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Key Model Projects Over 394,000 U.S. COVID-19 Deaths By February; Physician Clears U.S. President To Return To Active Schedule; Coronavirus In Europe; Iraqi Woman Survives COVID-19 With Help From Autistic Son; Biden Reaches Across Political Divide In Pennsylvania; New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Hopes For Reelection; Hurricane Delta Aftermath. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired October 11, 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 HOST (voice-over): President Trump is cleared for the campaign trail by his doctor but we still don't know when he last received a negative COVID test.

Meanwhile, a projection suggests the United States could be in for a catastrophic winter with the death toll closing in on 400,000 by February.

And it isn't just the U.S.; we're in Paris as a record number of daily cases hit France.

Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to you, our viewers in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

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BRUNHUBER: U.S. President Donald Trump has received the all clear from his doctor in his bout with COVID-19. It was last weekend that the president was in the hospital. Saturday he reappeared publicly to address supporters crowded on the White House lawn and tell them -- falsely -- that the coronavirus was disappearing.

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TRUMP: Through the power of the American spirit, I think more than anything else, science, medicine will eradicate the China virus more and all. We'll get rid of it.

All over the world, you see big flare-ups in Europe, big flare-ups in Canada, a very big flare-up in Canada, you saw that today. A lot of flare-ups, but it's going to disappear. It is disappearing. And vaccines are going to help, and the therapeutics are going to help a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: And soon after that event, the president's doctor released him from isolation, saying he no longer appeared contagious. But the doctor's cheery note left many unanswered questions about the president's health after such a serious disease. We get the details now from CNN's Jeremy Diamond.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The president's physician, Dr. Sean Conley, is now clearing him for a return to public activities. Dr. Conley writing in a new memo released late Saturday night that the president is no longer considered a risk of transmission for the coronavirus to others.

Now let me read you a part of this memo by Dr. Sean Conley, where he writes, "This evening I'm happy to report that in addition to the president meeting CDC criteria for the safe decision of isolation, this morning's COVID PCR sample demonstrates by currently recognize standards he is no longer considered a transmission risk to others.

"Now at day 10 from symptom onset, fever free for well over 24 hours and all symptoms improved, the assortment of advanced diagnostic tests obtained reveal there is no longer evidence of actively replicating virus."

The doctor goes on to say that he will continue to monitor the president's health as he returns to a more active schedule. Now President Trump, of course, did not wait for this memo before holding a event on the White House South lawn on Saturday.

Trump did stay at quite a distance from the several hundred people who attended this event on the South Lawn of the White House. While most folks were wearing masks, they were not observing any social distancing, packed quite closely together just two weeks after the event at the Rose Garden of the White House that is now considered a superspreader event and perhaps the origin point for many of those positive coronavirus tests that we have since seen at the White House.

President Trump needed this memo to get some more public confidence in his return to an active schedule. And that is exactly what he's going to be doing this coming week. He'll be hitting 3 battleground states, Florida, Iowa and Pennsylvania, this coming week -- Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.

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BRUNHUBER: A new COVID projection is giving the United States a grim wake-up call. The model is based on current conditions and, as you can tell there, most states are seeing an increase in cases, compared to a week ago.

Johns Hopkins University puts the number of U.S. coronavirus deaths now at more than 214,000. But the University of Washington model projects an enormous increase to more than 394,000 COVID-19 deaths by February 1st. The model also says if social distancing mandates are relaxed, that

number could easily surpass half a million. But that same model predicts if almost everyone in the U.S. wore masks, tens of thousands of lives could be saved.

President Trump may insist the coronavirus is disappearing but he's not a doctor or nurse on the front lines of this pandemic. Listen to what this emergency room physician told CNN's Erica Hill.

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DR. MEGAN RANNEY, BROWN UNIVERSITY EMERGENCY MEDICINE: Myself, I'm an ER doc.

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RANNEY: And my colleagues across the country, we are all seeing increasing numbers of COVID-19 patients who are coming into our ERs and are getting really sick, requiring intensive care and hospitalization.

We did see those spikes in numbers, that were largely younger people about a month ago going back to college. But what we're seeing now is it's starting to spread within the community.

And we're all deeply afraid this is the start of that dreaded second wave. We still don't have adequate personal protective equipment for physicians and nurses on the front lines across the country. We still don't have adequate testing supplies. And as you and I just discussed, we still don't have a cure.

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BRUNHUBER: The current case count in the U.S. is more than 7.7 million cases since March. Of course, that's a staggering figure. But a former head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the actual number is five times higher. Dr. Tom Frieden, speaking earlier at a CNN town hall, said that's why so many Americans have died.

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DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, FORMER CDC DIRECTOR: The death rate is a fact. And it's a tragedy. And we need not to get hardened to the reality that these are health care workers. These are mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters, and it's going on every day. We are having 1000 more deaths.

And next month, we're going to have 20,000 more deaths in the U.S. But we can turn this around if we understand that it's a matter of learning how to do one thing, right, which is, follow the science, be guided by the facts. Tell people what we know when we know it, work together, recognize we are all connected.

You may not get sick at all from this, but you may spread it to someone who then dies or spreads it to someone else who dies. And that's why we all have to recognize that we're in this together. There's only one enemy, and that's the virus.

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BRUNHUBER: And Dr. Julie Gerberding also used to head the CDC. She told the CNN town hall that mixed messages from public officials are undermining Americans' confidence in an eventual vaccine.

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DR. JULIE GERBERDING, FORMER CDC DIRECTOR: Americans can tolerate really tough truth, but it has to come from reliable and credible sources. And I think the other thing is consistency. One of the reasons that we have so much anxiety among the Americans is because they're hearing different things from different political leaders. We haven't consolidated and cascaded the messages from reliable sources.

We kind of have a free for all, where everyone can invent their own interpretation of the truth. So if we want people to have trust in the vaccines, we have to tell them what we're doing and why we have to explain how we're managing the safety and the efficacy evaluation. We need to prepare them for whatever side effects we might realistically expect to occur. And then we have to keep them informed as we go forward.

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BRUNHUBER: Let's bring in Dr. Scott Miscovich, a family physician in Hawaii and an expert on coronavirus testing.

Thanks so much for being with us again. Let's start with a memo from the president's doctor. We saw he said Mr. Trump is, quote, "no longer considered a transmission risk to others."

Now the doctor cited the result of a COVID PCR sample as well as a mRNA test. What he said was, ambiguous at best.

What do you make of it?

DR. SCOTT MISCOVICH, FAMILY PHYSICIAN AND NATIONAL CONSULTANT: I would say, I agree. They are following guidelines with CDC to say that, if you are 10 days into the diagnosis then one day after no symptoms, no fever, you can be released. So we don't go with the 14-day mark anymore. It can be 10 days plus one if there are no symptoms.

Now what most of us are raising our eyebrows about is the PCR. The PCR is so sensitive, if you read the CDC guidelines, you are not supposed to repeat a PCR for 90 days after the initial diagnosis.

And it's because it is so sensitive it's almost always positive for at least 3 weeks, probably up to 45. Many patients we have are positive for 90 days after they have it.

BRUNHUBER: So what about the mRNA test?

Does that give us any more clues then?

MISCOVICH: Now I think they are being very ambiguous as you stated. That does not give you the information for you to say that the patient, that the president is not a transmission risk.

The other thing, that test is not used broadly, it's not used by the CDC, it's not used by standard state. To use that as the definition as to why he's not a transmission risk I don't think any of us would really be looking at that as valid.

BRUNHUBER: All right, so if you were in the audience, wherever he was, you wouldn't necessarily be confident he wouldn't be transmitting.

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BRUNHUBER: He did give a speech yesterday, he's going to be holding rallies. He has a fairly taxing campaign schedule.

What's the chance of a relapse?

And the situation getting much worse, based on what you've seen with patients?

Especially ones who are older.

MISCOVICH: Actually I think he's fared quite well. I've seen some of the clips of him looking at the way he's moving and breathing. Remember, he would have a lot of shortness of breath and fatigue. I think he's actually recovered quite well. So the chances that he would have a relapse, most of us would feel as quite low.

Does he have any other side effects or any other symptoms that we're not aware of?

He's not showing us that he does. Again, I would be looking at these rallies, that people would be heeding the advice of wearing masks and social distancing because we all have to lead by example for that. Hopefully we will see that for the rest of the people in the audience watching out for that.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, for what we've seen so far that seems unlikely. In that address from the balcony, the president said, it's going to disappear, it is disappearing, which is what he said in February.

And as "The Washington Post" pointed out, more than 213,000 people have died since then. So obviously, it is not disappearing.

What's your sense of where the country is right now?

MISCOVICH: The biggest issue we are all worried about, as earlier we talked about the projections from the University of Washington, which we all respect, is we're going into the winter season. We go indoors, we don't have open windows, we have rooms where we're sharing the same air. That's how flu spreads.

So we are all very concerned, after Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's that January and February will be devastating. So unless America really understands to wear the masks, even though you're home for the holidays, to do social distancing, to use the right ventilation, we could have a very serious first quarter of the next year. And we're all worried about. That

BRUNHUBER: All right, we will definitely be following this. Thank you so much for speaking with us, Dr. Scott Miscovich. Appreciate. It

MISCOVICH: Thank you.

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BRUNHUBER: A top health official has a dire warning about the second wave of COVID-19 in England. We'll go live to Paris and to London for the worrisome details.

And from Iraq, the story of a family finding new hope despite a war, devastating loss and the coronavirus. Stay with us for that.

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BRUNHUBER: For months there have been warnings about a second wave of COVID-19 striking Europe. But instead of just shadowing the first wave, this round may be even worse.

France set another daily record reporting almost 27,000 new infections in the past 24 hours. The Netherlands also reached its highest daily number. And Poland has been breaking its record for four straight days.

Now Italy has yet to surpass its highest daily tally set in March, more than 6,500 cases. But it came close on Saturday, reporting almost 5,800.

And as British authorities try to enforce COVID restrictions, a senior medical official warns England is at a tipping point. They say a repeat of the spring outbreak can be stopped but only if people act now.

So for more, let's go to CNN's Salma Abdelaziz from London. As a top English medical official said, the country is at a tipping point. But actually, let's go first to Melissa Bell in Paris.

Melissa, we talked yesterday, France had set a new record and a new record set again today.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Is it the third time this week, Kim, that a fresh record has been set here in France, more than 26,000 new cases announced on Saturday night. And, of course, that has all kinds of consequences looking ahead for

the next couple of weeks in terms of the number of people who are likely then to be entering ICU. Already here in the greater Paris region, we're at a 40 percent of ICU bed occupancy rate for COVID-19 patients.

Once we get to 60 percent, that's one main criteria for pushing Paris beyond the maximum alert category into what would be referred to here in France as a state of sanitary emergency. That would bring with it some form of partial lockdown.

So the numbers are extremely worrying because they tend to indicate that, over the next couple of weeks, this figure, the figure of people entering ICU, will continue to increase.

In fact, according to the projections of regional Parisian hospital services, we will be meeting that more than 60 percent by the end of this month.

So what we have seen in other countries, already, for instance, in Spain, where the Spanish capital is on partial lockdown, this is something almost likely going to be considered here in France at some point, given those record rises this week. And, again it just a question of projecting one's self a couple of weeks from now.

BRUNHUBER: Very worrying there. Melissa Bell in Paris. Let's go to Salma Abdelaziz in London.

We were talking about restrictions in France, the U.K. pondering new restrictions now as well.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: Absolutely, Kim. This all comes after a really worrying and confusing week across the country. We just heard from one of its top scientists, the deputy chief medical officer, saying the country reached a tipping point and there will be more deaths in the coming weeks.

Decisive action needs to be taken, he said, otherwise history will repeat itself, a reference to the pandemic in the spring. Very worrying words there but they are backed up by the data.

We had the number of cases nearly double in one week's time. You now have a nearly quarter million coronavirus cases across the country. There is a rise -- a resurgence of the virus in the north of the country, in particular where rates of hospitalizations are increasing rapidly.

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ABDELAZIZ: You have a city like Newcastle up north, where the university reported 1,000 confirmed cases. And as this week has unfolded, by and large, the government of prime minister Boris Johnson has been silent. And they have drawn criticism for it.

Now on Monday, he is expected to address the House of Commons. And while we don't know the content of that announcement, according to leaked media reports, what the government is considering is a three- tiered system very similar to what is happening in France.

Essentially you cut up the country geographically, put each region at one of these three levels, based on the rate of infection and number of cases. If an area is found to be at the highest level, level three, as is expected in the north of the country, then extra restrictions will be imposed.

Those could include shutting down restaurants and bars, banning the mixing of households and potentially some sort of economic relief package for those businesses that will have to close their doors.

All eyes now are on prime minister Boris Johnson's statement on Monday. We keep hearing from experts over and over again, from the British Medical Association, from the top scientists, the important thing to do now is to provide clear and simple instruction to the public to stem these -- this rise in cases. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. All right, thank you so much, Salma Abdelaziz in London.

India now has surpassed seven million COVID-19 cases. On Sunday, the country's health minister reported more than 74,000 new cases. They also reported over 900 deaths, bringing the death toll to more than 108,000. And India is now a close second to the U.S. in the number of cases globally.

And then Brazil, Brazil has surpassed 150,000 COVID deaths, total second only to the U.S. But as you can see here, that didn't stop hordes of people from cramming into a department store on Saturday with, as you can see, a total disregard for social distancing.

And that guy, that's the store owner, he's firing up the crowds. He's a vocal supporter of president Jair Bolsonaro, who has downplayed the virus. An affiliate, CNN Brazil, says police ordered the store closed hours later.

Iran is mandating masks in its capital, Tehran, as the country tries to curb a growing death toll from the coronavirus. Iran's president announced on Saturday that anyone who violates the mask mandate will be fined.

More than 28,000 people have died from the virus in Iran and the country's health ministry reported 195 new deaths on Saturday, along with almost 3,900 new cases. Iran is the worst hit country in the region and is also struggling with an economy that is crippled by U.S. sanctions.

Well, CNN has been following the story of an Iraqi woman through years of hardship as she endured sanctions, war and corruption. And then after all that, she recently recovered from COVID-19 with the help of her 19-year-old autistic son. She tells Arwa Damon this pandemic has a lesson for all of us.

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ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "I tell you that we shouldn't use black. It's sad," Nahla gently reminds her son. Nineteen year old Ussayid is autistic. He uses colors, not words to communicate the depths of his anguish.

Nahla can sit next to him now. We assure him that she's OK. After Nahla and her husband contracted COVID-19, Ussayid had to care for them, a reflection of just how dire the situation of hospitals is in Iraq.

"My first thought was, what if Ussayid also catches it?" she says. "I was scared, I was shaken."

I will never forget the first time I met Nahla shortly after her first husband, Ussayid's father, was killed in a car bomb in 2007. She spoke in gentle tones after about having to identify the love of her life from a photograph of his teeth and a metal pin to his knee. His body was so charred and melted along with nine others.

How she felt as if she was wearing a cloak of death, that life lost its color, becoming black and white. Ussayid was just 6 years old at the time.

Four years later, Nahla looked transformed. She spoke with pride about how Ussayid had just transferred out of the special needs school but that he still carried darkness inside because of the death of his father, a darkness that came out in his drawings, a cloud with rain painted over in black.

"We worked for years to get him away from the black of death," she says. "Corona brought the black back into his drawings."

That in so many ways is the story of Iraq, a nation whose history is more defined by death and bloodshed than the beauty of its people. The beauty of people like Nahla, fighting for her country's soul.

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DAMON (voice-over): "I always say there is a positive side of any struggle," she tells us. "The positive side is that we discovered that my son has more capabilities than what we thought."

She feels as if Iraqis as a whole are discovering how strong they are when they come together.

"We are saving each other by uniting during COVID-19 and not looking toward the government," she explains. "We could possibly emerge from coronavirus with a great lesson," she continues, "but we should we should all be united to find the beginning of a path of light."

And that is a lesson for us all -- Arwa Damon, CNN, Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: What a touching story there.

U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is not taking his lead in the polls for granted. He's reaching out to independent voters and disillusioned Republicans. We'll bring his message to them -- next.

And New Zealand is getting ready to vote in a parliamentary general election. We'll look at the current leader and her chances of re- election. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: And welcome back to you, our viewers in the United States and around the world. President Trump will be back out campaigning this week after being stricken with COVID-19. His doctors issued a memo late Saturday, saying Mr. Trump no longer appeared to be contagious and is safe to leave isolation.

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BRUNHUBER: But it is still not known if he's tested negative for the virus. Even before the doctor's announcement, hundreds of supporters crowded the White House lawn as the president made his first public appearance after leaving the hospital last Monday. Despite all evidence to the contrary, he told them the coronavirus was disappearing.

Now while President Trump rallies at the White House, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is out trying to win over independent voters and disaffected Republicans.

CNN's Jessica Dean followed Biden on the campaign trail as he made his case to voters in the state where he was born, Pennsylvania.

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JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Former Vice President Joe Biden campaigning in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania on Saturday. He traveled here to Erie, Pennsylvania. It's in a county President Trump won narrowly in 2016 and it's tailor made for Biden's economic message that he's been delivering specifically to white working class voters in towns like Erie.

Notably, Biden touring a train facility and a union hall before giving a message that can be described as his economic bread and butter message.

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BIDEN: The top 100 billionaires in the middle of this pandemic, they made $300 billion additional. Hear me now? One hundred individuals made $300 billion this year.

And what did the bottom half get?

They got the kick, they got the slide down, because the fact is the president can only see the world from Park Avenue. I see it from Scranton, I see it from Claymont, for real. You all know what I'm talking about. Y'all see it from Erie.

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DEAN: In the meantime, vice president Biden's campaign reported that he underwent PCR testing. That's the gold standard COVID test on Saturday and that test came back negative. The campaign has said that Joe Biden will be continued to be tested regularly and always when he travels -- Jessica Dean, CNN, Erie, Pennsylvania.

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BRUNHUBER: The Democratic presidential nominee is leading comfortably in national polls. And that's, in part, thanks to scenes like this, senior citizens throwing their support behind Joe Biden rather than the Republican.

Now of course, that's likely making President Trump nervous and with good reason. Have a look at the numbers here. A recent CNN poll conducted by SSRS finds that 60 percent of likely voters over the age of 65 plan to choose Biden.

Now Joe Biden is also touting his endorsements from across the political aisle as he tries to win over potential voters. His campaign on Saturday unveiled its first television ad featuring Cindy McCain, the widow of Republican senator and war hero John McCain. She says Biden's friendship with her late husband shows he can unite the country.

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CINDY MCCAIN, JOHN MCCAIN'S WIDOW (voice-over): Now, more than ever, we need a president who will put service before self; a president who will lead with courage and compassion, not ego; a president who will respect the sacrifices made by our service members and their families; a president who will honor our fallen heroes and a president who will bring out the best in us, not the worst.

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BRUNHUBER: The full minute-long ad is running in McCain's home state of Arizona, a key battleground state this election. And it will air nationally later.

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BRUNHUBER: For more on all this let's bring in Thomas Gift in Oxford, England. He's director of the Center for U.S. politics at University College London.

Thanks so much for joining us. As we just heard, Joe Biden campaigning in Pennsylvania, courting some who voted for Mr. Trump in 2016.

Any evidence he's making headway? THOMAS GIFT, DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR U.S. POLITICS, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Well, I think, based on the polls, Kim, Biden does seem to be courting disaffected Trump voters. That is essential if he wants to flip states from red to blue. Pennsylvania is where Biden is from and my home state. Biden has been crisscrossing that state in places like Erie and Gettysburg.

A new Quinnipiac poll shows he holds a lead in Pennsylvania, which Trump won in 2016 by less than a percentage point.

I think key to converting those Trump voters in parts of the mid- Atlantic and the Rust Belt is appealing not only to the rim counties of some of these major cities but also emphasizing this clear economic message in smaller towns, predicated on Trump's failures to deliver on his pledge to bring back blue collar jobs hit by globalization and automation.

I think given national unemployment numbers that are still reeling from COVID-19, Biden has a real opportunity to flip some of these disillusioned Trump voters with a pragmatic economic message.

BRUNHUBER: And money helps as well.

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BRUNHUBER: Biden has been spending big, in particular now pouring money into states that once, you know, basically looked out of reach here in Georgia, Ohio, Texas, Iowa.

I read, according to advertising analytics, he'll double the present spending. Biden has a lot more money to spend.

What are we to make of that fact and the effect going into the last weeks of the campaign?

GIFT: Well, Kim, in politics, money definitely tends to follow the leader and that's what we've seen here with Biden.

He started last month with $466 million in cash reserves. That's roughly $141 million more than Trump had -- that's a really sharp reversal, I think, it should be said, in the numbers compared to the beginning of the election season, where it was Trump's campaign team with the much bigger war chest.

Right now there is less than a month to go before the election so both candidates are going to be going on spending sprees. I think there is more evidence that how money is spent is more crucial than how much money is spent.

But clearly the fact that Biden can outspend Trump puts him at an advantage at reaching more voters and for sustained periods.

The large donations that have funneled to his campaign, especially after Trump's nomination of Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court, give Biden the resources to expand and solidify his ground game and also to pay for a real barrage of ad buys. BRUNHUBER: All right. Let's turn to the president now. I'm interested

in the crowd that the president had as his first public event since his diagnosis. The crowd was made up mostly of Black and Latino people, who were invited by Blexit, that wants draw Black and minority voters from the Democratic Party.

The Black vote largely assumed to break almost exclusively for Democrats but it might actually surprise people to hear that the president's support among African Americans has actually grown since 2016.

Any idea why that is?

And if it might have any effect on the race?

GIFT: Well, I still think it's an uphill battle for Trump in courting Black voters. Trump says that Black voters are embracing his pro-job, pro-police agenda and rejecting what he calls a radical social agenda of the Left. That is basically his words.

So he's trying to make the case also that, pre-COVID especially, unemployment rates among Black Americans were trending toward record lows. And he's saying he's in the best position now to speak to real kitchen table issues that many Black Americans are grappling with.

I think the problem for Trump, though, is that any inroads he might be able to make with Black voters are largely overwhelmed by his history of race baiting; his inability, for example, in the last debate to categorically condemn a white nationalist group and the general tendency to aggravate rather than heal racial divisions in the United States.

I actually feel like a place where Trump has been making even more progress than -- among the Black vote is among Latino voters, where you are seeing some enthusiasm for the president that perhaps you didn't see in 2016.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And that was Thomas Gift.

A federal judge has denied the Trump campaign and Republican Party's bid to make ballot drop boxes in Pennsylvania unconstitutional. It is a major defeat for the Trump team, which sought to challenge several voting policy policies in the key swing state.

The judge upheld policies that allowed a voter's signature on mail-in ballots to deviate a bit from the one on file with the state and the judge said poll workers must live in the county where they will work on Election Day.

The Trump campaign says it will appeal the rulings and called Pennsylvania's voting system radical. But the state's attorney general called the ruling a win for voters and democracy.

Now the judge, who, by the way, was appointed by President Trump, also rejected the president's and Republicans' concerns about voter fraud. He said they failed to show that fraud is certainly impending.

Democrats in the House and Senate Republicans are both blasting President Trump's latest stimulus proposal but for different reasons. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the $1.8 trillion offer "insufficient" and "one step forward, two steps back." Senate Republicans think the amount is too high.

A stalemate almost ensures that Congress will not pass another stimulus package before Election Day.

Turning now to New Zealand, people in New Zealand go to the polls to elect a new government in just six days. It is the latest crucial test for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. But as Ivan Watson tells us, opposition parties are sharpening their attacks.

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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fierce loyalty for Jacinda Ardern at her high school alma mater. New Zealand's 40-year-old prime minister has led her country through three once-in-a-generation crises.

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JACINDA ARDERN, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: We've had a terrorist attack, a natural disaster and a global pandemic. But in those tough times we have seen the best of us.

WATSON (voice-over): Now an election looms and Ardern is running on her COVID-19 record.

ARDERN: We're just having a bit of an earthquake here, Ryan.

WATSON (voice-over): A virus that killed over 1 million people around the world, only claimed the lives of 25 New Zealanders. And after shutting down early, New Zealand is now almost completely back to normal. But a double-digit hit to GDP and the question of how to pay for the recovery has given Ardern's election opponent an opportunity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cancel borrowed money.

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ARDERN: That is fear.

WATSON (voice-over): National party leader Judith Collins said she would be a better steward of the economy. And people are listening, including in the town where the prime minister grew up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I guess we would have to be proud of her. I mean, she's a pretty special person and she's very popular overseas. But we -- here in the party, we could probably wrap up and send her over there.

WATSON (voice-over): The ruling Labor Party won't be banking on many votes from the nearly 8,000 people here in Warrensville. This is a safe conservative seat. Many here say new environmental controls are too tough on farmers and that Ardern is loose with the country's pursestrings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The spending is just too much. And it is going to send the country broke.

WATSON (voice-over): But others here who knew the young Jacinda say they understand what drives her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think she's always had this bent, that she needs to try to help people who have a tough life, to have a better life. And I think we have seen that in her politics today.

WATSON (voice-over): Not many countries are led by a relatively young woman from a modest background. But whoever wins this election, New Zealand's next prime minister will be a woman.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is globally extremely rare. But I don't think New Zealand is viewed as rare any longer.

WATSON (voice-over): Jenny Shipley was New Zealand's first female prime minister.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The public wants to see New Zealand, they want to see who we are reflected in their leaders. And I think we have achieved that.

WATSON (voice-over): Polls have Ardern in the lead, enjoying public confidence earned over a tumultuous time in office -- Ivan Watson, CNN.

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BRUNHUBER: There was a rare admission by North Korea's leader. He says his economic plans have failed. But just ahead, how the secretive nation is still pushing forward with a dramatic new weapon of war.

Plus, we look at the fragile cease-fire now in effect between Azerbaijan and Armenia and we'll explain what they have been fighting over. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: All right, what you're looking at there is what analysts say could be one of the world's largest ballistic missiles. North Korea unveiled it at a parade celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Workers Party.

Now South Korea's military just said it would maintain full readiness to respond to immediately to any North Korean threats. Our Will Ripley has more.

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WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Back on New Year's Day, January 1st of this year, when Kim Jong-un promised to unveil a new strategic weapon. That was, of course, before the COVID-19 pandemic ground the world to a halt and left the hermetically sealed Hermit Kingdom more isolated than ever.

Now we're getting our first look at what many analysts believe is that weapon, one of the largest world's largest ballistic missiles. It's massive. It's carried by an 11 axle truck. At the climax of an almost 2-hour military parade in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

I've covered these parades many times over the years and they always bring them out at the end, do it for the drama. The ground is actually shaking beneath your feet as they pass by.

Experts are telling us this missile right here could potentially carry multiple warheads, only increasing the threat to the mainland United States, despite dozens of "love letters" between President Trump and Kim Jong-un -- Trump's words, not mine.

This is the kind of thing that North Korea would typically love to showcase for the foreign media, including CNN, who has been invited almost every year. But this year things are different. Borders are closed due to COVID-19, essentially shutting down trade in an already struggling economy, battered by international sanctions over its nuclear program.

A widespread COVID-19 pandemic inside North Korea -- keep in mind, they have very limited, outdated medical resources. That would be catastrophic. This year we barely saw Kim Jong-un in public when compared to previous years.

He disappeared from public view for weeks on end, leading to speculation about his health. But Kim appeared to be back in full form at this military parade, staged in the middle of the night with slick special effects, including a drone flyby. Certainly the most dramatic North Korean military parade I've ever seen.

Perhaps the most drama came from Kim himself, dressed in a gray suit and appeared to be almost crying, sobbing at times, tears rolling down his cheeks as he thanked the North Korean people for their hard work during exceptionally hard times.

North Korea has been absolutely battered this year, faced crippling sanctions over the nuclear missile programs, the economic catastrophe of closing the border because of the pandemic and natural disasters like a massive typhoon and flooding.

Things got so bad in North Korea that Kim did something that his grandfather and father never did. He admitted that his economic plans were a failure and that millions of his people, already scraping by, are suffering. That was reflected in his face and echoed by his audience. Many people

were heard crying right along with him. North Korea may struggle for food and electricity but they did show the world their missile program is only getting stronger -- Will Ripley, CNN, Hong Kong.

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BRUNHUBER: A temporary cease-fire between Azerbaijan and Armenia appears fragile as both sides accuse the other of violating it. A halt to fighting came into effect early Saturday in a deal brokered by Russia and praised by France.

But there have been reports of new fighting from both sides, raising fears of more bloodshed and civilian deaths. The latest violence began late last month. But Armenia and Azerbaijan have been hostile for decades.

Now at the center of their conflict, Nagorno-Karabakh. The region is internationally known as part of Azerbaijan but it's controlled by an ethnic Armenian majority.

At least 17 people have been killed and 50 others injured as a train hit a bus on Sunday in Thailand. Police tell CNN the bus was crossing the tracks near a train station when a cargo train slammed into it. The people on board were on their way to a temple east of Bangkok. Police and rescue teams are still working at the crash site.

Destruction and devastation.

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BRUNHUBER: After the break we'll take a look at the aftermath of Hurricane Delta after it made landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Many residents in the U.S. state of Louisiana woke up to chaos and destruction after Hurricane Delta made landfall Friday night. It's now categorized as a post tropical cyclone.

At its worst, the storm knocked out power to a quarter of the state's residents. It downed power lines, trees and severely damaged homes. Luckily, no deaths have been reported.

Heavy rain and flooding have been big problems. Delta dropped more than a foot of rain on Louisiana and pummeled other Southern states, putting millions under flash flood warnings. Thousands of National Guard troops are in Louisiana, helping emergency crews as residents reel from back-to-back storms. Martin Savidge has more from Lake Charles.

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MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It turns out that Hurricane Delta was not the destructive killer that had been feared. Still, the governor of Louisiana said it had a greater impact on the western part of Louisiana than they had expected.

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SAVIDGE: Primarily in the issue of knocking out power. More people lost power during Delta than they did during the more powerful Laura 6 weeks ago. The governor says at the height of the outages during Delta, 25 percent of all electricity customers in the state lost power.

The good news is that it's not expected to take weeks to restore. The other good news, so far, no deaths attributed to the storm, although I'll underline "so far."

The awful irony here in Lake Charles is that this community was so devastated by Hurricane Laura at the end of August, it's really hard to tell where the damage of one hurricane ends and where the destruction of the next storm begins.

But we do know there is additional destruction here. We know that by the blue tarps, which were put there by the homeowners starting to make very basic repairs. Now blue tarps are torn, shredded, ripped and strewn all over Lake Charles.

That means the homes have been damaged again and homeowner and all the people who live in them will have to start over again, which they are already doing, relying on the help of their friends and neighbors in their community again -- Martin Savidge, CNN, Lake Charles, Louisiana.

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BRUNHUBER: And if you're looking for ways to help those affected by Hurricane Delta, the impact your world team can show you how. Go to cnn.com/impact. We'll keep updating the page as more information becomes available.

Well, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving. "MARKETPLACE AFRICA" is next.