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Britain Enters Third Lockdown; Trump Can't Get Over His Loss; Trump Wants to Reverse Election Results; COVID Cases Runs Rampant; COVID Vaccination Lags Behind; England's New National Lockdown; Scientist Worry Variant Mutations May Affect Vaccine Response; Iran Seizes South Korean-Flagged Tanker; Iran Says First Batch of 20 Percent Enriched Uranium Completed; Where is Jack Ma; Democrats on the Attack as Campaign Ends; Georgia Officials Refutes False Election Claims; Hip-hop's Hustle to Flip The Senate. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired January 05, 2021 - 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)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.
Ahead here on CNN Newsroom. In crisis mode. Coronavirus cases are flooding British hospitals. Now the prime minister is telling people to stay home, imposing tougher COVID-19 restrictions. Plus, this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: There's no way we lost Georgia. There's no way. For rigged, that was a rigged election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): U.S. President Donald Trump turns a political rally meant to be for his Republican allies in Georgia into a rambling lecture on his election loss.
And later, Chinese tech tycoon and billionaire Jack Ma hasn't been heard from in months. We will have the details on what many are speculating about where his whereabouts.
Thanks for being with us.
Well, millions of people across England are now waking up to some of the toughest restrictions not seen since the pandemic first began last spring.
It's the country's third lockdown and comes as the new COVID-19 variant fuels a surge in infections and hospitalizations. Nearly 59,000 cases were added on Monday, a new daily record. In total, there are now more than 2.7 million cases in the U.K., and more than 75,000 deaths. Under the new restrictions many schools will be closed. And people can only leave their homes to shop for essentials, attend work and for medical assistance. The prime minister is hopeful the lockdown and increased vaccinations will help slow the spread of the virus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: By the middle of February, if things go well, and with a fair wind in our sails, we expect to have offered the first vaccine dose to everyone in the top priority groups identified by the joint committee on vaccination and immunization. That means vaccinating all residents in a care home for older adults and their carers. Everyone over the age of 70, all frontline health and social care workers. And everyone who is clinically extremely vulnerable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): And CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is just outside 10 Downing Street in London, she joins me now live. Good to see you, Salma. So, what is the latest on this third lockdown for England, and how is the vaccination rollout progressing?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: Rosemary, you heard the prime minister there just laying out his hopes, his hopes that by mid-February, rather, those four top priority groups could be vaccinated and that things could get easier, that this country could potentially get out of the lockdown that it's just entered.
But by some estimates that's a group of about 12 million people. And just to give you an idea, Rosemary, the vaccination program has now been around for about three weeks now. And you only have about a million people who have been vaccinated.
So, you're talking about a serious ramping up of this program. And to do this in six weeks, I'm just doing the math here, you're talking about vaccinating two million people per week. That is a huge task, an ambitious task. Some might say an unrealistic task. But it's one that the government feels they simply have no choice that they have to do. Because it's the only way they say to get control of this variant.
I mean, all the other resources, all the other tools in the tool box are being used and including of course, a nationwide lockdown. So of course, this rollout of a vaccine just yesterday, the Oxford University and AstraZeneca vaccine is critical to beating back this enemy. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ (voice over): A moment of national pride. A vaccine created by Britain's very own Oxford University goes into the arms of those who need it most. The roll out of the inoculation developed alongside AstraZeneca started with 82-year-old Brian Pinker who can soon safely celebrate his 48-wedding anniversary.
The third recipient was professor Andrew Pollard, one of the chief scientists behind revolutionary vaccine.
ANDREW POLLARD, DIRECTOR, OXFORD VACCINE GROUP: I think this is a critical moment. We are at the point of being overwhelmed by this disease.
ABDELAZIZ: The U.K.'s health secretary calling this a pivotal moment in the nation's bitter battle to defeat COVID-19.
[03:04:58]
MATT HANCOCK, BRITISH HEALTH SECRETARY: I'm incredibly proud of the British science that got us to this place. We've been working for a year to get this vaccine ready.
ABDELAZIZ (on camera): The vaccinations happening behind me here are not the only first. The U.K. will also be the first country to try a delayed dosing strategy. Patients will get the first injection and wait up to three months for the second one.
Health officials here say that initial dose should protect against significant illness and keep people from ending up in hospital. But it's a controversial plan that's divided the medical community.
The policy will allow up to twice as many people to get vaccinated. Prime Minister Boris Johnson says tens of millions could be shielded from the worst of the illness by spring.
JOHNSON: We've got a new variant that is requiring extra special vigilance. And we will do everything we can to keep the virus under control.
ABDELAZIZ: That variant has caused an unprecedented wave of COVID-19 cases. Worse than at any point during this pandemic. And hospital chiefs are ringing the alarm. They say the health care system may soon reach a breaking point.
It is an ambitious, and some say, risky approach of resignations. But a bold battle plan may be the only way to win.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ (on camera): Rosemary, in my experience here, good news is followed by bad news. And the good news of that Oxford University and AstraZeneca vaccine was followed by the prime minister's national address in which he basically laid out the health crisis in the country. He said there is 40 percent more patients in hospitals with coronavirus. Forty percent more than at the height of the first peak of this pandemic.
The health care system, he said, is being challenged, overwhelmed, overstretched like it has a no point before. And quite simply it can't handle another spike. It can't handle another surge. That's why you saw this national lockdown go into place.
But of course, if you speak to people across England, they will tell you we were already under toughest rules. The major change here is schools. And schools, yes, they were an area of concern. There had been a spike among students right before Christmas break. So, this is one variable that they are removing. But is it enough, Rosemary? Is it enough?
I mean, just the fact that the prime minister is pointing to the vaccination program as the way out, that just tells you how dire the situation is. How critical, yes, the vaccination program is but how far the solution still might be. Rosemary?
CHURCH (on camera): Yes, absolutely. Salma Abdelaziz joining us live from 10 Downing Street. Many thanks.
Well in just a few hours thousands of people here in Georgia will head to the polls to vote in crucial elections. The two runoff races pit a pair of incumbent Republicans against their Democratic challengers. The outcome will decide who controls the U.S. Senate and in turn the fate of Joe Biden's first term as president.
Already more than three million votes have been cast, smashing a 2004 record. U.S. President Donald Trump and Biden spent Monday campaigning in the state. Biden told supporters that if Democrats win, they will ensure Americans get their $2,000 COVID stimulus checks.
Mr. Trump spent his rally complaining about his election loss. He also put pressure on Vice President Mike Pence to take action in his favor when Biden's win get certified. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And I hope Mike Pence comes through for us. I have to tell you.
(CROWD CHEERING)
TRUMP: I hope our great vice president, our great vice president comes through for us. He's a great guy. Of course, if he doesn't come through, I won't like him quite as much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): At that rally Republican Senate candidate Kelly Loeffler said she will object to certifying Biden's win but the Senate runoffs could hinge on voters' reactions to Mr. Trump's phone call where he pressured Georgia officials to find votes to tilt the election in his favor.
CNN's Jim Acosta has the details.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): One day after the president's unhinged attempt to fix the election result in Georgia, state officials they are firing back with a methodical debunking of Mr. Trump's bogus conspiracy theories.
GABRIEL STERLING, GEORGIA VOTING SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION MANAGER: This is all easily, provably false. Yet the president persists. I will admit when I listened to the audio of the phone call and the president brought it up again, and I heard it on radio again today, I wanted to scream.
ACOSTA: Still scrambling to scam his way into a second term, President Trump is lashing out at members of his own party who won't join his quest to overturn the election. Tweeting, surrender caucus within the Republican Party will go down in infamy as weak and ineffective guardians of our nation, who were willing to accept the certification of fraudulent presidential numbers.
Some in the GOP can't believe their own ears after the president's call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger aimed at cooking up a Trump win in that state.
[03:09:55]
TRUMP: So, look, all I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes. Which is one more than we have. Because we won the state. So, what are we going to do here, folks? I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break.
ACOSTA: CNN has confirmed the White House attempt to call Raffensperger 18 times before the one-hour conversation over the weekend.
TRUMP: The people of Georgia are angry. The people of the country are angry. And there's something wrong with saying that, you know, that you recalculated.
BRAD RAFFENSPERGER, GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong.
I do want to make my points that the data that he has is just plain wrong. We've, you know, he had hundreds and hundreds of people he said that were dead that voted. We found two.
ACOSTA: Even some of the GOP senators planning to side with the president and object the official counting of electoral votes this Wednesday in Congress have issues with the call.
SEN. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-TN): One of the things I think that everyone has said is that this call was not a helpful call.
ACOSTA: Other Republicans like Senator Tom Cotton are refusing to join the effort. Saying in a statement, under the Constitution and federal law Congress' power is limited to counting electoral votes submitted by the states. That to a rebuke for the president who tweeted a response to Cotton that Republicans never forget.
Vice President Mike Pence who will preside over the electoral vote count on January 6, sidestepped the issue while campaigning before Tuesday's Senate runoffs in Georgia.
MICHAEL PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I promise you come this Wednesday, we'll have our day in Congress. (CROWD CHEERING)
PENCE: We'll hear the objections. We'll hear the evidence. But tomorrow is Georgia's day.
ACOSTA: All living former U.S. defense secretary have issued a letter insisting it's all over for Mr. Trump. Writing, the time for questioning the results has passed. The time for the formal counting of the Electorate College votes as prescribed in the Constitution and statute has arrived.
Tell that GOP Senator Josh Hawley who is leading the charge to object the election results in Congress this week. The kind of action he once slammed during Mr. Trump's impeachment.
SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): The consequences to the republic of overturning a Democratic election because you don't like the results, because you believe that that election was somehow corrupted when in fact the evidence shows that it was not.
ACOSTA: Add to that Republican Senator Susan Collins who once said she thought the president had learned his lesson after being impeached over a phone call.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I believe that the president has learned from this case. The president has been impeached. That's a pretty big lesson.
ACOSTA: Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH (on camera): Well, meanwhile, Georgia's most senior election board member tells CNN he is calling for an investigation into President Trump's phone call. Senior legal analyst Preet Bharara had this take.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PREET BHARARA, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Any good prosecutor when you have some evidence that a crime was committed you undertake an investigation. At a minimum, based on that call, based on the things that Trump is saying, based on what seems to have been his intent describing specific amount of votes that he wants against the evidence that there was no voter fraud as determined by Republican officials, and courts, and all sorts of other folks looking into it as well. I think it's clearly worthy of criminal investigation.
And there is a statement from the Fulton County D.A. suggesting that it may be looked at. I think it's too soon to say whether or not definitively you can prove beyond a reasonable doubt a criminal violation to a unanimous jury. But it's disturbing. It's unethical. It's an abuse of power at a minimum.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH (on camera): Evan McMullin is an executive director and Stand Up Republican. He is also the former chief policy director for the House Republican conference. And he joins us now. Good to have you with us.
EVAN MCMULLIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STAND UP REPUBLIC: Good to be with you.
CHURCH: So on the eve of the Georgia runoff vote, top state election official and Republican Gabriel Sterling said President Trump's call to the Georgia secretary of state demanding 11,780 votes specifically be found to flip the state in his favor, he called it falsehood and misinformation that was impacting turnout for the vote. And he debunked all Trump's conspiracy theories point by point.
How important is such a methodical fact checking process like this? And what impact could it potentially have on Tuesday's election turnout and effort to overturn free and fair elections?
MCMULLIN: Well it's certainly important just for the health of our democracy for the health of elections in Georgia, and for our elections more broadly in the country. Of course, we have a president who was caught red-handed trying to undermine the results of the presidential election in this cycle.
And you have, you see Georgia officials like Gabriel Sterling today trying to reassure Georgians that their elections are legitimate that they are free and fair, that every vote has been counted, you know.
[03:14:59]
And like I said, that's important for our democracy. But also, Gabriel Sterling is a Republican and he's worried also about Republican voters in Georgia and whether they are going to turn out in tomorrow's election.
And if they're convinced sufficiently by the president and his allies, that the election, the presidential election was not legitimate then they'll be less inclined to turn out and vote because why would they if their votes aren't being counted or at least if that's what they believe.
So that's what, that's what Gabriel is trying to do. And it's a smart political move, but it's also good for our democracy.
CHURCH: Yes. And Sterling also said that Trump and his officials intentionally misled the public with his peddled conspiracy theories despite there being no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Georgia. What should the consequences be of Trump's call demanding votes be found to turn his loss into a win? Is it criminal? Is it extortion? Is it a coup? What do you call this behavior?
MCMULLIN: Well, it's certainly is an attempt to overturn the will of the American people. Which is an attack directly on our democracy and it cannot be tolerated. You know, if the president were going to be in office for a longer period of time, I think that the House would need to look at impeachment again. But that's not the case. The president only has limited number of days left. So, I don't see it as realistic.
I do think that if he broke any laws that whether state or federal, that those should be investigated and considered after he leaves office and it's not to simply, it's not political retribution or retaliation but it's simple -- simply that we have a need in this country to uphold the integrity of our elections and we can't have a president or other politicians putting pressure on officials to quote, "find more votes to help them win," and hope to hold on to our democracy.
So, there must be consequences if laws were broken. It seems to me that there may have been. But that will be up for prosecutors and legal experts to decide.
CHURCH: of course. And nearly 200 top U.S. business leaders are urging Congress to certify the electoral results for Joe Biden on Wednesday, but we don't know if that will influence those Republicans who are threatening to overturn free and fair elections on that day.
But in the end, how culpable of those particular Republicans who choose to go along with this plot despite hearing Trump's stunning telephone call and do more respected Republicans need to come out and speak against this action?
MCMULLIN: Well, they certainly do. Some are. We need more to do it. It is alarming that so many Republicans, not only in the House, but also in the Senate are attempting with Trump, to overturn a free and fair election in our country. I mean, it is -- look, the chances that they will succeed are very slim, which gives them sort of the cynical opportunity to take these dangerous actions without immediate consequences for themselves or the country.
There is an internal battle within the GOP happening within the Republican Party right now and people are lining up very clearly. Some on the side of Trump and against democracy and others on the side of democracy. And what that will mean for the party is yet to be determined. But that is the fight that's happening now.
CHURCH: So many Republicans though, it seems are too scared to speak out. Incredible. Evan McMullin, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate it.
MCMULLIN: Thank you.
CHURCH (on camera): And still ahead on CNN Newsroom, the pandemic runs rampant across part of the U.S. as the post-holiday surge begins. But some officials are sounding a positive note when it comes to vaccine distribution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MONCEF SLAOUI, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: The holiday period is behind us, I am optimistic that these numbers are going to go up.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH (voice over): That as some Americans become the first to get their second vaccine dose. We will bring you the latest on the roll out. That's next.
[03:20:00]
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CHURCH (on camera): It is relentless, exhausting and deadly. The coronavirus pandemic in the United States is running rampant. And the post-holiday surge is just beginning. These peaks showed U.S. coronavirus deaths in the last week. An American has died from COVID- 19 every 33 seconds. And then there is this. Hospitalizations hitting record levels again. ICUs across the country stretched to their limits.
Meanwhile, the vaccine rollout is offering hope but also confusion. Scenes like this have played out in Florida as hundreds of seniors waited for their shot.
Nick Watt has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A nurse in New Jersey among the first people in America fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
That's her dose number two. Such a big deal, the governor came to watch, applaud, (Inaudible).
MARITZA BENIQUEZ, EMERGENCY ROOM NURSE: I now have body armor.
WATT: But, the overwhelming majority of Americans still awaiting dose one.
UNKNOWN: We're senior citizens. All we want is get the vaccine. Please give us the vaccine.
SLAOUI: Nothing has gone wrong. What we have committed to was to have 20 million doses a vaccine available for the American people to be immunized.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: No. No, Mr. Slaoui.
SLAOUI: We have worked --
HARLOW: It was that 20 million Americans would be vaccinated.
WATT: By New Years, now he says 20 million vaccinated was a hope, not a commitment. More than 50 million doses have been shipped, only around five million actually injected into arms.
ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: No excuses. We are not where we want to be, but hopefully we'll pick up some momentum.
WATT: Meantime, the virus remains rampant.
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D), LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: We are seeing a person every six seconds contract COVID-19 here in Los Angeles County.
WATT: California in crisis. Hospitals are running out of beds and equipment.
SCOTT BYINGTON, CRITICAL CARE NURSE, ST. FRANCIS MEDICAL CENTER: We needed a high flow oxygen, and we were able to obtain it because a patient recently died in the E.R. So, we were able to get the equipment because somebody else, you know, had died. And that sounds gruesome and horrific, but that's where we are today.
WATT: Nationwide, record numbers in the hospital, 100,000 plus for 34 days straight, and over the past week, one person has died from COVID- 19 every 33 seconds. No words of sympathy from the president, just a tweet brushing off the death toll as fake news. His own surgeon general disagrees.
JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: I have no reason to doubt those numbers.
WATT: The president's lie compounds the pain of the bereaved.
ROSA CERNA, FATHER AND UNCLE DIED FROM COVID: It's an insult to every family, because there's absolutely no way for somebody to say that it was fake, because my dad is not a fake dead.
WATT (on camera): Now a case of the U.K. variant confirmed in New York State for the first time, a few more here in California are bringing these states total to six. Now it is still unclear if vaccines will work against this new variant, most experts believe they will, but it's still being studied, and until we know for certain there is of course some understandable anxiety.
Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH (on camera): So, let's bring in Dr. Scott Miscovich. He is a family physician and a national consultant for COVID-19 testing. Thank you, doctor, for being with us and for all that you do.
SCOTT MISCOVICH, NATIONAL CONSULTANT FOR COVID-19 TESTING: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So, COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are record levels in this country. With one person dying of COVID every 33 seconds.
[03:25:05]
And the holiday period of course is expected to make matters worse. All this as vaccinations fall well short of the government goal of 20 million by the end of the year, only 4.5 million people immunized so far. So, why so few and how can this be done better?
MISCOVICH: Well, we are observing this and I'll admit, I fortunately had my first vaccine shot and I have another one next week, but I am working on this all over the United States. Our group has been working with the vaccine administration and there is a lot of finger pointing going on.
There is a finger pointing by the states at the federal government and then the federal government they're saying well the states, we gave you everything you need. And then at the county level they are looking and saying we need a way for people to just get out of our way.
So, I blame it on the lack of leadership. There are some states who have done a great job, but the federal government really had an obligation to step up and give guidance to the states.
I mean, I'm looking at this and saying why haven't we created a national health service corps extension where we have the federal government step up four months ago and be prepared to do something like this?
We have another six to eight months where we are going to be dealing with COVID throughout this country and trying to vaccinate everyone in every corner of America. A lot more has to be done by our federal government.
CHURCH: Yes. I mean, it is a massive challenge, isn't it? And of course, in the U.S. the problem less about supply of the vaccine, more about having more medical staff available to administer shots, because most are trying to save lives right now. So, why not use FEMA, the National Guard, or the military to get this job done on mass.
MISCOVICH: Exactly. And you know, part of the problem is, like for example, here in Hawaii, and I know other areas across the country the National Guard has been activated and they actually are on the front lines of trying to assist a lot of the testing efforts that are going on.
The two are exactly correct, I think most of us look to the federal government and say you had your opportunity. There should have been a larger scale mobilization. Look at all the people who are out of work right now. We should have pulled people together and been able to train these individuals and create an effort that could actually go past COVID to help our country.
Because let's face it. We are still just going to be beginning to understand the effects this will have in our country and other areas where we haven't even determined. But I concur completely with you.
CHURCH: And doctor, officials in the U.S. had considered have doses of Moderna for 18 to 55-year-olds in order to try to get as many people vaccinated as possible and worry about the second dose later, a similar thing going on in the U.K. or certainly considering this. But the Food and Drug Administration has rejected that option, insisting everyone must get the full doses. Was that the right call? MISCOVICH: I completely disagree. I believe that what they have
announced at the U.K. is acceptable, when you really look at the data, if we could have a single full dose, a perfect example is Southern California where they have zero ICU beds. If we could take as many vaccine doses as possible and immunize the large portion of the entire population, we might be able to save lives and save beds. That would give you 85 percent immunity.
And what that means is there is enough of that antibody in your body to start fighting infection, or you might not have an infection severe enough that will put you in and use an ICU bed. So, I think we need to be creative. The time to just sit back and say well, the book says to do it this way, it may be different, there may be different regions in our country. We need to step up to save lives.
CHURCH: BioNTech has come out and said though that there is no data to support the plan that the U.K. has. They are concerned about that.
MISCOVICH: Yes, but then again at this stage we need to have broad and bold leadership. If we look right now, I believe that history is going to look back on leadership decisions that are being made, because every decision is going to mean lives, and we are in a position where as you watched in the U.K., most people are criticizing Boris Johnson for maybe having waited two weeks too long with the rapid spike that's occurred.
I am very concerned if we have the variant becoming the primary disease that we are treating here in a short period of time. And then we need to make decisions that we might not think today are correct but tomorrow may seem to be the right decision. And I think history will judge us.
CHURCH: Yes, that is a big concern. Dor. Scott Miscovich, thank you so much for talking with us. I appreciate it.
MISCOVICH: Thank you for having me.
CHURCH (on camera): England enters another lockdown. Exactly what people there can and can't do now. And why Boris Johnson move to take more drastic action?
[03:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The United Kingdom's chief medical officers have advised that the country should move to alert level, fine. Meaning that, if action is not taken, NHS capacity may be overwhelmed within 21 days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHNSON: It is clear that we need to do more together to bring this
new variant under control while our vaccines are rolled out. In England we must therefore go into a national lockdown which is tough enough to contain this variant. That means the government is once again instructing you to stay at home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): The British Prime Minister there explaining strict new lockdown measures to battle COVID-19. Boris Johnson's announcement comes as the U.K. sets new daily case records with more than 50,000 new infections posted each day for nearly a week. To try and slow that spread, England is closing schools except to vulnerable children and children of key workers. The nurseries will remain open.
And people must stay in their homes, but will be allowed to leave for limited reasons, including shopping for essentials and medical assistance. International departures are now restricted to people with a legally permitted reason like work.
Dr. Peter Drobac is an infectious disease and global health expert at the University of Oxford. He joins us now live. Good to have you with us, doctor.
PETER DROBAC, GLOBAL HEALTH EXPERT, OXFORD SAID BUSINESS SCHOOL (on camera): Thank you for having me, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So, this is the third lockdown for England. Was this the only solution to the numbers you are seeing, the surge in COVID cases across the country, and is the U.K. variant what is driving all of this?
DROBAC: Unfortunately, I think there was no choice to do this and in fact this is probably coming too late. Once again we have seen an incredible surge in infections, hospitalizations now are about 8,000 higher than they were at a peak back in April. So we are actually seeing the worse of this pandemic in the U.K. since the beginning of this.
Now, is it driven by the new variant? I think the answer is partly yes. Right? We have all been concerned about a winter surge, we've all been concerned about the effects of relaxing rules during Christmas and the New Year's period and the household mixing. Driving, had further increase, all of that is happening. But now what's going on as this is really being turbocharged by this new variant, which is now the predominant strain in the U.K. and is much more transmissible.
So, what it has done has given the virus even another gear to move faster, and that is why things have really spiraled out of control here in the last couple weeks.
[03:35:07]
CHURCH: The U.K. appears to be doing a pretty good job of getting the population vaccinated with these two vaccines now approved, but it is now considering this plan to give as many people as possible the first shot to give them some protection at least, and worry about the second shot much later, but BioNTech in Germany is warning, there is no data to support that plan, that the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine was only tested on the basis of two doses given 21 days apart. What do you say to that?
DROBAC: It is a gamble. And it is a gamble that maybe the right call given the dire circumstances that we are in, right. This is, as you say, it's a bit of a data free zone. Now with the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine there is limited data to suggest that a longer interval between the first and the second dose might actually be even a little bit better. But then you could actually tolerate waiting to about 12 weeks, but with the Moderna and the Pfizer vaccines, that just wasn't studied.
And so going beyond the two or three week interval that was used in the trials is an unknown. Now because we are in such a terrible situation, the idea is look, if I only have 1 million doses available now, do I want to vaccinate 1 million people and give them some protection in the midst of this crisis or just half 1 million people and give them the full doses until the U.K. is opting for the former given the situation that we are in.
We don't fully know the effects. It is possible that the protection will be complete. Some are raising at least the possibility that that could put pressure on the virus, you know, the kind of partial immunity to mutate in ways that might make vaccines less effective down the road. That is just speculation. This is a really tough call.
CHURCH: Yes. It certainly is, and it is difficult, isn't it? Each country trying to deal with a separate situations and circumstances. And Israel appears to be doing the best job of all nations so far in their vaccination role out plan. What are they doing that everyone else needs to copy here?
DROBAC: Well, I think part of it is that we have seen a lot of attention that was focused on the development of the vaccines, but less investment in preparation and actually rolling them out. I think we need a coordinated centralized effort that is top down, but then also a bottom up effort to utilize existing health care and public health infrastructure.
In the U.S. we have seen is a total lack of that central coordination with states and localities left to their own. So, it's been a real kind of, you know, patchwork hit or miss experience. Here in the U.K. it is happening OK. It has been a little bit slow to ramp up. And part of that was the challenges of the ultra-cold storage and getting not particularly into care homes.
I think it will speed up, but it was clear that Israel had planned well for this. They had a very coordinated effort. They are reminding us of what is possible, and you know, we have got to really understand now that this new variant, or these new variance are no joke. They are taking this pandemic into a different phase. We got to do everything we can to bring this under control, that means speeding up vaccinations, but it also means ramping up our efforts just to control transmission. CHURCH: Yes. We have to move faster than we are currently. Dr. Peter
Drobac, many thanks as always.
DROBAC: Thank you.
CHURCH: Iran says it has completed its first batch of 20 percent enriched uranium. That is far beyond the cap imposed in the 2015 nuclear deal. The ramp up was widely expected. Iran's parliament passed a law last month to boost enrichment after the country's top nuclear scientist was killed. The announcement also comes one year after senior Iranian General Qassem Soleimani was killed by a U.S. drone strike.
Iran also seized a South Korean flag chemical tanker on Monday. You can see on the right side of the screen, an Iranian patrol boat approaching the tanker in response to South Korean destroyer, arrived in the Strait of Hormuz just a few hours ago in fact.
And for more on this, Sam Kiley is following developments from Jerusalem, but first, let's start with Paula Hancocks. She joins us live from Seoul. So, Paula, what is the latest on this seize South Korean flag tanker? Now, of course the arrival of the destroyer.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, Rosemary, the latest we've heard from the Foreign Ministry here in South Korea is that they believe that the tanker has been taken to the Bandar Abbas ports in Iran. The Iranian ambassador to Korea was summoned this afternoon to the ministry of foreign affairs and spoke to an official saying that they could confirmed that the sailors were all safe.
Now, we know there were 20 sailors on board, five of them was South Korean nationals. And also, the South Korean ambassador in Tehran said he is speaking to authorities there and he also has be given the all- clear, that the sailors are safe, but clearly the foreign ministry is calling for the early release of these sailors and of the tanker itself.
[03:40:09]
Now the Iranian side of it is that there was an environmental pollution taking place because of this tanker. From the South Korean side they say they're looking into this, but clearly analyst say that there could well be a lot more. There have been tensions between Iran and South Korea. We know that there is an estimated 7 billion dollars in Iranian funds that have been frozen in South Korean banks since 2019.
This is because the U.S. at that point increased the sanctions against Iran. South Korea had been important in a fair bit of Iranian oil, but from September 2019, that simply was not possible and those funds had been frozen. Now we know that the deputy foreign minister is heading to Tehran and from Sunday we will have a few days of meetings.
We are being told that that was planned already before this had happened, whether or not that is the case, they will clearly have a lot more to talk about now. But from some points of view, South Korea really does find itself between a rock and a hard place. South Korea trying to toe the line with its main ally, the U.S., but of course it does have commercial interests with Iran.
It is a balance that it has been trying to control for a number of months now, but clearly, whether or not this is the chemical pollution Iran causes or not, the South Korea is in a tricky position and there will be interesting discussion when the deputy foreign minister heads to Tehran.
CHURCH: No doubt. Thanks for that, Paula. Sam, to you now. This all comes of course as Iran ramps ups uranium enrichment in its biggest breach yet of the nuclear deal. So, what is the latest on that?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, the Israelis have repeated their commitment, this is in the words of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that they will never allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapons capability. There is an analysis around that said they could have already or be close to producing in Iran enough material to make too small nuclear weapons, perhaps. That's called sort of a break out moment.
This is in a sense the moment in which there are international community, might be expected to be galvanized into a unified response to the Iranian decision to start a refining uranium to such a high- level. But what is interesting, and I think it is very strongly reflected by what Paula was just saying there, it's that the U.S. administration under Trump has been out of whack.
Very seriously with the international community, resulting, for example, in the sanctions that had been unilaterally imposed by the United States on Iran. Means that the international banking system when it tries to deal with Iran is crippled since most of these debts and trades are managed in U.S. dollars.
That is the reason ultimately the Koreans are not making good on the debt that they have admit they have with the Iranians. It's Iranian money that they are fearful of handing over. The Europeans have been in very similar situations trying to make the nuclear deal stick together to some extent since the United States walked away from it. While simultaneously trying to contain Iranian destabilization efforts that they have stepped up in response to this sanctions.
So what we have seen recently is a ramping up of the Iranian nuclear program. We have seen large scale, exercises by the Iranian navy in the Persian Gulf or Iranian gulf. The Arabian Gulf, I'd rather call it. And there is also, Paula, signs of more unity now emerging among gulf nations with a very important breakthrough in which Qatar and the Saudis have agreed to open their borders after three years in a mutual blockade.
A very bitter relations with the (inaudible) heading to the gulf corporation council meeting in Saudi Arabia today. That puts up more of a united front if you like, in response to Iran. Although of course the Qataris have been a lot more sympathetic to the Iranian position and certainly the Saudis or the (inaudible) in the United Arab Emirates. CHURCH: All right. Sam Kiley and Paula Hancocks, many thanks to you
both. I appreciate it.
And coming up next, the case of the missing tech billionaire. It's been months since Jack Ma has been seen in public, while China takes even greater aim at his business empire. We are back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:45:00]
CHURCH: There are growing questions about the whereabouts of Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, the cofounder of China's most successful tech empire has not been heard from in months. No public appearances, no social media posts since October. That was just before the highly anticipated stock market listing of Alibaba's financial affiliate ad group which Chinese regulators pulled the plug on at the last minute.
Our Selina Wang is live in Tokyo, good to see you Selina. So, what more are you learning about this?
SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, great to be with you. That's right, Jack Ma hasn't been seen since that (inaudible) was pulled and he was even absent from the finale of this African talent show that he himself created.
The company representatives told me it was because of quote, scheduling conflicts, but sources tell me that Jack Ma is likely been advised to keep a low profile and that Beijing wants its narrative of the regulatory crackdown on his empire to be its narrative and no other diversity of opinion or voices being heard on this front.
Now, this silence however is still remarkable, even though Jack Ma has been scaling back his public profile in more recent times. He is known as this charismatic, outspoken CEO, one who is not afraid to push the boundaries. But his international renown in this celebrity status is exactly what has put his empire and himself at risk now.
This all started off when he decided to criticize Chinese regulators for stifling innovation and calling out China state owned banks for their quote, pawnshop mentality. The rebuke from Beijing was swift after that. Ant IPO was pulled a week later, regulators released a draft law that would try and reign in Chinese big tech companies and then on top of that regulators then started an investigation into e- commerce (inaudible) Alibaba.
And Rosemary, the broader context here is that Beijing is losing patience with its tech giants and what they see as their outsized power in China, companies like Ant group and Alibaba are virtually indispensable in nearly every part of people's lives, whether we are talking about making payments, making purchases online, getting insurance, making investments in money markets and much, much more. So, it is clear that Beijing is sending a message that no one person or company is above the communist party. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right. Selina Wang, joining us there from Tokyo. Many thanks. Well, Atlanta's hip-hop community is urging Black voters to raise their voice. How artists are using their influence to get out to vote when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:50:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Stacey Abrams. What is it with Stacey Abrams? You know your Governor, your Governor and your secretaries of state have putrefied of Stacey Abrams. They say they are Republicans. I really don't think they are. They cannot be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): That was President Trump mentioning former Georgia gubernatorial candidate and voting right's activist Stacey Abrams at his latest rally. Here is a rebuke to the president's phone call with Georgia officials asking them to sway the election in his favor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STACEY ABRAMS (D-GA), FORMER DEMOCRATIC GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: He only want the voters he likes to be heard. He's doing his best to dismantle the system. He is arguing against the system that we fixed through fair fight and through the Democratic Party that meant that no matter where you live in the state of Georgia if you filed an absentee ballot and you needed to fix a mistake, you are notified.
I am fighting against voter's suppression to make certain that voter access is always available, and he is fighting to make himself the victor by disenfranchising and disallowing voters that he does not care for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Although Abrams was not on the ballot in 2020, much of the credit for rallying the vote for President-Elect Joe Biden in Georgia goes to her.
And CNN's Kyung Lah has more on the state of the race in Georgia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On this final full day of the Georgia Senate runoff campaign, the two Democratic challengers are on the attack using President Trump against his own party
JON OSSOFF, DEMOCRATIC U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: The president of the United States on the phone trying to intimidate Georgia's election officials to throw out your votes. Let's send a message.
RAPHAEL WARNOCK, DEMOCRATIC U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: He is being aided and abetted by two United States Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.
LAH: On the Republican side, Senator Loeffler dodged direct questions about Trump's recorded phone call while Senator David Perdue turned his fire on the recipient of Trump's phone call, Georgia's Republican Secretary of State.
SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R-GA): To have a statewide elected official regardless of party, to tape without disclosing a private conversation with the president of the United States and then leaking in to the press now is disgusting.
LAH: Even as Senator Purdue defends a sitting president attempting to undermine an election, there is little sign it matters to the GOP faithful. At least among those who came to see Vice President Mike Pence and Milner Georgia, they claimed they have not heard anything about this call.
UNKNOWN: I have not.
UNKNOWN: No. I have not.
UNKNOWN: I know there was election fraud.
UNKNOWN: Have a good day.
UNKNOWN: It's rock and roll again. It is Groundhog Day again.
LAH: Georgia is split into two worlds. Claim versus fact, say exasperated Georgia state election officials. The Secretary of State office displayed this poster sized message at its first press conference since Saturday's controversial phone call.
TRUMP: A lot of people are going out to vote. A lot of Republicans are going to vote negative because they hate what you did to the president. OK? They hate it. And they're going to vote. And if you would be respected, really respected if this thing could be straightened out before the election.
LAH: Democratic voters who say they all heard the Trump phone call?
UNKNOWN: I do.
UNKNOWN: Yes, I have heard it.
UNKNOWN: Yes, I have read about the tapes, most certainly.
LAH: Admit they don't know if it will change Tuesday's election.
UNKNOWN: I think it's incredibly disappointing. And I hope it galvanizes people to turn up for Democratic candidates, but I'm not optimistic that it will make much of a difference.
LAH (on camera): Well, Senator Loeffler tweeted that she is going to object to President-Elect Joe Biden's Electoral College win on January 6th. Senator Purdue also indicated he supports the effort although he can't officially vote because his term ended on January 3rd. Kyung Lah, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[03:55:07]
CHURCH (on camera): Joining me now from Atlanta is comedian and political pundit Karl Special K Douglas. He is also the head comedy writer for the Rickey Smiley Morning Show. Great to have you with us.
KARL SPECIAL K DOUGLAS, COMEDIAN: Hey. Thanks. Nice to be here.
CHURCH: Absolutely. So, you and others in Atlanta's hip-hop community spearheaded a voter drive that helped flip Georgia from red to blue. Now you are trying to do the same in Tuesday's two crucial Senate runoff elections. Do you think you can do it again?
DOUGLAS: Well, yes. I would like for most, if not all of that credit to go to Stacey Abrams and her organization who kind of spearheaded everything. We just followed her lead. But I do feel very confident we have over three million votes that have already been cast in these runoff elections, which is if I'm not mistaken has historical achievement. That an astronomical number for a runoff. And so -- I really think people are energized, and I really think people do understand what is at stake right now.
CHURCH: So, what all did you do to convince Atlanta's Black community to get out and vote and show them that their vote counted?
DOUGLAS: Well, one of the things that we've done on the morning show, in the Rickey Smiley Morning Show is we had made, even since before the general election, we made a concentrated effort to really just drive home the message with, you know, various other pundits, legal friends that we had, political pundits, politicians, everybody from the former President Obama to the former first lady, to James Clyburn. Who, I mean, just a whole host of people that we would have on this show every single week.
And we just pound home the message of how important it is that not only do we vote in the general election for the president, but we also have to get a Senate in place that is going to, you know, work for our agenda, for our community, which I think is going to benefit community at -- you know, the community at large. But in particular, the Black community needs to get engaged in these down ballot election and I think we did a pretty good job of driving that message home.
CHURCH: Was it a hard sell at times to some people who just to convince that their vote doesn't count?
DOUGLAS: I think, yeah, sadly I think that even though we had made great strides, I think since the days of Barack Obama we have made great strides in our community to get people to understand the importance of these elections, but you know, there is still some people, there is still a thought process out there that does think that you know, the party is on the same and that our votes don't necessarily matter. And so, that is a hurdle that we anticipated going in, and again, it's
just, you know, rinse repeat, rinse repeat, rinse repeat. We just keep driving the same message home. And me personally, I try to get people to understand, even if you're voting from a selfish motive, you know, the politics involved, every aspect of your life is about the politics, and is affected by politics.
As I try to drive at home at a base level, you know, your health care, your job, your taxes, you're police reform. You know, I try to hit home everything that is important to people in our community to give them and understand that this stuff does matters.
CHURCH: Right. And why did you decide that you needed to do this and what did you learn from the whole experience?
DOUGLAS: Well, because I've been a political person since I was barely out of diapers. You know, my father was very active in politics back in the seventies. You know, he worked for Jimmy Carter's campaign. He worked for Mayor Jackson campaign. He worked with Andrew Yang. I would see people in my house like Julian Bond. You know, people like that. And so politics is in my blood. And I've always been interested and I've always educated myself about it, and I have always understood the importance of it.
And so for me, it is just something that I like to share with other people, to really fully understand that you have to get engaged, even if you don't do anything but vote. You know, I say at the bare minimum, just vote. I'm not saying you have to be a pundit. You have to be educated on every single issue and every single candidate, but at least educate yourself enough to go out and make a vote that makes sense.
CHURCH: Karl Special K Douglas, great to talk with you. I appreciate it.
DOUGLAS: Thank you.
CHURCH: And be sure to stay with CNN for our special coverage of the crucial Senate runoff's happening today here in Georgia. And thank you so much for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. I will be back with more news in just a moment. Do stick around.
