Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
World Health Organization: Europe is Epicenter of Disease; U.S. Facing Highest Infection Rate since Outbreak Began; Early Votes Coming in at Record-Setting Pace; Chinese Authorities Finish Testing 4.7 Million in Xinjiang; Pro-Democracy Protestors Fill Streets in Thailand; Trump Says of Kamala Harris: U.S. Won't Have a Socialist President, 'Especially a Female Socialist President'; White House to Hold Swearing-In Event as Pence Team Faces Coronavirus Outbreak; Supreme Court Rules Wisconsin Cannot Extend Deadline for Mail-in Ballots. Aired 12-12:45a ET
Aired October 27, 2020 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause.
Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, no plateau in sight. Coronavirus infections surging to record levels in U.S. and Europe. Health institutions under strain amid a third and possibly highest peak so far of COVID-19.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, I mean, I got it and I'm here, right?
VAUSE (voice-over): While Trump boasts he beat the virus a new forecast says the coronavirus death toll will top 500,000 by next February.
And just 7 days before America votes and it may all come down to just one battleground state. Later this hour, find out which one and why.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
VAUSE: Well, almost every health expert warned the coming winter in the Northern Hemisphere would be bleak. Those predictions are now coming true with new numbers and infections threatening across Europe in the United States.
The U.S. has now recorded its highest 7-day average since the pandemic began. The death toll in Europe has passed 250,000 with cases rising in almost every member state. But there is a small window of opportunity to act. The World Health Organization says nothing short of drastic action is needed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. MICHAEL RYAN, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: There's no question that the European region is an epicenter for disease right now. We're well behind this virus in Europe.
So getting ahead of it is going to take some serious acceleration of what we do, maybe a much more comprehensive nature of measures that are going to be needed to catch up with and get ahead of this virus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: On Monday, global markets tumbled on the news on Wall Street. The Dow dropped over 650 points. Stocks in Europe fell because several countries were imposing new restrictions to try and contain this latest outbreak.
France just reported the highest number of new hospitalizations since April and later this week senior government officials will consider tougher restrictions. Here's Melissa Bell from the worst hot spot in Europe.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in France after several days of record rises in terms of the number of new cases, there are fears that it could be worse than the official figures suggest.
The head of the French scientific council say they could be double and what the official figures are showing. That's because some people are asymptomatic and because some people don't bother to get tested.
All eyes on very much on the curfews that are in place for some 46 million French people will have the desired effect. With places like here in Paris, the ICUs coming into particular strain.
It's a similar story elsewhere, while other European countries try to tackle the second wave with fresh restrictions coming in starting Monday. The Italian government said they simply couldn't afford a second lockdown.
In Spain, a state of emergency that'll last until May, with fresh curfews coming in and restrictions between travel. Switzerland as well, expected to bring restrictions as the continent tries to bring down their COVID-19 figures while avoiding a second lockdown that could prove catastrophic economically -- Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Could be pandemic fatigue in Italy where protests broke out in several cities Monday after new restrictions were announced. In Milan, demonstrators set off firecrackers and lit flares. Police responded with tear gas.
In Germany, chancellor Angela Merkel has warned of difficult months to come. She plans to close down bars, restaurants and public events. A Belgium official warns intensive care units could be out of beds in 2 weeks if the admissions of COVID-19 patients continues to rise. [00:05:00]
VAUSE: Belgium has Europe's second highest rate per capita after the Czech Republic which now has a 9 pm curfew. Retail stores must also close on Sundays.
The U.S. is now averaging more than 68,000 coronavirus infections a day, its highest rate since the pandemic began. In the past week, at least 37 of the 50 states have seen a rise in cases. Many have recorded the highest rise in 7 day averages ever, including South Dakota, where every 23 out of 400 tests are showing positive. More details now from CNN's Brian Todd.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's gotten to the point where even some of the most hardened public health officials can't take it anymore, like Illinois' top health officer, when she gave an update on cases and deaths in her state.
DR. NGOZI EZIKE, DIRECTOR, ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH: For a total of 364,033 confirmed cases since the start of this pandemic. Excuse me, please.
TODD: The coronavirus resurgence that top health officials warned about is here. The U.S. is now reporting its highest level of weekly new cases ever, since the pandemic started, now surpassing even the worst of the surge in July; 37 states are worsening from coast to coast. None are improving.
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: We're at a dangerous tipping point right now. We're entering what's going to be the steep slope of the curve, of the epidemic curve.
TODD: Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb also says there's, quote, "no backstop," meaning no barrier to a rise in cases, no forceful policy intervention from national, state and local officials to stop the rise. Other top experts agree.
DR. TOM INGLESBY, DIRECTOR, JOHNS HOPKINS CENTER FOR HEALTH SECURITY: I'm very worried about what's coming in the weeks ahead, because I don't see a lot of changes in direction from state leaders or from what they're asking people to do differently.
If there aren't substantial changes in what individuals are doing or what state leaders are directing, then these numbers are going to continue to go up and hospitals are going to go into crisis.
TODD: That's already happening in Utah, where a top hospital official says the state is very close to having to ration hospital care.
GREG BELL, PRESIDENT, UTAH HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION: At the end of the day, some senior person vs. some very healthy young person probably would not get the nod.
TODD: In Wisconsin, a state ravaged by the virus, a special field hospital has been taking in overflow patients for days, patients like 34-year-old Amanda Best, a nurse who agreed to be transferred, even though she wasn't stable.
AMANDA BEST, COVID-19 PATIENT: It was more, we need room. Are you willing to, because you're the youngest one we have?
TODD: In El Paso, where local hospitals have experienced at least a 200 percent increase in patients, the Convention Center is being converted into a hospital and an overnight curfew is in place to limit people's mobility.
In Arizona, an entire middle school, students, staff, teachers, everyone forced to quarantine for at least two weeks because of exposures to the virus.
Today, America's top voice on the pandemic said, this probably isn't another wave of the virus, because the first wave likely never ended.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: If you want to call it the third wave or an extended first wave, no matter how you look at it, it's not good news.
TODD: Dr. Anthony Fauci and other top health leaders in America say it's time to think about a national mandate for every American to wear a mask in public.
FAUCI: That everyone agrees that this is something that's important and they mandated it, everybody pulls together and say, we're going to mandate it, but let's just do it, I think that would be a great idea, to have everybody do it uniformly.
TODD: Dr. Fauci and other top experts agree that there could be legal challenges to a national mandate to wear masks and then enforcing that rule could be difficult. But they say, if there's any time to put that rule in place, it's now because there are too many people across the country who either don't bother to wear masks or are openly resisting. It
Just this past weekend in south Florida, there was a protest against mask wearing, where people actually burned masks -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: With us now from Seattle is Dr. Chris Murray, chair of Health Metrics Sciences at the University of Washington.
Dr. Murray, thank you for being with us.
DR. CHRISTOPHER MURRAY, INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH METRICS AND EVALUATION: Happy to be here.
VAUSE: We'll get to a study which talks about masks and the number of lives that can be saved in a moment. But in very broad brush strokes, are one or 2 common factors driving this huge surge in infections in the U.S., all across Europe?
And how do you see this all playing out on the impact of health care systems, human lives and the economic cost?
MURRAY: Well, the surge, there is no surprise. We have been predicting it for 3 or 4 months. The reason is, COVID-19 is seasonal. So as we head into the winter in the Northern Hemisphere, we've been expecting a big uptick in transmission.
It's happening exactly on cue and the surprise is that anybody is surprised by this. We also really have some pretty good ideas of what to do to put the brakes on it.
VAUSE: With that in mind, you were among a number of specialists who looked at this rate of infection as well as other actors and developed a model that predicts, by the end of February the U.S. death toll will pass 500,000.
[00:10:00]
VAUSE: But if there's a national mask mandate that was followed, that would save about 130,000 lives, even if 85 percent of the population wore a mask it would mean 100,000 fewer deaths overall.
Regardless of the outcome of next week's election, Donald Trump will still be there till January.
Given that, are there any other factors that you could see having masks being worn on a universal basis anytime soon?
MURRAY: Well, I think that the important thing for people to grasp is that wearing a mask is not only protecting yourself and your family but it's the best way to avoid people losing their job and losing income because what's going to happen is, when health systems get overwhelmed, governors in states, just as we're seeing in Europe, will have to put mandates back in place.
And it's probably going to have very bad economic consequences. So wearing a mask is both about your health but about your livelihood.
VAUSE: The White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, seemed to sum up the White House's pandemic response on Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: We're not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation areas...
What we need to do is make sure that we have the proper mitigation factors, whether it's therapies or vaccines or treatments, to make sure that people don't die from this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It's astonishing, you. Can't control a pandemic. Yes you can by wearing a mask. They just haven't really tried.
MURRAY: Well, you know I think the evidence is pretty clear about wearing a mask and there's also other things we can do. It's not just wearing a mask that's going to help. Avoiding large gatherings, because we know the role of superspreaders.
People who are at risk, comorbidities, over 65, should be really careful. All that together we can do a lot to avoid the death toll.
VAUSE: So there are a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions that can take place. It seems the Trump administration wants to focus on the medication, the medical side of this, the vaccines, the therapeutic drugs, which seems to be out of whack with what health experts are saying all over the world.
MURRAY: Well, we're all hopeful about a vaccine. I think our modeling of that is that the impact, even if we're lucky and get one by the end of December, the scale-up of the vaccine is not going to be fast enough to do much about this winter surge.
So we've really got to grab on to what we can do now and that's mask wearing and these other non pharmaceutical interventions as you mentioned that can really make a difference.
VAUSE: Want you to listen to President Trump talking about health care workers, essentially faking the numbers of dead in the U.S. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Doctors get more money and hospitals get more money. So some countries do it differently. If somebody is very sick with a bad heart, they die of COVID, they don't get reported as COVID so then you wonder I wonder whether cases. This country and the reporting systems are not doing it right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, that accusation about health care workers getting more money and increased funding for the high number of deaths seems cretinous (ph).
But how about the differences in how each country determines the cause of death?
MURRAY: Sure. Many countries in Europe, certainly the United States, a number of countries in Latin America also report total weekly deaths. So we're able to look at total weekly deaths compared to last year or the year before for that same week and figure out how much has totals death gone up.
That number is always larger than the official COVID statistics for sure. But that increase, which is about 50 percent higher in most countries, is reasonably consistent across Europe and the United States so there isn't really a lot of an evidence, at least comparing the U.S., Canada and Europe, a big difference on how COVID deaths are being reported.
VAUSE: So just to be clear, when we're looking at the number of dead in the U.K., Australia or New Zealand, wherever, we are comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges?
MURRAY: Pretty much. It's a pretty reasonable comparison. The difference there in these analyses of all the deaths that are out there don't change the story that we're seeing. The U.S. has a huge epidemic, Belgium has a huge epidemic, a number of other countries in Europe as well.
[00:15:00]
MURRAY: We're heading into the winter. It's only going to get worse.
VAUSE: It's a grim warning to finish on. But a very pertinent one. Dr. Chris Murray, thank you for being with us. We appreciate it.
MURRAY: My pleasure.
VAUSE: The world's longest ever coronavirus lockdown is about to be lifted; for 112 days, Melbourne, almost 5 million people, have been under a stay-at-home order. At the stroke of midnight, less than nine hours from now, all restrictions on movement will end. The city has been at the epicenter of Australia's pandemic.
The decision to end the lockdown came after state health officials reported no new cases on Monday. Angus Watson is in Sydney for us this. hour
Angus, lockdown may be over but clearly concerned remains during the corona pandemic as it's far from over.
ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER: That's right, John. From today, the longest lockdown in the world will end in Melbourne, Victoria. People will be allowed out of their homes for any reason for the first time in 16 weeks. They'll be told you have to remain vigilant, diligent with social distancing and good hygiene. You must still wear a mask.
There is a mask mandate. People in Victoria will have to wear masks out of the home until at least until next year. The premier said today no new cases detected today. No new cases detected yesterday but the virus is still likely out there. So people in Victoria have done so well but danger does lurk still.
VAUSE: Australians and Victorians, having lived there, are not known for their love of authority and being told what to do.
Was there a sense of huge sacrifice but it was worth it?
WATSON: It was the people of Victoria that did this even more so. The people of Melbourne that achieved this extraordinary feat just 2 weeks ago. Victoria was seeing some of the highest numbers of anywhere, as Europe and U.S. was hitting a little bit of a lull, Victoria was reaching numbers up to 700 a day for such a small jurisdiction. Now we are at zero. The people in Victoria are very proud about that.
They are excited to get out of their places. They are excited about the fact that, if they could say, listen, world, we know you guys in Europe or the United States are going through a bit of a tough time. But this virus can be beaten if people are diligent and people do stick to the rules.
CNN affiliate Channel 9 had a poll last week of Daniel Andrews, measuring how people felt about the lockdown restrictions, this very deep and long lockdown. He still has a 56 percent approval rating. That was before the lockdown was lifted today. And you can imagine, John, they will be feeling even better about it now that they can go out to have a beer or visit their friends.
VAUSE: He gave 100 consecutive news briefings that went on for hours each day. Angus Watson, we appreciate you being with us. Thank you.
With the U.S. election just one week away, candidates are focusing on a key battleground state. Up next, the fight for Pennsylvania.
And changing the balance of the Supreme Court. Amy Coney Barrett is formally sworn in.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:20:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
VAUSE: The U.S. election one week away and records are being smashed across the country, leading to predictions of the highest voter turnout by percentage in more than one century. About 120,000 people showed up to vote in New York City on Monday. More than 62 million Americans have already cast their ballots.
The focus for both presidential candidates on Monday was Pennsylvania. It's a crucial battleground state. Trump won the state in 2016 by a razor thin margin. He did 3 rallies there on Monday, suggesting he may not accept the election results.
He said the only way he could lose its through election fraud. He urged supporters to keep an eye on the polls, falsely claiming a Pennsylvania judge ruled against poll watchers.
Even as U.S. cases soar, the president defended his handling of the pandemic, taking a jab at Joe Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He has. He has waved a white flag. This guy does not leave his basement. He is a pathetic candidate. I will tell you that. The opposite. Absolutely the opposite. We've done an incredible job.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Joe Biden was not in his basement. He made a surprise campaign appearance in Chester, Pennsylvania. He fought back at Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D-DE), FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Two hundred thousand could die between now and the end of the year. He said we are not going to control it. Not going to control it. The bottom line is Donald Trump is the worst possible president, worst possible person to try to lead us through this pandemic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: To New York now for more. We are joined by Harry Enten.
Thanks for coming back. It's been a while.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: A long while. Now that we are wearing masks all over the place. This is the first time I've been in studio in 6 months. It has been a long while.
VAUSE: It seems there are 2 types of polls out there. There are the opinion polls published by news organizations like CNN, "The New York Times" and then there is one by universities like Quinnipiac. Regardless, all of them have the president trailing Joe Biden not just nationally but also in a number of key swing states.
And there seems to be the secret polls, which only Donald Trump can see. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: These are the polls, right?
So winning 52 percent and 53 percent. Not bad, right?
That's national. As crazy as it is, it doesn't mean anything. Nevada, Trump is up by 2. Texas, Trump is up by 4. Much more than 4. Florida, we are up 4. It just came out. It just came out. Georgia, we are up very nicely. 4 or 5. But we are really up much more than that.
Don't forget, if we're up 4, add another 4, 5, 6, 7 to it. I'm not sure I'm proud of it but people don't want to talk about it. Right, they don't want to talk. But they vote, they vote. Arizona, we are up in Arizona. We are up in Iowa. We are up big in Montana. In Montana, we are up really big. We are up in Utah and we are up 22 points in West Virginia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Is that sort of internal party polling he's talking about?
Is it something he made up?
Is there legitimacy to those? ENTEN: Some of those numbers, I don't think he is up in Montana, he is in West Virginia. Some of those he is correct. He is up in Montana. West Virginia, you mentioned, but here's the whole situation. A lot of those numbers are either cherry picked or I don't even know where the heck he got them from, to be perfectly honest with you.
You mentioned internal numbers. The fact is that the Republican campaigns have in fact been releasing some of their internal numbers. And those numbers that they have released showed him on average 5 points behind the pace he set in 2016.
If you speak with people like Dave Wasserman (ph) at the "Political Report," who gets these internal numbers, the ones even the public does not see, they also show that Trump is running well behind his 2016 pace. So I'm just looking at the real data. I don't see him ahead in the race at all.
VAUSE: Those remarks from Trump came Monday at one of 3 campaign rallies in the state of Pennsylvania, 3 stops, same state, one day. That says a lot.
[00:25:00]
VAUSE: Pennsylvania's already seen a ton of litigation, much of it coming from Republicans as well as the Trump campaign. Again on Monday Trump said there was massive voter fraud happening in Pennsylvania. I want you to listen to the state's attorney general responding to that accusation. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH SHAPIRO, PENNSYLVANIA AG: He says he is watching. About the only thing I have seen in Pennsylvania is that Donald Trump has gone 0 in 5 in court challenges against us here, court challenges where he has alleged widespread voter fraud. And yet never was able to back it up with a shred of evidence. That is why courts have dismissed these baseless lawsuits that he has filed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Quite often, the point of litigation is not necessarily to win, especially if you don't have a case.
What has been the point of litigation we've seen in Pennsylvania over the last couple weeks?
ENTEN: He hasn't won. I don't really understand why he is filing all those lawsuits. Most of them are frivolous and that is why they have gone against him. I just think that the point is, if you are behind in the polls, you try and do a lot of different things that maybe you hope might be able to stick.
But right now it's not really sticking. Right now he's behind in the polls. So far, that really is not changing.
VAUSE: If you put all of this together just on Monday alone, the campaign stops, the litigation, the basis allegations. in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
Does it suggest that if Trump can't carry Pennsylvania, he does not have a vital path to a second term?
ENTEN: It's going to be very, very difficult if he does not carry Pennsylvania. If you add the Clinton states plus a state like Michigan, plus Wisconsin where Biden is ahead in the polls, by a fairly clear margin at this point, Pennsylvania is the state that puts Joe Biden over 270 electoral votes.
Right now the polling does have him down in Pennsylvania. I can draw out maps for you that work for Trump, even if he loses in Pennsylvania. But those maps are no more realistic than basically anything. So he almost certainly does have to win Pennsylvania. Right now he is trailing there.
VAUSE: A week to go. Great to see you, Harry Enten. Good to see you again.
ENTEN: Nice to see you.
VAUSE: It has been just one month since President Trump introduced judge Amy Coney Barrett as his nominee for a vacant seat on the Supreme Court. Now she is officially Justice Barrett.
Sworn in just hours ago, at a ceremony at the White House, just after hours after the U.S. Senate voted to confirm her nomination despite every single Democrat voting no. CNN congressional correspondent Phil Mattingly has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a matter of weeks. It just took weeks for Donald Trump, for Republicans in the United States Senate, to put their replacement up and have her confirmed for the Supreme Court, replacing Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the liberal icon. Amy Coney Barrett is now the 9th Supreme Court associate justice. She will join a court that is now 6-3 leaning towards the Right.
That is the most conservative court in nearly nine decades. It's an ultimate moment for Mitch McConnell and the Republican conference, who together, with the Trump White House, now have confirmed 200 judicial nominees. That is a lot of judicial nominees, basically remaking the court.
But none bigger than this conservative justice, who will now be seated. The work will start immediately. There will be election law cases likely coming across her desk within a matter of days; religious liberty case coming over the next course of the several weeks; also the Affordable Care Act.
The arguments will start in the Supreme Court on November 10th. Democrats fought this every single step of the way. But this became a math issue. Very early on. Republicans held the majority. They only needed a simple majority to be able to confirm Amy Coney Barrett and Mitch McConnell moved quickly early to lock in that support, support that persisted throughout the nomination process, throughout the hearings and into the final vote.
All but one Republicans supported the nomination. This is how McConnell framed things on the floor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCONNELL: This is one of the most brilliant, admired and well qualified nominees in our lifetime by any objective standard, colleagues, Judge Barrett deserves to be confirmed to the Supreme Court.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Amy Coney Barrett will also be remembered for what happened at the start of her confirmation process. That was the nomination ceremony in the White House. And event that turned into a, quote, "superspreader event" according to Anthony Fauci. The White House decided to have another event.
This one protocols a little bit different; precautions a little bit different as well. Once again, at the White House, celebrating a cornerstone judicial achievement for the administration, for Senate Republicans, some of the people who are missing from that moment, Senate Republicans, a lot of whom made clear that they did not plan to attend the White House. They wanted to go home, they want to go campaign. A lot of them just not want to be involved in what they had seen the first time around, where a couple of their own actually got sick with COVID-19.
Still, the celebration for an achievement for the Trump administration, when the Democrats vow to fight back against, should they take the majority?
Just a couple of days -- Phil Mattingly, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[00:30:02]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: What started with just one confirmed case of COVID-19 was followed by mass testing of nearly five million people. When we come back, the very latest on the ongoing coronavirus testing in China's western Xinjiang province.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Authorities in China's northwest hope to finish testing of more than four million people in the coming hours. The mass tests in Xinjiang province were ordered after a single asymptomatic case was diagnosed on Saturday.
Since then, 164 more asymptomatic cases have been reported.
Our man in Beijing, live this hour, Steven Jiang. I guess whenever it comes to Xinjiang, there's always this ulterior motive of what are they up to? I guess how is the mass testing been conducting, and how are they being received, I guess, by the five million people who are being tested?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Well, you know, this kind of mass testing is not without controversy, John. Even some Chinese experts have questioned its necessity and effectiveness.
But from the perspective of Chinese authorities, this is one of those tried and true methods that you have seen them deploy across the country in recent months to deal with localized outbreaks.
And this is exactly what happened in Kashgar on Saturday after they discovered that first asymptomatic case. They immediately launched these contact-tracing, mass testing and then locking down four towns when they uncover now more than 160 additional asymptomatic cases.
But, you know, they're also getting help help from Beijing where the central government us sending a team of experts to help them do even more epidemiological investigations. Because there are quite a few baffling aspects about this latest cluster of cases.
This initial case, a teenage village girl working at a local garment factory. She and her family have never traveled out of town. They have no known contact with previous cases. And so it's still a mystery how they became infected.
And then her family and fellow factory workers actually tested negative. The positive cases came from factory workers at her parents' workplace, where -- where she visited.
So there's still quite a few missing pieces that the authorities need to find and connect, but still, right now, they are saying they are deploying this method, because this has been the key to their success so far to contain this virus within its borders.
But the worry, of course, because of the asymptomatic nature of these latest cases, it's much harder for the authorities to find them and isolate them so that's a great challenge or likely to be a great challenge they prepared to deal with more cases in the coming winter months, because as you know, John, experts have long said this virus survives and thrives better in colder environments -- John.
[00:35:07]
VAUSE: Yes, and when you have 1.5 billion people. It's no easy task.
Steven, thank you. Steven Jiang, as always, live for us in Beijing. Thanks, Steven.
A quick break to come. When we come back, we'll have the very latest from Thailand. Why protesters marched to the German embassy. We'll explain in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VAUSE: Protestors in Thailand are trying a new tactic in their demands for democratic reforms from the king, and they want Germany to help. Here's Asia correspondent Jonathan Miller with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN MILLER, CNN ASIA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the capital crippled by protests, young Thais clambering for reform of the monarchy mobbed rush-hour commuter routes at 5 p.m. sharp.
Across town a parliamentary session called to debate the deepening crisis was failing to debate the heart of the matter in hand, namely Thailand's supposedly constitutional monarch.
(on camera): So once again central Bangkok has been brought to a total standstill by protests. These guys are now marching down the road here towards a phalanx of riot police up ahead. Now, they've had their demands for reform rebuffed. They've had the prime minister completely ignore their ultimatum that he resign.
(voice-over): They're marching to the German embassy, because Germany's where King Maha Vajiralongkorn calls home. He even changed the Thai constitution to enable him to rule from abroad.
Berlin has expressed its displeasure over his conducting Thai state affairs from German soil. And the German foreign ministers wanted immediate consequences if anything he's done there is deemed illegal.
It's like the protesters smell blood.
PARAVAT "POND" CHANTARAKAJON, PROTESTOR: Like any kind of his system that you have to be afraid of, any kind of institution that you have to be afraid of, to uphold, that's -- that's not right. That's not going to last.
MILLER (on camera): So King Maha Vajiralongkorn is not a semi-divine king to you?
CHANTARAKAJON: No. Hell no. No, and he knows it. He knows it, that he's only human.
MILLER (voice-over): Thailand's would-be Sun King did a walkabout among ultra-loyalists outside the Grand Palace. It's like watching a video from ancient Siam, with his subjects crying out praises, prostrating themselves and kissing his feet.
Queen Suthida spots a man in the crowd that she supposedly recognizes as Thitiwat Tanagaroon, a man who held up a picture of the late king at a pro-reform protest. The king tells him how brave he is twice and thanks him profusely.
[00:40:05]
"Long live your majesty," Mr. Thitiwat says. "I love you so very much." The protesters presented a letter to the German embassy, the contents
of which are too controversial for the Thai media to even report on. It asks Germany to investigate just what Thai state affairs King Maha Vajiralongkorn has been conducting there and makes very serious allegations about his activities and lifestyle.
We couldn't reach the royal palace for comment.
The protesters say they want reform, not revolution, but the hashtag "#republic" has been trending.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thanks to Jonathan Miller in Bangkok for that report.
Prince Harry says his royal upbringing left him with no concept of racial bias. It's only through his wife that he gained some understanding.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRINCE HARRY, UNITED KINGDOM: Unconscious bias from my understanding, you know, having the upbringing and the -- and the education I have, I had no idea that -- what it was. I had no idea it existed. And then, you know, sad as it is to say, it took me many, many years to -- to realize that, especially then living a day or a week in my wife's shoes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: He made those comments during an interview with "G.Q.," part of a feature celebrating Black History Month in the U.K.
Well, NASA says it now has definitive proof that water exists on the moon and in more places than once thought. This is based on research from two studies, and scientists found that the water is not just in the polar regions, but also in areas which is hit by the sun.
That water could be used in future human missions, not just to the moon and beyond. It could be used as rocket fuel, as well as supporting human life. It's a discovery that one NASA scientist says came as a surprise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL HERTZ, NASA DIRECTOR OF ASTROPHYSICS: We were expecting water. We -- we weren't guessing that water could survive in the sunlit part of the moon. And so, thinking about how did it get there and how did it survive is an interesting scientific question that tells us something about the history of the moon. That tells us about processes that take place on -- other airlit bodies in our solar system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, NASA made this discovery in part from SOFIA, which is an infrared telescope mounted inside a 747 Boeing jet. Also from a lunar reconnaissance orbiter, which has been circling the moon since 2009. Good news.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. I will be back in about 15 minutes with a lot more news. But in the meantime, it's WORLD SPORT. Thanks for watching.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
