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Paris Live, Wednesday 1 April 2020

By RFI
France  REUTERS - BENOIT TESSIER
APR 1, 2020 LISTEN
© REUTERS - BENOIT TESSIER

In today's Paris Live, our overview of the coronavirus situation begins with the announcement made by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization and the World trade organisation. They warn of the risk of a worldwide food shortage if the crisis isn't effectively tackled.They say the uncertainty could lead to fewer exports which in turn will create shortages and lead to panic buying.

Meanwhile, in Hungary, there are fears that the coronavirus crisis will impact greatly on civil liberties. This after Hungary's nationalist leader Viktor Orban took on sweeping powers. EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen warned that any coronavirus emergency measures taken by EU countries must be, in her words,  "limited".

In Germany, the government has voted a series of measures to try and keep the economy afloat during the coronavirus crisis, both for companies and for independent workers, but a recession is still in sight.

In India, a nationwide tracking effort is underway to identify, test and quarantine all people who attended a gathering New Delhi of almost 4,000 people belonging to a Muslim missionary group mid-March, many of whom came from abroad including Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

And officials in Zimbabwe say the flow of water in the Zambezi River is more than 600 percent higher than this time last year. Residents of the resort town of Victoria Falls have shared pictures of the raging waterfall, which has now been closed to tourists due to the coronavirus lockdown.

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