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U.K. Planning to Offer Vaccine to Everyone over 50 by May; E.U. Leaders Weighing the Removal of Some COVID-19 Measures; Impact of Variants on Vaccines a Growing Concern; Thousands March in Yangon against Military Junta; U.S. Democratic Lawmakers Set Stage to Pass COVID-19 Bill; Anger and Grief in Wuhan One Year Later. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired February 06, 2021 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[02:00:00]

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Some European leaders are saying that they are fighting for their share of the COVID vaccines. Meanwhile, there are new worries about the dangers posed by variants of the virus.

Also, protesters take to the street in Myanmar, angry over this week's military coup.

Hello, welcome to CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes.

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HOLMES: Welcome, everyone.

There is newer push to increase inoculations for the country's worst hit by the coronavirus. Mass vaccination centers popping up across the U.S. with the promise of more to come.

And the Biden administration is using the Defense Production Act to boost supplies. Cases and hospitalizations are seeing steady declines. But experts are urging people to not let their guard down. Seattle's top health official says new variants could cause a resurgence.

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DR. JEFF DUCHIN, HEALTH OFFICER, SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON: I feel we're in the eye of a hurricane. And I want to remind everybody that we should expect the variant strain to become widespread here. It will make our outbreak much harder to control.

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HOLMES: Meanwhile the United Kingdom setting new vaccination goals as well. The government says it plans to offer vaccines to everyone over the age of 50 by May. And a roadmap for exiting lockdown is expected in the coming days.

Some E.U. leaders are using Brussels to make sure their Johnson & Johnson vaccine orders will, in fact, get to them. They want to avoid the delays that affected the rollout of AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe. Melissa Bell, joining us from Paris.

We're talking with France's Macron and Germany's Merkel defending the E.U. strategy.

Where does that leave things with vaccinations?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's important that they have to put on this show of unity. The criticism leveled at the E.U. The president of the European Commission Ursula van der Leyen has been formidable. There's a great deal of anger within the European Union at the way things have panned out.

The fact that, on the ground, in so many parts of the E.U., they find themselves short of much needed vaccines. Leaders are now looking beyond that, and the next vaccine is likely to be approved by the European Medicine Agency, the Novavax and of course, Johnson & Johnson. E.U. leaders are going to ask the E.U. institutions to ensure this time they make sure they get the hands on the doses and make them available to the countries as quickly as possible.

So yes, Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel really underlining the fact that for all of the problems they have been, they still believe that it was right for Europe's countries to get together in terms of vaccine procurement; vowing, also, to improve the system and make sure vaccines are rolled out faster in the coming weeks.

HOLMES: More broadly, in Europe, how do things stand?

Some countries talking about easing restrictions, right?

BELL: That's right. You need to understand, throughout the E.U. in so many parts, the restrictions that are now in place have been for several weeks, several months in some places, are fairly substantial.

That has finally begun to pay off. What we see is a stabilizing of the figures at high levels but stabilizing nonetheless, that is allowing many countries to look at easing those restrictions or beginning to ease those restrictions.

It was the case in Italy that moved so many regions down a notch, in terms of restrictions. It will be the case or could be the case, for Germany next week. Angela Merkel will be meeting the premiers of Germany's federal states, looking at whether it is now the time to see how restrictions maybe eased.

There's talk about how things are progressing, especially here in France, where authorities are put off by the third partial lockdown. It seems the figures are stabilizing at those higher levels.

So good news to Europe that has seen such a difficult time for these few weeks and at times it didn't seem possible to stop even as the crisis in the vaccines hit. A lot of people here, shaken, of course but confident that over the next few weeks, restrictions may be able to ease a bit and maybe able to put their COVID-19 figures back under control. Things might improve in the vaccine front. Germany have now vaccinated 80 percent of their care home residents. That's a step in the right direction.

[02:05:00]

BELL: But a long way off, of course, from the substantial target so many European countries have given themselves in terms of the numbers vaccinated by the summer.

HOLMES: Some positive signs, a long way to go, Melissa Bell, in Paris, appreciate it, thanks.

The National Football League is the latest to lend its support to the U.S. vaccination efforts. Erica Hill, with more on that and other efforts to boost inoculations.

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ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND U.S. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More Pfizer vaccine could be coming soon with some help from the Defense Production Act.

TIM MANNING, WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 SUPPOSEDLY COORDINATOR: We told you that when we heard of a bottleneck on equipment, supplies from technology related to vaccine supply, we would step in and help.

HILL (voice-over): And a third vaccine now in line for FDA emergency use authorization.

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: I'm really excited about the J&J vaccine.

HILL (voice-over): The FDA will consider Johnson & Johnson's single dose vaccine on February 26th.

JHA: Certainly, by April it will become a real player in the terms of expanding vaccine access.

HILL (voice-over): More mass vaccination sites coming online today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as I heard about it on the news, I signed up right away.

HILL (voice-over): Yankee Stadium offering 15,000 appointments in the first week.

AARON BOONE, MANAGER, NEW YORK YANKEES: Today is as special an opening day as the Yankee Stadium has ever seen.

HILL (voice-over): Megasites also opening in San Francisco and Maryland. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell telling President Biden every team stadium will be available as a mass vaccination site. KATHERINE GILMORE, PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: How we prioritize

communities of color with a continued vaccine distribution rollout will be vitally important to ensuring that we can close that inequitable gap.

HILL (voice-over): Teachers and some school staff now eligible for the vaccine in 24 states and D.C. The CDC working on new guidance after prompting confusion earlier this week

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: There are increasing data to suggest schools can safely reopen and that that safe reopening does not suggest teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Dr. Walensky spoke to this in her personal capacity. Obviously she is the head of the CDC. But we're going to wait for the final guidance to come out.

HILL (voice-over): Nationwide more than 9 million shots administered last week, that's 10 times the number of new cases added in the U.S., two very different metrics marking important gains.

DR. PAUL OFFIT, U.S. FDA VACCINE ADVISER: I think overall things are definitely getting better. And I really do think that we will get on top of this by the summer or late summer because I think everything is now moving in the right direction.

HILL (voice-over): New cases dropping 61 percent in the last month. COVID hospitalizations falling below 90,000 for the first time since November. More states loosening restrictions, increasing indoor dining capacity. North Dakota dropping its mask mandate. Wisconsin's governor fighting his state legislature to keep one in place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to keep putting people first. We are going to keep listening to the science.

The TSA announcing a new fine for travelers who refuse to mask up as experts caution these proven efforts are still needed to keep fast spreading variants at bay.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Viruses will not evolve and mutate if you do not give them an open playing field.

HILL (voice-over): In New York, I'm Erica Hill, CNN.

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HOLMES: Professor William Haseltine is the president of Access Health International, a think tank and advisory group, also a former professor at Harvard Medical School and the author of the new book coming out February 15th online, "Variants! The Shape-Shifting Challenge of COVID-19."

Professor, great to see you and I wanted to ask you about this because you are an expert in it.

How alarmed are you about the various variants and the vaccine efficacy, the U.K. and South African variants and particular?

Remember, the U.K. lags the world in sequencing, without really knowing the true spread, do we?

DR. WILLIAM HASELTINE, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Thank you for asking me the questions and I've been deeply immersed in the issue of variants. Let me say that we are so fortunate to have these vaccines.

We are moving them out as fast as we can and, in some places, faster than others. But they will give us an additional wall of protection.

But, unfortunately, we are now learning that protection may not be complete. This is a virus, like all viruses, that has to adapt to a circumstance. It goes from one person to another through the air, on the surface or the water. It needs to get into your body, to replicate and get out again.

It has to fight off your defense as well as doing that. Now your body has a lot of defenses. You have your immune system, surface barriers, many defenses your body has.

But the virus also has its own ways of attacking us. I call it, machine intelligence, artificial intelligence. He is just throwing trillions of combinations. And a problem is that when it works, it is the one it takes.

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HOLMES: You think we're going to have this around forever and maybe we will just get a shot every year, the same as we do with the flu?

But with the variants and so on, do you think it will be more deadly?

HASELTINE: The one thing we are seeing, what is the virus actually doing that we see?

It has become more transmissible, it has become able to evade our immune defenses, whether you've been previously infected, and making these vaccines only partially infected. And, it is more lethal.

The British have published a study that says that it is 30 percent to 35 percent more lethal than the previous variants. So already, it's quite lethal. It is one out of 200, as compared to one out of 2,000 or less, with flu. So we are facing a very serious issue if this thing is out of control.

I'll tell you the good news and the bad news. The good news is, human beings can use their intellect to fight this virus. That is what five countries have done. They tamped down this infection to zero or as close to zero as you can get, in a world that's infested by virus.

How did they do that?

Public health. Identification of the infected, rigorous contact tracing, isolating all of those who were possibly exposed for 2 to 3 weeks and you get back to normal. But very few countries have been able to do that. That is what we need to do. Vaccines will help us make the problem simpler.

But unless we eradicate the virus -- and if you look at the history of Europe, first wave, people relaxed; second wave, people relaxed; third wave, people may relax. Unless you drive it to zero, through a combination of vaccines and really strict public health.

And with really strict public health, you don't even need to do it that long if you do it right. All countries that have succeeded in stamping out their major infections, they have done it in a matter of 3 or 4 weeks. That's all it takes, 3 or 4 weeks of real discipline.

Together with the vaccines, if we can get the will and the leadership together, we can beat this. But if we don't beat it, we're facing something like the flu but much more deadly coming back every year. It is time to get more serious.

HOLMES: Indeed, good advice. Professor William Haseltine, thank you so much, appreciate your expertise.

HASELTINE: It's always a pleasure, thank you for your time.

HOLMES: We will take a quick break here on the program, when we come back, Myanmar's civil disobedience campaign is growing. We've seen thousands of people, marching against the coup in recent hours.

And the Biden administration hits its efforts to pass a massive COVID relief bill into high gear while a gloomy new jobs report has a sense of urgency.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM and will be right back.

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HOLMES: Thousands of people, marching today in Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city. It was the biggest show of public dissent since the military staged its coup on Monday. It comes as military leaders crack down on communications. Most recently, Twitter and Instagram.

Ivan Watson, following this from Hong Kong.

How big the protests and how are authorities reacting to them?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We were following one protest that seem to be organized by activists and labor unions this morning, in Yangon. It was peaceful, it swelled to the thousands, getting support from passersby in vehicles, who were honking their horns. Met by riot police but no reports of clashing, just blocking their

parade, their march, through parts of the commercial capital. With some of the demonstrators holding up this three-finger "Hunger Games" salute that seems to be a symbol of the growing protest movement in Myanmar.

One that was also used across the border in Thailand in protest there. But it is important to note, Michael, this is not the only protest now. We now hear that this initial gathering has dispersed and, now, there's a second gathering, in another part of Yangon.

The coup, on Monday, there were rumors that it could be coming, speculation. It took the international community by surprise but, more importantly, it took Myanmar by surprise.

What we have seen over the course of the six days since then is a shocked populace that is, slowly, coming to grips with the new reality. There has been banging of pots and pans at night in some cities, for example. That is a sign of protest seen in many countries around the world.

And then, smaller demonstrations organized by doctors, or university students. Today, labor unions, not only in Yangon but in other parts of the country as well -- Michael.

HOLMES: We are talking about Twitter and Instagram interrupted, Facebook as well. Certainly, at one point. Not sure if that's back on.

How is that hampering the ability of protest groups to organize?

Or, are these largely spontaneous?

WATSON: There is some spontaneity and here is one example of the impact it has had.

There is a company called Express VPN that told CNN that its traffic from Myanmar, since Monday's coup, has increased by 1,200 percent. Its sales have gone up 2,500 percent. That is just one VPN company that offers people an opportunity to reach blocked websites and blocked platforms.

We can assume that there are parallel results going on with other VPN organizations because, you know, Myanmar doesn't rely only on the internet. In the rural areas where there is poor access to data and to the internet and mobile data, you do have people relying more on radio to communicate.

What is very important here is that the military coup, if you see the results of the November 8th election, when the military backed political party, performed dismally, it does not have popular support that provides credibility to the military coup.

Meanwhile, the ousted political party and the government of Aung San Suu Kyi, who is still under house arrest, it received a huge landslide victory. So there is a contest of the public popular will and the military, which has the monopoly, largely the monopoly on the use of force in Myanmar.

A big question will be and a test will come, how large could this nascent protest movement become?

How brutal, theoretically, would the military and police be and cracking down on it?

Certainly and decades past during military dictatorship, the military did not hesitate to use deadly force, even against protest movements led by Buddhist monks -- Michael.

You mentioned Aung San Suu Kyi, once the darling of the democracy movement, in an international sense, Nobel Prize winner. But now, her image, certainly suffering with what happened with the Rohingya in Myanmar.

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HOLMES: Is this protest in support of her per se or is it anti what the military has done?

WATSON: We are having to rely on eyewitnesses on the ground. There is big support for Aung San Suu Kyi. She has almost a fanatical following. Whatever harm and tarnish her international reputation experienced for basically denying the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims on the international stage, that is a mainstream position in Myanmar society.

So it didn't hurt her inside of the country with widespread discrimination against Rohingya Muslims. So her support, judging on the results of the November election, is more than ever. But you do have a shock as a result of the military coup.

This is still unfolding, it is still evolving. There are threats of sanctions, for example, from the U.S. government. President Biden just talked, in a speech to the State Department on Thursday, about calling on the military to release detained officials and his administration has talked about additional sanctions on the military.

The military has been through this before but we're also seeing Japan's brewery, Kirin, which invested over $5,000,000 in the last 5 years, is severing ties in its joint partnership with the military backed company in Myanmar -- Michael.

HOLMES: Good to have you there, reporting for us on this, Ivan Watson, in Hong Kong, appreciate it.

Back here, the White House doesn't think that there is any time to waste on passing its nearly $2 trillion COVID relief bill. The Biden administration wants to go big, go fast and, if necessary, go it alone without Republican support. More now from CNN's Kaitlan Collins.

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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Like they are just not willing to go as far as I think we have to go. KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):

President Biden making clear tonight in his strongest terms yet that he will not wait for Republicans to pass the pandemic relief bill.

BIDEN: What Republicans have proposed is either to do nothing or not enough.

COLLINS (voice-over): Days after sitting down with Senate Republicans in the Oval Office, Biden said he will not delay the bill in hopes of getting some of them on board.

BIDEN: If I had to choose between getting help right now to Americans who are hurting so badly, and getting bogged down in a monthly negotiation, that's an easy choice. I'm going to help the American people who are hurting now.

COLLINS (voice-over): Biden said he was willing to limit which Americans would qualify for stimulus checks in order to appease moderates from both parties. But he says there is one thing he is not willing to budge on.

BIDEN: I'm not cutting the size of the checks. They're going to be $1,400, period. That is what the American people were promised.

COLLINS (voice-over): However, it's not clear which Americans will qualify for how much.

PSAKI: There's an ongoing discussion about it. And it is an active discussion. The decision has -- a final conclusion has not been made.

COLLINS (voice-over): After a Labor Department report said the U.S. added only 49,000 jobs in January with just 6,000 of them being in the private sector, Biden pushed for Congress to vote quickly.

BIDEN: These are not Democrats or Republicans. They're Americans and they are suffering.

COLLINS (voice-over): After a meeting in the Oval Office, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi set a two-week timeline for getting the bill through the House and into the Senate's hands.

QUESTION: Can you guarantee that this will be done by March 15th?

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Absolutely. Without any question. Before then.

COLLINS (voice-over): Before dawn on Friday, the Senate took another step toward getting the bill passed as Vice President Kamala Harris cast her first tiebreaking vote amid a slim Democratic majority.

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The vice president votes in the affirmative.

COLLINS (voice-over): Republicans have said Biden's proposal is far too large. But so have some Democrats, including Barack Obama's former economic adviser, Larry Summers, who warned in an op-ed in "The Washington Post" that Biden was at risk of going too big, an assertion Biden's aides quickly rejected.

JARED BERNSTEIN, WHITE HOUSE COUNCIL ON ECONOMIC ADVISERS: Where Larry got something importantly wrong, by the way, is by suggesting that the administration was being dismissive of any inflation, potential inflationary pressures. That is flat out wrong.

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HOLMES: CNN political analyst and "Washington Post" White House reporter Toluse Olorunnipa joins me now to talk about all of this.

Good to see you. Joe Biden has talked about wanting to reach across the aisle on stimulus, bipartisanship. The Senate passed budget resolution 51-50, with the vice president's tie broker. The House passed it with zero Republican votes. So much for bipartisanship.

What is the signal there, despite the president's desire?

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TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: The signal is that the president's overriding desire is to get something done quickly. He says that the COVID pandemic is an urgent matter. That needs urgent response from Congress and he will not wait for a long, drawn out negotiation, in which Republicans may never get on board with what he wants to do.

So he's still saying he wants this to be bipartisan but he's moving forward as quickly as possible with the fact that he has Democratic votes, he has the power to get things done. A slim majority in Congress but he's able to keep his party unified so far, if you saw from the votes. He's going to move forward as quickly as he can.

HOLMES: Bipartisanship is such a quaint political thing. There was a Quinnipiac poll that showed 78 percent for and 18 percent against these $1,400 checks. That's a huge number in favor.

What are the risk for Republicans of opposing the bill?

OLORUNNIPA: Republicans do face a risk of being the party that is against money in the pockets of the American people. We saw the checks that went out last year were quite popular. Former president Trump, wanting his name on the checks, wanting to be associated with the fact that Americans were getting money from the government.

Now Republicans, en masse, are saying they don't want these Americans to get money from the government. So they vote against the bill, they will be under a lot of pressure to explain themselves. Many of their own constituents are hurting.

The polls show there is strong bipartisan support in the public for stimulus spending and Republicans may feel pressure. That is why, I think, Biden feels comfortable moving forward, right now. But the idea that it may become bipartisan in the future because they need to support this, in order to keep support from their supporters. HOLMES: Good point on the public support. I did want to ask you about

Marjorie Taylor Greene. After being removed from those committee assignments, she has said she has been freed, her words, to push the Republican Party further to the Right. I just want to play for people something she said about the GOP and Donald Trump. Let's take a listen.

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REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I want to tell you Republican voters, support him still. The party is his. It doesn't belong to anybody else.

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HOLMES: That's an extraordinary thing to hear. What does that portend for the future, for the Republican Party, she's out there saying this is Donald Trump's party, forget about it, anyone else in leadership.

OLORUNNIPA: Yes, the party is not moving on from the former president. He lost the House, he lost the Senate, but he continues to control the party and people like Marjorie Taylor Greene continue to get their power by showing fealty to Donald Trump and showing how much they support him, no matter what happened over the past several weeks.

That sentiment will continue in Congress and Marjorie Taylor Greene will derive power from Donald Trump. That will continue to cause a split within the party between people who want to move on and move on from Donald Trump and those who want to continue to hold on to his power and continue to show that they are in line with his politics and policies.

That is going to cause a rift within the party that they haven't been able to fix with Marjorie Taylor Greene, right now, being the face of the party and Donald Trump continuing to linger over the party as it tries to move on from his presidency.

HOLMES: Just going back to the stimulus and the whole notion of bipartisanship, does politics itself dictate the Republican backlash to the president's stimulus bill?

Will it happen regardless of the substance or the amount of money or what is in it?

It will be a backlash against the Democratic president, not against the particulars of the bill. Joe Biden has two years or less before the midterm elections.

Is the feeling that he just needs to plow ahead?

OLORUNNIPA: We live in a very polarized country and Congress is especially so and in their own camps, Republicans were rooting against Biden, saying he was going to own whatever happens and they're not going to help him fix the country, they will watch and throw stones at him, as he is trying to put forward his agenda. No matter what he does, no matter what stimulus he does, they will

complain about it. It's too big, it's not doing enough, the economy is coming back slowly, all with the idea they may be able to gain power in 2 years by taking over the House, maybe even winning in the Senate and crippling his presidency.

So Biden realizes he doesn't have much time to get things done, he's in a bit of a honeymoon period, if that exists anymore in the modern era. And this is a time that he can actually get things done. That's why you see him pushing as quickly as possible to get his agenda passed.

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OLORUNNIPA: Before the midterms come and he finds himself potentially out of power in Congress.

HOLMES: Toluse Olorunnipa, thank you so much, always good to see you.

OLORUNNIPA: Thank you.

HOLMES: We are taking a quick break here on the program. The coronavirus pandemic has left its mark on the city where it was first discovered. But grieving Wuhan residents, fighting back against people, they, think were responsible for making it worse. We have that and much more, when we come back.

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HOLMES: Welcome back, everyone, I'm Michael Holmes. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.

It has been more than one year since the first COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China. In many ways, the city has gone back to normal life, except, there is a deep undercurrent of grief, pain and anger. David Culver, speaking to several people who have lost loved ones.

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DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So this, right here, is the photo.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CULVER (voice-over): Matching the photo on his phone with this Wuhan park, where he last spent time with his father, John Hei (ph) can barely keep it together. He says that his father served in China's military, defending his country.

But as COVID-19 spread in Wuhan, the epicenter of the global outbreak early last year, weeks passed before health officials publicly acknowledged human to human transmission. When they finally did, it led to the city of 11 million residents

locking down. By then, John's 76-year-old father had contracted the virus and died days later.

CULVER: You told me that, when you are here, a few emotions come to mind. Obviously, sadness, missing your dad but also, anger.

With whom are you angry?

"When the virus appeared in Wuhan in the early days, the local governments of Wuhan city and Hubei province could truly have put people and life first. They could've taken measures to control the virus," he says.

"But they didn't. Instead, they covered it up and missed the precious opportunity."

Government figures state that nearly 4,000 people in the city of Wuhan have died of COVID-19. John (ph) is now suing local officials and the hospital that treated his father. He is not the only one channeling his grief into action.

In the back room of a quiet Wuhan teahouse, we met Wang Lushen (ph), she packed envelopes addressed to a Chinese high court. Her brother worked as a driver for a local market and was infected January of last year. She considers him a frontline worker but she says that the local government declined her family's claim for work injury compensation.

[02:35:00]

CULVER (voice-over): "He felt that he would leave financial burdens behind," she tells me. "I want to negotiate for proper compensation, in exchange for his death, so I can take care of his child and family, pay the mortgage and shoulder other responsibilities he couldn't complete."

Her efforts to persuade China's high court to help, unlikely to change anything, given the courts declined to take up any COVID related cases.

For Yong Min (ph), it's not even the money but what she calls, spiritual justice for her daughter.

CULVER: What is the truth, as you know it?

CULVER (voice-over): "Local officials didn't tell us about the pandemic," she says.

"If measures were taken, I would not have sent my child to the hospital, which was the source of the infection."

Last January, Yong's (ph) 24-year-old daughter had been receiving treatment for cancer. She contracted COVID-19. Yong said the hospital was so overcrowded that she snuck in to attend to her own daughter.

"I couldn't bear it anymore. So I disguised myself in a set of blue surgery garbs that one of my doctor friends gave me and I went into the hospital," she says.

"I blended in to take care of my child."

She says that she also contracted the virus and, while she was recovering, her daughter passed away. Yong (ph) says her husband, his brother also died of the virus, nearly drove off a bridge. He wanted to take his own life.

Following the outbreak in Wuhan, several local and provincial leaders were ousted from their jobs. But Yong (ph) want to see more done.

"I think the government officials who covered it up need to be punished, not just disciplined," she tells me.

"My question is, why is it that those who have killed so many are not punished?

"If there is no explanation, there is no justice."

China's foreign ministry has said, as recently as last month, that accusations the country covered up the outbreak are simply groundless.

CNN reached out to local and provincial court officials for comment. They have not yet responded.

These grieving family members believe local officials should have done more and they are now, knowingly, risking their own freedoms by sharing their pain publicly.

John Hei (ph) says, given all his father sacrificed for his country, as an army veteran, he deserves better, even in death.

"My father was a patriot and I am also one," he says.

"I have always believed it is a patriotic act to speak out" -- David Culver, CNN, Wuhan, China.

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HOLMES: Indian farmers and their massive protest against the government. What they want and why some celebrities are rallying with their cause. We go inside one camp, after the break.

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HOLMES: Three hours of nationwide protest underway in India right now to show support for thousands of farmers who have been camping at three Delhi border posts since November, protesting reforms, proposed by the Indian government. CNN's Vedika Sud, talks with the farmers about the challenges they are facing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) VEDIKA SUD, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): Multi-layer barricades, concrete walls, barbed wire, meals and bedroom rolls and hundreds of security personnel.

[02:40:00]

SUD (voice-over): Color flares leading into India's capital New Delhi, have been fortified by police, preventing farmers and their supporters from entering the city. Thousands of them have encamped on the highway for over two months. It is just one of three Delhi borders where farmers have been protesting against three agricultural reforms, introduced by the government, which they fear will threaten their livelihood.

There is never a dull moment here. While some are busy playing cards, others were spotted praying in quiet corners of the camp. Youngsters, intermittently, break their routine with song and dance, atop tractors.

Dozens of people, young and old, are busy cooking in community kitchens and serving meals; 36-year-old farmer Koviv Singh (ph) is one of them. While he feeds hundreds of supporters a day, his father, back in the village, tends to their farm. Koviv (ph) has been at the protest site for almost 60 days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

SUD (voice-over): For over 2 months, tarpaulin tents have lined the highway where farmers spent cold winter nights. Water tankers are brought in by tractors for bathing, cooking and cleaning. Medical booths have been set up to attend to the sick.

Volunteer marcher Irana (ph) lives close to the protest site. A private tutor by profession, she spends her days at the camp. She says she attends to almost 2,000 patients per day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).

SUD: The government of India says that the current, new, agricultural reforms, will give expandable market access to farmers and pave the way for economically and ecologically sustainable farming.

SUD (voice-over): Farmers disagree, arguing that they need minimum price guarantees.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

SUD (voice-over): Speeches to boost the morale of supporters are delivered from a stage constructed in the middle of the protest site. While security officials keep a close eye, from across the highway.

What is clear is that, despite at least 11 rounds of talks, these farmers are in no mood to relent. They say they would rather die fighting for their cause than live with these reforms -- Vedika Sud, CNN, New Delhi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes, thanks for spending part of your day with me, I'll be back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM. Meanwhile, "MARKETPLACE AFRICA," up next.