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Georgia to Recount Presidential Ballots Again per Trump Request; Judge Dismisses Trump Campaign's Pennsylvania Lawsuit; Thanksgiving Travelers Pack Airports; Record COVID-19 Surge in California; French President to Give National COVID-19 Speech; England to End Lockdown; German Hospitals Overwhelmed; Nigerian Army Shot Live Rounds at Lagos Protest; G20 Leaders Focused on Pandemic without Trump; Many Facing Food Insecurity Due to COVID-19. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired November 22, 2020 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Why Georgia will count the state's presidential votes again.

Plus a judge throws out another of Donald Trump's lawsuits.

One of Georgia's Republican Senate candidates may have COVID after campaigning closely with vice president Pence and the state's other Senate candidate.

Meanwhile, Americans crowd airports for holiday travel as the U.S. hits a new milestone of 12 million COVID cases.

Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome, I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

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BRUNHUBER: We're following some major political stories for you this hour.

First, president Donald Trump has forced another recount of presidential ballots in the state of Georgia. The Biden campaign responded, saying, quote, "Last week's recount reaffirmed what we already knew, Georgia voters selected Joe Biden to be their next president. Any further recount will simply reaffirm Joe Biden's victory in Georgia a third time."

Now hours earlier, President Trump got a stinging rebuke from a Pennsylvania judge. We'll have details on that in a moment.

And Georgia Republican senator Kelly Loeffler is waiting for clarification on her COVID-19 tests and so are we.

As we mentioned, things didn't go President Trump's way in the state of Pennsylvania Saturday, far from it. A federal judge there didn't just dismiss a Trump campaign lawsuit, he used very strong language in the process. And he's a Republican. Justice correspondent Jessica Schneider has the story.

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JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: A federal judge in Pennsylvania completely tearing apart the Trump legal strategy that was spearheaded by Rudy Giuliani.

The federal judge in Pennsylvania, Matthew Brann, he's a long term Republican, a President Obama appointee, however, but he called this latest case that he's dismissed "like Frankenstein's monster ... haphazardly stitched together."

The judge in this case, Matthew Brann, tearing apart the claims, by the Trump team that they wanted to invalidate the vote in Pennsylvania and throw out nearly 7 million votes.

The judge in this case saying this, "One might expect that when seeking such a startling outcome, a plaintiff would come formidably armed with compelling legal arguments and factual proof of rampant corruption.

"That has not happened. Instead, this court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpled in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence.""

This judge was very skeptical during the hearing but he completely tore the Trump legal arguments apart. This was really the last remaining case in a crucial swing state that could have potentially affected any votes.

Really at this point, the Trump team's legal strategy is crumbling before our eyes. They really don't have any major cases left, even despite the fact that, on Saturday, more lawsuits were filed in state court, looking to invalidate the vote and really stop the certification.

The certification is set to happen in Pennsylvania on Monday. It is also set for Monday in Michigan. That's where something else is playing out, where the Trump team has shifted from a legal strategy to a political pressure campaign.

They are putting pressure on some of the Republican political leaders there and now there is concern that, with the state board of canvasers meeting on Monday at 1 pm, that they could actually deadlock. It's a four member board, two Republicans, two Democrats.

If there is a 2-2 split, this could actually end up in the courts or the governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, could step in to replace maybe those noncompliant board members.

So there's a lot of stake in the coming days but it could be game over when these votes are certified in the coming days and that could really be the end for the Trump team -- Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: After that Pennsylvania decision came down, the state's Republican senator congratulated Biden as president-elect.

Pat Toomey said, quote, "With today's decision by Judge Matthew Brann, a long-time conservative Republican, whom I know to be a fair and unbiased jurist, to dismiss the Trump campaign's lawsuit.

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BRUNHUBER: "President Trump has exhausted all plausible legal options to challenge the result of the presidential race in Pennsylvania.

"These developments, together with the outcomes in the rest of the nation, confirmed that Joe Biden won the 2020 election and will become the 46th President of the United States."

Of course, the Trump White House is still denying President-Elect Joe Biden and his team access to critical resources and briefings. But Biden's still moving forward. CNN political correspondent Arlette Saenz is covering the Biden transition.

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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President-Elect Joe Biden's team welcomed the decision from a federal judge to dismiss Trump campaign's lawsuit in Pennsylvania as the Biden team says it backs up their arguments that there are no legal challenges that the president can credibly wage in order to change the results of this election.

A spokesperson for Joe Biden, Mike Gwin, says, "Yet another court has rejected Trump and Giuliani's baseless claims of voter fraud and their appalling assault on our democracy.

"The judge's ruling couldn't be clearer. Our people, laws and institutions demand more and our country will not tolerate Trump's attempt to reverse the results of an election that he decisively lost."

Biden's team has long argued these lawsuits and legal challenges are simply political theater and they don't believe that anything credible can be raised to change the outcome of the election.

But they have warned that these types of challenges are threatening to American democracy but they also believe that this election is over and the results will stand. Biden is pushing forward with his transition, even as the GSA has yet to ascertain him as the president- elect.

Biden has been convening his own teams of experts and holding briefings with people, as they are gathering more information about how to proceed heading into January. And Biden is also building up his White House staff but also looking at his cabinet decisions.

And the president-elect has sped up his timeline for announcing his first cabinet picks, with the possibility of the first nominees coming at the start of the week -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Another prominent Republican, senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, is in quarantine as she waits for results of another COVID test. Loeffler was maskless alongside vice president Mike Pence and fellow Republican David Purdue, both fighting tough election runoff battles.

They will determine whether Republicans or Democrats control the Senate. Loeffler has had several tests showing she was either COVID free or has the virus, with one result inconclusive. She's awaiting a further test and will quarantine until she gets a reliable result.

For more on all the political wrangling, Thomas Gift, director of the Center on U.S. Politics at University College London. He joins from us Oxford, England.

Thanks for coming on.

I want to know, what's the point of all this political theater, yet another Georgia recount, aside from allowing Biden to set a record for the number of times a single candidate can win a state in one election?

THOMAS GIFT, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Yes, I do think, Kim, that the Georgia recount now looks like a total moot point, especially after Pennsylvania. Trump is entitled to the recount because the margin is less than a half percentage point.

But I think taxpayers should ask why the president is insisting on expending public dollars on an exercise that won't change the election outcome. Trump's legal team hasn't provided any proof of widespread fraud or irregularities in Georgia.

Georgia did already do a risk-limiting audit of the presidential ballots by hand, which amounted to a de facto recount. And most recounts at the state level don't change election results by more than several hundred votes, not thousands or tens of thousands.

For example, when Trump's victory in Wisconsin in 2016 was subject to recount, that changed his vote margin by about 131 votes, that's it. Right now, Biden's margin is over 12,000. So it seems implausible that a recount would change the Georgia results. I think really what we're seeing is just a delay tactic by the president.

BRUNHUBER: Is there a point to foment more outrage in Georgia, specifically with those key Senate races ongoing?

GIFT: Well, that is one question and maybe that's in the back of Republican voters' minds.

But if that is the goal, I think it's an unfortunate tactic because, really, this is about the presidential race. It's clear that Joe Biden has won. You would like to see the president just move on, go forward with the transition and support Biden as he prepares to be the new president. Maybe this does galvanize some certain percentage of the Republican

electorate in Georgia.

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GIFT: But at the same time, I think it can also risk backfiring. Trump obviously looking like a sore loser here. Maybe Republican voters won't necessarily respond well.

BRUNHUBER: The Trump administration has tried to convince or strong- arm Republican state and local officials to delay certification or even plain overturn the results. But so far, most of them haven't bent to his will.

But since Trumpism is far from a spent force and we've seen so many of his followers believe the conspiracy theories, are you worried that anyone who resists will, in the next election cycle, face a challenge from Trump loyalists, be eventually primaried out and things could be very different the next time?

Because there will be a next time.

GIFT: Exactly. It's not novel to say that Trump is shattering one democratic norm after the next. Much shocks but very little surprises.

But that does have, I think, long-term implications, both for American democracy as well as the Republican Party specifically. If this does set a precedent, that the free and fair transfer of power from one candidate to the next isn't the norm, then I do think that we have to be concerned.

Hopefully this is just a one-off. Donald Trump is certainly an aberration, a very anomalous figure. And you hope things snap back to normal after he's gone. But doing what he's doing, I think we do have to be very concerned, not just in the present moment, Kim, but what it portends going forward.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, normal would be very welcome indeed. Let's turn to concrete policy here that will actually affect Americans on a daily basis.

The Biden transition team is putting more pressure on Congress to pass another coronavirus relief bill. But he's, it seems, going along with Democrats in Congress, who so far haven't budged on the $2 trillion proposal, which Republicans have already rejected.

So is it a mistake not to carve out a new compromise position to help sort of break that logjam?

Then on the reverse, for President Trump, isn't it a mistake for him not to make this a priority?

He could be a hero here and take credit for a huge boost to Americans and the economy.

GIFT: Yes, for Trump's part, I think that he displays very little interest in this at this point. His attention seems to be fully preoccupied with trying to overturn the election results.

For Biden, I think he is ultimately going to have to strike a compromise. Democrats were looking for something more on the order of $3 trillion. The fact that they didn't overtake the Senate clearly or it's likely that they won't, the fact that they did so poorly in the House, I do think it lessens the hand that they are able to play.

Hopefully, you do get some type of compromise that's struck in January once the new president takes office. But until then, there are lots of Americans hurting. I don't think that this has boded particularly well for the Democrats.

Donald Trump, I think, has fairly effectively portrayed them as being obstructionist. Whether that's true or not, I think, is a different question. The fact that there's so many immediate needs right now that are not being met -- unemployment is still fairly high -- all of those suggest that Congress really needs to come together with the president, get a relief deal done. If they don't or it's delayed any further, I think that's problematic.

BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. All right, thank you so much, Thomas Gift, director of the University College of London's Center on U.S. Politics. We always appreciate it.

GIFT: Thanks, Kim.

U.S. airports brace for millions of holiday travelers.

How many are still flying home for Thanksgiving despite the pandemic and urgent warnings not to?

Long lines and new records. We'll take you to California as it sees an alarming surge in virus cases.

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BRUNHUBER: Yet another troubling sign that the pandemic is getting worse in the U.S. The country now has more than 12 million confirmed coronavirus cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. Nearly one- quarter of those have been added this month alone.

Deaths and hospitalizations are also going up at alarming rates. This as many Americans ignore warnings, urging them not to travel home for Thanksgiving. What you're seeing there, that is a packed airport in Phoenix, Arizona. It's a similar scene in many airports across the country. CNN's Pete Muntean reports.

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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The CDC said people should not travel for Thanksgiving but it's not stopped people here at Reagan National Airport, who tell me that they feel safe enough to fly.

AAA estimates that about 50 million people will travel for the holiday but that's only a 10 percent drop compared to last year.

Airlines are still adding flights to their schedules and insist that flying right now is safe, but they underscore that it's a very personal decision, one that passengers here tell me they did not take lightly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like I have taken enough measures to protect myself and my family.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I understand the risks that I'm taking but I want to see my family.

MUNTEAN: Airlines say they're not encouraging people to fly right now but they're not discouraging them either. United Airlines says it's already seen bookings drop off as coronavirus continues to surge.

Even still, the head of the TSA thinks we could break a record of the pandemic that was set back on October 18th, when about a million people passed through security at America's airports. He says the busiest days will be the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after -- Pete Muntean, CNN, Reagan National Airport.

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BRUNHUBER: California is among the states seeing dramatic surges. It recorded more than 15,000 infections Saturday, an all-time high. Testing is in such high demand that we're seeing sights like this, lines of cars in Los Angeles stretching on and on. Restrictions have been tightened but so far that hasn't stopped the uptick.

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BRUNHUBER: Paul Vercammen reports.

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PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just a dramatic U-turn in California, which seemed to be doing so well with its COVID-19 numbers just a few weeks ago. And now, 15,000 cases and counting in one day in the state, an all-time record.

So they're battling this on a couple of different fronts. First off, contact tracing and testing here at Dodger Stadium; 7,000, 8,000, 9000 people being tested per day. They are also very aggressive in some new rollbacks, new restrictions.

A curfew has been invoked in most of California that forbids people from gathering in large clusters, from 10:00 at night until 5:00 in the morning. This is very much aimed at young people.

What they don't want is people getting together at their local watering hole or restaurant or in a park and being out in those early hours. You can, however, go walk the dog, drive to your friend's house, go to the grocery store.

But this is very much aimed at reducing the number of large groups that seem to be going out at times in California against the wishes of public health officials -- reporting from Los Angeles, I'm Paul Vercammen. Now back to you.

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BRUNHUBER: Dr. Robert Kim-Farley joins me from Los Angeles, he's a professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

Thank you for joining us, Doctor. I want to start with what we just saw, the situation in California where things are worse than the peak in the summer. So the question Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti posed this week is intriguing. I want to get your take as a former director with the L.A. County Department of Public Health.

Over the past few months, the fairly strict measures there haven't been relaxed, they've remained constant.

So why are the numbers still going up?

DR. ROBERT KIM-FARLEY, UCLA FIELDING SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Well, thank you, Kim, for having me on the show again.

And I think it is an interesting question about why do we see this surge occurring when there hasn't been much change, if you will in the guidance provided to individuals or businesses?

I think it's a multi factorial. First of all, we have some pandemic fatigue setting in, where people are no longer perhaps wearing masks as vigilantly or keeping physical distance as much as they had been doing, sometimes also letting down their guard of having more people in the house or small parties.

I think also, we see the holiday season tempting us. We've had Halloween, we're soon to have Thanksgiving next week. These, I think, could become amplifiers and have been certainly, after Halloween, where we're having people coming down more with disease.

I think also the cooling weather that we have is bringing people indoors. We know that the transmission is facilitated for COVID-19 when you're indoors, as compared to being outside.

Also, frankly, you have to also realize we are testing more people. We've tripled the number of people being tested in the United States since the 1st of July. I think that we are seeing more asymptomatic people picked up through some of the testing efforts that we're doing as well.

All those things add up in their own ways to one of the reasons we see increasing numbers of cases. But it is real and we have to be concerned. BRUNHUBER: I want to emphasize that, because, a lot of the time,

people who want to deny that, saying, we're testing too much. But hospitalizations are going up as well.

I want to ask you about the first thing you talked about, pandemic fatigue. You can see it in the sheer number of Americans, who are traveling or planning to travel over this Thanksgiving holiday. We've seen pictures of crowded airports and it doesn't look very safe, looking at pictures now.

Even if people are wearing masks, they are sharing air in very crowded locations. Clearly people aren't listening to guidance advising them not to travel or get together.

Are we standing at yet another precipice here?

KIM-FARLEY: I think we are. Again, associated with Thanksgiving, the travel, as you pointed out, as well as the people having persons in their homes or going out and having larger numbers together, all of these things don't bode well for us to have decreased numbers of cases but rather, increasing.

I think also, as you rightly point out, the crowded areas, oftentimes for travel, for going by air, in the airports itself or in security lines, things like this, it's not necessarily on the plane itself, which have very good air filtration. They've got quick turnarounds of air in the space.

They've got the flow of the air directed such that it's not spreading all over the cabin. So actually, probably the actual getting to the airport is of more concern than the flight itself.

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BRUNHUBER: We have to hang in there until the vaccine's available but experts have been drawing that distinction: a vaccine is one thing; vaccinations, quite another. You supervise L.A. County's immunization program.

What's going to be the key to a successful rollout?

If we agree that health care workers should get it first, who gets it next?

How do you decide?

KIM-FARLEY: Yes, so I think firstly, as you point out, we need to realize that is coming. There is a light at the end of this tunnel. So pandemic fatigue, if everybody could double down and hang in there, keep masking, physical distancing, this vaccine will be coming.

As you rightly point out, it's going to be limited at the beginning. We're hoping with both Pfizer and soon to be Moderna asking for emergency use authorization, we'll probably have some 40 million doses by the end of this year. But it's a two-dose schedule, so about 20 million people. First choice

for priority is going to be our health care workers, who are on the front lines. So that will use up a lot of the vaccine.

Probably next in line will be our workers, as well as patients, in nursing homes. Oftentimes, the elderly have multiple medical conditions.

Thirdly will be those that are more elderly, over 65, have multiple medical conditions or underlying conditions that make them more susceptible.

Then essential workers, like teachers that have to be there, also larger numbers of people together, essential workers.

And then finally, it will be for the rest of us. But I think that may be not till April, May, June, July before we actually have all the vaccine that would be needed to vaccinate the entire population. BRUNHUBER: Until then, follow the guidance. Don't gather. Wear a

mask.

KIM-FARLEY: Exactly right.

BRUNHUBER: Thank you so much, Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, we appreciate you coming on again.

KIM-FARLEY: Kim, it's a pleasure as always. See you later.

BRUNHUBER: How surging cases of coronavirus are putting a strain on ICU beds in Germany. And the danger it poses if the trend continues.

And the Nigerian army is changing its story about what happened at a protest in Lagos last month. At least 12 people were reportedly killed. Details ahead.

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to you, our viewers in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber and you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

The second wave of coronavirus is hitting Germany especially hard and it's starting to run low on ICU beds.

In Britain, prime minister Boris Johnson is set to announce that the country will end its national lockdown on December 2nd.

In France, president Emmanuel Macron may announce a partial relaxation of nationwide restrictions.

For more on that and other coronavirus news across Europe, I'm joined by Anna Stewart in London.

But first, to France and CNN's Jim Bittermann, who's just outside Paris.

Jim, with hospitalizations coming down in France, will that be enough to convince Macron to ease restrictions?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: We're going to see. Tuesday night he's going to speak to the nation, Kim. And basically the prime minister sort of hinted things are going the right way yesterday, Friday, rather.

Friday morning he said that France is on basically a good path, that hospitalizations, the increase in hospitalizations is going down. The number of patients in ICU that are being treated for coronavirus is also going down. In fact, about 350 less this week than it was last week.

So all of those are good signs. But the government spokesman has said, all along here, that, in fact, this is not going to be something where the government will lift the lid suddenly because the signs are good. They've learned their lesson from previous times when they've taken restrictions off.

In fact, they're going to gradually ease into this. The president, there's a lot of speculation on what the president's going to say Tuesday night. But in fact it looks like he'll try to ease restrictions on particularly small businesses and shop keepers and whatnot but not restaurants, not bars, those kinds of things.

Schools have been in session throughout this latest lockdown. So they'll continue to be in session. In any case, somewhat gradually ease the restrictions that have been taking place here for now almost a month since they were imposed.

Over in Germany, the situation is becoming somewhat dire as far as the ICU beds are concerned. The chancellor's spokesman said on Friday that, basically, we've not yet managed to bring the numbers down back to a low level. We've only managed to get past the first step, which is to stop the strong, steep, exponential increase in infections.

So they don't feel they've turned the corner just yet. And the real critical thing are those ICU beds, that are being filled up by coronavirus patients. They're worried about that situation.

This from a country where the health care system has been exemplary, as far as the Europeans are concerned.

One more thing I might add, the European Union and the European Commission, in the G20 meetings yesterday, called for global solidarity on the idea of the distribution of tests and vaccines and treatments, basically because they don't want to get into a competition as these vaccines come out.

And they said that the G20 nations should act in cooperation with each other so that they can share things out a little better -- Kim. BRUNHUBER: But we heard a very different message from president Donald Trump. All right, so now to CNN's Anna Stewart in London. Thank you very much, by the way.

In the U.K., the end of the national lockdown, perhaps, there. But far from the end of the pain.

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I don't think the pain's going to end until the pandemic does. But interestingly, Kim, U.K. government's almost put a date on that. They said they really have confidence that restrictions will be eased in the run-up to spring.

That is when they expect to have a mass vaccine rollout program in place and also mass testing. I think that's something we're going to hear a lot about in the coming days, testing the population at large to try and keep a check on the virus. As you said, England's national lockdown is due to end on the 2nd of December as expected.

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STEWART: But it won't be back to normal. England will return to the regional three-tier system it was in before it entered lockdown. As we expect, measures within those tiers to be stronger and stricter and more of the regions are likely to be in the highest level of restrictions.

That may be supported by SAGE, the group of scientists who advise the government. We're expecting them to publish a report tomorrow, saying the previous tiers pre-lockdown 2 didn't go far enough in terms of suppressing the virus and the transmission rates.

This is all part of the COVID plan that the government is discussing today at Number 10 Downing Street. It will be presented to Parliament and a vote is expected in the coming days.

A part of this may be opposed by some MPs, particularly if there are further restrictions, for instance, on hospitality; if more businesses are told they have to shut for longer. I think the government is expected to extend the curfew; for instance, the hospitality sector -- bars, restaurants, higher-tiered levels extended from 10:00 pm to 11:00 pm

So they are perhaps going to balance the needs of businesses the need to keep up with restrictions, particularly in some areas.

I think there will be a lot of interest in the coming days with this COVID winter plan as to what it says about Christmas. There are some expectations, again, that perhaps restrictions will be eased, at least temporarily, to allow families to see each other, to allow for socializing indoors.

And that may be done not just in England but in tandem with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as well. Of course, any easing of restrictions can result in a rise in cases.

And right now in U.K., cases in the second wave of coronavirus do appear to be leveling off. So it's a very tricky balancing act, one I guess that governments right around the world are trying to manage.

BRUNHUBER: All right, thank you so much, Anna Stewart in London, appreciate it.

As we heard from Jim, Germany was seen as a model for other countries during the first wave. But on Friday it broke its all-time case record. Our Fred Pleitgen takes us inside one hospital's intensive care unit.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Working around the clock to save lives. This doctor is performing a tracheostomy (sic), making a surgical airway on a patient with severe COVID-19.

We're in the COVID ICU at Ernst von Bergmann Hospital in Potsdam outside Berlin, where the number of COVID patients requiring intensive care has dramatically risen in recent weeks and they expect things to get worse.

DR. MICHAEL OPPERT, HEAD OF ICU, ERNST VON BERGMANN HOSPITAL: If that carries on with that speed that we are experiencing right now, I would imagine that even our hospital, with over 1,000 beds, is at a point -- will come to a point where we can't -- where we have to send patients home or not home, but to other hospitals, to get them treated.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): When we visited, only two of the 16 ICU beds were vacant. The staff was already canceling other nonurgent operations to free up capacity and making plans to convert more of its general intensive care facility into COVID ICUs.

PLEITGEN: Germany has one of the best health care systems in the world but it's continuing to see high numbers of coronavirus infections and more and more people requiring treatment in ICUs.

One of the things that the government has said, if the current trajectory continues the way it is right now, even Germany's health care system could be overwhelmed in a matter of weeks.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): And that could be bad news for all of Europe. Germany has been taking in COVID patients from neighboring countries, whose health care systems are overwhelmed.

For now, they can continue to do that but it's not clear for how much longer. Official data shows the amount of COVID-19 patients in German ICUs jumped from about 260 to almost 3,600 in just two months, even many younger patients with severe symptoms, a senior physician says.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have patients of 30, 40 years here who are on a ventilator and I'm not sure if they'll survive.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Germany has recently seen a string of demonstrations against the country's anti-pandemic measures, many protesters denying the severity of the virus, considered a slap in the face by front line medical workers, working hard to keep people alive. "I also sometimes hear people say things like, it's almost like a

regular flu," a chief nurse says. "We just cannot understand people who talk that way."

Germany is still far away from such scenarios. There are thousands of ICU beds available in the country. But the head of Potsdam's intensive care division says, beware of the outbreak's dynamic.

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OPPERT: Nationwide, the numbers are climbing and they're still climbing. They're not coming down at the moment.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): And while the staff here can provide top-notch care, they urge people to protect themselves from the virus to minimize the risk of ever winding up in the COVID ICU ward -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Potsdam, Germany.

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BRUNHUBER: CNN has been investigating what really happened at a protest in Nigeria last month, a protest turned deadly. And the Nigerian army is now changing its story. We'll have that story next.

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BRUNHUBER: A CNN investigation has shed light on a deadly anti-police brutality protest in Nigeria one month ago. Soldiers and police allegedly moved in on unarmed protesters in Lagos and fired shots into a crowd. The Nigerian army denied the accusation but now, as CNN's Nima Elbagir reports, the army admits it had live rounds at the protest.

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NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Nigerian army admitted at a hearing for the judicial panel of inquiry that soldiers were given both live and blank bullets when they were deployed to protests at Lekki toll gate on October 20th.

The admission seems to confirm a key finding of our CNN investigation into the shooting.

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BRIG. GEN. AHED TAIWO, NIGERIAN ARMY: The soldiers will be given both live and blank bullets. OK. (INAUDIBLE). We saw that these protests had been infiltrated by some hoodlums. But peaceful protesters no doubt. But there were also hoodlums who sought to take advantage.

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TAIWO: That is why they were armed with blank bullets in addition (INAUDIBLE) in addition to the live (INAUDIBLE).

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ELBAGIR: This is the first time the Nigerian army has admitted having live rounds at the protests. The army's statement also contradicts previous statements about the incident, including from Brigadier Taiwo himself, who told the judicial panel previously that the soldiers were firing in the air and firing blank ammunition.

The CNN investigation included evidence that bullet casings from the scene matched those used by the Nigerian army when shooting live rounds, according to current and former Nigerian military officials.

In addition, two ballistics experts also confirmed to CNN that the shape of the bullet casings indicate they used live rounds, which contradicts the army's previous claim they fired blanks. CNN's report was based on testimony from dozens of witnesses and photos and video obtained and geolocated by CNN.

The Nigerian army did not respond to numerous requests for comment prior to the broadcast and publication of CNN's story. This admission by Nigeria that live rounds were deployed is yet another in a series of constantly changing narratives as to what happened on October 20th at Lekki toll, gate where protesters had gathered to demonstrate against police brutality.

On Thursday, minister of information and culture Lai Mohammed (ph) said that the military fired blank ammunition in the air. He also dismissed the CNN investigation as "fake news and misinformation." CNN stands by our reporting -- Nima Elbagir, CNN, London.

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BRUNHUBER: With the coronavirus surging around the world, the pandemic is dominating talks at this year's G20 virtual summit. We'll get a live report on the meeting from Saudi Arabia.

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BRUNHUBER: Leaders of the world's 20 biggest economies will be wrapping up their G20 virtual summit just hours from now. As with day one, the overwhelming focus today is likely to be on the coronavirus pandemic.

CNN's Nic Robertson joins me from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with more.

I think the big topic stateside has been the video of President Trump golfing during the G20 session. But bring us up to speed on what you've seen so far and what to expect next. NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: This is not a

normal G20 summit by any stretch. The fact that it's virtual does seem to give leaders the opportunity to step away from the camera and go do other things, as in President Trump playing golf.

It's not the only way he's perceived here as being out of step with the other leaders. What we've heard about President Trump's speech so far -- and we've only heard about it from the White House, because the White House, unlike other offices of leaders around the world, has not released the video.

So we don't know precisely what President Trump said. But we do know the White House said he talked about how well the United States had done in combating coronavirus and the strong steps it had taken, the strength with which the United States economy is doing.

Very much talking about how well the United States had done, though there was mention, we're told, of the importance of the G20 working together. But it is that working together that's been the narrative that's come through from other leaders here.

And it was striking that the king of Saudi Arabia, who's hosting the G20, in his opening remarks before President Trump went off to play golf, was that the importance of the World Trade Organization, a multilateral, multinational body, that could work to sort of mitigate the worst impacts, economic impacts, of the coronavirus pandemic globally.

This is something President Trump, the World Trade Organization is something President Trump has been against. You get the sense here that President Trump is out of step with the other leaders. It's almost as if they're saying, goodbye, so long, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

But there are important things being discussed here. It is about working together to mitigate the impact of coronavirus pandemic. The talk is of about $4.5 billion being set aside for poorer nations for what's being described as an advance COVID toolkit, if you will, accelerator.

This is to give poorer nations access to the testing, to the treatments and, importantly, to the vaccines. That's been recurring in speeches, we've heard it from a Turkish leader, from a South African leader, the importance that poorer nations get access to the vaccine as well.

That's what the G20 is trying to do, to make sure that everyone gets access to all the help that they need to do with the medical effects of the pandemic but then economic impacts as well.

The king pointed out, all the countries at the G20 are, so far in their own national budgets, contributed $11 trillion. The estimate is that has gone a long way to slowing the global economic impacts of the pandemic.

So this really does -- that image of President Trump playing golf, of course, we don't know what the other leaders were doing while this virtual video conference was going on. However, it does kind of indicate that President Trump sees himself now on the way out of the global conversation.

BRUNHUBER: Always appreciate the analysis, Nic Robertson in Riyadh, thank you.

Thanksgiving is just four days a way but many families won't be able to get together because of the coronavirus. Others are struggling to put food on the table. Food insecurity and hunger have been on the rise since the pandemic broke out.

Millions have lost their jobs, of them of depending on food giveaways like this one in Arlington, Texas. Lines for a food bank in Los Angeles were so long, some families have been there since Friday.

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BRUNHUBER: CNN's Natasha Chen visited one such event in Georgia on Saturday.

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NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The first cars arrived at 5:30 am for an event that was scheduled to start at 10:00 am. So that just goes to show the desperate need of the people in this community.

You can see these are the final cars coming through, getting a box of produce, getting a gift card for turkeys and hams at Walmart.

Some of these people tell me that they had not been to a food drive prior to 2020. It's because of the pandemic and the economic strains, that their jobs have been affected. Others tell me they're here, picking up food for their elderly relatives just so that they can keep them safe.

We talked to the Dekalb County CEO about the people he's met in line. Here's what he said.

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MICHAEL THURMOND, CEO, DEKALB COUNTY, GEORGIA: I spoke with one lady who said that she never dreamed that she would end up in a food line, having worked her entire life.

And I just told her that there's nothing to be ashamed of, that we're in this together, we're going to rise through this challenge. We'll meet it and we'll stand together as a county, as a state and as a nation.

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CHEN: They gave out about 850 boxes of food today and this is just one of three locations in Dekalb County. We know of so many other food drives around the metro Atlanta area and around the country. It's a similar story, wherever we are talking to those people. It's a lot of folks who are coming to these drives, who may not have needed this help before and, of course, everyone has in mind the safety of Thanksgiving gatherings. And a lot of people here telling me they're going to try and keep those gatherings small.

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BRUNHUBER: That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber and I'll be back in just a moment with more news.