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New U.S. Cases Trending Downward; White House to Labs: Get Test Kits Done; Virus May Not Go Away in Warm Weather; U.K. Prime Minister's Condition Improving; Political Showdown between President Trump and WHO Director-General; Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and Other Former World Leaders Demand Action from G20; Trump Wants to Reopen Economy with 'Big Bang' in May; Many Small Business Owners Find Lifeline out of Reach; WHO: Africa Tops 10,000 Cases, 500 Deaths; Lessons in Leadership: New Zealand's Virus Response; Bernie Sanders Drops Out of U.S. Presidential Race. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired April 09, 2020 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause.
Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, predictions are not destiny. For a second day, the expected death toll from the coronavirus in the U.S. has been significantly scaled back. Social distancing appears to be more effective than they first expected it to be.
The same pandemic model expects the U.K. to be the hardest hit European country, the virus claiming more than 66,000 lives.
And pandemic politics: the U.S. president again tries to shift blame for his administration's feelings to the WHO, as almost 100 world leaders make a desperate plea for coordinated international action.
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VAUSE: The latest pandemic model has some encouraging news for the U.S. But a grim outlook for the U.K. These are early predictions and are not written in stone but by using current data, Britain is on track to have the highest death toll in Europe, more than 66,000.
It's important to know that the leading scientists in the U.K. don't believe the numbers are accurate. This same model predictions the death toll in the U.S. will also be around 60,000, where the rate of new infections has slowed.
The White House says that that is because Americans have been vigilant in following stay-at-home orders, they need to continue to do so. There's now clarity about what will happen as the weather gets warmer. The U.S. president has said that it will disappear. It will not. The National Academy of Sciences says high temperatures and humidity may slow this virus slightly but not enough to stop it spreading. We get more from CNN's Nick Watt.
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NICK WATT, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A glimmer of hope: a model used by the White House now predicts the nationwide death toll is down about 20,000, largely due to social distancing. But:
ANDREW CUOMO (D), GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK: Today is a day in the state of New York with very mixed emotions.
WATT (voice-over): -- because day after day the state is still seeing a rise in reported deaths and --
CUOMO: The number of deaths will continue to rise as those hospitalized for a longer period of time pass away.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: It is very sobering to see the increase in deaths. It's going to be a bad week for deaths.
WATT (voice-over): -- about 60,000 Americans are still projected to die by early August. Right now, we are not even a quarter of the way to that grim total. And every number is a person, a story. Zenobia Shepherd's daughter, Leilani, just died, aged 27.
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ZENOBIA SHEPHERD, LEILANI'S MOTHER: My husband and I both were in the room, you know, and I was able to hold my baby's hands for the last time. And it was so hard for me. It was my baby.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice-over): The new modeling also highlights regional disparities; projected deaths in New Jersey more than doubled to over 5,200; projected deaths in California down from about 6,100 to about 1,600.
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: We are looking very carefully at California and Washington to really understand how they have been able, as a community of Americans, to mitigate so well.
WATT (voice-over): A CNN poll shows the majority of Americans now think the federal government has done a poor job in preventing coronavirus spread. It's 55 percent, up 8 points in about a week. The administration also still watching hotspots popping up around the country.
BIRX: We are concerned about the metro area of Washington and Baltimore and we're concerned right now about the Philadelphia area.
WATT (voice-over): Some states now stockpiling a malaria drug to treat COVID-19. It's not proven to work; potentially dangerous. Florida expecting a million doses today; Georgia already given 200,000.
TRUMP: I really think it is a great thing to try, just based on what I know, again, I am not a doctor.
WATT (voice-over): Adam Jarrett is.
DR. ADAM JARRETT, HOLY NAME MEDICAL CENTER: So we are using hydroxychloroquine but we really don't know whether it works.
WATT (voice-over): And still, we are told there is not enough testing going on.
BIRX: All the lab directors could look in their laboratories, if they have an Avid M2000, if they could get that up and running, we could double the number of tests we're doing per day. Right now about 80 percent of them are idle. Over 1 million test kits sitting, ready to be run.
DR. ROB DAVIDSON, E.R. PHYSICIAN: Well, I hope that the federal government is doing more than speaking this at the press conference.
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DAVIDSON: This is the key to opening us back up again, getting these tests online.
WATT (voice-over): So are antibody tests; the White House says they'll be ready inside two weeks.
CUOMO: That is going to be the bridge from where we are today to the new economy. People who have been exposed and now are better, those people can go back to work.
WATT (voice-over): But for now, still, this must be our normal.
BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK MAYOR: We have to recognize the progress is because people are doing the right thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're watching from Jersey, please stay home.
WATT: A quick note on those models, they can change, they can go up or down, also the projection of a drop in the deaths in the U.S. is based on social distancing continuing through the end of May, that's another seven weeks or so -- Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
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VAUSE: Dr. Ryan McGarry is in emergency medical physician, joining us from Los Angeles.
Doctor, thanks for taking the time to be with us.
There is relatively good news, the death rate in the United States is to be far less than previously thought. It's assuming social distancing measures, including closure of businesses and schools, will remain in place until August. Other measures could replace those measures, including mass screening, contact tracing and selective quarantines.
But overall, does this give you hope?
How do you read them in terms of what we have ultimately seen in the E.R.?
DR. RYAN MCGARRY, EMERGENCY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN: Yes, cautious optimism. If you live in the States you don't have to go much further back to the 2016 election to know that modeling is frequently wrong.
I think, yes, cautiously optimistic. Here on the front lines in Los Angeles, we continue to see a daily rise in both the volume and intensity of illness. Here in L.A. we have a very vulnerable population, our homeless population is high, over 50,000 in the city.
It's a tinderbox that can go either way. Some of us think the story of L.A. will be told via that population, whether or not we can protect them or not.
VAUSE: It's hard to stay at home when you don't have a home.
MCGARRY: Correct.
VAUSE: All this is based on the assumption that restrictions of movement will remain in place through August. At the same time we're hearing from the U.S. president pushing for opening up of the economy. He wants that to happen in weeks.
You can't have both, can you?
MCGARRY: You can't have both, I don't think. Driving down the streets in L.A., you see a lot of pain. There's a lot of dark windows, a lot of closed businesses. I understand that many of us would want a leader to be optimistic and push for an opening when we can do it.
That said, we know that this is a very unpredictable and dangerous threat like we have never seen before in our lifetimes. I think it has been 100 years since the last major pandemic in the world, the flu of 1918.
This requires a whole new level of thinking. It will change how we interact and look at the world forever. To end this early, just as we are seeing good progress, I get it is tempting; I sure hope we don't do that.
VAUSE: It seems to, me if there is one way you could do this and not have the virus come back is through testing. But the testing has to be widespread, everyone has to be tested.
You also have to look at the antibodies, right?
MCGARRY: I think in the end, we know that there will be future waves. Even as we get through the best of those models, there is data that suggests that 97 percent of Americans will not have had any exposure to the virus.
That is a huge wake up call that this is just round one. In the end, I think it will be a mixture of things, antibodies, testing, vaccine and possible hope with some of the medications out there that may reduce symptoms. You need all three to get after. This
VAUSE: A month ago Donald Trump made this prediction, based on no evidence whatsoever, here he is.
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TRUMP: The virus, they are working hard, it looks like by April, as it gets warmer, it miraculously goes away.
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VAUSE: The president was wrong. A scientific panel told the White House that there is some evidence that transmission might be lower with the high ambient temperature and humidity. But given the lack of host immunity globally, that reduction in transmission efficiency may not lead to a significant reduction in disease spread.
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VAUSE: If we look at Australia, where it's summer, or Iran and India, where the climate is hot, the virus continues to spread.
MCGARRY: Right. You don't have to look further than SARS and MERS, that share properties with this virus, to know those were horrible outbreaks that did not respect seasonal change.
I think again, I understand the wish for optimism. You wonder if, in the middle of World War II, if our leaders said something as fantasy as that, I am not sure that would go over well with the troops at the front line. Those of us on the front line are going, well, OK, no, it won't go away.
VAUSE: Because L.A. and California would be looking at their peak just as the weather starts to get warm, hoping it would be mitigated, that's obviously not the case now. We're bracing for the peak expected in about two months or so from now.
Is that right?
MCGARRY: Yes, some of the models think sooner. Again, it can be one or two weeks. Again these models are uncertain, uncertain times as we go further, process the data, that predictions ideally get better.
But I think when you are on the front line and you know the variance of these things, you are best being prepared. That's certainly how I head to my shift every day, is just being ready for the worst.
VAUSE: Good luck. Stay well. Thank you for everything you are doing. Dr. Ryan McGarry in Los Angeles. We appreciate it.
MCGARRY: Thank you. VAUSE: A nationwide looked in France is expected to be extended
beyond April 15. President Macron is expected to make a televised address Monday, his third from the Elysee Palace since this crisis began.
On Wednesday the government reported the 24 hour death toll was 562. But a lack of information from elderly care facilities, the number of dead is likely higher. Officials in the U.K. say there's a sign that new infections have started to plateau.
Still the virus claimed 900 plus lives on Wednesday and the government says social distancing is critical for preventing surge in new cases.
After three nights in intensive care, the British prime minister is in a stable condition. He seemed to be responding well to treatment for COVID-19. His condition has improved to the point where we're told he's sitting up in bed and engaging with his clinical team around him. Nina dos Santos is live in London.
Boris Johnson is improving, so what is the latest on that?
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNNMONEY EUROPE EDITOR: Yesterday afternoon, evening, with the coronavirus press briefing, that senior members of government give to the public audience, the U.K.'s Chancellor of the Exchequer, the de facto finance minister, said that Boris Johnson was responding positively to treatment, sitting up in bed.
We have been told repeatedly that the prime minister is breathing unaided, although he has required some extra standard oxygen support. Also the prime minister was engaging positively with NHS staff that were treating him.
Essentially, the prime minister is conscious. He is awake and in command. He also does not need the help of a mechanical ventilator that might require far more drastic treatment options.
We still don't know when he will be able to return to Downing Street. He has had coronavirus symptoms for 15 days so far. All of this was to try to alleviate concerns about whether or not his health was deteriorating.
A lot of people in his age bracket, it can affect men disproportionately more than women, they can deteriorate quickly once they reach ICU. And the government is saying this was an abundance of precaution because he is the head of the government -- John.
VAUSE: Nina, thank you, with the very latest on Boris Johnson.
There is a war of words in the midst of the war on a virus, between the U.S. and the head of the World Health Organization, the two men accusing each other of playing politics with this deadly virus.
Also a big meeting today between Russia and OPEC, what it could mean for oil prices and for your wallet.
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VAUSE: The U.S. president has often targeted the World Health Organization and it sits well with his base. On Wednesday for the second day, Donald Trump criticized the WHO's handling of this pandemic. Earlier, the organization's director warned him not to politicize this virus. CNN's Isa Soares has this report
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ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Geneva, the head of the World Health Organization fired back at the criticism of the body.
DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: If you don't want many more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it.
SOARES: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus asked about criticism leveled against the WHO by U.S. president Donald Trump said it is dangerous to get political during a pandemic.
GHEBREYESUS: No need to use COVID to score political points. No need. You have many other ways to prove yourselves. This is not the one to use for politics. It's like playing with fire.
SOARES: The day before Mr. Trump criticized the WHO, claiming it hadn't raised enough alarms about the virus.
TRUMP: They called it wrong, they called it wrong, they really -- they missed the call. They could have called it months earlier and they would have known. And they should have known. And they probably did know. So, we'll be looking into that very carefully.
SOARES: In his remarks on Wednesday, the director general of the WHO pointed out that the organization had been closely following and issuing advisories about the virus since early January. Mr. Trump also criticize the WHO for not supporting his travel ban of people coming from China.
TRUMP: They said there's no big deal, there's no big problem, there's no big nothing. And then ultimately, when I closed down, they actually said that I made a mistake in closing it down and it turned out to be right.
SOARES: A CNN fact check found that although Trump is correct that the WHO didn't support his travel restrictions with China, the WHO opposes most international travel restrictions and sees them as ineffectual. And while not addressing Mr. Trump's criticism directly, the director general called on U.S. and China to now cooperate.
GHEBREYESUS: The United States and China should come together and fight this dangerous enemy. They should come together to fight it.
SOARES: Mr. Trump also repeatedly said the WHO had been China centric. The director general says they don't play favorites.
TRUMP: If you look back over the years even, they're very much -- everything seems to be very biased towards China. That's not right.
GHEBREYESUS: We are close to every nation. We are color blind. We are, what do you call it, world blind, we don't see. For us, rich and poor is the same. For us, weak and strong is the same. For us, small and big is the same.
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GHEBREYESUS: For us, people in the south or in the north, east or west, are the same.
SOARES: At one point on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said he would suspend funding for the organization, though he later denied, saying that and then clarified he was just going to look into it -- Isa Soares, CNN.
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VAUSE: Six years ago, when the world was threatened by the Ebola virus, the global response was almost the polar opposite of what we've seen in the coronavirus pandemic.
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BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We believe that if we have made possible policy based not on fear but on sound science and good judgment, America could lead an effective global while keeping the American people safe and we could turn the tide of the epidemic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Back then, the U.S. assumed its traditional role, leading an international response, sending troops to West Africa to contain the outbreak and by the time it was over, the CDC put the global death toll at just over 11,000.
In the U.S., 11 people were treated and most of them recovered. The final economic cost was $53 billion. Just like the coronavirus, back then there was no vaccine for Ebola and while coronavirus is much more contagious than Ebola, the Ebola virus is much more deadly, with the mortality rate close to 50 percent.
Each outbreak is different with its own new challenges. This time though, the big differences is the total absence of U.S. leadership on the world stage, which is why more than 90 former world leaders have written an open letter to the G20, calling for immediate internationally coordinated action within days.
And among those who signed this letter is Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, who joins us now from Auckland.
Ms. Clark, it is great to see you, thank you for being with us.
HELEN CLARK, FORMER NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: Thank you.
VAUSE: What is your reaction right now when you look around the world and it seems to be a case of everyone for themselves?
Country against country, even within the United States, states competing with other states for dwindling supplies of vital medical equipment and supplies?
CLARK: It is striking, the difference with 2014, when the Security Council came together to declare Ebola a threat to global health and security. The Security Council now has not done that. And I understand they have a virtual meeting tomorrow and I hope the issue of the pandemic is on their agenda.
But I am not holding my breath for countries coming together the way they did six years ago. I wish they would. But the letter that has gone, facilitated by former prime minister Gordon Brown, dozens of other former leaders, goes to the G20 to say help.
We need the kind of rallying that the G20 leaders did back in the wake of the global financial crisis because we are facing now a combined health and economic crisis that needs action at the highest level. It needs coordination and it needs money, very big money to fight this.
VAUSE: Why have countries not reacted in the same cooperative way as they did back then?
CLARK: I think the geopolitics is very different. At that time, as your report said, the U.S. was taking a global leadership role on Ebola and was much more inclined to be supportive of the multilateral system.
I am of the opinion myself that, given that this is now at least the fifth global public health emergency this century, that we need to have countries support a global pandemic emergency coordination council, which will be a standing council that snaps into action every time we face a threat like this.
I believe it should be led by the heads of the IMF, the World Bank, the U.N. secretary-general and the WHO director-general and they should then be able to convene.
Unfortunately, Dr. Tedros and WHO have been pretty much left on their own to cope with what began as a health crisis but has become the most profound economic global crisis.
VAUSE: I would like you to listen to President Obama back in 2015, when the Ebola outbreak was pretty much under control. Here he is.
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OBAMA: Thanks to the hard work of our nearly 3,000 troops who are deployed to West Africa, logistics have been set up, Ebola treatment units have been built; over 1,500 African health workers have been trained and volunteers around the world have gained the confidence to join the fight. We were a force multiplier. It wasn't just what we put in; it is the
fact that, when we put it in, people looked around and said, all right, America has got our back. So we will come, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Was it always this assumption that the U.S. would take a leadership role in a moment like this?
Because no other country could realistically do it?
And secondly, the other reason, is it is because it is in America's best interest?
CLARK: We do look to the United States to play that role. President Obama did an incredible job rallying the world around us.
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CLARK: Because up, until the point where the U.S. got very involved, the three very poor countries in West Africa were being left to cope with Ebola pretty much under the radar. President Obama saw the global threat that this was and empowered Samantha Power, who was ambassador to the United Nations, to drive the resolution up, which brought the Security Council together.
I just hope that tomorrow, when the Security Council meets, that it is very focused on this because we now need everyone to come together or we all sink together. I live in a country, New Zealand, which is doing quite well at batting back this pandemic.
But we can't prosper if the rest of the world is struggling with the impact of this extraordinary crisis.
VAUSE: This is a moment when the current U.S. president, Donald Trump, seems to have decided because of his administration's slow and lackluster response to this crisis, that maybe he can deflect some of the blame on to the WHO and, of course, with the election at the end of the year, this is very popular with his base.
What are the implications, both short term and long term, when the U.S. president sort of goes out to undermine the World Health Organization for his own political gain?
CLARK: Well, profound implications because the World Health Organization is the recognized leader of global health. Actually, it should be strengthened, not undermined, for the funding that it has, which is frankly quite pathetic.
It does an incredible job. It needs help right now. It particularly needs help to get support out to the poorest countries. You know, we sit and watch on our screens, the G7 economies, the most powerful economies in the world, struggling with this virus.
What about when it hits Liberia?
When it hits Somalia?
When it hits Afghanistan?
This is a catastrophe. And we have an opportunity still to ward off the worst impact of it in the most poorest and fragile states on Earth.
VAUSE: What we have seen, recently, in China, where this began, also seem to make a play in this leadership role but that doesn't come without problems. They have sent tens of thousands of testing kits to Britain, the U.S. and countries across Europe and they just don't work.
So if there was a small coordinated response, if there were standards and oversight, would those sorts of problems be avoided?
CLARK: So looking at that story, it seems that some countries were buying those kits from a supplier which was not recognized by the government of China. China does supply quality equipment.
But clearly, the source of supply was not one that was government certified. This absolutely had to meet global standards that are respected and I would suspect, knowing China, the manufacturer of the supply, the faulty kits, probably had their door knocked on right now. They don't need that kind of bad publicity.
VAUSE: The only thing that seems certain in all of this is that this would not be the last viral outbreak and possibly not the last pandemic. There will be another one sooner or later and if we deal with the next one the same way we have dealt with this one, without any global cooperation, what would be the outcome?
CLARK: We are going to lurch from profound health and economic crisis to another profound health and economic crisis. This is intolerable. As I said, at least the fifth global public health emergency this century in 20 years.
So we need that standing capacity that, whenever something like this develops -- and it will happen again. This transfer of viruses from animals to humans, jumping species, we are exposed to things we have never been exposed to before -- so having the standing capacity to respond rapidly, to support containing it where it is, everyone dusting off their pandemic preparedness plans, this is absolutely critical for future peace and prosperity for people on our planet.
VAUSE: Helen Clark, it is been an honor to speak with you. Thank you so much for being with us.
CLARK: Thank you.
VAUSE: The pandemic is taking a very big toll on small business.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We may lose our business. I mean, that's -- I mean, the worst part but I mean we could. VAUSE (voice-over): After the break, we will hear from restaurant
owners looking for a government lifeline but only hitting roadblocks.
Also a grim warning on how far the world economy could plunge and how long it could take to recover.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, it is Easter Sunday this weekend, and President Trump's goal of reopening the United States and the economy will not be happening. Even still, he is still calling for what he wants: a big-bang opening as early as next month. That's setting up another showdown between White House economic aides and the scientists. Kaitlan Collins reports.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president is telling aides he may want to reopen the country all at once, once these social distancing guidelines that they have put in place are up, and now we know that has led to intensive discussions at the White House coronavirus task force to figure out a way to reopen the economy without erasing the gains that they've made from the social distancing so far.
At the briefing, the president did not want to put a date on it like he did last time, when he said he hoped the country would be open for Easter, of course, a date that the president later had to back off of, after he was faced with models from the health experts on his team that showed hundreds of thousands of people could die.
But now that those models are projecting downwards, the president seemed to be more optimistic that the country could start to reopen at least after those guidelines end on April the 30th, it still seems far from clear what this team wants to do yet.
Now, as they were looking ahead to what they are going to do in the future and the next step, there are still questions about what happened and why it took so long for the administration to respond to their coronavirus outbreak here in the United States.
And the president insisting he was not aware of memos written by a top aide of his at the time, though he didn't answer directly on whether or not he was not briefed on those memos. And he's also dismissing an ABC News report that there was a military intelligence memo back in November, warning about this contagion spreading in Wuhan. And of course, later on, we know that the president downplayed the virus outbreak for weeks, is insisting that it was not going to expand in the United States.
And so there are still questions about his response and if he acted too slowly to respond. But as that moves on, the president is still looking ahead to what they're going to do about these deadlines going forward. But right now, he is not setting any kind of a date on that just yet.
Kaitlan Collins, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A new CNN poll is out about how the public feels about the economy in the U.S. Sixty percent of those responding say that the U.S. economy is now in poor shape. Thirty-nine percent say it's good. The worst numbers in polling data going back to 1997.
Some of the hardest hit businesses are the small ones. Restaurants are really hurting. Many small business owners had hoped a new government plan to paycheck protection program would be their lifeline. But so many are finding themselves as they reach, not only to grab on, having it pulled away.
CNN's Dianne Gallagher has that.
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LISA SPOONER (PH), RESTAURANT CO-OWNER: It just feels really scary, because it's so unknown, you know?
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lisa Spooner (ph) and Kevin Clark have been serving homegrown comfort food for 10 years in Atlanta. The husband and wife team building up quite a following, counting even the late Anthony Bourdain as a fan.
ANTHONY BOURDAIN, FORMER CNN HOST: If you need a whole breakfast, though, old-school, full-on, then Home Grown in Reynoldstown might be what you need.
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GALLAGHER: But across the country, the coronavirus has crippled the restaurant industry. About two weeks ago, Home Grown had to temporarily layoff all 40 employees.
KEVIN CLARK, RESTAURANT CO-OWNER: The two hardest calls we've ever made were letting our employees go, and locking the doors.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America's small businesses are the backbone of our communities.
GALLAGHER: The Trump administration has touted the new Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP loan as a quick fix for businesses like Home Grown to weather the pandemic. The $350 billion government-backed low-interest loan program is meant to cover rent, utilities, and payroll.
If they stick with the program, the loan becomes a grant, leaving only the interest to payback. It's a sweet deal, if you can get it. CLARK: We haven't really heard anything other than it's working, the money is getting out there, but who? Like, I would love to talk to a business owner who's actually received some funds and how they got it, and how -- what time they put their application in.
GALLAGHER: After filling out multiple applications, dealing with website crashes and a lack of feedback, Clark and Spooner got disappointing news.
Wells Fargo, the bank they've done business with for the past decade, announced Sunday it had reached its $10 billion limit. There's no guarantee they'll ever get to Home Grown's application.
Wells Fargo suggested trying a local community bank instead. Clark says they are on the waiting list with a rural Georgia bank now, but they don't know when or if they'll get the loan.
CLARK: We may lose our business. I mean, that's -- I mean, the worst part. But, I mean, we could.
GALLAGHER: As business owners battle one another for the first-come, first-serve loans in a world where any kind of delay could be the difference between surviving the next few weeks or going under for good. There have been plenty of problems for everyone.
STEVEN MNUCHIN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: I want to assure all small businesses out there we will not run out of money.
GALLAGHER: On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin noted there are now 3,500 lenders in the system, and says that more are signing up each day. The administration has said that it hopes Congress will allocate additional funding this week.
But for Home Grown, will it be in time?
CLARK: Money is our only saving grace. We cannot make it on our hopes and dreams anymore.
GALLAGHER (on camera): On Wednesday, Wells Fargo announced that it had received permission to increase its lending limits, so that should allow for expanded access with some of those applications.
Now, the federal government has focused a lot on getting more funding. So if the administration gets that -- that's a big "if" -- it will undoubtedly help, but a lot of the problems with the rollout are actually between the government and the lenders. All these changing guidelines and uncertainty have made it tough for banks to really know what they're signing up for, let alone walk the small business owners through the process.
Now a bit of good news here. Kevin Clark tells me that that small bank in southern Georgia contacted him, and they have begun the process of filing his PPP application.
Dianne Gallagher, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: So, while E.U. member states continue to bicker over the fine print of a stimulus deal, the block's biggest economies are heading fast into recession. France and Germany are seeing almost unprecedented contractions in economic activity.
Germany estimates growth will be down two percent in the first quarter and down almost 10 percent in the second. But France down six percent in the first, then losing 1.5 percent every two weeks after that.
Meanwhile, the meeting of Eurozone finance ministers has stalled. After 16 hours of talks, the sticking point remains. Will conditions be attached to credit lines? They'll try again on Thursday. France's finance minister says failure is not an option.
BRUNO LE MAIRE, FRENCH FINANCE MINISTER (through translator): I will say that we had a long and difficult meeting with the Eurozone finance minister last night, which ended at about 9 a.m. this morning. This meeting did not result in an ambitious package of responses to the economic crisis, due to the coronavirus health crisis.
I don't want to point the finger at anyone, because I think that would be useful. And because I deeply believe, as does the president of the republic, that our collective responsibility is to come to an agreement within 24 hours. A failure is unthinkable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The World Trade Organization warns global trade could plunge 32 percent this year. The director general says the numbers are ugly; warns of painful consequences for people and businesses. North America and Asia will be the hardest hit.
John Defterios joins me live from Abu Dhabi. And John, Nouriel Roubini, the Doctor Doom who predicted the housing crash, has said don't expect a Great Depression. Expect a greater depression. I mean, is it really that bad?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: In fact, you have to go back to the 1930s to see a drop in trade that's this severe. And I thought Roberto Azevedo of the WTO, in a word, had it correct and ugly.
And there's a direct link, John, between the European recession we see right now, what's happening in the United States and Asia and these trade figures.
[00:40:05]
If you look at the chart there's kind of three scenarios laid out here. Kind of normal growth that we were expecting this year before the pandemic set in. A drop of 13 percent is almost a best-case scenario this year and then a drop of a third.
[00:40:19] So what does this depend on? Well, we have the global financial crisis. There was a lack of liquidity. That's not a problem right now, because we saw the G-20 states pump in $5 trillion, $7 trillion worldwide.
So the banking system is still having money flow through it right now. So Azevedo said, if you can plug back in and get commerce moving again, we can recover quickly, but that is a big "if." We know that the first half is a washout, and the second half is a huge question mark right now, and it's not all about liquidity, John.
With this pandemic, the emerging markets, which actually had driven global growth for years and years -- the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Nigeria, Brazil -- these major economies are suffering. And the pandemic hasn't settled in there yet. So this is why many think that the second half will be just as difficult as the first half in industrialized countries like Europe, and the figures overnight.
VAUSE: Yes, it's hard to stimulate an economy and get people to go out and spend when they're being told to stay at home.
We also have this one, day of reckoning, if you like, for (UNINTELLIGIBLE) producers and how they respond to this coronavirus spread to oil demand.
DEFTERIOS: You do, John. And again, these are all directly linked. Because of the pandemic, there's no movement of trucks and planes, and a delivery of goods right now are very limited. Let's put it that way.
So you've seen at least a drop in demand of oil, a record drop of 20 million barrels of oil a day. Something that's actually 30 million when the numbers get computated.
So OPEC and this OPEC Plus agreement they have, the 23 producers, will meet -- be meeting in about nine hours' time. President Trump -- and this is all about the three major players. Donald Trump, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Vladimir Putin of Russia, coming together to see what they can put on the table.
Now, OPEC plus is saying we're going to invite another dozen players around the world that are now part of our 23-member alliance. We're going to try to put together a coalition of 10 million.
The big question mark here, what are the firm offers coming from the United States and players like Canada, and Brazil, or Argentina. They're major producers, even Norway. Everybody is making the right noise.
Donald Trump has suggested in his briefings there's nothing firm that the U.S. can offer because of anti-trust concerns. And we're going to be losing at least a million barrels a day.
Vladimir Putin said, We're ready to cut, but there has to be something firm from the other players. That's why I call it the day of reckoning. And there's a lot of pressure on OPEC. Donald Trump doesn't like it when prices rise above $70 a barrel. He doesn't like it when they fall to 20 in a price war. They want something in between. But now the U.S. is being called upon to do something to join the party.
VAUSE: OK, John. We appreciate the live update. John Defterios there, live for us in Abu Dhabi.
Some other news, not coronavirus related. This is about Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen. They've agreed to a two- week ceasefire. It starts Thursday.
The move followed a call from the U.N. to cease fighting throughout the country to deal with the pandemic. A source says the Saudis are hoping for an overall deal this time and aim for creating an environment for the U.N. talks to succeed.
Well, the coronavirus is putting pressure on Africa and its long- running crisis there. Now, world health authorities are warning of new frontlines as the continent tops 10,000 cases.
And New Zealand has set a positive example with its coronavirus response. But is it too late for other countries to follow in its footsteps?
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[00:45:44]
VAUSE: In Africa the number of coronavirus cases continues to ramp up. Reported cases say now topping 10,000. Over 500 deaths. That's according to the World Health Organization.
The WHO's regional director for Africa is now warning of financial and social devastation. They also expressed great concern for new coronavirus front lines as it begins to spread beyond major cities.
CNN's David McKenzie reports now from Johannesburg.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This milestone announced by the World Health Organization is troubling, especially the news that there is now exponential increases in the spread of COVID-19 in different parts of this continent.
Public health officials say that Africa was hit later in many other regions. But now that it's entrenched in the cities, in many parts of the continent, and according to WHO moving into smaller urban settings and rural settings, this could be an extremely difficult fight.
African leaders generally acted decisively. They have shut down their countries, including Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, to a large extent. But they hope that this will be enough to support them in the fight. Because in many places, there's weak health infrastructure. At the same time, though, there are very difficult decisions to be
made in the coming weeks. More than 80 percent of the continent depends on the informal sector to survive. If you don't work, you don't eat. And they'll have to weigh out those difficult economic questions with the fight against COVID-19.
David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: New Zealand has reported a fourth day of declining number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus. This small Pacific island has seemed to defy the odds, imposing a short, sharp and brutal lockdown, setting the country now under lockdown for a month, a level four lockdown. And the prime minister has been praised for making the hard decisions early.
But is it too late for other countries to follow in this example?
CNN's Ivan Watson joins us now live from Hong Kong with more on this. So -- so Ivan, where are we at with following New Zealand? Is it too late for others to do what they've done?
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The interesting that we heard from New Zealand's prime minister is she says that about two weeks ago, according to government modeling, the country was on a trajectory to potentially follow the very tragic path of Italy, which have both had more than 10,000 deaths.
And instead, she imposed a four-week lockdown. The borders had already been closed. And now New Zealand can report four days of declining cases of coronavirus, as well as only one death thus far.
So New Zealand is setting a very ambitious goal, trying to eliminate the disease completely from its shores.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON (voice-over): In the midst of a deadly pandemic sweeping the globe, the leader of New Zealand sounds a note of optimism.
JACINDA ARDERN, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: I remain cautiously optimistic that we are starting to turn a corner.
WATSON: Since the beginning of the outbreak, New Zealand has identified more than 1,200 coronavirus cases, and suffered just one death.
(on camera): Do you think New Zealand has lessons to offer to other countries with how it has dealt with a crisis?
SIOUXSIE WILES, MICROBIOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND: I think the go hard, go early is the lesson. But obviously, we're not out of the woods yet.
WATSON (voice-over): New Zealand identified its first case of coronavirus on February 28. Less than three weeks later, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern decided New Zealand would become one of the first democracies to shut its borders.
ARDERN: From 11:59 p.m. tonight, we will close our border to any non- residents and citizens attempting to travel here.
WATSON: The ban on foreign visitors a dramatic move for an island nation whose economy depends on tourism.
ARDERN: Over the past few weeks the world has changed, and it has changed very quickly.
WATSON: Two days later a rare address from the prime minister's office, not seen in New Zealand in decades lining a response plan. Just four days after that, Ardern imposed a state of emergency and announced a nationwide shut-down.
[00:50:10]
ARDERN: As we head into the next four weeks, stay at home. It will break the chain of transmission, and it will save lives.
WATSON: Enforcement hasn't been easy. Police received tens of thousands of reports of people ignoring the lockdown, including these surfers.
But the most egregious case came from the country's health minister, Ardern demoted but did not fire him. After he drove his family to the beach for a walk.
DAVID CLARK, NEW ZEALAND HEALTH MINISTER: I'm an idiot, if I'm being frank. And I understand why people would be angry with me.
WATSON: Ardern was thrust into the international spotlight last year when an Australian gunman massacred Muslims in the city of Christchurch. Seventy-two hours after the deadliest mass shooting in New Zealand's history, Ardern announced a ban on semi-automatic weapons, while also consoling a traumatized nation.
ARDERN: Evening, everyone.
WATSON: In this latest crisis, the 39-year-old prime minister has shown her softer side, broadcasting live on Facebook in a sweatshirt and sending a message to children that, despite the lockdown, the Easter bunny is still an essential worker.
ARDERN: And if the Easter bunny doesn't make it to your household, then we have to understand that it's a bit difficult at the moment for the bunny to perhaps get everywhere.
WATSON: It is far too early to say whether New Zealand's strategy will succeed, but there may be some lessons here for other countries grappling with coronavirus.
(END VIDEOTAPE) WATSON: And John, you asked, could this be repeated elsewhere, is it too late for other places? One public health expert I spoke with in New Zealand argues that you could, even in places like the U.S. right now, which is suffering so terribly, you could create islands of stability with isolation, with contact tracing, to try to stamp the disease out with this kind of 14-day incubation period.
And it's notable that in New Zealand's case, they've had some success, certainly over the last four days. There are still two weeks of this strict lockdown ahead for the nation. And the prime minister announced that any returning citizen flying into the country will now have to go into a mandatory 14-day quarantine under supervision at some kind of approved facility.
So the country is not letting up. It's just getting more strict again with this ultimate ambitious goal of trying to wipe the disease out completely on the island nation.
VAUSE: That's not an easy decision for a nation which has more international visitors than its entire population every year. A 14-day mandatory quarantine. But they've got to do it, I guess. So Ivan, thank you. Ivan Watson there with a story about New Zealand's efforts to contain this virus. Thank you.
Well, there were more candidates than most can remember, but now there is just one. Joe Biden is now the presumptive Democrat nominee for president. His last opponent, Bernie Sanders, suspended his campaign on Wednesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), FORMER DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know that there may be some in our movement who disagree with this decision, who would like us to fight on for the last ballot cast at the Democratic convention. I understand that position.
But as I see the crisis gripping the nation, exacerbated by a president unwilling or unable to provide any kind of credible leadership and the work that needs to be done to protect people in this most desperate hour, I cannot good conscience continue to mount a campaign that cannot win and which would interfere with the important work required of all of us in this difficult hour.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Sanders had fallen far behind in the delegate count, but notably, he did not endorse Biden on Wednesday but has said and has promised he will support whoever the Democrat nominee might be.
Well, a key figure from the Bill Clinton impeachment trial has died. Linda Tripp secretly recorded conversations with her then-co-worker, Monica Lewinsky, all this back in 1997. Ms. Lewinsky, you may remember, had an affair with then-President Bill Clinton. That led to his impeachment.
Tripp shared her recordings with the special prosecutor and even wore a wire during a meeting with Lewinsky.
Tripp's family says she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer and was 70 years old.
So could the COVID 19 pandemic be connected to climate change? Pope Francis seems to think so. Find out why he's making that connection. That's next on CNN NEWSROOM.
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[00:56:19]
VAUSE: Pope Francis is connecting the coronavirus pandemic and the climate change crisis. The pontiff said during an interview that the pandemic may be one of nature's responses to humans ignoring a warming planet.
"Who now speaks of fire -- of the fires in Australia, or remembers that 18 months ago, a boat could cross the North Pole because the glaciers had all melted? Who speaks now of the floods? I don't know if these are the revenge of nature, but they are certainly nature's responses."
So for 10 years they didn't hook up. Turns out all a pair of giant pandas needed was a little peace and quiet, a little bit of privacy. Staff at Ocean Park Zoo in Hong Kong said pandas Ying-Ying and Le-Le successfully mated on Monday. The park had been closed to visitors since early January because of the virus.
The zoo says it's working on conservation efforts, as there are only 1,800 giant pandas left in their natural habitat. And we wish them well for little baby pandas. Because we could do with some good news, and those little things come out and sneeze and stuff.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. I'll be back with a lot more news, about an hour from now.
In the meantime, "AMANPOUR" is next.
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