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U.S. COVID Death Toll Racing with Vaccine Release; U.K. Warns Those with Serious Allergies to Avoid Vaccine; No Deal Yet for Brexit; Trump Backs Lawsuit to Invalidate Millions of Votes; Merkel Pleads with Germans to Reduce Social Contacts; Hong Kong Tightens Restrictions Amid Virus Resurgence; Denmark Clamping Down as Cases Rise; Key Witness Deposed D.C. Attorney General's Inauguration Lawsuit; Nevada Hospital Converts Parking Garage into Treatment Space. Aired 12-12:45a ET
Aired December 10, 2020 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause.
Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, by day's end, Pfizer could have authorization for emergency use of its vaccine in the U.S. But right now, just who gets how much seems to be a mystery.
Vaccine hoarders after panic buying earlier this year, the world's richest nations have secured more than half of the global vaccine supply.
Donald Trump calls it the big one. The latest legal challenge to nullify millions of votes and 18 Republican states support this case which has zero chance of success.
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VAUSE: A day after the U.S. recorded its highest daily death toll from COVID-19, Pfizer could be given the green light for emergency use of this vaccine. More than 3,000 people died on Wednesday in the U.S. and the number of COVID U.S. hospital admissions again set another record, more than 106,000.
In the coming hours, an independent panel of experts will relieve the research for the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine. The FDA could get it authorized for use by the end of the day.
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ALEX AZAR, U.S. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: If everything is on track, it could be a matter of days, then FDA approves the vaccine. We would then authorize shipment within 24 hours; 20 million people should get vaccinated in just the next several weeks. We'll just keep rolling out vaccines through January, February, March, as they come off the production. Lines
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VAUSE: Thousands have already been vaccinated in the U.K. The elderly have priority right now. The rollout has been mostly smooth but at least two people developed allergic reactions. The cause is still unknown but for now officials are warning anyone with a history of serious allergic reactions should avoid getting the vaccine.
Meantime, Canada just authorized the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine for emergency use and since there's a limited rollout it could begin as soon as next week, here's CNN's Paula Newton, with details.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Canadian regulators have now approved this vaccine for emergency use. They say the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine is amazing and they point to interesting thing in the data, which perhaps we haven't heard before.
That is they are confident that there is a case to be made, that this will provide continuing immunity, that perhaps boosters may not be needed all that often, if at all. The fact that there is also the possibility that, if you get this vaccine, that you will not spread the disease to others. You cannot infect others. The data showing that you will not be severely ill.
Most people, will not get severely ill after getting this vaccine, even if they are infected with the virus.
Here in Canada, the hard part begins, especially as the country is in the middle of a deadly second wave. They're having a dry run on the vaccine this week. Vaccinations should be in arms next week.
This rollout is largely symbolic, Canada getting just a few hundred thousand of the 20 million doses that it ordered. Here in Canada in the middle of a deadly second wave, the priority here will be health care workers but also those very vulnerable residents of long term care centers -- Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.
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VAUSE: Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider is an internal medicine specialist with us this hour from San Francisco.
Good to see you, it's been a while.
DR. SHOSHANA UNGERLEIDER, CALIFORNIA PACIFIC MEDICAL CENTER: Good to see you as, well thank you for having me.
VAUSE: Sure, how concerned are you right now about these 2 adverse reactions to the Pfizer vaccine?
And that warning which was issued in Britain, that anyone with a history of an allergic action, serious allergic reaction, should not get a COVID vaccine, at least for now?
UNGERLEIDER: You know, John, I'm not that concerned. It shows me that they're paying attention to safety as we will do here in the U.S.
The fact is that we have two safe and extremely effective vaccines that will likely be available very soon as you mentioned. There are noticeable side effects like soreness in the arm, muscle aches or fever which last a day or two for some people.
We know that most Americans are very hesitant, or many at least, to get vaccinated. And it would be a real disaster if we do, in fact, have a safe and effective set of vaccines that people won't take or they don't return for their second required dose because they got symptoms they weren't prepared for.
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UNGERLEIDER: So to turn vaccines into vaccinations we need the public trust in this process and at least 70 percent of people here to complete the two-dose regimen as soon as it's available to them.
I think what many people don't realize but what's really important is that these vaccines were not made by the U.S. government, they were created independently and had a completely independent safety monitoring board that scrutinized data along every way. And not a part of the current administration.
VAUSE: That's a very important point.
UNGERLEIDER: Yes.
VAUSE: Especially the part about the independent panel of experts as well.
And having said all of that, here's Dr. Fauci on the safety of these vaccines. Here he is.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If the United States Food & Drug Administration says that a vaccine is safe and effective, I can promise you that I will take that vaccine myself and I will recommend that my family does that.
So I think the authority should be the United States Food & Drug Administration.
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VAUSE: It's important though, safe is not absolute though, there are risks associated with most medical treatments.
There seems to be an incredibly high bar set for the vaccines though.
UNGERLEIDER: Well, yes. Especially here in the U.S., more than other countries in fact. We absolutely take this incredibly seriously.
The FDA has for many years had a process in place in order to evaluate vaccines and then other medical devices and drugs. And so at it every step of the way, they are scrutinizing the data -- of course, meeting today on December 10th to talk through the evidence. And then will make an emergency use authorization if appropriate.
VAUSE: Yes. So assuming that authorization goes ahead later on Thursday then Friday comes, there's another committee, right, convened by the CDC who will decide who gets the first doses. And then comes the distribution challenges.
Like one of the biggest issues right now seems to be that no one knows for certain how much of the vaccine that they will actually get.
UNGERLEIDER: That's true. The U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to recommend giving the limited number of initial vaccines to health care workers and residents of long term care facilities here in the U.S. because they're at highest risk.
States will have some flexibility as to who receives them first. They've already started receiving actually the limited share of COVID vaccines at hospitals and pharmacies and clinics across the U.S.
And it's possible that these vaccinations could start as early as next week for our 21 million health care workers and then 3 million who live in long-term care facilities.
But beyond that, it's yet to be seen exactly how many doses we will have at the beginning of 2021.
They're definitely feels like there's some momentum now, that this is all heading in the right direction finally. But the President-Elect Joe Biden had a reality check on Wednesday, listen to this.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: What happens?
Am I going to be OK, is my family going to be OK?
All I can tell you is the truth. We are in a very dark winter. Things may well get worse before they get better. A vaccine may soon be available. We need to level with one another. It'll take longer than we would like to distribute it to all corners of the country depending on how it gets started off, between now and the time I'm sworn in.
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VAUSE: The truth, the reality, how important is that jolt of reality from Biden?
How important is that right now?
UNGERLEIDER: I think it's very important. Like he said, there's so much to be hopeful for. With 2 vaccines on the horizon. But the fact is there is a really long way to go before we reach the level of vaccination required to end this pandemic.
Unfortunately our hospitals are already overwhelmed. A third of Americans live in areas where hospitals are running really critically short of ICU beds. Doctors and nurses really need everyone's help right now.
This holiday season is not the time to be taking risks. We need to stay strong just a little longer and do what we know works to stop the spread of COVID-19, which is mask wearing, avoiding crowded indoor places and places with poor ventilation.
And please cancel your holiday travel plans, stay home. The end is in sight, we can do this if we do it together.
VAUSE: Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider, thank you so much for being with us, appreciate.
UNGERLEIDER: Thanks for having me.
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VAUSE: Well, developing countries are apparently being left behind in the global sprint to end the coronavirus pandemic. The Peoples Vaccine Alliance, an international watchdog group, says just one in 10 people in some of the world's poor nations can hope to get a vaccine by the end of next year.
Also says the overwhelming majority of vaccine doses that Pfizer and BioNTech and Moderna are promising to make have already been bought up by wealthy countries. Canada has reportedly bought enough doses to immunize its citizens, 5, maybe 6 times over with all the leading vaccines are approved.
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VAUSE: Just look at how many doses the U.S. is planning to buy, a combined 800 million. The vaccine watchdog identified 67 countries, most at risk of being left behind, five of them, Kenya, Myanmar, Pakistan, Nigeria and Ukraine, have reported more than 1.5 million combined cases and charitable organizations are also sounding the alarm.
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ANNA MARRIOTT, HEALTH POLICY MANAGER, OXFAM: We don't have enough supply of the vaccine, not enough is being made and the second problem is that rich countries have already advanced purchased the vast majority of those ones that are promised for next year. Now this doesn't have to be a competition between poor countries and rich countries in terms who -- of who gets the vaccine if we fix that supply problem.
And to do that, we need to pharmaceutical competitions to share their vaccine science and know-how, transfer their technology so that more manufacturers can come on board and get involved in that mass production that we need to see to get the vaccine to everyone who needs it as quickly as possible.
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VAUSE: Dozens of vaccine trials continue worldwide, with 4 stage late stage candidates from Chinese developers. China has been very opaque is sharing details, CNN's Becky Anderson reports.
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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): More than 30,000 participants, 125 nationalities. It's been one of the largest and most diverse clinical trials in the world.
And now new interim results here in the United Arab Emirates show that the Chinese vaccine candidate is some 86 percent effective in protecting people from being infected with coronavirus.
The UAE putting those results out before even China's state-owned pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm has.
The new numbers, according to the analysis from Sinopharm, which have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, show that it's 100 percent effective at preventing severe and moderate cases of the virus with no serious safety concerns.
The UAE, however, has not released any of their data. And CNN's calls to Sinopharm have not been returned.
But still now, the UAE will officially register the vaccine. Emirati State Media says that, quote, "the announcement is a significant vote of confidence by the UAE's health authorities in the safety and efficacy of this vaccine."
The UAE is just one country of 10 taking part in the Sinopharm trial. So the final efficacy could fluctuate.
Authorities tell CNN that 100,000 people have already voluntarily taken the vaccine here, including 30 percent of the military with the country's leaders, like its foreign minister, Abdullah bin Zayed, giving it their nod of approval.
Sinopharm has said that nearly 11 million people in China have already been given the vaccine in emergency approval.
How does this vaccine compare to others?
Well, the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, which the U.K. started giving to people on Tuesday, is 95 percent effective. And Moderna's vaccine is 94.5 percent effective. It's still waiting for regulatory approval.
So while China's vaccine falls short of that, it is still above AstraZeneca's at 70 percent efficacy on average. And it's far higher than the 50 percent that experts say it should reach for approval.
But we're not there yet. The UAE is still not greenlighting the vaccine for a mass population program. So it will still be relying on its testing and tracing regime, where it's been at the global forefront, with one of the highest per capita testing rates in the world.
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VAUSE: Thanks to Becky Anderson for that report from Abu Dhabi.
Now a big Brexit dinner in Brussels but it seems a trade deal was not on the menu. Details after the break.
Also, all aboard the Trump train of legal lunacy, 18 Republican states now backing his latest frivolous lawsuit.
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VAUSE: It's really a good sign when the diplomatic readout says the U.K. prime minister and the E.U. chief had a frank and interesting dinner in Brussels on Wednesday evening. We're told they had fish, which may or may not have some significance.
Fisheries are one of the main sticking points for a trade deal between them. Either way an agreement was not on the menu. Here's CNN's Nic Robertson.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: So the dinner between Boris Johnson and Ursula van der Leyen and the talks around it lasted about 3 hours. It doesn't appear to have resulted in any huge breakthroughs or progress.
Indeed, from Number 10 Downing Street we are learning that they had a frank discussion about the significant obstacles and about the large gaps that remain in their positions.
It is not clear, according to Number 10 Downing Street, whether they can bridge these gaps. What they are going to do is have their 2 negotiators continue to talk over the next few days. But Boris Johnson and Ursula van der Leyen have agreed by Sunday they will make a decision about whether or not they will push ahead with further talks.
I think if you listen to what was said during earlier in the day by Boris Johnson in the British Parliament, saying that he felt that the European Union was essentially strong-arming the United Kingdom. He said that if the European Union changes laws but Britain doesn't then Britain would automatically face punishment.
If you listen to what Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said, it's that they would not accept a bad deal. She said, absolutely, the bottom line was the integrity of the European Union's single market. And when you look at those two positions, they are clearly poles
apart. Boris Johnson saying, essentially, we should be free to set our own laws and not follow the E.U. in theirs.
And Angela Merkel essentially saying, if you want access to our single market, then you do need to follow those laws and regulations so still seems to be poles apart, talks to continue. Update decision and further talks will go on by Sunday, they said -- Nic Robertson, CNN, Brussels.
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VAUSE: U.S. President-Elect Joe Biden is defending his choice for Defense Secretary. If confirmed retired Army General Lloyd Austin will be the first Black man to hold the post but, because he retired from the military just 4 years ago, Congress will need to waive a law which requires a Defense Secretary to be out of the armed forces for at least 7 years.
It is designed to keep civilian control of the military. Some fellow Democrats are opposed to that waiver. The president-elect says that it is justified.
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BIDEN: I want to thank you. General. You're a friend but I want to thank you, General Austin, for once more stepping forward to serve your nation. This is not a post he sought but I sought him.
Lloyd Austin retired from military service more than 4 years ago. But the law states that an officer must have left the service 7 years before becoming Secretary of Defense. There's a good reason for this law that I fully understand and respect. And I would not be asking for this exception if I did not believe this moment in our history didn't call for it.
It does call for it. And if I didn't have the faith that I have in Lloyd Austin to ask for it.
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VAUSE: Meantime, over in Trump world, there is another frivolous lawsuit in Donald Trump's relentless campaign to overturn the election results.
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VAUSE: He's supporting a Texas lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to invalidate millions of votes in four battleground. States. CNN's Kaitlan Collins has the details.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Out of public sight, but still in denial, President Trump pushed his false claims of a rigged election again today, while tightening his grip on the GOP.
After the Supreme Court rejected a Republican attempt to overturn the results in Pennsylvania, Trump distanced himself from the setback claiming on Twitter this case had nothing to do with me even though his legal team had touted it.
RUDY GIULIANI, TRUMP ATTORNEY: I think it's a very good case.
COLLINS: Trump has moved on and is now cheering a long-shot lawsuit filed in Supreme Court by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, asking to extend the deadline for certifying the election, claiming that Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin engaged in, quote, election irregularities.
Trump tweeted: This is the big one -- as Michigan's attorney general dismissed it as a publicity stunt.
DANA NESSEL, MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL: I go back where the taxpayers in Texas that have to finance this ridiculous and frivolous lawsuit.
COLLINS: Trump GOP allies are trying to validate it. Louisiana Congressman Mike Johnson emailed Republicans today asking them to sign on to an amicus brief for the case saying Trump, quote, specifically asked me to contact all Republican members of the House and Senate today and request that all join on to our brief.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We won in those swing states.
COLLINS: As Trump and his allies deny reality, some of his cabinet secretaries are preparing to accept it.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar became the first to confirm he's met with President-Elect Joe Biden's transition team.
ALEX AZAR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: I already met with the Biden transition team. We want to make sure they get everything that they need.
COLLINS: CNN has now learned that the president personally asked Texas senator Ted Cruz to personally argue that case that was filed by the attorney general, if it makes it to the Supreme Court. But I stress that there is an "if" there because many legal experts have said it is a long shot case. They do not think that it is going to rise to that. But it remains to be seen -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
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VAUSE: Harry Litman is a former U.S. attorney and a former deputy assistant attorney general. He's also the legal affairs columnist for the "L.A. Times."
And it's been awhile and it's good to see, you thanks for being with us.
HARRY LITMAN, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: Good to see you, hi.
VAUSE: I'm pretty good, almost as happy as Ted Cruz I guess. The junior senator from Texas, he's joining in this. He tweeted a short time ago if, the court being the Supreme Court takes the appeal I will stand ready to present the oral argument.
Just a reminder this is how Cruz felt about Trump a few years ago.
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SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I'm going to tell you what I really think of Donald Trump. This man is a pathological liar. He doesn't know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth.
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VAUSE: OK, that was frivolous but Cruz wants to appear before the Supreme Court in argue that lawmakers in Pennsylvania do not have the authority to allow universal mail-in voting. but they can throw out all the votes for Biden in Pennsylvania.
How do you square that circle?
LITMAN: But he doesn't. This is not, to pick up where Kaitlan left off, it's not just an "if," it's not a long shot, it is a joke. It is a charade. Senator Cruz, who clerked at the U.S. Supreme Court, knows it this full well. There is a 0.0 chance that the court would ever have taken this. They have already turned it down.
It was based on state law, it needed 5 votes not four. They need to set aside a Pennsylvania Supreme Court rule and it was entirely based on state law.
The Supreme Court just doesn't do that. It was more than ill-fated. It was some kind of publicity stunt, really, I think you just have to call it that. No one with the slightest sophistication would think that it had anything to do with the merits.
And it didn't even raise a claim that could have changed the election after safe harbor day so there are reasons that Ted Cruz wants to say I will stand up in argue and that Donald Trump wants to bring it but they have nothing to do with winning the lawsuit.
They have, if anything to do with trying to keep the base energized, trying to undermine Biden's legitimacy and perhaps trying to raise money for Georgia and other reasons. It is, I can't stress enough, this is not a long shot, a no. Shot
VAUSE: Pennsylvania's attorney general had a message for Cruz. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOSH SHAPIRO, PENNSYLVANIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: I would say that my 17 colleagues who have gone along with this circus.
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SHAPIRO: I don't know if I need to send you a surgeon to examine your spine or a psychiatrist to examine your head. But something is wrong with you if you continue to follow this president.
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VAUSE: You know, that really seems to be the point here. Not that Cruz is part of this or Trump.
But how can a third of the country's attorneys general think that it is a good idea to use the power of their office for a full-out assault on democracy?
LITMAN: That really is the broader point.
What is going?
People always used to say it had to do with some interim effect of Trump himself with the power to turn the base away from any candidate, maybe promote a primary challenge.
But he is leaving. He's about to come out as toothless or at least marginal, you can see from what Cruz said and many others just a couple years ago what they feel about him. It is puzzling. And to my light, it is speculation.
But it is less to do anymore with terror of Donald Trump and more to do with the desire to keep Joe Biden from having any kind of success or even acceptance by the 70 million or so people who voted for Trump.
But it is puzzling. And as you say, it is an attack on democracy now. It is really shabby.
VAUSE: George Conway, husband of Kellyanne Conway, seems to think that this case may just have a few holes in it. Here he is.
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LITMAN: Right.
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GEORGE CONWAY, ATTORNEY: Remember, the Supreme Court -- to do this in the Supreme Court of the United States is absolutely outrageous. They are throwing in all the garbage allegations of fraud that the Trump campaign wouldn't even put into some of their complaints in federal fissure court (ph).
It is absurd and an embarrassment and for a public official, let alone any lawyer, let alone any member of the Supreme Court bar to bring this lawsuit is atrocious. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The bigger picture here, is that we have 1,500 lawyers and retired judges and legal scholars who signed a petition, calling on the Bar Association to condemn the Trump legal team and begin investigating. Here's part of the open letter.
"The conduct of Mr. Giuliani and his colleagues is a disgrace. It is indefensible for lawyers to falsely proclaim widespread voting fraud, submit a pattern of frivolous court claims and actively seek to undermine citizens' faith in our election's integrity."
All lawyers in the country take an oath to uphold the Constitution and the wording differs from state to state but the broad brushstrokes are, it includes a line about never misleading a court or making false statements.
So if you are Trump lawyer, should you lawyer up and not use one of those other guys but get a real lawyer?
LITMAN: Right. I mean, this is not just the august Constitution. You have a duty of candor to the court. I wrote about this. So far it has been cost free. These are just political maneuvers that are essentially abusing the court. They are not really to win any cases but to have a separate political agenda.
There are patently meritless, fact and lie, and exactly the sort of thing that should promote sanctions. I think the courts have been a little gun-shy to do that now, given the overall political context.
But I think now both the bar and some of the courts may be emboldened to really put their feet to the fire, where they belong. You just can't stand up in front of a court and lie like this. As a lawyer, you are not even supposed to do it in public but certainly not to a court. It is abusive.
VAUSE: You think someone would call uncle after 50 losses at least and no wins. Harry, thank you, Harry Litman, good to see you.
Well, still to come an emotional plea from the German chancellor Angela Merkel, after an alarming spike in COVID-19 deaths. We'll get the very latest from Berlin.
Also, how did Denmark control the spread of COVID with few restrictions on daily life?
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. I'm John Vause. I have an update now on our top news this hour.
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For the first time since the pandemic began, the U.S. has reported more than 3,000 coronavirus fatalities in one day. The staggering death toll comes as a health advisory committee is expected to recommend a vaccine for emergency use. If it does, the Food and Drug Administration could authorize the Pfizer/BioNTech shots as early as this week.
The Federal Trade Commission and 48 U.S. states are suing Facebook, alleging the social media giant has abused its dominance in the digital marketplace. The lawsuits are calling on the company to unwind its purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is vowing to fight the lawsuits.
A SpaceX rocket prototype managed to soar nearly 13 kilometers above ground, even come back down, but then exploded. CEO Elon Musk says he's pleased, because they got a lot of data out of it and stuff they kind of needed. He's trying to develop a spacecraft that will take massive satellites into Earth's orbit, transport people between cities and eventually, create a human settlement on Mars.
Health officials in the Americas region are warning of soaring coronavirus rates, saying now is not the time to relax. You can see the impact the pandemic is having on the region right now. The director of the Pan American Health Organization says countries in North, Central and South America are struggling. She says the region must redouble preventative measures ahead of the holidays and that each country needs access to a vaccine.
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CARISSA ETIENNE, DIRECTOR, PAN AMERICAN HEALTH ORGANIZATION: At first, we will not have enough doses to protect everyone. So the objective is to save lives, using the first deployment to reach those most vulnerable to develop severe forms of COVID-19.
We are once again in need of coordinated efforts, to boost hospital capacity in the most affected areas. Because when hospitals can't accommodate everyone who's sick, many will die while waiting for care.
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VAUSE: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has pleaded with Germans to, quote,, "avoid last Christmas with their grandparents." She's calling for tighter restrictions after the country saw a sharp spike in daily coronavirus deaths.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen has the latest now from Berlin.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Germany has reported its highest every single-day COVID-19 death toll.
(voice-over): The German Center for Disease Control recorded 590 deaths in the span of 24 hours. That's more than 100 more than the previous record. And to put that into perspective, that would be the equivalent of 2,300 people dying of the coronavirus in the U.S. in a single day.
Now, Angela Merkel today was in German Parliament, and she gave an emotional speech, pleading with people to continue to abide by the anti-pandemic measures and calling for an even sharper lockdown in Germany. There are already some German governors who are saying they are going to tighten up their measures as early as this weekend.
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VAUSE: Our thanks to Fred Pleitgen for that.
Now, some of Hong Kong's toughest coronavirus restrictions have gone into effect as the city tries to regain control of a fourth wave of the virus. Nighttime dine-in services will be suspended. Some businesses will have to close.
Live now to Hong Kong, CNN's Kristie Lu Stout live for us.
So Kristie, what are the details here? How tough are these new restrictions?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They are very tough. Look, ever since the beginning of this pandemic, Hong Kong has gone through more waves of infection than most other places. We are now going through our fourth wave.
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And as cases here continue to rise, the Hong Kong government is imposing tough new restrictions to control the virus. In fact, starting today, there will be a ban on in-restaurant dining services from 9 pm. Beauty parlors will be closed. Gyms will be closed. Beaches will be closed. Same with playgrounds and other outdoor sporting facilities such as basketball parks and even skate parks.
These measures kick in today and will be in place for at least two weeks. Existing measures that were already tough remain in place. Schools remain closed. Bars remain closed. And these measures, again, are ongoing.
Now there's a sense of frustration and fatigue here in Hong Kong, especially as we near the Christmas holiday season. But the government says that they are necessary. Yesterday, the health department reported 104 new cases of the coronavirus, also citing a number of local and untraceable cases, which is very worrying. Because that means there's a number of silent chains of transmission embedded in the community.
Hong Kong's top leader, Carrie Lam, says that these tough new measures are necessary, citing public transportation data. People riding the NTR, the subway, at levels that do not seem to match the level of seriousness with this fourth wave of cases.
We even noticed COVID testing kits being distributed widely around the city in over 150 different sites, including vending machines at subway stations as the government is encouraging people to go out and get tested.
But make no mistake about it. As Hong Kong is experiencing this fourth wave ahead of infection ahead of the Christmas holiday season, there is fatigue, there is frustration.
Back to you, John.
VAUSE: Yes, fatigue, frustration everywhere, it seems, and bring on the vaccine. Kristie, thank you. Kristie Lu Stout, live in Hong Kong.
Well, ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, Denmark's largely successful approach to the pandemic is now being put to the test. The country is facing new outbreaks of the virus.
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VAUSE: Denmark has one of the lowest per capita death rates from the coronavirus in Europe and relatively few restrictions on daily life. So how are they doing that? And will it continue to work in the face of fresh outbreaks of COVID-19?
Nina dos Santos has our report.
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METTE FREDERIKSEN, PRIME MINISTER OF DENMARK (through translator): Please, don't doubt that this will work. In Denmark, we handled the spring, we handled the summer, and we handled the fall. With your help, we will handle the winter, as well.
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The prime minister reassuring fellow Danes that Denmark will keep the latest spike in COVID-19 infections under control.
Her government is swinging into action. Restaurants, museums and movie theaters had to close on Wednesday in 38 of the country's municipalities, which are home to almost half of the nation's population, including the capital, Copenhagen.
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And schools are closing their doors, too. The P.M. also urged Danes to limit their Christmas and new year gatherings to 10 people.
Back in March, Denmark was one of the first countries to implement a lockdown, and then in April, one of the first in Europe to reopen schools and daycare centers and relax the rules.
SOREN BROSTROM, DIRECTOR GENERAL, DANISH HEALTH AUTHORITY: When we were hit by the epidemic, last week of February, first week of March, we very quickly acted, and so did our politicians and our government. So they acted in a very timely fashion, where you can see that a number of other countries have acted too late, when the epidemic hit. They had a much bigger challenge with the epidemic.
DOS SANTOS: In the summer months, the rate of infections and deaths remained low. And a CNN analysis of data from Oxford University and John Hopkins University shows that Denmark was more successful than almost any other country in Europe at keeping the number of deaths and the infection rate low from September to November, despite having relatively few restrictions on daily life.
Oxford's government response tracker shows Denmark had the second most effective test and trace policy in the region during that period after Cypress (ph).
BROSTROM: We have to find the balance between what kind of restrictions on human behavior or adaptations of human behavior we have to look for to be able to control the epidemic.
And I think we found -- we actually struck a quite good balance in -- in this country in this regard.
DOS SANTOS: The Danish tradition of putting society over self- interest, coupled with trust in the government, has contributed to the country's success.
GERT TINGGAARD SVENDSEN, HISTORIAN, AARHUS UNIVERSITY: When the government says, Now you can only be 10 people together, most people respect that. We have to wear a mask, people will do that. And it means that people do it voluntarily.
DOS SANTOS: In August, a survey requested by the European Commission found 95 percent of Danes were satisfied with their government's response to the pandemic, one of the highest rates in the European Union.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It makes sense that we all need to do with the same in order to make it work. I think in general we believe in the government and what we are told. And we believe in our neighbor.
DOS SANTOS: With the rate of infection rising, Denmark's success tragedy is being put to the test again. Like in the past, the government cannot do it alone. Instead, it's relying heavily on the good will of the people to contain this latest spike.
Nina dos Santos, CNN, London.
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VAUSE: In Moscow, there might be a glimpse of the future of dining out. Dinner is served on the rooftop of the Ritz Hotel in heated glass pods. You can seat up to 16 of your closest friends and family.
A view of the Kremlin, just an added bonus.
Restaurants remain open there despite the rising number of cases per day in the Russian capital.
An Italian church is paying special tribute to frontline healthcare workers this holiday season. The basilica of St. Francis of Assisi has incorporated a life-size figure of a nurse as a part of its nativity scene.
The statue is to honor Italy's health workers for their heroic efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Italy was one of the first western countries to be hit hard by the virus; has suffered nearly 1.8 million cases. Almost 62,000 people died.
I'm John Vause. I'll be back at the top of the hour with another edition of CNN NEWSROOM. Up next, WORLD SPORT. See you soon.
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