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WHO Declares New Disease A Global Emergency; UK Is Just Hours Away From Official Exit From The EU; Senators Vote On New Impeachment Witnesses; Key Republican Decides against Impeachment Witnesses; WHO Declares New Disease a Global Emergency; Many Airlines Have Suspended Flights to China; Brexit: Britain to Leave the E.U. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired January 31, 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]

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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Studio 7 at CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta.

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And I'm Max Foster in Downing Street on a momentous day here in London. It is Brexit day. That's what it's being called because it's finally come to the U.K. officially leaving the European Union. The work is far from over as both sides must decide what the future between the two sides looks like.

VAUSE: Plus, in Donald Trump's impeachment trial, the time for senators' questions may be over. But there's still a very big question which remains unanswered. Will witness witnesses be called to testify? But first, the WHO declares China's coronavirus outbreak officially is a public health emergency.

After parting on the question a week ago, the World Health Organization has now declared the Wuhan hand corner virus a global health emergency. The immediate impact was a warning from the U.S. State Department advising Americans not to travel to China, and for those who are there, leave.

Just last week, the WHO said the coronavirus appeared limited to China. But much has happened since last week and much has happened in the past 24 hours. The number of confirmed cases now stands at 10,000 about 25 percent in a day. And in the seven weeks from when the virus was first detected, 213 people have died.

Health experts are also concerned about transmission with the virus now spreading from person to person, including the first such case in the U.S. And the New England Journal of Medicine is reporting the virus has been spread by at least one person who displayed no symptoms, a big concern and potentially a big complication in terms of containment.

Although there have been no deaths reported anywhere outside Mainland China, 128 cases of the virus have been confirmed in about 20 countries, territories, and other places. CNN's Steven Jiang covering all this first, again from Beijing. OK, the problem right now sees me this uncertainty of just how exactly it's spreading, and they don't know for certain.

And with that in mind, governments around the world are moving to either isolate China, get their experts home, and other concerns that those measures could actually make everything worse.

STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Well, I think at least from the Chinese government's perspective, they're putting on a very brave face saying this is -- they're implementing the most comprehensive and most stringent measures imaginable as soon as the outbreak began, with a foreign ministry spokesman saying that what they've been doing has far exceeded their international obligations.

Now, you mentioned this WHO decision, and the Chinese government, of course, has responded to that saying, they have been very responsible and transparent when it comes to sharing information and data with the rest of the world about this virus. And their actions actually have been, in their words reaffirmed and praised by the WHO's leadership.

But still, as you mentioned, as this is increasingly a global problem, we are feeling -- you are feeling the impact around the world, including actually people here in China because one thing is a lot of Chinese travelers have been stranded overseas with all the cancellation of flights and travel restrictions.

And to that end, the Chinese government has announced they will be sending a special charter flights to overseas destinations to pick up stranded passengers, especially those from Wuhan. Now the latest development, John, is they're sending two flights, one to Thailand, one to Malaysia today on Friday to pick up stranded passengers and fly them back to Wuhan. John?

VAUSE: Steven, thank you. Steven Jang live for us again this hour in Beijing. To Hong Kong now and joining us this hour is Professor Leo Poon, head of Public Health Sciences at Hong Kong University. Professor, thank you for being with us.

LEO POON, HEAD OF PUBLIC HEALTH SCIENCE, HONG KONG UNIVERSITY: Hi.

You have this unique perspective. You worked on SARS back in 2003. You are among the first to decode that virus. And now you're looking at the Wuhan virus as well. So you're in pretty good position to look at -- to compare these two. So let's look at the mortality rate. The new coronavirus right now around two percent. In other words, you have a 98 percent chance of survival if you get it, compared to the everyday flu around 10 percent, and the mortality rate for SARS around 9.5 percent.

So, we're early into the early stages of this outbreak. But is it possible to make any credible predictions about how bad this will get, how many people are expected to be infected, and I guess how many people will die? You know, do you expect this epidemic, for example, to get worse than SARS? POON: I think the current situation is I think worse than SARS because the virus actually is spreading a lot and a lot of people get infected. Now the number of people today is about 10,500 cases and so which is much more than what we had in SARS. So, of course, the mortality rate is less but, you know, if the virus is actually spreading a lot and a lot of people will get infected, the (INAUDIBLE) will die with this disease may be bigger than SARS (INAUDIBLE).

[01:05:32]

VAUSE: There was a new study which took a closer look at the first 99 patients who were treated in Wuhan. All of them had pneumonia. Their lungs were inflamed and they have small oxygen sacks you know, which transfer air into the bloodstream through filling with water.

There are some other common symptoms as well. 82 had fever, 81 patients had a cough, or 31 patients reported shortness of breath, 11 said they had muscle ache, eight reported confusion, eight had headache, only five said they actually had a sore throat, nine reported confusion, I should say.

So how similar are those symptoms to SARS? It doesn't say anything about who is likely to be more risk of serious complications or even death.

POON: I would say that disease spectrum of (INAUDIBLE) is not being defined, because we only know those who are actually hospitalized and they, of course, they will have severe illness. But now, so many people actually don't -- only have a mild symptoms, so they may act infectious, able to spread in the community.

So I do think that it would be just premature to say that this disease is only causing a certain illness. I think the difference in SARS and this (INAUDIBLE). For SARS, they actually get very sick at the very beginning for the first few days. And then the virus actually start to replicate a lot in the second week of disease onset.

So you can manage to actually identify this patient early and then (INAUDIBLE) this disease being spread in the community very quickly. By contrast, the new coronavirus, this virus are actually (INAUDIBLE) these virus files can be spread through human even at a very early disease onset. So that is the tricky part because how will you be able to identify this patient early will be essential for us to -- in determining how we can be able to control this outbreak.

VAUSE: Given the slow fatality rate, and most who died were elderly or other illnesses, which lead to a compromised immune system before they're infected. Is the sense of fear and panic that this disease is causing right now, do you think it's rational? Do you think it's justified or just kind of overblown at this point?

POON: I think we're all just human. If we encounter something which we don't know before, I mean, the anxiety will (INAUDIBLE). So I don't think -- I mean, this is situational, but we're all human. We will be panicked. We will be scared by something we don't know. But then, I think what we need to do is actually try to find the scientific facts and based on this fact, to try to react properly.

Right now, the disease only have two percent of these people die from the impacted. But is that the real figures or maybe they're more is more and more symptomatic patients so that the mortality rate will go down, or the other extreme? Will this virus would able to kill human easier than before? So that is something that we don't know.

So I mean, there's a lot of unpredictability. So my advice is, try to (INAUDIBLE) at the moment and try not to underestimate the impact of this outbreak.

VAUSE: And just to your point a little earlier in the U.S., the CDC is reporting a second case in Chicago, this time, it's a little different. They put out a release saying the individual is a man in his 60s, and it's a spouse of the first confirmed travel-related case in Illinois. He did not travel overseas but interacted with his wife upon her return from China. This is the first person to person spread of the virus in the United States.

It's obviously happening elsewhere, but the CDC goes on to say that the risk to the general public remains low. But does this mean that the virus is mutating changing the way it can spread? Initially, it was spreading from animal to human and now by human to human transfer?

POON: Well, I mean, based on the sequence, we don't have evidence for that at the moment. But this is an (INAUDIBLE) virus. This type of virus like (INAUDIBLE) a lot. So if you beat them enough with (INAUDIBLE), they may be able to (INAUDIBLE). So I mean, we cannot exclude this possibility, but the moment the secret is out, that's not (INAUDIBLE).

[01:10:04]

VAUSE: Professor, thank you. We're at a time. We very much appreciate you being with us. Professor Leo Poon there from Hong Kong University. Thank you, sir. It's a big Brexit day. So let's head to London where Max Foster is standing by live at 10 Downing Street. I'm going to miss the Brexit music most of all.

FOSTER: Are you ready, John? We'll have a trade deal set of music for you coming through next year because I think --

VAUSE: Oh good. I'll take (INAUDIBLE)

FOSTER: I think the composers are working on it as we speak and the graphics. Now, after 47 years of marriage, the U.K. will finally officially divorce the E.U. just a few hours from now. It's taken me four years to get to this point two general elections to really confirm that initial referendum and making it all a reality dividing a nation down the middle.

Mixed emotions were felt in the heart of the European Union on Thursday as hundreds gathered in Brussels to mark the historic moments. It was Prime Minister Boris Johnson may have got Brexit done, the work is far from over. As I was saying, the U.K. still has until the end of the year to hash out a new relationship with the E.U. and create a new trade deals as well.

Mr. Johnson will hold a cabinet meeting in the coming hours in Sunderland, England. He's expected to address the nation just before Brexit becomes official at midnight Brussels time or 11:00 here in London. He's currently still here his cars to beside me but he's heading towards you, Nic Robertson, in Sunderland. What's his message going to be today?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, his message is there's going to be a new era and it's going to be very upbeat about what that new era can be. It's going to be quite a drive for him. I imagine it's either going to take the train or maybe fly to get up here because it took us about three and a half hours on the train, just to give you an idea of how far away it is.

Look, the reason he's chosen Sunderland, his officers said, is quite simply this was the first place in the U.K. to vote for Brexit. How is that possible? Everyone went to the polls the same day. Well, Sunderland counts the vote quicker than any other place in the U.K. 61 percent just over the population here, 134,000 people came out to vote. And they were the first ones to vote for Brexit in the UK. So it's a sort of a gift back to the Prime Minister.

Interesting choice in other ways. All three parliamentary constituencies here in the last election last year voted Labour, not for his Conservative Party. And interestingly and I think the Prime Minister perhaps wouldn't have counted on this when he was planning to come here, the trade, the motor trade industry yesterday announced their stats if you will for the past few years. The motor trade in the U.K. producing cars, the output dropped by 11 percent.

Now here in Sunderland, a major employer here, a city of 175,000 people, major employer, Nissan cars employs 7,000 people here, their output last year dropped by one-fifth, 20 percent. So industry experts are saying that these drop-offs are due to Brexit concerns. And indeed, the Nissan factory bosses warned that if there had been a hard Brexit, they might have had to close the whole plant.

So you know, Boris Johnson comes here with his new era Brexit message that the new era that sort of being tasted it here in Sunderland is one that puts uncertainty over a major employer here, Max.

FOSTER: And we should remember, Nic, as well as walking past Parliament last night, and there was almost a wake with Remainers outside parliament. You know, nearly half of the country in that referendum voted to remain so it was -- there's lots of positivity. There's also some real concern here.

ROBERTSON: There is. And look, it's a movement of the uncertainty and the uncertainty still exists because there are those 11 months of trade negotiations, which Europe -- many European leaders and negotiators are saying is woefully too short to hammer out a new trade deal between Britain and the European Union.

So there's 11 months of those discussions to be had in the implications of what that'll have for the movement of people. The movement of goods, again, that's an important thing to the --to the car industry because the car industry across Europe is parts made in one country shifted to another country for further manufacturing, and all arriving sort of just in the nick of time for the factory floor.

It's -- there is still going to be that air of uncertainty. And I think for those people who the 48 percent of the country that didn't vote to leave, that's going to be a point of concern. But the Prime Minister, you know, he has a big majority in parliament. He has a lot of power to negotiate with a strong hand, if you will, with the European Union.

And he's certainly going to talk about how the deal that Britain will get with European Union, with the United States for a trade deal with them and with others, is going to put Britain in a better place in the future. But experts tell us that that future even senior members in his own party say that future might take some time to achieve, Max.

[01:15:23]

FOSTER: OK, Nic in Sunderland, thank you. CNN European Affairs Commentator Dominic Thomas joins me now from Los Angeles. Dominic, I mean, Nic is talking about it there. But this trade deal that we're looking at next, that's going to be hugely difficult to achieve, certainly by the end of the year. It's not actually realistic, is it?

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: I don't think it is realistic, Max. And that's not just really the economic aspects of it is you're ultimately looking at redefining here a 47-year relationship with 27 different countries and getting them to all agree on it. And I think that we've seen a couple of really strong indications as to -- as to where these will likely run into problems.

First of all, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in London today talking about not only how fantastic Brexit is, that how Brexit is fantastic precisely because it will allow in his opinion and therefore in President Trump's opinion for the United Kingdom to extricate itself from European Union rules and regulations, that in fact, the pathway the to obtain an E.U. deal is precisely going to be premised on the degree of alignment with the European Union and with its concerns over issues such as regulation. So, you can see some kind of tension there.

And when the (INAUDIBLE) talks about the fact that the UK is a country of rural makers, not a rural takers, you can see how the Conservative Party and how the new leadership feels so emboldened by its electoral victory. But there are contradictions here in terms of the kinds of trade deals we're talking about.

FOSTER: And one of the trade deals they're looking at, obviously, with the U.S., Donald Trump, promising a big deal with the U.K. after Brexit, so effectively that work in theory as you thought tomorrow. But that's actually not in Donald Trump's gift is it, has to go through the system there?

THOMAS: Well, yes, it's got to go through the system. And Nancy Pelosi has already talked about the fact that, you know, this will be subjected to, you know, tremendous sort of scrutiny. So what we really have here is a lot of sort of political grandstanding on really on either side of the Atlantic. And in many ways Brexit has been defined by this, you know, of course, an emotional debate, a lot of lies a lot of misleading comments.

And the challenge for the leadership now on both sides of the Atlantic, and of course, in the European Union is to somehow reconcile this political rhetoric with the promises and with the expectations of the people, not just E.U. members, but also those in the United Kingdom. And that's a-- that's a total challenge.

FOSTER: Yes. And could it become a choice for Americans as well, if they're faced by two different sets of trade deals one comes from the UK, one time for the European Union? And the European Union, effectively having a sale of whatever deal the U.K. riches with the U.S. It gets very complicated, doesn't it?

THOMAS: Well, it does get complicated. And it's also -- there's a lot of uncertainty in the United States, not only the distraction of the impeachment with the general election coming up, but the outcome of which is, of course, not yet determined, new leadership in the European Union, of course, and some of the major players on the board.

Emmanuel Macron distracted by domestic issues, Angela Merkel on the last stretch of her chancellorship. So the European Union thus far has worked together in concert, and no other member country is seeking to leave the E.U., which is a good thing. But it's going to be extremely important for the European Union as it goes forward in this process to make sure that it protects the integrity of its own institutions, the desires of its 27 members, and also, of course, sets a serious precedent here in terms of how he goes about dealing with a leaving country should any other country down the road decide to go down that particular road.

So -- and also, I think what's interesting is this sort of vocabulary that we've been using over the last three and a half years over a soft Brexit or a hard Brexit is now shifting over and being applied to the word trade, where we end up with a -- with a, you know, with a hard trade deal or with a soft trade deal. So it's a long road ahead here. And the kind of vision as to where the U.K. is going, which of course is not shared by the Scottish people and in many ways, not by the Northern Irish, who together voted to remain in the European Union.

FOSTER: Yes, this is the other question, isn't it, what it means for the United Kingdom and the alliance between the nations here, people talking about that now breaking up subsequently? But you know, here in Downing Street, the viewers actually bring the British nations together. What do you think? I mean, it's always been an emotional issue, a less irrational one anyway.

THOMAS: Yes, it has. And this was, you know, as Boris Johnson, you know, even went into the election for the Conservative Party leadership. You know, he was talking about trying to sort of bring the country together and so on so forth, but he's not managed to do that. He won an election but the country remains extraordinarily divided not just by regions, but in terms of Scotland and Northern Ireland. [01:20:14]

As I said, the Scottish really don't share the government's vision period, as to where it wants to go here in the world. It does not want to be outside of the European Union. This is, of course, fueling and providing the oxygen for the drive for a future referendum on potential independence or autonomy. And I think that throughout these negotiations, the Northern Irish have felt very much like second class citizens and ignore to a certain extent in the process. And that has involved in discussions about potential unification with the Republic of Ireland as a path to maintaining that status in the European Union.

So, these divisions are something that the government of course, and has to address and I think thus far, and the Boris Johnson cabinet, it's question representation, and so on and so forth, have not gone along the way down that road to bridging what was ultimately a very divisive general election.

FOSTER: OK, Dominic Thomas, thank you very much indeed. So, John, just a few more hours to go until Britain does actually leave the European Union, we got some projectors set up here in Downing Street. Big Ben is not operating so we can't use that. There's going to be a light show, though on the front of the building.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: Oh, excellent. I'm marking my calendars. Set the DVRs. Well, we'll take a short break. And one by one, those wavering Senate Republicans is showing their hand. We've heard from two and how they'll vote on calling witnesses at Trump's impeachment trial. We'll tell you more in just a moment.

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DEREK VAN DAM, CNN INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGIST: Here's a surreal winter landscape taken across Northwestern Colorado. This is a natural hot spring. You can see some of the fresh snow blanket in the rocks an absolutely beautiful picture-perfect photograph taken across that region. Lots of sunshine across the Rockies at the moment, with the exception of the Northern Rockies throughout the U.S. There's a storm system moving in that will impact places like Seattle, Washington, right through portions of Montana and to Wyoming.

Now across the southeastern United States, that's where we have the most active weather as a cold front starts to take shape. Low Pressure starting to move across the region. That cold front could trigger a few stronger thunderstorms across the extreme Southern sections of Florida this Friday to start off the weekend. Heads up, Miami. You do have a slight risk of severe storms, large hail, damaging winds, can't rule out a passing tornado as well.

Three degrees in Chicago, seven for New York City as well as Atlanta, so you can see the cool weather in place across the East Coast, but it really starts to warm up from here. Wait till you see this extended forecast through the course of the weekend and into early next week. I mean, this is amazing to see how above average we will be along the east coast Atlanta, to Charlotte, to Washington as well as New York City.

On the other hand, we've had too much rain across portions of Brazil, has caused flash flooding throughout that region. You can see the showers and thunderstorms just dotting the periphery of the country.

[01:25:00]

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VAUSE: After days of arguments, anger, and rancor, impeachment trial of Donald Trump might be wrapped by days end. Republican Senator Lamar Alexander among a small group seen as potentially breaking with party leadership on calling witnesses, but in the past few hours, he fell in line. And that may be the end of any hope for Democrats to win a vote on witnesses which is planned for Friday. CNN says details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIC HERSCHMANN, TRUMP'S LEGAL TEAM: Enough is enough. Stop all of this.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the final day of questions, both sides pushing for and against witnesses and bringing this all to a swift end.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): There are a few things about this trial that Americans agree on, but one thing they are squarely in agreement on. Well, two. They believe a trial should have witness testimony, and they want to hear from John Bolton. Let's give the country a trial that can be proud of.

I will make an offer to opposing counsel, who have said that this will stretch on indefinitely if you decide to have a single witness. Let's cabin the depositions to one week. In the Clinton trial, there was one week of depositions.

JONES: The President's defense team arguing Democrats failed to prove their case and the Senate should not remove a president in the midst of an election year.

JAY SEKULOW, TRUMP'S LEGAL TEAM: We are literally at the dawn of a new season of elections. I mean, we're at that season now. And yet, we're talking about impeaching a president. This is really taking the vote away from the American people.

JONES: House Democrats spending what could be the trial's final hours challenging Trump's lawyers over abuse of power.

SCHIFF: If we are to accept the premise that a president essentially can do whatever he wants, engage in whatever quid pro quo he wants, I will give you this, if you will give me that to help me get elected, I will give you military dollars, if you will give me help and my reelection, if you will give me elicit foreign interference in our election --

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): It would send a terrible message to autocrats, and dictators, and enemies of democracy and the free world.

JONES: Using Trump's own words to argue he represents an ongoing threat to the integrity of the next election.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing.

It's not an interference. They have information. I think I'd take it.

Likewise, China just started investigation into the Biden's.

JONES: Democrats also warning senators about the president allowing Trump's obstruction of Congress was set.

REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): By sanctioning the President's blanket obstruction. The Senate would be curtailing its own subpoena power in the future as well as the House's and the oversight obligation that we have, as we now know it would be permanently altered.

JONES: Republican senators and President Trump's lawyers again focusing their attention on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

PAM BONDI, TRUMP'S LEGAL TEAM: The Vice President, by his account, never once asked his son to leave the board. We wouldn't be sitting here if he did.

JONES: And blasting the process, including Kentucky's Rand Paul, who tried to ask a question that may have named the alleged whistleblower.

JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT: The Presiding Officer declines to read the question as submitted.

JONES: Both sides at times directing sharp barbs at one another.

JEFFRIES: One of the arguments that we consistently hear on the floor of this Senate, this great institution in America's democracy is conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory.

SEKULOW: It's is not a conspiracy that Christopher Steele was engaged to obtain and prepare a dossier on the president -- presidential candidate for the Republican Party, Donald Trump.

JONES: Republicans sought to highlight the partisan nature of the proceeding, a point also raised repeatedly by Trump's defense.

PAT CIPOLLONE, WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: They don't talk about the horrible consequences to our country of doing that, but they would be terrible, they would tear us apart for generations and the American people wouldn't accept it.

JONES: Still, after some 12 hours of Q&A, there was a moment of bipartisanship. The first question to come from members of both parties, including Lisa Murkowski, a Republican who was said she could vote for witnesses. ROBERTS: The question from Senators Murkowski and Schatz directed to

both parties.

[01:29:55]

Would you agree that almost any action a president takes, or indeed any action the vast majority of politicians take, is to one degree or another inherently political? Where is the line between permissible political actions and impeachable political actions?

PATRICK PHILBIN, DEPUTY COUNSEL TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: There is nothing wrong with that. That is good. It is part of the way representative democracy works.

ADAM SCHIFF, HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEAD IMPEACHMENT MANAGER: Yes, everyone in office has a political motivation but certainly that doesn't mean that we can't draw a line between corrupt activity, that is undertaken yes for political reasons, and non-corrupt activity. Indeed we have to draw that line.

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Athena Jones, CNN -- Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the coronavirus has infected the world's second largest economy. We'll assess the outbreak's economic impacts on China and world markets as well as other industries like tourism, when we return.

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VAUSE: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm John Vause.

China now reports nearly 10,000 people infected with the coronavirus, a jump of about 25 percent from a day earlier.

The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a global emergency which prompted the U.S. State Department to advise Americans to avoid all travel to China.

More than 200 people have died -- that is in China alone from the virus since it first appeared about seven weeks ago.

Kaori Enjoji joins us now covering the outbreak. She has a business angle. She is with us from Tokyo.

[01:34:55]

VAUSE: But let's look specifically at what is happening in Japan because last year, eight million Chinese tourists visited Japan. It is a pretty safe bet they there won't be eight million tourists this year. So that is going to be a big hit. And also what about simply the fact the virus is just next door. KAORI ENJOJI, JOURNALIST: That is right.

I mean this is a Friday afternoon -- John, in Tokyo and the Chinese tourists love coming to the streets. This is smack in the middle of Tokyo in an area called Ginza.

And this is one of the most popular destinations right next to me. It is an electronic store. They sell electronics, suitcases, cosmetics -- all the things that Chinese consumers love to shop for.

There are still signs here -- John, that says "Welcome Lunar New Year 2020". But I took a peek inside the store and there are more people selling than there are buying. There are hardly any people in here.

And the road here on Ginza just feels a lot more quiet than it usually would, smack in the middle of lunar new year on a Friday afternoon.

Also, it is very unusual to see more foreigners wearing masks than local people here. Other retailers advised their staff to wear masks and you see that inside the stores as well.

9.6 million, I think is the latest figure of Chinese tourists that came to Japan in 2019. That is 30 percent of the entire tourism inbound here in Japan. And the numbers say that they spend on average 2,000 U.S. dollars.

So it really depends on how long this is going to last but you do the math. It could be a significant impact and a very difficult time in the Japanese economy -- John.

VAUSE: Kaori -- we appreciate the update. They spent a lot of money there, the Chinese, I guess they'll keep that money at home.

We appreciate it your report -- thank you. Kaori Enjoji there reporting from Tokyo.

Let's go back now to Max Foster. He has all the excitement of Brexit, a day we have just been waiting for, and waiting, and waiting. It is here -- hard to believe.

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been a buildup, hasn't it?

(CROSSTALKING)

FOSTER: Oh no. But you know, here we are. The light show will be happening tonight here in Downing Street to mark that big occasion. It has been very, very drawn out of course. A bitter divorce that has been going on for years and years.

But the day has finally come when Britain will be leaving the European Union. It will be 11:00 our time, it will be midnight in Brussels when it finally happens. And we'll be bringing you all of the details from here in London -- what to expect, coming up on this momentous day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) FOSTER: After all what was a very drawn out, bitter divorce, the U.K. will finally leave the E.U. in just a few hours. It happens at midnight, Brussels time but 11:00 here in the U.K.

A few events are being set up for it including a light show here in Downing Street. But it's pretty muted actually when you consider the years of work, and anger and joy, and all sorts of emotions surrounding this whole issue. It has been hugely, hugely divisive.

But there are also many, many questions still outstanding and many will be -- has have to be addressed, not least the trade deal which Boris Johnson wants to have signed by the end of the year, which everyone involved says is extremely ambitious.

[01:40:04]

FOSTER: Here's CNN's Phil Black.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brexit is happening. So the British people can move on and we can all stop talking about it, right? Not even close.

Because even once British clock strikes Friday's Brexit hour, Boris Johnson's punchy, election winning pledge --

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We are going to get Brexit done.

BLACK: -- will only be partly fulfilled.

After more than three years of Brexit-inspired angst, bitterness and paralysis, January 31 marks the end of what many consider the easy part.

Now there is a new deadline and a whole new mountain of uncertainty. The end of 2020 marks the close of what is known as the transition period. Until then, the U.K. is out of the E.U. but still following its rules. It is an 11-month window for both sides to thresh out a new functioning relationship especially on the hugely important issue of trade.

MATTHEW OXENFORD, U.K. AND BREXIT ANALYST: Most trade agreements take between three and five years to negotiate. Moving to 11 months is a very condensed schedule. Most trade experts don't believe that it will be possible.

BLACK: And yet Boris Johnson has already vowed he won't extend that window. So the cliff edge is back. It is once again possible Britain can topple out of the E.U. without a trade deal in place, without easy access to its most important market, causing enormous economic harm.

But don't worry it won't happen, says the Prime Minister.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will Brexit help (ph) on? JOHNSON: In lots of way.

BLACK: His cheery optimism extends to the quality of the new free trade agreement He wants to negotiate with the E.U.

JOHNSON: I think that it's massively in our interest and in the interest of both sides of the channel to have a wonderful zero tariff, zero equator (ph), all see, all (INAUDIBLE) FTA and I'm absolutely confident that we can do that.

BLACK: But scratch the surface of Johnson's hopeful assessment and you see a big ominous contradiction. He says he wants a close trading relationship but he doesn't want to closely follow E.U. regulations. That is not possible says Brussels.

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: The precondition is that European and British businesses continue to compete on a level playing field. We will certainly not expose our companies to unfair competition.

BLACK: So not everyone thinks the coming negotiations or the consequences will be quite as rosy as Boris Johnson suggests especially if the Brexit slog so far is any measure. Even now as Britain finally leaves the European Union, no one knows what Brexit will look like in a year's time, or ultimately what it will mean for the country's future prosperity.

Phil Black, CNN -- London.

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FOSTER: The message John -- though from Downing Street today on this momentous day, a historic day for the European continent is that this is a new era.

VAUSE: What a time to be alive.

Max -- good to see you. Thank you.

And thank you for watching CNN Newsroom. I'm John Vause.

"WORLD SPORT" starts after the break.

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