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United States Surpasses Five Million Coronavirus Cases; Close to 100,000 Children Infected with Coronavirus in the U.S. as Schools Start to Reopen; Angry Protesters Fill Beirut Streets Calling for Reform; U.S. Lawmakers At Odds Over COVID-19 Stimulus Plan; Trump Plan Calls For States To Pay 25 Percent Of Latest Benefits; Protests Erupt Following Belarus Presidential Vote; Hong Kong Media Mogul Arrested Under National Security Law; New Zealand Marks 100 Days Of No Local Cases. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired August 10, 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]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We are going to take very seriously the issue of community engagement and community outreach. We have to get out there with people who are trusted at the community level to get individuals to understand that this is extremely important for their own health.

And importantly, for the health of the community, and the health of the nation. Because if we get a widespread uptake of vaccine, we can put an end to this pandemic and we could create a veil of immunity in this country that would prevent the infection from coming back.

We have to get these people convinced, and you have to do it by extending yourself to the community, not by a dictum from Washington, but by engaging the community at the community level. And I hope we can turn around the reluctance to get vaccinated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST: Schools around the world are preparing for an extraordinary year as coronavirus cases rise among children and young adults. Some say they are considering closing again.

Violent protests grip Beirut. Demonstrators are calling for the country's elite to step down, while family search for loved ones lost in the warehouse explosions.

And, President Trump's executive order meant to support laid off workers, causes confusion and uncertainty leaving millions of Americans waiting in limbo.

Welcome to you, our viewers, here in the United States, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber and this is "CNN Newsroom."

Five million coronavirus cases and counting. The U.S. crossed that milestone on Sunday, only 17 days after reaching the four million mark, and more than doubling since the beginning of last month.

Now, keep in mind, these are just the cases we know about. Now, you can see how quickly infections are spreading when you compare them to earlier in the pandemic. It took the U.S. 99 days to hit 1 million cases back in late April.

To put the number and perspective, the country now has more infections than Ireland has people. The American death toll is also soaring. In the past two weeks, there have only been three days when the U.S. did not record more than 1,000 deaths.

But those figures are doing very little to deter some Americans. Plenty of people still crowding on to Miami beaches, as you can see there, even though its county has the most infections in Florida.

Chicago's mayor tweeting out this photo of a packed local beach saying, "It's called a pandemic people." She warned that such reckless behavior could cause perks and the lake front to be shut down.

Now, this all comes as the American Academy of Pediatrics report nearly 100,000 children tested positive for the virus in the last two weeks of July. So, many schools are still weighing whether they should have children show up in person.

In the U.S. state of Georgia, a high school is telling students to stay home after several infections were reported. CNN's Natasha Chen has more.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: The superintendent's letter announcing that students should stay home Monday and Tuesday come just about a day after the principal of North Paulding High School told families that at least six students and three staff members have tested positive for COVID-19.

Now, the district had already planned that the first week of school was going to involve three days in class, two days at home virtual learning. Now, they are extending that virtual learning at home from Monday and Tuesday as the district disinfects the campus and consults with the local health department on how to proceed in the coming days.

The superintendent told families that they would receive notification by Tuesday on what happens after that. Here is Hannah Watters, a student who got into some amount of trouble when she posted a photo of a crowded hallway last week. It circulated the internet, showing students close together, many of them not wearing masks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANNAH WATTERS, STUDENT, NORTH PAULDING HIGH SCHOOL: The fact that we already have nine cases just at the end of that week is very concerning because even then, we don't know how many people those nine people came in contact with and how many people are not taking tests yet, so they don't know and then they come back possibly this week too. So, It will spread like wildfire in that school.

[02:05:06] (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: North Paulding High School was not the only one reporting positive COVID cases in the Metro Atlanta area. In Cherokee County, 260 students and staff are quarantined after some people tested positive in the first week of school.

In Gwinnett County where teachers were doing prep work inside the buildings, 260 employees in that district are either quarantining or have tested positive for COVID-19 as well. Natasha Chen, CNN, Atlanta.

BRUNHUBER: Britain's prime minister is pushing to reopen schools by September and he says it's morally indefensible to keep them closed. Primary schools reopened back in June, but all others have been closed since March.

The government has pledged more than $1 billion to help students catch up, but all of this is happening as a new study warns that the U.K. could see a second coronavirus wave this winter if schools opened without a stricter testing system.

Now, children in Israel had already gone back to school. They returned in May after two months of lockdown. They are out now for the summer. To the decision makers, it looked like the right time, but they've learned some incredibly hard lessons that the world could do well to listen to.

Journalist Elliott Gotkine joins me from Tel Aviv. So, in Israel reopening a school lead to one of the biggest super spreader events ever since. So go back in time for us. It's May, there was a fall sense of euphoria, the virus, you know, considered defeated, all the students were invited back to school. What happened next?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Kim, I think Israel made a few mistakes. Some of which will obviously work on for when schools go back. One of the biggest mistakes that epidemiologists say happened is that (inaudible) they went back, there was a heat wave and there was mask holiday. No one had to wear masks for several days.

And that is one of the things that led to the virus kind of spreading and things kind of getting out of control in this country. And indeed, three weeks before schools are due to reopen herein Israel, some are questioning whether the country is ready.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOTKINE (voice-over): From teacher's pet to near bottom of the class, on some measures, Israel is now grappling with one of the world's worst COVID outbreaks. Schools, like this one in Jerusalem, whose alumni include President Reuven Rivlin and novelists Amos Oz, are a big reason why. Ari Kaplan is head of the Jerusalem Parent-Teacher Association.

ARI KAPLAN, HEAD OF JERUSALEM PARENT-TEACHER ASSOCIATION: Where a kid that is a super spreader and because of it, 150 kids were infected, like 25 teachers. It's a huge school. It's like 1,200 students. And they have brothers and sisters all around Jerusalem.

We had like 25 schools that were closed.

GOTKINE (voice-over): Soon after school reopened, it had to close again. Both students and staff went into quarantine. But it was almost certainly too late. About half of all Israeli coronavirus cases in June, as Israel's second wave began, could be traced to school outbreaks.

GABI BARBASH, FORMER CEO, TEL AVIV SOURASKY MEDICAL CENTER: I think Israel got too optimistic when it saw the numbers declining.

GOTKINE (voice-over): Professor Gabi Barbash is one of Israel's leading disease experts. He says plans to reopen schools after the summer are premature.

BARBASH: I think we are not ready for that. I think Israelis are clear seeing now 1,700 to 2,000 cases per day, new infections per day. It is impossible to open the education system by the 1st of September if that doesn't come down.

GOTKINE (voice-over): The government is having none of it.

YOAV GALANT, ISRAELI EDUCATION MINISTER (through translation): We are determined to start the school year in 25 days' time. I want to make it clear though, not everything will be perfect. With corona, it is not possible to permit a full study program for everybody.

GOTKINE (voice-over): The plan is for children up to grade two to attend school as usual. Grade three and above will see class sizes capped at 18 per room. And from grade five, learning will be split between school and home, with most of the teaching expected online. That, of course, assumes the plan goes ahead.

(on camera): Israel's dilemma is shared by many others. Reopen schools after the summer and risk another COVID surge or keep kids at home and risk harming their education and an already reeling economy. There is no easy solution.

(voice-over): An extended summer recess could yet be on the cards.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(on camera): To avoid that eventuality, they have already issued guidelines of what schools will need to do when they go back. And over the weekend, the coronavirus cabinet led by the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu renewing a number of restrictions, such as the closure of water parks and bars and (inaudible) and things like that.

[02:10:06]

A restriction on three people who don't live with each other in any motor vehicle for example, in order to try to bring the caseload down. Now, we heard in that report up to 2,000 cases per day. That has come down in the last couple of days to around about 600, but testing also goes down quite a lot over the weekend here so we'll have to wait and see if that is a trend and if Israel is regaining control over its coronavirus pandemic. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: All right, so many lessons for so many countries there. Elliott Gotkine in Tel Aviv, appreciate it.

Well, with many school districts around the U.S. still pushing to start in-person classes, the pressure is on to get better testing and a safe, effective vaccine. So, here to discuss this with me is Dr. Scott Miscovich in Hawaii. He is a national consultant for COVID-19 testing.

Thank you very much for joining us here. We really appreciate it. I want to start with the key issue for so many parents, reopening schools. I understand there has been a spike in cases in Hawaii in children. So, let's start with that. Tell me what you are seeing there?

SCOTT MISCOVICH, FAMILY PHYSICIAN: We're seeing the same thing, I think, across the country. I think a lot of people have felt like children are immuned from this disease or that they didn't have to consider the same types of, you know, mask wearing or social distancing. And we are seeing a very rapid rise in our children.

Fortunately, we haven't seen deaths or any major hospitalizations, but what the country needs to understand is that these children are spreading it. They're spreading it to adults. They're spreading it to grandparents.

The data is now very clear, Kim, that children do spread and transmit this. They can even spread it and transmit it two days earlier when they're asymptomatic. So, we are seeing a big spike and I'm worried about schools any way I look at it.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, that belief that children are immune expressed by President Trump, which obviously isn't true. So, tell me about how -- what you just said informs your views about whether it is safe to reopen schools especially given what we've seen from schools, like the ones that reopened.

Here in Georgia, we saw one with those picture of crowded hallways, then days later, the school now, you know, temporarily closed because of several coronavirus cases.

MISCOVICH: Yes. Kim, I am working as a consultant which I'm volunteering my time for many schools here in the state and many private schools. And it's every school is different. You know, first thing we all need to understand that coronavirus and ventilation go hand in hand. Indoor environment and ventilation. The size of the room.

Think about it. Think about across the country. How varied is this going to be where certain schools who have certain types of ventilation, certain ones will have open air ventilation, certain ones will have fans. That's the first thing. It's so variable.

The second thing as your clip before showed the children walking through the hall. If you do opening of schools, which I am consulting on, you should cohort the children, meaning, you should try to get maybe 10 children in one group that only go outside together or go out to another room together so that you're not mixing hundreds of children which would then cause like we saw in the school in Georgia where you have to shut it down because you just don't know who contacted whom.

So, anything we do to open schools, there has to be some degree of understanding. Small groups, small clusters. Use the outdoors if possible. Go outdoors. Go under a tree. Outdoors is a much safer environment.

And as I'm saying this, I'm sure people are nodding their heads to say, no one is talking about this. No one is really looking at a safe opening of schools, which should be done by, you know, really looking at the individual place and the individual students and location.

BRUNHUBER: All right. So, no blanket orders about opening them. So, I want to tap into your expertise in testing. You ran COVID testing sites, I want to ask you about that key issue. The administration has recently said that states have, you know, everything they need to do all of the tests they need. Is that true?

MISCOVICH: Testing in the United States right now is nothing short of a disaster. And it starts with the fact that in my national role as consulting, I'm dealing with laboratories across the country. We're still look at 7 to 10 days or more.

And you cannot effectively manage a pandemic when it takes 10 days to get a test back because by that time you notify that individual, they have usually spread it to so many different individuals and you cannot effectively quarantine them. You can't effectively contact trace.

The issue -- we have a big issue here in Hawaii, is testing goes hand in hand with contact tracing. You have to notify these people that they are positive. Effectively, it should be done in 24 to 48 hours. We are not getting that. So for anybody to say testing is great and our testing sites are great, it's not. We are -- testing is the biggest missing link in the United States right now to effectively manage this.

[02:14:56]

BRUNHUBER: And obviously, the rapid antigen tests that can get results in less than half an hour, you know, a lot of hope is being put on that to solve the backlog, but shortages are an issue as is accuracy.

We saw, you know, Ohio governor, Mike DeWine's recent conflicting, you know, positive negative tests. He told CNN, you know, that his case shouldn't be the reason for people to think that the test isn't reliable.

That is the same company that manufactures the test your site uses as well, if I'm not mistaken. How confident are you in these tests and what's the biggest challenge in scaling that up to really make a huge difference here?

MISCOVICH: Wow. This is a really big topic and it's a topic that has to do, right now, being pushed by supply and demand. Note that here in Hawaii and across the country, we still are recommending the deep nasopharyngeal PCR swab as the gold standard.

The antigen testing you're referring to is available in 15 minutes, but it's only accurate if you are shedding the antigen. Meaning, you should have cough congestion and have symptoms so that antigen is present. In the one machine, Quidel, it's 96.7 percent accurate. Very good. BD is the other company that made it. They're just starting to catch up.

Here's the problem. The federal government just bought out the stockpile. This private communities, hospitals, no one can get them anymore. So, there is a major supply and demand issue that most of us if we use antigen the right way, like today, I am still coming back dressed in my clothing from going on a drive where I had nearly 600 people.

I did 100 antigen test for the people we looked at, face to face, that were actively shedding. About 11 were positive. That's an effective use of it, but it's so hard to get the re-agents and supplies to do it. The country is back to where it started.

We do not have enough access to testing or texting equipment, but antigen is something we need to turn to in the future. And ultimately, what does a country need? Home devices, rapidly used, self- administered. There are about three companies that are doing it. That is going to be our big look that people who are leading testing efforts know will be the changing point for us.

BRUNHUBER: It's depressing to hear you say the country back to where it started. So much work clearly still to be done. Thank you for the work you are doing, Dr. Scott Miscovich. Thanks for joining us from Hawaii.

MISCOVICH: Thank you, Kim. Thanks for having me.

BRUNHUBER: Grief and outrage pours into Beirut streets. Protesters are demanding the ouster of the entire government following Tuesday's explosion and the enormity of the search for those who are still missing. Families' hopes are fading. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:20:00]

BRUNHUBER: (Inaudible) protesters. More than 150 people were killed in Tuesday's blast, another 6,000 were injured. Some 300,000 people are believed to be homeless. A number of people are still missing and hope is fading for relatives waiting for word on their loved ones. Arwa Damon has one family story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):

Michele hasn't slept in three days. Neither has her sister-in-law, with whom she shares the same name and a love for Joe, husband and brother. Michele struggles to form words and sentences in Arabic, never mind in English. Joe is an electrician at the port.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

And this is the last video she got from him on Tuesday night. Minutes later, the entire building he was filming would explode.

Jennifer, Joe and Michele's oldest child was in Beirut.

MICHELE ANDOUN, JOE'S SISTER: So she heard the explosion and she started crying and shouting. This is my dad's (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): It was live on TV. She said, "This is where my dad works!"

DAMON: Oh, she knew that's where her dad worked.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): She said, "Oh poor daddy. Oh poor mommy. Oh poor Joe."

DAMON (voice-over): The entire family was frantic, calling Joe nonstop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At night, Joe opens his phone for 21 seconds. The father heard voices, deep voices, that's what he said, and then nothing.

DAMON (voice-over): Another call also seemed to have gone through on Wednesday for 43 seconds, but there was silence on the other end. He must be alive, they thought. They had to get to him. Joe is strong, clever. He would have figured out a way to save himself. They combed through videos shot by others from other angles, looking for any clues to give teams locations to search.

Do you think that's Joe? You think one of those people is Joe?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are sure. And he was filming from here.

DAMON (voice-over): It's the building right in front of the green silo. A building that is now buried. But, they still had hope. There is an operations room deep underground. They heard there are bunkers. Three bodies were pulled out, but no Joe. Maybe he is deeper in, deeper under, and somehow still alive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to keep searching.

DAMON: Michele was born in the U.S. The children also have American passports. Joe was just about to get his visa. All that now seems like a different reality.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He loved life in every detail. He wanted to go to America because it's better for his -- for Jennifer with joy for their future, but not for him.

DAMON (voice-over): The women are trying to shield the children from their grief.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): My shoes smelled bad so they washed me.

[02:25:00]

DAMON (voice-over): Jennifer doesn't know daddy is missing. Joy is thankfully too young to fully understand. Maybe they will never have to tell the girls their daddy is dead.

That night, the fourth after the explosion, crews were searching around the clock, searching the area where the family believed Joe would be found. Clinging to the hope that he would still somehow be alive. At 4:00 a.m., they sent us a heartbroken message. Joe's body had been found.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Well, Arwa Damon joins us now from Beirut. Arwa, that story heartbreaking, the children and all of that hope cruelly dashed. And obviously, there are so many families in the same situation. Finding -- identifying the victims, such a huge challenge especially since there were so many foreign workers in the area. What more can you tell us?

DAMON (on camera): Yes, it's extremely difficult and there are still a number of people who have yet to be identified. There are a small number who, at this stage, do still remain missing. And, you know, the efforts are obviously still ongoing, but this has very much shifted from, you know, a rescue operation to one really, right now, of recovery and cleanup.

And, you know, when it comes to the impact of this, the Lebanese are very used to soldiering on through pain and destruction. Decades of war, followed by targeted assassinations, you know, massive explosions that tore through Beirut, running street battles.

But this, this is different because for a country that has suffered so much, to then have to go through this because of political neglect and corruption, it's really magnified everybody's pain. It's magnified the pain of loss. It's magnified the pain of seeing, you know, places and areas and people you love injured and destroyed.

And so that's why you're seeing such anger out on the streets. And that's also why there is such a call, you know, for an international effort on the humanitarian front, but also on the political front, potentially, as well.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. As you say, that sense of rage and fury at politicians, you know, not going away. We saw some visuals of the protests, not quite on the scale that we saw last night, but what more can you tell us about the protests?

DAMON: There is a lot of anger on the streets. Look, you know, two nights in a row, angry demonstrators were trying to storm into government buildings. On Saturday night, they had actually briefly taken over some ministries, you know, last night.

On a smaller scale, yes, but still that same level of anger being expressed and we do expect this to escalate as the day goes on because people have been pushed to such a point that they no longer have the patience or the tolerance to give their political elite time.

They want to see change. Even though the kind of change that they want will not be happening overnight, they still want to see significant steps in that direction because the status quo, this is no longer acceptable. People cannot tolerate it at this stage.

They can barely, because of the economic crisis, afford to put food on the table. And they've been driven, you know, to the absolute brink already, prior to this explosion, of what many were warning was a humanitarian crisis.

And now on top of all of that, to have to go through this, well they know their politicians, by and large, are lining their own pockets? It just commits too much for them to be able to tolerate and accept any longer.

BRUNHUBER: And those ambulance sirens, adding poignancy to what you are saying there. Thank you so much for the great reporting from Beirut. Arwa Damon, we appreciate it.

Well, pledges are pouring in from around the world to help Beirut overcome this disaster. Nearly $300 million has been raised through virtual donor's conference hosted by French president, Emmanuel Macron. The money will help pay for needs including medicine, shelter, food, and schools.

No strings are attached to that humanitarian aid, but donor say they want to make Lebanon make progress on reforms and against corruption before they commit more money for long term needs.

President Trump, going it alone with his virus relief plan. And now, taking a premature victory lap, but he's leaving the door open to further negotiations with Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[02:29:59]

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If it's not a waste of time, we'll do it. But if it is a waste of time, it doesn't make sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, millions of Americans whose emergency benefits ran out are facing a new week, worried about making rent payments or putting food on the table. On Saturday, President Trump signed four executive actions trying to take matters into his own hands. Now, this after talks between Republicans and Democrats on a new relief plans stalled. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says he's open to more negotiations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN MNUCHIN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: I told the Speaker and Senator Schumer, anytime they have a new proposal, I'm willing to listen. But let me just say you're right. We agreed with the Democrats. We both want to send more checks to the American workers. We want to send more PPP to those hardest-hit businesses. We've said, let's pass legislation on the things we agree on, and knock these off one at a time, and they've refused to do that until they get their trillion dollars for the states.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Now, Democrats were actually pushing a $3 trillion bill that offered to come down to 1 trillion. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the President's executive actions don't go far enough and shouldn't have been signed in the first place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Whether they're legal or not, takes time to figure out. I associate myself remarks with Senator Sasse who says they're unconstitutional slop. My constitutional advisors tell me they're absurdly unconstitutional.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: President Trump's virus relief package also has red tape and strings attached. Jeremy Diamond explains.

[02:35:06]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the President has been facing criticism since he signed those executive actions on Saturday to bypass those stalled negotiations with Congress over coronavirus relief. The Republican Senator Ben Sasse calling this "unconstitutional slop". House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slamming this as absurdly unconstitutional, but the president for his part on Sunday, as he was returning from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, he was taking quite a victory lap.

TRUMP: I think it actually works better if we do it the way we're doing it. We've got much of what we've wanted without having to give up anything, and that's very good. You can't beat that. You can't beat the deal we've made. We've gotten much of what we wanted, and they didn't get what they wanted.

DIAMOND: The President on Sunday also answering questions about those enhanced unemployment benefits that he signed in an executive action on Saturday. According to that executive action, $400 per week would go to unemployed Americans, $300 of which would come from the federal government, but that is only contingent on states agreeing to administer this program and also agreeing to pony up that $100 per person to bring it to a total of $400. But the President on Sunday, suggesting that there could be a situation where the federal government would pick up 100 percent of the cost, not clear if that would be on the 300 or on the 400. But the President is suggesting that if certain governors make that request of him, that that is indeed something that he would consider approving, but of course, the devil is in the details. And we have yet to actually see those details from the White House. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: All right. Eleni Giokos has been closely following the stimulus negotiations and she's with us from Joburg. So, let's start with the unemployment benefits piece of this. The way White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow explained it seems useful to think of it as kind of backwards as a huge top-up for a state unemployment, so only if the states contributes an extra $100 a week per person, then the federal government will contribute that extra 300.

But as Kudlow admitted to our Dana Bash, the administration didn't actually check with any of the states to see if they're on board, which seems like a crucial oversight. And that's not even taking into account the question of whether some of the moves are constitutional. I apologize for taking up all of your segment here with my enormous question, but take us through some of the challenges here.

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, you're just -- you're absolutely phrased it perfectly because there are so many vital questions here. You've got states that are paying the normal and insurance, you know, to unemployed Americans. Millions of Americans benefiting constantly, whether it's during times of pandemic or not, and then you had the enhanced benefits, which saw an extra $600 a week in the pockets of Americans.

Now, we know Republicans have always wanted to scale this back saying it's been a disincentive to get back to work. Now, the executive order by President Trump saying let's get that down to $400 a week. Now, who's going to flip that boat? It's a really important question. Where is that money going to come from? Now, usually, the $600 a week is federal money. And now, they say, well, the states actually need to start funding 25 percent of that. Now, cash-strapped states are going to have a problem in reallocating budgets.

But it's interesting, Larry Kudlow with Dana Bash over the weekend had a really interesting exchange and even he was trying to explain where the money would be sourced. Again, the details here are very vague. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LARRY KUDLOW, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: And I think

it's going to come to about $1200 per person. That's a huge wage increase.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You keep saying $1200 per person. Are you talking about in addition to the unemployment that they're already getting? Where does that number come from?

KUDLOW: Oh, no, that's the payroll -- that -- I beg your pardon. The $1200 dollars will come from the payroll tax. It should be 800 bucks, I beg your pardon. It should be 800 bucks for the unemployment.

BASH: 800 or 400?

KUDLOW: No, it should be four -- it should be $800. If the states step up, we're prepared to match. That should be come out $400 federal, $400 states.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: Yes, I mean, and this is what's really fascinating here is just where the money is going to come from. Is it -- you know, what is the split going to be between states and federal money? These details are going to be really important. In the meantime, you've got vulnerable Americans, so many people that have seen expiration of this benefit at the end of July and, of course, eviction protection also.

BRUNHUBER: I think we've lost Eleni Giokos's signal there, but -- yes, we'll have to move on. But coming up, Hong Kong makes its biggest arrest under the new national security law. Details on the serious accusations this media tycoon is facing. We'll have that coming up next.

[02:40:08]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Protests are erupting across Belarus after what appears to be a landslide victory by the incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko.

You can see thousands of people took to the streets in the capital city of Minsk and elsewhere around the country. The opposition candidate and political observers both say the numbers have been blatantly falsified. So, let's see how Europe is reacting to those scenes in Belarus. Frederik Pleitgen is standing by in Berlin. As we saw there, lots of anger. Tell us more about the protests and the heavy police response.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kim. Well, they really are pretty much unprecedented protests that have been going on in Belarus overnight. It really started as the polls closed there, and the first exit polls came out with, as you noted, allegedly showing that Alexander Lukashenko, who had been in power for 26 years, had won a landslide victory. He was somewhere above or below 80 percent according to those official exit polls. Of course, the opposition says they don't believe that that's the case.

The woman who's his main challenger in all of this, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. She says she does not believe that these results are true. The opposition believes that they are actually the ones who won this election. And certainly, look, if you look at the run-up to that election, you could see that they were drawing very, very large crowds. There's a lot of people inside Belarus were clearly vying for change, who wanted change, and who continue to want change. And that anger unloaded on the streets of Minsk and other cities as well.

Now, what we've been gauging and looking at when you see the pictures of the protests, it did look as though those protests were largely peaceful and that security forces then tried to arrest people, and that's when things got out of hand and got out of control. One of the things that was also seen as the vote was actually still going on was that the military was also being drawn around Minsk. So, certainly, some of those riot control forces seem to be from the Belarusian military as well.

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So, certainly, a very, very difficult situation there in Belarus right now. The opposition, at this point in time, not saying that they are going to recognize these results. And so, right now, it really is going to be very interesting to see where all of this goes. Certainly, right now, it seems as though Belarus is in a place where it hasn't been in the past 26 years with the rule of Alexander Lukashenko. It certainly looks like this is the first real challenge that he's had. And there are certainly a lot of people, as we can see from the folks that turned out there on the streets, who simply say they don't believe that the results that came down from this election are correct, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: And those results, we can bring you at least what the Central Election Commission in Belarus is announcing. The preliminary result show the President won reelection with 80 percent of the vote. You know, the results never really in doubt, I suppose. The President will presumably begin his sixth term. But, you know, as you've said, this is the biggest outpouring of dissent in more than a quarter century. Even though he -- this has been a real challenge to him, will this bring any real change at all?

PLEITGEN: Well, it certainly looks as though right now that it possibly could. I mean, you're absolutely right. It seems as though Alexander Lukashenko is basically trying to brush this off and move on the way that he has before saying that he won this landslide victory. But if you look at what's going on in the streets, or what went on in the streets last night, in places like Minsk and some of the things that we heard from other towns, as well, it looks like that is not going to be the same as it may be was during past elections.

There certainly are a lot of people who say that the country can't go on the way that it has before. Obviously, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is the most potent challenger that he has ever faced. And whether or not stability is going to return to Belarus and whether or not Alexander Lukashenko is going to be able to rule the way he has before, certainly the next -- I would say this next week is really going to show whether or not that's the case. Certainly, international reactions are going to be very interesting to see in all of that, as well. Not the least of which, of course, is going to be Russia's reaction to that also. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll be watching. Thanks for your analysis. Fred Pleitgen in Berlin. Appreciate it.

In Hong Kong, police have made one of the highest profile arrests under the controversial National Security Law. Media mogul and democracy proponent Jimmy Lai has been taken into custody on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces. Police say they've arrested six other people when they've raided the offices of Lai's newspaper. So, for more, we'll go to CNN's Will Ripley in Hong Kong. A very high- profile media mogul arrest of police swarming a newsroom. The message to the media seems very clear and unequivocal. I imagine this is what many people feared when that new National Security Law was passed.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly, a lot of news organizations are watching very closely what has been unfolding over the last few hours, Kim, in the newsroom of Apple Daily, which is owned by Hong Kong billionaire Jimmy Lai, one of the few wealthy elite in this city, who has been very vocal in his criticism, public criticism of the pro-Beijing local government and also the mainland government, which imposed a National Security Law on this city less than two months ago. And yet, already we have seen, you know, a number of pro-democracy candidates disqualified because their political views conflict with the law, which is, you know, Mainland China says it's supposed to protect national security, but critics of the law say that it will essentially stifle freedom of speech and expression here.

And we've seen at the very few protests that actually have erupted since this law was passed. Because essentially, when you combine the pandemic with this national security law, most people are not going out in the streets, not taking that risk. But, you know, the signs that people were caring that last year would have caused no problem signs promoting Hong Kong or Taiwan independence, for example, can now land people in prison for a number of years. Sentences are stiff, you know, three years, 10 years, sometimes even life in prison for grave offenses.

So, to see police now in a newsroom, arresting the owner of a newspaper that for more than 20 years has been a vocal and fierce critic of China and has been a big supporter of the pro-democracy and anti-government protest movement, to see the police there now interviewing reporters, gathering evidence, and of course, you know, Jimmy Lai himself potentially facing years in prison and maybe even a trial in Mainland China. It's certainly -- is very concerning. The Hong Kong Journalists Association called it scary. They said this type of scene has never been witnessed here in Hong Kong, a city that unlike the rest of China, has long enjoyed a free press, but apparently not anymore.

BRUNHUBER: A changed city. All right, thank you so much, Will Ripley, in Hong Kong. Appreciate it. Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, a rare success story in the coronavirus pandemic. So, what did New Zealand do right, and can the country keep it going?

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BRUNHUBER: Parts of South Korea are on alert for a tropical storm to hit in the upcoming hours. Jangmi will likely bring massive amounts of rain to regions still recovering from torrential downpours. Officials say at least 31 people have died over the last nine days from floods and landslides. Nearly 7,000 have been evacuated and more than 3400 are living in shelters.

Meanwhile, in Brazil fires are surging in parts of the Amazon. For days flames have burned through trees, sending plumes of smoke high into the air, as you can see there. Officials say the fires are spreading faster than they did last year. President Jair Bolsonaro has deployed the military after pressure from foreign governments and investors.

Well, thanks to strict lockdown measures and other preventative steps, New Zealand has made it over 100 days without a single locally transmitted case of the coronavirus. Now, the country is one of the safest places in the world from the pandemic. CNN's Michael Holmes reports.

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A photo op at a grocery store, chatting with shoppers, playing with a baby. It is the picture of success for New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who kicked off her reelection campaign on Saturday, and a day later, marked 100 days without recording a single locally transmitted case of Coronavirus.

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a rare accomplishment in a world struggling to contain infection rates. But one Ardern says she won't take for granted.

JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Actually 100 days doesn't change anything for New Zealand. It doesn't make it any less likely. We are still having to, of course, manage our borders very, very carefully.

HOLMES: Which is something New Zealand has done from the start. The country had its first confirmed case on February 28th, and moved quickly to stop the spread.

ARDERN: We must go hard and we must go early. We must do everything we can to protect the health of New Zealanders.

HOLMES: Within weeks New Zealand closed its borders, imposed a nationwide lockdown, and began a rigorous system of testing and contact tracing. That kept the number of countries cases to just over 1500, and a death toll of 22. Though some critics say the virus was easier to contain here since it is a remote island nation and has a population of just 5 million. The problem now for New Zealand is to prevent a flare up, which countries like Vietnam and Australia are facing.

In the Australian state of Victoria, the capital Melbourne, is on lockdown after a second wave of the virus and reported 17 deaths on Sunday. Officials say some people are not obeying the quarantine.

DANIEL ANDREWS, PREMIER OF VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA: These rules are there for all of us, and no Victorian has the right to be able to say, oh, well, I think I can do something that no one else is allowed to do. You've got to follow these rules.

HOLMES: Rules which have so far worked in New Zealand, where almost all restrictions, have now been lifted for Coronavirus. Michael Holmes, CNN.

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BRUNHUBER: Well, thank you very much for spending your time with me. I'm Kim Brunhuber. NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church is up next. Please stay with CNN.

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