Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
U.S. Military Helping L.A. Hospitals Revamp Oxygen Systems; U.K. To Reactivate Emergency Field Hospitals; U.K.'s NHS Rolls Out Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine On Monday; Broadcasting Legend Larry King Hospitalized With COVID-19; Republican Senators Plan To Oppose Certification Of Biden's Win; Appeals Court Dismisses Gohmert's Suit Against Pence; Georgia Runoff To Determine Party Controlling Senate; Calls For White House To Step Up Over Slow Vaccine Rollout; L.A. County Reporting One COVID-19 Death Every 10 Minutes. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired January 03, 2021 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hi, welcome to all our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. Thanks for joining me. I'm Robyn Curnow.
Coming up on the show, COVID is pushing hospitals across the U.S. to the absolute brink. We'll show you how military personnel are helping doctors in one state cope with the surge there.
A group of Republican senators trying to derail Joe Biden's election victory but, with it unlikely to work, we ask, why are they doing it?
And thousands are gathering in Baghdad's Tahrir Square, marking the first anniversary of the U.S. drone strike that killed Iran's top general. We're live in the region with the latest.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Robyn Curnow.
CURNOW: Good to have you along this hour.
The U.S. remains the center of the global pandemic, with a staggering 350,000 deaths so far. Take a look at these images, no other country comes even close. According to Johns Hopkins University, nearly 300,000 new cases of COVID were reported on Saturday. That may include cases not reported during the New Year holiday.
Public health officials fear another surge is coming because of recent holiday gatherings and the rollout of vaccinations across the U.S. remains painfully slow. U.S. health officials say nearly 4 million Americans have received their first shot. But that's only a fraction of the 13 million doses that have been distributed so far.
Now the health crisis here in the U.S. is especially severe in Southern California. The state reported more than 53,000 new cases just on Saturday and nearly 400 deaths. Hospitals in Los Angeles are so crowded that they're struggling to deliver lifesaving oxygen to COVID patients.
As Paul Vercammen explains, the military is stepping in to help.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The COVID-19 tsunami in California is stretching resources so thin that the Army Corps of Engineers has now jumped into the fight here in Los Angeles, serving some seven hospitals to improve the oxygen supply line to those COVID patients, who are gasping for breath.
Here's what they are seeing at these hospitals.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COL. JULIE BALTEN, U.S. ARMY CORPS: We went to one hospital and they had two tents outside and one of the tents -- one of the tents they were seeing COVID patients. And it is just -- they were tied into their mechanical systems. And so that's just an additional strain.
So we're trying to assess how we can reduce the strain on their facilities and their mechanical spaces and O2, oxygen distribution as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERCAMMEN: The Army Corps also serving White Memorial Hospital in Boyle Heights, where they now have 180 COVID patients. And the hospital members here, the head of the ER, celebrating the arrival of the Army Corps of Engineers.
DR. STEPHEN LIU, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN: That's exactly right. These folks just can't get enough oxygenation into their blood, into their bodies. And that's what makes it so hard. These patients need so much oxygen and there are so many patients.
And so the two taken together, it's really taxing the system. These oxygen lines can only carry so many liters per minute and we're approaching the upper limits of those.
VERCAMMEN: The Army Corps of Engineers supporting this hospital, as it is with other hospitals in Los Angeles and here at White Memorial, we're also seeing members of the National Guard helping to treat this influx, this unending influx of patients -- reporting from Los Angeles, I'm Paul Vercammen, now back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Thanks, Paul, for that.
In the U.K., a surge of coronavirus cases is threatening to overwhelm hospitals and intensive care units there. On Saturday, the country recorded its highest daily rise in cases since the pandemic began. The governor says more than 57,000 new cases were registered.
All of this as much of England remains under the toughest level of COVID restrictions. Salma Abdelaziz joins us from London; she's at an emergency field hospital that is about to be reactivated due to the surge in cases.
What can you tell us?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: Hi, Robyn. You see the massive conference center behind me, the XL Center in London, one of the Nightingale Hospitals, one of the seven units being reactivated across the country to help deal with the overflow of coronavirus patients.
[05:05:00]
ABDELAZIZ: There is questions being asked about, how do you staff this massive building when you already have staff stretched to the limits inside the hospitals, already have ICU capacity teetering on the edge, how do you bring equipment in as well?
The government is talking about bringing in troops, bringing in the military, to try to staff these locations and potentially, within days, we could see patients, they might be non-COVID patients but we could see patients lining up or being treated in this center behind me here.
One medical director described this plan as essentially an insurance policy of last resort. It just shows how dire this situation is here. And it is indeed dire.
We now have more patients in hospitals with coronavirus than at any point before. Prime minister Boris Johnson just speaking in an interview on the Sunday talk shows a short time ago and having to address this during a very sobering and dark time.
The prime minister, of course, saying that there could be more restrictions rolled out in the next few weeks. We already have England, three-quarters of the population living under the toughest rules, living under localized lockdown.
The prime minister indicating that maybe those restrictions aren't enough, that more rules could be put into place, that potentially we could be looking at a full lockdown, something similar to what we saw in the spring.
But the prime minister also pointing to the hope that is seen in this rollout, that is set for tomorrow, the Oxford University AstraZeneca vaccine set to be given for first time tomorrow.
What we heard from the government over and over again is that things will get better by the spring. Things will be easier by the spring. But the prime minister kind of gave us a little bit of detail on why that is, saying that, essentially, 2million people a week would need to be vaccinated to make that promise of everything getting better by the spring. Just to give you an idea, Robyn, so far, it's been about three weeks of the vaccination program and only about 1 million people have been vaccinated. So you're talking about a serious ramping-up of this vaccination program to make that promise -- Robyn.
CURNOW: And a serious dose of optimism from the prime minister. Salma Abdelaziz, thanks so much.
Earlier I asked a health expert how quickly the U.K. and other countries can catch up with the virus so that vaccine shots start overtaking new infections?
Well, here's part of my conversation with Oksana Pyzik, a global health expert at University College London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OKSANA PYZIK, GLOBAL HEALTH EXPERT, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: This is a long game so we shouldn't look at that the fact that these vaccines are starting to roll out. These will not necessarily save the lives of people who are already getting infected.
This is why we need to continue these public health measures, along with more aggressive vaccination rollout. And that requires ensuring that we have upscaling of staff and more resources dedicated toward this rollout.
But again, this is not going to be something that even here we've had the prime minister say that we should be able to get enough protection by Easter 2021. But at the current rate of vaccination, that is actually not a realistic estimate.
CURNOW: What is your take than on this mix and match vaccine regimen that the U.K. is saying it's going to be OK to cross-use different vaccines?
This contradicts U.S. guidelines.
Is this a pragmatic health policy, a sign a desperation or is this the U.K. being the Wild West of vaccinations, as suggested by some?
PYZIK: I think there is some misconception around this particular piece of guidance that has been issued. We heard from Public Health England to clarify that this would be under extremely rare circumstances, in which it would be either not possible to trace what type of vaccine was first in a patient of if there's a critical shortage, that it wouldn't be possible to deliver the second vaccine doses.
So rather than missing out the second dose altogether, it would be better for a patient to receive another vaccine. Again, this is not something that is going to be widely encouraged but would be a very narrow set of circumstances.
And also an example of how clinical trials have these perfect conditions, that really center around a smaller group of people. But when we roll that out to the population level, it would be naive to think that we wouldn't run into hiccups, that it's going to look exactly the same.
This is actually a move that, in the U.K., it was already covered, that the situation is extremely serious, it is looking to get worse. And this is the way that the U.K. can solve, at least with that gap of potentially extending it for 12 weeks.
[05:10:00]
PYZIK: Instead of what was followed in the exact clinical trial, that this would allow a broader set of the population to have some sort of protection. And that's because of the circumstances we're currently in and the measures that need to be taken.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Thanks there to Oksana Pyzik at the University College London.
And legendary talk show host Larry King has been hospitalized for COVID, according to a source close to his family. The 87-year old hosted "LARRY KING LIVE," a go-to show on CNN here for 25 years. Brian Stelter now reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Larry King, a giant of broadcasting, is the latest high-profile individual to come down with the coronavirus and require hospitalization.
King is 87 years old; he has been at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for more than a week, according to a source close to his family. Due to COVID-19 protocols, his sons have not been able to visit him in the hospital. King is in isolation, like so many others, who are struggling with COVID-19 at this time.
Right now, we know that in the United States about 125,000 Americans are hospitalized. That was the figure on Friday; just a slightly lower figure on Saturday, as coronavirus continues to challenge, in some cases, overwhelm the hospital system in areas like Los Angeles.
King is a television mainstay and a CNN legend. His program, "LARRY KING LIVE," aired here on CNN for 25 years and he remained active in his days and weeks and years after CNN. He hosted a program for Ora TV as recently as November, covering the 2020 election.
Of course, he is an expert at telling other people's stories. Right now his own story is in the news. Hopefully, soon he will be able to recover and tell his own experience, share his own story about having to fight off this nasty virus -- Brian Stelter, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Much more to come, including a look at the increasingly desperate efforts to reverse the Trump election loss. Some Republican senators have a plan but it is causing a rift in their party. Plus the pressure is on in state of Georgia, ahead of two high-stakes
runoff elections for the U.S. Senate. Candidates are taking the last few days to make sure they are heard. That's next, too.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:15:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CURNOW: Welcome back. It is 16 minutes past the hour.
Now more than a dozen Republican senators say they will oppose certification of Joe Biden's election win. Despite a total lack of credible evidence of widespread voter fraud, 11 lawmakers said Saturday they will join with Missouri senator Josh Hawley and object to the counting of the electoral votes when Congress meets on January 6th.
Four of them were elected and one re-elected in the vote they will refuse to certify.
Not all Republican lawmakers, though, are on board. Some condemn it as an attempt to thwart the will of people. But they're coming under attack from the president himself. Here is Boris Sanchez with that-- Boris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump getting welcome news on Saturday after confirmation that a least a dozen Republican senators are planning to object to the results of the Electoral College when they're certified by Congress on January 6th.
The president had been campaigning for this publicly for some time and now these dozen Republican senators led by Ted Cruz, are saying they want to essentially look at the allegations of widespread election fraud, even though the president and his team have not been able to provide any.
Here's a portion of the statement from Cruz and crew.
They write, quote, "We are not naive. We fully expect most if not all Democrats and perhaps more than a few Republicans to vote otherwise. But support of election integrity should not be a partisan issue."
We should point out those allegations of widespread fraud are coming from the president and the White House. And they've not been able to corroborate any of these allegations of widespread fraud.
These lawmakers are calling for a 10-day audit to exhaustively review the results from multiple states. Clearly their effort is not going to work and they acknowledged that they simply don't have the numbers, especially in the House of Representatives. Other Republicans are coming out against this effort, including Lisa
Murkowski of Alaska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, one of those states where there's a lot of debate over the results of the election, at least on the Republican side.
Here's a portion of a statement from Senator Toomey released on Saturday.
He writes, quote, "The evidence is overwhelming that Joe Biden won this election. His narrow victory in Pennsylvania is easily explained by the decline in suburban support for President Trump and the president's slightly smaller victory margins in most rural counties.
"I voted for President Trump and endorsed him for reelection. But on Wednesday, I intend to vigorously defend our form of government by opposing this effort to disenfranchise millions of voters in my state and others."
Now examining the motivation behind these 12 senators' objections, some of them are clearly trying to stake their ground for a potential 2024 run, including Senators Hawley and Cruz.
Others may simply be doing this for survival. There is serious concern among Republicans about coming out against President Trump on the issue of an objection on January 6th. Just look at the way he went after John Thune, the number two Republican senator, calling for the senator from South Dakota to be primaried over his dismissal of Hawley's objection.
The president clearly still holds the reins of the Republican Party and he is exercising that power in a way where establishment Republicans are clearly bending to his will -- Boris Sanchez, CNN, at the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Thanks, Boris, for that.
A lawsuit filed by U.S. House Republican Louie Gohmert is taking another loss in court. On Saturday a federal court dismissed an appeal filed by Gohmert after a Trump-appointed judge threw the case out the day before.
[05:20:00]
CURNOW: He sought to force vice president Mike Pence to interfere in the Electoral College vote count. Pence, through his lawyers, asked the court to reject the lawsuit.
Earlier I spoke to Thomas Gift, a political science lecturer at the University College London and the director of the UCL Center on U.S. politics. And I asked him about this move by senators and whether it is less about the outcome and more about the act. This is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) THOMAS GIFT, POLITICAL SCIENCE LECTURER, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: I
do think that this is mostly political theater. But we still shouldn't underestimate how dangerous of a precedent it sets for U.S. senators to aid and abet Trump's baseless allegations of electoral fraud.
I do think that it's largely about political ambitions, about political survival. But over recent months, efforts to prove voting irregularities have faced defeat in roughly 60 court cases and to still see this response now from elected leaders is extremely regrettable.
It's important to emphasize that the vast majority of Republicans on Capitol Hill don't support this effort. Mitch McConnell opposes it and the ploy won't change the fact, as you suggest, that Joe Biden will be sworn in on January 20th.
But the fact that it's likely to garner the support of nearly a dozen Republican senators, including senator Hawley, senator Ted Cruz and senator Marsha Blackburn, is really partisanship, I think, at its worst. And what it reveals is how it strongly the grip Trump maintains over certain elements of the GOP.
Clearly many Republican lawmakers just view this as furthering their own political ambitions.
CURNOW: Yes, I mean so many ways this is being seen perhaps as a loyalty test to Mr. Trump by some of these Republicans and then, of course, you are talking about the pushback.
As you say listen, Mr. Biden, one, let's just move on and deal with the future.
So with this push and pull between the Republican Party, where does that leave the Republicans and particularly the political landscape post Trump?
GIFT: I think the most problematic aspect of this is for U.S. democracy writ large. This January 6th standoff is going to do serious harm for U.S. democracy. Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution, for example, said in "The Washington Post" recently that it is not the short-term turbulence that should worry Americans. Joe Biden will be inaugurated and that's not in doubt.
He said it's the fact that we're at a point where a non-trivial number of GOP politicians feel that it's appropriate to call into question this most basic precept of U.S. democracy, the integrity of free and fair elections, despite all the evidence pointing to the legitimacy of those elections.
So I think this does do serious harm to the Republican brand. I think it turns off a lot of moderates. And many are just going to see this for what it is, a last-ditch political ploy. This is why Mitch McConnell really wants to avoid this. I don't think he's going to be able to do that. And we'll see how the party evolves with Trump going forward.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Our thanks to Thomas Gift at University College London.
After Georgia went Democratic blue in the presidential elections, Republicans became keenly aware of how important it is to turn out the Trump base in the Georgia Senate runoffs.
But with the president casting doubt about the election results, the two Georgia Republican candidates will have their work cut out for them. Here is Kyung Lah with this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Senator Kelly Loeffler is one of the three candidates crisscrossing the state days ahead of Georgia's Senate runoff elections. Three out of the four candidates are out campaigning. Senator David Perdue, one of the Republican incumbents, is not out on the trail. He's campaigning from his home, holding virtual events, after coming into contact with a COVID positive person on the campaign trail.
But from his home and the candidates on the trail, they're all focusing on Tuesday's turnout.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R-GA): The energy level is exactly where it was in November, when the polls had me down 5 points. We won by 2. As a matter of fact, 52.5 percent of Georgians rejected Jon Ossoff and his Democratic liberal agenda in November.
Same thing happened in 2014. I don't put a lot of stock in polls. I look at this early voting and I'm very confident, with the president coming Monday night, the vice president coming Monday, and what we're doing with our team over the next three days.
JON OSSOFF (D-GA), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: After 4 years of hatred and racism and division and bigotry, Georgia is going to make a statement of love and decency and compassion and unity, because that is what Georgia stands for.
SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER (R-IL): The very fabric of this country will be shred apart. The American dream will be impossible and our country will be unrecognizable. So we have to hold the line here in. Georgia
RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: Because my mama said, it's not what they call you, it's what you answer to. And in just a few days, she can call me Senator Raphael Warnock.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:25:00]
LAH: Now Republicans feeling the pressure after 3 million people voted early in Georgia. That is the early vote ahead of Tuesday's election. Republicans have to turn out more of the people on Election Day. But they're facing some headwinds. President Trump has been
increasingly focused on January 6th, not January 5th. He's been tweeting that Tuesday's election is illegal and invalid.
The president is scheduled to be in the state of Georgia, supporting those two Republican senators on Monday, the day ahead of the election. And Republicans are wondering exactly what he is going to say -- Kyung Lah, CNN, Peachtree City, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Ahead on CNN, as the COVID pandemic reaches new heights in California, one restaurant owner talks about how difficult it is to keep his doors open.
Plus, 2020 is over. But the COVID hangover goes on. We'll hear how New Year's Eve celebrations turned into a profanity-ridden altercation with police.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CURNOW: Welcome back to viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. It is 29 minutes past the hour. I'm Robyn Curnow. You're, of course, watching CNN.
Across the U.S., COVID vaccinations are still happening at a slower pace than expected. The CDC says more than 13 million vaccines have been distributed so far but only 4.2 million have actually been administered to people.
The Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are authorized for use in the U.S. Each state is deciding for itself how to prioritize distribution.
[05:30:00]
CURNOW: The process really isn't going smoothly. In Texas, high demand for vaccines caused long lines, as you see here. And then in Houston a call center for making vaccine appointments crashed. At one point, it received about 250,000 calls for only 750 available slots.
In Florida, the state's vaccine rollout spurred long lines and plenty of confusion as well, as Dianne Gallagher now reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As of Saturday, just over 4.2 million Americans have received the first dose of one of the approved COVID-19 vaccines, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Now that is out of the more than 13 million that have already been distributed across the country. Therein lies an illustration of the problem the United States seems to be having, actually getting those shots into people's arms.
Now here in the state of Florida, the governor decided not to adhere to the recommendations of the CDC when it comes to who got that next phase of vaccines. Initially of course, it's the health care workers and those in the long term care facilities but the CDC says that Americans over the age of 75 and front line essential workers should be getting them next.
In the state of Florida, the governor decided anybody over the age of 65 will get the vaccine. And since making that decision, we have seeing long lines in the state of Florida and really a lot of confusion.
Each county within the state is doing something different. Some of them are administrating vaccines to those over the age of 65 on a first-come, first-served basis. We saw elderly people literally camping out overnight for a shot at, well, getting the shot.
Other counties were deciding to use appointments and they saw their phone lines and their websites crash from so much interest. Now we have talked to different people who have attempted to get the vaccine.
They say that the confusion is discouraging but, more than anything, they want that protection. So they are going to keep trying until they get it. But take the county I'm in, Lake County, they ran out of vaccines today. They're currently waiting for another shipment before they will be able to be continue vaccinating people who are over the age of 65 here in Florida -- Dianne Gallagher, CNN, Lake County, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: So California has reported more total COVID cases than all but six countries worldwide. And healthcare workers were being pushed to the brink as COVID cases soar and hospitals run out of beds.
Well, officials have issued stay-at-home orders and other restrictions for millions of Californians to help slow the spread of the virus. So while this may help cases, it is disastrous for many businesses, including restaurants.
The California Restaurant Association released this data, it says 900,000 to 1 million workers have either been laid off or furloughed since March. It is an economic nightmare for many people who rely on the industry to make a living and to support their families.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Brian Gruber is the executive chef and owner of Notorious Burgers Handcrafted Burgers and Beer in San Diego. He joins me now from California.
Brian, good to see you. So I understand you are staying open.
Why? BRIAN GRUBER, OWNER, NOTORIOUS BURGERS: We're staying open just because. We have to feed our employees. They have to feed their families. You know, we have been tossed back and forth with the opens and the closes.
And with the original closures, you know, they had said that, you know, as long as everybody keeps six feet apart, wears masks inside, you know, and sort of adheres to all the guidelines that are put out by the state, you know, everybody should be safe. And nothing has really changed since that happened.
CURNOW: So how many times have you opened and closed?
Or have you stayed open through the --
(CROSSTALK)
GRUBER: No, so we've opened and closed three times. So I've had to let all my staff go twice. And this is our third -- this is our third time. And this time, we decided we're not going to close. Our families need money. And that's just all we can do. If --
(CROSSTALK)
GRUBER: -- we close again, I'm just afraid that it will be the last time and we can't reopen.
CURNOW: This is in contravention of stay-at-home orders in the state.
How are authorities reacting to this very public decision of yours?
GRUBER: We have been visited by the police once and that's it.
CURNOW: Because you're open right now. I can hear your servers clanging plates in the background. You have customers there. Many people who are watching this around the world will say, this is a willful act of defiance, an act of public endangerment.
How do you react to that?
GRUBER: Well, like I said at the beginning, I don't feel that it is.
[05:35:00]
GRUBER: Like I said, we are adhering to all the guidelines that were put down by the state. And, you know, sort of flip-flopping that back and forth, it is just, you know, it is not fair for anybody.
And I don't feel like we're defying any laws because there aren't any laws made. We're just trying to make our living. We're trying to be as safe as possible while we're doing it.
And if there is any science that comes out, that says, yes, you know, these community outbreaks, these huge outbreaks are because of the restaurant industry, then, you know, I will happily close -- and, well, not happily but we will close and, you know, hopefully get some sort of help from the government to do so.
But you know, like I said --
(CROSSTALK)
CURNOW: Well, the science is out across the world. Restaurants have been closed by governments precisely because there is concern about the virus spreading in dark environments where you are at now, people sitting too close to each other, talking, eating with their masks off.
Obviously, you're also saying that there is an economic decision that you are making here.
Do you feel like authorities have made it a choice between public health or financial health?
And how do you feel by being in the middle of that?
GRUBER: I sort of feel like it is sort of, you know, they're shooting in the dark. And in my area, anyway, it is sort of a shot in the dark, because you have, you know, Vons is open, Target is open, Walmart is open, gyms are open, yoga studios are open.
These are all, you know, indoor activities that are going on. And I don't feel like a restaurant is any different.
CURNOW: Are your customers grateful?
Are your staff grateful?
What is the feedback?
GRUBER: Absolutely. I don't want to alienate anybody. I can respect everybody's opinions and if you're a little bit more worried about it or whatnot, we still offer the take-out. If you're not worried about it, you can come in and eat. We'll stay open until we get those cease and desist.
And if we get a cease and desist, then, like I said, we will close. I won't be happy about it but we will do it.
CURNOW: Brian Gruber of Notorious Burgers, thank you very much for joining us.
GRUBER: Thank you so much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Well, I want to take you now to a wild, wild scene near the Canadian capital of Ottawa, where at least one man was arrested and five other people were fined after an illegal New Year's Eve house party.
Look at this. It happened in Gatineau, Quebec. Six adults and one child were in the building at the time. But current COVID restrictions prohibit gatherings of that size. So authorities responded to a complaint about the party just before the turn of the new year.
A video posted on social media shows police in a confrontation laced with swearing. The bleeps you can hear were the man standing in the doorway. Authorities say five adults in the home each face fines of at least $1,000 for violating the Quebec lockdown rules.
Now India is the only country besides the U.S. to have more than 10 million cases of COVID-19. The death toll there is approaching 150,000 people and now the government is authorizing two vaccines for emergency use.
It held a nationwide drill on Saturday to help prepare for that rollout. One of the drugs was developed by scientists in India. The other is the Oxford University AstraZeneca vaccine, developed in the U.K. The government's initial plan is to vaccinate about 300 million people.
And Israel has managed to give vaccines to about one-tenth of its population and done it fairly quickly. But new cases are still on the rise there and the country's health minister warns the latest restrictions may need to be tightened. Elliott Gotkine has more from Tel Aviv.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just two weeks in and Israel has already administer vaccines to more than 1 million people. This out of a population of 9 million. There are three main reasons.
First and foremost, health care is universal, it's cheap and the HMOs know how to reach out to their members and to pluck out at risk groups to prioritize. And it's also set up for big events such as this vaccination campaign.
Second is politics. It's in the government's interest to vaccinate people as quickly as possible, not least because there are elections coming up in March.
And finally is geography. This is a small country. The population is pretty centralized. So logistically, it's much easier to vaccinate people here than in a country like the United States -- Elliott Gotkine, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Protesters are marking one year since the U.S. killing of Qasem Soleimani, one of Iran's top military commanders. The region is on edge with the U.S. and Iran trading accusations of ratcheting up tension in recent days. We'll have the latest. That's next.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:40:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CURNOW: A large crowd, as you can see here, gathered in Baghdad for a vigil to mark one year since the killing of a top Iranian general. People lit candles at the scene of the U.S. drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, one of Iran's most powerful military figures.
Tributes and a memorial service were broadcast on loudspeakers. The U.S. strike also killed a top Iraqi militia leader and protesters are filling Baghdad's Tahrir Square. This as the U.S. and Iran accuse each other of dialing up tensions in recent days.
Arwa Damon is following all of these developments from Istanbul.
You've been watching this; it is a pretty big anniversary so far. We're seeing these crowds in Iraq.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And here's what is interesting, Robyn, the paramilitary group whose commander was killed alongside Soleimani, their new leader has actually come out and said that today they have no intention of attempting to storm the U.S. embassy.
It was also a year ago, just a few days before Soleimani was killed, that this very same group did, in fact, try to storm the U.S. embassy, angered over a number of airstrikes carried out by the U.S. and other entities in the region, that ended up killing a number of their members.
But, yes, tensions between the U.S. and Iran have escalated to what some are saying is an alarming degree.
Now these protesters in Baghdad's Tahrir Square do have a number of specific demands. This is not just about the killing of Qasem Soleimani; this is also about what happened afterwards and that was, if you and our viewers would remember, that parliament then voted to have U.S. forces leave Iraq.
What these protesters are demanding is that the government actually fulfill and act upon that parliamentary vote.
[05:45:00]
DAMON: Now when we speak more broadly about the tensions that are ongoing between the U.S. and Iran, keeping in mind that the proxy battlefield between these two nations is and has quite often been Iraq, is that you have a number of U.S. officials within the Trump administration, who are saying that the threat being posed by Iran is the highest that it has ever been since the killing of Qasem Soleimani.
But this is where it gets very convoluted and confusing, Robyn. You have other officials, who come out and say that there is no intelligence to corroborate that. That's when it comes to the rhetoric.
And then we look at the actions of the United States. Last week, America flew nuclear-capable B-52 bombers over the Middle East, apparently signaling a show of force, flexing America's military might.
But at the same time, the U.S. withdrew one of its aircraft carriers from the Persian Gulf, seeming to be signaling some sort of a de- escalation.
You will also remember that, over the last few weeks, President Trump has convened his top military leadership, trying to look at different options when it comes to dealing with Iran.
And we also have all sorts of rhetoric coming out from the Iranian side, although that a bit more muted, compared to what we are hearing from the Americans.
But this most certainly has been a very, very tense time for the region but especially for Iraq because the vast majority of the population wants nothing, Robyn, nothing to do with the conflict, this brewing conflict, between the United States and Iran. They just want to be left alone and allowed to live.
CURNOW: Well, they've certainly had, you know, had more than enough of it. So, Arwa Damon there, thanks so much. Good to see you, my friend. Happy new year.
So when we come back, the women who symbolized an important part of Japanese culture are feeling the effects of the pandemic. How the coronavirus has taken a toll on Japan's legendary geishas. That story is next.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:50:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CURNOW: Welcome back. It is 50 minutes past the hour.
In Japan, geishas symbolize the country's culture better than almost anyone or anything else. They're recognized for their legendary wit and talent as entertainers. But their profession has been on the decline. And it has got more difficult with the pandemic, as Selina Wang now reports from Tokyo. Selena?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's an iconic Japanese image, the geisha. During the pandemic, the centuries-old profession is struggling to survive. Koiku has been a geisha for a decade in Tokyo's Akasaka district.
During Japan's state of emergency in the spring, she had almost no work. She says business is still less than half of pre-pandemic levels.
KOIKU, GEISHA (through translator): The scariest part is that we don't know when this is going to end. If the situation continues for a long time, I do not know how long we can survive for.
WANG (voice-over): Geishas are hired as upscale entertainment for banquets, celebrations and events. Famous for their beauty and wit, they spent their lives perfecting traditional Japanese dance, music and arts.
Daily preparation is also an art, applying white makeup, painting the face, perfecting the wig, tying the elaborate kimono. This one cost more than $10,000. There are hours of dance rehearsals then nights entertaining clients, often ending work past 2 am. Dining with a geisha can cost thousands of dollars but COVID has slashed spending.
Gatherings have been canceled. Even before COVID, geishas were in decline, with an aging clientele. Eight-year-old Ikuko, a practicing geisha and head of the Akasaka Geisha Association, remembers working in the area 50 years ago, when there were 400 geishas. She says today there are just 21.
IKUKO, AKASAKA GEISHA ASSOCIATION (through translator): We are struggling for survival. What we can do is train constantly to be prepared to perform at any moment.
WANG (voice-over): COVID-19 precautions make intimate conversations difficult, holding fans in front of their faces when speaking, dancing at least 2 meters away from clients. Japan's daily COVID cases continue to reach record highs, as the government urges people to dine in small groups.
The owner of the 350-year-old restaurant where Ikuko and Koiku perform says another prolonged state of emergency will kill his business.
Yet over in Tokyo's Fukugawa district, Sayuki, Japan's first Western geisha, is finding new ways to survive: banquets over Zoom.
SAYUKI, JAPAN'S FIRST WESTERN GEISHA: In many ways, we're doing a lot of new things that are a bit revolutionary in the geisha world.
WANG (voice-over): She's also trying to reach new customers like this 20-year-old college student. For about $100 per hour, people can invite a geisha for a casual conversation at a counter bar.
But Koiku and her colleagues are sticking to tradition for themselves and the craftsmen that make their kimonos, wigs, combs and instruments.
KOIKU (through translator): The banquets protect the jobs of Japanese craftsmen. Our role is to pass traditional culture to the next generation.
WANG (voice-over): As she waits for COVID-19 to pass, Koiku says all she can do now is practice and perfect her art -- Selina Wang, CNN, Tokyo. (END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Beautiful piece there, thank you, Selina, and her team.
CURNOW: So leave it to a pair of health care workers who took it way beyond hugs here, to turn a routine vaccination into a special occasion.
Nurse Eric Vanderlee was all set to give his long-time partner, paramedic Robbie Vargas-Cortes, a COVID shot. But when the paramedic rolled up his sleeve, the nurse spotted something taped to his arm, of course, a ring. Take a look at how it all played out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eric, you're using like a -- what is it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So it's been kind of a crazy year and it's been really a fun ride to have you in my life. So I just want to know --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God.
Is this happening?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you guys know this was going to happen?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Woohoo!
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: Well the new year has scarcely begun and pop star Harry Styles has already saved it with a stylish dance video from his new hit, which is aptly called, "Treat People with Kindness."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CURNOW (voice-over): The former One Direction member plays a night club singer who invites actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge to dance with him. In glorious black and white, the old Hollywood style clip has racked up more than 9 million views so far on YouTube. Of course, the message, no doubt, treat people with kindness, also hitting home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: That wraps up this hour of CNN. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Robyn Curnow. I'm going to hand you over to the team at "NEW DAY."
