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U.S. Tightness Restrictions as Infections Soar; Trump Fires Top DHS Election Security Official; Trump Attorney Giuliani Pursues Claims of Voter Fraud; Thousands of U.S. Troops to Withdraw from Afghanistan, Iraq; France Surpasses 2 Million Coronavirus Cases; South Australia to Shut Down for Six Days; Democracy Protests Turn Violent in Thailand. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired November 18, 2020 - 02:00   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: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause.

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, COVID surges around the U.S. Now hitting those states hardest which place personal freedoms ahead of pandemic restrictions.

And he lost his job for telling the truth, the Homeland Security official who declared the 2020 vote with that was without fraud was fired by the loser of the election.

And in the waning days of his presidency, Donald Trump makes a major foreign policy move cutting troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan against most advice.

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VAUSE: From New York to California, tougher coronavirus restrictions are being ramped up in a desperate attempt to quell a surge of infections. The United States has averaged more than 155,000 cases each day, by far the worst since the pandemic began.

The crisis has been severe in places in that initially resisted containment measures, places like Iowa and North Dakota. But with those states facing exponential threat of COVID-19 they're implementing measures which were once believed unnecessary and infringed on personal freedom.

And across the country, governors are urging people to follow the rules, no matter how tough they may seem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KIM REYNOLDS (R-IA): No one wants to do this, I don't want to do this. If Iowans don't buy into this, we lose. Businesses will close once again. More schools will be forced to go online and our health care system will fail.

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GOV. JIM JUSTICE (R-WV): I need you to quit believing in any way that somebody is going to come and take your guns or it's unconstitutional or whatever it may be. Who cares about all that, right at this moment. Right at this moment, all we need to do is try to, some way, break the chain of this killer that's eating us alive.

We need to stop listening to this noise that is out of people that just want to take your money, to buy their campaign rhetoric or want to absolutely just be relevant. Silly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: South Dakota though is notable; still refusing to impose stricter measures, even though it has the highest positivity rate in the country. At least 62,000 people have been infected so far; more than 600 have died.

With cases expected to soar, families of those who have lost loved ones to COVID are urging everyone to take this crisis more seriously. CNN's Lucy Kafanov has the story.

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CHRIS BJORKMAN, COVID-19 WIDOW: I wanted him to come home. I always thought he would come home.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chris Bjorkman of De Smet, South Dakota, is missing her husband. She and John Bjorkman tested positive for coronavirus three months after their 39th wedding anniversary. She got better but John's health took a turn for the worse.

JOHN BJORKMAN, COVID-19 VICTIM: No energy, no drive, no nothing.

KAFANOV (voice-over): He was struggling to breathe and was put on a ventilator, the Sioux Falls hospitals so overwhelmed he had to be airlifted to Minnesota, sharing his struggle with CNN affiliate KSFY.

J. BJORKMAN: When they flew me over here, I literally didn't know if I would see the next day. Makes me more nervous, that's about it.

KAFANOV (voice-over): Chris describes visiting him in the ICU.

C. BJORKMAN: It's awful to see someone on a ventilator. And there, all the other rooms, people were on ventilators, too, but they were all by themselves.

KAFANOV (voice-over): John died after spending 30 days in the hospital, one of nearly 250,000 American lives claimed by COVID-19.

The pandemic is ravaging the Dakotas. At the Sanford Medical Center in Sioux Falls, Dr. Austin Simonson says the medicine is the easy part. DR. AUSTIN SIMONSON, SANFORD MEDICAL CENTER, SIOUX FALLS: I get asked

over and over again by people who are trapped in a room by themselves, when do I get to go home?

You know, will I get better?

And I don't know.

KAFANOV (voice-over): Health experts say months of lax regulations have contributed to South Dakota's public health crisis. Republican governor Kristi Noem ignoring safety measures that curbed the spread of COVID-19 elsewhere in the world.

GOV. KRISTI NOEM (R-SD): My people are happy. They're happy because they're free.

KAFANOV (voice-over): The governor welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Sturgis motorcycle rally this summer, didn't cancel the state fair and has resisted issuing stay-at-home orders or a mask mandate, saying she would leave it up to the people to decide.

AMY BILLOWS, SIOUX FALLS RESIDENT: Viruses are so small that expecting a mask to block them is like expecting a chain link fence to keep out mosquitoes.

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KAFANOV (voice-over): In Sioux Falls, a proposed mask mandate divided the city council. The mayor, who has previously urged residents to mask up --

MAYOR PAUL TENHAKEN (R-SD), SIOUX FALLS: I obviously believe in masks. The importance they play in slowing the spread of COVID-19.

KAFANOV (voice-over): Voting against the mandate after the city council ended up deadlocked.

TENHAKEN: My official vote on this is a no. And that item fails 5-4.

KAFANOV (voice-over): Dr. Shannon Emry is a local pediatrician, who spent 14 years in the Air Force and blames politicians for not doing enough.

DR. SHANNON EMRY, PEDIATRICIAN: Our governor has been misleading her constituents. From the start, she has downplayed the dangers of the virus, downplayed the importance of wearing a mask.

KAFANOV (voice-over): Governor Noem's office did not respond to CNN. But with elected leaders reluctant to intervene and COVID policy turning political, the burden of pushing people to take the virus seriously has now fallen on the families of those who have died.

KAFANOV: Why did you feel like you had to speak out?

C. BJORKMAN: Because I want people to not go through this, what I did. I want people to care enough about their neighbors, their family, that they wear a mask and that something gets done, that maybe we have some leadership and guidance to help with that.

KAFANOV (voice-over): Lucy Kafanov, CNN, De Smet, South Dakota.

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VAUSE: With me now from Denver in Colorado, Dr. Art Reingold, he's professor and the division head of epidemiology at the University In California, Berkeley, School of Public Health.

Dr. Reingold, good to see you. Thank you for being with us.

DR. ART REINGOLD, UC BERKELEY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Nice to be with you.

VAUSE: The White House task force weekly report is pretty blunt. It reports this, there is now aggressive, unrelenting, expanding broad community spread across the country. Reaching most counties without evidence of improvement but rather, further deterioration.

Current mitigation efforts are inadequate and must be increased to flatten the curve, to sustain the health system for both COVID and non-COVID emergencies.

Is it fair to say at this point, that relying on individual or personal responsibility and good will towards others, (INAUDIBLE) social distancing and wearing face masks and all the rest, is an outright loser?

Because without government mandates, this crisis will only get worse.

REINGOLD: Well, here in the United States, I'm sorry to say, the evidence is that relying on people to do the things we want them to do, without any kind of mandate or requirement, doesn't seem to work.

Where I, live there certainly is a mandate for people to wear masks, when they are in public, at the grocery store and shopping, I have to wear a mask. Frankly, wearing a mask is not a big deal, so I'm not quite sure why people make such a fuss about it. But it doesn't seem that simply telling people we need you to do this, is motivating behavior we need.

VAUSE: All the recommendations that are out there, for the coming weeks, it seems to be avoiding large indoor gatherings, might just be the most important of all.

"The Atlantic" quotes a recent study which found a sick person was 18.7 times more likely to spread the coronavirus in a close environment, such as a gym or restaurant (INAUDIBLE) tent.

How important will it be not to go home for the holidays?

With the Thanksgiving in the United States or Christmas or whatever in Europe and other places.

And can you say that with these vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer, if they're approved, will that mean that next year life will be back to normal?

REINGOLD: So to answer your second question,. First I'm optimistic that we're going to see multiple vaccines approved that are safe and effective and over the next 4 to 6 months. We will demonstration quantity that we can vaccinate a large number of people, assuming they're willing to accept the vaccine. So I'm optimistic things will be better by next summer and fall.

But that's a long way away and people have lives to live in the meantime. So the problem is that many things are conspiring to make the next few months even worse, in what we are seeing so far. Travel is one of them of course. But in addition, we have the fact that there will be colder weather; people can spend less time out of doors and be forced to spend more time indoors.

And of course, people are pretty tired of all these restrictions. So it's fairly difficult to get people to keep doing the things that we know work. And, so, the virus is readily spread indoors when a lot of people are (INAUDIBLE) and the ventilation is poor. And so avoiding a crowded indoor settings is certainly part of the equation in addition to wearing a mask when you're in public.

VAUSE: So (INAUDIBLE) the advice there and all the word here is, sacrifice this year, for the good of the years to come?

REINGOLD: Well, to a certain extent, yes. But you know, I have to say that wearing a mask, I don't consider it to be a particularly big sacrifice.

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REINGOLD: Now certainly foregoing for Thanksgiving with your family, we're not traveling home for Christmas, those are obviously much bigger sacrifices. I would say that, frankly, travel on airplanes is, I think, safer than many people realize. The air in the airplane is very well filtered and a lot of outdoor air is brought in, masks are required.

So, you know, there are issues getting to and from the airport, there are issues of being in waiting rooms in the airport. But I actually think it's possible to travel with relative safety. But clearly, if you want to minimize your risk of getting infected or infecting others, then traveling home for the holidays is not on the list.

VAUSE: Sadly, it seems like that's the best advice, at the moment. Dr. Art Reingold, thanks so much for being with us.

REINGOLD: Happy to help.

VAUSE: In hindsight, it was a question of when not if. But on Tuesday Donald Trump, still seething from his election lost to Biden, firing the official who spoke out against his baseless claims of election fraud.

Meanwhile, Michigan's election review panel was deadlocked over certifying election results. The hours-long deadlock ended when both sides reached a compromise, another blow to Trump's fantasy of overturning the election results. He remained out of sight of the White House, still refusing to concede, still rage tweeting.

Regardless of what Trump does, in 63 days, Joe Biden will be sworn in. And so far, he's been refused access to classified briefings. So the former vice president was briefed on national security and diplomacy from a dozen experts outside the government.

More now on Trump's firing of the top cyber security official at the Department of Homeland Security. Chris Krebs is now out of a job for telling Trump the one thing he did not want to hear: the truth. Details from CNN's Alex Marquardt.

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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Chris Krebs might not be a name that most American voters know but he played perhaps the biggest role in terms of making sure that Americans can go to the polls and cast their votes safely and securely.

As the head of the Department of Homeland Security arm, Krebs has been pushing back more and more aggressively in the days following the election against claims, lies, conspiracy theories by the president, his allies, his supporters that the vote was rigged, that votes changed and were fraudulent and that voting machines were manipulated.

On that last count on Tuesday, Krebs tweeted part of a letter from some top election security officials saying, in part, that these claims either had been unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent.

But perhaps the biggest crime in the president's eyes that led to Krebs getting fired on Tuesday night by tweet was a statement that his agency known as CISA put out along with other federal, state and private election officials in which they said that the 2020 election in the United States was the most secure in American history.

They went on to say there was no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised.

After Krebs was fired, we learned that his number two, Matt Travis, also resigned after learning that he would not be taking over CISA after Krebs' termination. Krebs for his part on his personal Twitter now responded to his firing, which was not entirely unexpected because of the pushback that he had been giving the president since the election.

Krebs writing, "Honored to serve. We did it right. Defend today. Secure tomorrow," was Krebs' motto in the leadup to the 2020 election -- Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

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VAUSE: It's been a fiery few hours in Michigan's largest county where Republicans temporarily blocked the certification of election results. They claimed election irregularities. Democrats called foul and so did non partisan experts. This is a state Joe Biden won by 148,000 votes and Wayne County in

Detroit where the stalemate unfolded was key to that win. After Republicans backed down and agreed to certify the results, Michigan's secretary of state said it's a victory for the electoral process.

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JOCELYN BENSON, MICHIGAN SECRETARY OF STATE: The truth one in this scenario, basically the evidence is clear. There were no irregularities. There was no evidence of widespread fraud. In fact there were simply minor clerical errors as we were discussing. Actually less clerical error than in past election.

And that really isn't a valid reason in my view and in ultimately the board to invalidate and silence the voices of voters in the state's largest county. So I think they did the right thing. They performed their duty and they certified the election for the voters in Wayne County.

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VAUSE: Harry Litman is a former U.S. attorney, now the host of the "Talking Feds" podcast. He's with us from La Jolla in California.

Good to have you with us, Harry.

HARRY LITMAN, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: Thank you, good to be here.

You know, it's always good difficult to rank (ph) the egregious actions of this soon-to-be former president.

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VAUSE: But firing the guy who told the truth and declared the emperor has no clothes has to be up somewhere at the top, at least in terms of actions since he lost the election.

LITMAN: Well, I think so, certainly this week.

But it's true because on the one hand it's in the service of this perfectly Orwellian claim he keeps making and it's almost like he has to do it in order to substantiate the claim.

But it's also -- this is a guy who really deserves garlands and victory laps. There were things we were genuinely afraid of in terms of foreign interference, possible violence at the polls, utter chaos.

And it was by all accounts, all objective accounts, the smoothest election ever. And so he merely told the truth and that was enough to get him sacked.

He knew it was coming. There was a kind of one-upmanship that I think he actually played well where he came shortly after being fired onto his personal Twitter and said we did the right thing and glad to go forward. The second in command was also fired. Trump just goes further up river every day. But every time he has to go to court where you actually have to provide some substantiation he gets his head handed to him. They're now 1 and 25 and going nowhere fast.

And they're, in fact, not able to even make certain claims because it would wind up producing sanctions against the lawyers.

So that's the only kind of hold on reality that the Trump Team now has.

VAUSE: You touched on this. Krebs was the director of cybersecurity --

LITMAN: Right.

VAUSE: -- at Homeland Security. I had never seen the department's rumor control website which had been very effective, very quick to debunk disinformation and rumors during the election.

And you mentioned last week, he told -- there was a Reuters report out there that he was telling colleagues that he was about to be fired. So he knew it was coming.

But is Krebs about the only official, the only Republican official to leave this administration with a better reputation than he went in with?

LITMAN: Well, we'll see where things stand in a month or six months or whatever. I think, in general, I think of maybe Alexander Vindman or the true -- or Fiona Hill, the true principled resignations.

I think that history will acquit them very well. And even others with more colorable records I think will still be doing fine.

At the end of the day, my sense -- I second what Adam Schiff said, that history will not be very kind to Trump.

And that means the people that he really unfairly sacked will be restored to their reputations by and large.

But this is a pristine example. He did -- he not only told the truth, he told the truth about doing something splendid for the country and it's in the service of everyone. Except Donald Trump's fictional account that he wants to adhere to.

Obviously, that will serve him well going forward. Chris Krebs has a future.

VAUSE: Yes. OK. Well, Trump's campaign lawyers, they continue these lawsuits, you mentioned this.

It seems that it's all about Pennsylvania. There's another ongoing lawsuit there.

Here's the state attorney general, listen to this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH SHAPIRO, ATTORNEY GENERAL, PENNSYLVANIA (On Camera): Right now, they've got this last-ditch effort in federal court here in Pennsylvania on a relatively narrow issue.

And I will tell you that there is no merit for their claims, there's nothing on fraud, there's nothing on illegal votes. They don't even have standing to bring these claims sort of Law School 101.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Overall would you say Team Trump led by Rudy, it's the gang that couldn't sue straight.

And aren't there consequences for bringing frivolous lawsuits?

LITMAN: Well, that's the question. Because certainly as to your first point, yes, definitely.

It's hard to remember any kind of sustained litigation with this -- 1 in 25, they would normally kick you out of the league.

But the fact that they've had to -- what Josh Shapiro just said is correct. They've had to tack to a different theory because if they tried to advance a theory that would change the election, it would be so patently false, they could be sanctioned.

But now having retreated to this modest theory, it can't possibly change the election and will be dismissed for that reason alone. So it's simply down to P.R.

They have previously -- and Giuliani today, made some assertions that could, in fact, get lawyers in hot water. And you've heard that some lawyers are now -- this is his third set of lawyers in Pennsylvania, Giuliani the fourth.

They want to run away from this because among other things they're forced to take positions that bring them into professional disrepute.

[02:20:00]

LITMAN: The whole legal enterprise has been a debacle.

And it has nothing to do with what he has tried to do which is stop the certifications. It's simply for him to have that talking point that you heard -- well, there's a lot of litigation going on.

VAUSE: I remember when progressives and liberals were the snowflakes and needed to be handled delicately. I guess things have changed.

Harry, good to see you. Thanks for being with us.

LITMAN: Likewise. Good to see you, John.

VAUSE: Well, as the Trump administration winds down, the outgoing president orders a troop drawdown in Afghanistan and Iraq.

And the U.S. secretary of state on a farewell tour has unprecedented plans for his stopover in Israel.

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VAUSE: After a major shake up at the Defense Department, the Trump administration is now ordering a significant drawdown of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. When it's done just days before President-Elect Joe Biden is sworn into office, about 25,000 troops remaining in each country. CNN's Sam Kiley live in Dubai with the details.

Sam, it's official; everyone sort of knew this was coming. It would seem there is greater concern for what this decision means for Afghanistan as opposed to Iraq.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think there has been a lot of Pentagon memos, not least from "The Washington Post" from Mark Esper, prior to his dismissal from Donald Trump as Secretary of Defense, arguing that the conditions were not yet right, a position that has been held, I know from my own sources in Afghanistan, by a number of NATO officers for a precipitous U.S. withdrawal.

They're about 4.5 thousand troops in Afghanistan. Dropping that down to 2,000, a lot of military commanders would argue, particularly so quickly by January 15th, the target date, could mean that the Taliban, who are currently in negotiations for peace deals with the central government, largely brokered by the United States, would get a big win without any kind of concessions on their side because the troop withdrawal used to be tasked or rather linked directly to Taliban's rejection and derecognition of Al Qaeda.

Now that isn't going to happen in the timeframe that it would appear as the Americans under the Trump administration are now being ordered out prior to that concession. Meanwhile, of course, also in Iraq, the growth of Iran-backed Shia militias, growing influence there, growing levels of attacks particularly in the south.

Also we saw, nobody's claimed responsibility but a lot of fingers were pointed at Shia militia for recent rocket attack yesterday on the green zone that houses the U.S. embassy.

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KILEY: In other words, John, both areas are still roiling. In both cases, there is certainly pressure from allies not to withdraw too soon. Obviously in Iraq, the U.S. is under pressure officially from the central government, following the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian general, back in January this year. John.

VAUSE: Sam, thank you for that, live in Dubai. Appreciate it. U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo is on a 7 country tour of Europe and the Middle East possibly with an eye toward a presidential run or maybe his legacy. Earlier, Pompeo met with the president of the former Soviet Republic of Georgia.

Pompeo's message there will be the importance of democratic process. And, yes, he will deliver that with a straight face as President Trump denies the election results at home.

Pompeo's next stop is Israel. That's where we find CNN's Oren Liebermann, live in Jerusalem.

This is quite a unique trip for a U.S. secretary of state, heading out to the settlements. That's never happened before.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's never happen by any U.S. official. And certainly never any secretary of state. Unprecedented from any other secretary of state in U.S. history, perhaps not so much for secretary of state Mike Pompeo.

Remember it was not all that long ago that Pompeo ruled that settlements in the occupied West Bank, in the Golan Heights are not de facto violations of international law, a decision which breaks with international resolution. But certainly made the Trump administration happy, made evangelical Christians happy and Israel's right wing government.

He's expected to visit the wider (INAUDIBLE) where there is a red line (ph) named Abrahim (ph) as well as the settlement of Shiloh (ph). That's where our expectation at this time. Shiloh is significant because biblically, that's where the arc of the covenant rested before it was brought up to Jerusalem.

It's important not only to Jews but also the evangelical Christians. He's also expected to visit a settlement in the Golan Heights. He could theoretically visit Trump Heights there. Although right now there's not any buildings there to speak of.

His visit begins this afternoon with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Bahraini Foreign Minister here in trilateral meetings.

John, it's also worth noting where he's heading after this visit here. Pompeo will head to Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Those are two countries the Trump administration has been eyeing for normalization deals with Israel. So maybe those efforts still ongoing in the waning days of the administration.

VAUSE: Oren, explain the motivation here.

Why is Pompeo making this visit to the settlement?

And what has been the reaction from the Palestinians, first off?

LIEBERMANN: The Palestinians have been furious about this. To them, the united community the settlements are violations of international law. And a visit there legitimizes these in the eyes of the Israelis and furthers the possibility of a two-state solution with the state of Israel next to a state of Palestine.

That's why Palestinians are enraged by. This

What was Pompeo thinking?

I think you nailed it right in the lead-in. Pompeo is looking at 2024, where his base is always been. His support has always been from evangelical Christians. And that is who he's looking to in this visit and to link not only to Trump but to the moves that the Trump administration has taken in the past, namely recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Moving the embassy, recognizing Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights, all of that in the waning days of the administration is to shore that up and at least send a signal to voters, perhaps 2024 voters, that Pompeo was serious and that this is Trump administration policy.

VAUSE: Oren, thank you, we appreciate that. Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. The coronavirus continuing to surge in Europe. The first country there has passed 2 million cases. Also, a new lockdown for the Australian state of South Australia, where authorities believe a cluster of new cases is coming from. That's coming up next.

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VAUSE: France is the first European country to pass 2 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus. Government officials say the second wave of the virus is massive and deadly, placing the health care system under pressure. France is in the midst of a 4 weeklong lockdown, there are signs the rate of infection is slowing.

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JEROME SALOMON, FRENCH DIRECTOR GENERAL OF HEALTH (through translator): Our collective efforts are beginning to bear fruit, in recent days, the number of new cases has been dropping. Let's redouble our efforts to regain control of the epidemic.

All collective efforts, the respect of curfews and national containment explain this positive trend.

It is by maintaining a very high level of vigilance and mobilization that we will be able to spend the end of the year festivities and the winter months in the best possible safety conditions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: German lawmakers have delayed new lockdown measures until next week. Angela Merkel is urging the country to work together to bring the virus under control.

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ANGELA MERKEL, CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY (through translator): Infection numbers aren't growing exponentially anymore but are still far too high, so we have to reduce contacts, reduce contacts, reduce contacts.

I am fully aware that the measures to restrict all contacts are and remain a burden, a democratic burden. And they are among the toughest decisions I have made in office.

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VAUSE: Sweden might just be moving away from its herd immunity approach, banning gatherings of more than 8 people. The country has reported more than 15,000 new infections since Friday.

The U.S. has just issued emergency use authorization for the first COVID-19 self testing kit that could provide rapid results at home. It does require a prescription but allows users to swab themselves and connect a nasal sample. The sample is placed in a vial which plugs in to the device, ultimately giving out the results.

The state of South Australia has announced a new 6-day lockdown starting midnight Thursday, local time. The move is described as a circuit breaker after a small outbreak in the suburbs of the state capital, Adelaide.

Only essential services like supermarkets and medical facilities will remain open. Live now to Angus Watson in Sydney for more on this. This is pretty strict. It's like only one resident will be allowed out of each house for a specific reason. And I guess they will be enforcing this as well, right?

ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER: It is strict, John. But it's what the government there in Adelaide, South Australia, believes is necessary to get on top of a cluster of coronavirus, that they just don't know how large it could be.

So 22 cases now make up the cluster. But the health authorities fear that there may be many more cases out there. So what it's doing, is it has set up what is called a circuit breaker lockdown, where it's deciding to put everybody essentially under quarantine for 6 days.

And what that's going to do is give health authorities the opportunity to try to get people tested and try to get on top of this before it gets out of control. The premier of South Australia spoke earlier about the need to get the whole state behind this effort. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN MARSHALL, SOUTH AUSTRALIAN PREMIER: This is about South Australia pausing, so that we stay ahead of the virus. Our concern is that if we don't have this circuit breaker, that we will not stay ahead of this. There is no second chance to stop a second wave. We are at a critical point but we will get through this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: So John, this is an interesting one, because we have a cluster of just 22 cases of coronavirus. Yet we have an extremely swift and extremely serious and strict response from the government there.

[02:35:00]

WATSON: Putting a whole state into quarantine just over 22 cases. That's very different to what we're seeing in the U.S. and in Europe, John.

VAUSE: To say the least. It seems hit it hard and quick is how they're doing it in New Zealand and Australia at least. Thank you, Angus Watson there.

Well, destruction and desperation after two hurricanes slammed Central America. When we come back, an update on the storm, as well as relief efforts on the ground.

Also rising anger in Thailand, pro-democracy protesters remain defiant. The very latest from Bangkok -- coming up.

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VAUSE: Hurricane Iota has killed at least 6 people in Nicaragua and left extensive devastation in its path. Tens of thousands of people are in government shelters and the storm has now been downgraded but it is still causing flash floods as it moves through Honduras. It's leaving behind a trail of uprooted trees, smashed homes and swamped roads.

Forecasters expect the storm to weaken and dissipate as it nears El Salvador on Wednesday.

I spoke earlier to the award-winning chef Jose Andres in Honduras about the World Central Kitchen relief efforts. He spoke about what the organization has been doing there in Central America and around the world.

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JOSE ANDRES, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: This year alone, in the last seven months, World Central Kitchen alone, we've done close to already over 40 million meals. From explosions in Beirut, many hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and different areas in the United States (ph) in Mexico itself, you can (INAUDIBLE).

We see that this is happening. There is a need for an organization like ours to show up before these hurricanes hit. And we are ready to provide something like we should be able to provide, which is food and water.

So at least this is one of the problems that people don't have. But thinking about, yes, the need keeps increasing. We are not expected to be called. What we do is, we show up. Already, the (INAUDIBLE) we bring volunteers. We're trying to make sure that the problems become actually solutions by bringing a plate of food at a time. Sometimes it's the beginning of hope of a better tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: In Thailand, pro-democracy protesters are vowing to take to the streets of Bangkok once again after those violent clashes since youth led demonstrations began in July.

Dozens were hurt. Thai police say two people were injured by live ammunition. They're investigating the source of that gunfire. Demonstrators converged on parliament to pressure lawmakers as they consider changes to the constitution. Channel 4's Jonathan Miller is in the Thai capital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN MILLER, JOURNALIST: Tear gas hung heavy in the sultry tropical night, jets of water cannon laced with stinging chemicals, slicing through the choking plumes, driving protesters back before they would advance again.

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MILLER: Taunting riot police behind the razor wire and broken barricades with chants of "Slaves, you slaves of the dictatorship."

Wave after wave of demonstrators, most without gas masks to protect them, surging up, washed back again, an angry human tide.

For the government to think they can just tough this out and wait for it to go away, they're going to have to think again. They're running out of options here. There is no sign at all of the compromise which the key Internet (ph) just two weeks ago.

This, the most violent night in five long months of protests, a pitched street battle outside Thailand's parliament, the home of what was once a messy but functioning democracy.

As the foot soldiers rinsed off the stinging irritants, parliament was debating proposed amendments to a constitution written by the military, which, at its heart, preserves the sanctity of Thailand's monarchy.

The visions that the upper house of senators, handpicked by the army, are unlikely permitted to see the light of day. But without reform these protests will not stop. And when the king told us two weeks ago that Thailand is the land of compromise, those ranged against him scoffed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thailand is not land for compromise. This is not land for compromise. This is not. Look at my mouth. This is not compromise. Look at -- look at -- look at that. Look at this, what they're doing to us is not compromise. It's be then no mercy. This is no mercy for us, there is no mercy for the Thai people.

MILLER: Earlier pro-democracy protesters breached barricades near parliament. Police banished, allowing direct confrontation with the king's ultra royalist Yellow Shirt supporters, who come to demand the former juntist (sic) constitution remains untouched.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn is exulted in this constitution as enthroned a position of revered worship. But those clamoring for reform believe he's all too human. And tales of regal profligacy have embittered many Thais left destitute by this pandemic.

Fertile ground for heresy, rebellion; the "Hunger Games" salute remains the symbol of defiance here in this increasingly dystopian kingdom.

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VAUSE: Well, finally here a sports story in Osaka, Japan, has a new high tech helper to enforce social distancing. This is Robovie developed by Kyoto's Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute.

As you can see Robovie approaches customers who are not wearing masks. He asks them to put one on. Apparently it works that way. The robot can also measure the distance between shoppers and ask them to maintain a safe distance.

The developers say this is a step toward making a society where people and robots can all coexist happily with one another.

Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause. Stay with us. Rosemary Church has more CNN NEWSROOM at the top of the hour. Meantime, here's "WORLD SPORT."

(WORLD SPORT)

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