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Texas Records Highest Single-Day Increases In Cases; Two-Hard- Hit Counties In Florida Can Begin Reopening; Nearly All U.S. States Reopening As Death Toll Climbs; Pompeo Backs Away From Theory Virus Came From Wuhan Lab; U.K. Recruits More Than 17,000 Contact Tracers; Japan In Recession; U.S. House Stimulus Bill Facing Heavy Opposition in Senate; Japanese Economy Falls into Recession; India Extends Lockdown Until May 31st; Kenya Facing Shortage of Life-Saving Ventilators; Australia Rolls Out Virtual Campaign to Boost Tourism. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired May 18, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. And coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM. The U.S. inching closer to yet another grim Coronavirus record, while the White House criticizes the agency in charge of America's public health. Plus, Japan's economy just fell into recession. Experts warn much worse could be on the way. And Australia has announced its bid to win back tourists. The country is making efforts to -- for locals to travel safely and soon.
As U.S. states push ahead with piecemeal plans to reopen, the American death toll is about to reach another troubling milestone. In the coming hours, it will hit 90,000. We're close to 1-1/2 million cases. Both figures by far the highest of any other country. 48 of the 50 U.S. states have all started reopening in some manner or other. New infections falling in the green areas, but the reddish colored ones are seeing spikes. And notice, that includes Texas. It's launched one of the most aggressive reopenings, and may well be paying for it now. Meanwhile, members of the Trump administration seem to be blaming the loss of life on everyone but themselves.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX AZAR, U.S. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Unfortunately, the American population is a very diverse and it is a -- it is a population with significant unhealthy comorbidities that do make many individuals in our communities, in particular, African-American, minority communities, particularly at risk here because of significant underlying disease, health disparities, and disease comorbidities. And that is an unfortunate legacy of -- in our healthcare system that we certainly do need to address.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, as for the U.S. President, he's been slamming his predecessor Barack Obama again. And his trade adviser? Well, he's condemning the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER NAVARRO, WHITE HOUSE TRADE ADVISER: Early on in this crisis, the CDC which really had the most trusted brand around the world in this space, really what let the country down with the testing because not only did they keep the testing within the bureaucracy, they had a bad test, and that did set us back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The CDC responding with a strong rebuke, quote, "We should remind Trade Adviser Peter Navarro that the CDC is a federal agency, part of the administration. The CDC director is an appointed position, and Dr. Redfield was appointed by President Trump. If there's criticism of the CDC, ultimately, Mr. Navarro is being critical of the President and the man who President Trump placed to lead the agency."
Over a messy, let's take a closer look now at Texas, that state reopened two weeks ago and the governor is expected to announce more reopening measures this week. But on Saturday, Texas saw its highest single-day bump in positive COVID-19 cases since the start of the outbreak. CNN's Ed Lavandera with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This weekend, Texas reported its most dramatic increase in the number of new Coronavirus cases, more than 1800 cases reported on Saturday alone. On Sunday, those numbers dropped to 785 new cases. But if you take a closer look, that also came based on less than half the number of tests that were reported on Sunday. So, if you do the math, it comes out to about the same percentage. And this really underscores this growing concern among -- especially many big city leaders here in the State of Texas as to whether or not the economy here is opening too fast, too soon.
State Health officials say that the reason for the dramatic increase over the weekend was because of testing being done in the Texas Panhandle area around Amarillo, where there are a number of meatpacking plants and workers who were infected there with the coronavirus. State Health officials say that there has been localized and focused testing on those areas. And that is in large part why we saw such a dramatic increase. 734 of the 1800 cases reported on Saturday, we are told, came from that Texas Panhandle region.
[01:05:07]
But as I mentioned, this is still an area of great concern, as the governor here continues to push for the reopening of the economy. And it's hard to imagine barring any other jarring medical data that would be coming out here that this plan to reopen the economy will not continue. In fact, the governor has scheduled a press conference for Monday announcing more reopenings on the same day that gyms and workout facilities will be allowed to reopen for the first time, as well, since this pandemic started. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, Florida is about to further ease its restrictions, too. The state has already allowed some shops and public spaces in most of the state to enter it's phase one reopening as it's being called. Well, now the governor is going to include two counties hit hardest by Coronavirus. Starting Monday, Miami Dade and Broward counties in South Florida can begin to reopen. Miami Dade has a third of the cases in Florida, more than 15,000. And on Sunday, Florida's Health Department reported a spike in new cases statewide, more than 700. Still, Miami's mayor says the city is taking a cautious approach.
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FRANCIS SUAREZ, MAYOR OF MIAMI, FLORIDA: If we have businesses that are flagrantly violating the rules and are not mandating that their customers comply with the social distancing norms, with wearing masks inside their businesses, then we will unfortunately, have to shut them down. The big issues that we have is our airports and air travel. And I'm not sure that anybody feels safe right now, or many people feel safe traveling. And so, I think that's going to be an issue.
And then, obviously, you know, we'll see how this reopening goes. We're hopeful and obviously optimistic that it will go well. Hopefully, the -- you know, the cases continue to go down, so we can enter into the next phase which would be phase two in the next 14 days. But some of the things that we've seen across the country are in a concern. And the fact that we just had, you know, one-day spike, it's just one day. But you know, it's something that we have to look at and monitor and carefully.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Meanwhile, in neighboring Georgia, the state has yet to see a sustained two-week decline in new cases, which, of course, is one of the criteria suggested by the White House for reopening, but as you recall, Georgia's governor, one of the first in the country to reopen restaurants and shops and tattoo parlors for that matter back in late April. The mayor of Atlanta was against reopening too soon. She explains how she feels now.
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KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS, MAYOR OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA: When I was with you a couple of weeks ago, I said that I look forward to coming on and being able to say that I was wrong and the governor was right. And I think right now, we're somewhere in the middle. Whereas we were seeing spikes in the number of people testing positive going up between 25 and 30 percent, as well, as our deaths over a seven-day period. Right now, we are seeing rates somewhere around 15 percent. So, the numbers are better, but they are still going up.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: Dr. Jorge Rodriguez is an internal medicine and viral
specialist. He is with us from Los Angeles. It's good to see you, as always, Doctor, I mean, these downward trend in new cases in some parts of the country encouraging but it doesn't mean no new cases, of course, still thousands a day. Do you -- do you worry that the social distancing that brought the numbers down could change now that states are reopening, all these sites have full bars and restaurants and so on?
DR. JORGE RODRIGUEZ, INTERNAL MEDICINE AND VIRAL SPECIALIST: Well, I'm not worried that it might change. I am concerned that it already has changed. You know, it's a combination of multiple things. One is people are obviously tired of, you know, being at home, staying at home, so the natural instinct is to break free. However, there's a certain way of doing it and there's a reckless way of doing it. I'm seeing patients of mine that should know better, that are sort of, you know, tiptoeing into uncharted territory. And the fact that the cases are not spiking, you have to understand that the cases are still occurring. And as a friend of mine another, you know, doctors said, the virus will determine what it is that we do from here on end.
HOLMES: You know, and it's interesting to just sort of talk about some numbers. The U.S. has 48 out of 50 states reopening to varying degrees. The reality is that only 17 states have decreasing numbers. 20,000 new cases every day since March 30; 1600 people on average dying every day, but you've got the President and others sort of oozing a sense that the crisis is passing. How worried are you about complacency? I mean, I was reading an article in The Washington Post, people saying, it's over, you know, everything is good.
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RODRIGUEZ: Well, it's hardly from over. If you want to think of it this way, on the average, we have four plane full of people, dying every day for the past 2-1/2 months. At least four planes full of people dying every day for at least 2-1/2 months. If that were really the case, everybody would be shocked. The issue is that a lot of people have not seen it personally. And once that starts happening, and I have no doubt that it's going to impact everybody, I think the complacency will die down because it will become real. It's real to me. I mean, I see it every day.
HOLMES: Yes, it does seem frightening. I did within my own neighborhood, people who just think that it's passed by, it's not a big deal. I mean, it was interesting listening on Sunday to Senior White House official, Peter Navarro, laying blame on the CDC, and singling it out for criticism. It's extraordinary to do that to the nation's main disease experts during a pandemic. And you know, we're seeing the CDC, which is a world-renowned body, also sidelined in many ways. Its advice on reopening buried. It's not being allowed to speak directly to the public and so on. Do you worry about politics overriding science?
RODRIGUEZ: Absolutely. Absolutely. When you hear Navarro talk, he starts talking -- and you know, and it's very discouraging, because you can tell that there's an agenda, and part of the agenda and just the way that he speaks, is blaming China. You know, the China virus, this and that. And politics, you know, the CDC is the world organization that other countries look to. Iget -- I see things haven't been perfect, but we need other countries to trust us because this is going to be a worldwide sort of team effort to try to get a vaccine and a cure.
Listen, in the old days, the buck stopped at the White House. And we can start sharing blame all over the place. You know, that the White House not started taking precautions soon enough, I believe so. Did they not pay attention to this soon enough? I believe so. And if there is internal fighting between the White House and the Center for Disease Control, I think it should kind of be kept behind closed doors because the more of this infighting and pettiness that we see, the less trust that people have of what they're being told.
HOLMES: Yes, a lot of people feel there should be more CDC speaking and less politicians. I mean, the President, speaking politicians, suggesting a vaccine could be ready, fully-approved by years end. That's a timeline that you can speak to has never been achieved. It's never been achieved in twice that time. What are the risks of fast tracking a vaccine?
RODRIGUEZ: You know, I hope that it's achieved but all the dominoes would have to fall in place absolutely correctly. The biggest pitfalls could be that we are cutting corners. And it seems like if we have one best chance to do this correctly, as other doctor friends of mine, I said, Listen, we've been waiting now for 20 years for an HIV vaccine, for hepatitis C vaccine. The danger is that we get out a vaccine that is not going to do the job. And we have to start from square one. At the end of the day, we need something that is safe, first and foremost, and effective. And it may necessitate something that is almost unheard of which is people volunteering to get the vaccine and then volunteering to be exposed to the virus, something that has many ethical ramifications. But if we want to do it quickly, that may be the only alternative.
HOLMES: Dr. Rodriguez, always a pleasure to have you and your expertise. Thank you so much.
RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, sir.
HOLMES: Well, the U.S. Secretary of State is again backing away from a theory that he's promoted, and that is that the virus came from a lab in Wuhan in China. Mike Pompeo says the U.S. is still certain the pandemic originated in that city. Many people believe that. But he doesn't know exactly where it started or from whom. He does insist China hasn't been transparent about the outbreak and says, the U.S. still intends to punish Beijing for its response. Steven Jiang is in Beijing with the details. And the thing with the Secretary of State is he's tried to have it both ways now for weeks. So, he did suggest that intel had pointed to it being a lab. Now, he says, Well, probably not. So, a couple of questions for you. How is that mixed messaging going down in China? And how likely would be that China would cooperate in any international inquiry?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Well, Michael, I think the Chinese government and state media are very going -- very much going to seize upon the latest remarks by Pompeo as further proof that he is, in their words, a pathological liar, who is just trying to smear China and shift the blame away from the U.S. government. Now, in terms of this particular claim that the virus was leaked from a Wuhan lab, this has been disputed by many experts and scientists from around the world. There is not even a great amount of consensus among U.S. intelligence officials themselves or those from its closest allies. So, these are the points The Chinese government has been trying to highlight.
[01:15:03]
But increasingly, they're also trying to turn the tables on the U.S. pointing to where the U.S. past lapses in biosafety, sometimes going all the way to the Korean War as saying it's the U.S. that should be investigated by the international community, especially with reports emerging from the U.S. and Europe, about first Coronavirus cases in these places may have occurred even before Wuhan. So, this kind of rhetoric comes amid growing international causes. You mentioned for an independent inquiry on the origin of this pandemic, which is interpreted by many people here as a move against China.
That's what officials here are pushing back very strongly saying this is not a time to do so, as most governments around the world are still fighting this pandemic. They say, the appropriate time for inquiry is after the pandemic is over. Then, the international community can sit down to review their experiences, shortcomings, and to discuss ways for more international cooperation and enhancing the role of the WHO. Michael?
HOLMES: Yes, we were talking a few days ago about some cases in Wuhan and an extraordinary testing effort underway there. In terms of numbers, millions and millions of tests. What are the latest numbers there in China, and in particular, Wuhan?
JIANG: The latest numbers from here, Michael, was seven new cases in the previous 24 hours cycle. Three of which were locally transmitted. But actually, none was in Wuhan. Two in the northeastern province of Jiling, where we've been talking about a new cluster of cases and mystery patient zero, and a new lockdown measures there. But the third one came from Shanghai involving somebody from Wuhan. I think that's why you see the Wuhan authorities are continuing -- they're very ambitious undertaking of testing 11 million residents there.
They clarified a bit more over the weekend saying, this is not mandatory, but everyone above the age of six is strongly encouraged to get tested. And if you hear from the government that means you are positive. Otherwise, you are fine. But they still haven't said how they're going to announce city-wide results, which is something obviously the whole world is watch -- is watching very, very closely, Michael.
HOLMES: All right, Steven, thanks so much. Steven Jiang, appreciate it. We're going to take a quick break here. And when we come back on CNN NEWSROOM, Britain pledging more money in the race to a Coronavirus vaccine, but how realistic is the goal? We'll take a look after the break.
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[01:20:00]
HOLMES: Brazil has surpassed Spain as the world's fourth most infected nation with more than 241,000 Coronavirus cases at least. Yet, the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Well, he's continuing to flout social distancing and guidelines. On Sunday, Mr. bolson are disregarding public health advice, posing for photographs with a crowd of supporters. In South Korea, researchers have linked more than 100 cases of Coronavirus to a single fitness class, showing how quickly the virus can spread. They found eight instructors who initially tested positive went on to infect their dozens of students, who in turn, spread the virus to other people. Researchers believe the warm moist atmosphere of the sports facilities may have led to the dense transmission rates.
The number of daily confirmed cases in the U.K., well, that's been trending downwards in recent days. But let's be clear, the danger far from over as the nation's healthcare workers can attest. A new survey from the Royal College of Physicians finds nearly half of U.K. doctors fear for their health. That number rises to 76 percent among black Asian and ethnic minority doctors. And nearly 17 percent of those surveyed say, in the last two weeks, they have been unable to access personal protective equipment. Meanwhile, 10 Downing Street trying to fast track a Coronavirus vaccine and offering more resources to do it. Max Foster reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: The British government pledging another $100 million towards accelerating the U.K. vaccine program. Two centers, one at Oxford University, one at Imperial College in London. A hugely ambitious timeline, though, because they also say they're working with a drug company AstraZeneca to make 30 million doses available by September. We don't even know if they're going to be able to develop a vaccine yet. The government's also announcing that they've recruited more than 17,000 contact tracers, the people who will be charged with tracking down anyone who's been in contact with someone who's had the virus. That's due to be in place for the beginning of June, when schools and shops are going to start or they're due to start reopening if the infection rate doesn't rise rapidly.
Boris Johnson also acknowledging frustration over the complex easing of England's lockdown. It's off the back of criticism that the messaging was confused. Also, concerns about the way the different nations of the United Kingdom appear to be on different paths on their own lockdowns. All issues, no doubt due to come up at Monday's Downing Street virus briefing. Max Foster, CNN, Windsor, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Italy will begin to further relax its lockdown measures in the hours ahead, taking what the Prime Minister calls a calculated risk as the country enters the next phase of reopening. Italy's health minister urging people to remain prudent as they go out and risk contact with someone who could be contagious. Italy, of course, hit very hard early in the pandemic. The country Sunday though reporting its lowest daily increase of deaths since early March. The U.S. goes after his predecessor, yes, again, Barack Obama warned of a pandemic and had a playbook in place, but that's not how the president tells it. And the Coronavirus pandemic prompting some bad economic news for Japan now in a recession. We'll have a live report from Tokyo when we come back.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He was an incompetent president. That's all I can say. Grossly incompetent. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The U.S. President slamming his predecessor, again. Donald Trump has been leveling all sorts of unproven allegations against the former President Barack Obama in recent days. This latest insult coming after Obama told graduating seniors that the crisis had exposed the shortcomings of America's current leaders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: More than anything, this pandemic is fully finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they're doing. A lot of them aren't even pretending to be in charge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Donald Trump's claim that then-President Obama was grossly incompetent, doesn't really ring true, especially when you hear remarks like this from 2014, that proved just how prescient his predecessor actually was.
[01:29:22]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: There may and likely will come a time in which we have both an airborne disease that is deadly. And in order for us to deal with that, effectively, we have to put in place an infrastructure, not just here at home, but globally, that allows us to see it quickly, isolate it quickly, respond to it quickly. So, that if and when a new strain of flu like the Spanish Flu crops up five years from now, or a decade from now, we've made the investment. And we're further along to be able to catch it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: Now Barack Obama, of course, inherited a massive recession
when he took office in 2008 and spent a good part of his presidency trying to fix it.
Well now, the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman is warning this time around it could take a while to recover. Here is what he told CBS' "60 Minutes".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE: This economy will recover. It may take a while. It may take a period of time. It could stretch through the end of next year. We really don't know.
SCOTT PELLEY, CBS HOST: Can there be a recovery without a reasonably effective vaccine?
POWELL: Assuming there is not a second wave of the coronavirus. I think you will see the economy recover steadily through the second half of this year.
For the economy to fully recover, people will have to be fully confident and that may have to await the arrival of a vaccine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, on Monday, the U.S. President is set to meet with leaders of the restaurant industry, which of course has been one of the hardest hit sectors of the U.S. economy. Among other things, they are expected to talk about government stimulus efforts.
And the stimulus package that passed the U.S. House on Friday could be in danger in the Republican controlled senate, almost certainly will be. The Heroes Act which authorizes some $3 trillion in relief would be the largest ever. White House trade advisor Peter Navarro criticized Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for provisions in the bill including payments to illegal immigrants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAVARRO: So Nancy Pelosi basically lost me with that package when she has $1,200 checks to immigrants. And it just goes downhill from there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now the bill is unlikely to pass the Senate, as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already called it dead on arrival and President Trump has threatened a veto, even were it to pass in the Senate.
Japan also facing a harsh economic reality. First quarter GDP data showing the country has slipped into a recession for the first time in four and a half years.
I'm joined for more on that by journalist Kaori Enjoji in Tokyo. Sobering numbers -- what's the impact and what's the plan? KAORI ENJOJI, JOURNALIST: Well, the impact is going to be that the
Japanese government and companies here need to take unprecedented measures because this first quarter number is going to seem optimistic compared to the economy right now.
The quarterly decline is at 0.9 percent which is pretty much in line with expectations. Technically yes, we are in a recession but the fear is that we could see a drop on an annualized basis of more than 20 percent. I'm hearing numbers as high as 25 percent in the current quarter which would mean that Japan's economy is in the worst shape it has been since the end of the Second World War.
Exports are drying up. We know very clearly now how reliant it is on the supply chains particularly coming from China. And the tourism and the Olympics -- both of these factors were supposed to be big support for the economy this year but those are gone now.
And consumption, even before the state of emergency was declared in April, was starting to falter. So no one was buying anything then and they certainly aren't buying it now. So the outlook for the economy here looking very, very bleak -- Michael.
HOLMES: You know, you touched on something there on supply chains. And I'm curious. In the U.S. we've seen a lot of talk about reducing dependency on foreign manufacturing, particularly dependence on China. What is Japan's position on that?
ENJOJI: Japan has made it very, very clear this time around, that it is going to pay money if your company is considering building production here, moving those factories away from China and building them here. So the rhetoric that you're hearing from the Japanese government is very similar to the rhetoric that you're hearing from the U.S. administration in trying to get companies less reliant on China.
I mean complete decoupling, everyone will tell you, is impossible. But maybe if you are looking to diversify, if you're looking to apply for those funds since you need the money, this might be the right time to do it.
I mean buried in the lines of the stimulus package with a small piece that said, look, the Japanese government is willing to spend $2.2 billion to make that transfer. So maybe you can't build a huge factory like a car factory in Japan now. It's probably not viable.
But if you're on a business like A.I. or robotics, or 3D printing -- these are things that technology-wise Japan is still very good in. It doesn't require a whole lot of land. This could provide further momentum for that.
So a move like this in peaceful (ph) times Michael -- might be criticized as protectionist, but hey we are in very unprecedented times, and the government could launch these kind of things saying it is in the name of national security -- Michael.
[01:34:57] HOLMES: Yes, fascinating. Kaori -- thanks you for that. Kaori Enjoji
there in Tokyo.
All right. Quick break.
The coronavirus has been relatively slow to hit most of Africa. Now the continent seeing a surge in cases and needs lifesaving equipment urgently. We'll see how doctors and nurses are coping in Kenya.
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HOLMES: India reporting its biggest surge in new daily infections with more than 5,200 new cases over just the past 24 hours. The country extending its lockdown until May 31st at least.
CNN's Vedika Sud is standing by for us in New Delhi. Tell us more about the numbers and the lockdown.
VEDIKA SUD, CNN PRODUCER: You know, Michael -- the debate here as in other countries has been lives versus livelihood. And now in phase 4 of this lockdown that was announced just last night by the foreign (ph) ministry of the Indian government, we've got to know that they will be easing norms further.
But here is what they're doing which is different from the other three lockdowns. They are now asking the states to make decisions themselves -- taking decisions for all the states in the territories of India. They've asked them to go ahead and to reformat the zones in their respective states.
This of course meaning containment areas, red zone areas, green zone areas, and orange areas. After which they can decide whether they want to open up the economy a bit or open up the offices a bit more, but within the guidelines issued by the Indian government.
Now this interestingly comes at a time like you just mentioned when we've crossed over 5,000 cases in the last 24 hours. This is the highest that we've seen a jump off in the last 24 hours, and this is worrying because even on Sunday, we saw close to 5,000 new cases in India.
This comes at a time when the Seat of Maharashtra (ph) has at least one-third of the total number of cases that India is witnessing.
[01:39:55]
SUD: So now, the plan is over the next few days, the states are going to announce their very own guidelines within the larger framework that has been announced by the Indian government. We'll get to see whether they're going to allow 100 percent attendance in offices, whether some shopping areas will be opened. Will they be staggering hours?
All of these questions will be answered over the next few days in India -- Michael.
HOLMES: And before I let you go -- I mean, what Phase 4 mean for India's poor? How are they being impacted, not just by Phase 4, but by all of this?
SUD: Important question you ask Michael because they've been affected the most out of the population in India. You do know that India has announced, the Prime Minister of India announced last week a huge stimulus package of $266 billion for India which amounts to about 10 percent of India's GDP.
Now part of that is dedicated to the poor, as well as the migrant workers. What we do know is that for the next two months, the Indian government is going to feed the poor and migrant workers of India. Three square meals is what they're going to be provided. The numbers could be 18 million migrants and poor people that could benefit from three square meals that the Indian government offers.
We also know at this point in time that jobs are being offered to the unemployed in rural areas. This is a scheme that has been announced since April as far as the Indian government is concerned.
What's important and to be noted is that India, the government of India, has also gone ahead and asked for special trains to operate which it has been for the last 10 days, where we see 30,000 people -- or 30,000 trains rather also go ahead and take people home.
The numbers are (INAUDIBLE) that 1,150 special trains have been operating. This ahs already taken about 1.5 million migrant workers and poor people back to their homes. But we're still seeing them walk home. We're seeing them walk for miles. We're seeing some of them die of starvation.
A lot of them have died because of accidents, piling onto a truck that's going from one state to the other. It's extremely unfortunate and this remains one of the biggest challenges that the Indian government is facing as we speak -- Michael.
HOLMES: Some very tragic cases. Vedika Sud, thank you so much there in Delhi.
Africa seeing a hot spot of coronavirus cases now. Some leaders have downplayed the threat of the virus and ignored social distancing guidelines.
"The New York Times" reporting some doctors in Nigeria are begging for personal protective equipment. And have only looser fitting surgical masks to wear while treating patients. And many health care workers don't have the training needed to operate ventilator if their country has any or many ventilators. "The Times" reporting in Nigeria, doctors and nurses have become so infected that hospitals are rarely accepting new patients.
South Africa Sunday reported a record number of new cases, more than 1,100 in a day. The country has 15,000 confirmed cases, more than 250 deaths reported at least.
And Kenya closing its borders with Tanzania and Somalia and extending a curfew. And while Kenya has closed its borders, new cases are still on the rise there and doctors in Nairobi sounding the alarm. They warned that if the numbers go much higher, they will not have enough ventilators to save their patients.
But that is just part of the problem as Farai Sevenzo reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FARAI SEVENZO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Doctors at Kenyatta University Hospital, Nairobi's largest COVID-19 dedicated intensive care ward, are grateful for a nearly empty ICU.
With less than a thousand confirmed cases in Kenya, head doctor Dr. Isaac Adembesa says admissions have been few so far. Roughly 200 COVID-19 patients have been treated here, seven of them needed intensive care. But the numbers are rising.
DR. ISAAC ADEMBESA, HEAD DOCTOR, KENYATTA UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: We have a 25-bed capacity. That is not enough. If we get more than 24 patients requiring ventilation, then we are definitely going to have a problem.
SEVENZO: A chronic shortage of lifesaving equipment in the region has doctors like Adembesa bracing themselves while the World Health Organization and private entities race to deliver much-needed equipment across Africa.
DR. ADEMBESA: As a hospital, we have requested 400 more ventilators. We've yet to receive any so far.
SEVENZO: But there's one thing he says he's thankful the hospital does have.
DR. ADEMBESA: We are lucky we have an oxygen plant which generates oxygen. I know quite a number of hospitals rely on oxygen cylinders and that can really be a challenge, especially if you get huge numbers of patients at once.
I can imagine maybe the top (ph) land areas of Kenya, you know, they have to travel several kilometers to get access to these cylinders.
SEVENZO: Kenya's government has vowed to mass manufacture ventilators to meet the demand. But Dr. Wangari Siika, an intensive care specialist at Aga Khan University Hospital says sourcing equipment is only part of the problem.
[01:45:00]
DR. WANGARI SIIKA, INTENSIVE CARE SPECIALIST, AGA KHAN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: The bigger problem is the human resource, the technical know-how to operate the machines and operate them safely, to guide the care on a day-to-day basis, hour to hour basis.
SEVENZO: Critical care as a former specialty is fairly new in Kenya. Kenya has about 20 intensive care specialist countrywide, most of them in the capital, Nairobi. Much of the country's critical care needs have fallen in the hands of anesthesiologist of which there are less of 200 in a country of about 50 million people.
SIIKA: What we could do, as we say, is to network and introduced what we called tele-ICU, and tele-medicine for intensive care units. Well, I'm in Nairobi and I can have a number of ICUs that contact me, tell me they receive such a patient. We've done thins. They say, oh, try this. They meet back in an hour and we keep doing that until ultimately they are able to do what we are able to do.
SEVENZO: And their team is hopeful, but they are spread thin.
SIIKA: If we have a situation where one person can take three or even five ICUs around the country, amongst the 20 of us, I think that would give us some good results.
SEVENZO: Around the world, COVID-19 has revealed absences in health systems as hospitals struggle to cope with the outbreak. In Kenya, it has shown the gap in critical care.
SIIKA: There is a rule for the intensivist, not just with COVID-19, but COVID-19 has brought it to the fore. And I think at the end of this, as a nation we will realize how important it is to train critical care specialists.
SEVENZO: Farai Sevenzo, CNN -- Nairobi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: It is two weeks before the official start of the hurricane season and we are already seeing the first named storm of the year heading straight toward North Carolina. We're going to have a live weather update after the break.
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HOLMES: Well, North Carolina bracing for the first named storm of 2020. Tropical storm Arthur threatened to bring high winds, lots of rain.
Let's check in now with meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. Good to see you -- Pedram.
I mean it used to be unusual for this to happen, these named storms before the start of the season. It is happening a lot lately.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. Sixth consecutive year -- Michael. It's a great point. 6th consecutive year, we have had a pre- June 1st or pre-official start to their hurricane season, tropical system form across the Atlantic Ocean. And of course, if you take a look, certainly not a menacing storm system on its satellite depiction. It is a tropical system. It's a tropical storm.
And of course, we've seen plenty of tropical systems whether it be weak or strong causing significant impacts on the coastal area of eastern United States. But rain bands already beginning to push in across portions of the Carolinas and we expect, I guess around the outer banks region here on Monday afternoon to be most directly impacted by the storm system.
But you'll notice the steering environment fortunately as such here the closest approach should keep it within say 50 or so miles away from say Cape Hatteras which at this point it is about 200 miles away where it is going to near before it begins to skirt off towards the east.
And you can thank that incoming storm system off the eastern U.S. to kind of nudge the storm out of the way. But the national hurricane scenario, the local weather are certainly taking this seriously.
You do have tropical storm warnings in place there for winds as high as 60 miles per hour. As much as 3 inches could come down, but, you know, rip currents for anyone thinking it's a good idea to go out to beaches, but it's as dangerous as it gets here for our first named storm of the season as the storm Jim comes in with a very close proximity of the coastal storm there of North Carolina. But fortunately it is going to skirt off short.
Now, what is -- I'm not going to be that chase is what is happening across the Bay of Bengal (ph), you've got India to the West, you've Bangkok in Thailand, of course, in areas farther toward the east there. But this storm system twice the size of the cate of Texas when you measure the cloud field and the equivalent to a super typhoon at this hour, or a strong category 4 hurricane.
You notice when we talk about the Bay of Bengal, seven of the top 10 deadliest cyclones of all time, have occurred across the regions of Bangladesh and on into Myanmar. So certainly a menacing storm system and just kind of putting more references on this 1970. There's Bhola. That cyclone took with it half a million lives overnight.
That's the deadliest on record. More recently in Nargis, took with it over 130,000 lives, just 12 years ago with one landfall.
So again, an area not only densely populated. We know across this region and southern Bangladesh, we do have the largest refugee camp in the world right now. So when you look at a storm system that potentially moves ashore as a category 3 equivalent on Wednesday afternoon, Wednesday evening.
Kolkata, home to 14 million and of course, course, the refugee camp a little farther towards the east and south of this region. So this is going to be a very big story for this part of the world once it makes landfall-- Michael.
HOLMES: That is scary. Look at the size of that thing. Ok we've got to leave it here. I appreciate that. Pedram Javaheri there.
Now, this weekend, Australia called on crocodile wranglers, chefs and celebrities to livestream the best of Down Under. As CNN's Lynda Kinkade reports it is out of a push to entice Australians to travel in their own country when it is safe to do so. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: From its stunning sunsets over Uluru to finding nemo in the Great Barrier Reef, Australians kicked off their travel bucket list this week without even leaving home. The virtual event posted by Tourism Australia and used to inspire people to plan a trip once restrictions are lifted.
Crocodile wrangler Matt Wright, put his body on the line to lure people out of their homes.
MATT WRIGHT: I've worked with crocodiles my whole life. And wildlife is my whole life. What I do is very risky job.
KINKADE: And in the coming months, many will weigh the risks on whether to travel.
PHILIPPA HARRISON, TOURISM, AUSTRALIA MANAGING DIRECTOR: Australians took 6.5 million outbound trips last year so there is a real opportunity to encourage those people, taking those trips to discover their own backyard.
KINKADE: The push to holiday at home is being eyed as a potential coronavirus recovery model for other countries.
HARRISON: Yes, I do think it is a big opportunity for the U.S. market.
[01:55:00]
KINKADE: Well, we know Chinese visitors are typically the biggest travelers to Australia. They still can't come. How much is that going to affect business?
MATT STONE, CO-EXECUTIVE CHIEF, OAKRIDGE RESTAURANT: We'll kind of scale up, you know, has the laws and restrictions scale up and stuff. So it's just a matter of adapting --
KINKADE: 2020 has delivered Australia a double blow. First came the worst bushfire season on record.
CHAD STAPLES, ZOOKEEPER: There was a lot of habitat lost, a lot of damage, you know, potential extinction events really.
KINKADE: A Kylie Minogue (ph) tourism ad to convince Brits to come to Aus was quickly derailed as defiance took hold.
Tourism Australia urge people to holiday locally.
CHRIS HEMSWORTH, ACTOR: Spread the word, Australia is open. That's the truth and (INAUDIBLE).
KINKADE: Less than two weeks later, Australia was closed again. The coronavirus forcing a lockdown.
Australia has had a pretty tough run.
HARRISON: We have faced the most challenging period in the history of Australia and tourism over the last six months.
KINKADE: With restrictions starting to ease, there's hope business will be back and so to the tourists.
STAPLES: I have no doubt that there are some animals that are desperate for people to come back.
KINKADE: Lynda Kinkade, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, from football to golf, professional sports shut down by the pandemic are slowly starting to come back. In Germany, they Bundesliga held its first few matches over the weekend. No fans in attendance, some good football though.
In the U.S., NASCAR held its first race since the season was suspended. Driver Kevin Harvey coming out on top earning his 50th cup series victory.
Meanwhile, a charity golf match in Florida helped raise millions for pandemic relief. Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson won the event which was held a month before the PGA tour resumes.
Thanks for joining me, spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes.
Stick around though. NEWSROOM with Robyn Curnow coming up next. You'll enjoy that.
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