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France Surpasses Two Million COVID-19 Cases; Merkel: Situation in Germany Still Very Serious; South Australia to Shut Down for Six Days After Outbreak; Logistical Challenges of Transporting Vaccine; Michigan's Largest County Certifies Results; Trump Lawyer Giuliani Pursues Claims of Election Fraud; Six People Dead After Hurricane Iota Hit Nicaragua. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired November 18, 2020 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everyone. Well, France is the first European country to surpass 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. While France is in the midst of a four-week 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 respective of curfews and national containment explain this positive trend. It is by maintaining a very high level of vigilance and mobilization and we will be able to spend the end of the year festivities and the winter months in the best possible safety conditions.
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CHURCH: German lawmakers have delayed new lockdown measures until next week leading Angela Merkel to urge the country to work together to get the virus under control.
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ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (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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CHURCH: And Sweden appears to be scrapping its herd immunity approach. It is banning gatherings of more than eight people. The country has reported more than 15,000 new infections since Friday.
Well, South Australia says it is shutting down for six days starting at midnight Thursday local time after an outbreak in a suburb of Adelaide. Only essential building like supermarkets and medical facilities will remain open.
Angus Watson is tracking developments from his vantage point there in Sydney. Good to see you, Angus. So, this will shut down the whole state of South Australia, and there are only a small number of cases.
[04:35:00]
ANGUS WATSON, JOURNALIST: I know, Rosemary. It's quite remarkable to think that this is the extent to which the South Australian government is willing to go to, to clamp down on just a 22 case cluster of COVID- 19. But they're concerned because there hadn't been an outbreak of the coronavirus locally in South Australia for months. So it's moved swiftly, and it's moved decisively to lock down the entire state.
Nobody's allowed to leave their house except for one person per day to get food. Weddings and funerals have to be canceled if they've been planned over the next six weeks and only essential businesses are going to be open. The government there hopes this will be a circuit breaker. It hopes it will allow its health authorities to get on top of the cluster which they have 22 diagnosed cases for, but they just don't know how many they will get in the coming days. So they've asked the people of South Australia to ban together and get through a short, sharp lockdown. Here's what Steven Marshall, the Premier had to say today.
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STEVEN MARSHALL, SOUTH AUSTRALIA PREMIER: This is about South Australia pausing so that we stay ahead of the virus. Our concern is that if we don't have the 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.
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WATSON: What he just mentioned there, saying a second wave, that's really what they're concerned about there in South Australia because they look across at their neighbors, Victoria, where there was a brutal second wave of COVID-19 this winter and Melbourne, the capitol there, had to enter a 112 day lockdown to get on top of the virus. That second wave there killed 819 people. So the government of South Australia wants this to be a deeper, but much swifter lockdown to try to get on top of this quickly -- Rosemary.
CHURCH: All right, Angus Watson, thank you so much for joining us live from Sydney. Appreciate it.
Well, German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she is worried about the spread of the coronavirus is a country still faces a very serious situation. And while there are promising signs from several vaccine candidates, they come with a formidable transportation hurdle. And Frederick Pleitgen joins us now live from Berlin. Fred, you looked into that. What did you find?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we certainly did, Rosemary. We went to the largest pharma logistics hub -- at least for air cargo in all of Europe. It belongs to Lufthansa Cargo and it's at Frankfurt's airport. In essentially what we learned there is Lufthansa Cargo, world's other logistics companies as well, say they are prepared for delivering a lot of doses of COVID-19 vaccine once a candidate is approved. But they also say that there are some major logistical challenges, especially with vaccines that need to be stored in a very, very cold way. Here's what we learned.
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PLEITGEN (voice over): While the world's passenger airlines face an uncertain future because of COVID-19, freight airlines like Lufthansa Cargo are gearing up for a huge operation to try to help end the pandemic.
In the coming months and years, airlines like Lufthansa Cargo face the daunting challenge of having to transport billions of doses of vaccine around the world.
As a rule of thumb they say, the colder a vaccine needs to be stored, the more difficult it is to ship it.
Several vaccine makers believe they'll be able to apply for an Emergency Use Authorization for their candidate soon. But Pfizer's vaccine, for instance, needs to be stored at around minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 70 degrees Celsius, requiring complicated cooling.
Lufthansa says, its pharma logistics hubs are equipped to handle ultra-cold medical cargo, using special containers like these, packed with dry ice. Still, keeping them cold enough isn't easy, the head of the pharma hub says.
KARIN KRESTAN, HEAD OF LH-CARGO HUB: The temperature, minus 70 degrees is really a challenge, because we have to use dry ice in the bunker, we for sure need dry ice within the compartments. So, we need more dry ice, we have another dry ice concentration on board the aircraft. So, these are all things that we have to consider.
PLEITGEN: Another issue -- the dry ice emits a lot of CO2 gas. That can be dangerous for a flight crews inside the plane. So each cargo flight can only carry a limited amount of containers holding dry ice.
The challenges are immense, but the airline says it's been building capacities and consulting with vaccine makers. They think it's ready to start delivering vials as soon as a candidate gets regulatory approval.
[04:40:00]
PETER GERBER, CEO, LUFTHANSA CARGO: Of course, this is a special situation, but given what we have done during the last month, with all these masks, with all the flexibility, with all the things we had to produce and to perform on a very, very short notice, our team, I believe, is ready for this challenge.
PLEITGEN: A massive logistical challenge as the world not only waits for a vaccine to be certified, but also to be delivered fast and in large amounts.
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PLEITGEN (on camera): As you can see there, Rosemary, it is quite a complicated operation and of course, a very big operation that is going to begin once vaccine candidates are approved for distribution.
And you look at Lufthansa Cargo, there's one thing that they told us yesterday. They actually said that they were going to retire part of their aircraft fleet, older planes by the end be of this year. They've postponed that now. Also in anticipation, they're going to be adding a lot of work to do fairly soon once the vaccine comes on the market -- Rosemary.
CHURCH: Good to see the airlines getting ready for this. We're in a good place right now. Frederick Pleitgen, many thanks with that report.
Well, the head of the World Health Organization says the surge in COVID cases across many parts of the globe is extremely worrying. And earlier I spoke with the agency's chief scientist about what needs to be done to stop the spread.
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SOUMYA SWAMINATHAN, CHIEF SCIENTIST, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: We know so much more about the virus now and how it spreads than we did when this pandemic began. So we actually have those tools in our hands, and it's a question of following through with those measures and having the discipline and the rigor to continue to do the things we know work.
I know we talk about pandemic fatigue, and you know, getting tired of these measures, but things can get really bad, and they are, the numbers are going up. And after many months of stable death rates, we're seeing a sharp increase in mortality as well.
So, it's not like, you know, that it's just the infection that's in the population and it's not taking a toll. People are dying. And we're also now learning that infections, even if they are mildly symptomatic and relatively young people can actually lead to organ damage, it can lead to a lot of long-term consequences on the liver, on the heart, on the brain, on the nervous system. It's not an infection we should take lightly.
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CHURCH: And still ahead, President Trump's personal attorney took his fight over the election to a federal court. But while Rudy Giuliani's legal arguments seemed high on drama, they were low on evidence. The details next.
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CHURCH: In a major reversal, a bipartisan panel in Michigan's largest county has certified election results there. That came after Republicans had temporarily blocked certification over dubious claims of voter irregularities in Detroit. President-elect Joe Biden won Michigan by a margin of more than 148,000 votes and had strong support in Wayne County. Michigan's Secretary of State reacted to the certification news live on CNN.
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JOCELYN BENSON, MICHIGAN SECRETARY OF STATE: If the truth won in this scenario, basically the evidence is clear, there were no irregularities. There was no evidence of widespread fraud and in fact, there were simply minor clerical errors than we were discussing, actually less clerical errors than in past elections. And that really isn't a valid reason in my view and apparently 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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CHURCH: And the U.S. President is pinning his hopes of overturning his election loss to Joe Biden on the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. But Giuliani's appearance in a federal courtroom Tuesday was long on theatrics, short on substance. And it's not clear if it will get the President what he wants as a yet elusive legal victory. Here's CNN's Tom Foreman.
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Disgraceful, living in some fantasy world. That is how an attorney for election officials characterized the president's lawyer in a Pennsylvania court as Rudy Giuliani claimed election irregularities.
Wow! Trump's man echoed some of the same arguments he raised in that ill-fated, Four Seasons, Total Landscaping press conference.
RUDY GIULIANI, TRUMP ATTORNEY: I know this city has a sad history of voter fraud.
FOREMAN: But when a judge asks Giuliani how he could possibly justify throwing out millions of votes, the former New York mayor dodged and just kept pushing his story. And that is pretty much how it's going in Trump's quest for a legal solution to his lost election.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's tremendous litigation going on and this is a case where they're trying to steal an election.
FOREMAN: In hotly contested Arizona, team Trump has abandoned legal action now that it's clear it can't help him win there. In Wisconsin, a recount would cost Trump almost $8 million upfront and any hope for that appears to be dying. In Michigan, an appeals court has rejected the President's claim of fraud for lack of proof.
Ever since the vote, Trump has howled that the election was rigged, ballots were altered, signatures not checked, and voting machines full of glitches. But he has produced no evidence for any of that.
His Department of Homeland Security says this election was the most secure in American history. And longtime lawyer for Republican election interests, Ben Ginsberg, says looking over cases, the utter lack of proof is just part of the problem.
BEN GINSBERG, REPUBLICAN ELECTION LAWYER: Whether or not there are any valid charges in what the Trump team has filed, what is clear from the pleadings is that there are not enough votes in question to change the outcome of the election in any of this states they're trying to contest.
FOREMAN (on camera): What happened to Giuliani was by some accounts humiliating, and to many, a sure sign that the President's desperate legal bid for victory is coming to a painful, final, and failed resolution with Joe Biden still the winner.
Tom Forman, CNN, Washington.
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CHURCH: The once powerful hurricane Iota has caused devastation in Central America. The deadly storm is weakening but still poses a threat to the region. We are surveying the damage and tracking the latest developments. That's next.
[04:50:00]
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CHURCH: Pro-democracy protesters in Thailand are vowing to take to the streets of Bangkok again after the most violent clashes since the youth-led demonstrations began in July. Dozens of people were hurt. Demonstrators converged on Parliament to pressure lawmakers as they consider changes to the constitution.
Hurricane Iota was deadly as well as destructive in Nicaragua, the country's Vice President says the storm killed six people there. Iota has been downgraded but is still causing catastrophic flash floods as it moves through Honduras. Forecast is expected to weaken and dissipate near El Salvador on Wednesday. CNN's Patrick Oppmann has more on the storm and its potential impact to Central America.
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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The most powerful storm for far in the Atlantic in 2020. Iota made landfall in Nicaragua as a devastating category four hurricane. Iota came ashore just 15 miles south where hurricane Eta, another category four storm hit earlier this month. With the ground already soaked from Eta's heavy rains, emergency officials warned that hurricane Iota could cause dangerous mudslides and flash flooding. Colombia's president since a Navy ship with 15 tons of emergency supplies to Providencia, a Colombian territory off the coast of Nicaragua, where one storm survivor said Iota had devastated the island.
MATEO POSADA, COLOMBIAN TOURIST (through translator): Providencia is destroyed. There is not a single home left in good condition. All the homes are destroyed. All the vegetation is destroyed.
[04:55:00]
OPPMANN: Tens of thousands of people have had to evacuate their homes in Nicaragua and Honduras because of the two unusually powerful late season hurricanes. The President of Honduras says climate change is wreaking havoc on central America.
JUAN ORLANDO HERNANDEZ, PRESIDENT OF HONDURAS (through translator): It has been scientifically verified and seeing it in practice that Central American and Honduras are among the regions in world most affected by climate change. We have had a problem.
OPPMANN: A problem that could have far-reaching impacts. Hurricane Mitch in 1998 leveled whole areas of Honduras and Nicaragua killing thousands of people and leaving millions more homeless. Tens of thousands migrated to the United States. Failing crops blamed on the effects of climate change have already caused thousands to leave Central America and head north. The damage caused by hurricane Eta and now Iota, will likely add in desperation and fuel more migration, but it could take days or weeks to fully assess the destruction.
MARIA LILLY DELGADO, NICARAGUAN JOURNALIST: This is one of the most poorest and vulnerable areas in the country. To have an idea, to get to Bilwi, it will take you like more than 13 hours by car or to take a flight, which right now is not possible.
OPPMANN: There is less than two weeks until the end of the hurricane season, but the hurt inflicted the by first hurricane Eta and hurricane Iota will likely endure for years to come.
Patrick Oppmann, CNN.
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CHURCH: And thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. "EARLY START" is coming up next. You're watching CNN. Have yourselves a great day.
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