Wuhan: The beginning of coronavirus Covid-19
It is week one of the coronavirus. In this critical time, decisions were made that set the entire trajectory of the crisis. The program uses exclusive interviews with a cast of characters who were on the ground at the hospital in the very beginning. Their stories, combined with striking audio from the heat of the moment, brings listeners into the critical turning-points that defined the crisis to come. We meet Dr Li, the head of the ICU in Wuhan and one of the first doctors to intubate a patient with Covid-19. As his hospital became overrun with patients, he and his colleagues debated just how contagious the virus was, what should be told to the general populace, and the proper government response.
12 Touko 202027min
One hundred days of Brexit
How ‘get Brexit done’ turned into ‘StayatHome’ through the experiences of four first time MPs. They represent constituencies across the North of England – places where voters had switched traditional allegiances in great numbers. Conservative MP Simon Fell, won in Barrow-in-Furness, Olivia Blake, the newly elected Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam, Charlotte Nichols who held on narrowly against the Brexit tide in Warrington North and Richard Holden who took the North West Durham seat from Labour.
10 Touko 202050min
Coronavirus Global Conversations: Haircuts after lockdown
We bring together three hairdressers from around the world to talk about how their lives have changed because of the pandemic. Marcel in Jerusalem and Marion in Berlin can cut their clients' hair again - but with restrictions. Tamsyn in Johannesburg has only been allowed to open her salon to sell hair products so far. So what is the future of cutting hair while the world is dealing with Covid-19?
10 Touko 202027min
Coronavirus and Asia
The impact of Covid-19 on Asia is explored with a panel of leading public health experts, politicians and analysts from across the region. What can be done to slow down the spread of the virus? And how should countries balance the needs of their economies with the need to save lives?
9 Touko 202050min
Don't log off - part five
Across every continent, people are trying to make sense of a new world – one that happens mostly behind closed doors and often alone. Alan Dein connects with seven individuals whose lives have shifted under the coronavirus pandemic as they nervously anticipate what will come next in an uncertain future.
8 Touko 202024min
Hanging by a thread: Bangladesh’s garment workers
In March, Aafiyah was told the garment factory where she worked would be closing. And like many other garment workers, she was left destitute in the slums of Dhaka. Bangladesh’s garment industry employs millions of workers, mainly women, who make clothes for high street brands in Europe and the US. Western retailers, who have seen sales plummet due to the pandemic, have cancelled or suspended more than 3 billion dollars’ worth of orders from Bangladeshi garment factories. Over a million jobs in the sector could now be at risk. For Assignment, Caroline Bayley and Morshed Ali Khan hear Aafiyah’s story, and talk to factory owners and the British Retail Consortium about the huge challenges facing Bangladesh's main export industry.Producer: Josephine Casserly(Image: Women, wearing masks, work in a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Credit: Reuters/Mohammad Ponir Hossain)
7 Touko 202027min
The Response: Coronavirus - Lockdown tales from Brazil, Germany and Australia
Listeners from Brazil, Germany, Rwanda, Australia and Norway report on their experiences of lockdown, from reaction to Jair Bolsanaro's coronavirus policies to the partial easing of lockdown in Germany, to racial abuse experienced by Chinese residents in Australia. By emailing a voice memo recorded on their smartphones listeners from different countries offer their unique perspectives on a global crisis,
5 Touko 202027min
Coronavirus Global Conversations: Remembering medics who have died from Covid-19
We hear about Sophie Fagan, a nurse in London for over 50 years; Dr. J Ronald Verrier, a critical care surgeon in New York; and Vicenzo Leone, a beloved GP in Northern Italy. Their relatives talk about their enduring pride, but also the shock of losing them to Covid-19. And hospital chaplains talk to us about the religious, spiritual and emotional support they are providing for patients and their loved ones. Also, mothers in Spain tell us how the 40-day lockdown is emotionally impacting their children.
3 Touko 202027min
