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Bellingcat and CNN Investigation Expose Russian Targeting of Opposition Leader Alexey Navalny; The United States Begins to Distribute and Administer Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccines; Biden is Officially President-Elect; Attorney General William Barr Resigns; Parts Of Europe Face Tough New Restrictions; Parts Of East Asia Seeing New Wave Of Infections; NHK Poll On The Japan Olympics; Canada Rolls Out Its First COVID-19 Vaccine; United States Rolls Out Vaccine As Death Toll Tops 300,000; 104 Year-Old In Spain Beats COVID-19; Severe Weather In Australia; More Than 300 Nigerian Students Missing; A Preview On Going Green To Be Aired Saturday In New York In London; Christmas Tree Shop Goes Green. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired December 15, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN HOST AND CORRESPONDENT (on camera): A CNN investigation uncovers evidence linking Russia's FSB to the assassination attempt on Putin's nemesis Alexey Navalny.
Frontline health care workers across the U.S. are the first to get the COVID vaccine against the backdrop of soaring deaths and hospitalizations. Also --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Faith in our institutions held. The integrity of our elections remains intact.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW (on camera): Joe Biden sends a message to the outgoing president after Electoral College affirms his victory.
Hello and welcome to all of our viewers around the world. Thanks for joining me. I'm Robyn Curnow. You are watching CNN.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Robyn Curnow.
CURNOW (on camera): We begin with an exclusive report about the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny. The investigative group Bellingcat and CNN have uncovered evidence that Russia's security service, the FSB, formed an elite team specializing in nerve agents that followed Navalny for years. Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin back in August, very nearly died. Our chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward and her team have been working the story for months. She spoke with Navalny as he continues to recover in Germany. Here is her exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
(WAILING)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): August 20th, on a flight to Moscow, a passenger captures the awful wails of Alexey Navalny.
(WAILING)
WARD (voice-over): The Russian opposition leader has suddenly fallen ill, and he knows exactly why.
ALEXEY NAVALNY, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER: I get out of the bathroom, turned over to the flight attendant and said to them, I was poisoned, I'm going to die, and then -- then I laid down under his feet to die.
(LAUGHTER)
WARD (on camera): You knew in that moment that you've been poisoned?
NAVALNY: Yes.
WARD (voice-over): Quick thinking from the pilot saves his life. Instead of flying on to Moscow still three hours away, the plane diverts to Omsk. Two days later, Navalny is flown to Berlin, where the German government announces he has been poisoned with a nerve agent Novichok.
Now, an exclusive investigation can reveal a top secret mission, tracking Navalny, involving experts in chemical weapons, who work for the FSB, the Russian successor to the Soviet KGB.
This nondescript building on the outskirts of Moscow was the headquarters of the operation. We are staying in the car because we don't want to attract any attention.
(On camera): But this compound is part of the Institute of Criminalistics of the FSB, Russia's security service. And that fence, an elite team of operatives has been tracking Navalny's every move for more than three years.
(Voice-over): CNN has examined hundreds of pages of phone records and flight manifests that reveal the backgrounds, communications, and travel of the group. The documents were obtained by online investigative outlet Bellingcat, which two years ago identified the Russian military intelligence agents allegedly sent to England to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal.
UNKNOWN: (UNSTRANSLATED).
WARD (voice-over): The FSB toxins team was activated in 2017 just days after Navalny announced he would run for president in the election the next year. The team's leader is Stanislav Makshakov, an expert in chemical weapons. Several of the team are doctors, but they weren't recruited to save lives.
(On camera): I just wanted to show you some photographs here and ask you if you -- if you recognize -- if you've ever seen any of the men in those photographs.
NAVALNY: No.
WARD (voice-over): You don't recognize.
NAVALNY: I don't recognize any of them.
WARD (on camera): Would it surprise you to learn that some of these men went on more than 30 trips with you over the course of three years?
NAVALNY: This is absolutely terrifying. I don't know if terrifying is a good word.
WARD (on camera): I think it's a pretty good word.
NAVALNY: Yes, but the -- well, I understand how system works in Russia. I understand that Putin hates me. And I understand that these people who are sitting in the Kremlin, they are ready to kill.
WARD (on camera): Is it your contention that Vladimir Putin must have been aware of this?
[03:04:59]
NAVALNY: Of course, 100 percent. It could have not been happened without direct order of Putin because it's a -- it was big scale.
WARD (voice-over): In the weeks before he was poisoned, Navalny and his wife Yulia took a short vacation to a resort in Kaliningrad. Our investigation has uncovered that the FSB team followed.
According to Bellingcat, the security cameras inside the hotel were mysteriously turned off while they were there. Navalny says Yulia felt uncomfortable. She took videos and photos of men she believed were following them.
YULIA NAVALYANA, WIFE OF ALEXEY NAVALNY: (UNTRANSLATED).
WARD (voice-over): This man, I also don't recognize, she says.
Hours after the FSB's toxins team left Kaliningrad, Yulia suddenly felt sick.
NAVALNY: She said, well, I feel really, really bad. Do you need an ambulance? No. Is it heart? No. Is it stomach? No. Is it the head? No. Could you describe it? No. And then we approached a restaurant and she said, well, I feel like worst in my life, I've never felt it before, but unfortunately -- of course I couldn't connect these dots. Now, I realize how bad she was feeling.
WARD (voice-over): Yulia recovered, but the FSB unit was apparently not done with the Navalnys.
(On camera): In the days after Kaliningrad, cellphone data shows that several senior FSB officials were in regular contact with a lab in this compound. It's called the signal institute. And CNN and Bellingcat have established that it has been involved with researching and developing Novichok.
(Voice-over): In mid-August, Navalny and his team travelled to Siberia. At least five members of the FSB unit make the same journey on different flights. In Tomsk, Navalny and his colleagues stay at the Xander Hotel.
We travelled to the Siberian city to retrace his steps on the night he was poisoned.
(On camera): So this is the room that Alexey Navalny was staying in and it looks like my room here is right next door.
(Voice-over): According to Navalny, he went to bed at around midnight after drinking a cocktail with his team. The FSB's toxins unit was not far away.
(On camera): Using a ping from a cellphone, we have been able to place on of the FSB operatives in this area, just blocks from the Xander Hotel on the night of August 19th, the night that the nerve agent Novichok made its way into room 239.
(Voice-over): Navalny left the hotel early the next morning. He boarded the Moscow flight feeling fine. Three hours later, he was close to death.
Back in Tomsk, Navalny's team frantically collect any evidence they can from his hotel room, including water and shampoo bottles, a toothbrush, and a towel.
As they did, there was a surge in communication among the FSB unit and their bosses. If it was expected that Navalny would die on the flight, they were now scrambling to deal with a very different situation.
After much back and forth, Russian authorities allowed Navalny to be transported to Berlin. What they don't know is that the items recovered from his Tomsk hotel room were also on board. Some later tested positive for Novichok.
Back in Moscow, we went in search of the FSB's toxins team.
(On camera): So we're here now at the home of one of the FSB team and we are going to go see if he has anything to say to us.
(Voice-over): We enter a rundown apartment building on the outskirts of Moscow, where operative Oleg Tayakin lives.
(On camera): (UNTRANSLATED). My name is Clarissa Ward. I work for CNN. Can I ask you a couple of questions? (UNTRANSLATED). Was it your team that poisoned Navalny, please? Do you have any comment? He doesn't seem to want to talk to us.
(Voice-over): Toxicologists tell CNN that Navalny is incredibly lucky to be alive and that the intention was undoubtedly to kill him.
(On camera): So, you said that you want to go back to Russia.
NAVALNY: And I will do.
WARD (on camera): You are aware of the risk of going back.
NAVALNY: Yes, but I'm Russian politician. And even when I was not just in the hospital, I was in intensive therapy. I said publicly, I will go back and I will go back because I'm a Russian politician, I belong to this country and definitely, especially now when these actual crimes are cracked open and revealed.
[03:10:09]
NAVALNY: I understand the whole operation. I would never give Putin such a gift.
WARD (on camera): CNN has not established that the FSB toxins team were in fact the individuals who actually poisoned Navalny. We have, of course, reached out for comment from the Kremlin, also the FSB who told us we might be able to expect the response in nine days.
We also reached out to members of the team as you saw in our report. But so far, we have not heard anything back and it should come as no surprise that Russian officials have not yet opened any criminal investigation into the poisoning of Alexey Navalny.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
CURNOW (on camera): That was CNN's Clarissa Ward reporting there from Moscow.
So the first doses of the coronavirus vaccine are now going out to all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico in the U.S. Now, officials hope this week this pivotal moment marks the beginning of the end of the pandemic. The arrival of the vaccine now comes at a critical time.
As you can see from the map, on Monday, the national death toll from the virus surpassed 300,000 lives. The U.S. also recorded its highest number of new cases in a single day ever.
And there are now more people hospitalized with the coronavirus than any other point in the pandemic. This vaccine, of course, was developed in record time. The nationwide rollout in the U.S. is a massive undertaking. Martin Savidge now reports. Martin?
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNKNOWN: Three, two, one. Vaccinate.
(APPLAUSE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All across the country, doctors and nurses are rolling up their sleeves --
UNKNOWN: Doing great.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): -- to get the first dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine.
STELLA OGAKE, PULMONARY AND CRITICAL CARE PHYSICIAN: I feel great. I just got the vaccine. It was not painful at the. I don't know how I'm going to feel in the next few hours, but I feel really good.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): As part of the highest risk group, health care workers like these at Ohio State University Medical Center, are giving the first injections to their colleagues.
STEVEN LOBOREC, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACY, OHIO SATE UNIVERSITY: I spent a large portion of my day in here yesterday by myself practicing what I needed to do before the vaccine arrived.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): So far, the rollout has largely been a success.
ALEX AZAR, U.S. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: This week, everyone's work starts to pay off. This weekend's shipment of vaccines is 2.9 million doses. Each Friday from here on out, we will announce new weekly allocations of vaccine.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): The logistics require to gets to this point are impressive. This weekend, shipments of the Pfizer vaccine were loaded on to trucks and planes from Michigan to all 50 states in Puerto Rico. One hundred and forty-five sites should get their deliveries by the end of the day. More than 400 will receive shipments tomorrow.
Doctors have just three minutes from once the packages are open, check the expiration dates to unpack, and get the vials back into the freezer. It's a monumental moment for state leaders.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: There's some justice in the fact that we were the epicenter. We are the first wave dealt with the brunt of this crisis. And now, we are going to be in the first wave of fighting back.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): But New York, like other states, will need to prioritize their recipients until more companies get their vaccines into production. The Moderna vaccine is expected to get emergency use authorization from the FDA later this week.
GUSTAVE PERNA, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: We know that we are going to ship just a little bit short of six million doses out to the American people. We're shipping it to 3,285 locations across the country.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): It's good news, but health experts warn it's not an overnight fix.
ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I don't believe we're going to be able to throw the masks away and forget about physical separation and congregate settings for a while, probably likely until we get into the late fall and early next winter.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): And the numbers are evidence as more than 300,000 Americans have now died from the coronavirus.
RITZ JACKSON, EMT PARAMEDIC: I am hopeful that majority of people are going to feel comfortable enough to come out and get the vaccine. This has been a very long year.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Martin Savidge, CNN, Columbus, Ohio.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
CURNOW (on camera): I want to bring in Dr. Esther Choo. She is a professor of Emergency Medicine at Oregon Health and Science University. Doctor, hi, lovely to see you again.
On the positive note, we are seeing the beginning of a massive, massive vaccination program. Have you ever seen anything like this before here in the state?
ESTHER CHOO, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Hi, Robyn, great to be with you. No, this is inspiring. I am really admiring my colleagues in public health who are responsible for distributing this vaccine. I mean, the speed with which people are moving on this is incredible.
[03:14:59]
CHOO: We have, you know, a vaccine hitting the state in one day and already pivoting into distribution the next in a very orderly fashion. So, this is really on the backs of many, many public health workers working night and day in anticipation of this vaccine. It is a wonderful, wonderful week.
CURNOW: It's certainly as, but at the same time tempered with these ghostly terrifying figures of infections, of the number of people dead, the predictions of how many people may die. We are seeing that ICU nurse publicly having an inoculation injection to try and get public confidence up. At the same time, how important is it still to wear masks, just that simple act?
CHOO: Yes, that is an incredibly important point. We keep on saying the vaccine is the light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel is incredibly long. We still have a long way to go before we really realize the benefit of this vaccine and before it's distributed enough that we are going to feel the difference in the way that we can behave.
And so, you know, especially this first round, it is just to shore up the health care workers so that we are still around to take care of everyone as we are just hammered with these case rates and the death rates. And it won't be until spring until we get everybody out there to get the vaccine. People need two doses of the vaccine. There's a lot of uncertainty about how efficiently we will be able to get it distributed to the entire population, also get enough confidence in the vaccine so that people are willing to take it.
So, really until then, until we have herd immunity through the vaccine, nothing will change about needing to wear face mask, about needing to avoid large gatherings, particularly indoors, about social distancing, staying home whenever we can. All of that is what we need to change these incredible numbers, just week after week of setting record that we never thought that we would set to begin with. It is just amazing.
CURNOW: Yes, and of course, the U.S. is the worst by far in the world. So, at the same time, though, as people line up to get the shots, how important is it for people who already had COVID to get vaccinated, as well?
CHOO: We are still advising that they get vaccine just like everybody else. We know that some people who get COVID will have an antibody response. We don't know how long it lasts or how effective it is at keeping them from getting sick or keeping them from getting the virus again and be able to spread it.
So we are still recommending that even if you have had COVID, line up for the vaccine just like everybody else.
CURNOW: And when will doctors like you know if a vaccine stops infection or just stops you getting sick?
CHOO: It's simply an end point we haven't seen yet so we will be keeping an eye out on the data from the studies that are looking at COVID. We have some main end point data right now, which just shows how many people are getting symptomatic COVID-19 and how many people are getting severe disease.
Those are the kind of things that we have been told about so far. But as the months wear on, we will have additional data points and secondary outcomes like, can you spread the disease? And so this is a moving target and we will have a lot to talk about in upcoming months.
CURNOW: We certainly will. Dr. Esther Choo, thank you. And again, also thank you for all you're doing. I know you're there at the frontlines.
CHOO: Thank you, Robyn.
CURNOW: You are watching CNN. Still to come, weeks after U.S. election, Joe Biden's presidential victory is finally cemented. Here is his hopeful message to the American people and a scathing attack on the outgoing president.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: For Joseph R. Biden of Delaware, a Democrat, ayes, 55, nos, zero.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW (on camera): Joe Biden there is officially clinching the U.S. presidency on Monday when he received enough votes from the Electoral College. California's 55 electors put him over the top, affirming his victory almost six weeks after the election.
In a victory speech, the president-elect said the rule of law and the will of the people had also prevailed. He blasted the sitting president, Donald Trump, for his repeated efforts to overturn the election results.
MJ Lee now reports. MJ?
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MJ LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The Electoral College here in the United States officially voting on Monday to declare Joe Biden the president-elect, and Biden really seizing that moment to deliver what was really a remarkable speech, talking about how American democracy had been tested this year in ways that we had never seen before.
But he also said that even despite the pandemic, even despite some abuses of power that we have seen in this country, that the American democratic system could not be extinguished. It was very clear that the former vice president wanted to send a clear message to the sitting president, President Trump, essentially saying it is time for us to turn the page and move on. Here's what he said.
BIDEN: This battle, for the soul of America, democracy prevailed. We, the people voted. Faith in our institutions held. The integrity of our elections remains intact. Now, it is time to turn the page as we have done throughout our history, to unite, to heal.
LEE (on camera): Now, of course, so much of turning the page will have to do with how the president-elect deals with the COVID-19 pandemic, something that he talked about in this speech, as well, and getting the economy back on track, dealing with the vaccine distribution, and also a big part of the challenge for him going forward will simply be about politics.
This is why we are going to see him travel on Tuesday to Atlanta, Georgia where he is going to be campaigning for the two Democratic candidates who are going to be in Senate runoff races. The outcome of those races will determine so much of what he can do politically and legislatively with members of Congress come next year. Back to you. (END VIDEO TAPE)
CURNOW: Thanks, MJ Lee there. Russian President Vladimir Putin is now congratulating Joe Biden for winning the U.S. presidential election. Mr. Putin had refused so far to do it for weeks now, claiming he wanted to wait on the official results.
But hours after the Electoral College affirmed Biden's victory, Mr. Putin sent him a telegram, wished him success and saying he was ready for cooperation.
And U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr has resigned. President Trump broke the news in a tweet, framing the departure as amicable. But despite Mr. Trump's upbeat messages, sources say he was seriously considering firing Barr as recently as Sunday.
There had been tensions between the two after Mr. Barr angered the president for saying in an interview that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the U.S. election, which of course is correct. Mr. Barr is set to leave office next week.
Joining me now is Lisa Lerer, a CNN political analyst and national political reporter for The New York Times. Lisa, hi. It is lovely to have you on the show. Let's talk about Mr. Trump and what does he get by showing Bill Barr the door now? What is the strategy, do you think?
LISA LERER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES: I think part of the strategy is to distract. Of course, today was the day that the Electoral College here in the United States officially affirmed Joe Biden as the winner of the election, which most people have known since November, but the president has tested again and again the weeks that have followed.
And I don't think it was coincidence that the president announced Bill Barr's firing on Twitter within half an hour of California officially putting Joe Biden over the top and making him the Electoral College winner and the president-elect.
CURNOW: So, it is distraction, but at the same time, we also heard the president-elect Joe Biden's comments.
[03:25:02]
CURNOW: It seems like a parallel universe, doesn't it? They were optimistic. They spoke about trust in institutions and democracy. What do those comments tell you about the presidency to come, and more importantly, can he put those words into actions, especially during a pandemic?
LERER: I think Joe Biden is someone who has been in Washington a long time, more than 30 decades. He's someone who sees himself as a politician who can work across the aisle. But the Washington that he was (INAUDIBLE) for all these decades is no longer the Washington that we have now.
So, even if Joe Biden wants to cast himself as someone who can heal the soul of America, which he does, that was his campaign slogan, he is really going to have his work cut out for him.
The Senate majority leader has still not acknowledged that he is the president-elect, not even today after the Electoral College voted him in. So restoring faith in these institutions is going to be a heavy lift for Joe Biden. And a lot of it will depend on how President Trump conducts himself in his post-presidential period after leaving office.
CURNOW: I want to talk about that because it's still pretty shocking that the U.S. president has not conceded an election that he has lost, and obviously many Republicans, as well. So, what happens if he never does and creates a sort of a theater or a parallel presidency, false as it is, at Mar-a-Lago? How disruptive does that become for Mr. Biden? How does Mr. Biden manage that?
LERER: Well, I think the biggest risk for Biden is that the Republican Party will still see themselves unable to shake President Trump, because the president has such a hold on the republican base.
If he is able to maintain that connection with promises that he is going to run again in 2024, which is something he has been floating, it will be really hard for Republicans, even if they want, to cut a deal on things that the country desperately needs like economic relief from the pandemic or help with vaccine distribution if President Trump does not see those align with his personal ambitions.
So I think that political dynamic will really be the one to watch as Biden navigates the contours of the first months of his time in office.
CURNOW: So, how likely do you think that is though, that Mr. Trump is not just a kingmaker but in many ways still controls the agenda in some way?
LERER: That is really the biggest question in Washington right now. Nobody knows frankly because we have never seen a post-presidential period quite like this. We have never seen the president like this.
Traditionally, when presidents leave office from either party, they fade away. They refrain from getting involved in partisan politics. If anything, maybe they give a speech in the final weeks of an election, you know, to rally the voters, but they are not (INAUDIBLE) in the day-to-day business of politics. They feed themselves a statement to who rise above that kind of partisanship.
We have no reason to believe that President Trump will conduct himself in that way, and he has given every indication that he won't. He's already talking about raising primary challengers to some Republican incumbents who he doesn't think supported him on his quest, reverse the outcome of the election and disenfranchise millions of voters.
So, the question is not so much what President Trump does, it's whether his base in the Republican Party continues to follow him or if when he is out of office, the fever is broken in some way.
CURNOW: Lisa Lerer, great to speak to you. Thanks so much for your expertise. We appreciate it.
LERER: Thanks for having me.
CURNOW: You are watching CNN. Still to come, parts of Europe closing their doors again. London is just one city where restrictions are being dramatically tightened. We will be there live with the latest. That is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:30:00]
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Welcome back to CNN and I'm Robyn Curnow here live at the CNN World News Headquarters in Atlanta. So, parts of Europe are facing tough new restrictions with Christmas around the corner, you can see where cases are rising especially in the north of the continent.
The Netherlands is facing its toughest lockdown of the pandemic. Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced sweeping measures that will stay in place until mid-January. France is delaying the easing of restrictions there and expanding its curfew from today. And then in Britain, London is moving as the highest tier of restrictions as cases there saw.
Well, that's where we find Salma Abdelaziz with more on all of that. Hi, Salma, what can you tell us?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER (on camera): Well, Robyn, after a pretty worrying spike in coronavirus cases here in London and the surrounding areas and an increase of hospitalizations by about 25 percent according to some officials, this city has now according to officials will be moving into tier three starting Wednesday morning. That's England's highest level coronavirus restrictions.
That comes with new rules to curb people's social behaviors. Pubs, restaurants, nightlife will be shut down. Households will virtually be banned from mixing together unless they want to stay in the freezing cold like me. But these new rules come at a time of course when people are Christmas shopping.
And this is important to remember. Even under the country's highest level restrictions all nonessential shops can remain open. Schools can remain open, which has been an area of concern, because the fastest rising number of cases is between those, between the ages of 11 to 18. That is why there's of testing program right now in schools across London.
So, these new rules going into place on Wednesday, but perhaps what maybe caused people to raise their eyebrows, most at the health secretary statement yesterday was the announcement of a new variant in coronavirus that he says may be to blame for its fastest spread in the southeast of England. Take a listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT HANCOCK, BRITISH SECRETARY OF STATE FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE: Over the last few days, thanks to our world class economic capability in the U.K., we have identified a new variant of coronavirus, which may be associated with the fastest spread in the southeast of England. Initial analysis suggests that this variant is growing faster than the existing variance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ (on camera): Now, I know this sounds scary, Robyn, but experts and scientists agree this is nothing to worry about. It is entirely normal for a virus to change and mutate. And this is not the first variant of coronavirus that we have seen, Robyn.
CURNOW: And tell us more about these variants. Because yes, medical experts are saying listen, don't worry, but of course it is a concerning piece of news to many people, particularly in the south of England, where apparently this mutation is most virulent.
ABDELAZIZ: It is very concerning. And especially for someone like myself who does not understand the science and the research, and the medicine behind it. And that is exactly why scientists say that they are concerned that the government was the one to announce the message. It should have come from a scientist because there is a lot to explain here.
Again, variances are entirely normal. There has been dozens of variance of coronavirus that already have been identified by scientists. There is no evidence scientists and experts say, there is no evidence that this variant can spread faster, even though you did hear the house secretary there say maybe to blame for the fast spread.
What experts are saying is maybe it was for lack of a better term, a lucky variant, as in it was part of a superspreader event, or it is hitching a ride on to this new spike in coronavirus cases. There is also no evidence that this new variant is more deadly or that it is immune to the vaccine. Essentially, it is entirely normal for a virus to change. And most of those times those changes actually make the virus weaker. Robyn?
[03:35:00]
CURNOW: OK. Thanks for that, live there in London. Salma Abdelaziz, thank you.
So, parts of East Asia are seeing a new wave of coronavirus infections. South Korea reporting nearly 900 new cases on Monday. And then in Japan the country is now reporting the highest number of COVID patients in intensive care since the pandemic began.
Well, Paula Hancocks is live in Seoul with all of that for us. Hi, what can you tell us, Paula?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, Robyn, suddenly there are concerns here in South Korea with these numbers hovering so high at this point. We have heard from the Prime Minister today, from other officials saying that they are seriously considering raising the social distancing measures to the highest level possible. The Prime Minister saying that they do not want to miss the window. They do not want to miss that timing. But they also don't want to make a hasty decision, because they know that that will have a severe impact on the economy level through which is the highest level would need that everybody works from home apart from non-essential personnel, old schools, old churches online only.
And in Japan as well, we have seen as you say, those numbers of people and patients in intensive care has hit a record high. 588 are currently in critical condition. And this is something that we are seeing here in South Korea as well. The concern of the number of hospital beds hoping that they can open up more hospital beds for coronavirus patients, because the numbers are significantly rising.
Now, also in Japan, we did see this week that the Prime Minister Suga actually canceled temporarily, he said, the travel, government travel subsidy scheme. This was a real effort to try and commit Japanese people to travel internally, to travel throughout Japan and to try and boost tourism and the economy, but since those numbers of new cases are so high, that has been put on hold as well, Robyn.
CURNOW: Now, the Olympics was delayed from the summit to next. But I see that we are hearing from a poll that many people in Japan actually don't really want mixed some (inaudible). What can you tell us about that?
HANCOCKS: Yes. This is interesting. I mean, it's just one poll, it's a NHK poll of about 1,200 people contacted by telephone. But it does show, according to these respondents, that there is less of an inclination to even hold the Olympics at all.
Now, we saw within this poll that 32 percent of the respondents said that the Olympics should be canceled outright. 31 percent said that they should be postponed once again. It has been postponed to July of next year. And about 27 percent say that it should go ahead. Now that last figure is the one that is interesting, because just a couple of months ago in October, the percentage who believed it should go ahead was 40 percent.
So, we really see that as these numbers of new cases is continuing to rise, the number of those in intensive care is continuing to rise, then the appetite for having the Olympics happen in summer of next year in Japan is really starting to lessen. Now, of course, a lot could change between now and then. And officials at this point are still insisting that it will go ahead, Robyn.
CURNOW: And why is Japan so bad at the moment? Why these resurgence?
HANCOCKS: Well, we have been seeing numbers hovering around the 2,000 new cases mark for some time. They have not put any significant lockdowns in place in Japan. That is one thing that we have seen. And certainly the biggest outbreaks we have seen had been in the capital of Tokyo itself. And I think Japan and South Korea, to some extent, are finding it more difficult to try and trace many of these new cases. The contact tracing has become far more difficult, because you are not
dealing with one or two significant outbreaks in particular areas. There are numerous outbreaks. There are smaller outbreaks. And in both countries, in South Korea and Japan, that is far more difficult to contact trace, to be able to find out where these particular outbreaks are happening and to try and contain them.
And of course, in both countries, the winters are cold. People are moving indoors far more. So, that is inevitably is going to have a knock on effect as well.
CURNOW (on camera): Yes, it certainly will. Paula Hancocks, good to see you live there in Seoul. Thank you.
So, Canada has begun distributing its first round of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine. Officials expect to receive more than 200,000 doses by the end of the year with millions more to follow. Paula Newton is in Ottawa with the details on that. Paula?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was Canada's turn to roll out the vaccines and even some political leaders here said that they were teary eyed, emotional because they said it was the first time that they could actually see an end to this pandemic.
Now it was health care workers along with residents of long term care facilities in Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City that were among the first to get vaccinated. They were all prioritized, because four out of every five deaths here in Canada have occurred among residents. By their nursing homes or retirement homes in Canada. They have been so severely hit.
[03:40:05]
Now, at issue is how quickly Canada will continue to receive those doses. There had only been about 30,000 doses so far in country for a population of about 38 million. And that is a problem, Canada says. They say they are in fierce international competition to get those doses in country much more quickly.
They say that they are under contract for about 20 million, but at this point in time they have no idea how quickly they can take in those doses, saying that Pfizer BioNTech is making no promises. And for that reason, they are kind of concerned about the impact that any kind of vaccine program will actually have on what is turning out to be a very severe second wave here in Canada. Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: And then here in the U.S., the first doses of that vaccine have been injected into frontline health care workers. The rollout comes as a national COVID death toll tops 300,000 people. There is a guarded optimism as the vaccine begins arriving nationwide. The sheer scale of this rollout and the need to keep the vaccine extremely cold prevents major challenges, presents major challenges. Now the U.S. Surgeon General warns people must stay vigilant. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: My message to America is that the finish line is insight. The last couple of miles or the hardest, but we have got to keep running, because even if you aren't worried about COVID your loved one who is in labor may not have a hospital bed. Your loved one who is having a heart attack or who gets in a car accident may not have a bed. And that's why we need to continue to follow the three w's. Wear a mask, wash your hands and watch your distance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW (on camera): So joining me now is Juliette Kayyem, CNN national security analyst and former Department of Homeland Security official. And she wrote a piece for the Atlantic about vaccine rollout as the U.S. deals with a very bleak winter and she also wrote how things will likely get worse before things get better.
Juliette, hi. Lovely to see you. Today, powerful article, because what you lay out is that projections are that about 450,000 Americans will die by February. And you're also getting this great news about the vaccine. This push and pull between despondency and optimism is going to be with us for a while, isn't it?
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST (on camera): Absolutely. It's going to be with us probably, you know through the summer or up to the summer of 2021. I call it the split screen of 2021. It is going to be the horrible news and then the news of hope. You know, the sort of imagined hope, right.
As the vaccine gets manufactured and distributed in the United States and I think that is a split image that -- a split screen that Americans are going to have to get used to and that is why we have to continue to do the masking, the social distancing while we wait our turn in line.
Because I should just say, a vaccine distribution doesn't happen like this, as everyone is well aware now, it is what we call a rolling recovery. It is going to roll over the United States, in different allocations, different distributions. And so it means, there's not going to be a single moment where we can say, you know, this is over. It's going to be awhile.
CURNOW: Yes, I mean, in many ways I think you described it as a relief moving in waves.
KAYYEM: Yes.
CURNOW: As the New Year unfolds. I mean, how does that need to be managed, particularly in a place like the United States. You know, with all this -- with all the stakes, the unequal health care system, the diversity of expectations?
KAYYEM: I think the more efficient, the more fair, the more equitable the logistics of the SARS, going to communities fairly, are allocations distributed fairly, is there -- is the system working? More people will be confident that the good news is that most of the polling, when people say no, they don't want to take the vaccine. If you actually press them, they basically mean no, I don't want to take it first.
And that the more people that take it, the more then they will be willing to take it. And I think if you ask most public health officials, their biggest concern is vaccine hesitancy, because they know that logistics can get fixed. There is going to be problems, but they know that that part can get fixed.
I said about six months ago as I started to get hints that they were -- we were going to get a vaccine. You know, a second reason to want a Biden presidency is because not only will there be a transparency but fairness. That we won't see the kinds of games that were played on the front end of the pandemic, which was, you know, going after Governors, going after mayor's.
I think it's not going to be easy for the Biden administration. They've got two big challenges. One is we need more money. There's just no question about it. The other is, I don't think we have much transparency about things that support the vaccination program. Do we have enough meals? Do we have enough syringes, you know, because we are in competition as you know with the globe for all of these things.
So those are issues that the Biden administration is going to have to address, there are management issues not public health issues. That one of the reasons why husband says you keep smiling, one of the reasons why I keep smiling is that someone is often on air for bad news. The hard part is done, right. The vaccine is -- it works. The rest of this is solvable.
[03:45:14]
CURNOW: And folks need to be patient. But with that in mind, you talked about vaccine hesitancy that is a huge worry with public health officials. But what about queue jumping? I mean, are we going to be seeing inequality play out in the distribution of this, that you know, small minority communities, get right to the back of the queue, which is what often happens in the America health care systems.
KAYYEM: So, that is why the allocations are being transparent about what this first waves of allocation is so necessary. So, for example was not an accident that the first person who received it here was an African American. Medical health officials administered by an African American woman, the reason why is because the hesitancy is very strong in the African American community, so we need people like the two of them who are validators, so to speak, media stars, sports stars and all the different communities. Dolly Parton, you know, ex-presidents, you name it.
So, I think that there is going to be a focus or there is a focus on overcoming that vaccine hesitancy, but the other warning here is there will be cases of potential injustices. We worry about a black market. We worry about people jumping at line. And I think, you know, we have to fix those things. Make sure they do not happen, but also look at the success of this and it's totality.
If we can get to 200 million vaccinated by April or May, I mean, we start to get back to real normal-ish, I'll call it real normal-ish which is a much better place to be than where we are all right now, which is, you know, what many of us like here in New England back inside.
CURNOW: Yes. New normal-ish. Looking forward to that. Cheers.
KAYYEM: I am too.
CURNOW: Juliette Kayyem, always very, very good to speak to you. Thanks so much. Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.
KAYYEM: Thank you. Happy holidays.
CURNOW: Even as vaccine doses are slowly becoming available, many around the world are still battling the coronavirus and beating it. That includes 104 year old woman named Elena, who was released from a hospital in Madrid on Monday after recovering from the virus and pneumonia.
Wow, what a (inaudible), the (inaudible) the staff as you can see here, cheering her on and she was wheeled out of the hospital, spending 14 days inside. Spain plans to start vaccinations early as -- early January if the vaccine is approved by Europe's top medical agency.
Well done, Elena. So, you are watching CNN. Still to come, evacuation warnings in parts of Australia as a powerful storm hammers the coast and devastates a popular tourist destination. We are going to take you to Australia.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CURNOW (on camera): Coastlines along eastern Australia are being battered as a powerful storm barrels through the area. It is bringing heavy rains, strong winds and abnormally high tides.
[03:50:04]
This is Byron Bay, the beach there. Officials have issued evacuation orders though, for low lying towns, warning of possible flooding. And then in the state of Queens, and this beach has been blanketed by thick layer of seafoam. A dog that wandered on in the water was almost swallowed up, but luckily as you can see here, the owner jumped in and saved her.
They may have passed their latest deadline, but Britain and the European Union are still talking to try and get that elusive trade deal sorted, the European Commission president said details still need to be hammered out, but they are heading towards the endgame.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISION PRESIDENT: We are on the very last mile to go but it is an essential one. And we want a level playing field. We want a level playing field not only at the start, but also over time. And this is the architecture we are building. And we are fine about the architecture itself. But the details in it, do they really fit? And these are crucial points because, again, it is a matter of fairness. It's a matter of fair competition. And we want to ensure that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW (on camera): Well, two of the biggest stumbling blocks remain. Fair competition between each side, and fish, where Britain and E.U. fisherman aren't allowed to go is still being discussed. The fisheries ministers are meeting in Brussels as we speak.
And then a mother in Nigeria is pleading with the government to help find and rescue her son. The 13-year-old is believed to be among hundreds of boys abducted Friday when gunmen on motorbike raided their schools. Some of the students have been found safe, but more than 300 are still missing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZAINAB MUHAMMED, MOTHER OF 13-YEAR-OLD MISSING BOY (through translator): If this government is just as they say they are, we want them to rescue our children, because they have the capacity to do so, but their actions are slow, because it is not their children that are involved in the incident. They put us in this situation. Where both we the parents and grandparents are an absolute confusion. They have stopped us from having peace of mind. We are totally sad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW (on camera): So officials believe this may be a kidnapping for ransom plot and say the attackers are making their demands known through a teacher. We will keep you posted on that story. You are watching CNN, we'll be right back.
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNKNOWN: Every time I walk into a forest it's like the same feeling as if when I walked into a cathedral. It's an automatic reverence.
UNKNOWN (voice over): David Milarch is on a mission to show the world the wonder of trees. His nonprofit Archangel Ancient Tree Archive searches out the world's most iconic trees and clones them, using their DNA.
DAVID MILARCH, FOUNDER, ARCHANGEL ANCIENT TREE ARCHIVE: Everywhere we go, people love their trees. Especially the trees that grow in their area. But there is only one tree that seems to be magical and universal in that magic in their appeal and their draw. Everybody wants to know about the red woods.
UNKNOWN: The red woods are the tallest trees on earth. They can grow to more than 150 meters tall and live for more than two millennia. These giants are found only on a thin 700 kilometer bed along the coast of northern California and southern Oregon, which Milarch says is part of the problem.
MILARCH: There is only about 5 percent of the old growth red woods left. And nobody, nobody cloned any of those great trees before they cut them down. So we came along about 10 years ago and said, hey listen, there is not much of these stuff left. Why don't we try and clone the world's biggest and oldest red woods?
[03:55:15]
UNKNOWN: The work to propagate a new trees takes place far away in a tiny village more than 4,000 kilometers from where the samples were taken. This old converted warehouse in Copemish, Michigan has become home to thousands of red woods, thanks to a process known as tissue culture. Tissue culture is a micro propagation technique that involves exposing plant tissue to a specific regiment of nutrients, hormones and light under sterile conditions. Scientists are able to quickly produce thousands of new plants. Each, an exact copy of the original.
MILARCH: I know it will be hard for you to imagine, but I am holding 1,000 year old red wood. We are cloning trees. Preserving their genetics and were sending these out. Shipping these out and we are starting to rebuild the first old-world forest in the world. We know that red woods thrive in Chile. We now they thrive in New Zealand. We know that they thrive in British Columbia.
We don't have to have any money to do it. You don't have to have a college degree to do it. You just have to have a willingness to take a more intelligent view of what trees do for us and can do for us. And take action.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW (on camera): Find out more about the innovators who are taking on some of the world's most pressing environmental challenges. Inspirational like that man. Watch Going Green, this Saturday at 6:00 a.m. in New York. That's 11:00 a.m. in London right here on CNN.
And the Christmas tree seller in London is going green. The Christmas on the hill's stope specializes in sustainable trees. And this year it is launching out to offer rentals. They are in part which can be returned after the holidays and the trees go back to a farm once they are used, and taken care of until they are needed again the following year. Some customers say they are glad the trees live to see another new season.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRETA SCHMITZ-EVAN, CUSTOMER: Well, it's just better for the environment. And also, it is quite sad. After Christmas, just seeing the Christmas trees on the pavements, just on the sides.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CURNOW (on camera): Christmas on the hill isn't just trying to help
the environment this season, it is also giving a cut of its profits to local schools.
So, thanks for watching. I'm Robyn Curnow. I'll actually be right back with another hour of news. Stay with me wherever you are in the world. You are watching CNN.
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