19 special next on d w. they want to know what makes the german he just been a john love and batting thing away from that. but i'm not going to have to work my own car. and everyone was laid of holes and every day getting, are you ready to meet the german can join me. rachel stuart on d. w. o . many countries around the world are using their measures to curb the corona, virus pandemic, with more liberties and fewer restrictions. again, spain is one of them. and so is the south africa hopes are rising here, that the pandemic will soon become endemic, promising an end to restrictions. so how many coven 19 become endemic?

and what would that mean? our topic on this week's covered 19 special welcome to day is an important day for c panel, honeywell, 2 years ago financial problems and the pandemic forced him to close his bond dress to rent and kate towns, kylie chuck township. but now he's fine in the re opening over the course of a lot of things that we need to put your eggs and different buckskin. and also we need to try and think outside the building. because i mean, for me, i don't test the storm from whatever, but situation that i mean, i only new proposal to things that i can do. instead of complaining after nearly 2 years, most lockdown restrictions were lifted, including a nightly curfew. tourists have once again been pouring into the country. they had been mass cancellations following the cavalry of the army. kron variant. life is

slowly getting back to normal. here in cape song was decreasing numbers in new coven infections. data from south africa suggests, although omicron is much more infectious, the amount of people that were admitted to hospitals was much lower than during previous waves. many. yeah, hoping that we're seeing the beginning of the end on the pandemic. i always that i won't even hear, but the, the name holbert, that is what we're wishing for today that everyone is going out in the cloud from lack thing going outside of even love jack. daddy now is maha and i hope that only god is easy to find things you know, this marriage to see slash enjoyment. this has happened as the i'm so happy that the business is that roommate people to start making money out of officially open way lost as the sky. touch it with them business. i'm glad that we can get to come

here and enjoy. many scientists also optimistic despite the low vaccination rate of i religious dwarf gung plaza says that many south africans had already been infected with the corona virus before the only true wife hospital data show that a prior corona, virus infection, or vaccination, provides protection against severe illness. also with the army tron variant, women and when you arrive in a situation like the one we have here now where nearly every one is recovered from an infection or has been vaccinated and then you can relax hamilton off edge fall under as i'd of course, it's summer here himself, during much of the 4th wave here, our schools were on holiday valley in big d calls in europe. the school holiday was much shorter of i'm school starting again that these companies that took an annual holiday or back at work to. and of course, it's winter when people spend much more time together in doors was on a playing desert, the st. joe's or major differences. this. that's why you can't expect things in

europe to go exactly the way they have in south africa or fee in a suit. africa, pies or hopes that the pandemic could become endemic. as with other corona viruses, if most of the population has a basic immunity from previous infection or vaccination, higgins to galati off. no, that's for you. i still have hope that will be able to avoid the need for regular booster shots coming. good fortune da sphere. and let's say that everyone is fully vaccinated and boosted and, and perhaps also gets an omicron specific booster during the coming year. i'm a pity fishing, omi called booster hom, one van not really hits. they still have new blue ashland also say we don't suddenly find ourselves. confronted with a nasty surprise in the form of another new variable team call, then we might be able to maintain a decent level of immunity with regular re infection. the so catchment in fuels early because no one wants to think about more mutations right now in the middle restaurant and bar. certainly not illness,

he believe on the already has beaked lance and wants to expands to other cities. he believes that the prospects was on africa once again. the good and what about germany and europe? here, the rate of new infections has hit record levels. tens of thousands are catching up at 19 and passing it on. we seem to be at its mercy, and we're sick of it all. here in the newsroom talk, revolves mainly around one question. will life ever return to normal locked downs, contact restrictions? schools, opening schools, closing and a series of new south covey to variance. each, in some ways, worse than the last. when will this pandemic end? when will the virus become endemic? and what does that even mean?

that we can go back to our pre pandemic ways? nice thought, but it's still a pandemic out there. so let's take a look at where we are right now. in a pandemic, a disease spreads across national borders and continence south covey to affect the entire world. opened amex eventually end, but no one can say exactly when the current one will be over. the spanish flu is an example of an influenza pandemic that's thought to have killed between 50 and a 100000000 people. it lasted around 3 years. the 7th, cora pandemic began and south asia in 1961 and continues to this day. it leads up to $140000.00 death annually. after 2 years of non stop cove at 19 pandemic, with millions of people dead, and billions more vaccinated, recovered or both. there's increasing talk of the corona virus becoming endemic.

what does that mean in engine greek and demos means among the people. so if sas coffee too is endemic, it's come to stay. however, and demick viruses are not equally present everywhere all the time. although endemic viruses circulate nonstop within particular populations, the number of infections can fluctuate based. for example, on the seasons. other cold viruses demonstrate this winter time is cold season. this will not change next winter or the winter after that. it's predictable. malaria is an example of an endemic infectious disease. that's a major problem, particularly in certain african regions and malaria. it's also a good example of a popular misconception that an endemic pathogen is automatically, alyssa, dangerous pathogen. it isn't according to the world health organization. malaria

killed 627000 people in 2020 alone. on the other hand, there are several, and demi corona viruses that usually only cause fairly harmless, cold like symptoms. so what will happen with sas covey to the army chron, variant of the virus has many people hoping that in the future the majority of covet infections will be mild. however, we don't know what variant might be just around the corner. what is key, though, is that we'll have to continue to live with south covey too, in the future. ah, nonetheless, some european countries including denmark, spain, and the u. k. have already decided to rollback anti virus measures. most are aware that it's something of an experiment along the lines of let's see what happens. we

take a look at what's happening in the spanish capital madrid here in madrid. cafes are full to the brim with people enjoying the afternoon sun. no one seems to be worried that a guest at the next table could have cove it. a number of corona virus restrictions have already been rolled back here. but i'm in my same boat thunder. we have to free ourselves of this fear. you can't live in constant fear, and i'll be the most ill daniel gave. the virus has become quite a bit less dangerous. reasonably alcohol, all by sunday, they'll go say it him. we're learning to lay with the virus other than just as we have with the flu. and with other viruses, they know the address, my name is gabby and they had a man. they know this relaxed mood is partly due to the success of spain's vaccination program. more than 80 percent of the population has received at least 2

jobs and hospitalization. rates are also on the decline. that's also why the spanish government has announced it's planning to lift a series of other restrictions that includes ramping down corona virus testing and easing quarantine rules. it flew instead of a deadly pandemic. this is how prime minister sanchez wants to treat the corona virus in the future, and he sees them serve as a pioneer in europe. but they're also critics that say that it's too early for such experiments. it finds out that many spanish clinics continue to work at their limits. one of spain's leading corona virus experts, ease of as sola is also urging caution. she's a researcher at spain's national center of biotechnology color meters. while i'm working on and must a prepared for surprises, young, the way the virus will develop is something that can't predict the virus wants to

keep spreading, whereas with them. so that might mean that infections will become less severe over time. but the exact opposite could also be true. from oscillators up on the yellow one patio. for the moment, many in spain seemed to welcome the easing of restrictions almost 2 years into the pandemic. they are ready to believe that the danger has passed. many experts in germany are also urging caution dw reporter stephanie. so both spoke with professor hi o z 8th. the bremen based epidemiologist has earned the reputation of being a voice of call in the pandemic storm. professor has mister haled st. thanks for talking to us. many hope the coven 19 won't become endemic, and all the suffering under the pandemic will end. would that be the case? esl and demila? mitch does a stuck in damage, doesn't mean that it's entirely over or that it's no longer a threat depending on virus mutations. the situation could change and covert could

become an epidemic again and spread at a higher rate. again, even if this doesn't happen, even if the infection rates don't suddenly search much when it has an endemic disease, still means people will still be getting him affected and getting sick. i will have to take appropriate measures to deal with that and make sure that our hospitals can cope. so our precautions, our public health and hygiene measures of it will still be a part of everyday life. in an endemic scenario, the emissions which was shown very soon my talk is and is an end annex sars virus, less dangerous young my lunch would say it might be less dangerous. yes, but that would take 2 things. first, the biological severity would have to be lower, meaning there would be fewer serious cases and lower mortality rates. you'll see that change over time through biological evolution. and 2nd, until you,

our response to the viruses also a factor that includes the immunity we achieve through effective vaccination campaigns, as well as the immunity achieve through infection. martin soon done ice and 3rd, there are also various counter measures like social distance things, wearing masks, and so on or can all of those would help level out the infection rates applies to his credit. we have the pandemic become an endemic scenario. let us couldn't really, truly, yes, we can. of course, 1st of all by building up our immunity, especially by way of high vaccination rates and high rates everywhere, also merges. that's how we might be able to achieve this endemic stains. well, i mean, when you teach, by knocking sure that our immunity is robust enough to prevent sudden epidemic outbreaks on da saxon nation is key in form. and i know, is it possible to maintain an endemic state and a globalized world l. this is

a good, that's a good question. one of the big reconditioned for that would be eliminating these huge, drastic disparities in immunization rates around the world. that's why the world health organization, for example, is constantly emphasizing that we meet vaccine equity, high vaccination rates in all countries. distributing vaccines as evenly as possible will help us achieve this endemic stadium. when a few countries have extremely high vaccination rate, but other countries are very low rate. that's where the conditions are right for the virus to continue to spread and mutate on tongue. that's what helps create problems. which in a global context could lead to a resurgence of the epidemic over and over, which would sweep around the world may be done oil switching way if you didn't know what it is all good, what other scenarios are there a skip. there are several. well turning of scenarios, one would be to actually defeat to eliminate the corona virus. take china for

example, which is sticking to its 0 coven policy. they are pursuing a policy of keeping cove it out of their country in the short term and especially in the long term. and it's easy to see why that's not a particularly pragmatic approach or not. they would have to steer clear of all sorts of global activities or build very high walls to keep the virus out. last rags me is very difficult. as an illusions below in human history, there are only a few viruses. we've managed to eradicate williams for sale. it's mentioned on, on we saw it, we did it with smallpox with the global vaccination program, but that's one of the rare exceptions with us name on the below about us. i would have been awesome professor hyatt. same thanks for joining us today. thank you to oh, now to d. w science editor derek williams, his been following developments and answering your questions since the onset of the

pandemic this week, you tube user one pedro sierra asked why did the spanish flu pandemic? and even though they never developed treatments, or maxine in 1918, just as she manatee began to, to stagger towards the end of what, at that point was the most destructive conflict in human history. a new flu virus appeared that would later be called the spanish flu. now that name was an accurate since the disease didn't show up in spain 1st, it was only the 1st place that newspapers began to report on it. um, the virus that caused the new flu was a sub type called h one and one. and thought that during the pandemic that rolled over the world and the following couple of years around,

one in 3 people were infected by the pathogen. we don't have records good enough to make exact calculations of the destruction that it caused, but, but most estimates say the virus claimed between 50 and a 100000000 victims. and that would have been around one in $25.00 people on the planet at the time. then 3 years into the pandemic, the spanish flu seemed to fade away without any clear explanation. it just sort of trailed off, no one at the time really knew why. now, experts postulate that it was because without vaccines, that's how long it took to acquire a measure of global herd protection through infection. when enough people grew immune enough to the pathogen, to stop spreading it to others,

transmission sputtered and died. or did it really? that's a really interesting aspect of the narrative experts say, because even though mass death, due to the pandemic, ended in the early 19 twenty's, the virus that caused it didn't just disappear. instead, they think the immunity developed by large swaths of the population drove the pathogen to mutate and it mutated into less deadly forms. in fact, researchers who analyzed genomes and flu viruses that circulate to day have identified genetic similarities that link them to the h one n one virus. that 1st appeared in 1918. and that original virus has been sequenced from, from long samples taken from people who died from the virus back then. in that

sense, the spanish flu virus is, is still with us today. it's just evolved to be less virulent, but it also occasionally then evolves further and can throw out a deadlier variance and strains, though, at least so far. never any as deadly as its distant ancestor. boom. and now for some animals with super powers, such as sharks, camels and their cousins in south america alpaca as scientists have found neutralizing antibodies to the corona virus and its variance in these species. could animals help bring an end to the pandemic that probably began in an animal at 1st glance, this south american alpaca looks like an ordinary animal. but to find his thank,

could help us fight the corona virus pandemic. with a hud of 19 alpaca as a living on the campus of austell university in val diva southern chile biochemist. alejandro house is conducting research working with the l pack. has it been this mail alpaca is called buddha. yes, he's developed neutralizing antibodies against a number of coven 19 barons including oma crocker, lincoln. the scientists 1st vaccinated the alpaca with surface proteins from the covey. 19 virus. then they took a blood sample and found nano bodies that can neutralize sas cove to viruses. nano bodies are much smaller than normal antibodies. their structure is also less

complex and they're quite easy to reproduce using yeast cultures. for example, nano bodies are only produced by tamar leds. so our package lamas, camel's and drama to raise and by shocks. even before the pandemic began rojas and his team founded and publicized an initiative aimed at combating emerging viruses. but they didn't have any animals to work with me until an unexpected visitor turned up. eleanor me this in 29 team, a buddhist monk who wants to help us, came to visit to fiona to colorado. he gave us for our package from kim it. one of them was buddha. then we had a deal. go latera and pedro. there were yeah, we're not a legal they haven't just produced antibodies to fight sars covey to like buddha law, but against other viruses. to like nip a virus and hender a virus. ne pedro here, for example,

you about it. the research doesn't the l pack has once a year there vaccinated by vet to then take a small sample of blood the animals account for bi veterinarian, theresa pinto. but i mean, it's going to be like pan out of her hand when we took care of them and loved them . at 1st they wouldn't come near us, but you know, they will no longer find a presence. we treat them very well in the yellow book as well, being it's really important to involve the via in southern chile, at austell universities, laboratory for medical biotechnology, ro house and his team have peyton tit, 13 nano bodies that directly target sauce cause to viruses. now they want to use the pack, has none o bodies to develop a drug to treat coven 19. when this involves

mixing the alpaca, nano bodies with a fragment of a human antibody, so that it is accepted by the human immune system. the drug could be inhaled or administered in the form of a nasal spray or injection and helped to prevent severe or fatal cases of cove at 19. but the scientists need financial support to develop the drug. and so far, the chilean government hasn't offered funding muscle again to go more come of 50. it's not just about developing an antiviral, thera legal research covey tools to look at. i'm been, it could be what it would work, but also showing that here in a remote place like southern chile, we're capable of developing a technology that can help bring a global pandemic under control and more that go more in solitude for her. then the scientists in chile aren't the only ones researching alpaca nano bodies. there's

a similar initiative underway at the university of san francisco and in germany, the university of barn and the max planck institute in getting and are engaged in nano body research. but the scientists here in chile are a step ahead. when i did get under that, one of the big advantages of developing antibodies from becoming lipson chilling is that here the al packers in lamas are in their natural habitat, embargoed with them at the university campus. the al packers have their own enclosure covering more than 3 hectares of land where they're free to roam, sleep and feed. the scientists haven't just given the elpac his names. they've also discovered distinct personality traits worth of pocket the meal. buddha is a bit shy big. when people are around a lam he won't need out of my hand. seneca widow and he's not so keen on people, he doesn't know iowa. it's anybody way out there off. what if him blow in but

others are like danielle, for example, get out and i will eat out of every one's hand recommended them another you have different personality. single betty. think that personnel, yes, despite his shyness butter is quite the star on social media. he has nearly 17000 followers on instagram alone. let above us, some of your pictures provide an alternative solution of to monoclonal antibodies that is much cheaper monica in the coming years will probably seen many products developed in the immune the systems of these animal wonderful animals with the necessary funding the al packers may be able to help us both in this pandemic and in future ones to alejandro has sent his team

a convinced of that. so that's all for this week. if you have a question for derrick williams, write to us and join us next time for a fresh addition of our coven. 19 special. good bye for now and take care with ah! with

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