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Report: Trump Called Killed U.S. Soldiers "Suckers" and "Losers"; U.S. Death Toll Projected to Reach 410K by January; Trump Campaigning on "Law and Order" Message; Video of Black Man Who Died after Arrest Sparks Protests; COVID-19 "Long Haulers" Reporting Prolonged Symptoms; Russia's Track Record for Producing Vaccines; Search Suspended for Missing Livestock Cargo Ship, Survivors; Search Resumes for Beirut Survivors. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired September 05, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. And coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM:
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RICHARD HORTON, "THE LANCET": What we can say is that this new Russian vaccine, the results are encouraging but it would be premature, highly premature, to think that this is the basis for a successful vaccine.
HOLMES (voice-over): Russia's coronavirus vaccine showing promising results.
But how encouraged should we be?
Also, Trump on the defensive, from attacking a damning report about his possible disparaging remarks to attacking a previous top military official in his cabinet.
And rounding what corner? Trump touts the U.S. is almost in the clear when it comes to the deadly pandemic but a new model predicts the country is death toll could top 410,000 by the end of the year.
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HOLMES: Welcome, everyone.
Let's start with that bombshell story in "The Atlantic" magazine that has triggered a flood of outrage and denial. President Trump pushing back hard on claims that he made insulting comments about U.S. troops and that he chose to skip an overseas ceremony in 2018 honoring America's war dead.
Now on Friday, Mr. Trump suggested his former chief of staff, John Kelly, could have been behind at least one of the reports although Trump didn't accuse Kelly outright. But he did say that the retired Marine general was unfit for the job, as Trump's top aide.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know John Kelly. He was with me, didn't do a good job, had no temperament. And ultimately he was petered out. He got -- he was exhausted. This man was totally exhausted. He wasn't even able to function in the last number of months.
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HOLMES: Well, John Kelly's son was also a Marine and was killed in Afghanistan. Mr. Trump's opponent in the November election responded on Friday to all of this. Joe Biden saying that, because of Trump's well documented attacks on the late John McCain's service in Vietnam, he believes the report to be true and horrifying.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: If it's true, and based on the things he's said, I believe the article is true, I would ask you all the rhetorical question, how do you feel?
How would you feel if you had a kid in Afghanistan right now?
How would you feel if you lost a son or daughter, husband, wife, how would you feel, for real?
I've probably -- I've just never been as disappointed in my whole career with a leader that I've worked with, president or otherwise.
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HOLMES: Friday, the first lady also weighing in, Melania Trump tweeting out that "The Atlantic" story is untrue and calling it activism rather than journalism.
Now several current and former White House staffers also say the story isn't true. But it is a story that is rattling American politics with less than two months to go until the presidential election. CNN's Kaitlan Collins takes a deeper dive into the details, the denials and the denunciations.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, President Trump is forcefully denying a report that he referred to fallen soldiers as "losers and suckers" and questioned why anyone would volunteer to serve in the military.
TRUMP: It was a totally fake story. And that was confirmed by many people who were actually there.
COLLINS (voice-over): His defense in the Oval Office today comes after he angrily denied the report last night while shouting over the engines of Air Force One. TRUMP: For somebody to say the things that they say I said is a total
lie. It's fake news. It's a disgrace.
COLLINS (voice-over): Citing four unnamed sources, "The Atlantic" claims that Trump canceled a planned visit to a Paris cemetery where American soldiers killed in World War I are buried because he didn't care about honoring the war dead, asking senior staff, "Why should I go to that cemetery?
It's filled with losers."
Trump insisted the trip was scrapped because of weather.
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TRUMP: The helicopter could not fly. The reason it couldn't fly because it was raining about as hard as I've ever seen. And on top of that, it was very, very foggy.
COLLINS (voice-over): The president said he called his wife, Melania, to express his displeasure about not being able to attend, though the first lady was on the trip with him.
The article also claims that, when John McCain died, Trump said, quote, "We're not going to support that loser's funeral," and demanded to know why they had lowered the flags for "an effing loser."
Trump denied that claim Thursday night.
TRUMP: I disagreed with John McCain but I still respected him. And I had to approve his funeral as president.
COLLINS (voice-over): But the president did not acknowledge that it took him two days to lower the flags after McCain died or how he attacked him publicly for years.
TRUMP: He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, OK.
COLLINS (voice-over): "The Atlantic" report also claims Trump asked staff not to include wounded veterans at an event because he feared people would feel uncomfortable, reportedly saying, quote, "Nobody wants to see that."
The pushback from Trump's allies has been sharp and several aides who traveled with him to Paris said it isn't true, including his former press secretary and other top staffers.
BIDEN: It is absolutely damnable. It is a disgrace.
COLLINS (voice-over): Earlier today, an angry Joe Biden denounced President Trump over the reported comments.
BIDEN: If these statements are true, the president should humbly apologize to every Gold Star mother and father and every Blue Star family that he's denigrated and insulted. Who the heck does he think he is?
COLLINS (voice-over): Biden's son, Beau, served in Iraq.
BIDEN: Won the Bronze Star and other commendations. He wasn't a sucker.
COLLINS (voice-over): And at times today he became emotional.
BIDEN: If it's true, and based on the things he said, I believe the article's true, I'd ask you all the rhetorical question, how do you feel?
How would you feel if you had a kid in Afghanistan right now?
COLLINS (voice-over): During a rally at an airport hangar in Pennsylvania last night, the president mocked Biden for wearing a mask so often.
TRUMP: Did you ever see a man that likes a mask as much as him?
COLLINS (voice-over): Biden responded today.
BIDEN: It's hard to respond to something so idiotic.
COLLINS: The president later held a press briefing where he once again denied these reports but singled out John Kelly, his former chief of staff, who was on that trip with the president to Paris in November of 2018 and has not weighed in on the story, whether to confirm it or deny it.
The president though took that opportunity to attack John Kelly and disparage him, as he is being accused of disparaging members of the military, current and former.
The president went after John Kelly, saying he was not up to the task of being chief of staff and that he was exhausted and could not handle the pressures of the job, even though John Kelly is a retired four- star Marine general, led Southern Command and had a son who died in Afghanistan.
The president said, despite those credentials, he could not live up to the pressure of working in his West Wing -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
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HOLMES: The U.S. is reporting by far the most COVID 19 cases worldwide, still. And a new model says it's about to get much worse.
Now this was published by the University of Washington and it says there could be more than 410,000 coronavirus deaths across the U.S. by January 31st. As of right now, almost 190,000 people have died. Even with such chilling numbers, the White House, though, inexplicably painting a rosy picture of the pandemic. Have a listen to this.
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TRUMP: By the way, we're rounding the corner. We are rounding the corner on the virus. Hospitalizations and deaths have continued to decline over the past week or substantially decline.
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HOLMES: CNN's Jim Acosta asked the country's top coronavirus expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, what President Trump could possibly have meant when he says, as you heard there, that the U.S. was rounding the corner on the virus.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: What do you make of that characterization?
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: You know, I'm not sure what he means.
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HOLMES: Now Dr. Fauci went on to say that experts are actually concerned by a number of states, including Montana, Michigan, Minnesota and the Dakotas, where the virus is spreading. CNN's Nick Watt is following this story for us.
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NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is COVID fatigue across the country, including Pennsylvania Avenue.
TRUMP: We are rounding the curve.
WATT (voice-over): But the worst could still be to come. Another 220,000-plus Americans could be killed by this virus by January 1st, according to one well-known model, which ominously has underestimated death tolls in the past.
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WATT (voice-over): They now say 410,000 total by the end of the year.
DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, EPIDEMIOLOGIST AND HEALTH EXPERT: They also tell us that from that 410,000 number, if we were to ease our behaviors, that number goes up to nearly 620,000 deaths.
WATT (voice-over): But if masks were mandated across the country, they say we could save more than 120,000 lives. Yet the president won't mandate them, neither will Georgia's governor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I personally don't believe the statewide mask mandate is the way to go.
WATT (voice-over): Or Missouri's governor. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We implore him to listen to the health care
workers in the state of Missouri and order a statewide mask mandate.
We are the Show Me State but we are really, what would be a better name for us is the Make Me State.
WATT (voice-over): Now our immediate hurdle, the long Labor Day weekend, the stay safe message targeted at the young.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of us, when we were your age, thought we were invincible. You can't pass this on.
WATT (voice-over): And you can get very sick; 31-year-old Jenny Ruelas caught coverage, lost her father to the virus.
JENNY RUELAS, DAUGHTER OF COVID-19 VICTIM: He was in a lot of pain. And that's the face I will never forget.
WATT (voice-over): She no longer tests positive but still struggles to breathe.
RUELAS: I have to walk around with an oxygen can.
WATT: Here in the U.S., young people clearly a big issue. The state of Missouri saying 30 percent of their new cases are in the age group 18 to 24.
Up in Boston, Northeastern University just suspended 11 students for allegedly gathering together in a hotel room.
And over on this side of the country, San Diego State just suspended all in-person teaching immediately after another 120 confirmed cases -- Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
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HOLMES: And we will get more on the impacts the coronavirus has on those who have recovered with Dr. Dayna McCarthy, who treats long hauler patients at Mt. Sinai Hospital. We are going to have that a little later in the newscast. Do stick around. We are going to take a quick break.
When we come back, President Trump's law and order message in the face of protests across the country. Will that message help get him reelected?
Polls suggest he might need to rethink its approach. Also, a man shot 7 times in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, makes a court appearance from his hospital bed. The details on his case, which is unrelated to the shooting, just ahead.
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HOLMES: Less than two months now until the election here in the United States. A presidential race being run under the shadows of a health crisis, economic crisis and a social crisis.
And we are seeing a stark difference on how President Trump and his opponent, Joe Biden, approach race relations. Earlier this week, Trump responded to the protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after police shot a Black man, Jacob Blake, several times in the back. Have a listen.
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TRUMP: Kenosha has been ravaged by anti-police and anti-American riots. They have been hit so hard. Violent mobs demolished or damaged at least 25 businesses, burned down public buildings and threw bricks at police officers, which police officers won't stand for and they didn't stand for it.
These are not acts of peaceful protest but really domestic terror.
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HOLMES: Well, the president's message obviously focused on law and order, more than that on social justice. And it appears his messages are resonating. A new CNN poll found more than half of respondents think Trump's response to the protest has been harmful. Many protests have been peaceful, the vast majority, in fact.
But there has been violence, as we have seen, and the polls are reflecting that. Violence in cities like Kenosha, Portland and Minneapolis has put a dent in public support for the Black Lives Matter movement. But still, 51 percent of respondents in that CNN poll still hold a favorable view; 38 percent do not.
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HOLMES: Joining me now is Paul Sracic. He's chairman of the Department of Politics and International Relations at Youngstown State University.
Professor, appreciate your time. I want to talk about the president, clearly, counting on law and order messaging as a major pillar of the campaign. Polling would suggest his effort is to reframe the race around that isn't working.
I'm curious, what is your take is on whether that has legs as a political strategy?
PAUL SRACIC, YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY: I think it might and I don't think we're quite sure yet whether it isn't working. It's kind of early in this, voters are just starting to pay attention.
And this is clearly a theme. I think it's in the background. I think you have the reactions of former vice president Biden, going off to Kenosha, showing that the Democrats are a little bit worried about this going in, that this could become an issue Trump can use to move some swing voters into his camp.
HOLMES: It is hard to remember another presidency that's been more chaotic, if we can put it that way. Why do you think politically his supporters are so loyal? What is it that makes them ignore the chaos of the presidency and see positives?
SRACIC: I think some of them want the chaos. Remember, Trump ran as a disruptor, in 2016. As a bit of a bomb thrower. He appealed to voters who thought that the system as it was, was not dealing them a winning hand and they wanted to shuffle the deck.
And electing Donald Trump was the ultimate shuffling of the deck. They wanted that disruption. But the question becomes, in 2020, do they want those same disruptions?
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SRACIC: Or are things like COVID or the disruption we see in the streets, is that not what they bargained for in 2016?
HOLMES: It's important to say the vast majority of protests have been peaceful but of course, as we all know, some have not. There's been polling which shows public support for Black Lives Matter has waned in the wake of the violence happening in some places.
Is Joe Biden doing enough to counter that narrative, that things will, somehow, be worse under him?
SRACIC: He is actually in a difficult position. This is Donald Trump, playing to his base. Biden also has to play to his base. If you go back, we've already kind of forgotten about the primaries, but it was a divisive primary in the Democratic Party between the progressive wing led by Bernie Sanders and the more moderate traditional wing with Joe Biden. So, clearly, the Black Lives Matter movement is very near and dear to
the progressive side of the party. So yes, be careful not to distance themselves from Black Lives Matter as he wants to distance himself from the violence in the streets.
HOLMES: You mentioned the coronavirus, I guess one problem the president has is the coronavirus. It is one problem where he cannot control the narrative. It does what it does and it's difficult to massage the numbers.
How much of a hurdle politically is COVID-19?
SRACIC: It's a big hurdle. In part, because it scares older voters. Those older voters, traditionally vote Republican and they supported Donald Trump very strongly in 2016.
The danger is, because -- if they think that the Trump administration has mishandled coronavirus, it's putting them at risk, that's not the disruption they wanted in 2016. So that's why Trump has to deal with that. You see at his press conference today, where he talks about what he's done, what the administration has done, all the testing they're doing. So he can't just ignore that issue.
HOLMES: What do you see happening in the next 60 days?
SRACIC: There's still a lot of events, a lot of campaigning to go on. We've been kind of frozen. Everything's been slowed down by this coronavirus. We're not seeing the rallies; we're seeing those a little bit. All the commercials aren't out yet. The big event coming up is at the end of the month in Ohio, the debates, where we see Biden and Trump go head to head.
This year, I don't think normally the debates matter that much but this year they could matter a great deal and, perhaps, swing the election enough. Even though Biden is ahead, he's not ahead that far in the all-important swing states and that is what matters.
We learned in 2016 got to win those swing states to win the Electoral College.
HOLMES: Very good point. Paul Sracic, thanks so much, appreciate it.
SRACIC: Thank you.
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HOLMES: A Black man, shot seven times in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, made his first court appearance on Friday.
The charges against Jacob Blake are unrelated to the police shooting incident, which left him paralyzed in the hospital. CNN crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz has details for us from Kenosha, Wisconsin.
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SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE PRODUCER: We got our first look at Jacob Blake since the shooting, since video of him being shot in the back by police.
This was during a court appearance from his previous domestic incident case. He appeared from his hospital bed, dressed in a shirt and tie. It was a short briefing that was held before a judge, here in Kenosha County.
That case was adjourned and he's due back in court in September. This is all, as we await more information from investigators here. State investigators were still looking into the shooting and the circumstances surrounding the decision.
The state investigators have up to 30 days to reach their conclusions and then those findings are given to the district attorney, who will ultimately decide if any of the officers will face charges -- Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, Kenosha, Wisconsin.
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HOLMES: In Rochester, New York, on Friday, another face-off between protesters and police. This after video was released this week, showing the arrest there in March of Daniel Prude, a Black man, who later died in police custody.
Protesters could be heard shouting, "Black Lives Matter," police ordering them to disperse and saying they were involved in an unlawful assembly. CNN's Polo Sandoval with more on this case and warning that his report does contain graphic video.
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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We now know more about what led up to the death of Daniel Prude earlier this year. His brother, Joe Prude, telling me that he was the one who initially called for police assistance on March 23rd. When he told officers his brother was experiencing a mental health episode, that he was suicidal, hallucinating and high on PCP, that he took his brother back to his home.
And that is when he left that house. That's what the body camera video that's been shared by the Prude family picked things up here, warning the video certainly not easy to watch.
But in these images you can see the 41-year-old Chicago man, he's naked, agitated, distraught and spitting, according to police. In fact, one officer wrote in his report that the 41-year-old man claimed he was infected with the COVID virus.
So about three minutes into the video, officers using mesh, a so- called spit sock, to keep him from spitting on the officers. Shortly thereafter, that is when Prude is then restrained, his head held down.
And about 11 minutes after the first officer arrived on scene, that is when Prude appears to be unresponsive. He's loaded onto an ambulance, taken to a nearby hospital where he dies days later, an autopsy report ruling that he died of suffocation, excited delirium and an acute PCP intoxication.
Since then, his family has been searching for answers, mainly to the question of why it has taken months to finally get their hands on this bodycam video.
Then on Friday, Rochester authorities basically doubling down with their claim that they were contacted by the New York State attorney general's office, asking that they withhold any information and to keep any materials, including that body camera video, from being released, saying it would potentially jeopardize the integrity of that AG's investigation that is ongoing.
Then on Friday, a spokesperson for the attorney general's office said that at no point did they ask the city to withhold any information and said they were actually free to conduct an investigation of their own. We did hear from the president of the Rochester police union,
defending the actions of this officer by saying he had seen this video and he absolutely believes that at this point, based on what he saw there, the officers followed their training word for word.
But at the same time, it seems there is an agreement here among many people in the community, including the union, members of the community and even the mayor of the city that, perhaps, that training actually needs a closer look whenever officers are responding to these kinds of calls -- Polo Sandoval, CNN, Rochester, New York.
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HOLMES: Portland police are confirming that they were trying to arrest Michael Reinoehl on second degree murder charges on Thursday night when he was killed in what they call -- was a confrontation with U.S. Marshals.
They say Reinoehl was wanted in the shooting death of Aaron Jay Danielson during a protest in Portland last week. The U.S. attorney general calling Reinoehl a, quote, " violent agitator," and said the streets were safer without him.
Pictures here from surveillance video taken shortly before the shooting of Danielson show him and another man, walking along the sidewalk, Reinoehl seems to conceal himself around the side of a building as they pass.
The two men were on opposite sides of the political divide and the protests.
Now we often hear about people recovering from COVID-19 but also about people with long-term symptoms months, after they were infected and, supposedly, recovered. After the break, what we should all be paying closer attention to this.
Also, Russia's PR campaign for its coronavirus vaccine, getting a boost from a major medical journal. We will have the latest, from Moscow. Be right back.
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HOLMES: Welcome back. I'm Michael Holmes, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I appreciate your company.
The coronavirus mortality rates do not tell the whole story. Far from it. Even though they may seem low in certain countries, it does not mean there are not serious long-term effects from the virus that we are just starting to learn about. Thousands of people, around the world, say they are dealing with
ongoing symptoms. Months after being diagnosed with COVID-19. They call themselves COVID long haulers. Some of the symptoms they describe include breathlessness, memory loss, extreme fatigue, ongoing headaches, brain fog, muscle pain and swelling joints.
Dr. Dayna McCarthy, treats long hauler patients at Mt. Sinai Hospital, joining me from New York.
Great to talk to you, Doctor. Growing attention is being paid to the issue of long haulers, give us a sense of what people are going through.
DR. DAYNA MCCARTHY, MT. SINAI HOSPITAL: There is a complex of symptoms that have, overwhelmingly in, it fatigue is one of them.
Second, would be this kind of heart rate variability. There are differences in heart rate when they go from either lying down, to standing up. Anytime they try to exert themselves, they feel like they have intolerance to that.
It seems as if, I would say, the -- before illness, they had an energy window, that might have been this big, now after that the window is considerably smaller. So their tolerance for cognitive (ph) exertion or physical exertion becomes much less and when they push past that balance, they become symptomatic.
And that could be blood pressure changes, headaches, this feeling of fogginess, inability to concentrate, memory loss, anything to feeling sick again, sore throats, feeling like you have fever even though you don't.
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HOLMES: It goes on for a long while in many cases. I think the CDC studied them, 35 percent of those who tested positive had symptoms 2 to 3 weeks later. I've heard people, 2 to 3 months later.
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MCCARTHY: Even longer. Our patients, in New York, we were at the peak of acute illness in March and I'm treating patients out this far who are still very symptomatic. These are individuals who can't even work and have been out on disability or are fighting to be out on disability.
HOLMES: It really is so worrying. The issue is that the new virus, the learning curve is still developing. We don't know what the future will hold.
What worries you the most?
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HOLMES: How concerned are you that we will see this as an ongoing public health issue? MCCARTHY: Absolutely. That was, for me, one of the biggest frustrations. We have been I would say fortunate to have identified this pretty early on based on some measures that we had taken as Mt. Sinai as a health system.
We had this remote monitoring program for patients with acute illness and we continue to follow them throughout so we had this heads up. The issue is, again, because it is so debilitating, it is one thing I want people to understand.
The age range of patients that were suffering from this was 20 to 40- 50s. These are people who beforehand were relatively healthy and didn't have major illnesses or comorbidities and are now absolutely, their lives have been turned upside down.
HOLMES: I'm curious, your take on the emotional toll. There's some pretty big support groups out there. I think one Facebook group has 100,000 members. But I can imagine these people feel helpless, worried about the road ahead and mostly, let alone, physically.
MCCARTHY: Yes, how could they not? When, in our history, has there ever been a time where you've gotten ill and are unable to seek out of position for help?
You've been told to stay at home, to isolate, to not talk to anybody. So that, in and of itself, is it anxiety ridden. Afterwards, you are just presumed to have gotten better. So now you keep feeling these extreme symptoms and all of these -- so many of these patients have gone to see so many different specialists.
They've been in and out of the emergency department or the A&E. And all of the workup has come back negative. So because we don't know -- and that's really a hard position to be in and I tell this to patients all the time, for both the patient and the care provider, we're not used to saying I don't know.
That's vulnerable for everyone involved. So the anxiety levels that go into this for the patients, are absolutely sky-high. But that's not what's causing the issue. So that makes it worse.
You've been told that this is all in your head when it's not, you're having physiological symptoms we don't yet understand based on a novel virus. But being told that, it makes it much worse, which exacerbates the symptoms. It's almost like a negative feedback loop.
HOLMES: Doctor Dayna McCarthy, from Mt. Sinai Hospital, thank you so much for your time and thank you for the work you do for that group of people. Thank you.
MCCARTHY: Thanks for having me.
HOLMES: A top U.S. expert is congratulating Russia on its COVID-19 vaccine research. Dr. Anthony Fauci says Moscow did the right thing in publishing early results on Friday. The report in "The Lancet" medical journal said the vaccine produced antibody response in all study participants. CNN's Matthew Chance tells us how the vaccine effort and the report are playing at home.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Russia, the battle against COVID-19, it seems, is being fought with real soldiers. This is the country's defense minister getting a vaccine.
Then on state TV, Moscow's mayor tells the Russian president he's just been vaccinated, too.
"Did temperature rise a concern," President Putin asks.
"None," says the mayor, "just a slight headache and a little fatigue."
The intended message: Russia's vaccine, called Sputnik V, is safe. Even top officials trust although the Kremlin won't confirm to CNN if Putin himself has taken the plunge. But there is now some reason for Russia's confidence.
First, data from phase 1 and 2 clinical trials published in "The Lancet" medical journal suggests the Russian vaccine produced no serious adverse side effects. It seems to be safe, in other words.
And it generated an antibody response, according to "The Lancet," in all the test participants, admittedly only 76 people. But Russian scientists say that's more than enough to prove their vaccine works and works well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The high level of cell immunity suggests there are great prospects for developing memory cells. This tells us that it will not just create high protective at the moment of immunization but also that this protective impact will last for a very long time.
CHANCE (voice-over): Russia has been one of the world's worst affected countries in the COVID-19 pandemic, recording more than a million cases nationwide. It also has a track record of creating vaccines, famously against polio in the 1950s; more recently in 2016 to battle the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa.
But there's been a cautious reception to Russia's COVID-19 vaccine: lack of published data until now.
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CHANCE (voice-over): And approval for use before human trials were complete raised concerns about its safety and effectiveness.
Even now with phase 1 and 2 trials published, "The Lancet" warns the studies are too small and that larger phase 3 trials are needed to know how useful the vaccine will really be.
RICHARD HORTON, "THE LANCET": what we can see is that this new Russian vaccine, the results are encouraging but it would be premature, highly premature to think this is the basis for a successful vaccine for public use.
CHANCE (voice-over): That's not what the Russians want to hear. They named their vaccine Sputnik V after the Soviet-era satellite, which shocked the world by orbiting Earth, a global first and a symbol of Russian scientific prowess. The vaccine, it seems, is not quite there yet -- Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
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HOLMES: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, when we come back, a cargo ship goes missing in stormy seas. Now rough weather, impeding search and rescue efforts. We will have a live report when we come back.
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HOLMES: Reports say the Japanese Coast Guard has temporarily suspended the search for dozens of missing sailors because of dangerous waves and strong winds from an approaching storm. The sailors were on a cargo ship that was caught in a typhoon, this was on Wednesday. The ship was carrying a shipment of thousands of cattle from New Zealand to China. Only a few of the 43 sailors on board have been found.
CNN's Will Ripley with developments from Hong Kong.
Not good news with the search being pulled back for now.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is not good news, certainly for the families of the dozens of sailors who remain missing. We got confirmation from the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, their Japanese consulate, that the search for any remaining survivors, has to be called off.
The waves in this part of the East China Sea can be extraordinarily dangerous. When you see the photos of the ship we're about to show you, it is massive. It is a converted cargo container ship, known as an open livestock carrier.
It allows the winds to blow back and forth, so the nearly 6,000 cattle on board can get adequate ventilation. But it also makes them extraordinarily vulnerable to winds, like the ones that were happening on the day that the ship vanished.
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RIPLEY (voice-over): A dramatic rescue off the coast of Japan. This Japanese Coast Guard vessel, desperately tries to reach a man in the water, battling rough seas, getting closer and closer, as the man bobs up and down like a cork.
Finally, they're able to get him on board. They bring him onto a Coast Guard ship, warmed him with a blanket and give him water.
He's a 45-year-old chief officer of the Gulf Livestock 1, a cargo ship that went missing after a distress call early Wednesday near Southern Japan. The ship was carrying 43 crew members and almost 6,000 cows, some seen dead, floating in the sea.
The ship left Napier, New Zealand, on August 14th, headed for China, a journey that was supposed to take 17 days. At the time of its disappearance, it was being pounded by a powerful storm, Typhoon Maysak, the same strength as a category 4 hurricane, with winds more than 200 kilometers or 125 miles an hour.
The chief officer told authorities the ship's engine failed. The vessel was hit by a wave and capsized.
On Friday, 30-year-old a Filipino crew member was also found clutching onto a ripped life raft 2 kilometers from Potocari (ph) Island. Rescuers discovered a third man floating unconscious. He was later pronounced dead.
The wife of the ship's chief engineer pleaded for officials to continue searching for the rest of the missing crew.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I would like to call on the Philippine government to give us legitimate information and strengthen their cooperation with the ongoing search and rescue operations.
RIPLEY (voice-over): New Zealand has since announces it is temporarily suspending exports of live cattle as it investigates what happened during the ship's journey. The export of livestock has been controversial. Animal rights group have long called for the practice to be banned.
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RIPLEY: One of the reasons that groups have called for the practice to end is because when the animals are traveling on those ships, they are open air, essentially. And they are really vulnerable to the conditions at sea. That can be, as we are seeing in real-time right now, extraordinarily dangerous. Michael, of the 43 crew members, 39 were from the Philippines, two from New Zealand, two from Australia. The two survivors' families have been notified; the others just have to wait.
HOLMES: It's just terrible. Thank you Will, good to see you, from Hong Kong.
Typhoon Haishen is heading towards Japan and the Korean Peninsula. The third major storm to hit the region in less than 2 weeks. The storm, downgraded from a super typhoon and the outer bands are reaching the Ryuku (ph) Islands as it approaches western Japan.
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[03:50:00] HOLMES: We will a quick break. When you come back, rescue crews in Beirut back at work and hoping to reach anyone who may still be alive in the rubble of the massive explosion a month ago. We will have a live update from the scene, when we come back.
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HOLMES: It is late morning in Beirut where a Chilean rescue team is still searching for possible survivors trapped in the rubble of last month's deadly blast. That massive explosion at the port, you remember, killed more than 190 people and injured thousands more. Now crews are saying they have picked up on what might be body heat and even breathing from debris near the epicenter of the blast.
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HOLMES: CNN producer Tamara Qiblawi joins us now from Beirut with more.
It's incredible to think somebody might have survived this long.
What is the latest on the search.
TAMARA QIBLAWI, CNN SENIOR DIGITAL MIDDLE EAST PRODUCER: Hi, Michael, there is more hope today than there was yesterday. At least that is what one of the Chilean rescuers, here on the scene, told us. This is day 3 of the search and rescue that was sparked by a Chilean dog, a search dog named Flash (ph), that is part of a volunteer search and rescue team called Coples (ph).
Two days ago, this dog detected life under the rubble that's behind me and prompted a search and rescue in which they deployed a sensor. On that sensor, they detected life, respirations, roughly 18 beats per minute.
Those respirations have gone up and down and with yesterday being the most hopeless of the operation, the respirations were nearly zero. The search and rescue team were blaming that on the crowd that was around the sounds and the mobile phones that were intercepting the machine.
But what happened later in the night was the crowds left, quite prevailed, the sensor then detected 18 beats per minute, again. Therefore, there are signs of life again, a glimmer of hope for the Lebanese people who are glued to their TV screens today.
HILL: And we cling to that hope as well, something that has brought the Lebanese people together in this time of tragedy. Tamara Qiblawi in Beirut, thank you so much for your reporting on this.
And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I am Michael Holmes. Appreciate you spending time your day with me. My colleague, Kim Brunhuber, is up next with more top stories.
