How coronavirus is changing the world | DW Documentary

a new strain of virus has brought the world to its knees the virus they're working hard looks like by april it miraculously goes away hope that's true some countries are managing to protect the public others are failing [Music] we're at war this is serious take it seriously in a race against this deadly disease political systems compete to prove their superiority will win china will win sometimes we need to act even when we don't have 100 certainty is it so hard the pandemic has thrown political accountability and personal tragedy into sharp relief covid19 patient day one this 62 year old woman is running a fever and having trouble breathing textbook symptoms of pneumonia she will spend the next 39 days fighting for her life we don't film her every day some scenes are reconstructions based on her medical records how does this virus affect our bodies and where did it come from wuhan in central china has a population of over 11 million this is where the virus was first identified but has this word originated china's critics will later claim that the tsar's cov2 strain was created in a lab in wuhan according to another theory it jumped from wild animals to humans at a wet market in wuhan whatever the origin by december 2019 the city's hospitals were struggling to contain an outbreak of unknown ideology in late december we received a signal that there were a cluster of unexplained pneumonia in huhan and china we had no diagnosis it could have been flu and so we activated our networks to verify the event in the early days we all thought this is something that was local was linked to a single source and like most single source outbreaks and will come to an end but yeah that might not be the case one of the first doctors to sound the alarm was li wen yang on december 30th he warned his colleagues in local hospitals via a private chat group one hour later one member wrote lee replied lee's worst fears were confirmed when wuhan authorities moved to silence him he was interrogated by the police forced to sign a letter of reprimand and to promise to stop spreading rumors time was running out liu peyen and his family and wuhan were unaware of the extent of the danger posed by the new virus in early january he took his father to his annual medical checkup at this point the news the online media and video sites were all reporting that there was no human to human transmission and that the outbreak was under control and its spread could be avoided today he believes his father contracted the virus during that routine checkup on january the 15th he came down with a fever but across china it was still business as usual preparations for the lunar new year celebrations were underway millions of people were traveling across the country to visit family meanwhile liu pei yen's father was fighting for his life he was transferred to a hospital where covid19 patients were being isolated coming here triggers hellish memories my he's saying goodbye to my mother via video chat he's convinced that his father's death could have been avoided had the wuhan authorities warned of the virus sooner while the spread of kovit 19 gathered pace in wuhan the rest of the world germany included was focused on other issues only a handful of scientists understood the gravity of the situation at the biotech company kirvak in tubingen researchers were anxiously awaiting the first novel coronavirus genome sequence the talks began after the christmas break we agreed to start as soon as the sequence was made available it couldn't hurt even if we changed our minds later we decided to start the same day and not waste any time the high stakes international race to develop a vaccine against the new virus was on researchers in berlin were also getting to work one of the first diagnostic tests for kovid 19 was developed at berlin's charity hospital before long it was apparent that scientists worst fears were being realized [Music] again foreign province some 60 million people faced a travel ban and were soon effectively under house arrest the liu family was completely unprepared for the lockdown at first they had no idea how to even get their groceries but then the state intervened and appointed managers for each housing compound to help out residents we had a wechat group where people could post if they needed something was making a huge effort neighborhood committees were set up to supervise entry and exit points and make sure residents had regular food supplies and china is a surveillance state we knew that before because the state is able to use existing surveillance infrastructure to efficiently impose strict local lockdowns on shut down the one-party state was effective but it also made sure any descent was quashed covid19 patient day three the 62 year old patient's condition is deteriorating fast her breathing is so labored that she requires intubation and artificial respiration her lungs are severely inflamed but by day five her condition starts to improve she's responsive things are looking up [Music] and cheering by january 31st some 12 000 cases of the new coronavirus had been registered almost all of them in china but the first cases outside the country were now also being recorded in mid-january governments were being told to get out their pandemic plans and be prepared a crisis was potentially unfolding a number of countries took it seriously because they'd had prior experience one of the first countries to launch a rapid response to the coronavirus was taiwan [Music] lin maeshun was responsible for containing the spread in her neighborhood some of her new responsibilities include checking up on people who are sheltering at home and bringing them food supplies and reading material it's a social service provided by the city of taipei but it also enacts social control did you check your temperature today mr mao has just returned from the us he has to quarantine for two weeks he receives financial assistance while he stays at home i cannot leave the disappointment because if i brought this cell phone out then the cdc all the police will will win now even as garbage is taken care of a municipal trash collector specifically comes by to pick up garbage from homes of people in quarantine it's separated from other waste and incinerated shen shenzhen was minister for health during the 2003 sars outbreak that claimed 73 lives in taiwan [Music] i think that we have prepared for the sukkot v19 pandemic for 17 years after the sus outbreak we came across this on h5n1 avm fruit and then that's an h1n1 pandemic flu so this entire health administration as well as taiwan cdc have practiced on how to control the pandemic for several times that included stockpiling face masks unlike in many western countries taiwan ramped up its production of surgical masks each person was allowed to purchase two every seven days taiwan never imposed a strict lockdown like the one in muhan the small island proved to the rest of the world that it was indeed possible to contain the virus by late august only seven people had died of kovid 19 in taiwan years of preparation as well as extensive contact tracing had served the authorities well the west meanwhile remained oblivious to the oncoming threat or were they simply indifferent nine months from now we are going to take back the house of representatives we are going to hold the senate and we are going to keep the white house [Applause] in berlin the international film festival and wealth stars started france too had yet to ban mass gatherings the christian open door church a french evangelical mega church a five-day rally held here became ground zero for the epidemic in france [Music] there hasn't been a service here for weeks pastor samuel peter schmidt is devastated it breaks my heart to see the church so empty yeah it's especially hard because i know how fun it normally is over two thousand worshipers attended the prayer meeting in mid-february [Music] this annual gathering is a highlight on the church calendar for five days the community sings prays and dances together lombian looking back i would say the mood was utterly normal in the rest of the world everything was still mainly fine at the time the problem was restricted to asian countries to china a false sense of security that proved disastrous for all on the second day of the gathering president emmanuel macron visited the city of meruse and gave a speech about islamic separatism just a few hundred meters from the church he spent an hour shaking hands with members of the public no one wore masks no one practiced social distancing it was mid-february large gatherings were still nothing unusual manhattan in ireland mass gatherings should have been banned everywhere much easier aspects of society that are taken for granted should have been challenged but no one wanted to make a decision that would have made them politically unpopular the pastor's son jonathan peter is a member of the church and a medical doctor he recalls that on february 21st the french ministry of health released a statement about on covid19 last day of our rally the ministry wrote there are 12 confirmed cases of kovit 19 on french territory there is no active transmission chain in france jean attol had already started to feel unwell during the event but the statement by the ministry calmed his biggest fears i read the email and thought okay everything's fine i can't have the virus but there was a major discrepancy between what we thought in fact he had already contracted the virus but at this point there was no way of being sure of anything anymore when jonathan heard of the first confirmed covid19 case in the community he was keen to get tested himself to do so he had to drive 120 kilometers to a testing center in the city of strasbourg france's coronavirus testing capacities were completely unprepared for the onslaught allowing the virus to spread undetected and so by detecting the virus as early as possible is the only way you can break the chain of transmission because we know now that this virus is very transmissible at the beginning of the disease not not so much at the end but really at the very first day this is where people are more contagious france was slow to realize how far the outbreak had progressed the religious gathering in munlus contributed to a countrywide infection thousands of attendees are believed to have transmitted the virus by february china was flattening the curve in march the number of new infections in europe exceeded those in china a ranking of countries by corona related deaths per million made europe the new epicenter of the pandemic this was a sorry example of how economic interest can take priority over public health concerns we assume that 40 to 50 percent of infections in germany can be traced back to ish have the austrian authorities intervene sooner things may have turned out very differently in germany and in austria by the end of winter break in mid-march it became clear that the virus had reached germany despite the warning signs the country was not fully prepared on march 7th marin johnsecourt traveled to switzerland with her family and some friends no lockdown measures had yet been introduced the country was considered low risk but all seven of them came down with a new virus they had no idea how they could have contracted it they hadn't attended any large parties we'd never experienced anything like it before we all felt ill we all had the same awful symptoms and all of us had it equally bad it had us very worried her husband and daughter were the first to show symptoms on the journey home once they'd arrived both marin and her husband's conditions deteriorated rapidly he couldn't get any medicine we were isolated we were in a bad way i felt so abandoned i wondered what would happen if i died i didn't know how sick i was i hadn't even seen a doctor eventually i realized the only option was to call the emergency services i talked to my sister because my parents were both so sick and together we decided to call the emergency number that's right marun was transferred to intensive care she had pneumonia caused by the coronavirus by now the health authorities and hospitals in germany were bracing for disaster suddenly there was growing public concern about the potential impact of a covid19 outbreak the who recommends countries stockpile personal protective equipment in order to be prepared for a pandemic however there was a shortage in germany the authorities relied on international supply chains there was this assumption that if they suffered a shortage somewhere they could order it from china and have it delivered in two days but the supply chain was disrupted meanwhile politicians and scientists were arguing about the usefulness of face masks solitude in the earthquake an atom foreign it only became mandatory to wear a face mask in shops and on public transport by late april after the pandemic had peaked in germany by then over 6 000 people had already died covid19 patient day nine after initial signs of recovery her condition has deteriorated dramatically she has severe difficulty breathing and the doctors have no experience in tackling this new disease the candidate is fallout we don't know it's clinical progression it's like a marathon and we're probably only about 22 kilometers into it day 12 the doctors are surprised to detect a bacterial superbug the patient has administered a high dose of antibiotics okay okay the virus was attacking her organs as her liver starts to fail it becomes clear just how unpredictable this new virus can be germany could afford to give not only business but also the health system a financial boost hospitals prepared for the epidemic by earmarking thousands of beds in intensive care for covid19 patient the fact that germany invests a substantial amount of its resources in healthcare appeared to be paying off we do not need us we shouldn't forget that prior to the corona crisis germany was often criticized for having too many hospitals too many intensive care units prior to the crisis this was seen as a flaw in the system but now it's proven to be a strength a bonus which allowed us to take appropriate measures in a further effort to contain the spread of the virus the government also increased testing capacity germany didn't want to make the same mistakes as france or italy there's always an element of luck clearly i think we were lucky that the crisis hit italy first italian served as a warning to the general public we also got lucky with the vapor still cluster because it taught us a lot about the virus who holds a doctorate in quantum chemistry the german government followed the advice of experts as it set about tackling the epidemic by now the epicenter of the crisis had shifted to the u.s new york city began digging mass graves for its countless victims the white house also consulted with experts but unlike in germany their advice wasn't always heeded president trump trump support and then i see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute one minute and is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside well i feel about vaccines like i feel about tests this is going to go away without a vaccine it's going to go away and it's we're not going to see it again anybody that needs a test gets a test we they're there they have the tests and the tests are beautiful anybody that needs a test gets a test donald trump failed to keep his promise new york city lacked the test kits when they needed them the most the city's health commissioner was growing desperate we had been loudly pleading for testing to come to our jurisdiction um and what happened was that you know things happen and the unfortunate story is that the testing kits that we got in new york city didn't work anthony almohera is a paramedic with the new york city fire department the team has been dramatically reduced as a result of public spending cuts hospitals were also feeling the pinch you had nurses wearing garbage bags we're supposed to be america right we love going around telling other people what to do we like to say look at us this is the society right this is peak civilization we're wearing garbage bags as ppe that's embarrassing that's a shame those people that got sick in those hospitals those nurses and doctors that's a direct result of that management of that hospital the management of the city and the management of this government overall the u.s a world power completely mishandled its response to the pandemic to this day it still failed to control the spread before long angry americans were taken to the streets to vent their fury and anti-lockdown protests the u.s has no short-term work scheme like germany's and no uniform health system unemployment has soared during the coronavirus pandemic in the u.s economic conditions played a greater role than they did in europe that's mainly because the us is not a welfare state it lacks a social security system that's in place more or less across europe using an upper fast flaking technology phoenix arizona early july the coronavirus testing facility opens in two hours tests are free financed not by the state but by donations neil mack has been waiting in line since one in the morning my last day at work was march 31st so i haven't worked since then and i don't have any insurance so this is one of the three places that you can go without insurance many people have no health insurance the unemployment rate nearly tripled in april most here have covid19 symptoms and free testing is the only way they can find out if they have the virus in mid july 25 percent of tests in arizona came back positive it's shocking how many people really need to be tested you know i think we closed last and opened earliest i think possibly and i think that that was a huge problem and i would see people on my app next door complaining about wearing masks or wanting to go to bars and their rights being you know taken away and i just thought that was beyond ridiculous fearful of the economic toll arizona was slow to respond to the pandemic then it lifted restrictions too soon as a result the number of cases has skyrocketed the u.s might be one of the wealthiest nations in the world but few countries have been as severely hit by the pandemic [Music] covid19 patient day 15. you try to apply everything you know about medicine but even then you find yourself overtaken by events the patient has developed new symptoms a life-threatening clot in her lung a pulmonary embolism blood thinners aren't helping her circulation is collapsing the doctors alert the family by now doctors have learned that this is a typical development the virus attacks not only the lungs but the blood vessels too day 22 the patient undergo is a life-saving emergency tracheotomy poorer countries have been defeated by the pandemic such as nigeria at night during lockdown the streets of lagos are dangerous residents have set up a citizens militia attacks are increasingly commonplace overwhelmed by the challenges of the pandemic the state is powerless to intervene [Music] we went from trying normal public health interventions to becoming strike going very aggressive with lockdowns of the country and quickly realizing that this would be impossible to really enforce in our context officially nigerians are supposed to stay home for 36 days mass gatherings are canceled 36 year old muruf abdul salam has lost his job because of the lockdown he doesn't have any savings he's a sound engineer and has his own small studio events provided him with most of his income now that they've been cancelled he's lost his livelihood i know staying indoors in social distancing is the best solution to tackle karana but her government should give us something to eat even if it comes weekly or monthly so that we can all survive this pandemic he and his wife live with their four children in a tiny apartment we have been asking our neighbors and close relatives for food and assistance that is how we have been able to survive the public has been given little support during lockdown [Music] the government has a limited food distribution scheme which has led to stampedes as people scramble to collect the meager supplies offered in nigeria lockdown measures have failed to contain disaster from spreading i think it's very important to look at how people are living and say okay what would be the best measure to reduce transmission and and then work it out like that and not just copy and paste what has been done in other countries the ideal solution of course is a vaccine one that is widely available covid19 patient day 27 after the tracheotomy the patient's condition improved today the nurses managed to help her into a chair she's awake and can respond to questions by nodding or shaking her head recent weeks had seen her condition fluctuate dramatically but she now appears to be stabilizing the doctors considered transferring her out of intensive care we have yet to fully understand this tiny novel virus researchers are skeptical if it really only spread from wuhan to europe in january [Music] the albert schweitzer hospital in kolma france michel schmidt head of radiology has examined hundreds of covid19 patients and made an interesting discovery after what happened in march in april it occurred to me to look through our records beginning in the summer of 2019 to see if there was anything unusual a long x-ray made on november 16th showed typical signs of a covid19 infection what's especially noticeable is this opaque area he found another suspicious case in november 12 more in december we thought this was an unusual flu the patient had a high temperature a lung embolism pneumonia but it didn't add up later he gave the patients an antibody test all came back positive the french radiologists findings tie in with the studies conducted in other countries a number of indications suggest that the virus was already spreading around the world in late fall of 2019. [Music] what we know is when the virus has been detected initially and in and but maybe this virus came from somewhere else or in china or elsewhere and we don't know really if if the the really first time this virus emerged was in in this market in the world at this stage it seems unlikely many scientists believe the virus was transmitted from animals to humans in south china or neighboring countries long before it was detected in wuhan but the outbreak in wuhan marked the start of an international race to find a vaccine only a vaccine can stop the pandemic the company curavac in tubingen is hard at work [Music] a vaccine is in production here in this tank the research is top secret [Music] the company began production in april hoping to get a head start it was a high risk move but mariola 14 blitzchek is confident she made the right decision when she approved development of a vaccine in january time is of the essence everyone is expecting a vast amount of vaccines to be available soon the company is pinning its hopes on this substance could it be the silver bullet the world is waiting for [Music] some 30 vaccines are currently being tested on humans right now will kyravac's vaccine prove effective and safe in trials that means it's loose any vaccine that ends up going to market will need to be widely available covet 19. when as many people as possible around the world are vaccinated we won't achieve much with vaccination programs that are merely local or national but inevitably most governments put the interests of their own people first countries that can afford to can order supplies of the vaccine the race to develop a vaccine has become a race for political power this is this morning for the first time in the world a vaccine against the new coronavirus was registered we have repeatedly addressed that china is leading the world in vaccine development for covet 19. the pandemic has become political a battleground in which leading nations vie for power but when it comes to managing the pandemic beijing is far ahead of washington china is no longer in crisis but playing the role of the savior dispatching ppe and deploying doctors all over the world [Music] let's make concerted efforts to protect the life and health of people in all countries in the u.s the virus rages on embarrassing the white house administration as it ravages the public as trump continues to blame his domestic crisis on china his america first slogan has never rung so hollow china's cover-up of the wuhan virus allowed the disease to spread all over the world china has total control over the world health organization we will be today terminating our relationship with the world health organization the us is losing its world superpower status and china is eager to take over the leading role it long played in geopolitics the the chinese model is sure to gain popularity in the wake of this crisis given how efficiently china was able to limit the number of deaths and minimize the economic following patient day 35 today we're allowed to film unbelievable yesterday i thought she was getting better i thought we'd be able to transfer her soon the 62 year old patient has acute kidney and liver failure the doctors don't understand they still don't know what to expect you think you're close to the goal when someone day 38 x-rays show that her abdominal vessels are inflamed the doctors have never seen anything like it her organs are failing and there's nothing they can do the patient appears to be losing the fight day 39 at 1002 the patient is pronounced dead massive organ failure the global pandemic has been wreaking turmoil around the world for just over eight months in taiwan the government continues to manage the situation well so far there have only been five hundred infections in germany infections are once again on the rise like many others maran yonzekowat is still suffering from the long-term effects of covid19 she still has some difficulty breathing and hasn't fully recovered her sense of taste when i see how carefree young people are i want to shake them and say guys you have no idea how much you might suffer if you get this illness in early august nigeria extended the second phase of the nationwide lockdown by four weeks the country has avoided the worst experts wonder if this is because its population is relatively young in china after talking to us liu pei yen came under pressure from the police and was forbidden from giving any further interviews according to beijing the economy saw modest growth in the second quarter of 2020 the us economy continues to reel in november the country goes to the polls trump's response to the pandemic could impact the election coven 19 has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide over 20 million are infected the virus clearly isn't under control and the outlook is far from encouraging

Channel: DW Documentary

Views: 554,548

Rating: 4.4905281 out of 5

Keywords: Documentary, Documentaries, documentaries, DW documentary, full documentary, DW, documentary 2020, coronavirus, SARS-Cov-2, COVID-19, pandemic, WHO, democracy, authoritarian states, digital surveillance, covid 19, corona, coronavirus documentary, covid documentary, covid-19 documentary, corona pandemic, coronavirus pandemic

Id: UrcDLopNPV8

Length: 46min 50sec (2810 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 01 2020