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U.S. Breaks Record For New Daily Coronavirus Cases; Texas Hospitals Get Help From Colorado; New Study Suggests Herd Immunity Not Achievable; Brazil Reports Over 45,000 New Infections As Bolsonaro Tests Positive; Australia's Health Authorities Taking Drastic Move To Contain The Virus; Israel's Public Health Director Quits; U.S. On The Verge Of Hitting Three Million COVID Cases; Mexican And U.S. Presidents To Celebrate Trade Deal. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired July 08, 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 ANCHOR (voice-over): Welcome back. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I am Paula Newton.
Just ahead, the United States fast approaching another significant milestone for COVID-19 cases, even as President Trump insists the country is in good shape.
Meantime, the so-called Trump of the tropics is also trying to battle the virus.
The organizers of a boycott against Facebook had a sit down with the company's leaders. Why the meeting left them frustrated.
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NEWTON: We begin as we have for so many days, now with staggering numbers of coronavirus cases in the United States, as the country climbs towards the 3 million mark. More than 58,000 cases were confirmed in the United States Tuesday. That's the most of any day since the pandemic began.
The virus has killed more than 131,000 Americans. Much of the U.S. is still seeing a surge in infections in more than 30 states. But this is about a lot more than the numbers, it's about people testing positive and, in many cases, people are still losing their lives. The death rate has dropped in the U.S. recently.
There has been a lot of information about that. The nation's top infectious disease specialist warns Americans that they should not let their guard down. The U.S. president says the numbers prove his policies are working. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: It is a false narrative to take comfort in a lower rate of death. There are so many other things that are very dangerous and bad about this virus. Don't get yourself into false complacency.
TRUMP: I think we are in a good place. I disagree with him. Dr. Fauci said don't wear masks and now he says where one. He said numerous things. don't close off China. don't ban China. And I did it anyway. I sort of didn't listen to my experts and I banned China. We would've been in much worse shape.
You wouldn't believe the number of deaths more we would have had if we didn't do the ban and they would ban Europe also, when Italy and the various countries who are in such trouble. We have done a good job. I think we are actually, we are going to be in 2, 3, 4 weeks, by the time next speak, I will be in very good shape.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: President Trump Tuesday formally set the wheels in motion to withdraw from the World Health Organization. This as some of his states are getting pretty desperate. Erica Hill has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cases surging in the Sunshine State, more than 7,300 reported on Tuesday, 43 hospitals in Florida report their ICU beds are now at capacity. Nearly 3 dozen more are closed.
Yet the governor is pushing forward with plans to open schools next month, touting his State's efforts to prepare for the long haul.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): The whole point of the curve, flattening the curve was to make sure we had enough healthcare capacity. We're in a way better position today to be able to do that.
HILL: Restaurants in Miami-Dade County told to pull back as hospitalizations there surge. And that curve the governor mentioned, looking more like a steep cliff. Though it's not just Florida; Arizona now has the highest number of cases per capita in the country.
DR. PETER HOTEZ, BAYLOR COLLEGE: In Arizona, the cases are rising so rapidly that we cannot even do contact tracing. The epidemic is out of control in the southern part of the United States.
HILL: Texas just reported more than 10,000 new cases, its highest single day increase. Houston's mayor urging the state's Republican Party to cancel its upcoming convention in his city scheduled for July 16th.
MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER (D-TX), HOUSTON: I believe canceling the in- person convention is the responsible action to take.
HILL: The Texas GOP is still planning to hold the event adding a mask requirement for attendees. Meantime, the Texas State Fair cancelled for the first time since World War II. The governor now saying he allowed bars to reopen too soon. GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): You have to wonder if they should have ever been open at all because bars really aren't made in a way that promotes social distancing.
HILL: California's state capital closed after at least five assembly members tested positive. And a new study finds so-called silent spreaders may account for as many as half of all cases.
DR. LEANA WEN, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN: Even the states that are doing well right now should be on guard because they could be next.
[02:05:00]
HILL: Erica Hill, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: The U.S. state of Texas is getting help from its neighbors, with a rising number of hospitalizations. Texas reported more than 10,000 new cases on Tuesday. It is in fact the highest daily increase since the pandemic began. Ed Lavandera has the report from San Antonio.
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ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As the number of coronavirus cases continue to skyrocket here in the state of Texas, hospitals on the front lines are getting help from outside the state.
There are already hundreds of nurses and respiratory specialists, who have been flown into the area, especially here in San Antonio, to help already overwhelmed hospital staff as they try to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.
This is a city in a county that has seen about 15,000 coronavirus cases so far; 3,000 added to the rolls in just the last week. That's a 25 percent increase.
Thirty-nine military personnel are being brought into the San Antonio region from Ft. Carson in Colorado. These are nurses, respiratory specialists, to help the staff handle the influx of coronavirus patients.
We asked one of the nurses, a civilian, who was already here, brought in last week from Tucson, Arizona, Jeff Chappelle (ph). We asked him if he thought people outside of the hospital who cannot see what he is saying on a daily basis are taking this pandemic seriously enough. This is what he told us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF CHAPPELLE (PH), NURSE: I don't think they are. Because they don't come to the hospital and see patients as sick as we do. They don't see how fast they declined. They don't see if they. They don't believe. It they don't touch. It they won't believe it. I can only say that so many times. Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Take care of yourself. (END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Officials in San Antonio tell us that they have seen in the last few days a slowing down of the number of new coronavirus cases here in this area. But it is still too early to tell whether or not this will be a sustained trend.
The push continues to have these hospitals equipped with plenty of staff. Many nurses and specialists have been working 14-hour days to handle all of the patients. So the push to relieve the stress on a lot of these hospital staff continues here in some of the major cities in Texas-- Ed Lavandera, CNN, San Antonio, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: The World Health Organization is examining new research on how the coronavirus spreads. A group of scientists says there is growing evidence that virus particles can float in the air and infect those who inhale them. The WHO had stated the earlier the virus mainly spread through droplets that quickly hit the ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We acknowledge that there is emerging evidence in this field as in all other fields regarding COVID-19 and the pandemic. Therefore, we believe we have to be open to this evidence and understand its implications regarding the modes of transmission and also regarding the precautions that need to be taken.
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NEWTON: Another new study has bad news for those hoping for herd immunity, one enough of the population gets infected to stop the circulation of the virus. People effectively become vaccinated against it.
But the latest research out of Spain finds just 5 percent of the population had developed antibodies, meaning the other 95 percent are still susceptible to COVID-19, suggesting herd immunity is unachievable.
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NEWTON: Dr. Isabella Eckerle is a virologist and the head of the Geneva Centre for Emerging Viral Diseases at the University of Geneva.
We really appreciate your expertise. A lot of us are out of our league and we need the information.
To this study, why is this important?
Given the methodology, why do you believe it makes the case that herd immunity is impossible?
DR. ISABELLA ECKERLE, GENEVA CENTRE FOR EMERGING VIRAL DISEASES: The striking thing about this study is that it investigated more than 60,000 individuals across the whole country. In terms of antibody prevalence, it was assessed by 2 tests that were run in 29 laboratories.
So from a technical side it's a well done study on a huge number of individuals and it gives us a very detailed picture, not only of what happens in one, place but across the whole country.
NEWTON: Given what that shows, is that the conclusion?
That herd immunity was something that no country could have been striving for?
[02:10:00]
ECKERLE: The interesting thing about this study is that they found areas where they had almost zero prevalence or it was mainly in Madrid and the provinces around Madrid. That exceeded 10 percent in some places.
This also infected regions that were severely affected where, they had a lot of hospitalized cases, a lot of deaths. And then in the more rural areas and coastal areas, the prevalence was much lower.
First of all, that shows that it correlates quite well with what we see in terms of cases and in terms of deaths. Although we know this is just the tip of the iceberg, so it gives us a big picture of the people who have been exposed.
And it means that the people who have been exposed, it is just a small minority of the population. And still they had this many deaths and an overwhelmed health system.
NEWTON: It certainly shows that the warnings we continue to have are definitely warranted.
What does this mean?
So many of us have come to think of herd immunity as the Holy Grail.
Does this basically give us the conclusion that we are going to be living with this virus for a very long time and the public needs to be maintaining those public health measures in order to avoid these second, third and fourth waves of this epidemic until we have a vaccine?
ECKERLE: I don't think we should think that it will be a long time, like many years. I think there will be a vaccine. There are many approaches coming and a vaccine will be the solution to achieve herd immunity.
But with the zero prevalence data from Spain and also from other places, it shows us that the natural herd immunity will not be possible to achieve or if we aim for, it we will pay a very high price in terms of completely overwhelmed health care systems and a lot of deaths. So it is quite unrealistic to achieve that. And it will also take a
very long time. On the other hand, the large majority of the population has not been exposed. That means we still have to keep some measures in place to avoid a second wave and to protect those that have not been exposed until we have a vaccine.
NEWTON: The antibodies in some people who have been asymptomatic have not been very strong. I personally know of people in my family who have had COVID-19 and health professionals tell them directly, do not assume you are immune right now, even though you have had the virus.
Is this another so-called curveball that the virus keeps throwing at us?
ECKERLE: There are two things. There are some studies that show that people who are very mild or asymptomatic do not develop good antibody responses or don't develop response at all. But it seems that this is really just a small part.
More than 90 percent of people seem to develop an antibody response. So far, we do not know if this antibody is protective. But again we already know coronaviruses that cause the common cold and for those, if you have antibodies, you are protected for a certain time. It may be between one or two years. You will not be immediately re-infected.
Maybe you can get infected but the disease doesn't exhibit the same severity like the first time. So I think we have good hope to think that we do have some kind of protection but it will not be a long- lasting or lifelong potential like it is for maybe other diseases, like measles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: That was Dr. Isabella Eckerle on the new antibody study.
More than 3 million of all confirmed coronavirus cases in the world now come from Latin America and the Caribbean. Brazil is by far the worst hit country in the region, with more than 66,000 deaths and 1.6 million infections.
This aerial video shows a mass graveyard in Sao Paulo. It is staggering, 45,000 new cases were confirmed in Brazil on Tuesday alone. Chilling video there.
Brazil's president, Jair Bolsonaro, was among the newly infected. He tested positive for the disease after months of downplaying the risks of the pandemic. He now says he is being treated with hydroxychloroquine, the drug that has not proven to be effective.
President Bolsonaro says he will avoid in person meetings for now. But as Bill Weir reports, the president is still not convinced the virus poses a huge risk to the public.
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BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After months of sneering at a little flu, and waiting in the crowds of unmask fans, Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro told his country today that he has COVID-19. But there was no sign of a president humbled.
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WEIR (voice-over): "I'm feeling very well," he said, and gave much of the credit to two doses of hydroxychloroquine. The controversial antimalarial drug first pushed by Donald Trump, then stockpiled by Bolsonaro, but unproven as a treatment for COVID-19. And he insisted that the millions of young people he is urging back to work can still feel invincible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAIR BOLSONARO, PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL (through translator): Younger people, take care, but if you are affected by the virus, rest assured that for you, the possibility of something more serious is close to zero.
WEIR: When you are health minister, did you try to warn him? Try to get him out of those crowds, for his own health?
LUIZ HENRIQUE MANDETTA, FORMER BRAZILIAN HEALTH MINISTER: Everybody did. Not only the health minister, all the other ministers. We all advised him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEIR: Dr. Luiz Mandetta was Brazil's health minister until Bolsonaro fired him for trying to get the nation to stay distant or stay home. But instead of the virus converting the president to science, Mandetta worries it will only amplify a pseudoscientific message of more malaria pills and less quarantines.
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MANDETTA: He stands for it to make the political stand for, well, I have the disease, look at me, I'm OK, I'm a superhero. I took this medicine, I really did well, and you should do this also. His message could be a disaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEIR: Meanwhile, the largest cemetery in Latin America is not large enough these days, and in his 25 years digging it, Bill Formosa (Ph) and Denilson Castro (Ph) has never seen fresh graves fill up so fast.
"There were four COVID families here this morning, and we're shocked," he says. "Everyone is the same.
Ten minutes max, no wake, no way to look in the coffin because it is the last greeting they will ever give to the loved one they lost, and there is no time for a ceremony -- Bill Weir, CNN, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
(END VIDEOTAPE) NEWTON: Jair Bolsonaro marks the latest world leader to test positive
for the virus. He joins U.K. prime minister Boris Johnson, Prince Albert of Monaco, Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin and Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan.
In addition, dozens of lower ranking officials and diplomats have also contracted COVID-19.
Millions in Melbourne, Australia, are bracing for another lockdown as the city sees a renewed spike in coronavirus cases. Coming, up by the prime minister says the outbreak is not surprising.
Plus, once praised for its response to the coronavirus, Israel is now struggling with a spike in cases. The country's public health director is coming under fire.
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NEWTON: In the coming hours, millions of residents of Melbourne, Australia, will once again be under lockdown as the country scrambles to curve the resurgence of the coronavirus.
Starting at midnight local time, a few hours from now, residents can only leave their homes for essential trips, including getting, food going to work, exercising and caregiving.
A spike in cases in the state of Victoria has already forced the government to shut down roads in and out of New South Wales. Anna Coren joins me.
You have been following the story closely. At this point, there must be some level of shock for the residents and the state of Victoria. This will be a long shutdown.
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The next six weeks they will be on lockdown, only allowed to leave their homes for essential workers and to shop for necessities. Otherwise, you are required by law to stay at home.
Melburnians went through this back in March, where the country was pretty much put on lockdown for two months, whilst authorities tried to contain the virus. Australia managed to flatten the curve because of the aggressive measures that they took.
Now this spike, many fear is a second wave in Victoria, has really rattled the country. There was a record 191 new cases yesterday. Today it dropped to 134 but that lockdown will go into place as of midnight tonight. You showed pictures of the border closure between Victoria and New
South Wales. No one from Victoria is allowed into New South Wales. That could last for weeks. The people who live on the borders and those border towns have been given permits to travel but not any further than those border towns.
Obviously, Australia is taking this extremely seriously. Prime minister Scott Morrison addressed the media earlier today and he said that Melburnians did it once and they can do it again.
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SCOTT MORRISON, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: We're all Melburnians now when it comes to the challenges we face. We are all Victorians now because we are all Australians. We will prevail and we will get on top of it and we will protect the rest of the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Mr. Morrison said it doesn't matter if it's the rest of the year, into next year, Australia is going to continue to tackle this pandemic aggressively. And I should mention that the federal treasurer has come out, saying that this second lockdown in Melbourne is going to cost something like $700 million a week. That is $1 billion Australian every week. Victoria makes up a quarter of the nation's economy. The shutdown will slow the economic recovery. The economy as it is, is already going through a recession.
NEWTON: This will be difficult to enforce. It always is. And you are learning about how those difficulties really continue to manifest themselves in Australia.
COREN: We are just learning of a breach. New South Wales stopped people from Victoria flying in except for exceptional cases. There was a planeload of people from Melbourne to Sydney last night, on the airline Jetstar. They were allowed to disembark and walk through the terminal and head off to wherever they were going.
They have to self isolate for two weeks. But that is something that they have to enforce upon themselves. The health screening team was dealing with another airline. So there's 48 passengers on board this plane who health authorities that are now trying to track down. Local reports saying this could be Australia's next Ruby Princess.
That was the cruise ship that docked in Sydney back in March. There were 21 deaths linked directly to that cruise ship when more than 900 passengers disembarked without any screening. How this planeload of people were allowed to disembark on the day the premier of Victoria announced a lockdown for the state is quite extraordinary.
NEWTON: Anna, thank you.
The Palestinian Authority is fighting to contain a surge of coronavirus cases.
[02:25:00] NEWTON: You can see the chart here. The numbers are picking up in the last month, 306 new cases were announced on Tuesday. The vast majority are around the West Bank city of Hebron.
The Palestinian Authority prime minister says more than 80 percent of new cases are from people attending weddings or funerals. The rest are from Palestinian workers contracting the virus in Israel and then bringing it across the border.
Israel's public health director has quit over the soaring rate of new coronavirus cases in the country. She says warnings about trying to return to normal too quickly were ignored. Israel won early praise for how it handled the pandemic but now the reopening strategy is under fire. CNN's Oren Liebermann has the latest.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If Israel's first wave of COVID-19 was a success story, the second wave appears on pace for a very different ending.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am still taking care of myself and washing my hands and not getting close to people so much. I hope it will be fine soon.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): As coronavirus cases surge across the country, the government has reimposed closures of public halls, pubs, gyms, pools and more. But with unemployment already at more than 20 percent, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to avoid another complete lockdown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (through translator): Today, there are around 90 severe cases and the numbers doubling every four days. If we don't act now, there will be hundreds, perhaps thousands of severe cases in coming weeks, which will paralyze our systems.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIEBERMANN: When the country reopened in early May, Israel looked like an international coronavirus success story: low mortality rate, few new infections, hospital space. And Netanyahu was riding the first wave to high approval ratings.
Then came the second wave. Daily infections of increased 50-fold, 20 new cases a day are now 1,000 new cases. Active infections hit record highs. And Netanyahu's approval rating on the handling of COVID-19 has plummeted: 74 percent in May to 46 percent now, according to recent polling.
The national unity government, formed specifically to deal with coronavirus, appears more concerned with political squabbles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This government is crap and the prime minister is full of crap.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Sixty percent of Israelis fear for their financial future but worry that bad can still become worse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My heart goes out. I don't know how people are maintaining, people raising families, people who have lost their businesses. The last shoe has not yet dropped, unfortunately. So it is concerning.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): On Tuesday, the top public health official at the ministry of health resigned, saying her professional opinion was no longer accepted and warning the country is approaching a dangerous place.
"To my regret, for a number of weeks, the handling of the outbreak has lost direction," she wrote in her resignation. "Despite systemic and regular warnings in the various systems and in the discussions in different forums, we watched with frustration as the hourglass of opportunities runs low."
In late April, Netanyahu said Israel had been successful in its mission to combat coronavirus as he began easing restrictions and opening the economy. But the mission isn't over yet -- Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: China is trying to prevent another outbreak, this one of bubonic plague. China has closed give tourist areas in Inner Mongolia after a case of the plague was confirmed Tuesday. An alert has been issued for the city where it was found. People are being urged to take precautions.
A small number of cases of the plague typically show up around the world each year, including the United States. It can usually be treated successfully with antibiotics if caught soon enough.
With the pandemic spreading like wildfire, the White House is ditching the World Health Organization and demanding schools reopen.
Plus, Canada is crushing the curve for now but the prime minister is staying away from meeting with his North America neighbors. We will tell you why.
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NEWTON: The U.S. is nearing another grim milestone the Coronavirus pandemic. Three million cases, that's almost twice as many as any other nation. The country has been adding about 50,000 cases per day for the past week.
Perhaps no state is being hit harder than Florida. At least 56 Florida hospitals now say they have no more ICU beds available. Medical experts say the situation is growing dire. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY BRILLIANT, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I'm really worried about Florida. I'm looking at Miami and I'm also looking at Houston. And you're looking at places that don't have any excess capacity in their isolation wards, in their intensive care wards.
I've watched and you've watched the whole world has watched these doctors in Houston and Miami say that they get eight, or nine, 10 people coming to them who should be in an intensive care ward, and they've got only one or two beds. They have to choose which one is going to have rationed a bed.
What happens to those who can't get into the hospital? Who are they? Sooner or later they will wind up someplace and it won't go well for them. To think that you can go there, parade in in Florida, without a mask, and signal to people that it's okay for them to go out and get exposed is irresponsible.
It's not the kind of leadership that we want or that we need to have in order to extricate ourselves. In your segment with Dr. Reiner, we can get out of this. We have the tools to do it, but we have to be serious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: OK, and many health authorities accused the White House of not taking this seriously. On Tuesday, President Trump pushed for schools to reopen, and his administration started to withdraw from the World Health Organization. Jeremy Diamond has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We want to reopen the schools. Everybody wants it. The moms want it, dads want it.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Tonight, President Trump pushing for schools to reopen despite rising cases in more than half the country, arguing mental health and economic concerns outweigh the physical health risks and accusing those who want schools closed of playing politics.
TRUMP: I think it's going to be good for them politically, so they keep the schools closed. No way. So we're very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools.
ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CDC: It's very pragmatic.
DIAMOND: CDC Director Robert Redfield backing the President's call.
REDFIELD: The CDC encourages all schools, all schools to do what they need to reopen, and to have plans that anticipate that the COVID-19 cases will in fact occur.
DIAMOND: Senior officials say the government will provide financial resources and share best practices with local school districts. But today, those details were nowhere to be found. Instead, the CDC plans to release reopening guidance next week, but Vice President Mike Pence stressing that the CDC and Task Force guidelines are just that not mandates.
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES: In a word, Mr. President, you've made it clear to us, we don't want to be the reason any school doesn't reopen.
DIAMOND: This as the President continues to downplay the seriousness of the virus.
TRUMP: If you look at the chart of deaths, deaths are way down.
DIAMOND: Claiming the U.S. has the lowest mortality rate in the world. But those aren't the facts. While fatality rates are difficult to calculate due to differences in testing availability, CNN has found at least 14 of the 20 most-affected countries are estimated to have lower death rates than the U.S. And experts warn that deaths which often come weeks after a surgeon cases could soon rise in the U.S.
And Trump isn't letting the virus stop him from traveling to one of the hardest-hit states flying into Florida on Friday to get a briefing on drug trafficking, before attending a fundraiser for his reelection campaign at a private home.
[02:35:40]
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, PRESS SECRETARY, WHITE HOUSE: We've traveled, we've done so safely, and we'll continue to do it.
DIAMOND: The briefing will be at the U.S. Southern Command in Miami Dade County, which has seen a 90 percent increase in Coronavirus hospitalizations over the last two weeks raising questions about the strain on emergency response resources of a presidential visit.
While Trump continues to downplay the virus and flout CDC guidelines, Dr. Anthony Fauci today urging state and local officials to mandate masks.
ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I don't like to be, you know, authoritarian from the federal government. But at the local level, if governors and others essentially mandate the use of masks when you have an outbreak, I think that would be very important.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: White House Correspondent Jeremy Diamond there for us. Now, Serbian police fired tear gas at protesters in Belgrade on Tuesday as they called for the president's arrest for opening the country too soon. Now, they blame him for a new spike in cases. CNN Milena Veselinovic reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILENA VESELINOVIC, CNN PRODUCER: Protests erupted in Serbia's capital Belgrade overnight as the government announced a weekend long curfew to try to curb a spike in Coronavirus cases. A crowd estimated to be at least several hundred people surrounded the building of Serbia's parliament in Belgrade. Some of them clashed with the riot police who then fired several rounds of tear gas into the crowd.
Now on Tuesday, Serbia recorded the highest death toll from COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The president of the country Aleksandar Vucic called the situation alarming and critical. But some protesters that CNN affiliate once spoke to said that they were angry because they say that the government lifted restrictions too soon, allow the virus to get out of control, because they wanted to hold a general election in June, the first European country to do so during this pandemic. This is something that the Serbian government has repeatedly denied.
But in early May, Serbia went from having one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe to bars, restaurants, and nightclubs operating at full capacity. And there was even a football match attended by thousands of people in Belgrade. Now as they gathered around the building of Serbia's parliament on Tuesday night, protesters chanted arrest Vucic and treason. A small number of them managed to enter into the lobby of the Parliament before they were pushed out by the riot police.
The number of COVID-19 cases has been surging in the country and President Vucic said that the hospitals were literally overflowing with Coronavirus patients. Serbia is still currently on the list of countries allowed to travel to the E.U., but on Monday, Greece closed its borders to Serbian citizens because of this recent surge in the number of cases. Milena Veselinovic, CNN London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: The Mexican president is getting ready to meet with his American counterpart in Washington. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador left Mexico City Tuesday on a commercial flight after he tested negative for the Coronavirus. Now his visit with President Trump is to celebrate the implementation of the new free trade Deal, the U.S., Mexico, Canada, agreement.
It went into effect this month, but of course a key partner is skipping this event. The Canadian Prime Minister cited scheduling conflicts, but it's worth noting that Justin Trudeau is taking this virus very seriously. He wears a mask and believes that it is probably wiser to avoid this event. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: He would have likely been forgiven for skipping the handshake, but in declining an invitation to the White House, Justin Trudeau is sidestepping a minefield of COVID etiquette and politics.
For starters, President Donald Trump and Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador have refused to wear a mask in public. Trudeau doesn't seem to leave home without one. And it's no trivial thing but insight into how each country is fighting the virus. For Trudeau, it would have been like risking the lunch with neighbors
you know aren't taking the virus seriously.
SCOTTY GREENWOOD, U.S.-CANADA BUSINESS COUNCIL: The opportunity for awkward moments is endless with a potential trilateral meeting with world leaders right now, and particularly these three world leaders, given their different value system and their different approach to the pandemic.
[02:40:10]
NEWTON: The COVID curves are moving in opposite directions in the U.S. and Canada. The surge in cases in the U.S. means Canadians are on edge and even more cautious. One poll shows the vast majority of Canadians want the U.S.-Canada Border to remain close to non-essential traffic. Anyone who does enter Canada has to quarantine for 14 days, and yes, it's enforced by both health officials and police.
Trudeau might have been exempt after attending the trade meeting at the White House but not his staff. Health and Safety were a concern and he said as much last week.
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, PRIME MINISTER, CANADA: We're also concerned about the health situation and the Coronavirus virus reality that is still hitting all three of our countries. We're going to continue to work with the U.S. on seeing whether that summit makes sense for us, and we will let you know as soon as we've made a decision.
NEWTON: The decision was no. In a statement to CNN, Trudeau's office said he would be in Ottawa this week for scheduled cabinet meetings and the long plan sitting of Parliament. For weeks, Canada has been logging just a few hundred new positive cases of COVID-19 per day. Just like the U.S. though, some younger Canadians are skirting rules. 20 people have so far been infected after this night out near Montreal.
But here's the difference. Contact tracing at such low numbers is viable, and in most cases, thorough. Add to that a growing list of cities and towns now making masks mandatory. Skipping a trip to the White House was arguably an easy call for Trudeau. Unlike most Canadians, he won't be crossing the border unless absolutely necessary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: And as we said, the Mexican and U.S. presidents will continue with their visit. You can watch a lot of those components live right here on CNN. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Ahead, why civil rights leaders are furious after meeting with Facebook's leadership. Plus, President Trump tried to block its release, but now a scathing tell- all his hitting shelves next week. Why his own niece claims president cheated his way for his entire life.
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NEWTON: Activists and civil rights groups are blasting Facebook's leadership after meeting with CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives. Now, they were discussing how the company could better combat hate speech. Activists said, they're disappointed and believe Facebook is still not taking calls to action seriously.
Well, Facebook said it has taken steps to combat hate. Now, it comes as hundreds of advertisers are boycotting the social media giant until it changes its policies. You can see so many of them there. CNN's John Defterios is live this hour in Abu Dhabi.
Now, Facebook, right, it's a powerful force. It actually calls a third of the world's population as users. In this boycott, is there a possibility that it's met its match?
[02:45:35]
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: You know, Paula, I was trying to think of the best analogy. It's almost like a David versus Goliath type story here. But the difference is, and you're alluding to this in you lead-in.
And the question to me is that now the activists have 750 advertisers who have joined the boycott, right. So it's a big difference from where we were before. As you said, that 2.6 billion users $70 billion in revenues, so it is a powerful force.
But the activists came out and said, look, Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg and others from Facebook were on the Zoom meeting, but they didn't lay out a clear blueprint, if you will, of how they tackle hate, and also, how do they get their C suite more diversified that they don't have a plan yet that's acceptable according to the activists.
The other thing is often overlooked in this debate is that they came in with a checkpoint list of 10 clear things that they're looking for. And this is their assessment after that meeting yesterday. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN GREENBLATT, CEO, THE ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: Our recommendations are simple and straightforward and transparent. They've been published on our Web site since mid-June. Facebook asked us for this meeting. And we expected them to share details and timeframes to execute on those recommendations. Instead, we didn't get any details, we didn't get any timeframes, no commitments, no outcomes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEFTERIOS: And Facebook put out a statement there after that meeting, which was an hour long as you suggested, Paula. We know we will be judged by our actions and not by our words and then it went on to say that it's grateful for the engagement by the activists. Facebook told these people that their A.I., the artificial intelligence is gathering 89 percent of the hate postings here and then taking them down. But again, the activists said Ford, the carmaker, is a part of this
campaign, if it said that seatbelts worked 89 percent of the time, would it be acceptable? And they have regulators. They don't have independent auditors at Facebook. And you can see what this narrative is carrying. It's like, why are you not regulated like T.V., radio, and print around the world. And as a $700 billion company, shouldn't you be?
NEWTON: Yes. And the freedom of speech argument has always been what Facebook has talked about. I mean, John, look, we've had campaigns before. It's been Delete Facebook. You know, this is an ad boycott. Can it really take on Facebook? You know, this Stop Hate for Profit campaign, its scale is massive. There are major advertisers now onboard. Can it really do something here?
DEFTERIOS: Well, we have to see if it lasts beyond the month of July, right, Paula. This is the big question here. But I tell you what, this has been a month into play. And the last time we talked about it, which was about 10 days ago, it was 100 advertisers. We're looking at over 750, as you suggested, major players like Coca Cola and Hershey and Starbucks. The apparel makers which are seen as very progressive are now on board.
And it seems to be kind of a snowball effect here. And some of those advertisers say they'll carry to the end of the year. But by the way, Facebook has eight million advertisers, many of them small and medium sized enterprises, so there's a long way to go. You can see this is changing quickly with a powerful effect.
NEWTON: Yes. And what will be clear is if you can see obviously any revenue damage, you know, being pulled through for this as the months were on. John Defterios, thanks so much. I appreciate it. Now, the hugely popular social media app TikTok says it's pulling out of Hong Kong in the wake of the controversial new national security law. CNN Hadas Gold has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HADAS GOLD, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: This decision by TikTok to pull out of Hong Kong should really be seen as part of a broader messaging effort by TikTok to try to distance itself from China despite the fact that it's owned by the Beijing based company ByteDance. Because Hong Kong is actually not a big market at all for TikTok, it's nowhere near for example, India, which recently banned TikTok from the country.
But what TikTok is trying to do here is send the message to its critics that it's not in the pocket of the Chinese government. This despite calls from people like us Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who called TikTok a security threat because of laws in China which require Chinese companies to work with the Chinese government when asked.
And that's part of the reason why Mike Pompeo says they're actually considering banning TikTok in the United States.
MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE, UNITED STATES: We're taking this very seriously. We're certainly looking at it. We've worked on this very issue for a long time, whether it was the problems having Huawei technology in your infrastructure. We've gone all over the world and we're making real progress getting that out.
We declared ZTE a danger to American national security. We've done all of these things with respect to Chinese apps on people's cell phones. I can assure you, the United States will get this one right too.
[02:50:17]
GOLD: But TikTok has always maintained it never has and never will hand user data over to the Chinese government, even if asked. And their move comes at the same time as some of the biggest internet and social media platforms in the world, including Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn, and even Zoom has said that they're going to stop processing user data requests from Hong Kong authorities as a result of this national security law.
Because this new national security law gives Hong Kong Police the authority to demand these platforms hand over user data, or that they've removed content from their platforms that the authorities deemed to be somehow breaking this national security law which keep in mind can be something like calling for Hong Kong independence.
Facebook, for example, for its part, says that it wants to consult with human rights experts before they decide on their next steps forward. Hadas Gold, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: U.S. President Donald Trump's own niece isn't holding back. In an explosive tell-all book, Mary Trump paints a scathing picture of the president. CNN Sara Murray has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: There's a scathing new critique of President Trump, and this time it is coming from his own niece. CNN obtained an early copy of Mary Trump's book. And in it, she writes about the toxic culture that Fred Trump, the patriarch of the family, Donald Trump's father created.
She says that's why Donald Trump is the way he is. And she describes her uncle as a liar, a cheater, essentially a sociopath. You know, one point in her book, she writes, the lies may become true in his mind as soon as he utters them, but they're still lies. It's just another way for him to see what he can get away with. And so far, he's gotten away with everything.
Mary Trump includes a number of embarrassing anecdotes from the president. It's clear that there is bad blood in this family and it goes back decades. One of these anecdotes is actually when Donald Trump was younger, he wanted to get into the University of Pennsylvania and she says he paid another kid to take the SAT for him.
Now, the White House says that is absurd. They say it's false and they're questioning why this book is coming out now. Well, Mary Trump says that Donald Trump destroyed her father, her father, Freddy Trump, who struggled with alcoholism and has since passed. She says she's not going to stand by while Donald Trump destroys the country. Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: English football attracts players of all races and backgrounds, so why is coaching ranks still mostly white? Ahead, new efforts to boost diversity.
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NEWTON: The Black Lives Matter Movement is casting a spotlight on a lack of diversity in senior leadership roles worldwide, and that includes the upper echelons of English football. The new initiative has been launched to improve representation. Here's world sport contributor, Darren Lewis.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DARREN LEWIS, CNN WORLD SPORT CONTRIBUTOR: English for both governing bodies have announced a new scheme to boost representation in management. While almost a third of professional players across the country are black or from other ethnic minority populations, those statistics are not reflected in managerial positions.
The EPL said this new scheme is aimed at broadening the base of coaches on 23 month placements with a view to those coaches moving into the dugout.
[02:55:02]
DARREN MOORE, CHAIRMAN, EPL BLACK PARTICIPANTS ADVISORY GROUP: I would say to that that the numbers are alarming. Yes, they are. Let's not -- let's not go away from the fact that they are alarming, that there's currently only five and certainly within the game.
What this scheme does is it allows the individuals that's going to -- that are best selected to join these clubs is to work and sort of get their hands dirty in the clubs in terms of the coaching and analysis work or the development of players and the development itself.
LEWIS: The EPL say six placements which will include intensive training will be handed out in the league's one, two, and the championship which is it's just one below the Premier League. Crucially, the coaching scheme does not extend to the Premier League, which is English football's top tier competition. It is something of which campaigners have been critical.
TROY TOWNSEND, HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT, KICK IT OUT: I'm a little bit underwhelmed if you want me to be totally honest. We've been in this place before where we've spoken up about lack of representation in coaching circles.
But I'm not sure what this addresses, so I'm just a little bit skeptical as to why the Premier League have not opened their doors up and why, you know, there seems to be just an entry level for these coaches, you know, six coaches over 23 months, you know, best part of two years.
You know, it strikes a chord to me that we'll only go so far and I'm just looking and wondering why it's only acceptable to have six coaches and why we cannot progress something that's rolled out right across the leagues and has a little bit more impact as well.
LEWIS: At present, there is only one black manager in the Premier League. That's Nuno Espirito Santo who coaches Wolverhampton Wanderers. And across English football's 91 professional clubs, there are only five serving black or ethnic minority managers.
The Premier League and England's Football Association acknowledged more needs to be done to tackle the under-representation, particularly at a time when social movements and the current generation are pushing for change.
Players across England have been taking a need to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement. It's this kind of action that has shone a light on the issues of systemic racism in both society and across the game. Management and coaching, well, they're just two of the areas in dire need of change. And the success of the new scheme will be something that fans, players, and campaigners will be watching very closely next season. Darren Lewis, CNN London.
NEWTON: And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Newton. The news continues right here on CNN with Rosemary Church.
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