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Chines Documents Show Chaotic Early COVID-19 Response; Experts Question Claims Iran Scientist Killed Remotely; Germany Setting Up Vaccination Centers; Irish Family Shares Video of Life Under Lockdown. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired December 01, 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]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice- over): An unprecedented leak of internal Chinese documents to CNN reveals for the first time what China knew in the opening weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic but did not tell the world.

A whistle-blower who said they worked inside the Chinese health care system shared the documents with CNN online, which show a chaotic local response from the start.

YANZHONG HUANG, SENIOR FELLOW FOR GLOBAL HEALTH, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: This lack of transparency sort of also contributed to the crisis.

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, PROFESSOR, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: Seeing information in black and white was very revealing and instructive.

WALSH: CNN has verified them with half-a-dozen experts, a European security official, and using complex digital forensic analysis looking at their source code.

The documents provide a number of key revelations about the province of Hubei, home to the epicenter city of Wuhan.

Firstly, some of the death tolls were off. The worst day in these reports is February the 17th, where these say 196 people who were confirmed cases died. But that day, they only announced 93.

China was also circulating internally bigger, more detailed totals for new cases in Hubei for one day in February, recording internally nearly 6,000 new cases, some diagnosed by tests, others clinically by doctors and some suspected because of symptoms and contact but all pretty serious.

Yet, publicly that day, China reported nationwide about 2,500 new confirmed cases. The rest were downplayed and ongoing tally of suspected cases. That meant patient that doctors had diagnosed as being seriously ill sounded like they were in doubt. They did later improve the criteria. DALI YANG, PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: If

China had been more transparent and also more aggressive in responding, clearly, there would have had an impact on how much the virus spread in Wuhan, in Hubei in China and perhaps to the rest of the world as well.

WALSH: Strikingly, the documents reveal one possible reason behind the discrepancy in the numbers. A report from early March says it took a staggering 23 days on average from when someone showed COVID-19 symptoms to when they got a confirmed diagnosis. That's three weeks to officially catch each case.

HUANG: As the information seems to be very surprising to me that normally it would take just a couple of days.

SCHAFFNER: You're making policy today based on information that already is three weeks old.

WALSH: Perhaps the most remarkable revelation concerns early December, the moments when COVID-19 first emerged in China.

Strikingly these documents reveal there was an enormous spike in influenza cases in Hubei, right when studies have shown the very first known patients were infected with COVID-19, 20 times the number of flu cases compared to the same week the year before.

(voice-over): Experts said it could have flooded the hospital system with patients sick from flu-like symptoms, making it harder to spot the first cases of COVID-19. The documents don't link the outbreak to coronavirus origins directly, but they show flu patients were regularly screened and many did not have a known flu virus strain, leaving open the possibility they were sick with COVID-19.

HUANG: The spike right in Wuhan was very unusual, like compared to previous years, so that would raise a red flag.

SCHAFFNER: It was very, very sizeable. It's clear that the Chinese virologists can make precise diagnosis of influenza, but in retrospect, you have to wonder, was there some COVID in there masquerading as influenza?

WALSH: The documents also show the flu outbreak was biggest that first week in December, not in Wuhan but in two other cities nearby in Hubei, all valuable information in the hunt for where the disease came from.

Chinese officials have said the outbreak began here, the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan in mid-December. And despite Western accusations that it has limited its cooperation with W.H.O. investigation into the virus's origins, China has insisted it has been as transparent as possible over the coronavirus.

HUA CHUNYING, CHINES FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMEN (through translator): Sometime now, in order to shift the blame, she said, some U.S. politicians have constantly used the pandemic and other issues as a pretext to smear and demonize China and sow lies and misinformation about China. This will, of course, seriously mislead citizens of the United States and some other Western countries understanding of the truth of China's fight against the epidemic.

WALSH: China's foreign ministry and health officials in Beijing have not responded to our requests for comment.

[04:35:00]

This disease has killed nearly 1.5 million people, about a fifth of known deaths in America. These documents are rare, clear, an open window into what China knew all along, trying to appear in control, while a local outbreak turned into a global pandemic.

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: And Nick Paton Walsh is with us now from London. Good to see you, Nick. So we always suspected China was under counting cases and deaths but does this also perhaps put some of the conspiracy theories to bed, given China clearly struggled to get on top of this.

WALSH (on camera): Yes, I mean this is actual evidence. Suspicions are one thing, and they have been long held, but it's very difficult to accuse a country of doing something unless you can actually see what it knew, and then doesn't appear to have shared at that time.

To some degree as well, yes, the conspiracy theories that have been fostered against China suggesting perhaps this was a manmade virus or the result of a laboratory leak, crazy things frankly that haven't had attached to them actual evidence, and the cases have been fostered by senior officials. They are not supported by these documents as well. No mention of any ideas like that.

Essentially China was dealing with the problems that everybody else dealt with. They had a connected -- it's unclear -- flu outbreak at the start of December, they clearly had issues with diagnosis. They had issues of working out quite what the criteria should be to call somebody a COVID patient. But added to that too is the complexity of it seems China's bureaucratic system. A desire to perhaps not always present the most transparent full, bad picture.

And while China would defend itself saying, well it was dealing with a chaotic system itself too, there was an impact of that, because the rest of the world was looking on. Weren't sure how bad this was, and also too, weren't benefitting from what China learned from its mistakes. Had it shared the problems it was having. It is entirely possible other countries in the world would have found it easier to deal with the virus when it broke out there -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: No doubt, Nick Paton Walsh joining us live there, many thanks.

Well, state TV says Iran's top nuclear scientist was buried Monday at a mosque in Tehran. It followed a military funeral for Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in the capital. He was killed Friday in a hail of gunfire and a car explosion. Experts are skeptical about claims in Iran that the assassination was a high-tech remote operation. And CNN's Nic Robertson joins me now from London with more on this.

So, Nic, Iran has given different versions of how this assassination was carried out. Why has it changed so many times?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Part of that appears to be that more information has come to light. That's the way it's been presented. It was an initially an assassination and then there were more details about the assassination. Then the discovery that Iranian official say with this, you know, new and complex type of attack. There also seems to be potentially an effort here to give an explanation for why such a highly valued and prized scientist, who has security around him -- has a security detail with him -- could be killed.

Well, the versions have evolved over time. Initially the initial reports were of an assassination attack, a killing, and then the details became more complex. To the point that the Iranians now say that this was a new and complex attack.

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ROBERTSON (voice over): The aftermath of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh's assassination indicates a carefully planned attack but was it high- tech killing as Iranian officials claim, or sloppy Iranian security?

As Hollywood graphically depicts the technology exists in "Breaking Bad." The key fault is the trigger just meters from the gun. In the real world, in Iran, hypothetically possible.

JACK WATLING, RUSI RESEARCH FELLOW, MILITARY SCIENCES: The challenge is in target acquisition. How does the autonomous device actually work out what it's supposed to be shooting.

ROBERTSON: Typically, automated machine guns are used as centuries like the DMZ between North and South Korea. In an assassination more technology is needed to confirm the target creating multiple risks.

WATLING: You are putting lots of very expensive communication relays or satellite up links in this kind of thing into a device like that. Then you are handing that technology to your enemy. And you are also creating a signature that could be detected by the security services if it needed to be in place and that's there for a long period of time. So, you're more likely to find that it's being controlled from a fairly close proximity. But that could still be a few kilometers.

ROBERTSON: The majority of nuclear scientists assassinated in Iran -- and there have been several over the past decade -- have generally been low-tech gunmen or bombers on motorbikes.

Fakhrizadeh's assassination appears to be an embarrassment for Iran's security services. He was a protected and prized scientist.

[04:40:00]

However, blaming Israel as Iran has, claiming sophisticated technology was used in the killing, they nullify angry Iranians, but it won't gain international credibility without evidence.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office will not comment. But at least two Israeli ministers saying they had no idea who killed Fakhrizadeh.

WATLING: They have to be very careful because witnesses are not always reliable in high stress situations. I think we would want the Iranians to present some more evidence before we made any assumptions.

ROBERTSON: No one is saying it didn't happen as Iran claims. Simply, Tehran has yet to prove its case.

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ROBERTSON (on camera): But of course beyond how the killing actually happened is really it points to intelligence failures in Iran that the sort of outer circles, if you will, of security, which are intelligence operations to find out if there are covert operatives in the country and detect an attack like this coming and also make sure that this scientist movements are kept very, very secret. There does appear to be a lapse in that. And because of the other attacks we have seen recently that this is a problem that now appears to be endemic in the intelligence services in Iran.

CHURCH: Nic Robertson, many thanks, joining us live from London. Appreciate it.

And just ahead here on CNN, warnings of a potential third coronavirus wave in Germany from Chancellor Angela Merkel. A live report from Germany when we come back.

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CHURCH: In Spain, rates of coronavirus infection have been slowing, but there is concern the Christmas season could cause cases to spike again. Spain was one of the hardest hit European nations at the start of the pandemic.

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Over the weekend, thousands of people crowded the streets of Madrid, lured by Christmas lights and black Friday sales as the country plans to begin vaccinations in January, world health officials are pleading with the public to abide by the rules.

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TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: This is no time for complacency, especially with holiday season approaching in many cultures and countries. We all want to be together with the people we love during festive periods. But being with family and friends is not worth putting them or yourself at risk. We all need to consider whose life we might be gambling with in the decisions we make. The COVID-19 pandemic will change the way we celebrate, but it doesn't mean we can't celebrate. We still can celebrate.

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CHURCH: And in Germany, chancellor Angela Merkel is warning of a third coronavirus wave if people are not careful. Just last week, she extended a partial nationwide lockdown due to a rise in cases. She warns that Germans must be careful as the winter months approach. As of today, more than 1 million people in Germany have been infected with the virus, and more than 16,000 have died. This according to German health officials.

And CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us now. He's in central Germany where a vaccination distribution center is being constructed as we speak. Fred, how will this distribution center work, exactly, and how many more will likely be built?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Rosemary. Well, the Germans, they plan on making dozens of these vaccination centers all around Germany. At the beginning they were talking about around 60 of these but it looks like it's going to be a lot more than that.

And of course, a lot of this has to do with the fact that a lot of vaccines that are going to be coming on the market probably fairly soon have to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures. So essentially what the Germans are saying is, look, better make some of the vaccine centers where you can store these vaccines more easily and then have the people come here. And that's exactly how this center works as well.

First of all, you've to give a shout out to the guys who are working here. This is the German Disaster Relief Agency, the Technical Assistance Agency, and they are leading the construction of the center under pandemic conditions. That's why we're all wearing the FFP2 masks because obviously they're working inside all day and have to stay protected as well.

So essentially everything that you see here, Rosemary, is a one way street so that folks who come and get vaccinated here don't meet many other people. Because essentially what the Germans are saying is, they want people to come here and get the vaccine and not possibly get the novel coronavirus.

So the first thing that folks do is they go into this room, and in this room -- which is also where there's a lot of hammering going on right now -- is that they meet a doctor. And a doctor asks them about any sort of medical conditions they might have, any sort of other issues that could make vaccination difficult. And after they have spoken to the doctor -- it take a couple minutes -- you go into one of these four rooms where you can see that electrical cables are currently being laid, and this is where people will then get the actual vaccine jab.

Now, they have four of these rooms because four people can sort of mingle in this territory at one time, to be able to get the vaccine, just to make things a little bit quicker. Now after you've gotten your jab -- which obviously doesn't take a very long time -- you go further to this room -- is actually is quite important. This is a room where people stay, and then -- there's actually one more -- is where you get monitored. Where people stay there, and they just rest for a couple of minutes, and that's where the folks monitor them, and see if there are any sort of side effects that happen fairly quickly.

Now in this specific vaccine center -- and they're all fairly similar -- they're going to have ten of these one-way streets. They call them vaccination streets. And so in total, the Germans are saying they're going to be able to vaccinate about a thousand people every day. So essentially the concept behind all of this is centralizing the distribution in these centers in Germany to make sure that you can get these cold storage vaccines in the same place, and actually use them properly. And at the same time, vaccinating as many people as possible as safely as possible as well.

These guys are saying that they're going to be ready with this vaccination center around the middle of December, which is also around about the time that of course, Europe and many other countries believe that vaccines are going to start getting approval -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Fascinating and so well organized. It is a smart model for other countries, perhaps, to follow. Frederik Pleitgen joining us there, taking us on a tour of this vaccination distribution center. Many thanks.

Well Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton has tested positive for coronavirus. He will miss this weekend's race in Bahrain his team Mercedes confirmed. Hamilton had three negative test results last week, including at a race on Sunday. But he woke up on Monday with mild symptoms and tested positive. He is now self-isolating.

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Well, three kids, one house and nowhere to go, a personal look at how one Irish family managed during the nation's latest lockdown. We'll take a look.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, today Ireland will begin a gradual reopening after six weeks of a nationwide lockdown. Since October, its citizens have been living under tight restrictions. One family in Dublin shared their experiences with CNN. Take a look.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, gentlemen, day one of our new lockdown.

We're lucky we have our kids to distract us. And they do a good job at that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Typical Sunday.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a COVID lockdown.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want a bit of normality. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'd like a little bit more normality. As quick as possible, please.

So it how we're working and we're playing during lockdown.

This is how we're working and playing during lockdown time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is lockdown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE CHILD: I ate pumpkin on your head.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pumpkin on my head?

Happy birthday to you.

[04:55:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had James' birthday, and we had Steven and their cousins birthday, and we then had both my parents' birthdays. So we've had lots of Zoom, blowing out candles and afternoon teas and stuff, which is nice.

Yes, daddy is on his own, watching us, really, most of the time. I don't mind this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They come in for Ireland's call. Helping in Ireland call.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we praise the Ireland call.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can give you a rendition if you would like.

(FAMILY SINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this where we're all working away?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lockdown madness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy, huh? You happy?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They look lovely?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE CHILD: I'm happy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who's happy? Are you happy?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry, mommy and daddy are on date night. What are you doing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is one thing that I do miss, is going out for a meal or going out for a pint, you know --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- we can't do that and that's -- that's you know, I miss doing that. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy lockdown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want everyone to know we can't wait to welcome all of our visitors back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Mom and dad did a great job there. Thanks for your company, I'm Rosemary Church, be sure to connect with me on Twitter @romemaryCNN. "EARLY START" is up next. You're watching CNN. Have a great day.

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