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Trump Aborts Second Debate; Trump to Conduct Another Super Spreader Event; Hurricane Delta Batters Gulf Coast; Judge Blocks Texas Governor's Ballot Box Order; Terrorism Charges Filed against 13 in Michigan Governor Kidnap Plot; Experts Warn of COVID-19 Resurgence; Coronavirus Surges in Europe; North Korea Celebrates Ruling Party Anniversary; Armenia-Azerbaijan Cease-Fire Takes Effect; World Food Programme Honored with Nobel Peace Prize. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired October 10, 2020 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): President Trump plans a risky event close to home; 2,000 people are reportedly invited to the White House this weekend, as the president claims he's been cured of coronavirus.
And the U.S. Gulf Coast is battered once again; hundreds of thousands of people are without power as Delta leaves its mark on Louisiana. We'll have the latest on the ground.
Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Welcome, to you our viewers here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
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BRUNHUBER: The Trump administration is planning a large event at the White House in the coming hours, despite a recent outbreak of COVID that infected numerous people, including obviously the president and the first lady.
A source tells CNN 2,000 people have been invited to see and hear Mr. Trump on Saturday, in his first public appearance since returning Monday from the hospital. The president says he's been retested but doesn't know the results. He told conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh he was very sick and now feels great.
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TRUMP: I was in not great shape. And we have a medicine that healed me, that fixed me. It's a great medicine. I mean, I feel better now than I did two weeks ago. It's crazy. And I recovered immediately, almost immediately. I might not have recovered at all from COVID.
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BRUNHUBER: President Trump says he doesn't know where he caught the virus but admits it might have been at a Rose Garden event two weeks ago. Numerous people, including the president and the first lady, tested positive for COVID in the days that followed. But the country's top infectious disease expert says the facts are clear to him.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We had a superspreader event in the White House. And it was in a situation where people were crowded together, were not wearing masks. So the data speak for themselves.
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BRUNHUBER: With the U.S. election now looming and President Trump trailing in many polls, he appears eager to launch an aggressive schedule of campaign rallies, beginning Monday in Florida.
But Thursday's second presidential debate has been scheduled after the Trump campaign rejected doing it remotely. The debate commission changed to a virtual format after the president tested positive for COVID.
But first, well, one question the White House refuses to answer is whether the president still has an active case of COVID-19. We get the latest from CNN's Kaitlan Collins at the White House.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Although it has only been a week since the president was hospitalized at Walter Reed, he is moving full steam ahead and planning an event at the White House for 2,000 people, who have been invited on Saturday and a campaign rally in Orlando, Florida, for the following Monday.
That was actually an event the president was supposed to hold until he tested positive for coronavirus in recent days and, of course, had to cancel.
But the big question is whether or not the president has since tested negative. It's one the White House is refusing to answer although they said they would let us know when the president does test negative again.
And we do know he was tested on Friday because he admitted as much during an interview with a FOX News medical analyst, where he said he had been tested and not gotten his results back, even though it had been hours after that and the White House still had not disclosed what the results of that test were.
They also did not send out any kind of updates from the president's doctor, even though they had done that on a daily basis, since he returned from Walter Reed. And before that, they were briefing reporters in person and stopped those briefings.
No updates beyond from the president and his aides about his current condition, even though they were moving ahead for plans for the president to hold rallies, hold events with thousands of people potentially on the South Lawn on Saturday.
Of course, the president is going to be addressing reporters from a balcony. Far up where he won't be interacting with guests according to the White House.
But you have to remember, that Supreme Court event, the president wasn't walking around the Rose Garden but still multiple people who were at that event, even some of them wearing masks, have now, of course, tested positive for coronavirus, including the former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who still remains hospitalized a week later, after he was first admitted to the hospital, which they said at the time was as a precaution.
And, of course, now, it is raising questions of the far-reaching repercussions of the event -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. Let's get some international perspective, from Leslie Vinjamuri in London, she's the head of the U.S. and Americas Programme at Chatham House.
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BRUNHUBER: Thanks so much for joining us here today. We saw over there, how having COVID changed Boris Johnson's outlook and behavior when it comes to COVID. Not so with President Trump. For those hoping the president might have a hospital bed conversion about COVID, they've been sorely disappointed.
As we just heard, he's going to gather people for events, when we don't really know if he's even healthy. It seems perplexing, he went on FOX, did a made for TV medical exam, by one of their medical experts, all of this more reality TV.
How does this help him actually pick up ground against Joe Biden?
LESLIE VINJAMURI, CHATHAM HOUSE: Well, I think the first thing to say is that it is deeply concerning, at a time when we all know the number is more than 210,000 Americans died.
But we're just three and a bit weeks out from the election, so I think the level of uncertainty, of concern, of chaos, that this has led to amongst the electorate, can't be understated.
We know that Donald Trump's base, he has a hard core who have stuck with him but I think for so many Americans, they're very worried. We're seeing this in the polls. And I think older Americans, in particular, are concerned, deeply concerned about the signal that this sends, not only about the election of course.
The number one thing in so many people's minds right now is November 3rd. People are already voting. But it's also so much to do with what signal it sends to all Americans about the seriousness of the pandemic that we're currently in.
And the signal is that it's not a clear message of wearing masks, keeping distance. And I think there's just so much concern about whether the president is recovered yet, as he's interacting again with Americans.
BRUNHUBER: You mentioned the older voters. I don't like to focus on polls but the trends there are interesting. When a series of several recent polls show that the president, as you said, seems to be losing support among older voters, you mentioned one reason.
But do you know exactly why that is and how that might affect the vote overall?
We're seeing one of those polls just there on the screen now.
VINJAMURI: I mean I think what we've been seeing for a little while is a concern amongst older voters about whether the president is reflecting the values and the certainty, the stability, that they value.
And when you add the fact that they're in a very naturally high risk category for the pandemic, this is obviously a grave concern for anybody over 55 that increases, when you look at over 65.
And to see a president who really hasn't taken this seriously, who's denied the pandemic, marginalized scientists and experts, public health experts, even the CDC at times, these are values that are held dearly by older Americans.
And so it's not surprising a president who won the over 55 vote, by 13 percent, in 2016, is now really trailing and that's likely to hurt him. Of course, what we know from all of these polls is that it's not about people's preferences.
It's about whether those people exercise that preference, by voting.
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BRUNHUBER: That was Leslie Vinjamuri in London, speaking a short time ago.
Almost 730,000 homes and businesses along the U.S. Gulf Coast are without power, after Hurricane Delta roared ashore Friday evening at category 2 strength. It has weakened to a tropical storm as it moves over land.
This video you're seeing here was shot in Lake Charles about, 40 miles north of the spot where Delta made landfall. The area is now dealing with life-threatening flash flooding.
And to talk about this, we're joined now on the line by Mike Steele in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He is the communications director for the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
How are you doing? MIKE STEELE, LOUISIANA GOVERNOR'S OFFICE OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS: Good morning. It was a pretty rough night, across the state. It's pretty remarkable that this storm did make landfall about 12 miles from where Hurricane Laura made landfall.
So many of the areas that were impacted initially as the storm came onshore were some of the same spots that we're trying to help recover, you know. But then it kind of roared across the rest of the state as the night went on.
I'm sure it's going to be another busy day today as we begin the assessments, once the sun comes up, to really see what we're dealing with.
But you are probably talking about a much larger, you know, impact area, as it moved into North Louisiana and then some parts of the state are still seeing some of the heavy rains and problems with the wind damage.
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STEELE: There's a lot of trees down, power lines down in many, many areas. So you know, we'll be ramped up pretty much all weekend, as we deal with this.
BRUNHUBER: You have to wait for days, you said.
Do you have any idea of the extent of the damage caused by this so far?
STEELE: Not totally because, once most of the problems started, it was after nightfall. So you get to a situation, you know, where it's really not safe for people to be out. And the power outages have been massive but even the utility crews that were pre-staged, ahead of time, there's, you know, safety considerations, for those crews, before they can get out and hit the road and begin that work.
There are areas where power was restored. But it's a matter of waiting until those conditions improve enough to where that work can begin.
BRUNHUBER: I mean Baton Rouge, hit pretty hard by those power outages.
And how dark is the city at this hour?
STEELE: So it's -- you know, over the course of the night, there were a lot of intersections without power and you know, it was pretty widespread. Even here, we were kind of on the fringe of what we were seeing as far as some of the wind totals.
So you know, when you take a look at what happened to Baton Rouge, the problems are much more severe as you kind of move into the southwest corner of the area, like Lafayette, Lake Charles.
But again, as the night went on, the problems moved up into the Alexandria, Shreveport, Monroe areas. And we even have a lot of flash flood emergencies, you know, alerts, that went out overnight. So once the conditions improve and once we start getting the reports
in from our partners at the local emergency management level, we will begin to start those assessments and see what support is needed from the state.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Well, listen, we wish you absolutely the best with that, as you deal with the effects of a double hit of two hurricanes in such short succession. Thank you so much for talking with us and do stay safe out there.
STEELE: You bet. Thank you.
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BRUNHUBER: Coming up, on CNN NEWSROOM, a federal judge blocks an order from the governor of Texas, about ballot boxes.
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BRUNHUBER: We'll explain why he says the order interferes with people's right to vote.
Plus new details emerge about the alleged plot to kidnap Michigan's governor and the Trump administration's virtual silence on the arrest. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: In the U.S., six men were arraigned in a Michigan court on Friday on terrorism and other felony charges. They're among 13 suspects accused in a plot to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer and overthrow several state governments. She says they're all domestic terrorists. Sara Sidner has new details about the investigation.
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BRIANT TITUS, STORE OWNER: I hate to say I love the kid. But I'm mad right now. I'm just shocked, man. You help somebody out and then they pull that stuff.
SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Briant Titus says one of the suspects in the alleged domestic terrorist plot was his employee.
SIDNER: The owner of this vacuum shop says Adam Fox lived here for the last couple of weeks. He says he lived behind this door and down into the basement.
SIDNER (voice-over): Down here with him, his dogs, one with an emotional support collar and a "Don't Tread on Me" tag attached to it.
TITUS: He was in a militia and he got kicked out. So he started his own.
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SIDNER (voice-over): One of many things the two discussed, Titus says, he only became concerned when he noticed packages arriving for Fox.
SIDNER: What was he getting from Amazon?
TITUS: Like MREs, food, stuff like that.
SIDNER: So survival stuff -- ?
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TITUS: Yes. He was buying more like attachments for like an AR-15. And he was buying like food. And I'm not stupid. I was in the Marine Corps. So then I told him he had to go.
SIDNER (voice-over): But before he left, Fox and 12 others were arrested in FBI raids. We found several suspects ranting against the government online, one suspect calling President Trump an enemy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump is not your friend, dude.
SIDNER (voice-over): While another had praise for the president, tweeting, "Keep up the good work, chief, we, the people, love your work."
The FBI says the alleged plot centered around a plan to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, whose coronavirus restrictions have been railed against by armed groups at the Capitol.
According to the complaint, they did surveillance on her vacation home. Two of the suspects discussed detonating explosive devices to divert police from the area. One suspect said in an encrypted chat, "The fear will be manifested through bullets."
Fox allegedly responds, "Copy that, boys, loud and clear."
GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): These are the types of things you hear from groups like ISIS. This is not a militia, it is a domestic terror organization.
DANA NESSEL, MICHIGAN AG: What we're seeing here in Michigan, right now, it is not just a Michigan problem, it's an American problem. And I think there's going to be more incidences to come.
SIDNER (voice-over): A problem forewarned by Frank Meeink, a former neo-Nazi himself, convicted in the '90s for a politically motivated kidnapping. I spoke to him days before the alleged Michigan plot was known to the public.
SIDNER: What's the scenario in this election that would create what you're calling the potential of a race war?
FRANK MEEINK, FORMER NEO-NAZI: I'm telling you, this is going to happen. States like Michigan, states like Wisconsin, the Northern state that have some wilderness area, there have been militias from other states training up there.
They are waiting and hoping that something does go wrong because they want to hold up (sic) in them hills and they want to say we don't want the federal government up here no more.
SIDNER (voice-over): He says President Donald Trump's rhetoric has emboldened extremists. Whitmer agrees.
WHITMER: Of course, we know every time that this White House identifies media or takes a shot at me, we see an increase in rhetoric online, violent rhetoric. And so there's always the connection. And certainly, it's something that we've been watching. But this took it to a whole new level.
SIDNER: In a flu (ph) of tweets, President Trump said he does not tolerate any kind of extreme violence. He then went after Governor Whitmer, saying that she did a terrible job in dealing with the coronavirus crisis in her state.
But the governor did what many governors have done to try to slow the spread of this deadly virus -- Sara Sidner, CNN, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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BRUNHUBER: A federal judge has blocked an order by the governor of Texas limiting ballot drop boxes to one per county. Several groups sued over the controversial directive the governor issued it last week. They said it would suppress voters, particularly in larger counties. And the judge agreed.
Texas Democrats cheered the judge's decision, saying it was common sense. No word yet if the governor will appeal.
It's just 24 days to go until the presidential election. President Trump is spreading even more disinformation about mail-in ballots. While polls show Joe Biden with a double digit lead over Mr. Trump, the president continues to stoke doubt on voting by mail. CNN's Pamela Brown has the latest.
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PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump is continuing to undermine the integrity of the election.
TRUMP: They're sending out millions and millions of ballots. Are they sending them to all Democrats? This is going to be the second biggest political scandal in history.
BROWN: Trump is spreading disinformation. Vote-by-mail states send ballots to all active voters and there are no signs of a looming scandal. And he went on.
TRUMP: You're never going to know who won the election. You know, it's going to be two weeks later.
BROWN: But election night results are always unofficial. The very real chance there won't be a winner on election night is something even something Trump's security team warned is not a problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On November 3rd, we might not know the outcome of our election. And that's OK. But we are going to need your patience until official results are announced.
BROWN: The plot to kidnap Michigan's Democratic governor, along with Trump's disinformation and fiery rhetoric, is raising fears of voter intimidation on Election Day as tensions rise.
DANA NESSEL, MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL: It's not just a Michigan problem. It's an American problem. And I -- I think there's going to be more incidences to come.
BROWN: Michigan's attorney general is working on guidance for law enforcement on how to handle guns at polling places. In 11 states in D.C., there is a ban on firearms at the polls. But many swing states, including Michigan, don't have strict rules against it.
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TRUMP: Bad things happen in Philadelphia.
BROWN: Today, in Philadelphia, a judge rejected the Trump campaign's lawsuit over its attempt last month to use supporters as unofficial poll watchers ahead of Election Day, something Philadelphia officials wouldn't allow because it is against the law.
The president fumed about it at the debate.
TRUMP: The very safe, very nice thing. They were thrown out. They weren't allowed to watch.
BROWN: All campaigns are allowed to have registered poll watchers at official sites on Election Day. But the judge upheld that it is illegal at satellite election locations being used for pre-election day voting. And now, both parties are gearing up for the possibility of a contested election with no clear winner on November 3rd or weeks beyond.
The Washington Post reports Speaker Nancy Pelosi has discussed the issue in meetings. One scenario involves invoking the Electoral Count Act, an obscure, untested, 19th century law, which gives Congress the power to settle state-level disputes. Last week, Pelosi acknowledged any congressional involvement would be messy.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: If all that chaos takes us to a time that could be past the date when the electoral colleges must meet, we will be ready.
BROWN: The clamp-down on disinformation around the election, Twitter is now announcing several changes it is making including blocking any Twitter user including the candidates themselves, from declaring Victory before state officials have announced or before two national news outlets have made their public projections -- Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, even though Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton four years ago, it kind of seems like that contest is never over for the president.
Secretary of state Mike Pompeo, one of the president's fiercest defenders, was recently criticized by his boss for not releasing Clinton's emails from a private server when she was secretary of state. Well, on Friday, Pompeo told FOX News he's on the case.
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MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We've got the e-mails, we're getting them out. We're going to get all this information out so the American people can see it.
You'll remember, there was classified information on a private server, it should have never been there. Hillary Clinton should never have done that. It was unacceptable behavior. It's not the kind of thing that leaders do.
DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: The President has the authority to declassify anything he wants. All authority is to him. Could he declassify it and order it released if he wanted to? And if he ordered?
POMPEO: Absolutely, we're going to get there. We're going to get this information out so the American people can see it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Well, the coronavirus pandemic is again gaining ground in many parts of the United States. And public health experts fear that the arrival of the cold and flu season will quickly overwhelm many hospitals. We'll have that report just ahead.
Plus, Western European countries are grappling with a record number of new daily COVID-19 cases so we will go to Paris and see what new restrictions are taking effect, stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to you, our viewers in the United States, Canada and around the world.
The rate of COVID-19 infections in the U.S. has slowed since it peaked in July. But the pandemic is obviously far from over. More than 7.6 million Americans have been stricken so far and nearly 214,000 have died. And many places that had limited the virus' spread are seeing it resurge. CNN's Brian Todd has those details.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Shuttered businesses in parts of Brooklyn, a hot spot of COVID-19 clusters in New York City. The governor says the infection rate in those clusters is much higher than in the rest of the state.
Residents of those neighborhoods, particularly religious groups, have been battling city and state officials over the closures of nonessential businesses and the drastic limits of gatherings in houses of worship.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The way the government has been treating us and a lot of Americans has been like really as if we're not capable of making intelligent decisions. And I consider it simply tyranny.
TODD (voice-over): Governor Andrew Cuomo says it is not a matter of religious freedom, that they simply have to attack outbreaks in those neighborhoods.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): If you don't follow the rules, the infection rate spreads and people get sick and you make others sick. We're talking about Brooklyn. We're not talking about a hermetically sealed community in a rural area.
This is in the middle of Brooklyn. They will make other people sick.
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TODD (voice-over): Neighboring New Jersey just reported its highest number of cases in one day since May. With nearly 30 states seeing case counts go up and the country averaging more than 45,000 new positive tests per day, a whistleblower, who recently left the Trump administration, has an ominous warning.
RICK BRIGHT, FORMER DIRECTOR, BIOMEDICAL ADVANCED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY: This winter we're going to have an explosion of cases of coronavirus. This winter, we're going to have an explosion of influenza infections and other respiratory infections. It's going to overwhelm our health care system again.
TODD (voice-over): In Wisconsin, that's already happening. The governor says the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 in that state has nearly tripled in a month. A temporary field hospital in Wisconsin will start receiving patients in the coming days. A top health official says doctors and nurses are among those infected.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every region in Wisconsin has hospitals reporting current and imminent staffing shortages and at least one region is reporting these shortages in a majority of their hospitals.
TODD (voice-over): With the U.S. heading back to the kinds of spikes it saw in the early spring and part of the summer, one expert says this round could be even worse because then the country was only starting with a few hot spots. Now --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We see particular hot spots in the northern Midwest and the Plains states but it's not just there. It's actually really all throughout the country and I think that puts us in a precarious position leading into the fall.
TODD (voice-over): A leading member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force says people who are asymptomatic are silent spreaders in some communities. And she issues this warning for the upcoming holidays.
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: It is important for all of us to not let our guard down during Thanksgiving. We see that from the High Holy Days, people are just yearning to be together.
TODD: And there are questions over whether we're going to see another favorite tradition around the holidays, pro-football, the NFL has had to reschedule two games this weekend because of positive COVID tests, the Tennessee Titans are under investigation after more than 20 players and staff members became infected. And the NFL's chief medical officer said the league has not ruled out pausing the season -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: Let's bring in Dr. Sonia Adesara, a physician with the U.K.'s National Health Service, who joins us from London.
Thank you very much for being here. The idea of thousands gathering together, to hear the president speak and then later to hold a rally, essentially, another super spreader event, it seems, it seems baffling.
What message does this behavior send?
DR. SONIA ADESARA, U.K. NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE: I think it is extremely reckless and I think it is extremely selfish. It's sending the wrong message. This is a potentially deadly virus (INAUDIBLE) we're seeing huge death rates in the U.K. and the U.S.
And the (INAUDIBLE) of the message that it sends, that virus that (INAUDIBLE) take the virus seriously, that we shouldn't be following public health messaging is really, really concerning and could lead to more (INAUDIBLE) deaths.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, I mean that's exactly what a new report from the Council on Foreign Relations said. It examined all of this and it said, while the pandemic threats are inevitable, the failures that contributed to the spread of coronavirus weren't. It said that the U.S. response was deeply flawed and too slow and it
singled out leaders, including the president, for failing to communicate clearly or defend public health leaders.
From your viewpoint, what have been the biggest failures to date?
ADESARA: Yes, so I think, you know, we've seen (INAUDIBLE) with the same bias (ph) and yet we know that some countries have acted decisively and competently. And we look at the countries in particularly East Asia and there were target rates very low (ph) and (INAUDIBLE) their economy.
Other countries like the U.S., like the U.K. and where we have not done so well, we have seen high death rates and our economy taking a hit as well.
And I think of all key things that we know from other countries that did well, ,that need to be done, which we are (INAUDIBLE).
Number one, we need governments that are competent, that understand science. We need clear public health messaging about what needs to be done to keep ourselves safe. And we need the public to follow these guidelines. And for them to do, we need to trust what they're being told (INAUDIBLE) the rationale behind it.
And thirdly, we need to have a really robust, comprehensive testing capacity so we can pick up new cases very quickly and we can inform (INAUDIBLE) really quickly as well.
And then ultimately, I think (INAUDIBLE) from the U.S. and the U.K., it is about when people have the virus, we need to be able to -- we need to be able to open it in the context from the -- on the virus, we need to be able to isolate and so we don't spread the virus (INAUDIBLE).
We know in the U.K., people who have been in contact with the virus really make up about 10 percent of them are actually isolating for 14 days. And for many of them, it is because they need to continue working. They don't have the financial support to stay at home to (INAUDIBLE) themselves.
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BRUNHUBER: That was Dr. Sonia Adesara, speaking to me from London.
And this just came in to CNN. The British Medical Association is warning that the U.K. public is losing confidence in the government's handling of the pandemic and is urging immediate action due to the spiraling rate of infection. Medical professionals say face masks should be mandatory in all offices and outdoors.
They also say public gatherings should be limited to six people. The U.K. currently has almost 580,000 confirmed cases of COVID and almost 43,000 deaths. And cases have been rising sharply in recent weeks.
The World Health Organization is reporting a record number of daily global COVID-19 cases. It reported more than 350,000 new infections on Friday. But officials say cases are being vastly undercounted.
The WHO also reported more than 6,000 new deaths on Friday for a confirmed total of more than 1,066,000 deaths world wide. And many of those new COVID-19 cases are in Europe, which is facing a big surge in infections.
Have a look here. The region is reporting more cases than India, Brazil or the U.S. In fact, nearly a third of all of the world's infections in the last 24 hours are on that continent.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): In Spain, a state of emergency in the country's capital. In France, several cities on maximum alert. Across Europe, fears are growing of a lockdown 2.0, as the continent sees new cases of coronavirus surge.
DR. MICHAEL RYAN, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Many countries in Europe are experiencing a rapid rise in cases and governments do have to take decisive action in order to try and shut down transmission.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): From Iceland to Italy, Russia to the U.K., France to Slovenia, more than a dozen countries are smashing records for daily numbers of new cases. And governments are doing what they can to stem the surge while trying to avoid an all-out lockdown.
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ANGELA MERKEL, CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY (through translator): The increase of infections is so rapid in some cities that we have almost reached a point of no return where the virus will spread without control.
My top priority is to avoid having to shut down the economy and the public life completely, as it was needed at the start of the year.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Germany, mulling more drastic restrictions, as well as Russia, where citizens are advised to stay home this weekend as hospitals begin to buckle from soaring infections.
Meanwhile, Poland and Italy are making face masks mandatory while outdoors for citizens across the nation.
And in the U.K., British Parliament will soon debate a 10:00 pm closing time for pubs and restaurants, as daily confirmed cases doubled in a week.
Others have already taken the plunge. In the Belgian capital, bars and cafes will be closed for an entire month.
A similar story for pubs in Scotland's two most populous cities, patrons taking the last sips Friday before doors close once more, as the country joins the rest of Europe fighting to contain a resurging coronavirus pandemic.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: And joining me now is CNN's Melissa Bell in Paris with more on the cases in Europe.
Melissa, a disturbing picture we're seeing on the continent but let's start in France where you are and a record number of cases there.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It was a record that was announced yesterday. More than 20,000 new cases in a single 24- hour period. We simply hadn't seen that at any point since the outbreak began here in the spring.
And of course, what we have here is being repeated elsewhere in Europe. These are national figures with positivity rates; for instance, rising in France to 10.4 percent. It was just three weeks ago, at 5.4 percent. So that gives you an idea how things are moving.
But in a sense, looking at the national picture, it is not exactly what we're looking at, with these hot spots, the areas where the virus is progressing faster and we're talking about for the most part in the second wave about Europe's big cities.
And we saw in the report how Madrid has gone on lockdown. We expect similar measures to be taken in other European cities as well. Take the greater Paris region. We're currently in the maximum alert category. And one of the criteria for deciding that is that the ICU occupancy rate for COVID-19 patients is above 30 percent.
In Paris now, we're above 40 percent. So 40 percent of ICU beds are taken by COVID-19 patients. According to the projections of the local health authorities here in the greater Paris region, that will increase beyond 80 percent this month. And that might take us to the next category, which is a state of sanitary emergency, which would bring much harsher restrictions similar to those in Madrid.
So for the time being, the figures are not being brought under control. And governments as you say are doing what they can, to avoid harming the economy further. But it is in the inability of the health care systems that will be the decisive factor in this.
BRUNHUBER: Keeping an eye on that disturbing situation. Thank you so much, Melissa Bell in Paris. Appreciate it.
And coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, a ceasefire is under way between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But that didn't stop shelling just hours before. We will have the latest on the conflict coming up. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: South Korean officials say North Korea likely celebrated the 75th anniversary of the founding of its ruling party Saturday with a massive military parade. Authorities say they detected personnel and large scale military equipment mobilizing in Pyongyang.
And these pictures here, that you're seeing, are of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un 10 days ago or still actually just waiting to see fresh pictures of Kim and the military hardware that would have been on display.
The anniversary is usually celebrated with festivals and concerts. The last time the reclusive nation broadcast a military parade as it happened was in 2017.
A cease-fire between Armenia and Azerbaijan is now in effect, according to the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. In the hours preceding the cease-fire, intense shelling occurred, where both sides accused the other of firing missiles. It's unclear how fast it will hold.
Lavrov mediated the first talks between the two sides, since the violence erupted in late September over the break-away region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The enclave is in Azerbaijan but is primarily populated and governed by ethnic Armenians.
International security editor Nick Paton Walsh has more in London.
How significant is this?
Is it a first step toward a peace deal or just a brief pause in the violence?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Certainly it is good news that both sides, brought together by Moscow, who had been urging diplomacy but failing to have its voice listened to after the last weeks or so, increasingly escalating and troubling violence, in which hundreds have died, many of them civilians, on both sides.
Finally, we have seen both sides agree in principle to the cease-fire. It is open-ended. It doesn't have a particular moment where it is supposed to end. And it is meant to usher in new talks onto the old negotiation process that, over the decades, kept the guns mostly silent but failed to come up with a final permanent solution to things here.
So the other issue too, unfortunately is, we are hearing, since the ceasefire was put in place, about two, three hours ago now, that it hasn't held particularly well. Both sides are accusing the other of limited shelling. Both sides are denying the other's accusations.
This isn't particularly uncommon, frankly when a ceasefire is put into place. You can have scattered instances, where miscommunication or excess anger or misbehavior can lead to instances like this.
The key thing is they have in technical terms agreed to the cease- fire. And the Red Cross is supposed to be involved in retrieving the dead from either side and also exchanging prisoners. The broader question though is whether or not these longer term talks
about resolving the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, an area inside the borders of Azerbaijan, which is internationally recognized as part of that country, yet has for decades been controlled by an ethnic Armenian population with the heavy backing of the Armenian state.
There is a longer term fix for that particular problem. Azerbaijan has moved stridently with a very advanced, sometimes technically superior campaign, to push the Armenians back. Many have said that Turkey is not just rhetorically backing Azerbaijan but also potentially providing military assistance, too.
On the other hand, the Armenians have lost some ground and are looking to Russia, their security guarantor, to step. They have done it here with diplomacy but not military assistance.
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WALSH: I think the hope in Moscow is maybe these talks will see an end to the violence and maybe stops a resumption of conflict in the months ahead.
BRUNHUBER: We will be following the story in the coming weeks. Appreciate it, Nick Paton Walsh in London.
After the break, we will look at the World Food Programme, which has been honored with the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for its global work to end hunger. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: The World Food Programme has won the Nobel Peace Prize for its fight to end hunger. Right now the world produces enough food to feed everyone but still 690 million people around the world go to bed on an empty stomach every night. CNN's Phil Black takes a look at the organization's accomplishments.
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PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No one picked this but no one is disputing the worthiness of the World Food Programme as a Nobel Peace Prize winner, especially this year.
In 2019, the organization helped 100 million hungry and starving people. In2020, that number expanded to 135 million, largely because of the pandemic and the organization warns that could expand further.
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BLACK: Its executive director, talking about a potential wave of famine around the world before this year is over. The Nobel Peace Prize committee, justifying its choice and awarding the prize, to an organization that combats hunger.
It drawing a clear link between hunger and war, saying they are often locked in a vicious cycle and you will never solve one without the other. The organization's executive director was in Niger, when he heard the news.
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DAVID BEASLEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WFP: This is the first time in my life I've been speechless. This is unbelievable. I'm talking about the most exciting point in time in your life, the Nobel Peace Prize.
It's because of the WFP family. They're out there, in the most difficult, complex places in the world, whether it is war, conflict, climate extremes, it doesn't matter. They are out there and they deserve this award. And wow, wow, wow, wow. I can't believe it.
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BLACK: The Nobel committee said through this choice, it wants to turn the eyes of the world onto the hungry. The World Food Programme is being honored for its work but also, its example. The committee made it clear, it is sending a message about the importance of countries working together to solve the really big problems.
In its opening comments, making its announcement in Oslo, it said the need for international solidarity and multilateral cooperation is as great as ever -- Phil Black, CNN, London.
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Well, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. For international viewers, "TECH FOR GOOD" is next and for the viewers in the United States and Canada, "NEW DAY" is just ahead.
