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Virus Puts 20M People Under Travel Lockdown in China; Impeachment Managers Argue Trump Abused His Power; Top U.N. Court: Myanmar Must Take Steps to Prevent Genocide. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired January 24, 2020 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Studio Seven at CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta.

[00:00:28]

Ahead this hour, extreme measures. More than 20 million people under lockdown as China slams the doors shut, well after a new deadly virus has well and truly bolted.

Preemptive strike in defense of Joe Biden. Democrats try to shoot down a major part of the Trump defense strategy.

And yes, Myanmar, it was genocide, and it has to stop. The United Nations' highest court steps in to protect Rohingya refugees.

As the number of infections spread, and with the death toll rising sharply, fears are growing the world could be on the verge of a major health crisis. The so-called Wuhan coronavirus has now been been found in all but two of mainland China's 31 provinces. Beijing has imposed severe travel restrictions on at least seven major cities, an unprecedented quarantine of more than 20 million people.

And both confirmed and suspected cases are being reported far beyond China's borders. The disease was first detected in Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, now effectively on lockdown. Similar measures are in place in nearby cities of Huanggang and Ezhou.

At this hour, the death toll stands at 26, most fatalities in Wuhan, where the virus was first detected six weeks ago.

Nearly 850 cases have been confirmed in China and worldwide. British scientists estimate that in Wuhan alone, 4,000 people could be carrying the virus and perhaps do not know it.

The transportation shut down in central China means millions will not be traveling for the lunar year holiday, which begins this Saturday. Airports around the world setting up health checks for arriving passengers. And isolated cases have been confirmed in the United States, South Korea, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Macao, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan.

Despite all of that, the World Health Organization says it's too early to declare a global emergency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: I'm not declaring a public emergency of international concern today. Make no mistake, this is, though, an emergency in China; but it has not yet become a global health emergency. It may yet become one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: We are live to Beijing now. CNN producer Steven Jiang is there for us for more on the response to these extreme measures which have been put in place.

And Stephen, you and I, we've seen these viral outbreaks in China before. We've seen the ham-fisted response from the central government. It always begs the question, are these measures really necessary to contain the virus or to contain the public?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Well, that is the question people start to ask more and more, John, because remember, a lot of people are ow saying these measures, however draconian and drastic they are, may be too little too late, given the fact that, for a month, the Wuhan authorities did almost nothing, at least publicly, to stop people from leaving. So we are talking about hundreds of thousands of people -- students, migrant workers, tourists and whatnot -- had been departing Wuhan for the past month with little protection and little knowledge about this virus, which was first discovered more than a month ago.

Now, of course, from that to the other extreme, which is the over-the- top measures you mentioned. The virtual lockdown of seven cities with populations of 20 million, which is the size of a country in many parts of the world, for example Australia, where you are you from. So this is unprecedented.

And mostly involving not only, of course, not only suspension of public transportation systems, but also, in some locations, on non- essential commercial activities, with the exception being made for hospitals, drugstores, and supermarkets.

So these measures are really now causing major disruptions, not only to people's daily routines, but also, especially, making it challenging, if not outright impossible, for people to go to hospital to seek medical attention when they most need it. That's why, increasingly, you see people pointing a finger at the local authorities in Wuhan and in Hubei province, and also, of course, questioning the effectiveness of this kind of measure being placed at this juncture.

But of course, from their perspective, the government is saying this is what they have to do right now to stop the flow of people, because the virus has been spreading so far and wide and so quickly.

But John, at the end of the day, there are still so many problems to be solved, with the No. 1 pressing issue right now is the local hospital system being overwhelmed. This is now a fact being acknowledged by local authorities, but they say they will gradually improve the situation by not only designating hospitals exclusively for the treatment and detection of this virus, but also, in one case, building an entirely new facility from scratch on the outskirts of Wuhan, 25,000 square meters, and they say they will build that facility within a week -- John.

[00:05:33]

VAUSE: OK. Steven, thank you. Steven Jiang there in Beijing.

We'll stay in Beijing. CNN correspondent David Culver is there, recently returning from Wuhan, getting out just before those health restrictions, or travel restrictions, rather, were put in place.

And David, in terms of, you know, lockdowns and quarantines, this is unchartered territory. The world has never seen anything this big, anything like this before. In Wuhan, public health authorities, they're urging workers -- here's an announcement they put out -- to strictly implement emergency response requirements, enter into a state of war and implement wartime measures to resolutely curb the spread of this epidemic. Homes must be segregated. Neighbors must be watched.

I mean, there was almost no response, as Steven mentioned, for about a month. People were jailed for talking about it. Boy, the pendulum sure has swung in a totally different direction here. Is there potential to do more harm than good?

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And you hear this, and it -- John, it goes from, as you mentioned, kind of a calmer approach to it's controllable and preventable, and now jumping within a week to that alarming announcement that you put out right there.

And one thing that Steven mentioned that's worth expanding upon a little bit is the fact that they have now shut down, within these cities, some of the transportation to get around. The public transportation to get to the hospital, for example, if you're not feeling well and you have to go.

One thing that is worth noting that we're hearing from sources who are in Wuhan who we connected with while we were there 24 hours ago, is that this overload is getting more and more serious at these hospitals. The doctors are feeling overwhelmed by it, and as Steven mentioned, state media is acknowledging this, as well. But it's becoming so overwhelmed that, in some cases, the doctors are having to turn patients away. We have sources confirming that to us.

Some patients are reporting that they will go there. They'll wait. They can't be tested. It's delayed several days. And there's concern that some people are cross infecting others. So you have folks who may actually have the virus in the same area as those who perhaps don't, but that cross infection could happen in those environments. That's a great concern.

I want to show you some of this video, though, that we're seeing from state media that shows construction vehicles on what seems to be an empty lot. And you've got a lot of them there, frontend loaders, bulldozers. And this video is significant, because it reportedly goes along with the narrative that the government is trying to construct a hospital to assist with this overcrowding. They're saying that this hospital can be built in less than a week. The deadline for them is February 3. This will be dedicated to infected patients.

They've done something similar. Go back to 2003 with SARS, and they had a similar hospital, actually, just outside of Beijing that was constructed within a week that, likewise, was dedicated for SARS patients. So they're aiming to get this open within the week, and the images are pretty striking, to see how quickly they're moving on it.

The question is going to be, though, as you pose, is this happening a little bit too late? Are all these reactions, what seem to be extreme reactions, coming days or even weeks after the fact when they should have been implemented in the first place, John?

VAUSE: Yes, good point. I guess -- you know, we'll know what happens, I guess, in the coming days and weeks in terms of containment of the virus, and whether these measures have been effective. But yes, boy, some draconian measures in place right now.

David, thank you.

Head to Hong Kong now. CNN's Blake Essig is live there. This is a city which was hit hard by the SARS outbreak in the early 2000s. So Blake, what measures are put in place there to try and prevent, say, an infected patient crossing over from the mainland and spreading the virus across Hong Kong?

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, as you had mentioned before, two cases confirmed of the Wuhan coronavirus here in Hong Kong, with another 53 people currently in isolation, displaying symptoms of that respiratory virus that is so -- of such concern right now.

We're at the West Kowloon train station. I want to just kind of take you around. We can talk about some of the precautions that are being taken.

All of these people right here, these people are in line to get in line to actually cancel their tickets, because they were planning on heading out of town for the lunar new year. These trips are being canceled.

And as you can see, actually, right over here, you have a train station employee. She has been constantly wiping down railings. And you've seen people wiping down pretty much anything that's being touched. Clearly, a little shy right now, but she's been nonstop, wiping things down to disinfect.

Also, any train, high-speed train arriving from the mainland, as soon as people are getting out, they're asked to fill out questionnaires. They also have body scanners measuring body temperatures, and the trains are immediately disinfected, as well. And while there are a lot of people that are canceling their trips,

not everybody is. This is Alex Dutton, originally from the U.K., lives here in Hong Kong. But you're headed out of town for the lunar new year for a little vacation. Are you not concerned at all with this potential spread of the virus?

[00:10:17]

ALEX DUTTON, BRITISH EXPATRIATE: Of course, I'm concerned, but whether I go on holiday or not, I don't think it really changes my odds. I take a ferry for around an hour every day. I'm on the subway for half an hour. I'm going to be on the train for three hours today, and in four days, I'm going to be on a train for another three hours. My time on public transport is pretty much the same.

Why I'm concerned about is people getting scared. I mean, I just saw on Facebook just half an hour ago somebody in, like, where I live saying if you come from mainland China, don't go out. Stay at home. And it's just that kind of idiocy. I'm sorry. There's no other word for it, but like, idiocy that I'm worried about and overreaction. And my biggest concern is that there will be some block on the border and I won't be able to get back to work on Tuesday. Of course, I'm concerned about the virus, but I don't consider my risk to be elevated by traveling.

ESSIG: Are you taking any precautions? Obviously, you look around and you see a lot of people wearing masks like these. You and I are not.

DUTTON: I know. I -- I looked at the data on the masks and the evidence that they're generally used, as they are, incorrectly. They don't really stop viruses.

However, one of the things I definitely will be doing is disinfecting my hands and trying to stay away from touching as much as possible. So if I'm in a lift or whatever, just using my knuckles to press the button, not the hand. Wash my hands.

It's right good in China, because you have cashless payment. That's actually quite good in terms of not -- not touching things. So probably not touching things. Not touching my eyes. That seems to be the best way to cut down the vector of transmission.

Face masks, I'll probably start wearing one when there's enough social pressure. It's getting to a point now where almost everyone is wearing one, and I'm not, so I expect the social pressure will kick in quite soon. Yes.

ESSIG: Alex, thank you so much for your time. And safe travels.

DUTTON: All right. Good luck.

ESSIG: And John, real quick, the -- the masks here, local media are reporting that they're actually selling out at stores; very difficult to get at this point. I am going to put this on immediately after we're done here, just to make sure that we stay safe, as well. VAUSE: Yes, you've got a big story in front of you over the coming

weeks. So don't get sick. Blake, thank you. Blake Essig there, live in Hong Kong.

We'll take a short break. When we get back, U.S. senators struggling to stay engaged in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Just ahead, why Democrats spent so much time on day two defending Joe Biden.

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VAUSE: Impeachment prosecutors will have one more day to present their case for removing Donald Trump from office. For hour after hour over the past two days, they have made a thorough and fact-filled presentation. No detail too small to be left out, it seems. And for some Republican senators, it's just a bit too much to take in. CNN's Athena Jones reports now from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): Biggest charges ever brought against a president.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: House manager Jerry Nadler started the day quoting a long list of constitutional experts and invoking the framers of the Constitution.

NADLER: Abuse, betrayal, corruption. This is exactly the understanding that the framers incorporated into the Constitution.

JONES: Democrats using visual aids to bolster their case that Trump used the power of his office to pressure Ukraine to serve his own political interests, using comments from the president's own allies -- notably, Attorney General Bill Barr; Alan Dershowitz, a member of his legal team; and South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, one of the jurors in the trial -- to make the point that an impeachable offense does not have to be a statutory crime.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I think that's what they meant by high crimes. Doesn't even have to be a crime. It's just when you start using your office and you're acting in a way that hurts people. You've committed a high crime.

JONES: Nadler also hitting Trump for blocking witnesses.

NADLER: If the president had any exculpatory witnesses, even a single one, he would be demanding their appearance here instead of urging you not to permit additional witnesses to testify.

JONES: Texas Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia arguing Trump's motivation for demanding the investigations was the 2020 election.

REP. SYLVIA GARCIA (D-TX): But when Vice President Biden became the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, and polls showed that he had the largest head-to-head lead against President Trump, that became a problem.

JONES: Garcia walking the senators through the investigations Trump sought and why they were baseless in painstaking detail, taking aim at a GOP talking point about former Vice President Joe Biden.

GARCIA: Vice President Biden called for the removal of this prosecutor at the official direction of U.S. policy.

JONES: And using comments from current and former Trump aides to illustrate her point.

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: We have no information that indicates the Ukraine interfered with the 2016 presidential election.

TOM BOSSERT, FORMER WHITE HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISOR: It is not only a conspiracy theory, it is completely debunked.

Former Senator Judd Gregg wrote a piece in "The Hill" magazine saying the three ways or the five ways to impeach oneself. And the third way was to hire Rudy Giuliani.

JONES: Still, lead manager Adam Schiff sought to make clear the president was in the lead here.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): You can say a lot of things about President Trump, but he is not led by the nose by Rudy Giuliani.

JONES: Driving home the point that, throughout the pressure campaign, Trump was acting in his own personal interests by, again, pointing to remarks he made about Ukraine in October, a clip that has aired some half a dozen times in the trial so far.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I would think that, if they were honest about it, they'd start a major investigation into the Bidens. It's a very simple answer.

SCHIFF: So here, we hear again from the president's own words what his primary object is. And his primary object is help in his reelection campaign; help to cheat in his reelection campaign.

JONES: Schiff, a former federal prosecutor, also addressing the reason for all the repetition.

SCHIFF: You will see some of these facts and videos, therefore, in a new context, in a new light; in the light of what else we know and why it compels a finding of guilt and conviction. So there is some method to our madness.

JONES: And much as they did on day one, the Democrats saved some of their most powerful arguments for prime time.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Read the transcript, President Trump says. We have read the transcript, and it is damning evidence of a corrupt quid pro quo. This is corruption and abuse of power in its purest form.

Athena Jones, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Joining me now from Los Angeles, Michael Genovese, president of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University.

And Michael, good to see you. This was day two for the Democrats. And we saw a preemptive strike, if you like, on what's expected to be a big part of the president's defense: that Donald Trump did nothing more than Joe Biden did when he was vice president and had a corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor fired. Here's part of the defense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARCIA: None of the 17 witnesses in the House's inquiry said there was any factual basis for this allegation.

Vice President Biden's conduct was uniformly validated by the witnesses in the House investigation, who confirmed his conduct was consistent with U.S. policy.

[00:20:11]

When asked if there was any factual basis to support the allegations about Biden, George Kent replied, "None whatsoever."

In short, the allegations against Vice President Biden are groundless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Those allegations being that he fired that prosecutor to help his son. You know, Democrats have continually insisted the Bidens are not relevant. So by spending so much time on the second day defending Joe Biden and trying to shoot that narrative down, do they risk legitimizing it?

MICHAEL GENOVESE, GLOBAL POLICY INSTITUTE: Well, I think they're trying to anticipate the arguments that will be made Saturday and Monday by the president's attorneys.

The problem for the president's attorneys is that the Democrats have made a powerful case, a very -- almost an overwhelming case. And so that you're leaving, at least the intention of the Democrats is, to leave the Republicans and the president's attorneys with the unenviable position of having to defend what is pretty much indefensible: Oh, you have to have a broken law to impeach. We know that's not true. About a third of the impeachments in our history have not been about lawbreaking.

Or that the notion that the abuse of power is legitimate. The Republicans will say -- they say it's quaint, that it's a fiction. It is clearly not, and we've seen it in the past with Nixon and others.

And so what the Democrats are trying to do is head off the Republican arguments before they're made and also to to put Donald Trump on the witness stand himself, not literally, but the video clips of him. Put him on there. Have him say the words that are damning.

VAUSE: You know, it seems that prosecuting this case, the Democrats have gone for a more is more, and the more the better approach. You know, we heard from Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz. He's one of Trump's most vocal defenders.

But he told Politico, "Democrats have been presenting their case to the public like it's cable news but lamented that the defense team's case presented more like 'an eighth grade book report. Actually, no, I take that back,' he added, 'because an eight grade -- an eighth grader would actually know how to use PowerPoint and iPads."

And on this issue, there are seven impeachment managers, and that includes two African Americans. There's Val Demings, who's a former chief of police for the Orlando P.D. There's Hakeem Jeffries, who's the fifth ranking Democrat in the House. Jason Crow, former Army Ranger and veteran of the Iraq/Afghanistan war. And Sylvia Garcia, a freshman Democrat, one of the first two Latina congresswomen from Texas.

OK, so you take the presentation with everything in it, and then you have four of these people who seem to represent a demographic crucial to a Democrat win a November. The strategy here seems to be, we're not going to win the trial, but we're going to try and win the people over. We're going to get them up to speed as best as we can.

GENEVESE: Well, there are really two audiences that the Democrats are looking at. One is the Senate and the hope, although it's, I think, fairly hopeless, is that enough Republicans will be convinced that the president has to be removed. That's not -- that's not likely at all.

The other audience is the American people. Now, not everyone is like you and I, where we watch this because it's fascinating to us. Most of Americans, they have lives, and they have business, and they have work to do. And so they're only going to see the headlines and the highlights.

But the Democrats are also appealing to those folks out there, people who every day have to go out and do hard work and come home at night, and they're tired. They just will see the headlines, and so you try to make some great headlines. Those are two very different audiences.

The Democrats' case is being made by people who look like America. The Republicans' case, which in fairness to the Republicans, has not yet been made, so it's premature to criticize them in any great detail. They have a huge mountain to climb.

VAUSE: Well, Donald Trump was on the Twitter again, unhappy with the Democrats, very unhappy. He tweeted, "The Democrat House would not give us lawyers or not one witness but now demand that the Republican Senate produce the witnesses that the House never sought or even asked for. They had their chance but pretended to rush. Most unfair and corrupt hearing in congressional history."

Of the five assertions in that tweet, incredibly, not one is actually true. In fact, the reality is the exact opposite is true. We ask this question a lot, but either the president is deliberately lying to mislead, or he genuinely believes that to be true, which seems to be the end result of relying on FOX News. Out of all of this, which is worse? And is there a third option?

GENOVESE: Well, you know, as a sign of just how anxious and nervous and maybe even scared the president is, he just broke yesterday his all-time record for most tweets in one day: 142. The old record was 123. He was tweeting again repeatedly today, so he's not doing his job. He's obsessed with the case. He's obsessed with the trial, and he is obsessed with Schiff, who drives him completely up a wall. Adam Schiff for Donald Trump is like an ingrown toenail. It's just bothersome to no end, and he's obsessed with him.

[00:25:00]

And so I think what you're seeing is that the president is off his game, because he's been on the defensive; and your reference to him saying things that aren't true, we're used to that.

VAUSE: OK. We know that the defense begins on Saturday. They get equal time, 24 hours over three days. The question is how much will they use? Here's TV lawyer Jay Sekulow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY SEKULOW, ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: We're going to use a sufficient amount of time to not only defend our case and point out the inconsistencies of their case, but we're going to do it in an appropriate manner. We're not going to try to run the clock out. We're going to do it in what we think, as our legal team thinks is appropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: In other words, much like the House hearings that we saw last month, basically, they won't have -- they won't fill the time, because they don't have anything to say?

GENOVESE: Well, they've already said that they probably will only take two days. Now, is that because they are efficient and have a very clear and concise case to make?

VAUSE: Maybe.

GENOVESE: Or is it because they really don't have a lot to say?

And I think what we're seeing is that they're defending the indefensible. The Democrats have the evidence. The Republicans will probably go about being very loud and very forceful, because for Donald Trump, the best defense is a good offense. So they're going to try to be very -- probably very aggressive and very forceful, but they're not going to have much evidence behind the force that they make.

VAUSE: And that may work in the lower House. It does not go down too well in the Senate, I understand. But we'll see what happens in the coming days.

And Michael, it's good to see you. Thank you.

GENOVESE: Thank you. Thank you, John.

VAUSE: We will take a short break. Twenty million people under travel lockdown in China as a major deadly virus hits in the busy holiday season. What it could mean, though, for the global economy. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Thanks for staying with us, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.

Democrats have wrapped up day two of opening arguments in Donald Trump's impeachment trial. They spent Thursday trying to prove the president abused his power in pressuring Ukraine for his own political benefit.

One more day for the Democrats. Then Trump's legal team begins its rebuttal on Saturday.

On the eve of the lunar new year, some 20 million people in China, maybe more, are being forced to stay put because of the outbreak of the coronavirus. Transportation has been halted in the cities of Wuhan, Huanggang and Ezhou in central China in an effort to contain the virus, putting those cities in virtual lockdown.

Right now, the death toll stands at 26 in China, with nearly 800 people infected. Around the world, another 16 cases have been confirmed.

Let's begin with our correspondents now. Sherisse Pham is standing by in Hong Kong. Paula Hancocks at Seoul Airport, Incheon, South Korea.

[00:30:03]

So Paula, first to you. Chances are anyone who's traveled to South Korea, they've gone through Incheon Airport. They know it's a model of Korean efficiency. It's a transportation hub. It's sprawling. Trying to impose some kind of viral control there will be a challenge, to say the least.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. I mean, if you just look at the figures for last month alone, John, there were more than half a million travelers from China that arrived here at Incheon. That's not counting the rest of the entry points and airports throughout the whole of South Korea.

There are already two confirmed cases here in South Korea. And what we're being told by officials is that they're being alerted ahead of time, if there was a particular passenger on board a flight that has been to the Wuhan area or has traveled from the affected areas.

So they effectively meet them at the gate and take their temperature to try and make sure they're not walking through a fairly busy airport.

Now, it's a similar situation we are seeing around the world. There are a number of airports that are stepping up the security. The United States, for example. We know there is one confirmed case in the U.S. We know that JFK in New York, L.A. airport, and also San Francisco, are bringing in extra screening to make sure that they can counter any threats and any carriers before they go into the general population.

The CDC in the U.S. has raised the alert level of travel to the affected areas to the highest level, saying that avoid all but essential travel to the Wuhan area.

In London, for example, Heathrow Airport has a completely separate arrival area for those who are arriving from the affected areas to make sure that they're not mixing with -- with general passengers coming in. We're seeing similar things in Australia, in Moscow. Those airports, officials are actually meeting some passengers on the plane before they get off the plane to take their temperatures.

So this is being taken extremely seriously around the world, trying to counter the spread -- John.

VAUSE: Paula, thank you.

Let's go to Sherisse now, who is in Hong Kong. And Sherisse, you know, SARS left almost a thousand people dead. There was huge economic cost, as well. I remember property prices plummeting. So, took, the stock market. Is there any idea now about the potential economic impact from this outbreak?

SHERISSE PHAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is some concern amongst economists. They're saying it's a little bit too early to put a number on it. But let's take a bit of a step back and look at the fact that this virus -- it's never a good time for a new and deadly virus to outbreak. But for China's economy, the Wuhan virus is happening right now. It could not come at a worse time.

China's economy is slowing down. People aren't spending money. There's rising levels of debt. Beijing has been trying to roll out stimulus measures to get people out there and starting to spend their money. And they're still suffering the effects of the U.S.-China trade war.

You add on top of that that the lunar new year officially kicks off tomorrow. And that's a time when people are usually out there spending money, going to restaurants, meeting up with families, boarding planes and trains and getting automobiles to travel home for this huge holiday in China.

And a lot of them aren't going to be doing that anymore. So you're taking a look at the businesses that are going to be affected by this. You're going to have tourism hit, travel, transportation, restaurants, retail. We saw a lot of luxury markets, luxury companies, their shares took a huge hit yesterday. And a lot of regional airlines also took a hit.

And as one economist I talked to yesterday put it, once you're scared, you're scared. You don't go out. You don't get on planes. You don't go shopping. You don't go to movie theaters. And you don't go out there and spend money.

Now ,SARS shaved a couple points off of China's GDP, quarter on quarter, back in 2003, and it's likely, if this virus gets -- grows in concern. Let's say if the numbers of reported dead grow, if the number of cases also grows, that's going to amount to more fear among the general population. And so you're going to have a hit to China's economy, and that could also have a knock-on effect on the global economy.

Back in 2003, SARS knocked 40 billion dollars off the world economy, most of that hitting China and Hong Kong. And John, when we compare China 2020 to China 2003, everything is bigger. China's economy is bigger. The amount of money Chinese that travelers spend is bigger. The amount of goods that are moved from China is bigger. So the effect on the economy is also likely to get a lot bigger and a lot worse this time around, if this virus continues to escalate.

VAUSE: And that's a point to finish on. Because at this stage we just don't know how bad this will get. Obviously, this is early days. So Sherisse there in Hong Kong, Paul Hancocks also with us there from Incheon Airport. Thank you both. Appreciate it.

On paper, at least, it's a major victory for Rohingya Muslims as a U.N. court rules Myanmar must take action to protect the minority group. But will the decision actually do anything to stop the genocide? That's next.

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VAUSE: Almost three years after a military crackdown forced them to flee their homes in Myanmar, Rohingya refugees have won a landmark legal victory. The International Court of Justice, the U.N.'s highest court, has ordered Myanmar to take immediate steps to protect the Rohingya from genocide. Gambia filed the case back in November, accusing Myanmar of trying to destroy the Rohingya through mass murder.

As part of the court's ruling, it warned Rohingya are still facing genocide.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDULQAWI AHMED YUSUF, PRESIDENT OF INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE: It is concluded on reasonable grounds that the Rohingya people remain at serious risk of genocide under the terms of the genocide convention.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Brad Adams is the executive director -- Brad Adams is executive director of Human Rights Watch, Asia division. He is with us this hour from Berkeley, California.

Brad, thank you for being with us.

This was a unanimous ruling by the 17-judge panel. Part of the order is for Myanmar to "take all measures within its power to prevent all acts that amount to or contribute to the crime of genocide, including extrajudicial killings or physical abuse; rape or other forms of sexual violence; burning of homes or villages; destruction of lands and livestock; deprivation of food and other necessities of life; or any other deliberative infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring physical destruction of the Rohingya group in whole or in part."

I mean, that is a laundry list of every state-sanctioned crime Myanmar's military has committed against the Rohingya, and clearly, it is no coincidence.

BRAD ADAMS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, ASIA DIVISION: Yes, they really threw the book at Myanmar. And Aung San Suu-Kyi's gambit in going there, thinking that perhaps she, her reputation or her charm, or intellect, could sway the judges clearly failed.

It's particularly remarkable, because each party to the case is able to select a judge. So Gambia chose a judge, and Myanmar chose a judge. And they all voted against Myanmar.

There's also a Chinese judge, and there was some speculation about whether, because China has been supporting Myanmar, there'd be pressure on that judge. But it seems that judge was able to act independently.

And so the court has basically said that they require Myanmar to report back in four months, and then every six months. And to ensure that none of the things that you mentioned happen. And this is in light of the fact that the U.N. fact-finding mission from last year said that there's still a continuing risk of genocide.

And that's something we're concerned about, because any day of the week, we could see another series of attacks on the Rohingya, because the same people who carried them out in 2017, 2016 and 2012 are still in power.

So the court really took protective measures and listed everything they could think of that could go wrong.

VAUSE: Yes, and you say this is a sweeping order. It's also binding in the sense that there's no avenue for appeal, right? And the Rohingya, if nothing else, it's a reminder that maybe there is still justice in this world. Listen to this.

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ABDUR RAHIM, ROHINGYA LEADER (through translator): We would like to thank the international community. We hope we'll be able to return home soon.

ABU FAZAI, ROHINGYA REFUGEE (through translator): The genocide is finally proved. I hope this court will further serve our people justice.

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VAUSE: On the downside, though, the court really has no enforcement mechanism, right? So what are the chances Myanmar will, you know, abide by the ruling?

ADAMS: Well, John, just on the first point, I was at the Hague in December, and for the Rohingya who attended, it was a very emotional moment. Because remember that the Burmese authorities have said that the Rohingya don't exist. They still claim that. The Rohingya do not exist. And they've tried to bully diplomats in the U.N. into not even using the word.

So this is a really -- a really important affirmation for them.

Now, in terms of enforcement, ICJ rulings are law under the United Nations charter, and they are supposed to be enforced by the U.N. Security Council. Of course, China has been blocking action, so we don't really expect the Security Council to take strong action.

But they could do things like demand humanitarian access. They could demand freedom of movement for a lot of Rohingya who are not allowed to move freely around the country. They could require equal access to health and education, which is one of the biggest problems for Rohingya that remain in the country. And they could signal that they would go further.

And China may find itself in a corner here as the sole backer of a country that's now accused by the ICJ, by the world's highest court, of appearing to have committed genocide.

VAUSE: Yes. There are signs, though, coming from Myanmar which are not entirely encouraging. Here's part of a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacting to this verdict.

They write, "There has been no genocide in Rakhine." It's in Rakhine state. "It's important for Myanmar that the court reaches a factually correct decision on the merits of the case. The unsubstantiated condemnation of Myanmar by some human rights actors has presented a distorted picture of the situation in Rakhine." I don't think they mention the word "Rohingya" at all.

Where does this victim complex come from? These claims of human rights actors out there? And where does this sort of delusional denial come from?

ADAMS: Well, it's really sad. Because the foreign ministry is run by Aung San Suu-Kyi, as the foreign minister. For decades, Aung San Suu- Kyi relied on Human Rights Watch and those international treaty bodies to stand up for the Burmese people, and she quoted us extensively. And she said that we were doing our jobs really well, and we were protecting her and her party and all the political prisoners in the country.

And now that she's in power, she takes a completely different view. I mean, I think that the narrative -- I was just an Burma two weeks

ago, and the narrative in the country remains that people just don't understand that we are a special group of people. We've been invaded by what they call Bengalis, which is the Rohingya, which is of course, not true. The Rohingya have been in Burma for centuries. And that if people could only understand what the world looks like from our shoes, they would be more sympathetic.

And this discounts the fact that this has happened repeatedly over the last decades. That the Rohingya have been denied citizenship, that they are discriminated against on a daily basis. There -- very, very terrible terms are used in the Burmese language to describe them.

And I honestly -- those of us who worked in Burma for decades genuinely can't understand how otherwise reasonable people who consider themselves to be liberals can have fallen into this trap.

VAUSE: Yes, if only Aung San Suu-Kyi and her military mates could see the world from the viewpoint of the Rohingya, maybe things would be different.

ADAMS: Yes, that would make all the difference.

VAUSE: But thanks for being with us. It would. Thank you for taking the time. It is a good day, I guess -- they don't have a lot of good days -- for the Rohingya.

ADAMS: It's a big day for justice, John. A big day.

VAUSE: Thank you. Absolutely.

And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. WORLD SPORT with Patrick Snell starts after the break.

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