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U.S. Deaths Top 18K after Largest Single-Day Increase; New York Death Toll Surpasses 7,800; Italy Close to Antibody Test; France COVID-19 Death Toll Tops 13K; Spain to Introduce Universal Basic Income; Easter Celebrations amid Social Distancing; Trump to Reconsider WHO Funding; Himalayas Once Again Visible in Northern India; Brewery Making Hand Sanitizer. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired April 11, 2020 - 05:00   ET

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


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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A global fight as coronavirus cases near 1.7 million around the world; 500,000 of those are in the United States. This as the U.S. president says the decision of how and when he will reopen the U.S. economy will be his toughest decision yet.

And let's raise them a glass. How one beermaker turned its sights on one different type of alcohol: hand sanitizer.

Hello, everyone, we're live from CNN headquarters in Atlanta. We welcome our viewers in the U.S. and around the world, I'm Natalie Allen. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

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ALLEN: It's 5:00 am here on the East Coast in the U.S. We appreciate you joining us and we want to begin with multiple grim coronavirus milestones reached on the same day.

In the U.S., confirmed cases crossed the 500,000 mark on Friday. That's according to Johns Hopkins University. And daily reported deaths topped 2,000 for the first time. That brings America's total death toll to well over 18,000.

Globally, confirmed deaths have surged past 100,000. Johns Hopkins reporting about 1.7 million total cases. With the U.S. recording more deaths, it may not seem like the time to pivot to the economy. But getting the country back to work is clearly a priority for President Trump. He says it is the biggest decision he's ever had to make. Our Jim Acosta tells us what Mr. Trump is considering.

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JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At his daily press briefing on the coronavirus, President Trump insisted he will listen to his administration's top doctors when it comes to reopening the country, while not committing to following their recommendations.

TRUMP: I will certainly listen. I will certainly listen.

ACOSTA (on camera): Will you take that advice?

TRUMP: There are two sides. Remember, there is -- I know -- I understand the other side of the argument very well, because I look at both sides of an argument. I will listen to them very carefully, though.

ACOSTA (voice-over): A sign that he's determined to move forward with ending social distancing guidelines perhaps as soon as May, the president then announced he is putting together what he called an opening our country council.

TRUMP: I will have a council. It's going to be announced on Tuesday with names that you have a lot of respect for, a lot of great names. Different businesses, different people. Top...

QUESTION: Bipartisan?

TRUMP: Bipartisan.

ACOSTA: But the president's medical experts aren't so sure, with Dr. Anthony Fauci raising concerns that there will be new coronavirus infections after the country reopens.

FAUCI: Don't let anyone get any false ideas that, when we decide at a proper time when we're going to be relaxing some of the restrictions, there's no doubt you're going to see cases. I would be so surprised if we did not see cases. The question is, how do you respond to them?

ACOSTA: And Dr. Deborah Birx saying the peak of the pandemic is still to come.

BIRX: So it's really about the encouraging signs that we see, but as encouraging as they are, we have not reached the peak. And so, every day, we need to continue to do what we did yesterday and the week before and the week before.

ACOSTA: The president described his upcoming deliberations as one of the biggest calls of his presidency.

TRUMP: I'm going to have to make a decision and I only hope to God that it's the right decision. But I would say, without question, it's the biggest decision I've ever had to make.

ACOSTA: Mr. Trump was also asked what metrics he would use in making his decision.

TRUMP: The metrics right here. That's my metrics.

ACOSTA: The president bristled at the question of whether he's painting too rosy a picture of what's happening across the U.S., as doctors and nurses complain of shortages of medical equipment and health experts warn there is not adequate testing in place yet to reopen the country.

TRUMP: This is not happy talk. Maybe it's happy talk for you. It's not happy talk for me. We're talking about death.

These are the saddest news conferences that I've ever had. I don't like doing them.

ACOSTA: On the issue of equipment, a source close to the Coronavirus Task Force tells CNN the U.S. is not quite where it needs to be on testing. On the question of reopening the government, the president told reporters earlier in the day that he is willing to shut down the U.S. once again if it is necessary -- Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.

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[05:05:00]

ALLEN: Before the country can reopen its economy, there is a rough road ahead, especially in hardhit New York. But as Erica Hill reports there's also reason for hope.

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ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are now more positive cases in New York state than in any country around the world. Yet, there are signs of hope. Hospitalizations and the number of patients in the ICU both down across the state.

BIRX: For a long, time there were over 50 percent of our cases and 50 percent of our new cases. That has dramatically changed because of the impact of what the citizens of New York and New Jersey and across Connecticut and now Rhode Island are doing to really change the course of this pandemic.

HILL (voice-over): Governor Andrew Cuomo stressing any move forward will require massive testing and the power of the federal government.

ANDREW CUOMO (D), GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK: We have 9 million people we want to get back to work. You need more than several thousand tests per week if this is going to happen anytime soon. If I had a Defense Production Act in the state, I would use it. I would use it. I don't have that tool; the federal government does.

HILL (voice-over): New York City now burying as many as 25 unclaimed bodies each day in a public cemetery on Hart Island to free up desperately needed space in the city's morgues.

In Houston, a potential hot spot, according to the White House task force, the parking lot at Energy Stadium, transformed into an overflow hospital. Experts watching the progression as a former FDA official says the warmer months may offer reprieve.

DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: Hopefully, the fact that we're heading into the summer and the summer should be somewhat of a backstop against transmission of this virus as we head into June, July, August, that is going to help us.

Coronas typically don't circulate in the summertime, so there is a seasonal aspect to coronaviruses generally. This one's so novel that it's likely to continue to transfer into the summer. But drop in transmission becomes less efficient in the really hot, humid months.

HILL (voice-over): Florida's governor, meantime, says he may soon reopen schools, county by county.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): We are going to look at the evidence and make a decision. For whatever reason, it just doesn't seem to threaten kids.

HILL (voice-over): Governor DeSantis citing a lack of deaths in his state for those under age 25 though that is not the case nationally.

Sixteen states have already closed schools for the remainder of the academic year, others extending current closures into next month as officials remind those celebrating Easter this weekend, the virus doesn't pause for the holiday.

LORI LIGHTFOOT, CHICAGO MAYOR: We have seen people who have been going to church and ignoring the admonitions, ignoring the orders, getting sick, ministers dying. This is deadly serious and you can express your faith in lots of different ways but it can't be by congregating.

HILL (voice-over): For some, simply being home is reason enough to celebrate. In Miami, cheers as two COVID patients are discharged. A similar scene in Louisville.

And from a hospital at the epicenter, a message of strength. Mount Sinai's chief medical officer praising her staff as they mark the end of the beginning, assuring them, quote, "We will prevail."

HILL: The governor of Kentucky on Friday announcing in his state anyone attending a mass gathering over the weekend, their license plate information would be taken down and handed over to the Health Department.

And those individuals will be required to self quarantine for 14 days. The governor saying it is not an act of faith to attend a service in person; it is an act of faith to sacrifice so that you can protect your fellow Americans -- back to you.

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ALLEN: The big question remains, when will the United States reach its peak?

Despite the alarming number of deaths already and the prospect for tens of thousands more, there are indications the U.S. may now be seeing the highest point of daily coronavirus deaths nationwide.

According to the man behind one of the most widely used models, the one used by the White House, the decline of deaths in the U.S. will be slow. Here's what he told our Anderson Cooper. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. CHRIS MURRAY, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: We rerun the model basically almost every night. And the new recurrence from different states are suggesting different peaks in different states.

But overall, at the national level, we seem to be pretty much close to the peak. Remember, also, that in our model, we assume that the social distancing is going to stay in place until the end of May.

And we've now started to run some scenarios about what happens if you take them off on May 1st. And the early returns on that analysis don't look good.

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ALLEN: Let's talk about that with Sian Griffiths, she co-chaired the Hong Kong government's expert committee into the SARS epidemic and is emeritus professor at the School of Public Health and Primary Care at Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Good morning, Ms. Griffiths, thanks so much for coming on.

First, I want to ask you, the United States and other countries are grappling with when you loosen restrictions, social distancing is having a positive effect.

But what, if it is eased too early?

Some U.S. states haven't peaked yet.

SIAN GRIFFITHS, CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG: If it's eased too early, then you risk the epidemic taking off again. You'll get more cases. The whole idea is to reduce the demand on the health system, so that the health system can cope.

So if you take your foot off the brake too early, the cases start to rise again. It really will stress the health care system, stress the people who are sick and we will not be able to give as good care as we need to, which will ultimately affect the outcome of the disease. So it's really important that we take these social distancing measures seriously.

ALLEN: We heard President Trump say this is the hardest decision he has to make. But also the governors are making decisions for their states in the U.S. The U.K. saw almost 1,000 deaths a day. The U.S. hit 2,000. That's the most in a day.

But we're also now projecting 61,000 tests in August in the U.S.

How do you consider opening up economies, a very important thing to do, of course, but under this kind of cloud?

GRIFFITHS: Well, you look at the daily modeling, as you say, the daily modeling, your guest was talking about looking at the figures every day. Seeing that the curve is starting to change, starting to flattening off.

And as we've seen in countries such as China where Wuhan has now been opened up, OK, it's not back to normal. We'll not going back to the old normal. We'll go to a new normal. Things will be different. It will be a gradual change.

Perhaps schools will reopen in some places. Perhaps there will be some generational reopening. But at all times, more testing, testing, testing, testing. More testing and follow-up with any positive cases with quarantine and isolation. Because we need to keep a grip on the disease. We have no vaccine. We have some hopeful drug trials.

But we have no drugs that are going to be 100 percent effective or be produced at the level that we need them. So it is actually going to be a matter of looking at the cases, looking at the trend.

For example, Germany has seen much lower cases than other countries in Europe and they're talking about how do they start to open up the economy, how do they start to decrease the rigid measures at the moment?

And it will be a matter of staging, much of continued surveillance and looking at other countries for what lessons we can learn.

ALLEN: We mentioned that you co-chaired Hong Kong government's committee into the SARS epidemic, as well as the monitoring committee.

What was learned from that process back in 2003, that can also be utilized or considered in this pandemic?

GRIFFITHS: The stress on public health, on nonpharmaceutical interventions remains really important and that message needs to continue through the population. The SARS was a much smaller epidemic; we called it a wake-up call at the time. And it demonstrated the need for information at all levels, information between governments, information between communities, information between governments and their communities, so that everybody could continue to do what they needed to do.

In addition to all of the scientific developments that were necessary. And there was a big investment in drugs for SARS and a vaccine but that investment fell off when the epidemic disappeared.

What we must remember is the coronavirus will come and go and we may be threatened by another one or another emerging infection in the future. We need to keep our investment in public health science to make sure we're ready and prepared in addition to making sure we have the capacity to produce the protective equipment, the PPE.

ALLEN: Right.

GRIFFITHS: And to access the ventilators.

ALLEN: Absolutely. GRIFFITHS: So we need to stay awake this time, not go to sleep, not

assume it's all going to be OK.

ALLEN: Absolutely. Very good advice. Thank you so much. Of course, all people have to do right now is to continue to stay home. Sian Griffiths, we really appreciate it.

GRIFFITHS: Thank you.

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ALLEN: Well, Italy says it may have a way to tell if some people are immune to the virus. We'll take you to Rome for the latest on a promising new test.

Also, France has seen its death toll from the virus surged. More than 13,000 lives lost since the outbreak began. The struggles in Europe, that's coming next.

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ALLEN: U.S. officials say they expect an antibody test for the coronavirus to be available in the near future. These tests can tell if a person has been infected and if their body has built up immunity. On Friday, infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci hinted at how soon these could be ready.

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Yes actually, at the last task force it was meeting the individuals responsible for both developing, validating and getting the test out. Or saying -- I'm not certain that's going to happen.

But within a period of a week or so, we're going to have a rather large number of tests that are available.

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ALLEN: Well, Italy says it is close to having its own approved coronavirus antibody test. For more, let's turn to CNN contributor Barbie Nadeau live for you in Rome.

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ALLEN: Barbie, tell us more about the antibody test in Italy.

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is exciting. They're using it in a limited capacity in the north in two of the hardest hit provinces. They're testing mostly front-line workers and doctors to understand if they are safe and immune and can to go back to work. Then they're planning to have a full rollout across the country. It's

going to help to understand really the full extent of the outbreak and to reopen this country and kick-starting the economy, Natalie.

ALLEN: That's very encouraging, of course. And it comes at a time when people in Italy who have been in lockdown for weeks now are getting restless.

Is that still an issue, people coming out of isolation?

NADEAU: Well, it is, especially this weekend. This is a time that families get together. People go to the beach on Easter Monday. They've extended the lockdown to May 3rd.

There's a lot here, especially in the south, where they haven't had as many cases as there is in the north, that there is increasing tension. People just want to get out of lockdown, they want to get back to work. People have missed paychecks.

It's getting difficult for a lot of people. Police are in full force with police with helicopters and drones and making sure no one tries to sneak to the beach or in any way get out of isolation, Natalie.

ALLEN: What a difference from traditional Easter weekend, a drone monitoring people's actions. That's just how it has to be for now. Barbie, thanks, so much, we appreciate it.

After weeks of back and forth, E.U. finance ministers have agreed on a half-trillion euro stimulus package to combat the economic impact of the pandemic. But the Eurogroup president says the debate over financing has just begun.

Meantime in Spain, police have stopped more than 6,500 cars on the road within 24 hours to discourage people from traveling over the Easter holiday.

And France has reached a grim milestone. Johns Hopkins reports France's COVID-19 death toll has now surpassed 13,000, with one-third of those deaths in facilities that care for the elderly. Let's talk about the issues with our journalist Al Goodman in Madrid and Cyril Vanier live in France.

Cyril, good to see you. Let's go to you first. Such a tragic story for the infirm elderly there in France.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. Natalie. Look, we started to get a sense weeks ago that the situation was bad. In nursing homes and it stands to reason because these are people both elderly and sick, right, they need the attention that they typically get in these homes.

So we know they're among the most vulnerable segment of the population. But we didn't get a very accurate picture of what was happening until the government earlier this month started tallying the number of deaths in nursing homes separately from those in the overall population. And when you look at those numbers, it is just terrifying. I mean,

you've just said that a third of the French death toll comes from nursing homes. Yesterday, the number we were getting, 433 people died in nursing homes, 900 the day before.

Look, when the virus gets into these establishments, it just spreads very quickly and it kills even faster. And bear in mind, it's not like the nursing homes have done nothing. They have been in a strict lockdown for a month. People are confined within their rooms, not allowing residents to go to the common areas, the cafeteria, living room, et cetera.

And still, the virus has spread very fast with up to half of the nursing homes in the Paris region reporting at least one case. That coming out yesterday. So Natalie, it just has been terrifying. And add to that loss the fact that their families cannot come and see them. So people are going through this alone.

ALLEN: I know. That is a -- that's the sad part of this very sad story around the world. Thank you, Cyril.

For now, back to Madrid and Al Goodman.

Al, yes, the authorities there making sure people stay put this holiday weekend.

AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And the authorities say that people mainly are, although this is such a huge difference, like in Italy and across Europe, traditionally, Roman Catholic Spain, there have been 126,000 fined since the start of the lockdown and more than 2,200 arrests.

And some reports of people going out to villages or the beaches. But the security officials say that's not widespread.

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GOODMAN: What is still happening is that the lockdown continues through the end of -- almost the end of April. That will be a total of six weeks, despite improvements in the drop in the rate of deaths, which are now nearly 16,000, and in new cases, which are under 1 percent in their increase.

The government doesn't want to lift this up too soon. Although there are economic pressures so that, on Monday, the day after Easter, construction workers and some others will be able to go back to work. So we may see activity at a construction site like this which is just on one end of one of the largest hospital complexes in the Spanish capital.

On the other end there are COVID-19 cases there. The authorities saying that the construction workers come back here, anybody moving around will need to maintain at least a meter, maybe two meters or six feet of distance.

And most importantly, that if you have any symptoms at all, you stay home. And if anybody is in that house with you, they also self- isolate.

So they're slowly trying to see how things will go. And like any other country we've just been talking about, they're trying to ramp up the testing to see where the virus is in the population but it's not showing yet. Natalie.

ALLEN: Right. So important you that do go slow when you start to reopen certain areas of the country.

Back to you, Cyril, in France there, because you've got a story about some folks who tried to take a vacation, a holiday. But it didn't work out. Tell us about that.

VANIER: Yes, yes, so this is an interesting one, Natalie. Apparently, some people in London didn't understand that we're in a pandemic and you can't do just anything you want, however you want.

So a number of men aged 40 to 45, decided to charter a private jet -- they're London-based -- and go with some younger women to the French Riviera. Except, it doesn't work that way in this era of coronavirus.

If you are not French, you can't just enter the country unless you have a good reason. If you're bringing in medical reinforcements or supplies, fine. But they weren't. They were coming in to have a good time.

The gentlemen clearly heard there is an authorization based system in France, if you do not have a valid reason to come in, you pay a fine. He said I have a lot of money. He's somebody who reportedly works in finance. He was expecting to pay the fine and spend his weekend in Cannes.

Well, the French authorities turned him and his party back, only allowing the French nationals on to French soil. Natalie, I know this is slightly amusing and I don't want to sound glib. On a normal day, France would be more than happy to get those tourist euros.

And the French economy does depend in no small part on tourism. It's a big driver for us here. But that just shows you, they are not taking any chances and those borders are not locked down but tightly controlled unless you have a good reason to enter the country. And just partying on the Riviera didn't cut it.

ALLEN: Yes, that's quite the story. I guess they turned around and went back home. All right. I'm glad they caught that. You got to think about everybody, even those folks in Cannes don't need impostors. Right now, Cyril Vanier there and Al Goodman in Madrid.

Some ministers in the U.S. are planning to defy stay-at-home orders and gather for Easter this Sunday but President Trump is urging them to change their minds. More about that ahead here.

Also, President Trump isn't the only world leader accusing the World Health Organization of dropping the ball in the early days of the pandemic. We'll show you who else is angry about the WHO's response.

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ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world, I'm Natalie Allen and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

President Trump advising faith leaders in the U.S. to wait for the country to "get healed" from the coronavirus before holding services in person. Some ministers have been refusing to follow federal social distancing guidelines with their congregations. But Mr. Trump had this message.

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TRUMP: Though, we will not be able to gather together with one another as we normally would on Easter, we can use this sacred time to focus on prayer, reflection and growing in our personal relationship with God so important.

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ALLEN: But, as Natasha Chen reports some people plan to defy stay-at- home orders and gather anyway this Easter.

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NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is hard to keep church and state fully separate over Passover and Easter as debates rage over whether religious institutions should be allowed to stay open during a pandemic.

In Kansas, the department of health says three coronavirus clusters are tied to church gatherings. The state's Democratic governor filed a lawsuit after a majority Republican legislative council threw out her order to limit religious gatherings to 10 people.

In Philadelphia, Greater Exodus Baptist Church protested from the pulpit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My friends, the moment the church starts taking orders or instructions from the government about what to do with her doors and her sanctuaries, we have entered a slippery slope that we'll never get back.

CHEN (voice-over): In New Orleans, religious leaders are taking social distancing to new heights, literally. The archbishop who just recovered from coronavirus flew over the city in a World War II era plane to send blessings below.

And in a show of interfaith unity a rabbi then did the same.

On the ground, St. Rita Catholic Church held drive-thru benedictions. But Miami archbishop Thomas Wenski is not even taking a risks with drive-throughs. He only permits his priests to hold mass via livestream.

ARCHBISHOP THOMAS WENSKI, ARCHDIOCESE OF MIAMI: We are together. We're not separate but we are distant at this particular time. We are united in the one body of Christ but we have to maintain the social distance for the public good, for the common good.

CHEN (voice-over): For those who participated in virtual seders over Zoom, one traditional question asked every Passover is, why is tonight different from all other nights?

That question, says the CEO and founder of City Winery, means so much more this year as he organized his annual entertainment seder done via livestream.

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CHEN (voice-over): With more than 40,000 views across Facebook and YouTube --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think this can be a nice extension to expand the reach. Give this message a broader breadth. And I do think that is a positive.

CHEN (voice-over): -- everywhere people are embracing different ways to keep their traditions and connect both spiritually and technologically -- Natasha Chen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: President Trump is, once again, taking aim at the World Health Organization. And in recent days he's criticized the way the group has handled this pandemic. Friday, he explained why he's reconsidering U.S. funding for the organization.

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TRUMP: We're going to talk about the WHO next week in great detail. I didn't want to do it today, Good Friday. I didn't want to do it before Easter. I also didn't want to do it before we have all the facts.

But over the years, many years, we've been from 300 to 500, even more than million a year. China has been paying them less than 40 over the years. We're paying them more than 10 times more than China. And they are very, very China centric.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: What's behind the questions about the World Health Organization?

CNN's Isa Soares joins me live from London.

Because you've been looking into the story, Isa. ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: I have been, indeed. Good morning to you,

Natalie. You heard the president there saying he's going to look into the funding, the U.S. contribution to the World Health Organization.

Meanwhile, the head of the WHO has been defending the body's actions, his actions, it's actually called for an end of the politicization of COVID-19.

Now he hasn't mentioned President Trump by name but he said this is not time to be scoring political points with COVID-19. What I did find out, Natalie, is that the president is not the possible one raising questions about WHO's actions and what relates to the outbreak. Take a look.

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DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.

SOARES (voice-over): On March 11th, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. At this stage, China had been openly battling the virus for about two months. The WHO says it had been monitoring it closely since early January.

But the WHO's actions and words have done little to convince some it has been ahead of the crisis.

TRUMP: They called it wrong. They called it wrong. They really, they missed the call. They could've called it months earlier.

SOARES (voice-over): To put it into perspective, according to the WHO, by March 11th, 114 countries had already reported cases of COVID-19, with well over 4,000 killed worldwide. In the U.S. alone, CNN's tally puts the cases at over 1,000.

JAMIE METZL, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: In the early stages of this crisis, China was keeping experts from the WHO and the CDC out. And that was a major mess-up by China and we are all suffering the results of that. Then the World Health Organization went in.

Could they have sounded the alarm earlier?

Absolutely, yes.

SOARES (voice-over): It's not just the WHO's handling of the virus that is under attack but also the body's decision not to support the president's early travel restrictions with China.

TRUMP: He wanted me to keep the borders open.

SOARES (voice-over): On its website, the WHO makes the case that it opposes most travel restrictions because they are usually ineffective and may have significant economic and social impact.

STEVE TSANG, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: There seems to be good evidence that the WHO had prioritized a sensitivity of the Chinese government over its basic duty over the public health of people of the world.

SOARES (voice-over): President Trump is not alone in his criticism of the WHO. The deputy prime minister of Japan has slammed the WHO saying it should be renamed CHO, China Health Organization, for what he argues is a soft stance towards Communist China.

SATOSHI HAMADA, JAPANESE POLITICIAN (through translator): Early on, if the WHO had not insisted to the world that China had known the pneumonia epidemic, then everyone would've taken precautions.

SOARES (voice-over): The WHO argues it is color blind and has no favorites. Taiwan, who was blocked from the WHO membership because of its complex relationship with China, says it asked WHO about human to human transmission in late December but was ignored.

In a statement to CNN, the WHO says it replied to that email from Taiwan but it had no mention of human to human transmission.

As it battles coronavirus, the WHO is also fighting back at criticism of the body and is defending its response to the crisis.

[05:40:00]

GHEBREYESUS: We will do everything that will help us to have no regrets at all. But in that process, we may make mistakes. We are not angels. We are human beings.

SOARES (voice-over): While President Trump criticizes the WHO and threatens to suspend the U.S. contribution to its budget, leaders from the European Union and Africa are throwing their support behind Mr. Tedros, praising his leadership and calling for global unity, solidarity and cooperation.

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SOARES: And Natalie, the United Nations secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, has also added his voice really in the defense of the WHO which is, may I add, a U.N. body. He said the crisis, the outbreak has been unprecedented. He said an assessment of how the U.N. body handles it should be done at a later date. Now is a time for unity. Natalie.

ALLEN: All right, good reporting there, thank you so much, Isa Soares for us in London.

The city lockdowns around the world have certainly made one thing quite clear: our skies. Less pollution means, for example, look here, a lovely new landscape for people in northern India, the Himalayas. We'll have a report, next.

Plus, we'll talk with the founder of a beer company that decided to pay it forward big way. What he is now brewing to fight coronavirus.

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ALLEN: People in northern India are getting a fresh if distant look at what has been shrouded in pollution for decades, back there, the towering Himalayan mountains. One resident can see the peaks for more than 100 miles away.

The country has been on lockdown for more than two weeks and that has dramatically improved air quality and visibility. There has been a trend worldwide reporting cleaner air since the lockdowns were put into place.

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ALLEN: Well, right after this break, in these uncertain times, we have seen people and companies step up to help others. I'll talk to the founder of a beer brewing company which switched gears for the greater good.

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ALLEN: The coronavirus pandemic, as you know, has made certain protective equipment hard to find. Hand sanitizer is one of them. We're all scrambling to find it.

So the World Health Organization has released a recipe and guidelines for anyone willing to make it themselves. All right. Well now, a beer brewing company in the U.K. decided to do just that.

And it's supplying its new wares to the National Health Service and to charities for free. Let's talk about it with James Watt, the captain and co-founder of the BrewDog Brewing Company.

Good morning to you, James.

JAMES WATT, BREWDOG BREWING COMPANY: Good morning, thanks for having me.

ALLEN: Sure thing. I hear that in the last 14 days, you went from not knowing anything about producing sanitizer and now have shipped over 100,000 units for free. Talk about how you figured out how to do this and made your decision to do this.

WATT: Well, it's a very challenging time for all businesses and our focuses are trying to survive and protect as many jobs as we can but also trying to do some good to help our community and country get through this.

So we very quickly pivoted and used our distillation business to make hand sanitizer. We've been going at it 24/7. We've had to learn about it from scratch. So far, we've supplied 150,000 bottles for free to local hospitals and to the NHS, to key frontline workers.

ALLEN: Is it hard to make?

WATT: Well, as you mentioned, the World Health Organization has got their recipe on their website. But we had to get certified. We had to get the insurance. But we also had to meet the high (INAUDIBLE) care standards from the NHS. So our team did a phenomenal job to be able to turn this around so quickly.

And we just wanted to do all we could to help our community and help our country get through this massive challenge that we're facing.

ALLEN: That's extremely noble of you. And now, you're a fully approved supplier to the National Health Service there in the U.K. You definitely it figured out. That's quite a feat in a short amount of time. You must be proud of that.

WATT: Yes, indeed. We also have a business in Columbus, Ohio. We started making sanitizer there and distributing it to key front line workers in Ohio. We also want to do other things to help.

[05:55:00]

WATT: We use our vehicles to deliver school meals to families in isolation. And our business is all about taking people together to do good beer. So at this time of lockdown we (INAUDIBLE) online virtual bars that we do every night, where we have thousands of people so we still get that sense of community, that coming together drinking that fantastic beer.

ALLEN: Yes, because you're still brewing beer.

We want to make that clear, correct?

WATT: Yes, we're going 24/7, our team is doing a great job. And I've been helping in the counting an packaging lines this morning so we're still making beer as well.

ALLEN: That's good to know. Because we need sanitizer and we need our beer as well.

How long are you going to be able to keep going with this, do you think?

WATT: We're good to go as long as we have to. We now have two dedicated sanitizer lines set up going nonstop. We're making as much as we can so we've essentially stopped the production of our gin, whiskey and vodka and our distillation business is now a hand sanitizer business.

It's something that our local community have been so passionate about and it's good for our team to do all we can to help. It's a project we're so passionate about and something that we're truly excited to have it turned around in 14 days. The first batch, we made a lot of mistakes with but we quickly got up

to speed with specifications and we were delighted when the NHS signed off on it.

ALLEN: I even think your labels look good there, too, James. Nice packaging. Yes, very nice. Hey, thanks to what you're doing. We want to try to find these bright spots of people doing things to help out. Your company is certainly doing that, so shoutout to BrewDog, James Watt, the co-founder. Thank you, James, for what you're doing.

WATT: Thank you, take care.

ALLEN: All right, you, too.

That is CNN NEWSROOM. We really appreciate you watching. I'm Natalie Allen. Stay with us. "NEW DAY" is up next. See you tomorrow.