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Biden to Start Receiving President's Daily Brief; Biden Unveils National Security Team; U.S. Considers Reducing Quarantine Period as Travel Rises. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired November 25, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:26]
PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: A warm welcome to everyone. I'm Paula Newton live from CNN's World Headquarters in Atlanta.
Ahead this hour, the handover is officially underway in Washington. President Trump's administration is clearing the way for Team Biden who are ready to throw out the America first policies.
Plus, health experts raise big concerns about Holiday travel, warning the coronavirus pandemic could grow even worse and spell disaster for its healthcare system.
And later, Ethiopia sees a deepening humanitarian crisis, where hundreds of people are being killed over their ethnicity. And many more now being forced to flee.
And we begin with a study in contrast between incoming U.S. President, Joe Biden, and the man who currently occupies the White House.
Now, as Americans cutback on travel for family gatherings this Thanksgiving, Biden will deliver remarks in the coming hours about the shared sacrifices some people are making. His transition team is also moving forward to address the coronavirus pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: My ability to get presidential daily briefs, we are already working out meeting with the COVID team in the White House on how to not only distribute but get -- from a vaccine being distributed to a person able to get vaccinated. So I think we are not going to be that far behind the curve.
The outreach has been sincere. It has not been begrudging so far. And I don't expect it to be
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Meanwhile, Donald Trump spent the day granting the traditional pardon to Thanksgiving turkeys, but he couldn't help but claim credit as the Dow topped the 30,000 mark for the very first time. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just want to congratulate everybody. The Dow Jones Industrial average just broke for the first time in history 30,000. That's good. That's great for jobs and it is good for everything.
We've never broken 30,000 and that's just despite everything that's taken place with the pandemic, I am very thrilled with what's happened on the vaccine front.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Now, analysts acknowledge of course that the rise is due in part to promising news about a COVID vaccine, but they also credit Biden's steady pace on the transition and a round of Cabinet picks free of controversy.
Now, we get further details on that from CNN's Jessica Dean.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA DEAN, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): President- elect Joe Biden making it official.
BIDEN: America is back.
DEAN (voice over): Formally introducing his first round of cabinet nominees and appointees.
BIDEN: It's a team that will keep our country and our people safe and secure. It's a team that reflects the fact that America is back.
DEAN (voice over): The National Security and foreign policy picks are all heavy on experience, and if confirmed, some will make history.
ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY NOMINEE: Thank you for placing your trust in me to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
DEAN (voice over): Alejandro Mayorkas, the son of Cuban immigrants, would be the first Latino and immigrant to serve as Homeland Security Secretary.
MAYORKAS: My father and mother brought me to this country to escape communism. They cherished our democracy and were intensely proud to become United States citizens.
DEAN (voice over): Avril Haines would be the first woman to serve as Director of National Intelligence.
AVRIL HAINES, NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE DIRECTOR NOMINEE: I have never shied away from speaking truth to power.
DEAN (voice over): Secretary of State nominee, Anthony Blinken spoke specifically of his late stepfather who escaped the holocaust as a child, finding safety with American forces.
TONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE NOMINEE: He ran to the tank. The hatch opened. An African-American GI looked down at him. He got down on his knees and said the only three words that he knew in English that his mother taught him before the war, "God bless America." That's who we are.
DEAN (voice over): Louisiana native Linda Thomas-Greenfield nominated to be Ambassador to the United Nations, promised to bring people together using what she calls gumbo diplomacy, a strategy she deployed in her 35 years in Foreign Service.
LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N. NOMINEE: Wherever I was posted around the world, I'd invite people of different backgrounds and beliefs to help me make a roux and chopped onions for the Holy Trinity and make homemade gumbo. It was my way of breaking down barriers.
DEAN (voice over): The nominees were clear. Their message to the world is very different than President Trump's America first approach.
[02:05:07]
BLINKEN: We need to be working with other countries. We need their cooperation.
JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER NOMINEE: And perhaps most importantly you've tasked us with helping unite America.
DEAN (voice over): The Biden transition is now fully in motion with the General Services Administration signing off on the official process Monday night.
BIDEN: I think we're not going to be so far behind the curve as we thought we might be in the past and there's a lot of immediate discussion, and I must say the outreach has been sincere.
It has not been begrudging so far and I don't expect there to be. So yes, it's already begun.
DEAN (voice over): The Biden team has already been in communication with several key government agencies like the Department of Defense, Treasury, State Department, and Health And Human Services.
DEAN (on camera): We now know that the Biden transition team has been in touch with all federal agencies. We also know that the team has had informal conversations now with Dr. Anthony Fauci who says that he looks forward to more substantive conversations with them in the days to come and that he hopes he stays on to help the Biden administration.
Jessica Dean, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE) NEWTON: Now, meantime, the votes are still being counted, and despite
all the talk of a close margin and recounts, President-elect Joe Biden has broken another record. He is the first candidate ever to surpass 80 million in the popular vote. He leads Donald Trump by more than six million votes.
Now, earlier, I spoke to Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis and Republican strategist, Alice Stewart. I asked them for their takes on Biden's Cabinet.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS KOFINIS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: President-elect Biden is making, I think, a very clear statement that he is going to bring back a degree of stability, decorum, and professionalism to government and it's part of the reason that I think he got elected and it seems like he is following through on that mission.
I think the country right now is divided. It will remain divided for the foreseeable future. I think the challenge here is not to worry so much about the politics of. I know that sounds pretty strange.
NEWTON: It does, Chris. Oh, God, does it ever, but keep going. I will stay with you.
KOFINIS: I know, especially considering what's happened over the last four years, but if you sit there and overthink it and try to, you know, think through every political calculation, you really end up boxing yourself into a corner.
At the end of it all, what will matter more than anything are the results. Is he able to lead through the pandemic? Is he able to help the economy recover? Help the country get back to normal?
If that happens and it happens within a reasonable amount of time, only -- other than the diehard Trump lovers, most Americans will give then President Biden, a lot of credit. If that doesn't happen, then it's a different story.
NEWTON: You know, Senator Marco Rubio on Twitter saying, yes, okay, this is going to all go over well. They are polite and have the right degrees. But he was very clear in pushing back and saying, look, we need more than this right now. What do you think of his comments?
ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There are certainly going to be criticism. I think it's important to note, the successes that the Trump administration had with regard to foreign policy, certainly recently with the Abraham Accords and bringing about some stability in the Middle East, and the focus that we had on Communist China and the threat they had to American jobs and around the world, and also working to de-escalate the situation that we have in North Korea.
So there are some successes, and there is going to be people in the current administration, and Republicans, that are concerned about some of the focus, the ground that the current administration has made whether or not it will be lost. I think it's important to give them time, to get them situated and get
them in place, and get to work, which I think is important.
Obviously, the crisis with COVID is paramount, and making sure that they have the right people in place to deal with that. That's priority number one, with regard to the security of this country. And I think we need to give them a chance to get in there and get to work.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: That was Alice Stewart there and Chris Kofinis earlier speaking to me about the Biden transition.
So now that the U.S. presidential transition is officially underway, top health officials say they will soon brief the incoming administration about the coronavirus. Joe Biden has welcomed the move, saying it will help him effectively try and fight the pandemic when he takes office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: We are working on meeting with the COVID team in the White House on how to not only distribute, but get out -- from the vaccine being distributed to a person able to get vaccinated. So I think we are going to not be so far behind the curve as we thought we might be in the past.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[02:10:14]
NEWTON: In the meantime, the country's Assistant Health Secretary says the C.D.C. is now considering reducing the recommended 14-day quarantine for those who might be exposed to the virus.
Now, it comes as millions of Americans have been risking infection this week as they travel for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Health experts warn the surge in air travel will further spread the virus and put additional strain on health care workers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. STEPHEN HAHN, U.S. COMMISSIONER OF FOOD AND DRUGS: We don't want to run out of doctors and nurses and ventilators and that sort of thing. So we really have to take measures now to take care of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: On Tuesday, the U.S. set a new record for COVID hospital admissions, more than 88,000 people are now being treated for the virus nationwide, and as CNN's Lucy Kafanov reports, the surge in cases is only expected to intensify in the weeks ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The coronavirus outbreak is accelerating across the nation. More than 169,000 new cases reported yesterday, the highest Monday on record.
Thirty states seeing a surge in new cases this week and an uncontrolled spread of the virus across New Mexico, up 104 percent compared to last week.
COVID-19 so rampant across America that one model projects the U.S. will reach a staggering 20 million cases by January 20th.
Hospitals buckling under the surge.
JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: You may not be able to go in and get your heart attack treated. I've heard hospitals not being able to provide care for pregnant women because they're filled with COVID beds. So that's the reality.
KAFANOV (voice over): From coast to coast, 14 consecutive days of record-breaking hospitalizations.
In Minnesota, the "Star Tribune" publishing this dire headline: "No beds anywhere."
DR. SHIRLEE XIE, HOSPITALIST, HENNEPIN HEALTHCARE: I took care of a woman who after over a month in the ICU was recovering from COVID, and that should be a win.
But we were trying to call her family every day to give them an update, and we couldn't get a hold of anyone. And then one day we found out it was because her husband had died of COVID and her daughter had died of COVID. All while she was in the hospital.
And so how do you tell somebody that? How do you tell somebody that their family has died?
KAFANOV (voice over): Experts warn that Thanksgiving holiday could turn into a disaster.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Going home to your home community for a wonderful, traditional Thanksgiving holiday, might actually unfortunately be a source of and even amplification of the surge.
KAFANOV (voice over): As the cases keep surging, some states forced to implement new restrictions.
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): We have been overwhelmed with a record number of cases with hospitalizations going up, with numbers of individuals in the ICU increasing every day.
KAFANOV (voice over): National public schools returning to all virtual classrooms after Thanksgiving.
DR. NICHOLAS CHRISTAKIS, YALE UNIVERSITY: There should be no community in this nation where the bars are open but the elementary schools are closed.
KAFANOV (voice over): Meanwhile, the U.S. today announcing a first batch of 6.4 million doses of new vaccine could be distributed soon after December 10th.
ALEX AZAR, U.S. SECRETARY OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: We believe we can distribute vaccine to all 64 jurisdictions within 24 hours of F.D.A. authorization. Then we hope administration can begin as soon as the product arrives. One of the private sector partners we've unlisted, CVS Health, has said that they expect to be vaccinating residents of nursing homes, one of the top priority groups, within 48 hours after F.D.A. authorization.
KAFANOV (on camera): The Coronavirus Taskforce on Tuesday sounding the alarm about the spread of the pandemic, calling for the significant behavior change of all Americans.
This as the C.D.C. Director announced the majority of the coronavirus spread in the U.S. is coming from small household gatherings and people who aren't exhibiting symptoms. A stark warning ahead of the Thanksgiving Holiday.
Lucy Kafanov. CNN, Denver.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Dr. Jorge Rodriguez is an internal medicine and viral specialist. He joins me now live from Los Angeles. And Doctor, I just have to pause to really point to the doctor in Lucy's piece there who was really overcome with grief. So many of us are worried about healthcare professionals like you and the nurses and the orderlies and the first responders, and the toll this is all taking on them.
How afraid are you that at the end of the day, it's not for lack of medicine or beds or ventilators, but that we will not have the human capacity to take care of the sick around the world?
DR. JORGE RODRIGUEZ, INTERNAL MEDICINE AND VIRAL SPECIALIST: I think that is a very reasonable concern. Medical professionals are a resource. Like beds in hospitals, like Band-Aids, and we will get exhausted.
The good thing about my fellow physicians and nurses is that, seriously, we are raised to be tough and we will continue persevering. But one can only do so much, and what's becoming frustrating is it appears a small percentage, but a very important percentage, of the population is not taking this seriously enough and is driving the surge that we are seeing throughout the country.
It's frustrating. It's maddening. And it's dangerous.
[02:15:32]
NEWTON: Yes, and at a certain point, as a healthcare professional, there's only so many days you can go on preaching on what must be obvious.
RODRIGUEZ: Absolutely.
NEWTON: Okay, I want to talk about two confusing issues, things that are confusing me. So Lucy mentioned in her piece, again, right, asymptomatic spread, we've heard so much about it. The C.D.C. now saying that look, as much as 60 percent might be that way.
And then the other issue is the spread between -- in households, those intimate settings that we are all used to. What do you want people to know about those two things because like I said, there has been a lot of confusion and that is with Thanksgiving coming up, Passover coming up, Christmas, New Year's, all those holiday going on in the next few weeks.
RODRIGUEZ: Well, first of all, I think that some people are just going to visit family to prove that they are different than everyone else. And we are being too soft in what we are telling the public. We are making recommendations. I think we should make absolute statements saying, you go visit your family, and people out there will die because of that.
A very large percentage, anywhere from 30 to 60 percent of the people that go to visit their family, are going to have COVID, but are not going to have any symptoms.
They may have symptoms five days later. They may never have symptoms, but they will spread it, and they will spread it to people that are more susceptible to getting and dying from this disease. It isn't an if, it is going to happen.
And we get this unfortunate sense of comfort that we are dealing with family and family is safe. Sometimes, dealing with people we know is even more dangerous, because they feel almost obligated to attend, whether it's a Thanksgiving meal or a service.
And they may be reluctant to really say or believe that the symptoms they are having our significant. So sometimes, the people that we know, because of their love for us, will not tell us their symptoms. So it is those intimate settings where we spread the most disease, because we let our guards down, because we believe that the people we know are safe, and they are not. They are just people that may be spreading the disease.
NEWTON: Yes, and it is so sad to think about it. As I said, when we go through all of the Holidays that are going to be going on throughout the world in the next eight to 10 weeks just before we might have that all-important vaccine.
Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time.
RODRIGUEZ: Thank you for the time, Paula.
NEWTON: And now, with a history making day on Wall Street, the Dow reached a milestone. Underscoring the disconnect, the economic troubles right now on Main Street.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:21:16]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Joe Biden never got in, I think you'd have a depression the likes of which we've never seen the likes of which in this country. If you look at his policies where he wants to raise everybody's taxes, you look at what he wants to do in terms of regulation.
He wants to put all the regulations back on that I took off and then some.
TRUMP (via phone): If Biden and Harris get into power, they will destroy America, we will never let it happen. Our stock market would crash. Our stocks, our 401(k), our jobs, everything would go down, it would be worse than 1929.
TRUMP: They say the stock market will boom if I am elected. If he is elected, the stock market will crash.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: So throughout his presidency, Donald Trump has touted the stock market rise, of course taking credit for storing numbers, but as any expert will tell you, the stock market is not the economy.
The impact of the pandemic is already all too clear. I mean look at that, millions of Americans who have lost their jobs lineup at food banks to feed their families.
The stock market reflects what investors think will happen in the future. And right now, they are clearly optimistic. With another banner day on Wall Street, as the Dow crossed the 30,000 mark for the first time ever.
CNN's emerging markets editor, John Defterios is watching it all from Abu Dhabi.
And you know, of course, this is quite an election stock burst. It is a market burst because of that postelection euphoria. But the run up to 30, 000, has it been faster than crossing that 20,000 threshold?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Yes, it's almost like we're living on compressed time, right, Paula. It feels like it's faster. It is faster, that's the reality today. So to get from 20,000 to 30,000, it took four years. And that was juiced on by the tax cuts, particularly at the corporate level by Donald Trump and then the deregulation that he talked about.
He left out the fact that we have a budget deficit crossing a trillion dollars before the pandemic for the first time in history. But it did give a lift to the stock markets.
The second leg that we should talk about is that 10,000 to 20,000 which took almost 18 years because we had a global financial crisis and the technology bubble burst in 1999 and 2000. So that's why it took such a long, long time the second time around. But this latest rally is what you're talking about, and expectations
of the vaccine getting distributed in the United States and around the world, and based on three key characters, of course, the President- elect Mr. Biden, Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary, and Jerome Powell as the Federal Reserve Chair, can they avoid a recession?
You talk about those who are still unemployed, long term unemployed. So that's a huge challenge. But kind of the silver lining here, this is a broad based rally that we're seeing right now, Paula.
The S&P 500 is up. The Russell 2000. Oil prices are up, the highest level since March. We see oil stocks in the month up nearly 40 percent, and it is not just a U.S. phenomenon, we should add here. Low interest rates around the world, stimulus going throughout all the economies.
Tokyo is at a 29-year high. Europe is up 60 percent from the low in March. And there is this broader index of all the global indices around the world called the MSCI, it's at a record high as well.
And I would say, Paula, we are getting to that lofty level because expectations of the Biden administration are so grand and the job so tough going forward.
NEWTON: Yes, lofty, not a word that markets like. So it will be interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks. So, buckle up. John Defterios, you'll be watching it for us. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, France gets some good news about COVID-19 restrictions in time for people to make holiday plans, but other places, of course now aren't doing so well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:27:01]
NEWTON: And welcome back. I'm Paula Newton. Global perspective on the coronavirus pandemic now beginning with the United States where deaths and hospitalizations continue to climb.
Now, cases are rising in 31 states and more than half of the nations' governors have imposed measures to try and slow that spread.
Now, the El Paso, Texas Convention Center is right now being transformed into a care facility and the National Guard is helping mortuaries in El Paso County handle the surge in deaths.
The news in the U.K. is a bit better. It is loosening COVID-19 restrictions for the Holidays. The government says it will let members of up to three households form a so-called Christmas bubble.
Meantime, France will start lifting COVID-19 restrictions this weekend as part of a gradual reopening plan. President Emmanuel Macron says the worst of the second wave of the pandemic appears to be over, but he says care will be taken to try to and avoid a third wave and yet avoid lockdown.
Melissa Bell has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in France, there will be a staged lifting of the partial lockdown that's been in place since October 30th. The French President spoke to the nation on French television tonight, saying that, whilst the second wave had been bad, its figures could have been much worse. And that had been avoided, he said, as a result of the restrictions, although he noted that 50,000 people have now died as a result of the epidemic here in France.
What Emmanuel Macron had to say is that from Saturday there will be a lifting of some restrictions, with some nonessential businesses that had been closed allowed to open. But essentially, France will remain under partial lockdown until December 15.
Then, if the figures allow, if the COVID-19 figures remain at the levels that authorities hope they will be, people will once again be allowed to travel, once again be able to move around, although a curfew will then come into effect.
Then, there will be a third stage in the lifting of the restrictions in January, when some of those other businesses, for instances, restaurants and bars, will be allowed to open again.
So something that is very gradual, something that will take time and an effort, really, of authorities to try and avoid the areas of the first wave, when restrictions were lifted too quickly. What Emmanuel Macron explained tonight was that the aim was to avoid a third wave here in France.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: In Turkey, the coronavirus pandemic is reaching unprecedented numbers. The country has just seen a second consecutive day of record high of COVID related deaths and cases.
The Health Ministry says there were 161 deaths on Tuesday, topping Monday's record of 153. There were also more than 7,300 new patients.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is with us now live from Istanbul and you know, curious to hear from you about Turkey's reaction to this in terms of when it comes to, confronting these record numbers?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Paula, you are seeing here what you are seeing in other parts of the world and this is what health officials here would tell you that after they had managed to get the first wave under control back in May and June, the country really started opening up again in June, and life got a bit too normal, perhaps.
The one real restriction that remained in place was mask wearing. And so what we've seen over the past few months as the country returned to normal, the summer months here that were quite busy, the numbers started to gradually rise.
[02:30:29]
And as you mentioned, over the past week, you've pretty much had Turkey shattering its own records on a daily basis.
The numbers that were announced yesterday, more than 160 deaths, as you mentioned, that is the single deadliest day since the start of the pandemic. Then you add more than 7,300 patients as they called them.
And this is one of the problems, Paula, in Turkey is that they don't announce all the positive cases. What they do instead is only reveal the number of positive patients, as they call them, people who have symptoms or have been hospitalized, and Turkey has come under criticism, because you cannot compare the numbers here to the rest of the world when they don't disclose all the positives.
And you've also had criticism saying that the government is really masking and concealing the true extent of the outbreak, but the numbers really speak for themselves if you look at that. They are rising at an alarming level.
You've got ICU occupancy of more than 70 percent and Istanbul, the country's largest city, this commercial hub here, it accounts for more than half of the cases.
So while you've had calls for a two to three-week lockdown by some opposition and medical groups, the government had really resisted that for some time. But last week, officials, President Erdogan came out and said basically to try and relieve the pressure that's on healthcare workers, they have had to put restrictions in place that went into effect over the weekend with a partial weekend curfew, and age based lockdown for people over the age of 65 and under the age of 20.
They've shut down restaurants and cafes, only allowed to do takeout and delivery amongst other restrictions, but still. You've got some opposition groups here, medical groups saying this is not enough. The country needs stricter measures. It needs a lockdown to try and bring down the numbers.
The President and the government saying they believe what they have put in place, Paula is enough for now to bring down this surge. But if not, if there is no compliance from the population, stricter measures are on the table.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and the key metric there is to keep an eye on those hospitalizations. Jomana, thank you for the update. I really appreciate it.
Now to the race for a vaccine, there are dozens in development all of the world with several are showing very promising signs. Kim Brunhuber explains how countries are preparing for distribution.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST (voice over): This empty warehouse in Germany could be one of the most important fronts in the fight against the coronavirus. German officials say within the next 4 weeks, it'll be transformed into one of several sites to vaccinate residents against COVID-19, as soon as the shots made by German company BioNTech and its partner, Pfizer are approved.
ALBRECHT BROEMME, VACCINATION-CENTRE COORDINATOR (through translator): Our goal is that each vaccination center can be vaccinating one person every two minutes.
BRUNHUBER (voice over): The vaccine is already under review in the U.S. for emergency use with different vaccines by Moderna and AstraZeneca also showing promising results.
According to the W.H.O., 11 vaccines are in Phase 3 trials worldwide, and 37 others are in early phases of clinical trials. The news is being met by with a mix of fear and excitement.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's marvelous. You know, that's the things, you know, but as I say, you know, hopefully, it won't take that long before we can actually get it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I will get vaccinated, but to be honest, I prefer not to be one of the first ones. I prefer to wait for to wait for one of the results from people who already vaccinated.
BRUNHUBER (voice over): Many experts say there could be several viable vaccines which should be widely available to all countries, rich and poor to be effective.
DR. TEDROS ADHANOM, DIRECTOR GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: The best way to do that is vaccinate some people in all countries, rather than all people in some countries.
BRUNHUBER (voice over): Russian President Vladimir Putin said he will provide the Russian vaccine Sputnik V, which is still in Phase 3 trials to any country that needs it.
The Chinese drug maker Sinopharm says almost one million people has been inoculated with one of its experimental coronavirus vaccines. Under an Emergency Use Program, students, diplomats, and construction workers have received the shots.
The company also says 60,000 people in the countries in the Middle East and South America have had them. Even the Prime Minister of the UAE tweeted an image of his shot in the arm.
India's Serum Institute which is one of the largest drug makers in the world says it is gearing up to make mass affordable doses of vaccine, half to keep in India and half for the developing world.
Kim Brunhuber, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE) NEWTON: Still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, the United Nations is warning
the humanitarian crisis in northern Ethiopia could get worse. We will have a live report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:37:15]
[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]
NEWTON: The French government is launching an investigation into clashes that broke out after police dismantled a migrant camp in Paris, Monday. You can see what happened there.
The Interior Minister calling images of the incident shocking. The camp was installed in the center of the city to demonstrate the living conditions endured by migrants.
Police said it was set up without official permission. It happened just a week after police cleared out a larger, and also illegal migrant camp near the French National Sports Stadium.
Now, overcrowded cells with no sunlight and no room for social distancing, a new Federal Court filing presents this horrific image as a reality for migrant children, some as young as one month old on the U.S. border with Mexico over the past two months.
Now, the filing accuses U.S. Customs and Border Patrol of multiple instances, of holding children for more than three days, sometimes not knowing where their parents were or if they would return.
Democratic lawmakers have petitioned the Trump administration for a reason of the extended detention.
So the state appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission says hundreds of people were killed during an ethnically charged massacre earlier this month.
Now, the investigation claims a youth group, this is key here, with the help of local officials and police, killed at least 600 civilians in the Tigray region.
Now, tensions have been rising between the Federal and regional government for weeks now. We want to go to our David McKenzie who is live for us now in Johannesburg.
And David, I know how closely you've been following all of this. To be honest, I was not prepared for the numbers that the Human Rights Commission really disclosed today. You know, the scale of it, the alleged atrocities, and the sheer savage nature of apparently took place. Is this just in a way too far gone now for there to be a rapid resolution?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, there are fears that there could be more ethnic bloodshed in Ethiopia. That incident, that horrific incident that you are describing, Paula, more information trickling out about it from early November. That coming from the state appointed Human Rights counsel.
But the information does lineup with Amnesty International's investigation into that incident where Amhara and Welkait peoples in that part of Tigray allegedly were killed in a savage fashion by what the Human Rights Commission there in Ethiopia says was a loosely formed youth group, including going door to door and beating people to death.
But it is part of a broader escalation of this conflict, the U.N. Human Rights Commissioner saying they are fearful as reports of tanks and artillery surrounding, Mekelle, the regional capital at this hour really bringing fears that this conflict could spiral totally out of control as a government mandated 72-hour window for that region to surrender rapidly expires -- Paula.
[02:35:10]
NEWTON: Yes, and when we talk about that blunt deadline, is this recognizing that there is a point of no return? Now, the Prime Minister, we have to point out, got the Nobel Peace Prize in his efforts last year, and yet he seems to be really dealing with this within uncompromising, tough hand.
MCKENZIE: Well, the view from the Prime Minister -- and just a short time ago, he released a lengthy statement on this -- is that really they welcome the advice of the international community, but that this is a law enforcement operation, an internal matter in Ethiopia.
He again referred to the reason they started this conflict, which is the alleged attack on Federal troops by the Tigrayans earlier in November, which precipitated this escalation in conflict.
I do want to bring you though just a short time ago, Jake Sullivan, the incoming National Security Adviser of President-elect Biden, tweeting that he is very concerned about the risk of violence, and importantly saying that both sides should immediately begin dialogue facilitated by the African Union.
This points to a reengagement of the U.S. government in these kinds of matters, and you certainly are seeing the pressure building from the incoming Biden administration there as well as the European Union to get around the table and talk.
That is something that politically, Abiy would be not keen to do at this stage because in his view, the Tigrayan officials, and just in that statement today he called them treasonous acts.
He wants to restore order to Ethiopia. But it could just spiral out of control. The Tigrayans, for their part, have said they are going to obviously really pay attention to the 72-hour deadline and have hinted that they will just move into a guerrilla conflict should this really escalate and should they tried to take the capital, Mekelle in the coming days.
NEWTON: Yes, I mean, look, this is really a complicated situation now and interesting that the Prime Minister has said basically, you know, butt out. David, I know you will continue to stay on top of this as will we in the coming days. Appreciate it.
MCKENZIE: Thank you.
NEWTON: And that's CNN NEWSROOM for us right now. I'm Paula Newton. "World Sport" starts right after a quick break.
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