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U.S. Breaks Daily Record With 52,000+ New COVID Cases; Melbourne Imposes New Lockdown As Cases Pick Up Again; U.S. Added 4.7M Jobs In June, Unemployment Rate Falls To 11.1 percent; United States Again Shatters Coronavirus Case Records; Nine Arrested Under New Hong Kong Law Released on Bail; Saudis to be Tried in Turkey for Jamal Khashoggi's Death; Elusive Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell is Charged in Epstein Sex Abuse Case. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired July 03, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Paula Newton. Coming up on "CNN Newsroom," out of control, the United States shatters coronavirus case records, again. Is it too late to change the country's trajectory?
Then, a shining success, North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un praises his country's response against the pandemic. And justice will prevail. The attorney for several Jeffrey Epstein victims react (ph) to the arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell.
And so we begin with another 52,000 new cases of coronavirus in the United States, another single-day record, surpassing Wednesday's high water mark. Florida is leading the way with more than 10,000 new infections. That is also a record. The death toll here in the United States is approaching 129,000 souls.
Now, compared to last week, infections are rising in at least 37 U.S. states. You can see the map right there. Only Vermont, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island are heading in the right direction.
Dr. Anthony Fauci says it is possible to reopen the country safely and protect people's health at the same time, but right now, the U.S. is just going in the wrong direction.
A number of cities and states are taking steps to reverse the trend. Chicago is ordering travellers from 15 states to quarantine for at least two weeks, and Miami imposing a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.
CNN's Nick Watt has more headlines from across the country.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Masks now mandatory in every Texas County with more than 20 cases. The governor finally gave in. In Austin, they're contemplating a radical rewind.
MAYOR STEVE ADLER, AUSTIN, TEXAS: One thing we may have to go to is to go back to a stay-at-home.
WATT (voice-over): With an update (ph) to ease the pain.
ADLER: Will they do it if they knew it was for 35 days?
WATT (voice-over): Record death tolls in Arizona and the biggest testing site in the state struggling to cope. That's now a nationwide fear.
JULIE KHANI, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN CLINICAL LABORATORY ASSOCIATION: We are seeing steady and significant increases in demand for testing. We are concerned that that demand is going to exceed our current capacity.
WATT (voice-over): In California, they say one in 140 Angelinos are now infected.
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: And as early as next week, as many as one in 100, or even one in 70.
WATT (voice-over): California, one of 23 states, now pausing or rolling back reopening. But Florida is pushing forward despite more than 10,000 new cases today, a record.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): I think kind of some of the just easy things that you can do, I think fell down, by the way, so a little bit. Now, people understand this thing doesn't just go away.
WATT (voice-over): Maybe not everyone.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I think we are going to be very good with the coronavirus. I think that, at some point, that's going to sort of just disappear, I hope.
WATT (voice-over): The U.S. is now, now seeing all-time record numbers of new cases, around 50, 000 a day. More than many countries have suffered during the entirety of this pandemic in a day, and it's not just more testing.
BRETT GIROIR, UNITED STATES ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH: This is a real increase in cases.
WATT (voice-over): And now, driven not by the elderly.
GIROIR: The current outbreak is primarily due to under 35s with a lot of gatherings, not appropriate protection like masks.
WATT (voice-over): Take Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have seen over the last few weeks, parties going on in the county.
WATT (voice-over): Parties to purposely spread the virus with a cash prize, one city council member says.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just think it's senseless, I think it's careless, and it makes me mad.
WATT (voice-over): Meanwhile, in New York City, our one-time epicenter today, there is optimism.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: I understand parents want answers. Here are some answers. Schools will be opening in September.
WATT: On Thursday afternoon, a fairly stark instruction from Dr. Deborah Birx. To anyone in Florida under the age of 40, who has been in a crowd in the past four weeks, she says even if you have no symptoms, you should now get a test.
There's a lot of talk about Florida, California, Arizona, Texas, but obviously, for a virus, state lines mean nothing. So, this does not mean that the rest of the U.S. is in a clear.
[02:05:00]
Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
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NEWTON: Dr. Raj Kalsi is a board certified emergency physician. He joins me this hour from Naperville, Illinois. Thanks for joining us. Look, we have another day, another record. The numbers are staggering and they are also incredibly scary. I mean, what do you fear most when you see two days in a row of cases above the 50,000 people being infected?
RAJ KALSI, BOARD CERTIFIED EMERGENCY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN: Paula, that's a great question. What I fear most is that the fatality rates will follow like it did in the beginning of this COVID viral campaign. So, early on, COVID was effectively very deadly compared to things like influenza which we see every year.
It was a novel virus. It is a new virus. We've never seen this before. And I worry that these surges and spikes, if it is as deadly as it was early on, then we are in for a significant problem in the next two to four weeks as we start filling up ICUs and seeing people die from this.
NEWTON: It's interesting, you know, the new short hand around the country, especially by some of the governors is that, look, the people who are getting it now, the average age is much lower, and they are saying everyone calm down. That means we will have fewer hospitalizations and fewer deaths.
And while we all hope that's correct, it seems like you are saying that, look, at this point with the numbers so high, that it still poses a significant threat to everyone.
KALSI: It absolutely does. One of the things that you guys in the media doing a great job is you are calling attention to this significant public health problem, the pandemic. And because of that, everyone is incredibly aware when they have never been aware of a viral illness or cared about a cold.
They are coming to ERs and their primary doctors to get a COVID test. And then they are given the information that perhaps they have this virus and then they're hopefully quarantining.
So this is incredibly important thing to know whether or not you have it. Even if it's young people having this illness, they are still, if they have the virus, going to spread it much more aggressively than say, a nursing home patient who is bed-bound or wheelchair-bound.
NEWTON: Yeah, that's such a good point, you know. We forget that, that they are out and about, and until they know that they have the virus, they potentially could infect so many more people.
You know, there's a new study that says the way the virus has mutated, it's actually much more infectious. I think some of us have already seen the anecdotal evidence of that. Thankfully, it's not making people any sicker. But still, that information, that the virus is now much more infectious, how significant is that?
KALSI: Absolutely. This will be earth-shattering news if it's truly holding up to virology, which is that when we compare viruses like MERS and SARS 1, those incredibly deadly diseases, they kill the host, the human so quickly, that humans couldn't even leave their home to go infect somebody else.
But now, in terms of virology, as a virus sort of propagates and as more and more people get it and the people who died from it are not around sadly on the planet to infect other people with the deadly strain, perhaps the less (ph) fatal virus is promoted and is the one that propagates.
NEWTON: Yeah. I guess the moral of the story is we still learn so much about this virus every day and every week. Still so much we don't know, though. You know, doctor, if you could take us kind of inside your world of the medical profession and the medical professionals you know, this has been a long haul for them. You are working on for months. Do you worry about fatigue at this point among all of them?
KALSI: Absolutely. We are so tired. We are broken. But, Paula, we have been doing this for as long as we've been in this career, emergency medicine on the frontlines. Nobody, you know, effectively took any focus on emergency medicine until you all give us the appropriate and wonderful credit that we were on the frontlines, putting our lives on the line, which we would have done anyway.
And we knew that if anything crazy like Ebola or this new pandemic or something even more catastrophic happened, we were going to be the first ones to be exposed in putting our lives on the line. We are tired.
Also, on top of the coronavirus patients that are coming in, we are seeing droves of our typical other patients coming in. Heart attacks, trauma, people with abdominal issues, people with cancer issues, pediatric emergencies.
And this is all very overwhelming at times because we have to do so many things to precaution ourselves and protect our patients from the waiting room all the way to their disposition, either admitting to the hospital, the ICU or being discharged home. We have to protect them from COVID and it is taking a huge toll on us emotionally, mentally, and physically.
NEWTON: Yeah. And as you said, it's been four months, right? It's not like people have been waiting at home for medical care and then they are now coming into the hospitals because they can't wait no longer.
[02:10:03]
NEWTON: Dr. Raj Kalsi, thanks so much for joining us. Be well.
KALSI: Thanks, Paula. You, as well.
NEWTON: A surprising new study meantime shows the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine helped some COVID patients survive in hospital. Now, researchers in Michigan found mortality rates for those given the drug were in fact much lower.
A number of other studies, though, have found no benefit. The U.S. withdrew emergency authorization for the drug earlier this month. U.S. President Donald Trump has been a strong proponent of hydroxychloroquine, even taking a course of the drug himself earlier this year.
A dire warning for Latin America and the Caribbean, the International Labor Organization says the pandemic could leave a record 41 million people unemployed in the region.
Brazil is the hardest hit country in Latin America by far. The number of infections is just shy of 1.5 million. In Mexico, meantime, again on Thursday, reporting a record number of new cases in 24 hours.
The president of Honduras says he doesn't wish COVID-19 on anyone, after being discharged from hospital. He had been admitted back on June 16th. The health ministry, meantime, in Peru, confirms that the COVID-19 death toll there is now more than 10,000. It says that the spread is showing signs of slowing down. Health officials in Chile are also sharing some encouraging news. They say the number of new cases each day continues to go down.
Now, Brazil may not have even reached its peak yet when it comes to COVID-19 infections. And Shasta Darlington reports the pandemic is far from being the country's only crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dining in front of Rio's famed shores, patrons attempt a return to normalcy, as Brazil's second largest city reopens for business.
"We just opened after almost four months of being closed. Now, we're coming back."
On Thursday, Rio de Janeiro entered its latest stage of reopening, allowing restaurants, bars, and cafes to accept a limited number of customers with social distancing rules in place. Residents can also return to the gym.
Rio is joining other cities around Brazil in the phased reopening, as the world's second worst hit country sees coronavirus cases nearing 1.5 million with a steady increase in new daily infections.
ROBERTO MEDRONHO, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, CLEMENTINO FRAGA FILHO UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL (through translator): We have the problem of people who are going to work because the economy has been reopened. If they become infected, they will take disinfection to their relatives, many of them elderly, many of them with complex health issues.
DARLINGTON (voice-over): Despite warnings from experts, many regional leaders are desperate, as finances plummet and unemployment soars. Now, millions of Brazil's informal workers face a stark choice, go to work and risk infection or go hungry.
MATIAS SANTOS, FOOD DELIVERY WORKER (through translator): We are totally exposed to the coronavirus every day without any protection. And because companies do not deliver masks, we need to make our own or by them, and buy hand sanitizer.
DARLINGTON (voice-over): As coronavirus wreaks havoc on Brazil's already fragile economy, it aggravates some of the country's chronic problems. In the Amazon rainforest, deforestation is surging. Environmental activists warn that illegal loggers and ranchers are capitalizing on less oversight, burning more land as the pandemic stretches official resources.
That may be responsible for a jump in fires, the most in June since 2007. Now, fears are rising of a coming dry season with more smoke, posing respiratory dangers.
CARLOS SOZA, JR., MEMBER, IMAZON (through translator): Slash and burn clearing of land already represent a serious health problem. If we have land clearing and COVID-19 together, this could mean catastrophic consequences for the region.
DARLINGTON (voice-over): A burning Amazon also adds to threats facing indigenous populations, where COVID-19 is sweeping through communities.
Brazil's government has sent medical workers and military to help protect some isolated tribes, but the virus has already infected thousands of tribe members and killed dozens. That is according to the government's special indigenous health service.
The indigenous population is now part of a grim milestone. On Wednesday, Brazil reached more than 60,000 coronavirus deaths. A tribute to those victims lit on Christ the Redeemer, Rio's famed statue, acknowledging the morbid toll of COVID-19, as the city reopens amid crisis. Shasta Darlington, CNN, Sao Paulo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Hong Kong police say nine of the 10 people arrested under China's new national security law are now out on bail, one of them a 15-year-old girl. Now, they were among thousands of people protesting the controversial law on Wednesday.
[02:15:03]
NEWTON: It criminalizes secession, subversion, or terrorism in Hong Kong and its broad strokes have pro-democracy activists worried. Some are closing their organizations, others are just leaving. Prominent activist Nathan Law says he has left the city to fight for freedom on the international stage.
Our Anna Coren is in Hong Kong and following all of this for us. You know, what has been very interesting here is to see the entire sweep of this. Hong Kong is a base for so many international businesses. What is it going to mean? It is certainly an open question as to whether or not those international organizations are also going to be subject to this law.
ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, a very good question. I don't think too many people can answer. This is the hub for many hundreds, in fact, of international operations. They have their original headquarters based here in Hong Kong. What does this national security law mean to them? We just do not know.
The feeling is, you (INAUDIBLE), you don't speak out against the CCP, the Communist Chinese Party, then you will be safe, you will be left alone to make money, you know, Hong Kong being one of the best financial centers in the world.
But the reason that all these companies have based themselves in Hong Kong is because of the rule of law, because of that firewall between Hong Kong and mainland China, and the independent judiciary where critics say that is now all over, that it is now one country, one system, and that China's jurisdiction now has spread to Hong Kong.
Ivan Watson, our very own Ivan Watson spoke to Teresa Cheng, Hong Kong's secretary of justice a short time ago. He asked her about the freedoms that people used to enjoy. She maintains that this is not going to be affected, that these freedoms and rights will be preserved.
If anything, this national security law will restore stability to Hong Kong, allowing these businesses to go on doing what they do, which is make a lot of money. He asked about religious freedom. Take a listen to what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERESA CHENG, HONG KONG SECRETARY OF JUSTICE: I go back to the point that freedoms that are enshrined in the laws in Hong Kong are still going to be respected and protected. So, the religious freedom that you can choose your religion is something that we cherish in Hong Kong, and that's why that's not going to be affected in any way.
As to, again, whether a particular organization is going to be affected, it all depends whether they are committing any of those acts which are prohibited. These are not acts that any normal activities would be infringing on.
So the fear of will it affect a news organization or other international bodies or other foreign bodies in Hong Kong, I think we have to be very clear that is not going to change. Hong Kong will remain an international city for international businesses, international media to come and carry out their activities as normal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: So, as I said, Teresa Cheng maintaining that this is going to restore stability to Hong Kong. She's talking about the freedoms that people have enjoyed here in the city. That includes freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly.
If we saw from the first of July and the 370 people that were arrested, you know, many of them arrested for chanting slogans, for holding up signs. Words like "liberate Hong Kong," "the revolution of our time is now banned," that is considered a threat to China's national security.
Now, is it national security or is it security of the CCP, the Communist Party protecting the regime? That is what critics say, this national security law is all about. Chanting the "glory be to Hong Kong," the protest movement anthem, that is now likely to be banned, as well. I mean, the aim, Paula, of this law is no doubt to create fear and to intimidate, and it certainly is achieving that.
NEWTON: Absolutely, it was interesting to hear Teresa Cheng talked about context, right? And as you just pointed out, we saw all the contexts we needed and the fact that just holding a banner meant that you were arrested. Anna Coren for us, live from Hong Kong, appreciate it.
Now, a short time from now, the trial in absentia of 28 Saudis begins in Turkey in connection with the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Washington Post columnist was a critic of the country's government and was allegedly murdered and dismembered in October 2018. Khashoggi went missing after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
[02:20:01]
NEWTON: Turkey leader claimed his death was premeditated. Last year, Saudi Arabia convicted eight people in connection with Khashoggi's death. The proceedings that begin soon in Istanbul were announced in March.
Now, much of the developed world is getting COVID-19 under control, but as we discussed, that just isn't the case here in the United States. For some, it's another reminder we live in a post-American world. We'll explain in a moment. Plus, woman accused of luring girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein is facing charges. Find out more about Ghislaine Maxwell and the accusations against her.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM SWEENEY, JR., ASSISTANT FBI DIRECTOR IN CHARGE: We have been discreetly keeping tabs on Maxwell's whereabouts as we worked this investigation. And more recently, we learned she had slithered away to a gorgeous property in New Hampshire, continuing to live a life of privilege while her victims lived at the trauma inflicted upon them years ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Some colorful language there from an FBI official about Thursday's arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell. Now, the British socialite is facing federal charges of conspiring to sexually abuse minors with the last financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell made her initial court appearance from New Hampshire via teleconference. But she's being transferred to New York where the charges were filed. As Max Foster reports, the case is being watched all around the world because of its connections to the rich, powerful, and royal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She is the figure that keeps reappearing in images associated with the Epstein scandal, at Donald Trump Mar-a-Lago party in 2000, on the front row of Chelsea Clinton's wedding, and here, right behind Prince Andrew and then 17- year- old Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who claims in court documents that Epstein kept her as a teenage sex slave and that he was assisted in his efforts by a British woman, Ghislaine Maxwell.
In the court filings, Giuffre alleges she was forced to have sex with the royal under Epstein's instructions, including in Maxwell's London apartments, and that she acted as a madam. All of these allegations against Andrew are being denied. Any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors was dismissed by Buckingham Palace as categorically untrue.
Known as his right and left hands, Epstein described Maxwell in 2003 as his best friend in this profile of Vanity Fair, not a colleague or an employee. [02:25:05]
FOSTER (voice-over): The revered daughter of the media mogul Robert Maxwell, she grew up in their vast country estate in the idyllic Oxford countryside. After her father's mysterious death at sea in 1991, falling from his luxury yacht, named in her honor, Maxwell reportedly moved to New York to start a new life.
So, how did she go from highly educated and connected figure in British high society to an accused figure in the background of an investigation into underage sex trafficking?
GHISLAINE MAXWELL, BRITISH SOCIALITE: I'll do my best.
FOSTER (voice-over): Footage of her is as elusive as she is. Here, she is speaking on oceans sustainability of the United Nations of 2014, under her role as founder of the TerraMar Project, a non-profit.
MAXWELL: There's no taxes, by the way, it's all free. And all your signing is you love the ocean, that you will spread your love of the ocean because we are a digital platform.
FOSTER (voice-over): Out of public view, though, Epstein's accusers claimed Maxwell was sourcing teenage girls for him and directing them to have sex with Epstein and his friends.
Unsealed court documents from a 2015 defamation case, referred to her as one of the main women, primary co-conspirator, acting as a madam for Epstein, assisted in internationally trafficking Giuffre and numerous other young girls for sexual purposes.
Giuffre says Maxwell recruited her when she was 15 years old. In her quarter position, Maxwell said Giuffre's claims are untrue. "I know that Virginia is a liar, and I know what she testified is a lie. So I can only testify to what I know to be a falsehood. I can categorically deny everything she has said. I have no knowledge of anything else."
The case was settled in 2017. Maxwell hadn't been seen in public since August last year, when she was spotted in Los Angeles. She hasn't responded to numerous requests for comment over the past year. Now that she's been charged with enticement of minors, though, prosecutors and alleged victims alike hope to finally hear a fuller version of events from a person most closely associated with Epstein and his alleged crimes.
Max Foster, CNN, Berkshire, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: So, the attorney for one of Epstein's accusers said, "Today the victims of Ghislaine Maxwell breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the sexual predator, who not only engaged in sexual abuse herself, but also assisted Jeffrey Epstein for decades in running his sexual trafficking scheme is behind bars. Today is also a powerful message to all Epstein accomplices that justice will prevail."
North Korea won't confirm it has had any coronavirus infections, but that's not stopping the country's supreme leader from boasting about the response. Just ahead, why Kim Jong-un says North Korea's efforts are so successful.
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[02:30:00]
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The U.S. has broken another record with more than 52,000 new Coronavirus cases in just the past 24 hours. And public health officials are especially concerned about what this July 4th holiday weekend could bring. The nation's top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci says right now, the country is just headed in the wrong direction.
Florida is reporting a single-day record with 10,000 new infections. And in Texas, the governor is mandating that people wear face coverings in public. Now, take a look at how the U.S. outbreak looks compared to the E.U. Most of Europe does seem to have it under control, but the U.S. less so. You can see there from the green spike.
The Trump administration's handling of the pandemic is just the latest in a long line of policies eroding ally's trust in the U.S. CNN, Nic Robertson has more.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: America's COVID-19 infection rate is putting it on an exponential path to pariah. This week, U.S. citizens barred entry from Europe. As a recent poll shows, Europeans trust in Trump's America is tanking.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries.
ROBERTSON: From his inauguration, Trump's America first has accelerated the U.S. along a road from international respect to unreliable ally.
TRUMP: We've been talking about this for a long time.
ROBERTSON: Within days shunning global trade deals, banning citizens of seven Muslim majority nations from travel to the U.S. E.U. leaders meeting in Malta soon after sounded the alarm. On his first overseas trip at NATO H.Q. few months later, Trump bullied his peers manhandling one leader, yanking the hand of another, capping it all, refusing to endorse NATO's founding principle Article Five, an attack on one, an attack on all.
And now three years later, concerns that NATO run so deep that some senior officials fear that if President Trump is reelected, it could render the Transatlantic Alliance irrelevant. But Trump's decision to pull 9,500 troops from Germany without telling Angular Merkel is emblematic of a bigger problem for the United States as an unreliable ally and not just about NATO.
Whether on Syria, North Korea, trade, or NATO, he is unpredictable, perhaps most so on China.
TRUMP: I think our relationship has never been better. We're very much involved with them right now on the virus that's going around.
ROBERTSON: In January, he backed China. By April, he wanted them castigated for failing to contain COVID-19 and withholding information. At WHO's annual meeting in May, all of Trump's E.U. allies effectively sided with China. Sweden's former P.M. and experienced global diplomat Carl Bildt
tweeted, "Observing the post-American World, a confident and assertive China with a clear strategic approach." And the E.U. trying to rescue what is left of global cooperation and a disruptive U.S., more keen on fighting China than fighting COVID-19."
Worse, Trump's own words on COVID-19 whether on ingesting bleach --
TRUMP: By injection inside or almost a cleaning.
ROBERTSON: Or use of the ineffective virus drug hydroxychloroquine have rendered his opinions almost worthless. If COVID-19 were Trump's only crisis, U.S. allies could be more forgiving. But he has jangled so many nerves threatening war with North Korea, almost starting one with Iran while apparently being in the thrall of dictators, helping create an unstable global environment that they have seized upon.
On his watch, Russia, Putin has effectively become president for life, as has China Xi who is also flouting international norms snatching control of Hong Kong. This Independence Day, the United States will be more alone than in decades. As COVID-19 spikes from state to state, old allies will be watching helpless and transfixed, knowing their fate is still tied to Trump.
Until the world's biggest economy recovers, everyone is at the mercy of the pandemic. Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[02:35:21]
NEWTON: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is calling his country's response to the Coronavirus pandemic a "shining success." State media report he made those comments at a worker's party meeting on Thursday. But he's also warning people not to get complacent. Now, North Korea has not reported any infections, despite bordering two of the hardest- hit countries in the region.
For more on this I'm joined by CNN's Paula Hancocks in Seoul, South Korea. And Paula, from your contacts on the ground, I mean, what are you hearing especially since it's so difficult to get any kind of verifiable information out of North Korea?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, diplomatic sources based in Pyongyang tell me that the North Korean regime is very confident that they have contained this virus at least in Pyongyang. They say that within the capital city, everyone is wearing masks. There is some level of social distancing, but life has effectively returned to normal, saying that shops and hotels are open, construction sites are open once again. And in June, it's believed that schools reopened in the -- in the city as well.
Now, these diplomatic sources do tell CNN that they were boxes of PPE, the personal protection equipment that we're seeing piled up on the border with China. As for some time, North Korea was not allowing anything into the country, but it is believed that those supplies are now starting to trickle into the country itself.
The sources also mentioning that they didn't know of anyone or hadn't heard of anyone that that had actually been tested for Coronavirus. But this does come as the North Korean leader says that it has been a shining success the way that he's been country has dealt with the virus itself. As you say, they're still claiming they have zero cases of the virus in the country, but also warning of complacency among his politicians.
Now, interesting he would say that as the images that we see on state- run T.V. -- state-run KCNA do show that no one is wearing a mask, as far as we can tell, within that politburo meeting, and there is very little social distancing going on. Paula?
NEWTON: Yes. And that's a very interesting point given the claim that he's trying to make. Our Paula Hancocks for us live from Seoul, I appreciate it. Now, England is relaxing some of its Coronavirus measures this weekend, but British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has a message. Don't overdo it. That warning was relayed by his official spokesperson according to the Press Association. Bars, restaurants, movie theaters, and hairdressers are among the businesses allowed to reopen.
COVID-19 cases are going up in Melbourne, Australia, and thousands of people there are now under lockdown again. Officials in the state of Victoria have now launched an inquiry into claims that contracted workers didn't follow protocols at hotels used to quarantine international arrivals. CNN Michael Holmes reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have a driver's license there for me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Police in Melbourne are stopping cars, checking IDs and enforcing new lockdown measures after Coronavirus cases jumped in the state of Victoria. More than 300,000 residents in 10 postcodes will be under tight restrictions for a month as authorities try to get a handle on the spike in cases hitting Australia's second-most populous state.
The new orders mean residents can only leave their homes for necessities or essential services. The setback causing a mixed reaction among citizens.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't like it because I'll get to miss out on the holidays. I'll get to stay trapped at home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sure the people making the decisions know what they're doing, so I'm not going to second guess what they're doing. And I guess the next couple of weeks will tell whether it has an effect.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have feelings of insecure and fear. HOLMES: Australia saw the number of cases per day rise in June. The
country currently has more than 8,000, but Victoria has seen double digit increases over the past few weeks. International travelers arriving in Australia are required to stay quarantine for 14 days at a government managed facility or hotel.
Authorities have launched an investigation into allegations that employees at one such hotel ignored social distancing measures, including reportedly having sex with people in quarantine. New testing sites have been set up in the 10 postcodes under lockdown. Some international flights will also be diverted to other states.
Meanwhile, Victoria's chief health officer advises that practicing safety measures is the best mitigation against the spread of the virus.
BRETT SUTTON, CHIEF HEALTH OFFICER, VICTORIA: You know, I'm really emphasizing that even though these restrictions are in place in those restricted postcodes, there's a there's an obligation on all of us to consider how we minimize our interactions with other people.
[02:40:08]
HOLMES: Melbourne not alone in going through a localized lockdown. It happened in Leicester in the U.K. and around a meat processing plant in Germany, for example, as countries that are generally doing well see new local outbreaks. Michael Holmes, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: The U.S. jobs report exceeded expectations, but is it too good to be true? Coming up, why the surge on Coronavirus cases could put the nation's economy at risk. And many young adults are now back with their parents indefinitely due to COVID-19. We'll discuss the impact that's having on the U.S. housing market. All of that after the break.
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NEWTON: Millions of Americans are now getting back to work. A new jobs report shows nearly five million jobs were added in June pushing the unemployment rate down to just over 11 percent, something President Donald Trump was quick to praise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The number of unemployed Americans re-entering the labor force rose by 43 percent, and fewer workers are dropping out of the labor force than before, and the crisis is being handled.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: However, there is much more to the story given the economic hole the nation is because of the pandemic and the recent surge in cases. CNN's John Defterios joins me now from Abu Dhabi. And it's suppressing really how a such an economic story really is more about the science than it is about the economics at play here. The snapshot we're getting on jobs, John, is really a snapshot from
weeks ago, right? It really will not reflect the economic reality going on in the country right now.
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Yes. So I was trying to think of the best way to sum that up and capture the essence because we had two months of lockdown because we were late starting in the United States against the pandemic, and then two months of a snapback. And the real question is what happens next because of the number of cases we're seeing 51,000 high, over 2.7 million overall.
And you have to look at the individual big states. I mean, California zone is a G-5 global economy. They have Texas and Florida. And the numbers really, over the last four years, kind of tell us a lot. Let's take a look at this indicator.
It took us four years to build 10 million jobs, only two months to lose nearly 13 million jobs. Now in the last two months, we've gained 7.5, Paula. But then your lead in, you were talking about this idea of a unemployment rate of what, just over 11 percent. It's three times where we were in February.
So our colleague, Richard Quest asked the former vice chair of the Federal Reserve to rank on a scale of one to 10, what's been the overall response?
[02:45:29]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAN BLINDER, FORMER VICE CHAIRMAN, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE: I'm probably around seven. And as I said, it's not because the Fed is not doing its job, it's not because the Treasury is not doing its job, it's because the U.S. government is not doing its job with pandemic control.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEFTERIOS: And there's a lesson learned here. You know, Paula, we lost about five or six weeks in the United States at the front end of this crisis, the slow response. As a result, it takes much longer to recover. We have better than 30 million Americans still receiving unemployment checks as we speak, one-fifth of the working population.
NEWTON: Yes. And it's a good thing for the U.S. economy that they are receiving those checks. Now, Asian markets had a lot to digest here with this jobs report. And of course, there are some signs of recovery in China.
DEFTERIOS: Yes. So you have the U.S., the number one economy adding what, nearly five million jobs. And then China we saw a very closely watched Caxton survey. This was surveying the services sector, and it's the best in nearly 10 years, the opposite of the United States. They've locked down immediately on the pandemic and they're getting the benefits of that now hoping to grow three percent this year.
This certainly helped the Asian markets if you take a look at the Big Four, but the standouts, of course, Shanghai because of that report, and Hong Kong, despite the turmoil with the security law is kind of stabilizing the business climate, if you will, but Shanghai benefiting from that rally today, of course.
And final point here. The U.S. markets are closed on the Fourth of July weekend, but the S&P 500, this is an interesting number, had the best 100 days in nearly 90 years. That data courtesy of Bloomberg. It's very interesting that because of that $3 trillion bailout, a lot of that money is being funneled into low interest rates and the Stock Market.
NEWTON: Yes, stunning. Everything just went down and then quickly -- hopefully, as quickly, it will now be recovering. Our John Defterios working for us, I must say on a holiday as well, John, you also -- you never seem to take a holiday, so thank you. It is the beginning of your weekend in Abu Dhabi.
DEFTERIOS: We work -- we work when necessary, right? We work when necessary.
NEWTON: You work all the time, actually, John. Anyway, glad to see you. Thanks so much. Now, since COVID-19 hit millions of young adults in the U.S., they've been forced to move back in with their parents. Experts are saying that could have a long-term effect on the housing market. CNN's Clare Sebastian has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When Daniel Tetley left la in mid-March to celebrate his 25th birthday in New York, he had no idea he wouldn't be going back.
DANIEL TETLEY, FORMER RESTAURANT SERVER: The moment that I landed, I had my phone blew up. I have like 1,000 text. My restaurant has shut down. New York City had shut down. My parents came and picked me up. And we came back to Connecticut and I never went back.
SEBASTIAN: He was followed from the restaurant he worked at and his lease was monthly so he simply gave notice and a friend shipped his belongings.
TETLEY: My two other siblings, all three of us are home again, and I don't think anyone ever thought that we would ever be in this situation again in our childhood home.
SEBASTIAN: Least of all, his mom Kathleen.
KATHLEEN TETLEY, HAS THREE ADULT KIDS LIVING AT HOME: Now, there's meals every night for mom to cook. The laundry is always filled with somebody else using my washer. The dishwasher runs night and day. The (INAUDIBLE) are crazy.
SEBASTIAN: Daniel and his siblings are among 2.7 million Americans mostly aged 25 and under who moved in with parents or grandparents in March and April this year, taking the total to a record 32 million according to real estate Web sites, Zillow. SKYLAR OLSEN, SENIOR PRINCIPAL ECONOMIST, ZILLOW: When you think about the size of the people that are moving back home, you're talking at around $726 million at risk that traditionally flows into that rental market. Now, rent non-payment or more people doubling up like this moving back home is causing the pressure to come off of rent growth.
SEBASTIAN: Young people have been some of the hardest hit by job losses during the pandemic. Now, if the unemployment picture continues to improve, we may see some of them starting to come back into the rental market. But it's not just those lost jobs who decided to head back home to mom and dad.
TARIKA GADH, MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT: The rumors started spreading in New York that subways are going to close down, the city is going to shut down, and offices are shutting down. So, at that point, I booked a flight home.
SEBASTIAN: 24-year-old Tarika Gadh works as a management consultant in New York, a job she can keep doing from her parent's house in L.A.
GADH: I live alone in New York in a one-bedroom apartment just knowing that if I had to be quarantined alone, I knew it wouldn't be easy.
[02:50:09]
SEBASTIAN: Her New York lease was up in May and she didn't extend. Her plan now is to stay with her parents until her office reopens.
GADH: I definitely fear in a way that it is stunting my growth as a -- as a recent college graduate. I think even my mom is worried about me. She keeps telling people that this is a wasted year for me.
SEBASTIAN: An expert say, the longer young people stay at home, the deeper the impact on real estate.
OLSEN: It is an incredible advantage to avoid rent, especially when rent is taking up a larger and larger share of income and student loan debt is at record highs. Now, if they stay in their Gen X parents homes, then that could have repercussions not just for the rental market, but for the for sale market as well in the future.
SEBASTIAN: Weeks have already turned to months for millions of Americans living in these new arrangements. The question now is whether the months turned to years. Clare Sebastian, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Now, I just got to this next story. An airport in Taiwan is offering a novel way to satisfy the wanderlust of would-be travelers. It's running fake flights experiences. Visitor's pass-through security and immigration, if you can believe it, before boarding an Airbus A330, destination to nowhere. More than 7,000 people applied to be fake passengers, but just 60 were picked at random.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I haven't been employed for so long. Before I'd go two or three times a year. It's such a pity that this year, because of the Coronavirus epidemic, I haven't been able to go abroad at all. I feel very lucky to have had my name drawn out of the hat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: And get this. The airport is planning more flights to nowhere over the next few weeks. OK, coming up here on CNN, the mayor of Richmond, Virginia takes a stand on the divisive Confederate monuments. We'll talk to him about that decision.
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NEWTON: A crowd in Richmond, Virginia there cheering the removal of a statue of a Confederate General. The mayor is using his emergency powers to have Confederate statues removed. They're being put into storage while the city council reviews his decision.
Now, demonstrators have toppled monuments and statues they consider racist during Black Lives Matter protests. U.S. President Donald Trump has deemed the monuments an important part of the country's heritage. But polls indicate an increasing number of Americans support removing them from public spaces.
I got a chance to speak to Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney about his decision to remove the statues and how he believes it will impact his city.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEVAR STONEY, MAYOR, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA: These monuments have served for more than 100 years. They have been a shadow over our city even after the end of the Civil War. And that burden has been carried by a number of my black and brown residents for generations.
And so, the right thing to do is to remove these monuments, and we're going to put them into storage, but we're going to remove these statues because you know they stand for symbols of division and for bigotry and we're not that city any longer. And we're the capital of for compassion and for equity and that's what we want to be moving forward.
[02:55:10]
NEWTON: And the counterpoint, as you know, because you've heard it so many times, this is history. And I noticed a little nuance in the attitude of Joe Biden the other day as well. He seemed to indicate; we've got to move them over to a museum. What do you think of that?
STONEY: Well, you know, we have a process that we're going to have to go. The Commonwealth of Virginia, the General Assembly here in Virginia -- in Virginia, passed a piece of legislation that said that the community and the members of the city council here will have a choice on where these monuments will go. I'm likely to hear from a number of battlefields or museums who would
like to take this into their ownership, and we will -- we will consider that. I do believe that people should know their history. People should know from once -- from where we were -- where we were and how we got there. So I'm open to museums being the future home of this, but I don't believe they should not be glorified on grand boulevards in the middles of different cities. I just don't believe in that.
NEWTON: And viscerally, how do you think people of color, people like yourself in Richmond or from all over the world will feel now when they can be on those avenues and not have those statues staring down at them?
STONEY: You know, for me, I've never visited any of these statues that people will say there's a civil war. There's Civil War tourism that people want to come and flock to cities like Richard because of these monuments. But as a resident of the city in Richmond, I've never visited these monuments because why would I?
As a black man, why would I ever appear at the Robert E. Lee statue or the Stonewall Jackson statue? I mean, these are individuals who wanted me in chains, in bondage, and never wanted me to be educated or even hold elected office. So why would I ever visit? And so, think moving forward, we can build a city that is focused on the passion, a city focus on unity, a city focused on atonement and reconciliation. And that's what we plan to do working with our community.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: We'll continue to follow his story as he works with his community. And thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Newton. The news continues right here with my friend and colleague, Natalie Allen. That's right after the break.
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