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Biden Begins Work of Transition, with Trump Still Not Conceding; European Leaders Ready to Work with Biden; China Sidesteps Biden's Win Amid Rocky U.S. Relations; Xinjiang Reports Zero New Cases in Latest Outbreak; New Restrictions in Effect as Cases Rise in Europe; How Harris May Fill Historic Role in Biden Administration. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired November 10, 2020 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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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, in the midst of the darkest days of the global pandemic comes word of what could be the greatest medical advance in 100 years, a safe and effective vaccine for the coronavirus.
President-Elect Joe Biden announced a new White House coronavirus task force, promises more widespread testing and a national mask mandate and warns Americans of difficult days still to come.
And Donald Trump, who tried to ignore the coronavirus pandemic, now trying to ignore the outcome of the election, playing golf, rage tweeting and firing his Defense Secretary.
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VAUSE: The contrast with the Trump administration could not be more stark. On the same day the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the U.S. passed 10 million, President-Elect Joe Biden unveiled his plan to bring this pandemic under control, including a new White House advisory board.
He also appealed to all Americans to wear a face mask, insisting they're not a political statement. But Biden is still more than two months away from taking office.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: The bottom line, I will spare no effort to turn this pandemic around once we're sworn in on January 20th, to get our kids back to school safely, our businesses growing and to get an approved vaccine manufactured and distributed as quickly as possible to as many Americans as possible, free of charge. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That vaccine could be imminent. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer says early results show its vaccine is more than 90 percent effective and has promised no corners were cut. This is one of four vaccine candidates in late-stage trials in the U.S. Even if approved, it's still unclear just how long this two-dose vaccine will last and how and when it be available for distribution. We get more details now from CNN's Athena Jones.
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ALBERT BOURLA, PFIZER CEO: It's a very important day for humanity.
ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It could be the coronavirus vaccine the world has been waiting for, Pfizer and its partner BioNTech announcing an early analysis shows its vaccine candidate is more than 90 percent effective.
BOURLA: It is extraordinary, but it's coming at a time that the world needs it the most.
JONES: The company saying it expects to seek emergency use authorization from the FDA as soon as next week and is on track to produce up to 50 million doses this year and more than a billion next year, saying it will be free for Americans.
Dr. Anthony Fauci telling CNN by text, "It's extraordinarily good news," while others express cautious optimism.
DR. JAY VARKEY, EMORY UNIVERSITY: If, in deep dive of that data, that really shows like 90 percent efficacy, that'd be phenomenal, because, again, the FDA has been clear that even a vaccine that had 50 percent efficacy would actually help move the ball.
JONES: The promising news coming as the country reaches another grim milestone, 10 million COVID cases, more than 237,000 lives lost, 43 states now seeing a surge. Sunday was the fifth day in a row the U.S. topped 100,000 new cases in a single day.
DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Many of our hospitals, particularly across the Mountain West, the Midwest, the Upper Midwest are already getting overwhelmed.
JONES: Hospitalizations setting records in 19 states, with 30 states hitting their peak seven-day average for new cases on Sunday, including Indiana, where Notre Dame fans, ignoring social distancing guidelines, rushed the football field after the team's upset victory over Clemson on Saturday.
The university's president, who was himself diagnosed with COVID-19 after visiting the White House without a mask, announcing new measures, including putting students' registration hold if they refuse to submit to COVID testing.
Meanwhile, new concerns in New York City, once the epicenter of the crisis, where the positivity rate, while still low, is rising once again.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: And that is dangerous. So we have one last chance to stop a second wave.
JONES: Mayor de Blasio says if New York hits a full blown second wave it will mean a lot more restrictions and even having to shut down parts of the economy again. The city's health department is now providing more tools to help people track infection rates. Releasing new data showing percentage of people who tested positive for COVID-19 by zip code, to the most recent 7 days of available data. Athena Jones, CNN, New York.
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VAUSE: CNN medical analyst and professor of medicine at George Washington University, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, is with us this hour from Washington.
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VAUSE: Dr. Reiner, good to see you.
DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: My pleasure, thanks for having me.
VAUSE: OK. I'd like you to listen to the CEO of Pfizer about this vaccine. And it seems there's good news but it comes with a "but."
Here he is.
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BOURLA: Ninety-percent is a game changer, 90 percent. Now you're hoping to have a tool in your war against this pandemic that could be significantly effective.
How long this protection will last is something that we don't know right now but it's part of the objective of this study.
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VAUSE: So 90 percent effective, which is impressive. But at the stage we don't know how long that protection will actually last. So what's your hunch on all of this?
REINER: Well, we don't know. But this is a really good start.
I think if you asked a lot of people a few months ago, people were guessing that these vaccines might be somewhere between 50 to 70 percent effective.
Mind you, the influenza vaccine varies every year and in many years the influenza vaccine is only about 50 percent effective.
So now we know that in this pivotal phase III trial, Pfizer's vaccine is 90 percent effective, nine out of ten patients. Or in this trial, fewer than nine patients out of 94 patients who were infected had been vaccinated.
This is a spectacular result and pretty much close to what the measles vaccine does in terms of its effectiveness.
What we don't know and we won't know until we have longer term data is how durable the immunity is.
VAUSE: OK. Ninety percent effective means that you can actually have a lower percentage of the population get vaccinated.
REINER: Yes.
VAUSE: And that's going to be crucial here. Because, as effective as this all is -- and the Pfizer CEO says it's the greatest medical advance in 100 years -- it's not going to be very effective unless a lot of people can be convinced it's safe and effective and actually go out and get the shots.
But the higher this efficacy is, the lower that number is, right?
REINER: Right. So, again, in order to obtain vaccine-induced herd immunity, we probably need at least about 70 percent of the population to have neutralizing antibodies.
So if the vaccine is 90 percent effective in producing those neutralizing antibodies then we're going to need to vaccinate in this country about at least 80 percent of the population. So that's something like 250 million people.
We've never done that before in the United States. And mind you, this vaccine requires two doses separated by three weeks. So that's a lot of doses of vaccine.
It's going to be an enormous logistical challenge to vaccinate at least half a billion people, maybe more like 600 million people over the next, let's say, 12 months.
VAUSE: There are also issues with distribution. We heard from Dr. John Burkhardt, he's Pfizer's vice president of global drug safety.
He told reporters on Monday --
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"We have to keep the product cold and shipped very much in sub- freezing temperatures, then there will be short-term instability, perhaps at refrigerated temperatures and that's going to be a logistical challenge."
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VAUSE: And that seems to be a challenge which can only be solved with the direct involvement of governments at all levels. So how does this play out during a period of transition when you have an outgoing administration which doesn't seem particularly interested and you have an incoming administration which has a night and day point of view?
REINER: Pfizer's anticipated a lot of this. And they've created an impressive process to transport the vaccine around the United States using these what they called cold boxes which can keep the vaccine at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 days.
So they've developed this distribution plan and they're on it.
And it looks like if we're lucky and we have a vaccine that receives an emergency use authorization let's say sometime in the next four weeks, we could be vaccinating people in December.
Maybe with up to 40 million doses. And that's going to be a great start.
So things are pretty dark now and the numbers are really bad. But for the first time since this pandemic began, we have meaningful light at the end of the tunnel that's not an oncoming train.
VAUSE: Well, over the weekend while the outgoing president played golf and he rage tweeted about the election, the incoming president announced he would appoint a new coronavirus advisory board.
On Monday we found out who was on that board -- there's not one radiologist among them.
President Elect Joe Biden also had this to say.
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BIDEN: A mask is not a political statement. But it is a good way to start pulling the country together.
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BIDEN: It doesn't matter who you voted for. We are Americans and our country is under threat.
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VAUSE: He spoke to the country honestly and like adults. It was a real change from what we've heard from Donald Trump.
How long will it be before that starts seeping in, the country really starts understanding how dangerous this pandemic is and the reality of what it takes to controlling it?
REINER: Well, I think a lot of parts of the United States are fully engaged in this right now.
Hospitals are filling up rapidly in the Midwest. In the last week in the United States, we've added an additional 6,000 patients with COVID to hospitals in the United States.
We haven't seen hospitalization -- hospitals this filled with COVID patients since the middle of July. So things are getting bad and it's going to be impossible for people to ignore it.
But it's a remarkable breath of fresh air now to see a president that's talking to the public about shared responsibilities and shared sacrifices. And now reconstituting a task force filled with people devoted to science.
Dr. Reiner, as always. Thank you so much.
REINER: My pleasure, John.
VAUSE: Donald Trump kept a relatively low profile on Monday; no public appearances, no tweet storms. Maybe because, as a Trump advisor told CNN, the president now sees a path to losing And he's now talking about the possibility of running again in 2024.
But Trump is still settling old scores. He fired his Defense Secretary via tweet on Monday. And he might just be the first of many officials to go. CNN's Kaitlan Collins has details from the White House.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Donald Trump terminating Defense Secretary Mark Esper in his first major act since losing the election, Trump announcing on Twitter that Secretary Esper had been fired and a senior intelligence official will take his place for the next two months.
The move was announced suddenly, though it was months in the making.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Mark Yesper.
Did you call Yesper?
QUESTION: Esper.
TRUMP: Oh, OK. Some people call him Yesper.
COLLINS: On his way out, Esper took issue with that description.
He told the "Military Times," "Who's pushed back more than anybody?
"Name another cabinet secretary that's pushed back.
"Have you seen me on a stage saying, under the exceptional leadership of blah, blah, blah, we have blah, blah, blah?"
Esper and Trump clashed this summer over the president's attempts to use active duty troops on American streets to control protests against police brutality.
MARK ESPER, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act. COLLINS: But Esper may not be Trump's last firing. Sources say attorney general Bill Barr, FBI director Christopher Wray and CIA director Gina Haspel could be next to go.
Esper's firing amounted to President Trump controlling what he could while contesting what he can't. He's refused to concede the election to President-Elect Joe Biden and spent the weekend out of public view, with the exception of two trips to the golf course.
Some in the president's inner circle are delicately pushing him to come to grips with reality and concede, while others are telling him to keep fighting and even suggesting running again in four years.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Grover Cleveland came back. Donald Trump should think about it if he falls short.
COLLINS (voice-over): Neither Trump nor vice president Mike Pence have called Biden or Senator Kamala Harris.
Today, Pence tweeted that he told his staff, quote, "It ain't over 'til it's over and this ain't over."
On the day Biden announced his transition task force on the pandemic, Pence met with the one that he leads for the first time in nearly 20 days, the meeting happening the same day news broke that another person in Trump's orbit has contracted COVID-19.
HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson tested positive today after attending an indoor election night party at the White House with hundreds of others, where few were wearing a mask and none were social distancing.
COLLINS: Ben Carson is not the only person in the president's inner circle that has tested positive. We have now learned that David Bossie, who was recently put in charge of coordinating the campaign's legal efforts to contest the outcome of the election, has also tested positive after traveling extensively, being in the campaign office and, of course, meeting with top White House officials as well -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
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VAUSE: To Washington now and Noah Bierman, White House reporter for the "Los Angeles Times."
And it's good to have you with us.
And what we have here right now; we have 71 days until Joe Biden is inaugurated. And until then, Donald Trump, he retains the full power of the presidency, the authority of the office.
In the past, there were always these traditions and norms which would constrain an outgoing president but Trump, over the last four years, he's shown all of us he has no regard for tradition and norms. So instead of describing him as a lame duck right now, would a better description, from what we've seen already, be more like a wounded animal?
NOAH BIERMAN, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Yes, I think that's a perfect description. And it started even sooner than I think many of us imagined it would.
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BIERMAN: And it's another example but really a prominent and very important one, where we in this country thought that a lot of the norms were enshrined some way, in ways that couldn't be violated.
In fact, they were really just agreements of people to behave in a certain way.
And so immediately, we've seen the president begin firing people, prominent people in the administration -- Esper, in this case, the Defense Secretary -- but we've also seen him refuse to concede and begin to use the levers of his office to try to undermine confidence in the election.
VAUSE: And while Donald Trump refuses to accept the outcome, so to his most loyal supporters like these guys.
Listen to this.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: It's legal for them to count votes in Pennsylvania two days after the election on November 3rd?
REPORTER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: You're wrong. Go. I don't even want to talk to you.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I've seen too much pieces of different evidence so far that shows that, at this point, I would be okay with a revote.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Well, where are all the Trump ballots that were mailed in? Why are we finding them laying around in different places?
REPORTER: But Trump was telling everybody not to mail it in, right? That's why there's so much more mail-in Democrat votes.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Ah, that's -- no. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You can never confront a Trump supporter with reality.
But on Monday we heard from Attorney General Bill Barr -- he's also on Trump's naughty list, by the way -- for insufficient loyalty.
But he did give approval for federal prosecutors to -- "pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities."
That all sounds official and like a real investigation but it's based on nothing, it'll have no impact on the election outcome.
But it will have a big impact on Trump's base. And not in a good way, right?
BIERMAN: Yes. I think that's right. What we're seeing is -- again and as you pointed out, Barr has done this before.
He has helped the president to create a narrative that's believed by a certain part of the country. And in this case it's that these fraud allegations have merit, that they're worth investigating.
When in fact, this is an election that -- I covered the Florida recount of the year 2000, that was a close election, that was five or six hundred votes. This is multiple states, tens of thousands of votes.
Biden has a bigger lead in the states where he's leading than Trump had four years ago, an election that he has falsely called a landslide.
This is not a question, really, that needs litigating in the court of public opinion.
But unfortunately, it's really going to hamper not only Biden but long term the ability of people to be able to have confidence that we have a fair election system here.
Which is obviously the bedrock of a democracy.
VAUSE: There's also the delay in just the transition. The general services administration is refusing to authorize the money needed for a transition.
Which means, in practical terms, Biden isn't getting the PDBs, the presidential daily briefs.
So that has a huge potential knock on effect for a whole lot of things.
BIERMAN: Yes. And these things become national security issues as well.
We have, obviously at any moment, we have international issues that a president needs to be fully aware of to be able to make very important life or death decisions.
We obviously have the COVID pandemic that's going on worldwide and there are issues that a new president needs to understand.
Biden, of course, has been there before, he was vice president. So he understands a lot more than a typical new president would understand but he doesn't have the facts on the ground that he needs.
VAUSE: We also heard from the Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, the Republican, who delivered his first remarks since Biden was declared president elect.
Notably, those remarks did not offer congratulations, refused to acknowledge that Biden had won.
Instead McConnell defended Trump's right to take legal action. Here he is.
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SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), U.S. SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Let's not have any lectures, no lectures about how the president should immediately, cheerfully accept preliminary election results from the same characters who just spent four years refusing to accept the validity of the last election.
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VAUSE: So I guess the bigger question is what sort of relationship will there be between Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell, are they going to be able to work together?
BIERMAN: Well, that's a big question. Biden's whole theory of the case was that he could come in and he has relationships with these members of the senate, members of the Republican Party, including McConnell.
And here's McConnell doing something that would normally be pretty shocking -- although we've already seen it a lot during this administration -- which is to be a part of this sort of fantasy of what's going on with this fraud.
And helping Trump to undermine this election and to hamper the transfer of power.
So it's really emblematic of the way that the party has behaved around Trump, nobody has wanted to challenge him and we see it here with McConnell.
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BIERMAN: I don't know how it will affect his relationship with Biden.
Although one of the important things is that McConnell has shown that he probably doesn't want to do a lot of compromising with Biden anyway. That was very much a strategy he pursued during the Obama Biden administration that helped him politically, was not to compromise.
VAUSE: Yes. From day one, if I recall. Noah, we're out of time. But it's good to see you.
Thank you. Welcome to the show, good to have you with us.
BIERMAN: Thanks for having me. Great talking to you.
VAUSE: Cheers.
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VAUSE: Still to come, the list of world leaders who have not congratulated Joe Biden, reads like a list of dictators and autocrats who Donald Trump once called his friends.
Plus markets soar on news of a possible vaccine and a Biden administration. A check on the markets when we come back.
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VAUSE: The announcement by Pfizer that it has developed a safe and effective vaccine has come as the coronavirus pandemic is once again surging around the world. While the drugmaker says it could distribute tens of millions of doses by year's end, CNN's Elizabeth Cohen reports on what needs to happen before the vaccine is widely available.
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ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Researchers in the United States have been studying four coronavirus vaccines in large- scale clinical trials and now there's data for one of them. The company that makes this vaccine, Pfizer, says that the data shows that it's more than 90 percent effective. My colleague Dr. Sanjay Gupta spoke to their CEO Dr. Albert Bourla.
ALBERT BOURLA, PFIZER CEO: I think that likely based on impact that would be the greatest medical advancement in the last hundred years, if you think about it, right? And it is extraordinary, but it is coming at a time that the world needs it the most. Right now, only the U.S. who has 100,000 victims of COVID every day. 1,000 deaths every day. I cannot count how many people are losing their jobs every day. So it is very important day for humanity.
COHEN: Now, that is a lot of enthusiasm. So, let's look at the numbers behind that enthusiasm. Pfizer enrolled more than 43,000 people in their study. Half of those people were given the vaccine and half were given a placebo or just a shot of saline that does nothing.
Now they waited several months, 94 of those people became sick with COVID. And when they look to see what did those people get the vaccine? Or did they get the placebo, what they found is only 10 percent of them received the vaccine. The other 90 percent got the placebos. So, that means that the vaccine is 90 percent effective.
Now this data comes from Pfizer. It has been reviewed by an independent data and safety board. However, it has not gone to the FDA yet. That is not expected to happen for at least a week because Pfizer has to wait for some safety data to come in. There is no particular reason to think that there would be any red flags there.
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COHEN: But of course it needs to be looked at.
Now, let's take a look at what happens next. First of all, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has to authorize the vaccine. That actually might turn out to be the easy part. It is very complex to distribute and administer this vaccine.
And the reason for that, it has to be kept at minus 75 degrees Celsius. That is much, much colder than any vaccines, for example, that are in use in the United States.
And it looks likely that people are going to have to get these shots yearly. The reason I say shots is this vaccine is given in two doses about three weeks apart.
And also, the public will have to be convinced to get it, or at least many members of the public. The reason for that is that poll after poll in various countries show that many people are suspicious of this vaccine. They're afraid there might be safety issues. So there is a fair amount of public education that will have to go on here. Back to you.
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VAUSE: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.
British prime minister Boris Johnson seemed upbeat on the use of this possible vaccine. In a news conference on Monday at Downing Street, he talked about plans for distribution but he did add a note of caution.
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BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: I must stress that these are very, very early days. We have talked for a long time -- or I have -- about the distant bugle of the scientific cavalry coming over the brow of the hill. I can tell you that, tonight, that toot, that bugle is louder but it is still some way off.
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VAUSE: Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau offered a similar message. Canada signed a deal with Pfizer in August to secure millions of doses of the vaccine. For now though, Mr. Trudeau is calling for patience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: We see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are hopeful that we are getting there, because our scientists are working incredibly hard. But we need to do our part. We need to stay strong and hang in there a few more months, maybe more than that but we can see it coming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Investors also seemed to be optimistic. The Dow surged 1,600 points at the opening bell, closing nearly 3 percent higher. The SNP, up 1.2 percent, just short of a new record high.
Also big tech companies benefiting from the stay at home economy did not fare as well, they were down in the Nasdaq. Let's look at the Asian markets and see how they reacted to the news.
You see green across the majors, the Seoul KOSPI just a down 0.12 percent.
Selina Wang is following this for us in Tokyo. She's live for us this hour.
I guess there is this optimism that maybe this is what everybody has been waiting for and with this, it could be a game-changer. I guess the question now is it has to be peer reviewed, has to be shown to work and has to be distributed, so there's a long way to go.
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right we, did see that wave of euphoria across Wall Street over these much better results. But this announcement from Pfizer was made in a press release, not a peer review journal.
Nonetheless, investors are already looking past, looking ahead to a potential COVID world and a faster economic recovery. As a result of that, you are seeing stocks of travel companies, shopping mall operators, of cruise line operators all soar with Carnival Cruise Lines jumping nearly 40 percent.
On the other, hand you're seeing stocks of companies that really benefited from the stay-at-home lifestyle plummet, with shares of Netflix, Peloton, Zoom, Clorox all dropping.
Now we are going to talk about some of these major caveats you already alluded to. First of all, scientists have guarded against this hype before we see this long term efficacy and safety data.
In addition to that, that more than 90 percent efficacy that Pfizer cited, that data point could change as the trial continues. Plus, we don't know how long this vaccine will provide protection for. Plus these doses have to kept at ultra low temperatures which will make the distribution of this very arduous and a logistical challenge.
Now the rally does show that investors are looking past the grim situation today as well as this difficult winter that we're going to have to go through and the fact, that social distancing is still going to remain the reality for the foreseeable future. And as Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN earlier, he said, yes, this is an
extraordinary announcement, there is now light at the end of the tunnel but we cannot forget these very important public health measures that we continued to heed to every single day -- John.
VAUSE: Selina Wang thank you very much in Tokyo.
Well when we come back, China dodge acknowledging Joe Biden as U.S. president-elect.
What does that mean for the relations between the world's top two economies in a post-Trump era?
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
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Well, with Donald Trump refusing to concede he's lost the election, he's also left the transfer of power to the president-elect in limbo. Joe Biden, for example, is not receiving the presidential daily brief, like every other candidate before him who took power.
Now, we have more details from CNN's Arlette Saenz.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good afternoon, everyone.
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On his first work day as president-elect, Joe Biden turned his attention straight to his top priority: tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
BIDEN: I will spare no effort to turn this pandemic around once we're sworn in in January 20.
SAENZ; With Vice President-elect Kamala Harris at his side, Biden warned of the pandemic's severity after the U.S. saw a record-breaking weekend in coronavirus cases.
BIDEN: The challenge before us right now is still immense and growing. We're still facing a very dark winter.
SAENZ: Biden welcomed progress on a vaccine while urging Americans to embrace masks to curb the growing spread of the virus.
BIDEN: Please, I implore you, wear a mask. Do it for yourself. Do it for your neighbor. A mask is not a political statement, but it is a good way to start pulling the country together.
SAENZ: The president-elect stressed his response will be guided by science, unveiling a new coronavirus task force led by a former surgeon general, FDA commissioner, and Yale University professor. Also on the team, Rick Bright, the whistleblower who alleged his early warnings about the pandemic went ignored by the Trump administration.
RICK BRIGHT, FORMER DIRECTOR, HHS BIOMEDICAL ADVANCED RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY: More people are going to die, because scientists are being pushed back. Scientists are not being heard.
SAENZ: With his transition underway, Biden is planning executive orders to undo some of President Trump's policies on his first day in office, including rejoining the Paris climate agreement and reinstating protections for DREAMers.
Biden's transition still faces one technical hurdle, as it waits for a Trump appointee at a government agency to sign a letter recognizing his victory and releasing funds for his operation.
In the days since his win, Biden has seen a wave of messages from world leaders, today speaking my phone with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and congratulatory statements from the king of Saudi Arabia and Israel's prime minister, two men seen as allies of President Trump.
While the current president has not acknowledged Biden's win, one former Republican president has. George W. Bush called Biden to extend his well wishes, saying, "Though we have political differences, I know Joe Biden to be a good man, who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country."
The president-elect already looking ahead to the next chapter.
[00:35:00] BIDEN: This election is over. It's time to put aside the partisanship and the rhetoric that's designed to demonize one another.
SAENZ (on camera): Now later today, Joe Biden will deliver remarks on the Affordable Care Act, as the Supreme Court gets ready to hear oral arguments to try to strike down President Obama's signature health care initiative, which is something Biden is working to protect.
Arlette Saenz, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.
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VAUSE: Joe Biden has a long list of fences which need to be mended, and that includes relations with the World Health Organization. That's after Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the WHO earlier this year, claiming it was China's puppet.
The organization's director-general, though, seems ready to move on from the disputes of the past.
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TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WHO: We congratulate President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, and we look forward to working with this administration very closely.
It's time for the world to heal from the ravages of this pandemic and the geopolitical divisions that only drag us further into the chasm of an unhealthier, unsafer and unfairer future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: British prime minister and Trump ally Boris Johnson has praised Joe Biden's commitment to tackling climate change. He's not the only European leader with some encouraging leaders for the U.S. president- elect. We get details now from Nic Robertson, reporting in from London.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, the message coming from European leaders is very clear. They see the possibilities of what can be achieved with a President-elect Joe Biden in the White House when he gets there.
We heard from Angela Merkel talking about the strength and importance of the transatlantic alliance, that Europe now recognizes it needs to play a stronger role in that alliance.
We heard from the commission president, the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen talking also about that alliance, about the importance of the European Union working with the United States to tackle global issues, coronavirus pandemic, the economic outfall from that.
So there's very clear positions there to build on the strength and cooperation that they believe that they can get with Joe Biden.
We also heard from the Irish foreign minister, Simon Coveney, speaking about the issue of Brexit and the support that Joe Biden, who has those deep Irish roots, has expressed around Brexit. His concerns, his support for the Irish, his concerns about the Brexit deal that the British government is negotiating that potentially could damage the Northern Ireland peace agreement.
And the Irish foreign minister speaking about how important Joe Biden's input on that would be, as well. We've kind of heard references towards that coming from the British government, as well, that they're recognizing that. They're putting out a narrative that the changes that they want to make to their Brexit agreement they have so far are in support of the Good Friday agreement.
All of this, of course, is in the future. But what we're looking at now are the possibilities and probabilities of what can be achieved with President-elect Joe Biden.
Nic Robertson CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And then silence can speak volumes. Some world leaders known to be strongmen are yet to congratulate the incoming U.S. president. That includes Russian President Vladimir Putin, who congratulated Donald Trump within hours of winning the 2016 presidential race.
Brazil's president, Jair Bolsonaro, known as the Trump of the tropics, also quiet on Trump's loss.
And despite the rocky relationship in the Trump administration and Beijing, President Xi Jinping is yet to officially acknowledge the incoming Biden presidency.
CNN's Ivan Watson has more on why China is taking a cautious approach to Biden's win.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Throughout the Trump administration, U.S.-China relations have been on a rollercoaster. President Trump was elected in 2016 after campaigning against China, accusing it of manipulating its currency on the world market.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can't continue to allow China to rape our country, and that's what they're doing.
WATSON: During his first years in office, Trump also celebrated his close personal ties to Chinese leader President Xi Jinping.
TRUMP: We had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you've ever seen, and President Xi was enjoying it.
WATSON: But by the last months of his presidency, President Trump has been openly blaming China for the deadly pandemic raging across the U.S. and the world.
TRUMP: And it was China's fault, and China's going to pay a big price, what they've done to this country. China's going to pay a big price, what they've done to the world.
WATSON: The past tumultuous four years have seen trade wars, military muscle flexing, the tit-for-tat shuttering of consulates, and an attempted U.S. ban of the Chinese social media app TikTok, leading some Chinese officials to talk of a new cold war.
[00:40:15]
WILLY LAM, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG: In the last several months, relationship between the world's two biggest economies has been toxic.
WATSON: Days after Joe Biden declared victory in the presidential election, Beijing is reacting to the news with caution.
WANG WENBIN, CHINESE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (through translator): We have noticed that Mr. Biden has announced his successful election. We understand that the outcome of the general election will be determined in accordance with the laws and procedures of the United States.
WATSON: Biden is no stranger to China. As a senator and vice president, he traveled repeatedly there, negotiating face to face with Xi. But as a presidential candidate, Biden adopted a hard line. BIDEN: What I'd make China do is play by the international rules.
We need to be having the rest of our friends with us, saying to China, these are the rules. You play by them or you're going to pay the price for not playing by them economically.
WATSON: Chinese state media is warning relations are unlikely to improve under President Biden, acknowledging that both Democrats and Republicans share suspicion of China.
But the state-run "Global Times" also writes, "Biden is expected to appoint more professional officials to his diplomatic team and so it will be possible for U.S.-China tensions to take a brief timeout."
China expert Willy Lam says Chinese officials are wary of Biden's multilateral approach to diplomacy.
LAM: They are also very nervous about the fact that Biden will be much more efficient and successful in putting up a united front against China by working together with America's traditional allies in Europe in Asia.
WATSON: At the very least, Biden may bring a change in tone to the simmering rivalry between these two nations.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still to come, with the second wave of the coronavirus sweeping across Europe, many countries are now tightening restrictions, even as Europeans grow weary of new lockdowns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Well, after six weeks of intense fighting, Armenia and Azerbaijan have signed yet another ceasefire agreement. This comes just hours after Azerbaijan claimed to have captured a key city from its neighbor.
Armenia's prime minister conceded the military situation looked bleak. He called the ceasefire an extremely difficult decision.
This peace deal comes with the signature of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Peacekeeping forces will be deployed in the region, and both sides have agreed to a prisoner swap.
[00:45:09]
China's Xinjiang region is reporting no new infections for the first time since the outbreak began at the end of October. Some countries across the Asia Pacific region are also now relaxing their restrictions for the coronavirus.
We have details from CNN's Selina Wang.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WANG (voice-over): Another mass testing blitz in China, this time in the country's heavily-policed far west region of Xinjiang, testing more than 4.7 million people in days, uncovering hundreds of new COVID-19 infections.
It marks the country's worst outbreak since the summer, underscoring the challenge of stamping out the virus, even with some of the most world's most aggressive testing and contract tracing measures.
Now, while the strategies have helped many parts of Asia bring the pandemic under control, experts worry that wintertime and complacency could make things worse.
In India, the capital, New Delhi, reported the highest daily rise in COVID-19 cases. Doctors urged caution amid the festival season.
DR. SHAILENDRA TIWARI, DEPUTY MEDICAL OFFICER OF KANPUR NAGAR (through translator): People are seen roaming in the markets, in crowded places, and in election rallies without masks. The chances of the resurgence of the coronavirus, cases will increase in such situations.
WANG: In Japan, infections are edging higher, too. Daily cases topped 1,000 for the first time since August, but the country is pushing ahead with preparations for the Olympics. Tokyo hosted one of the first international sporting competitions since the COVID-19 outbreak.
Gymnasts from the U.S., China, Russia and Japan were COVID tested every day leading up to the event. Spectators were socially distanced with masks.
In Australia, test rugby has been back for a month. This weekend, tens of thousands of people in Brisbane stood shoulder to shoulder, cheering without masks.
Victoria, the latest hot spot in Australia, further eased COVID-19 restrictions after the state reported nine days of zero new COVID-19 infections. Restaurants and bars can now hold up to 40 customers inside. Gyms can have up to 20 people.
DANIEL ANDREWS, VICTORIA PREMIER: If we want to enjoy these steps and more, then we all have to play our part. And it is getting tested when you feel sick. It is taking these rules seriously.
WANG: In Singapore, where daily COVID cases have dropped to single digits, taking a cruise is now possible. Mask-wearing passengers lined up for COVID tests before boarding the World Dreamliner. The Cruise to Nowhere, starting and ending at the same place with no stops, turned out to be a hit, as the COVID era redefines how to have fun.
Selina Wang, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: In contrast, though, in Europe many countries are ramping up coronavirus restrictions as authorities try to slow a second wave. CNN's Scott McLean has the latest, reporting in from London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Less than a week into lockdown 2.0, it's all quiet on the normally bustling streets of London. Instead, it's England's hospitals that are bustling with activity.
In Liverpool, a coronavirus hot spot, the British army has been called in to help test the entire city.
And for the first time since the pandemic began, even the queen was spotted wearing a face mask in public.
This 4-week lockdown isn't quite as strict as the first one in the spring, nor is it unique. Across Europe, the number of new COVID-19 cases continues to rise with few signs of slowing.
And with the number of deaths in Europe on track to eclipse the peak of the first wave, France has reimposed a lockdown, even requiring exemption forms from people who need to leave their homes.
Greece, Austria and Latvia have also reentered some version of a national lockdown, while regional versions are multiplying in parts of Italy, Europe's original epicenter.
Even in Rome, the streets are eerily quiet after curfew. In Spain, movement has been severely restricted in the popular vacation destination of Andalusia, and a local lockdown has been extended across much of Madrid.
MANUEL RUBIO, BUSINESS OWNER (through translator): Before, people were stocking up, but I think that now, economically, people are not strong enough to stock up.
MARIA ELENA SANCHEZ, MADRID RESTAURANT (through translator): I am confident that we will soon get out of this, so I am calm. Bored but calm.
MCLEAN: Belgium is locked down, too. ICUs in the capital have hit their limits, forcing smaller hospitals to take on the country's sickest patients.
Belgian troops have been deployed to help inside overwhelmed hospitals, while police enforce a strict curfew and mask mandate on the streets.
Belgium's top epidemiologist says the second wave may have reached its peak. The country's infection rate is among the highest on earth.
So is the Czech Republic's, where lockdown measures have come too late for some hospitals. This one, in the town of Zlin (ph), is too full to take new patients, instead, sending them with the police escort to Prague.
Next door in Slovakia, most of the adult population was tested in a matter of days. And now officials plan to retest areas with higher than average case counts.
[00:50:05]
Despite the resurgence of the virus, Europeans are growing weary of the tighter restrictions. Protesters in Leipzig clashed with police just as German officials promised a vaccine early next year.
Danish officials are expressing concerns about vaccine development, as they confront a mutated development of COVID-19 linked to mink farms that's now showing up in humans. Denmark will cull its entire population of 17 million mink.
JEPPE KOFOD, DANISH FOREIGN MINISTER: We would rather go a step too far then take a step too little to combat COVID-19.
MCLEAN: A World Health Organization report found the mutated virus has moderately decreased sensitivity to neutralizing antibodies but that more research was needed to fully understand the implications.
Scott McLean, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The next U.S. vice president represents an historic breakthrough in terms of race and gender. When we come back, how Kamala Harris said her unique background could help solve some very old problems in the United States.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Some big changes coming to the United Arab Emirates, including the decriminalization of alcohol and suicide. Also scrubbed, the so- called honor crime provisions, which gave men lighter sentences if they assaulted female relatives to protect a family's reputation.
These new reforms are part of a years-long effort to modernize the Gulf state. Officials are hoping a more liberal approach to social freedoms will entice expatriates to return home, maybe encourage those already living in the UAE to stay there.
McDonald's also trying something new to attract new customers: plant- based burgers. The company has started testing the McPlant in international markets, hoping to get an edge on competitors like Burger King, who have already plant-based items on the menu.
The plant patty was created with meat-free producer Beyond Meat. McDonald's says if the burger does well, they could expand the plant- based chicken and breakfast sandwiches. Mm-mmm.
The historic election of Kamala Harris as U.S. vice president has been inspiring for many, notably women and those of color. Given her background and resume, Harris stands to be a major player in crucial moments of the Biden presidency.
CNN's Brian Todd reports from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kamala Harris, making history and a confident declaration.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE-PRESIDENT-ELECT: While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last.
TODD: Harris will be the first woman, first black woman, and first person of Indian descent to be elected to the vice presidency. A lifelong friend tells CNN that Harris's life journey led her to this point.
STACEY JOHNSTON-BATISTE, LIFELONG FRIEND OF KAMALA HARRIS: Kamala is representing young girls, women across this country, across the world. She's representing immigrants. She's representing black women. And I'm going to get emotional, but I don't think we have been recognized for being the backbone of this country, going all the way back to slavery. So she represents all of that.
TODD: And while she's doing that, analysts say, Kamala Harris will very likely be taking on significant responsibilities. Joe Biden himself has said he wants someone next to him to fill the kind of role he had for Barack Obama.
BIDEN: You have to be willing to have someone with you who will tell you the truth that they think you're wrong.
[00:55:06]
TODD: That means Kamala Harris could be the last voice in the room when the biggest decisions are made, a role Biden had demanded that he be given with Obama. And that could start during the transition.
Given her experience as California's attorney general and as a high- profile U.S. senator, analysts believe she could have a strong voice in the selections of the U.S. attorney general and cabinet positions.
BRITTANY SHEPHERD, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, YAHOO! NEWS: I definitely think that Harris will be the one in Biden's ear, letting him know who she thinks will be perfect for those roles. I mean, Harris is going to be working with all of these cabinet roles in tandem along with Biden.
TODD: Harris's experience on the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees, observers say, could be something Joe Biden leans on.
DAVID SWERDLICK, ASSISTANT EDITOR, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Maybe helping somebody pick a future Supreme Court nominee, if Democrats win control of the Senate, and there's a Supreme Court vacancy. Maybe she will be, in some ways, like Vice President Biden was in the Obama administration, sort of almost a second secretary of state, going abroad.
TODD: But analysts believe Kamala Harris could also be a uniquely- positioned leader for this extraordinary period; that she's the person in the next administration who can take the point on issues of racial justice and helping Joe Biden navigate through the next potentially devastating months of the coronavirus surge.
SHEPHERD: That means coronavirus pandemic mitigation efforts. Perhaps she'd be using that to communicate to black and brown communities, to places that she has focused heavily on as senator.
TODD (on camera): Analysts tell us that, in addition to being Joe Biden's bridge to those minority communities in America, that it's also likely that he'll count on Kamala Harris, at age 56, to be his bridge to younger Americans. And that will also help position her for the office that she might seek after the Biden administration.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. Please stay with us. I'm John Vause. Right back after this break. We have a lot more news right at the top of the hour. We'll see you then.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Hello, everyone. Live from CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta, I'm John Vause. And coming up this hour on CNN NEWSROOM, in the midst of the darkest days of the global pandemic comes word of what could be the greatest medical advance in 100 years. Safe and effective vaccine for the coronavirus.
[01:00:00]
