencil but that adage doesnt really ring true right if chinas sneezes the rest of the world will catch a cold and this may be more literal in the current times but what does this mean for the rest of the Global Economy that chinas economy looks the way it does right now. Well again we should be too surprised at the data we have seen china go through for example that full lock down phase the consolidation phase and now the recovery phase so there is some hope in terms of the trend globally that china is back to work in this recovery is underway now whilst we are seeing some strength in the domestic chinese economy itself in demand we are a little bit cautious in terms of some of the corporates in china who are really not factoring in just how meaningful Global Demand will be in terms of the weakness and on the slower side so just monitoring that very carefully. I mean guys are sort of pushing their on that i mean just in general in terms of you know supply chains for example how long are things expected to take to get back to normal terms of the chinese recovery and what can people around the world expect. Well very interesting lou we had our trade data earlier this week and it really surprised the market on the upside both in terms of imports as well as exports now when we look at the Global Supply chains dont forget that weve had the trade issue between the chinese and the americans for the past couple of years so thats also way down in terms of concerns about global trade so with this Current Situation and the virus what we really do need to see is not down to the restrictions being lifted globally so you do get a sense of Economic Activity but in terms of what were kind of recovery were having a lot of commentators are speculating it is probably going to be a known traditional recovery even in china is the government doing enough. Again a really interesting point because when you look at what the p. B. S. See is done especially relative to other Central Banks it doesnt look like too much some tweaking in terms of support of measures both monetary wise as well as physically speaking so we do expect to see more coming through so its specially relating to 7 segments such as consumption so whether its the auto sector or trying to underpin certain geographical parts of china for example through issuing shopping coupons from a infrastructure perspective tends to be a buffer for the Chinese Government to support growth we are indeed seeing born financing where infrastructure is picking up right thats katharine you know the delicacy internationally in hong kong thank you for that. Now the chinese city of. Corona virus 1st broke out has raised its death toll by 50 percent local Authorities Say 1290. 00 more people died that initially reported the revision brings the total number of deaths in the city to almost 4000. 00 that would be the highest in china for it hes blamed misreporting and overwhelmed hospitals will be increased but they are all growing concerns that china has covered up the true extent of the south brain. Joining me now is correspondent who is in beijing hello fabienne so how did this revision of the coronavirus stand tall in washington come about but what the government is saying basically that the numbers werent wrong and at the beginning there was a lot of. It was a chaotic time and many of the people who are deceased actually they were not they were just stood. There so they were not tested for the virus and know that you want it and then you numbers and secondly many of the privates help to mix in private hospitals theyre also not forward their numbers to this 10 foot situation so basically theyve corrected that you numbers and thats not surprising we john lists we know of personally of many cases where people in the bay in the province also in the city or on have obviously been showing symptoms of the virus but have not been tested so they didnt want to include it in the statistics. If i did and as i said leading into this conversation there has been sort of mounting criticism of the chinese handling of the corona Virus Outbreak and were certainly hearing that from wisdom quarters to. Yeah i mean for example of President Trump and his government there in directly supporting the theory that basically states that the virus might have originated in the eye only in holland and we know that such a bio left exists in the Washington Post also reported that the scientists who were in fact researching about the corona virus there. And that the security the Safety Standards were pretty lax etc but actually many scientists have refused that theory and just think its highly unlikely but yet the Chinese Government is very very. React very strongly to both those theories because. For example any any scientist in china who is doing research about the root origin of the virus and east of the ruble from the government stuff before you know she cant publish it and also if the level of suppression to our correspondents is increasing and also far you have a basically that the state media to this no open discussion about where the virus originated and also about the wrongdoings of the government we know that in the 1st weeks in general. The Health Commission already wanted the virus is one of the most severe challenges in sars but only one week later the government has actually acknowledged that there was human to human transmission ok thats been question reporting in beijing and here. Now heres a quick roundup of device developments around the world frances president emanuel has questioned chinas handling of the current Virus Outbreak speaking to the Financial Times say that things happened in china that we quote dont know about close quote denmark will allow Small Businesses such as he addresses and beauty salons to reopen on monday the country was one of europes 1st to shutdown but is now gradually easing its lock down and the german state of bavaria ses in munichs annual october face thats that if instable is unlikely to go ahead this year. Now u. S. President donald trump say is healthy americans will be able to get back to work as soon as local conditions and has a plan for a phased return to normal daily life in the United States he says that we open it will be done one careful step at a time now the plan is a set of recommendations for state govern is not all this its a backing down by his insistence on monday that he had total 42. 00 direct states west. These are just some of the 22000000 americans signing up for Unemployment Benefits only a few weeks ago the u. S. Could boast record employment numbers the booming economy was President Trump signature achievement but the coronavirus wiped out 3 years of gains in a matter of weeks now trump says its time to start gradually opening up the economy again or approach outlines 3 phases in restoring Economic Life we are not opening all at once but one careful step at a time and some states will be able to open up sooner than others to lock down would remain in places like new york the epicenter of the pandemic theyre all stories of ordered shops businesses and schools to remain closed for another month but other areas with declining infections and strong testing could ease restrictions at the end goal a return to the way things were this is not going to be a new normal where somebody has been having for 25 years 158 seats at a restaurant and now hes got 30 or hes got 60 because that wouldnt work thats not normal normal will be have he has the 158 or 68 seats and thats going to happen and its going to happen relatively quickly we hope but with food banks reporting skyrocketing demand its increasingly ordinary americans who are struggling to put food on the table as the coronavirus look down takes its toll. Now mr trumps plan to gradually reopen the u. S. Economy can only be implemented if infection rates stabilize but to get accurate numbers the u. S. Needs to do far more testing as News Washington correspondent alexander for naaman explains both from said today that the curve has been flattened that peak is behind us but the problem is that experts agree that the u. S. Is still not testing enough there are not enough testing kids we learned today that 3 point 5000000. 00 tests were completed but its just about one percent of the population and to understand the whole scope of their pandemic in the us its really important to have this why it spread testing this is crucial for reopening the reopening of the economy and thats still not the case in the us according to experts now indias 1300000000 people are halfway through a 6 Week National lockdown the government insists that the restrictions are the key to breaking the chain of transmission but the battle against the virus also has a religious. Correspondent in the should fall has travelled to the Northern City of mayor to find out why muslims are being blamed for what some locals are calling corona cheap. Knock down businesses closed or restricted movement. But these men are fuming about Something Else abdul rashid a shopkeeper in the Northern City of media says islamophobia in india is that all time high. Clearly blames the indian media i dont know yet karuna has arrived this is what they say when they see muslims. Mari shouting at us saying here comes corona is this a way to behave so if there is a limit to our patience the discrimination started after an event by the jamaat and islamic sect was recognized as a coronavirus hotspot many who attended the gathering in delhi became called 19 carriers across India SeveralMedia Channels were quick to claim that this was a deliberate attempt to undermine india some even alleging corona jihad. These allegations have also had a severe Economic Impact. Moment if the us would normally travel to different neighborhoods hawking has with some of these were predominantly hindu. Now people refused to let him in so when everyone is turning so away the residents say dont sell food here go back to your own neighborhood. Police are stopping us to beating us down. These muslim vendors can now only sell goods in their own majority muslim neighborhood business has dried up elsewhere and mirrored rumors are circulating about malicious intent. Locals who are fighting the ports of multiple incidences of muslims entering neighborhoods and putting in them to spend the corner wireless residents here are standing guard and barricading gates to prevent this from happening. Even leaders from the ruling b. G. P. Have claimed that members of the sect have deliberately spread the virus. India should have been free of coronavirus by now but these german members this collective like suicide bombers or these suicide bombers them should face the strictest possible legal action and they should be punished in a way that generations to follow starting with will be too afraid to commit such crimes. The allegations the sect has spread the virus on papas are still unfounded but fewer and across communities. For these men their religion has become an added burden during the long lockdown. And im now joined by an independent columnist based in daily habits here does the religious discrimination some indians in the Muslim Community off facing surprise you. Not at all its discrimination against the Muslim Community in india has been the hallmark of this government since it came to power in 14 and was reelected in 2019. And i think one of the things of this process that this Health Crisis has reviewed is that this government is both authoritarian and unprepared and even in the middle of this crisis it cannot prevent it so from being from communalism the situation with the good losing of large sections of the press and the police and unfortunately it has managed to polarize bastard sections of society and has the has a great amount of social supports in its discrimination towards me as he. Has the government done anything anything at all to dispel some of the room isnt the fakirs that have been spurring the islamophobia in the country. Well the Prime Minister has asked that everybody support each other but unfortunately instead of dispelling a lot of the big news. The. Members of Parliament Even as well as the shipping members have been spearheading some of that and. For example there was a. Member of parliament who has called article 14 which. Which guarantees equality before the law you says its actually should be an equality or equal and that muslims are not in the category of equals the b. G. Being members have called muslims good or not terrorists called it a valley by any crime you call them human forms they have a sort of sort of vendors of vegetables and fruits they have encouraged people not to. Not to fraternize with was slims its a sort of. 360 degree discrimination operation from the government so not much has been done to dispensing. The right thats independent columnist the tally sat. In the daily talking to us thank you. And now for some of the stories making news around the world new York Governor Andrew Cuomo says hes extending the states lockdown until may 15th nonessential workers will be required to stay home and social distancing rules will stay in place more than 12000 people have died from cold at 19 in the state. European cars sales fell by 55 percent last month due to coronavirus lock down measures the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said all 27. 00 e. U. Markets experienced dramatic contractions but no way worse than italy when you call registrations collapse by a massive 85 percent. And millions of jobs in the Global Tourism industry could be lost to to the 1000. 00 pandemic according to a new report by the uns world to resume organization it says that 96 percent of all world wide basis nations have opposed travel restrictions and its called upon governments to lift them as soon as its safe to do so. Now one tourist attraction that would welcome a lifting off restrictions is the intent citizens of much of picchu in southern peru it dates back 600 years and is a huge draw for visitors from all over the world but for the last month things have been quiet as tourism has dried up because of the coronavirus for a country whose economy relies on Foreign Exchange times are tough for pereira. The ancient town macho picchu is one of the 7 modern wonders of the world last year 1500000 tourists came to visit it now except for some lamas its deserted not only there but also proves capital lima is oddly empty due to the act of tourists many restaurants are suffering since the government imposed a partial lockdown a month ago. 5700 hotels in lima are completely empty right now they turned them into stream and all of the workers depending on visitors do not expect relief any time soon. More and i think its going to take much longer than a year for the Tourism Industry to recover much more than a year because things that want to be in the same i said let me small. Turns them experts estimate in 2020 only a quarter of the normal amount of tourists will visit her and that the sector will lose around 4000000000. 00. Some