Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Virus Puts 20M People Under Travel Lockdown At Lunar New Year; Impeachment Managers Argue Trump Abused His Power; Spreading Virus Prompts Worldwide Response; Top U.N. Court: Myanmar Must Take Steps to Prevent Genocide. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired January 24, 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)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Studio 7 at CNN's Headquarters in Atlanta. Ahead this hour, extreme measures. More than 20 million people under lockdown as China slams the door shut well and truly after a deadly virus has well (INAUDIBLE).

Preemptive strike in defense of Joe Biden. Democrats tried to shoot down a major part of the Trump defense strategy. And yes, Myanmar, it wasn't like genocide. It has to stop. The UN's highest court orders the immediate protection of the Rohingya from the state-sponsored genocide.

Officials in China are dealing with a major health crisis at the worst possible time of the year. In the coming days, hundreds of millions of people who travel for the Lunar New Year celebrations, the biggest annual human mass migration on the planet with at least seven major cities under a travel ban. Officials have suspended public transport. Outgoing flights have been canceled and train services are shut down leaving more than 20 million people going nowhere.

The virus has now been found in all but two provinces in China, with the death toll at 26. Nearly 850 confirmed infections, 16 of those cases outside of China including the United States, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Singapore. Most of the fatalities are in Wuhan, the city of 11 million people where the virus was first detected six weeks ago. Airports around the world are now stepping up health checks for arriving passengers. Despite all of this, the World Health Organization says it's not ready to declare a global emergency.

CNN has extensive coverage of this global story, live reports this hour from Beijing Correspondent David Culver who was in Wuhan right up until those travel restrictions took effect, CNN's Steven Jiang also reporting on the crisis from Beijing. We have correspondence break Blake Essig and Sherise Pham covering the outbreak from Hong Kong, and Senior International Correspondent Paula Hancocks will be joining us live this out from South Korea's major transportation, the Incheon International Airport, not far from the capital of Seoul. But we will begin with David Culver in Beijing. And we're looking at some very draconian measures here. These quarantines are uncharted territory. The world has never seen anything like this. The Wuhan public health authorities have urged workers to "strictly implement emergency response requirements, enter into a state of war, implement wartime measures to resolutely curb the spread of this epidemic. Home must be segregated; neighbors must be watched."

You know, this is an incredible turnaround from the initial response from you know, the communist government, which was pretty much do nothing, to jail people who talks about it, the pendulum swing the other way, but this has a lot of potential to do more harm than good, right?

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, you don't have to go back too far to see how they were characterizing it. In fact, on Sunday was preventable and controllable. The words that were used to describe it. Now, as you read there, an urgency and it's alarming. And you can imagine folks within that lockdown zone of Wuhan and down the surrounding cities are feeling this, and then there's more than an ease, there's desperation.

And some of the images that we've been going through on social media are certainly portraying that, and I want to show you a few of them now. And I should tell you that these images have not been independently verified by CNN, but our producers have been meticulously combing through them. They've been looking at the images within these videos and they've been listening to the dialects, and they believe them to be genuine.

So, I'm going to show you first these tents that have been set up apparently outside of hospitals. This shows you some of the overcrowding accommodations that they've been trying to put into place. And so, they have these makeshift tents that they've been, apparently according to this image, constructing outside of these emergency rooms.

Now another video here is a woman who appears a healthcare worker shouting along the line of possible patients who are trying to get in and potentially get tested. Now, her words in trying to explain the procedure, and also trying to reassure them saying that not to be nervous. It's hard not to be nervous when you're in a situation like that.

And this last image here, I want to show you this video. These appear to show from a hospital bed. Imagine as you're a patient in the hospital bed looking up and you see this, right? You see these medical teams in hazmat suits is alarming. It's really uneasy and yet that's the reality according to Chinese social media, and from the folks we're talking to on the ground.

Our sources in Wuhan, as you mentioned, we're there just 24 hours ago, are telling us that the overcrowding is real, that it's something that they're trying to deal with and it's making them quite nervous. And given that this lockdown has some of the public transportation within the city, stopped getting to the hospital has been made even more difficult.

So what are they doing? Well, the central government has suggested putting a billion dollars -- billion RMB I should say, it's $144 million U.S. dollars into some of the efforts here. One thing that is interesting is that they are, according to state media, going to build a new hospital, John. And we were looking at some images that we can show you here. This is video from People's Daily that seems to show construction already beginning or at least the clearing of a lot.

You've got bulldozers and front-end loaders. Going around this piece of land here looking like that will likely be where this hospital will go up. And this hospital is expected to go up by February 3. So, within a week, John, is the plan here.

[01:05:43]

VAUSE: I guess if anyone can do it, China can do that quickly. There's just a whole lot of issues with these cities under quarantine about you know how to get food supplies in, what are people going to be doing for all this time. We'll see how that plays out in the coming days. But David, thank you. We're going to stay in Beijing. CNN's Steven Jiang is also there, our senior producer.

Steven, you and I, we've these viral outbreaks in China before. We've also seen how the central government has had a hand-fisted response before. And again, you know, there is this question, are these draconian measures really necessary? Is it all about containing the virus or just containing the public?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Well, John, you and I both know this very well, that everything in China is a political issue and this outbreak is no exception. That's also why a lot of people are increasingly turning their anger and their fire at local leaders in Wuhan, as well as in Hubei Province because for a month, they were perceived inaction, at least in public, was the reason why hundreds of thousands of people were able to leave Wuhan with little protection or knowledge about this virus.

Why is this important? Because we are still in the middle of the busiest travel season in China, the Lunar New Year travel season. We can look at some numbers, three billion trips of all kinds expected to be made this year. And the more relevant number is 25 million people. expected to travel through Wuhan by train.

And if you look at a map of Wuhan, that explains why the staggering number. Wuhan sits in the middle of this country. It's a railway, a transportation hub with high speed -- high-speed rail links to basically every corner of the country. You can take a train from Wuhan to you know, any major city in the country.

That's the status of Wuhan. That's why the perceived inaction by local officials, that is more disturbing now that we've learned what has happened in the past month or so. But it's probably not surprising, John, given that for most officials here, their first instinct in dealing with this kind of crisis is social stability. That's why they really have not shared facts and figures with the public. That's why especially now I think this is more of a pronounced problem and with a very powerful leader, they just seem to be paralyzed without clear orders or destruction from President Xi Jinping.

But John, now jumping to all these over the top measures you and David have just mentioned, that just seemed to be so draconian, so drastic overnight, but maybe also counterproductive, as you mentioned, because this is really stopping people from seeking medical attention when they most needed, very unprecedented, John. As you remember back in 2003, even during the worst time of SARS, Beijing did not stop its public transportation network. So very uncharted territory here, John.

VAUSE: Nothing quite like reassuring the public by telling them nothing about what's going on. That works every time, right. OK, Steven, thank you for that. We're going to head to Hong Kong now. CNN's Blake Essig is there. And of course, Blake, you know, one of the things is trying to prevent people who are infected from crossing over from the mainland, maybe crossing over to Hong Kong, and from there who knows where. There are problems though, because sometimes these patients can have the virus but they don't know it, they don't know the symptoms. So how do officials in Hong Kong deal with this?

I think there's some problem with Blake's communication -- audio there. No, he can't hear us. OK, we'll leave Blake there. We'll come back. I think we'll take a short break, try and regroup, work out our technical problems. When we come back --

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- anybody who have come into contact with somebody with the -- with the virus could actually be -- could actually be infected. And so, at this point --

VAUSE: What the problem is there's a very, very ridiculously long delay between us here in Atlanta and Blake who is at the train station there, the major train station separating Hong Kong and the mainland. So, what we'll do, we'll work that out. We also want to talk to an official from the WHO. We'll try to work that out as well.

In the meantime, we'll take a short break. Also coming up within this hour, Democrats lay out their case for abuse of power and Donald Trump's impeachment trial. But are they trying to convince Republican senators or American voters? That's also in this hour.

[01:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGIST: Hello, everyone. I'm CNN Meteorologist Karen Maginnis, this is your weather watch. A slow- moving weather system tracks from the central United States towards the lower Great Lakes region. In its wake, anywhere between eight and about 15 centimeters of snowfall.

In the meantime, for the Pacific Northwest, there comes Another storm system. Well, all the way from Kansas City, towards Wichita, and St. Louis, and into the Ozarks, we're watching some snow advisories issue because of that slow-moving system that gradually makes its way towards Chicago, towards Detroit. But at the head of it, it's going to be warm enough that most of the weather here is going to be in the form of rainfall.

It's going to be cold, but at least it's going to be liquid and not the frozen precipitation like Chicago. You might anticipate some weather-related delays at the airport there and the roads are going to be slow going as well, anywhere between eight and about 15 centimeters certainly possible and some of these areas, so be careful of that.

And into the Pacific Northwest, this is where we have flood warnings and flood watches. It's been kind of a fairly wet regime over the last week or so. The snow levels began to drop and especially across those cascades we could see significant snowfall coming up over the next five days.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Back now to our lead sorry this hour. And the deadly Wuhan virus which continues to spread way beyond China's borders. CNN's Blake Essig is in Hong Kong at a rail station, which would normally be busy with arrivals from the mainland. They have put in place a number of measures to try and detect any infected patients crossing over from the mainland into Hong Kong.

So, Blake, explain exactly how they're trying to contain this virus where you are and also, you know, what they've done and what they have not done, I guess, to try and stop it from spreading?

ESSIG: Well, you know, the incubation period is still what's in question. Chinese state media is reporting to health officials there saying that it could be anywhere from seven to 12 days before somebody who might be infected with this Wuhan coronavirus can start showing symptoms. And because of that, a lot of precautions are taking place and a lot of fear for travel has taken place too.

You can actually see this line right here which is getting a little shorter but it is long. We're actually going to take you on a little stroll here. You got everybody wearing face masks, a lot of hand sanitizer being used here at the train station specifically here at the West Calhoun train station. This is the only high-speed rail station that connects Mainland China and Hong Kong.

[01:15:14]

And so, as a result, you have a lot of people coming in and out, especially given that tomorrow is the Lunar New Year. So, this mass human migration is underway right now. And so even though there are fears, you still have a lot of people that are in the process of trying to head into Mainland China to visit family. But again, this whole line of people, people wearing masks to try to prevent the spread of this infection that just within the last hour, the Hong Kong officials have actually confirmed that beyond the two confirmed cases here, they are now monitoring 119 people that have been -- that are in hospitals with symptoms of this Wuhan coronavirus.

Again, we told -- we talked about this before, that's fever, that's difficulty breathing, that's coughing. And so, 190 people, that is more than double than what was reported yesterday. So this is a very quickly spreading virus. It's a lot that we do not know. And again, all of these people right here are all in the process of getting a refund. While at the same time there are many people that are still planning to move forward with their travel with the Lunar New Year tomorrow, the biggest holiday of the year for people here in Asia. John?

VAUSE: Blake thank you. I appreciate the update. Thank you. Live now to Manila. We're joined by Takeshi Kasai, Regional Director for the World Health Organization. And Doctor, thank you for being with us. There seem to be two competing messages at the moment. On the one hand, the WHO says there's no need to declare a health emergency. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WHO: I'm not declaring a public health 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: In the meantime, in China, Mainland China, officials are putting 20-something million people under quarantine in seven different cities as a measure to contain the virus. It's drastic, presumably justified by the potential harm the virus can cause. So how can you explain the disconnect between the WHO and the measures they're taking and the Beijing government?

TAKESHI KASAI, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, WHO: So, Director-General made the decision based on the conclusion of the Emergency Committee, which is that this is a serious outbreak in China, but it has not yet at the global level. However, the WHO is taking this very seriously. The Chinese actions is also a very serious attempt to slow down the virus coming out from Wuhan, into China, and eventually to the world.

VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE) have they gone too far?

KASAI: Can you repeat the question?

VAUSE: Do you think the Chinese officials have gone too far with this quarantine, more than 20 million people on lockdown unable to move from their homes or their cities?

KASAI: So this is a really serious attempt for the Chinese authority to try to slow down the virus coming out from the Wuhan cities, or other cities, to China, and eventually not to the world. This is their airport to contain this virus, not just for the people in China, but for the people around the world.

VAUSE: When it comes to prevention and control in an outbreak like this, there's a golden period, a small window of time when the virus can actually really be contained. The Wuhan virus was detected what, six weeks ago, which suggests that window for containment close a long time ago. KASAI: This is a new disease and we still don't know many things, and China is really trying their best to collect more and more information so that we can a fill the gap. We know that there is already human to human transmissions, but we need more information for us to fully understand the extent of human to human transmissions.

VAUSE: There's a report from the Washington Post quoting Professor of History Medicine Howard Markel. And he says, no government has ever shut down a city of Wuhan size. So, there's no roadmap for Chinese officials. But in addition to closing transportation hubs, a quarantine of that magnitude will probably mean shutting down the city's port and its roads leading in and out. What seems to be the real risk here is the law of unintended consequences that, you know, essentially what they're doing in China could send this crisis into a direction that no one really wants it to go.

KASAI: The decision of infectious diseases is a very complex and the difficult decisions. On one hand, we have to really make sure that we do public health measures to control the diseases. On the other hand, it caused restrictions of the people's freedom and liberty.

So obviously, this is a very serious decisions China made. They made us decisions to make sure this virus will slow down in coming out and to make sure that this virus will not go out from the China.

[01:20:25]

VAUSE: OK. Doctor, we'll leave it there. We appreciate you being with us. And you know, obviously, there is a very uncertain days ahead, so we appreciate the update. Thank you very much for your time.

KASAI: Thank you very much.

VAUSE: The U.S. House Democrats will have the final day of opening arguments in Donald Trump's Senate impeachment trial. On Thursday, they focused on article one, abuse of power. The impeachment managers contend the President was only trying to help his reelection chances when he withheld military aid from Ukraine in exchange for a political investigation of his rival Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): This presidential stonewalling Congress is unprecedented in the 238-year history of our constitutional republic. It puts even President Nixon to shame. Taken together, the articles and the evidence conclusively establish that President Trump has placed his own personal political interest first. He has placed them above our national security, above our free and fair elections, and above our system of checks and balances. This conduct is not America first. It is Donald Trump first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Some Republican senators though complained that the Democrats are just rehashing the same old talking points. And sources tell CNN, those same Republican senators and now being encouraged by the White House to speak with reporters during breaks of the trial to defend the president. Here's James Lankford of Oklahoma.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): The managers made a good case to be able to walk through all the issues. There's an old proverb that says the first one always seems right until they're cross-examined. And so I'm waiting to be able to hear the White House response in the coming days and they'll have their opportunity to tell their side of the story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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 -- for the Democrats. 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. He's part of the defense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SYLVIA GARCIA (D-TX): None of the 17 witnesses and 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 confirm his conduct was consistent with U.S. policy 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 Biden's 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 -- do they risk legitimizing it?

MICHAEL GENOVESE, POLITICAL ANALYST: 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 attorney 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 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, you know, the notion that the abuse of power is legitimate. The Republicans are -- will say that it's -- they said it's quaint, that it's a fiction. It is clearly not. 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 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 the Trump's most vocal defenders. But he told Politico, Democrats have been presenting that 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 eighth grade -- an eighth-grader would actually know how to use PowerPoint and iPads.

And on this issue, like 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 on the House, Jason Crow, former Army Ranger and veteran of the Iraq, Afghanistan war, and Sylvia Garcia, a freshman Democrat, one of those two Latina congressmen 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 in 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 we can.

[01:25:33]

GENOVESE: Well, there are really two audiences that the Democrats are looking at. One is the Senate, and the hope -- although, 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 watch. Most -- for most Americans, they have lives and they have business, 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 will not give us lawyers or not one witness, but now demand that the Republican Senate produced 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. You know, we asked 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's obsessed with Schiff who drives him completely up a wall.

Adam Schiff for Donald Trump is like an ingrown toenail. It's just bothers him to no end and he's obsessed with him. And so I think what you're seeing is that the President is off his game because he's been on the defensive and you know, you 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 T.V. lawyer, Jay Sekulow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY SEKULOW, LAWYER OF DONALD TRUMP: We're going to use a sufficient amount of time to not only defend our case and point out the inconsistency of their case, 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 what we think is 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 it probably will only take two days. Now is that because they are efficient and have a very clear and concise piece to make, 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: Still to come, the coronavirus is taking a toll on Chinese markets now with 20 million people under trouble lockdown. We'll look at the potential problems the impact this all could have on the global economy. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:32:55]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm John Vause with the headlines at this hour.

Democrats have one more day to present their 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 benefits. Mr. Trump's legal team begins its rebuttal on Saturday.

On the eve of the lunar new year, some 20 million people in China are being forced to stay put because of the coronavirus outbreak. Transportation has been halted in the cities of Wuhan, Huanggang and Ezhou in central China, the method to contain the virus with those cities in virtual lock down.

Right now in China, 26 people have died from the disease with 830 others infected. Another 16 cases have been confirmed worldwide.

Let's bring in our correspondents now. Sherisse Pham standing by in Hong Kong. We also have Paula Hancocks, CNN senior international correspondent in Seoul Airport, in Incheon South Korea. So Paula -- first to you. Incheon Airport is maybe this monument to Korean efficiency but even so, putting in place some kind of virus control will not be easy.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. I mean when you consider the figures, John -- just last month there was more than half a million people from China who arrived here just at Incheon Airport. This is just one of the many airports in the country and one of the points of entry.

So what we are being told by officials is that as many airports in the region and around the world are doing, they're putting in extra screenings. And they are notified they say when there is an individual or a passenger on board who had been to the affected area and they then go to the gate and take the temperature to make sure that they're not mixing with the general passengers.

Now, this is what we are seeing around the world. We are seeing 16 cases outside of mainland China. The United States for example has one case in Washington State.

And we are hearing from officials that they are also monitoring more than 40 other people just from that one case. Because it's not just the infected passenger entering a country. You then have to consider who have they been in contact with, what sort of close contact have they had.

[01:34:55] HANCOCKS: So they have a number of people just from one individual that they are monitoring very closely as well. Now, this sort of things that are going into placer (ph) in airports in the U.S. -- the likes of JFK, L.A., San Francisco -- they are increasing the screening of those coming from the affected areas.

We know that the CDC in the U.S. as well has raised their alert level when it comes to traveling to that area to the highest point it can be saying that all but essential travel to the affected areas should be canceled.

Now, we're seeing similar extra screening in Australia, in the U.K., in London's Heathrow Airport. They have a completely separate arrival areas for passengers that they know have come from the affected area to make sure that there is no intermingling with the general passengers as well.

And we're seeing very similar things around this region. There are a number of countries outside of Mainland China that have been affected. Of course the concern is if that will grow -- John.

VAUSE: I guess they'll be concerned too when it hits some of those other countries that may not be as sophisticated as South Korea or, you know, the U.K. when it comes to controlling these outbreaks.

Let us go to Sherisse now in Hong Kong. Let's talk about the economic impact that this outbreak is actually having right now. And I guess, the potential impact it could have because we saw from SARS, these things can take quite the toll.

SHERISSE PHAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They can take quite a toll -- John. And we're already seeing some effects happening, rippling throughout the Chinese economy right now.

Just yesterday, we had distributors and producers pull all seven Chinese movies that were set to release during the lunar new year form theaters. And that is a big blockbuster period for China box office. Last year it took nearly a billion dollars over that weeklong period. So that is out the door now.

And, you know, economists are saying look, it is a little bit early days right now. We can't quite put a number on what this will be. But the timing of the Wuhan virus could not be any worse for China's economy.

China's economy is slowing down right now. There is rising levels of debt. People aren't going out there and spending. And the country is still suffering from the effects of the years' long U.S.-China trade war. And you add on top the fact that we've got the lunar new year kicking off next year, a time when people would usually be spending money.

We are going to be seeing a lot of businesses affected because once you are scared, you are scared. You do not go out. You do not spend money on tourism, on travel, in restaurants or going to movie theaters. are buckling down and you are staying home. And you are not spending

money and you are not stimulating the economy the way that Beijing wants you to be doing.

And so we do have a little bit of a guide from 2003 on how this could dent China's economy. Back then, SARS shaved off a couple of points of China's quarterly GDP growth. And worldwide, SARS hit the global economy some $40 billion. And most of that was in China and Hong Kong.

So if the Wuhan virus grows and if the fear amongst the general population persists this hit could be a lot bigger -- John.

VAUSE: Yes, well, 2020 -- the year of the rat, they say. Be flexible and keep an open mind. It will make life easier.

Sherisse -- thank you. Also Paula Hancocks there in Seoul -- Incheon rather, in South Korea. Thanks to you both.

For the past three years they have been denied justice and fairness, denied basic human decency and now, finally a victory for the persecuted Rohingya minorities in a landmark legal case which might just be a game changer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:38:25]

VAUSE: Rohingya Muslims are celebrating their first major legal victory nearly three years after Myanmar's military forced them out of the country. On Thursday, the U.N.'s International Court of Justice ordered Myanmar to protect the Rohingya from genocide.

CNN's Michael Holmes has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is the first ruling by a world court on the treatment of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and it was unanimous. On Thursday, the International Court of Justice ordered Myanmar to enact emergency measures to protect the Rohingya people from persecution and violence and gave it a tight timetable to get it done.

ABDULGAWI AHMED YUSUF, JUDGE, INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE: The court considers that Myanmar must submit a report to the court on all measures taken to give effect to this order within four months.

HOLMES: The ruling is one of the first steps in a landmark case brought to The Hague by Gambia, which accuses Myanmar of genocide. The preliminary judgment is the equivalent of an injunction against Myanmar while the courts main genocide case gets underway. That decision could still be years off.

Still, Gambia's minister of justice hailed the outcome.

ABUBACARR TAMBADOU, GAMBIAN MINISTER OF JUSTICE: This is a historic day today, not just for international law and the international community, but especially for the Rohingya.

HOLMES: More than 740,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar after a military crackdown by the government in 2016 and 2017. Most now live in crowded refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh. Survivors accuse Myanmar's troops of murder, rape, torture, and widespread property destruction.

A U.N. fact-finding commission on the violence called for a genocide tribunal. Myanmar's civilian leader and former human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi defended the military at the Hague and asked for the case to be dropped. Suu Kyi also published an opinion piece in "The Financial Times" before the ruling saying that war crimes may have been committed, but some Rohingya had exaggerated the abuses against them.

The proceedings were closely watched back in Bangladesh, with most people encouraged by the findings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We would like to thank the international community. We hope we will be able to return home soon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The genocide is finally proved. I hope this court will further serve our people justice.

HOLMES: Justice that may only be partially fulfilled right now, as the courts full decision on the question of genocide is yet to be decided.

Michael Holmes, CNN -- Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm John Vause.

Please stay with us.

"WORLD SPORT" with Patrick Snell starts after the break.

[01:43:29]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END