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Trump: Not Sure that Election Can Be Honest; U.K. Considers 'Human Challenge' Trials for COVID-19 Vaccines; Protestors March Again after Breonna Taylor Decision; Spokeswoman: Navalny's Property Seized, Bank Accounts Frozen; China's Sinovac: Expecting Phase 3 Vaccine Data This Year; European Airlines Struggle to Survive Travel Slowdowns. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired September 25, 2020 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, coming to you live from CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta.

[00:00:29]

And ahead this hour, Donald Trump refusing to say whether he will accept the results of the U.S. presidential election, behavior Democrats compare to dictators.

Sacrificing yourself in the fight against the pandemic. Why thousands are volunteering to be deliberately infected with the coronavirus.

And protesters back on the streets, demanding justice for an African- American woman shot dead by police in her home.

Welcome, everyone. With the U.S. presidential election just 39 days away, it is not the issues that are front and center. It is whether the sitting president will even accept the outcome. Donald Trump insisting there will be massive voter fraud, despite no evidence of that even being remotely so.

Jim Acosta with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In what may be a warning siren to the world that American democracy is in serious trouble, President Trump is standing by his comments that he may not accept the results of the November election.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know that it can be, with this whole situation, unsolicited ballots.

ACOSTA: The White House is giving the president plenty of wiggle room to offer up his own definition of an honest election.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president will accept the results of a free and fair election.

ACOSTA: Something Mr. Trump hinted at when he was asked whether he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power.

BRIAN KAREM, JOURNALIST: Will you commit to making sure that there is a peaceful transferal of power after the election?

TRUMP: We're going to have to see what happens. You know that. I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster.

ACOSTA: The president continues to rail against the use of mail-in ballots to help shield voters from the coronavirus in the November election. But Mr. Trump's own FBI director noted what experts have said for years, that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the U.S., including ballots sent through the mail.

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: We have not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise.

ACOSTA: Democrats are accusing the president of behaving like a dictator.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): You are not in Russia, Mr. President. And by the way, you are not in Saudi Arabia. You are in the United States of America. It is a democracy.

ACOSTA: Republican leaders sound as though they believe the president is bluffing.

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): I'll let him speak for himself, but I've indicated pretty clearly that there will be a peaceful transition of power.

ACOSTA: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted the winner of the November 3 election will be inaugurated on January 20. There will be an orderly transition.

Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse said, "The president says crazy stuff," while South Dakota's John Thune insisted the GOP would push back if Mr. Trump refused to accept an election loss.

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): Well, Republicans believe in the rule of law. We believe in the Constitution. And that's what dictates what happens is, in our election process and so yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You would stand up to him if he tried to do something like that?

THUNE: Yes.

ACOSTA: Oddly enough, the president tweeted an endorsement for vote- by-mail ballots in Florida, but Mr. Trump has stated why he has confidence in Florida's system in the past.

TRUMP: Florida has got a great Republican governor. And it had a great Republican governor.

ACOSTA: The president caught a rare glimpse of Americans who want to vote him out as he paid his respects to the late Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. But Mr. Trump later claimed he really couldn't hear the chorus of boos.

TRUMP: We heard -- we heard a sound, but it wasn't very strong.

ACOSTA: On the pandemic, the administration is trying to reassure Americans that they will be able to trust a vaccine for COVID-19.

ALEX AZAR, U.S. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: I want to reassure you and the American people, politics will play no role whatsoever in the approval of a vaccine.

ACOSTA: That's after Mr. Trump insisted the White House will have the final say on how the vaccine is approved.

TRUMP: We're looking at that, and that has to be approved by the White House. We may or may not approve it.

ACOSTA (on camera): The president is unveiling what the White House is calling a healthcare plan, something Mr. Trump has hinted at for months. The president's plan appears to have some gaping holes in it.

While he claims he will protect people with pre-existing conditions, the president is not saying how that would be guaranteed if his administration is successful in its efforts to overturn Obamacare, in a case that will be heard at the Supreme Court after the election.

Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Joining me now to discuss all of this is Ron Brownstein. He's a CNN senior political analyst, also senior editor for "The Atlantic."

[00:05:08]

Always good to see you, Ron. Let's -- let's start with this issue of the president not guaranteeing a peaceful transition of power. As Jim Acosta pointed out, he's been saying similar things for months, saying that he -- the only way he loses is a rigged election. It's a feature of his presidency in many ways.

What -- what is he setting the stage for by doing this? What could he do?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, as Maya Angelou said, when someone shows you who they are, believe them. And I think the president has made very clear that he's sort of setting up a catch-22, that if he loses, by definition, it is not a free and fair election, which is that phrase that they are now using to kind of condition their willingness to go.

Look, I think the postelection period in the U.S. between -- between the election and the inaugural, if this is at all a close race, will probably be the most fraught period after election since at least 1876 and possibly since the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and the months in between then, of course, included secession.

The president gives every indication of trying to use every possible means to fight this, to use the courts, to mobilize his supporters, to put kind of extra legal pressure in the streets on states that are counting votes in a normal process after the election. And I think that those who believe in American democracy may be tested to stand up for it in a way that we have only seen in other countries before.

And by the way, the language from the Republicans today, saying they will stand up for democracy but avoiding criticism of Trump, you know, when you put that against their record over these past few years of enabling him as he sort of trashed democratic norms, from manipulating the census to extorting a foreign government to help him, doesn't give you a huge amount of confidence when push comes to shove they will, in fact, stand up against him.

HOLMES: And indeed, presidential historian Doug -- Douglas Brinkley was saying earlier today that the president is, in his words, "spitting in the face of democracy." People don't -- should not let it slide as just another outrage. That it's a sort of comment that threatens the country.

I mean, you touched on the Republicans. Speak to their reaction, but also not just deflecting away from the president's comments, playing down the comment. What is the risk to them?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Well, first, you know, I think the pattern has been very clear through his presidency. Every time President Trump has broken a window, the congressional Republicans have obediently swept up the glass. And the fact that he feels comfortable making these kinds of suggestions and these very ominous kind of warnings, as he earlier talked about possibly delaying the election, all of that is a direct result of, you know, he is a student of power.

And he has concluded that they will not, in any meaningful way, try to inhibit or constrain him. And that message was sent very clearly by all but Mitt Romney voting to excuse the, you know, clear evidence that he extorted a foreign government.

You know, the Republican Party is playing with kind of generational roulette here, you know, as I said. At this point in American history, you know, Michael, people born after 1981 are now a majority of the population in the U.S. as of this year. They're not a majority of the voters, but pretty soon, they soon will be a majority of the voters.

HOLMES: Right.

BROWNSTEIN: And the Republican Party is risking being stamped with Trump's racism, his authoritarian tendencies, and his lack of respect for democracy. Obviously, in many states, they feel that that's OK. But look, you know, the future always wins in an argument against the past.

HOLMES: That's a good way of putting it.

Chris Cuomo calls you the professor. You're certainly my professor of polls and trends. And you were tweeting Thursday how -- how Joe Biden is making some significant gains with significant voters --

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

HOLMES: -- in significant states. How might that play out?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, if you think about Joe Biden, he is a 77-year- old white guy. And he was hired by the Democratic Party, above all, to do one thing: bring back some of those midwestern states from the blue wall, the phrase that was coined in 2009, that Donald Trump dislodged in 2016, particularly Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

But what we are seeing, Michael, at this point, in a flurry of polling over the last week, is a very consistent pattern. Not only in those three states but also in Iowa and Ohio, which seemed to be off the boards for Democrats after Trump won them so comfortably in 2016. Trump -- excuse me, Biden is now ahead in polling in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Ohio. And he's tied or slightly ahead in Iowa.

And you see the same pattern in all of those states. He is well over 50 percent among college-educated whites, running better, significantly better than Hillary Clinton did among those voters.

And just as importantly, he's recovering among some of those blue- collar whites who were so critical to Trump's victory in 2016. Consistently, in all of these states, he's polling around 40 percent of them. That may not sound like much, but it is an improvement from the low point that Democrats hit. And when you put it with the now majority that he's winning in all these states among the suburban white-collar whites, and numbers above 80 percent among African- Americans in the state where they are relevant -- Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio -- he has the potential to move not only the big three but all five of these states back toward the Democrats.

[00:10:13]

Trump is playing defense in Iowa and Ohio. He did not expect to be doing that five, six weeks before the election.

HOLMES: They are fascinating numbers. Ron Brownstein, always a pleasure. Good to see you, Ron.

BROWNSTEIN: Michael, thanks for having me.

HOLMES: There are nearly seven million confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States. And yet, the nation's top infectious disease expert is warning the U.S. is still in the first wave of this virus.

As the race for a vaccine intensifies, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he would bet the scientists if the Food and Drug Administration, if they approved a vaccine. Now, in Europe, the E.U.'s health commissioner warns the region is at

a decisive moment in dealing with a second wave, saying current actions will determine the severity of future restrictions. This as countries see a surge of cases. On Thursday, France reporting its highest number of new infections since the pandemic began.

And in the U.K., biotech company Novavax announced it will begin Phase 3 clinical trials of its COVID vaccine, enrolling 10,000 volunteers for the next six weeks.

Well, just how far would you go to help test a potential coronavirus vaccine? Some say they would volunteer to deliberately expose themselves to the virus itself. It's a controversial approach the British government is now considering. CNN's Cyril Vanier explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: Here in the U.K., the government is considering whether to hold human challenge trials, clinical studies where volunteers are deliberately exposed to COVID-19 in order to test the vaccines that are currently in development. Thousands of volunteers around the world have signed up on the website of the nonprofit organization One Day Sooner, a leading advocate for these challenge trials.

If the study goes ahead, volunteers would first be inoculated with a vaccine candidate, then exposed to the virus and closely monitored. This could potentially save months, compared to a normal Phase 3 clinical trial. Yet, the method is controversial, because in this case, it means exposing healthy individuals to a virus for which there is no known cure, and whose long-term effects are still unclear.

Some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies working on a vaccine say -- Sanofi, AstraZeneca, German firm BioNTech -- say that they will not be involved.

As the race for a vaccine continues, the British government also faces a surge in new infections. And it is trying to contain the economic impact of the virus. The chancellor had no choice but to announce a new set of financial measures for what he called the difficult winter months, measures to limit the layoffs in small and medium-sized businesses. Employees whose hours are reduced will see their pay partly compensated for the next six months.

The aid effectively replaces an earlier furlough scheme from the government. This latest announcement, a stark reminder of the long- lasting effects of the virus on the British economy.

Cyril Vanier, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Josh Morrison is cofounder and executive director of One Day Sooner. It's an organization that advocates on behalf of challenge trial volunteers. He joins me now from Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Thanks for doing so. What is, briefly, a human challenge trial, and what are the

advantages?

JOSH MORRISON, COFOUNDER/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ONE DAY SOONER: So what a human challenge trial is, is a way of studying a disease and testing vaccines and treatments by deliberately exposing volunteers to infection. And by doing that, you can learn a lot more about the disease and about if the vaccine or drug works than you can by just waiting for people to become naturally infected.

HOLMES: Thousands of people apparently signed up to -- to take part in this. I'm -- you know, I'm just trying to understand why somebody would volunteer to be injected with live virus, which it is possible, could kill them, and for which there are no so-called rescue therapies. Who's doing this?

MORRISON: Well, you know, there's 37 -- actually, 38,000 today -- volunteers from more than 160 countries around the world. And people sign up for all sorts of reasons.

You know, I can say the reason that I'm interested in participating in a challenge study, if I'm eligible, is because I want to, you know, be -- be doing something active. I want to feel, you know -- feel a sense of purpose and like I'm able to be making a difference.

And I think that, you know, COVID, obviously, has been terrible for me, as it has for the rest of the world. And when I learned about challenge trials, the idea that I could do something useful, it really made me feel a lot better. And it took a time where I was very demoralized and depressed and made it a lot better.

[06:15:06]

HOLMES: Dr. Anthony Fauci has spoken on this before. He said, in his mind, it would be a Plan C or D. He called it absolutely far-out contingency; that it's risky, because other times this has been done, we've known more about the virus. And you know, there's already indicators of long-term problems for some people with COVID.

What would you say to him and his concerns?

MORRISON: So I think there's a couple of things. I think, first, you know, having a backup plan, if the current Phase 3s don't work, I think that's absolutely essential.

But challenge studies can do a lot more than that, because we're going to need more than just one vaccine if we want to be vaccinating the world. And we need to be understanding this disease.

And while it's true that there's real uncertainties about COVID, there's uncertainties to healthcare workers who took risks to fight COVID. There's uncertainties that people in the military face. And if you look at the data we do have about the death rate of someone who's young and healthy being infected by COVID-19, the risks are very meaningful, but they're less than risks of things like childbirth in the United States, or of kidney donation, for example. The risk of a 20- to 29-year-old dying in France is one in 20,000.

HOLMES: Yes. I guess that -- that's true, but I guess it leads to the question of what is the usefulness of this sort of test in healthy people, young, healthy people, when it's a disease that has a major effect, or harms more older people, or those with things like heart disease, diabetes, and other health conditions? So what are you learning from young healthy people?

MORRISON: So first, even if all we found was a vaccine that worked in healthy people, that would be hugely powerful in stopping the spread of the disease. Because it's often young healthy people who are the ones who are most spreading the disease.

But there's also scientific facts, like things that are called correlative protection, that you can figure out in a challenge study, that are very difficult to figure out in other places. Or, you know, figuring out what the duration of immunity is by challenging people who have already had COVID, that also is going to be really powerful and really important for society.

HOLMES: And you're happy with the risk versus reward? I mean, you know, I guess basically, what -- what if people die?

MORRISON: So obviously, you know, if anyone were to die in a challenge study, that's -- that's a real tragedy. Just as any health -- the healthcare workers who have died fighting COVID, that's also a tragedy.

But like I said, if we look at the numbers and the statistics of what's likely to happen, the chances are that no one will die in one of these studies. And we have to weigh that against the potential benefits.

And as the name of our organization implies, if this can help end the disease, end the pandemic one day sooner, that represents thousands of lives saved across the world. And if you're betting a small chance that someone could tragically die against the idea that you might save thousands, or tens of thousands of lives, I think, if people like myself, and like 37,000 other people are willing to do that, then scientists should -- should let them do so.

HOLMES: It's a risk that some are willing to take, obviously, thousands are willing to take. Josh Morrison, thank you so much, with One Day Sooner. Appreciate it.

MORRISON: Thank you.

HOLMES: And when we come back here on CNN NEWSROOM, a second night of protests in Louisville, Kentucky, crowds demanding justice for Breonna Taylor. Why, they say, the entire system is broken and unjust.

Also after the break, reports of one of Vladimir Putin's biggest critics having his bank accounts frozen, and his apartments seized, while he was in a coma. And we're finding some links to one of Mr. Putin's closest allies.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.

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[00:21;11]

HOLMES: Welcome back. Protesters are out again in Louisville, Kentucky, the second night since the grand jury decision not to charge officers with Breonna Taylor's death.

Six months after the 26-year-old black woman was killed in a botched police raid, demonstrators still saying her name. Police did stay out -- people did stay up past 9 p.m., which was the curfew time. Some windows were broken, but only a couple. Overall, it has been a very calm Wednesday.

Our Jason Carroll gives us a look back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anger, frustration, outrage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Black lives matter!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Black lives matter!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Black lives matter!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Say her name!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breonna Taylor!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Breonna Taylor!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breonna Taylor!

CARROLL: As protesters took to the streets in cities across the country, from Atlanta, to Colorado, and in Louisville, Kentucky, where protests took a dangerous turn when two police officers were shot overnight.

Cameras were there as the gunfire erupted. Louisville police say the violence resulted in more than 100 arrests and more than a dozen businesses looted. The city's mayor calling for calm.

MAYOR GREG FISCHER (D), LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY: We've never had control over what attorney general, or the grand jury would do. We don't have control over what the FBI will do with its investigation. We do have control over what happens next in our city.

CARROLL: Attorneys for Breonna Taylor's family say the grand jury's decision not to pursue criminal charges against any of the three officers in connection to Taylor's death was an assault on justice.

The only charges leveled were against former detective Brett Hankison, who is facing three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree, after some of the shots he fired entered a neighboring apartment, endangering those inside.

Hankison turned himself in late Wednesday and was released after posting $15,000 bail.

BENJAMIN CRUMP, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: They're devastated. They're outraged, and most of all, they are heartbroken.

CARROLL: Breonna Taylor's family attorney now says Kentucky's attorney general should release transcripts of the grand jury so the public can see what evidence was presented and what wasn't.

CRUMP: The fact that Daniel Cameron did not, apparently, present, at all, any evidence about why the police were there, even in the first place, executing this dangerous, unconstitutional, we feel, unjustifiable, no-knock warrant that was based on a lie.

CARROLL: The governor of Kentucky also calling for more transparency in the case.

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D), KENTUCKY: The challenge here is that the facts, and the evidence, have not been shared with the public. So I've asked the attorney general, at this point, given that they've announced that they're not pursuing charges, at least in one direction, to post it all online.

CARROLL: Jason Carroll, CNN, Louisville Kentucky.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: The South Korean government is demanding an apology after, officials say, North Korea killed and mutilated a government worker who was trying to defect.

South Korea's defense ministry confirmed the man crossed the maritime border but was shot by a North Korean patrol boat, and his body then burned. South Korea's president called the incident shocking and unacceptable.

No word on why the man was trying to defect, but apparently, he had complained about being in debt.

And we are now learning that the Kremlin critic, Alexei Navalny, is facing some serious legal issues just a day after he was discharged from a hospital in Berlin.

He was there because of a Novichok poisoning that happened back in Russia. His spokeswoman now says his bank accounts were frozen while he was still in a coma, and his apartment in Moscow has been seized.

[00:25:13]

CNN's Matthew Chance following that story for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As if he didn't have enough problems recovering in Germany from severe poisoning with a chemical nerve agent, now Russia's most prominent opposition figure is facing legal action back here in Russia.

Alexei Navalny's spokeswoman saying the Kremlin critic has now had his apartment seized here in Moscow. A week after Navalny's poisoning, bailiffs have placed a ban on Navalny selling, renting, or willing his apartment, the spokeswoman said in a statement.

His bank accounts have also been frozen, she added, with legal seizure, which doesn't present Navalny from living in the apartment, if he ever comes back to Moscow.

It is in connection with a lawsuit in which he was ordered to pay more than a million dollars in damages to a school catering firm that the anti-corruption campaigner had accused of serving low-quality food that made children sick. The firm is linked to a close Kremlin ally, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who's been dubbed Putin's chef because of his lucrative government catering contracts.

Prigozhin is also behind the Internet Research Agency, the troll factory sanctioned for meddling in the U.S. elections in 2016, and the Wagner Group of private Russian mercenaries, who are active in conflict zones from the Ukraine, to Syria, to Libya, to Sudan. Prigozhin denies any links with Wagner.

He also denies owning the school catering company that sued Navalny but says that he bought the debt owed to them by the anti-corruption campaigner and will now, quote, "strip this group of unscrupulous people of their clothes and shoes."

Last month, Navalny was treated in a Siberian hospital, of course, after being taken acutely ill on a flight back to Moscow. He was medivacked to Berlin, where he was diagnosed with Novichok poisoning. He was discharged from the clinic in the German capital earlier this week, shortly after the poisoning.

Prigozhin issued a statement, saying, if Comrade Navalny kicks the bucket, he will not seek to persecute him, but if he were to survive, Prigozhin said, he would be liable, quote, "according to the full severity of the Russian law."

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: A church in central Italy says someone stole a relic of Pope John Paul II. The missing relic is a glass vial containing drops of the late pope's blood, which had been kept inside a gold cross.

The church's archbishop says the theft is a grave act and hopes it wasn't stolen for money. Police are combing through security footage, trying to find answers.

In Catholicism, relics are considered holy objects to honor saints, like Pope John Paul II. A Chinese vaccine developer apparently gaining ground on its rivals in

the west in the fight against coronavirus. We'll take a closer look at the company's big announcement when we come back.

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[00:30:36]

HOLMES: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Michael Holmes.

A new report in "The Lancet" medical journal says countries should meet five prerequisites before easing COVID-19 lockdowns, including knowledge of infection status. That is, countries should have high- quality data that infections are being suppressed.

Community engagement, meaning people follow COVID guidelines. Adequate public health capacity for testing, tracing, and isolating. Adequate health system capacity. That is treatment facilities, of course, medical equipment and healthcare workforce. And also border controls for restricting inbound travel to reduce the risk of infection.

Now, the study found the U.K. was one of several high-income countries that failed to meet the criteria before starting to relax restrictions.

Meanwhile, Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac says it expects to begin analyzing final stage data for its coronavirus vaccine as soon as this year.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joins me now, live from Hong Kong. Kristie, great to see you. Tell us what the status is and the importance of this for China.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, first off, we are awaiting a press conference by China's state council information office that will give us a progress report on China's race to develop vaccines, a progress report, timeline as well as stressing concerns over distribution and safety.

But ahead of that, on Thursday, Sinovac, this Chinese pharmaceutical company, announced that its coronavirus vaccine would be ready for the world by early 2021. This vaccine has yet to pass Stage 3 or Phase 3 clinical trials.

But it's already been injected into thousands of people in China, under an emergency-use provision. The CEO of Sinovac himself has also already been injected by this experimental vaccine. In fact, he addressed that to reporters on Thursday. Listen to what he said about China's experimental use of vaccines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YIN WEIDONG, CEO, SINOVAC BIOTECH (through translator): We saw that the World Health Organization raised emergency use of vaccines, but actually, different countries have different attitudes towards emergency use. So I don't know if other countries can follow China's emergency use experience.

If there are other countries doing emergency use of a vaccine, then we are willing to work with them and share the data and emergency use plan that we have already completed in China. And we invite them to study it.

So I think different countries have their own options for approval of emergency use of the vaccine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Now, the CEO of Sinovac there, speaking to reporters on Thursday. Now, the CEO also said THAT he pledged to seek approval in the United States with the food and drug administration, if and once HIS coronavirus vaccine passes human trials.

Historically, due to strict rules in places like the U.S., E.U., Japan, Australia, and elsewhere, Chinese vaccines have been blocked from sale in those markets, but the CEO of Sinovac says that that could change as China pushes ahead in this race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.

China is also continuing to control the number of coronavirus cases in the country. Earlier today, we heard from its health ministry reporting only 8 new cases of COVID-19, all coming from overseas. Zero new local cases of the virus, making it the 40th consecutive day of zero local transmissions in the [RC -- Michael.

HOLMES: All right. Kristie, thank you very much. Kristie Lu Stout there in Hong Kong for us.

Now, a new report says African countries are facing substantial indirect burdens from coronavirus. The report finding that almost half of people surveyed skipped routine medical care, like vaccinations and maternal and child care during the pandemic.

The former head of the United States CDC, Thomas Friedman, is warning that this could present a greater threat to Africa than the virus itself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS FRIEDMAN, FORMER HEAD OF THE CDC: The single most important point I'd like to make in this gathering is that, for Africa, these indirect impacts of COVID, not from people infected by the virus, but from people affected by the virus, are very likely to be even larger than the direct impact of the virus that causes COVID-19.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:35:03]

HOLMES: And our David McKenzie spoke to the head of the CDC in Africa. He said the relatively low death toll on the continent is thanks to the drastic measures taken early on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. JOHN NKENGASONG, DIRECTOR, AFRICA CENTERS FOR DISEASE I think it's a lesson to be learned on the continent that those traditions, where they're based on a solid assumption that were based on historic understanding of the continent, which is flawed as we are seeing in this current pandemic.

We have seen modeling that indicated that, by about this time, about 40 million people would be infected in Africa with 200,000 deaths. We haven't seen that.

But the reasons are just that obvious. One was the urgency that the continent took to coordinate the efforts and really at the level of each individual, to take drastic measures.

If you -- if you recall, many countries in Africa are still on a lockdown. We are beginning to see that curves are bending nicely. And we've seen a sustained 10 to 12 percent decrease on the continent for the last couple of weeks. I think we are not yet at the point to celebrate. We are not complacent at all. But we need to acknowledge that progress, the remarkable progress has been achieved.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There is still a lack of testing on the continent, and a perception of a lack of data to really understand how this disease is affecting various countries. Is there just a hidden pandemic that's not seen? Are there people dying that we don't know about across African continent on a large scale?

NKENGASONG: Absolutely not. What is critical, actually, the data is -- the level of asymptomatic, the proportion of individuals that have been infected and they are (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in the continent is very high. It's above 80 percent. And I think that is very, very important. So that means we are not seeing people dying of mass numbers as was predicted. I think that is very good news. This is informed based on data

MCKENZIE: Why do you think some people find that hard to believe? Even if the data backs it up?

NKENGASONG: I can understand that because of the massiveness of what we are seeing in -- in the west, in Europe and in the United States.

We should also remember that our population is very different from what people are seeing in the U.S. and most of Europe. More than 70 percent of our population is less than 30 years. The median age is actually around 17 to 18 years. And I think that is really an important factor to put into the equation and understanding of the levels of death in the United States or Europe versus Africa. My assumption is that many more people will be infected in Africa, but the deaths will be low relatively.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES; That was our David McKenzie talking to the head of Africa's Center for Disease Control and Prevention. A quick break here on the program. When we come back, it was a hot

summer, but not enough people were traveling. Now, European airlines are worried they may not make it to the new year. We'll have that when we come back.

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HOLMES: Well, here's a story you don't see every day, thank goodness.

Police in Vietnam confiscated about 345,000 -- wait for it -- used condoms that were cleaned and sold as new. This is according to Vietnamese state media.

These reused contraceptives were sent to a warehouse, where they were boiled, dried, and re-packaged. Police detained one woman and collected dozens of bags of the offending product. It's not known how many were sold before the raid.

It is officially autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, and a lackluster summer of travel has crippled European airlines. The aviation industry struggled to survive the coronavirus pandemic. It now looks harder than ever, especially with colder weather and looming threats of new lockdowns across Europe.

Anna Stewart takes a look at how they are fighting to stay afloat.

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ANNA STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Europe had a summer break from coronavirus. Beaches were busy in Spain's Canary Islands. The Seine was lined with sunbathers in Paris.

As cases of COVID-19 declined in June and July, tourism picked up, planes took off. Airlines like EasyJet increased their capacity, hopeful for recovery.

JOHAN LUNDGREN, CEO, EASYJET: We said early on, we thought it was going to be about 30 percent of what was originally planned for the summer. And we got a good start on that. So in the beginning of August, we actually upped that guidance and we said we believe we're going to be about 40 percent for the period of July, Ai September.

STEWART: Unfortunately, these expectations were soon dashed. Starting with Spain, a surge of COVID-19 cases led to a web of travel restrictions between different countries.

ADRIAN YANOSHIK, SENIOR ANALYST, BERENBERG: We saw customer confidence go away. It's -- it's -- the view is that it's just not worth the trip and the anxiety and the worry about being able to come back and effectively be able to go to my job or go to school and these sorts of things.

STEWART (on camera): This is London's Heathrow Airport, Europe's busiest, although as you can hear, not many planes taking off or landing at the moment.

Last month, passenger numbers were down over 80 percent, and it's only going to get worse as more airlines start to cut back capacity for the coming months. Many are calling on governments for more financial support, and also in agreement on a COVID-19 travel policy for the whole continent.

LUNDGREN: We'd also like to see that the quarantine system that is in play, that that is redesigned so it takes into account much more a regionalized approach, so it doesn't just do a blank quarantine across all of the countries, because infection rates vary quite a lot in different areas.

So we'd like to see, based on risk. We'd like to see that it's also based on a regional approach. And then you have also then introduced testing so you can have testing in places that are higher risk.

STEWART: Even with these measures, air travel will take years to return to normal, and Europe's smaller airlines may not survive.

YANOSHIK: My view is actually 2021; it's late 2021 might be that time where you see some -- some challenges in terms of bankruptcies or, you know, really aggressive restructures.

STEWART: Anna Stewart, CNN, London.

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HOLMES: Thank you for spending part of your day with me, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. I'll have more CNN NEWSROOM at the top of the hour. WORLD SPORT coming up next.

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