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US Marks Holiday Amid Surges in Cases, Hospitalizations; US to Require Negative COVID Test For Travelers From UK; More Than One Million Vaccinations Administered in US. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired December 25, 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]

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST: The CDC announces a new requirement for travelers entering the U.S. from the United Kingdom. Donald Trump spends Christmas in Florida, playing golf and putting Republican lawmakers on the spot as many Americans wait for much needed help.

And as the world face unprecedented challenges, 2020 became a year we won't forget. We'll take a look back at the global events that shaped our lives and changed our thinking. Welcome to all of you watching here in the United States, Canada and around the world.

I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom. The U.S. marks a Christmas holiday unlike any in recent memory in the shadow of a pandemic that keeps getting worse. Just a few hours ago, the CDC announced that starting Monday, air passengers arriving in the U.S. from the U.K. must test negative for COVID-19 as a response of the emergency of a new possibly more transmissible variant of the virus blamed for a surge of cases in England.

On Christmas Eve, the U.S. set a new record number of hospitalization. More than 120,000 according to the COVID tracking project. More than 1 million vaccinations have been administered but the country's top doctor says many more have to be given to achieve herd immunity, between 70 and 85 percent of the population.

Meanwhile several states reported record numbers of new infections Thursday, including Arkansas and Georgia and hospitalizations were at an all-time high in Mississippi and Arizona. And Christmas is traditionally celebrated communally with friends and family but this year experts fear those holiday gatherings will lead to more cases followed by more hospitalizations and more deaths.

Here's CNN's Alexandra Field.

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ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Even on this COVID Christmas, America's airports are packed full of people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm from Florida, Orlando.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just came in from Denver.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mom really wants to see us you know. You can only say no so long.

FIELD: On Wednesday, a new pandemic air travel records set, nearly 1.2 million passing through airports. According to the TSA which is counted around 1 million flyers on each of the last six days.

MICHELLE WILLS, TRAVELING TO PORTLAND, OREGON: We've got lots of masks and lost a hand sanitizer and headrest covers and gloves and disposable everything so feeling good.

FIELD: Dr. Anthony Fauci who turned 80 today is staying home for the holidays and planning a family zoom and hopes others will still decide to follow.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NSAID: I really feel strongly that I need to practice what I preach to the country.

FIELD: But images of so many air travelers are fueling fears, we will in fact see another surge superimposed on a surge and dark January days ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are very scared about what we're about to see.

FIELD: Hot spots are now spread out all over the country from Maine to Alabama to California which is passed the eye-popping threshold of 2 million COVID cases. A first for any state in the nation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A few months ago we had five COVID patients in the hospital and now we're up to nearly 100 so that shows you the - within just a couple months how much it's accelerated.

FIELD: Hospitalizations are at a record high. December will soon become the deadliest month of the pandemic and we are careening toward a total of 330,000 American deaths. That's one in 1000 Americans killed by COVID.

RAUL RUIZ, US HOUSE DEMOCRATS: We need to tell everybody that this is not the time to have large indoor maskless parties, holiday parties, this is a time to hunker down.

FIELD: The CDC now projects as many as 419,000 deaths by January 16. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation upping its projections again after just one week predicting as many as 567,000 deaths by April. Their model suggests more than 33,000 lives will be saved from now till then by vaccinations.

9.5 million doses of them have now been delivered. Just over 1 million doses of Pfizer's vaccines have been administered according to the CDC, much less than expected.

Here at Mount Sinai hospital in New York City, front line workers are continuing to be vaccinated. That job will continue through the holidays in another sign that this Christmas will be unlike any other along with letters to Santa, Pfizer, maker of one of the vaccine says they have also received letters from children asking not only for enough vaccines for everyone but also for a vaccine for Santa. In New York, Alexandra Field, CNN.

[03:05:00]

BRUNHUBER: Joining me now is CNN medical analyst and professor of emergency medicine, Dr. Esther Choo who is in Portland, Oregon. Doctor, thanks so much for joining us here. There's a lot to talk about the new variants. Given how the virus travels, how these were circulating, you know possibly months ago, is it safe to assume that it is circulating here in the U.S. and if so does it - does it mean we should change our behavior in anyway?

DR. ESTHER CHOO, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, I do think it's likely that it's here in the U.S. and there's reasons that it wouldn't necessarily be detected because we actually do genetic sequencing of a very small sample of the virus in the U.S.

I think that's due to change according to the CDC but up till now, we haven't really aggressively tracked all these mutations and they are things that happen routinely and viruses - viruses are constantly mutating and finding better ways to survive. The issue with this one is could this mutation means that the vaccine that we're circulating is affective as effective as it was in the original test and that seems really unlikely just because the vaccine is polyclonal.

It stimulates a number of different types of antibodies against the spike protein and you know, so it's likely that the vaccine will still be effective. If not, you know we're watching this constantly to see if that's the case and will have to make modifications.

But ultimately the virus does the same thing, which is that it is very good at attaching to ourselves - to ourselves, it is easily transmissible between patients, I'm sorry between people and so the same things that keep the virus from spreading now will keep any new variant from spreading which is the social distancing, facemask wearing and hand washing.

So it doesn't really change anything, just makes us feel like we should be doubly committed to those things.

BRUNHUBER: Yes and yet that's not what I'm seeing. I mean experts in hard hit California say the spike we're seeing now is driven by you know, gatherings with people outside their households you know, just anecdotally I see cars lined up on my street, either you know people have really big families or people are having those Christmas parties that they're not really supposed to be having now.

So what's your practical advice for people over the next few days?

CHOO: Well, I think if there's one thing that we've learned over all of these holidays that lead to surges in COVID cases is that it's so hard to get ask people to not celebrate and to not gather with their loved ones and so expecting people to not do it at all, just seems impractical. I mean we can aim for that, we certainly will encourage it. I know many people are keeping their holiday celebration small or skipping it, if they're - if they're able to do that.

But I think what we can ask people to do is if you are gathering, try to put some parameters on it, try to enforce facemask wearing except when people are eating, try to keep people spread apart, keep ventilation good. You know gather outside if where you live allows that in terms of weather.

Keep gathering on the shorter side, don't linger for many, many hours in close quarters so change what you're doing, make it a little bit different of a holiday in some ways, knowing that the best practice really is to stay home. We can celebrate Christmas in July as the saying goes. It doesn't have to be right now really when we're at the hardest part of this pandemic yet.

BRUNHUBER: Speaking of staying home, I was reading that a person who went to work while they were sick was likely to have caused two separate outbreaks in your state of Oregon. Is the message not getting out there that if you're sick stay home or is the problem that the governments or the government's various levels of them aren't offering enough financial support for those who might have no choice or both?

CHOO: I really think it's both of those things and other forces. I mean this case that you're talking about was so tragic. This person went to work, feeling sick and led to two separate outbreaks and one of the outbreaks ultimately lead to seven deaths from COVID. Imagine how that person feels and I think that person probably, I don't know who that is, we don't know the workplace, that hasn't been released.

But I imagine that person feels like a lot of us do, which is it's probably going to be OK, you know you wonder how much do my actions really matter and yet I know if I don't go to work, my coworkers will have to pick up that extra work or I'll lose income and I won't be able to support my family.

I think there are so many forces that are leading us to behave as we - as we want to kind of back to normal times. I mean I had a cough and a low grade fever last week and honestly Kim, it took everything in me to actually call in sick because our practice is if you can be vertical, go to work. You know that is the culture in many workplaces and so this habit of calling out sick because we - I mean especially when you feel fine and you look fine.

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But you have a couple of mild symptoms. We're not in the habit of calling it. I'm sure you don't normally call out sick when you have mild symptoms that you can ignore or take a few ibuprofen. You know you might not be perfect and remembering to stay home when you feel sick.

BRUNHUBER: Dr. Esther Choo, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

CHOO: My pleasure. Have a great holiday. When the British Parliament meets next Wednesday, lawmakers are widely expected to ratify a historic post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union. The U.K.'s final break with the EU officially begins January 1, just one week from today.

Now getting to this point took nearly a year of negotiations and came down to the wire but on Christmas Eve, the Prime Minister announced trade agreement with the EU had finally been reached. Now there's plenty of uncertainty and chaos leading up to this moment. Thousands of truckers bound for Europe have been stranded for days in British ports while awaiting COVID-19 test results.

And although the massive backups were caused by the pandemic, they showed just why getting a trade deal done before January 1 was so important. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has the latest from London. Salma, so take us through this. What happens next?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: So finally, finally a free trade agreement between the U.K. and the EU. Of course both sides touting this as a victory because of course no deal was very much an option. It is a zero tariffs, zero quote deal. That means that no taxes will be charged on the goods between these two parties and that there is no limit on the number of goods.

But that's just a broad outline. You have more than 2000 pages which politicians will have to go through before they vote in parliament on Wednesday but Prime Minister Boris Johnson today joyous, feeling he's given a gift to the nation. Take a listen.

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BORIS JOHNSON, PRIME MINSTER, UNITED KINGDOM: Tonight on Christmas Eve, I have a small present for anyone who may be looking for something to read in that sleepy post-Christmas lunch moment and here it is. Tidings - glad tidings of great joy because this is a deal.

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ABDELAZIZ: I think you can very much see the joy there from Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He truly feels he has delivered something that at many times did not look possible, at many times both sides seemed willing to walk away from negotiations, willing to set hard deadlines that no one could come back from and finally now an agreement but the real test of this, the real litmus test of this will be the economy. How it effects and impacts people's lives. Now on the part of the EU commissioner, you know she touted this deal as something free and balanced and fair. She said it was important for both of these side - and that they will continue to cooperate on key issues like climate and security and other issues like that.

So finally the start of a new relationship but now what happens next. For many years, 4.5 years now, we've been talking about this deal as a theory, as an idea, as a possibility that was hanging over this country. Now it is real and the question is will those very, very terrible divisions, very broad divisions that were created by Brexit in this country, will they now begin to heal?

Will the economy of this country be able to adapt to these new rules? 2000 pages again, Kim I just - business on a week of Christmas only have a week to figure all of this out. Kim. BRUNHUBER: Yes so many unanswered questions there. I want to go back

to the situation there with the backups at the Dover port. You were there, reporting on the confusion there. Did those scenes of chaos lead to any change or do many of those truckers still face you know spending Christmas still waiting in their trucks?

ABDELAZIZ: I think what happened at the port of Dover is so extremely important to the fact that we have reached a deal. For many years now we've talked about the worst case scenario, that worst case scenario was the falling off the cliff, the cliff edge, the no deals - the day - no agreement between the U.K. and its European partners and the planes would stop and the trains would stop and the ships wouldn't go and goods couldn't cross.

Well, that worst case scenario, it happened Kim. We saw it play out at the port of Dover and it was terrible and chaotic and confusing and people were stranded in the middle, cut away from their families. Vital good were on the line, supply chain was shut down. It was a mess. Absolutely a mess and just as in any personal relationship between two sides, sometimes you disagree, sometimes you argue and sometimes it really blows up.

And at the port of Dover, it really blew up and you really do wonder looking at those images of the chaos there, how much it motivated you decision makers. How much it was a wakeup call for what happens when you isolate Britain, when you fail to have agreement in partnership between the U.K. and its neighbors. Kim.

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BRUNHUBER: All right thanks so much Salma Abdelaziz in London, appreciate it. President Trump is in Florida for the Christmas holiday and he wasted no time hitting the golf course but while he plays, legislation to help millions of Americans and avoid the government shut down is still waiting for his signature. We have more coming up. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: It's looking like the demands that U.S. President Donald Trump has made for the latest COVID relief bill won't be met. The big question now, will he sign it anyway? As Phil Mattingly reports, it's not just help for millions of Americans at stake but also funding for the government.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN US CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the urgently needed coronavirus relief package, the government funding bill it's tied to, it is physically departed Washington DC on a journey to Florida where the president will now have to decide what to do with it.

We know it's going to arrive in Florida. What the president's going to do. That is still very much an open question. Both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill saying they have no sense right now, not from allies in the White House not from anything the president has said or done if the president is actually going to sign the bill. [03:20:00]

Democrats imploring the president to sign the bill. Democrats also challenging congressional Republicans to join with them and addressing one of the president's concerns. That is expanding those direct payments that are in the stimulus package from $600 to $2000. Republicans however rejecting that idea likely to vote against it in large part on Monday when it comes to the floor for an up or down vote in the House.

So where does that actually leave things? Nobody actually knows. It's in the hands of one individual, an individual who is without question angry about election results, without question frustrated about whatever the deal was that came together but multiple people I've spoken to make one point clear. This is not a policy issue at this point in time. This is a personal issue with the president.

So there's nothing lawmakers feel like they can do on Capitol Hill to address the president's concerns. They basically just have to wait and see or as one congressional staffer told me, it's hope and pray time because this is also a crucial point. There's no fall back here, there's no Plan B, there's no secret back up plan if the president decides to reject this legislation.

This is the deal, a deal that took almost nine months to reach on the coronavirus relief peace, a deal that lawmakers saying has to stand. Plan A is the president signs the bill, one Republican told me. Plan B is hope Plan A works at this point in time. Keep in mind, this is aid for millions of Americans both on the unemployment side, on direct payment side, eviction moratoriums but it's also government funding bill.

If the president does not sign the bill by Monday night, well not only is he rejecting coronavirus relief package, he's also shutting down the federal government. We'll see. Phil Mattingly, CNN, Washington.

BRUNHUBER: Joining me now is CNN political commentator Alice Stewart. Alice, thanks for coming on. I want to start with that growing gap between congressional Republicans and the president, both on the defense bill and most importantly the COVID relief bill. The president essentially holding this bill hostage. People will lose their benefits, the government will run out of money, time is running out. I just want to get your reaction to the president kind of sowing chaos at this late hour.

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right Kim, he is not only holding the bill hostage but he's really holding the American people hostage that need this COVID relief and look, I talk with a lot of congressional Republicans and there's a lot of frustration with them because in the weeks leading up to their voting for this bill, they were under the impression that this was President Trump's bill. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin was explaining what the president wanted and they were OK with voting for the terms that were agreed to by Secretary Mnuchin and Nancy Pelosi and they went ahead and voted for some of the aspects of this they didn't really like, some of the spending in this but they voted anyway thinking that this was the president's bill.

Now come to find out, he has been talking about vetoing his own bill so they're frustrated because they feel as though they've kind of walked the plank on this and now the president has thrown them overboard but the good thing is that there is relief in sight. I do believe that if the president decides that he wants to veto this, this was a bipartisan bill and had tremendous support by Democrats and Republicans and I see them moving forward with the overriding the veto and getting the help right into the pockets of the American people, exactly where it belongs.

BRUNHUBER: Is that a politically dangerous move overriding the president?

STEWART: Not at this point. No, because at the end of the day, this is what the American people need. Donald Trump is just a few weeks away from not being in the Oval office anymore and the American people are just a few days away from losing precious benefits, from losing money that they need to keep a roof over their head and food on the table.

And the reality is, these members of Congress, they're beholden to their constituents, not President Trump and they're getting calls and they're getting emails and they're getting pressed by people in their districts that they need help and at the end of the day, they're going to do what their constituents want and the president's frustration with the fact that he did not win this election is going to take a backseat because help needs to be on the way and they worked really hard to agree to this package and they want to see it implemented.

BRUNHUBER: You brought the constituents. I'm just you know, want to ask you since you're here in Georgia, we're both in Georgia where millions have already voted in the dual runoff election here. As a Republican strategist, you've sort of been on the ground with the candidates trying to get the two Republicans elected here.

Do you think that the chaos in Washington, much of it you know of the president's making will affect the race? After all as you kind of mentioned there, your candidates were running on this basically before the president pulled the rug out from under them.

[03:25:00]

STEWART: Kim, I sure hope not because the integrity of our elections is paramount and is the cornerstone of our democracy and anything that anyone says to do anything to undermine the voting process is unfortunate and I know there has been talk by some saying that the last election wasn't valid so don't come out in January.

That's nonsense and I have been on the ground here and in the state of Georgia and people are motivated on both sides. Republicans and Democrats because they want their voices to be heard. We had record numbers come out in the election in November and we're on tap to see record numbers in January and look, whether you're Democrat or Republican, everyone should come out and vote and everyone should have their voice to be heard. I happen to think it's important to have a divided Congress and have a

check and balance on the democratic leadership but the most important thing is for people to come out and vote, whether you're on the right or left, having your voice to be heard is the most important thing and having confidence and coming out to vote and knowing that your vote will be counted is paramount.

BRUNHUBER: We'll have to leave it there. Thank you so much for joining us. Alice Stewart, we really appreciate it.

STEWART: Thank you Kim.

BRUNHUBER: New U.S. restrictions on travelers from the U. K. just ahead. We'll dig deeper into the new requirements that thousands of U.S. bound fliers will have to meet starting before the new year. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: And welcome back to you everyone watching in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber and you're watching CNN Newsroom. The U.S. will require travelers from the U.K. to test negative for COVID-19. The change was announced just a few hours ago and goes into effect on Monday.

[03:30:00]

It's an attempt to curb the spread of a new variant of the virus that has emerged in England. We'll have more on that in a moment. Japan set a new record for daily cases, Thursday for the second day in a row. More than 3700 new infections were reported across the country and South Korea saw its highest number of daily infections since the pandemic began reporting more than 1200 new cases on Thursday.

Now Christmas in Europe is looking very different this year as several countries across the continent are enforcing tough new restrictions so for more, let's turn to CNN's Cyril Vanier from Paris. Cyril, so let's start with those new restrictions being imposed in Europe and on those flying here from the U.K.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes Kim, look, we knew going into this holiday season here in Europe that it was never going to be the merriest of Christmases, right? And well it hasn't been so if you look across the European Union and the U.K. well, most countries are under some form of lockdown.

I would say anywhere between mild to severe lockdown and the restrictions that they took to try and avoid too much human interaction during the course of Christmas season you know vary country to country. I mean I look down at my list because there's so many I could quote but in Austria for instance, they limited ski resorts to big skiing country.

Limited ski resorts to only access only for locals, in France they limited the number of people that you can be with on Christmas to six adults. In Germany they did not ease their restrictions because coronavirus numbers are going up there. So it's varies country to country but really each time in every country governments have been trying to minimize family gatherings and social interactions and in the U.K. of course there's been extra bad news, which is the American CDC, the Centers for Disease Control has now required that any traveler from the U.K. present a negative COVID test done within three days of traveling to the U.S.

So this is going to further curtail travel from the U.K. to the U.S. It was already seriously curtailed since March with 90 percent of traffic down but now with the CDC guidance, people have to get a negative test and they have to show it to the airline. The airline has to confirm it.

Anybody who is positive does not fly, anybody who does not want to do the test does not fly and this applies to all travelers, whether they're American or foreign, anybody above the age of five. So if you're in the U.K. right now, you could be forgiven for thinking that your country's been cut off from the rest of the world.

You know there was a panic, Kim earlier this week and over the weekend when we all found out about this new variant of COVID which appears to be more transmissible than previous variants. We're still waiting for the definitive scientific conclusion on that by the way but all preliminary signs point to the fact that this new variant is more contagious which is why dozens of countries have cut their travel ties with the U.K. and the CDC, the U.S., now saying they want to see negative tests from U.K. travelers.

BRUNHUBER: All right thanks so much Cyril Vanier in Paris. Appreciate it. Several countries in Latin America are already rolling out vaccines. They've begun vaccinating healthcare workers on Thursday. It's welcome news for the region which has been especially hard hit by the coronavirus. CNN's Stephano Pozzebon has more from Bogota, Colombia.

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STEPHANO POZZEBON, CNN JOURNALIST: Yes, Christmas has brought hope to millions of Latin Americans that are fighting against the coronavirus. At least three countries, these are Mexico, Costa Rica and the Chile have finally started their vaccination campaigns just on Thursday on Christmas Eve.

It's much welcome news for especially the healthcare workers, these countries have started vaccinations - vaccinating exactly the healthcare workers that are assisting patients and fighting against the virus on the very frontline. Mexico, Costa Rica and Chile. Argentina has also received much welcome Christmas presents in the form of the vaccine itself, which finally arrived in Buenos Aires on Christmas Eve here on Thursday.

The first dose of this Sputnik V, the Russian vaccine arrived on a special flight from Moscow to Buenos Aires and Argentina will soon join Mexico, Costa Rica and Chile in vaccinating its healthcare workers and the population at risk and while millions of Americans are spending Christmas under social distancing orders, some under curfew, some others on the ban of alcohol sale and on the number of people who they can spend their Christmas with.

[03:35:00]

The news that the vaccine is finally arriving is very, very much welcome this time at Christmas. For CNN, this is Stephano Pozzebon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: It's Christmas day in much of the world but in Bethlehem where Christians believe Jesus was born, the celebrations are smaller and more restraint. Blame the pandemic but as Elliott Gotkine tells us people there still want to send a message of hope.

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ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Midnight mass without the masses because of COVID-19 restrictions only clergy were meant to attend this year's Christmas Eve prayers. Earlier in the day, the annual scouts parade to welcome the lesson patriarch of Jerusalem. It was just about the only event to proceed more or less normally.

And even here, there were far fewer marching bands than usual. Manger Square's capacity was capped at 200. The patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa himself only just made it after recovering from COVID. Manger Square would usually be heating with out of town Palestinians and international tourists. There'd be carol concerts, performances, shops, hotels and restaurants would be doing their briskest trade of the year.

But a West Bank lockdown means non-Bethlehem Palestinians are banned. The skies are closed to foreign visitors. Those who did come out had mixed feelings.

READ SABBAH, BETHLEHEM RESIDENT(through translator): This year is different than all years. There are no celebrations because of the economic situation and the COVID. It is a very sad situation.

JAD ISSA, CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS: As you can see Christmas is so sad this year. Not too much participants but at least we have the soul, the spirit of Christmas and this is what we wish for everyone.

SONIYA ABU DAYIEH, BEIT JALA RESIDENT (through translator): I hope the new year will be better than this one and that people around the world will get rid of this pandemic. Although there is a pandemic, it is beautiful here. You just need to wear your mask and come enjoy it.

GOTKINE: As night fell, the Christmas lights had Manger Square pretty much to themselves. In the Church of the Nativity where Christians believe Jesus was born, they prayed for better days. After a disastrous year for Bethlehem's tourism reliant economy, it seems things can't get any worse. Elliott Gotkine, CNN, Bethlehem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Coming up on CNN newsroom, a look at the biggest news events of 2020. How the coronavirus shaped our lives and other events tested our resolve. Stay with us.

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[03:40:00]

BRUNHUBER: Our special Eco Solutions series this week is examining the food we eat and often waste. How we eat is also an issue. Take disposable wooden chopsticks. Japan's government says the country uses more than 19 billion of them a year, mostly imported from China but people in one Japanese town are now making chopsticks with an unexpected source for the work.

And Selena Wang tells us we say it's better for the planer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These forests in the mountains of Yoshino Nora prefecture were planted by hand, around 500 years ago. They have supported the town's local industry ever since including the craft of making disposable chopsticks known as waribashi.

Today, craftsman like Yoshihiro Takeuchi continue the tradition. He makes waribashi with wood, left over from building houses. Takeuchi says the trade have survived, because the people of Yoshino give back what they take.

YOSHIHIRO TAKEUCHI, CRAFTSMAN TAKEUCHI CHOPSTICKS FACTORY (through translator): It is a cycle where we use trees from the mountain, and return them to the mountains, by planting more.

WANG: Akimoto Nakai is the town's mayor and a 7th generation guardian of the forest known as a Yamamori.

AKIMOTO NAKAI, MAYOR OF YOSHINO & YAMAMORI (through translator): Broadly speaking, a Yamamori's job is to plant trees, namely cedar, and cypress in Yoshino.

WANG: Nakai makes sure only the small trees are cut down, to give the bigger ones a room to grow. The demand for faster, and cheaper options has led customers to look elsewhere. Around 97 percent of Japan's disposable chopsticks are now imported. Nakai says, mostly, from China.

There, the chopstick industry claims millions of trees a year. Tokyo- based designer, Eko Hayashi hopes to shift the focus back to Yoshino without harming the forest.

EKO HAYASHI, DESIGNER, HAMIDASHIMONO (through translator): If you see a bunch of chopsticks in the convenience store, you think it's fine to pick them up and throw them away. But I believe, your perception of the product would be totally different if you actually see the workshops in Yoshino and discover the various steps in the process in making waribashi.

WANG: In late 2019, Hayashi co-created Hamidashimono. It's a waribashi making kit including tools and upcycled cypress, sourced from the Yoshino artisans, who get a 3rd of the profit.

She hopes it will attract a new audience to Yoshino's waribashi craftsmen. And, like Takeuchi says, the profit goes back to the mountains. Selina Wang, CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Well obviously for many 2020 maybe a year to forget but that's not likely. Coming up the great challenges the world faced in 2020 and why it will always be a year to remember. Stay with us.

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[03:45:00]

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday Dr. Fauci, Happy birthday to you.

FAUCI: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: That was the unexpected birthday treat Anthony Fauci when he turned 80. The top U.S. infectious disease expert was serenaded by a socially distant rescue squad as he left work. America's doctor as he has been called is sticking to his own advice. Fauci told CNN, he won't have an in-person family celebration.

Well, goes without saying that 2020 has been a year no one expected. From a global pandemic to an assassination to a horrific explosion, and of course the U.S. presidential election. Clarissa Ward takes us through this year of global challenge and change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been a year we'll never forget. In 2020, we witnessed world changing, paradigm shifting events, all happening under the cloud of the covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But what's the secret.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And CNN was there every step of the way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was very scared.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it's no longer safe.

WARD: A stretch of bad events started off the year, wildfires engulfed Australia, with apocalyptic scenes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can't see the fire, but we can certainly smell it and feel it. WARD: Burning up to 73,000 square miles, about the size of the state

of South Dakota, and killing an estimated one billion animals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not normal. It's like fires on steroids.

WARD: Lives were lost, and thousands of homes destroyed.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: A day after claiming that Iran's top commander was planning to attack U.S. Embassy.

WARD: The death of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. drone strike on January 23rd lead to days of terrifying tension between the U.S. and Iran.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Saying that there would be a revenge, there be some sort of response from the Iranians.

[03:50:00]

WARD: Threats of war and Iran's retaliatory attack on Iraqi bases, housing U.S. troops.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wasn't scared the moment but it was something that we were ready for.

WARD: Just hours after Iran launched that ballistic missile attack on two U.S. military bases in Iraq, a Ukrainian passenger plane was shot down in Iran killing all 176 people on board.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New video obtained by CNN seems to show a missile strike as a fast moving projectile flies across the sky before striking another object.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well Wolf, CNN has obtained new footage CCTV footage that appears to show the dramatic and extraordinary force of the impact as that Ukrainian airliner slammed into the ground in Tehran.

WARD: Meanwhile in China, a strange new virus began to spread its presence, a silent clock counting down to the time would bring the world to its knees.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to grasp the scope of this. 20 million people that's what we're talking about. We've noticed a good number of people rushing to this train station. This railway station is located just a few blocks away from the seafood market. The epicenter according to health officials of this virus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coronavirus is showing no signs of letting up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was back in late December when Lee sent a group message saying that the test results from a patient quarantined at the hospital where he worked showed a patient had a coronavirus but hours after he sent Wuhan city health officials tracked Lee down questioning where he got the information. WARD: Dr. Wenliang would pay with his life for his bravery like

thousands of other medical professionals on the front lines all over the world. Shutdowns followed across the globe life as we knew it seemed to grind to a halt overnight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the month of Nembro, the month of March was a month of daily death. You just need to look at the death notices here. This woman died on March 7, this man died on March 8.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't really see the ferocity of this disease but the silence with which it kills.

WARD: Empty flights, deserted city centers and cruise ships floating listlessly through the open water, their trapped passengers hoping in vain for a place to port. The virus made its way around the world like the grim reaper taking victims as it spread its wrath.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was called out last night. I mean it was his wife of many years had passed away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This video shows patients lying on the floor at a Madrid hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are bodies. Just watching the video is difficult. Imagine going through those containers in person looking for your dad's body.

WARD: On March 11, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pandemic is not a word to use lightly.

WARD: By then life as we knew it, already long gone. Millions across the world living for months under strict lockdowns to try to stop the spread of the virus. Facemask became a familiar sight. Social distancing, a way of life.

In early August, Lebanon was struck by a massive deadly explosion sparked by the detonation of thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate, killing more than 170 people and injuring more than 6000 others.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is where CNN's office used to be.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something of this magnitudes so unnecessary. This has pushed the rage felt by the Lebanese population to unprecedented level.

WARD: In 2020 CNN exclusively exposed a troll factory in Ghana backed by Russia that was actively aiming to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And let me tell you Anderson, it's not where you might have expected it to be. This is the compound where the operation has been based. There's no sign for an NGO. We're about an hour outside of the city. WARD: And then CNN and (inaudible) investigation identified Russian

FSB operatives who trailed Putin's nemesis Alexei Navalny before he was poisoned.

ALEXEI NAVALNY: I get out of the bathroom, turn over to the flight attendant and said I was poisoned. I'm going to die.

WARD: After a difficult spring, fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, most of Europe opened back up for the summer but despite the short respite in the summer months, the virus back with a vengeance in the fall and winter in Europe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We think what the Germans are doing now is putting a pretty strict lockdown in place a lot earlier than anybody would have thought.

[03:55:00]

BLITZER: A troubling headline coming from the U.K.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Worry growing over a new COVID variant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The implications of this new variant that could be 70 percent more infectious but not more deadly in the U.K. are growing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: French border is closed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All day long, we've seen these police officers and highway jackets turning these 18 wheelers that you see behind me around with their goods.

WARD: Worldwide coronavirus cases hit 73 million in December. There were 16.5 million in United States alone and more than 1 million deaths globally. A uniting global goal in 2020, a vaccine and by December we saw the first approved vaccines administered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let the mass immunization program begin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 90-year old Margaret Keenan making history as the first person in England and indeed the world to receive the Pfizer- BioNTech vaccine outside a trial.

WARD: A moment of hope that 2021 will be the beginning of the end. A pandemic that spares no one. Clarissa Ward, CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Well, that was thoroughly depressing and that wraps this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Kim Brunhuber and I'll be back in just a moment with more news.

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