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Vaccinations Ramping Up as New Cases Decline; Former President's Senate Trial to Begin February 9; Chinese Diplomat Takes Hard Line in Call to Secretary Blinken. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired February 06, 2021 - 05:00   ET

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

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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Welcome to our viewers around the world. Thanks for joining me. I'm Robyn Curnow.

Coming up, vaccines are on the increase and cases are falling. The U.S. fight against COVID is trending in the right direction. But some health experts warn new variants could change that.

Also, Joe Biden goes big. He says that he will move forward on his COVID relief plan with or without Republican support.

And thousands take to the streets in Myanmar to protest last week's military coup.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Robyn Curnow.

CURNOW: The U.S. is seeing some success in the fight against the coronavirus, even as health experts raise the alarm about variants spreading more easily. This is the situation right now.

The U.S. is getting closer to 27 million total coronavirus cases and almost 460,000 Americans have died from the virus since the pandemic began.

But more and more Americans are getting vaccinated, about 1.3 million a day over the past week. And for families of seniors, such as this woman, getting vaccinated in California, it means not only relief from fear but hope that a better future is coming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just excited that she is able to get the vaccine. First and foremost, it's her safety. So knowing that she's got the vaccine. We're -- we're looking forward to being able to spend more time with her. It's been tough trying to keep our distance. But with the vaccine, once we are all vaccinated, we can spend more time together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: And the country is making progress. The numbers of new infections and hospitalizations are dipping now following a holiday- related surge.

Now the White House says it plans to help step up the number of vaccine doses available even more by invoking a law from the days of the Korean War, as Erica Hill now explains

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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.

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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.

HILL (voice-over): 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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CURNOW: So, while vaccinations are ramping up and cases are declining across the U.S., the challenges of the pandemic are far from over. Erica outlined that. Millions of Americans are still suffering from the economic fallout, leaving President Biden determined to push ahead quickly with his ambitious COVID relief package. Here's Jeff Zeleny with that.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's time to act. We can reduce suffering in this country.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Joe Biden saying bluntly today the American pain is too deep to go small and too urgent for a drawn-out Washington debate.

BIDEN: I believe the American people are looking right now to their government for help to do our job, to not let them down. So, I'm going to act. I'm going to act fast.

ZELENY (voice-over): The president making clear he's plunging ahead with his American Rescue Plan, saying, if Democrats have to pass the bill alone, so be it. He invited Republican help, but said their proposals did not meet the magnitude of the economic need.

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

Thanks for coming down.

ZELENY (voice-over): It was the capstone of a whirlwind week that started with Republicans in the Oval Office on Monday and ended with Democratic leaders there today, charting a path forward to pass the COVID relief plan through a budget process that only needs a simple majority in the Senate.

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

ZELENY (voice-over): But Biden said he is willing to negotiate who gets those checks, signaling his interest in targeting the help toward Americans who need it most, not some families making $300,000 a year.

The president and his advisers dismissed criticism from a top Democratic economist that the $1.9 trillion plan was too big and could overheat the economy.

QUESTION: Is the Biden administration going too big?

JARED BERNSTEIN, WHITE HOUSE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: No. I firmly would disagree with that contention.

ZELENY (voice-over): Pushback to Larry Summers, a top economic adviser in the Obama administration, who said today such a large bill would eat into other priorities, writing in "The Washington Post": "After resolving the coronavirus crisis, how will political and economic space be found for the public investments that should be the nation's highest priority?"

But Biden saying that mentality would delay the American recovery.

BIDEN: Don't worry, hang on, things are going to get better. We're going to go smaller. So, it's just going to take us a lot longer, like until 2025. I can't in good conscience do that.

ZELENY: So even as President Biden is pressing forward with his COVID relief plan, there is going to be a delay next week because of the impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump.

In a new interview with CBS News, President Biden declined to weigh in on his views of the impeachment trial. He said, look, I'm not in the Senate anymore. I'm not going to say how I would vote.

But he does, of course, believe that the former president acted inappropriately, and he never should've been in office.

All of this is coming as there are also new questions about, should former president Trump receive intelligence briefings that are usually given to former presidents. President Biden weighed in and said, no, he does not believe the intelligence community should be giving these intel briefings to the former president.

He said he simply doesn't know what he would do with them or how he would use them. So certainly a big interest here now as former president Trump is not coming back to Washington but certainly will be hanging over all of it next week during his impeachment trial -- Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.

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CURNOW: And as Jeff just mentioned, the impeachment trial of former president Trump is set to get underway on Tuesday. We don't know yet how long it may last. President Biden says he think the trial needs to take place.

But in an interview with CBS, he declined to say if he would vote to convict if he was still in the U.S. Senate. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORAH O'DONNELL, CBS NEWS HOST: Let's turn to the impeachment trial, President Trump's impeachment trial.

If you were still a senator, would you vote to convict him?

BIDEN: Look. I ran like hell to defeat him because I thought he was unfit to be president. I watched what everybody else watched, what happened when that -- that crew invaded the United States Congress.

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BIDEN: But I'm not in the Senate now. I'll let the Senate make that decision.

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CURNOW: Trump has refused to testify at the trial in his own defense. But Democrats, who will prosecute the case, believe there is plenty of evidence, already, of his alleged role in inciting a mob to attack the Capitol on January the 6th.

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CURNOW: Well, Leslie Vinjamuri is head of the U.S. and Americas Programme at Chatham House in London.

Leslie, hi, lovely to see you. So President Biden is defending his stimulus plan.

How much is riding on this? LESLIE VINJAMURI, CHATHAM HOUSE: A lot. As we know, the American economy is suffering. Jobs are not coming back at nearly the rate that they need to. A lot of people aren't able to pay their bills. And, of course, unemployment is -- a lot of these benefits are due to expire in mid-March. So, there is a real sense of urgency.

And I think that, you know, despite the debate on the partisanship that is continuing, it's certainly not new. I think that President Biden has taken the decision that there is not time to wait and that the economic costs of delaying are, simply, too high, in this case.

CURNOW: Obviously, this is a huge focus, domestically. But he's, also, got some foreign policy that he wants to deal with. The president and secretary of state declaring, this week, that America is back, touting the administration's foreign policy priorities.

They took, firstly, aim at the Saudis, cutting off weapons sales, intelligence and this sort of cozy nature of the relationship between the Saudis and the Trump administration.

So, what do you think is going to be the immediate impact of this?

VINJAMURI: Well, I think that, you know, it has been on the cards. There's been a lot of pushback during the Trump administration. Remember, that -- that -- that support of Saudi in the war in Yemen precedes Donald Trump, even it continued. And there's been just extraordinary, humanitarian catastrophe.

I think to his credit, President Biden and his team have said they would review the entire Saudi relationship and they would really cut off the support that's being used to prosecute that war.

But remember, what we saw in that speech was very interesting because we are getting very clear, very consistent, very tough messaging but both, with respect to Saudi and Russia, what President Biden is saying is we will work with you on certain things. New START has been extended, between the United States and Russia, the New START treaty.

But we will be very tough on others. So, it's -- it's a twin track. But it really was, you know, a very strong, as expected, speech that really didn't throw up any surprises. And, you know, it -- it -- the big surprise, the big change, I guess, is that, you know, the last four years have been marked, crowded, with inconsistency, lack of clarity.

And that -- that's -- that's really the number one change. And, of course, on concrete things, Russia policy, Saudi, we are going to see very significant changes from the president.

CURNOW: And also, let's talk about China because, in many ways, Chinese American competition will define the next decade or even beyond. There is no honeymoon period there.

We have got a readout and some -- some details of the pretty tough call between the two foreign policy heads of China and -- and -- and America. What -- one -- one foreign-policy expert I've read has said that the administration's overtures to NATO, to European and Asian allies, is less about building alliances but more, also, about building alliances against China.

How much does America need allies, not for the sake of it, for a post- liberal world order, but actually to manage a competitive rise in China?

VINJAMURI: I think, the big question -- first of all, it's very important. Right?

Especially, when it comes to questions of economic negotiations, working, especially, with Europe, right?

The ability of the Biden administration to really form a coherent approach with Europe, whether it's using sanctions on questions of human rights, whether it's negotiating on foreign direct investment screening, on export controls, on 5G technology, on all the big economic questions, really getting on board with Europe will be absolutely critical.

Otherwise, China can simply turn and peel off one of America's allies against it and any -- any negotiation just becomes much less effective. So that really is the Biden team's approach, is to really try to work, very consistently.

But it's going to be tough, right?

Europe is -- has already demonstrated it's moved forward with that investment treaty with China. Not clear that it will, necessarily, pass in Europe. But it signaled to America that it's not simply going to lay over and play ball. But I think that the Europeans will talk with -- with the Americans.

But what will come of that?

We don't know. It is -- it is central, however, to the strategy.

CURNOW: Yes.

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CURNOW: Many ways, that, also, somebody -- I think somebody said that the Biden-China policy is going to be the Biden-ally policy, which, I thought, was interesting. Quickly, before we go. Big week, ahead, with impeachment.

How much does this president need impeachment, politically?

Or perhaps, not, will it be a distraction?

VINJAMURI: It's going to be a distraction. There is no doubt about it. The Republican Party is going to be a distraction because it's at war with itself and a lot will play out through the impeachment.

The impeachment is vital for America's reckoning with its own democracy, with an insurrection that was possibly a coup and for signaling to the rest of the world that you don't just ignore something like what we saw on January 6th at the Capitol.

CURNOW: Leslie Vinjamuri, always good to speak to you, get your analysis, live, there in London. Thank you.

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CURNOW: Republicans face a major loyalty test as the Senate prepares to put Donald Trump on trial for a second time, as we were discussing there. We'll explain how this is causing a sharp divide in the party. That is ahead.

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CURNOW: So with Donald Trump's Senate impeachment trial looming in the coming week, the former president's long shadow over the Republican Party has certainly created a deep rift among conservatives.

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CURNOW: There are those who remain ultra-loyal and those who just want to move on, as Manu Raju now explains.

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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With his impeachment trial set to begin in the Senate next week, former President Donald Trump continues to starkly divide the Republican Party. On one wing lawmakers like Marjorie Taylor Greene, saying the party must maintain loyalty to one leader.

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

RAJU (voice-over): On the other wing, Republicans were still furious at Trump for spewing disinformation and lies about the election results. Leading to the deadly January 6 riot in the Capitol.

SEN. BEN SASSE (R-NE): Personality cults aren't conservative. Conspiracy theories aren't conservative. Lying that an election has been stolen, it's not conservative. Acting like politics is a religion, it is unconservative.

RAJU (voice-over): Republican Ben Sasse, the latest senator facing threats of center from a state party for not being loyal enough to Trump. Sasse who might vote to convict Trump at his trial with this warning to his party.

SASSE: You are welcome to censor me again. But let's be clear about why this is happening. It's because I still believe, as you used to, that politics isn't about the weird worship of one dude.

RAJU: The back and forth illustrating the struggle within the party after a tumultuous week on Capitol Hill.

It was 61 House Republicans voted to oust Liz Cheney from a third ranking spot in leadership over her vote to impeach Trump, following well short of the majority needed.

The next day, all but 11 Republicans have voted to side with Greene, contending Democrats were overreaching in pushing through a resolution stripping her from her two committee assignments.

That move came after revelations of wild conspiracy theories, like suggesting school shootings were staged events, all of which she disposed before winning her seat.

GREENE: There were 11 that voted against me yesterday. And that, that's something that our leader should be very upset about. That really is a big betrayal. And that could cost us the majority in '22. People are very angry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which way am I looking? Right here?

RAJU: Caught in the middle is House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, trying to please both wings of his party, the Trump loyalists and those who are ready to move on. Like Congressman Tom Rice, one of the 10 who voted to impeach Trump and has since been censured by a state party.

Do you regret your vote at all?

REP. TOM RICE (R-SC): You know, in eight years in Congress, I probably had 100 votes that I could have gone either way and maybe second- guessed a little bit. This is not one of them.

RAJU (voice-over): Now the Trump loyalty test heads to the Senate, where the impeachment trial gets underway on Tuesday.

Trump has rejected a Democratic invitation to testify in his own defense. And sources tell CNN that Democrats are unlikely to subpoena him. Believing there is more than enough video evidence to show that Trump intentionally incited the deadly riot.

RAJU: And the remnants of the January 6th riot all over the Capitol, including new metal detectors installed at the request of Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, who has also pushed through fines for any member who blows through them.

And we have learned that two Republican members have indeed been fined for blowing through the metal detectors, Louie Gohmert of Texas and Andrew Clyde of Georgia, all part of the new reality here on Capitol Hill -- Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

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CURNOW: More than 180 people are now facing federal charges connected to that insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. And we are learning more about those who have been arrested. Among them, one man who appears to have harbored not only a distrust of the government but half of humanity. Here is Alex Marquardt.

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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): In the violent mob that stormed the Capitol building on January 6th, the FBI says was Samuel Fisher from New York, a self-described dating coach that goes by the name Brad Holiday with a website that offers a misogynistic and darkly conspiratorial mix of countless posts ranging from wild political rants to supposed health tips on fitness, sex, fashion and more.

SAMUEL FISHER, ALLEGED INSURRECTIONIST: You should be able to, you know, learn, you know, various black magic, hypnosis skills.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): His tirades and views of women indicated deep- seated resentment of the political system and of the opposite sex. Grievances on full display while presenting a macho chauvinist front seen in many of the insurrectionists that day.

Court documents show photos from Fisher's Facebook page, including one that the FBI believes was taken on the steps of the Capitol. On his Facebook account, the FBI says Fisher wrote about January 6.

"It was dangerous and violent, people died," he wrote, "but it was F- ing great, if you ask me. Seeing cops literally run was the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life."

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MARQUARDT (voice-over): Another photo from court document shows Fisher in front of a Trump flag with different weapons and the menacing caption, "Can't wait to bring a liberal back to this freedom palace."

On January 6th, Fisher had, according to the FBI, written, "Got to make a stand, not going to be intimidated," and then posted this picture of a rifle and pistol. He wrote that he expected Trump to play an ace card, with the deep state arrested and hanged on the White House lawn.

"Or," he writes, "if Biden takes over, patriots show up in the millions with guns. They execute all treasonous members of government."

Fisher now faces two federal charges, unlawful entry of and disorderly conduct on restricted grounds.

On his website, Fisher was trying to sell what he calls an attraction accelerator, a throve of digital tutorials on workouts, boosting testosterone, beauty products, handling guns and seducing women, with, among other things, a hypnotic gaze and so-called porn star sex games.

At the same time, he calls women "the least trustworthy people on the whole I have ever met in my life."

FISHER: If a girl's so hot you can't tell her to shut (INAUDIBLE) when she's talking nonsense, you have a real problem, dude. MARQUARDT (voice-over): Over in the political section, Fisher posted twisted, baseless conspiracy theories and wrote on January 6th that he expected to be betrayed by Congress, that it would be the most historically important day of our lives.

After the insurrection, he posted this video about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

FISHER: Some dude sat behind your desk, oh, I'm so sorry. That sounds really tough.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): "The New York Times" reports Fisher grew up in New Jersey and said he was estranged from his family, born Jewish but was said to post anti-Semitic articles and videos.

People who know Fisher told "The Times" that he said he was bullied as a child and that, three years ago, after reportedly posting online about the mother of his child leaving him, Fisher started drifting toward conspiracy theories.

MARQUARDT: We did reach out to Fisher's lawyer but got no response. Fisher was arrested two weeks after the insurrection and he has had a hearing already, in which his lawyer said that he would not be pleading guilty. But so far, Fisher has not yet entered a plea -- Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

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CURNOW: And coming up, coronavirus cases around the world are beginning to fall as vaccinations are going up.

But will the vaccines stand up to the more transmissible variants?

Coming up, a look at the promising new data.

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CURNOW: Welcome back. It is 30 minutes past the hour. I'm Robyn Curnow.

Slowly but surely many countries around the world are beginning to see the steady decline in new coronavirus cases. It is certainly welcome news after almost 2.3 million people have died from the virus.

Now the decline also comes at a time when countries are pushing to ramp up their vaccination efforts as they discover new variants of the virus. Several European leaders are working to ensure that there are no more slowdowns in vaccine rollouts across the E.U.. They are calling on Brussels to address potential issues that could delay access to their doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. And Melissa Bell is joining me from Paris.

What can you tell us?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was a letter from several European leaders to the E.U. Commission urging them to make sure that the forthcoming vaccines likely to get certification from EMA would be made available to European countries better than what we've seen in terms of the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine for instance.

The Johnson & Johnson, which is one under consideration by the EMA, involves having to be shipped to the United States at some point in its manufacturing process. So these leaders are urging the E.U. to think carefully about how it would deal with the rollout at a time when there are huge shortages in many European countries.

And there are several candidates right now in front of the EMA, the Novavax, the Johnson & Johnson, Europeans also urging the EMA to begin the process for the Sputnik vaccine. We understand that the makers have told the EMA of its production. But that the authorization process is yet to begin.

So a lot of pressure on the E.U. really, not only to get the vaccine doses bought but delivered better than they have been so far. We know that the commission is even now actively looking at alternative supplies, given the shortages that it expects.

So a lot of pressure on E.U. officials right now to try to get right something so far that been far slower than other countries.

CURNOW: Melissa Bell, thanks so much.

And there is a promising finding now from Oxford University and AstraZeneca, a new study suggests their vaccine is effective against the variant first found in the U.K., the more transmissible strain already detected in dozens of countries across the world. And Salma Abdelaziz is joining us with more.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, positive news from Oxford University and AstraZeneca. The study finds that the vaccine is effective against this variant. It still needs to be peer reviewed, this is a preprint paper.

But if true, it is huge news. This is a variant that has brought this country's health care system almost to the brink of collapse. It is up to 70 percent more transmissible and could be more deadly.

And so signs that there is some form of protection against the dangerous variant. And also progress here in the U.K. We see these key indicators now finally looking positive, hospitalization rates are down. Scientific advisers say that the epidemic appears to be shrinking. The R number, the reproduction number, is below 1.

So it begs the question, when do we get out of lockdown. And the prime minister reminding anyone, not anytime soon. You still need to follow the rules because we're just not there yet. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: I want to stress that it is still early days. And we have, in rates of infection, in this country, still, very, very high. And more people, almost twice as many people, in our hospitals with COVID now, than there were back at the -- the peak in April.

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ABDELAZIZ: The prime minister has promised a road map, a plan out of lockdown, into easing restrictions by the end of February.

What are the key indicators that the officials will be looking at?

Well, most importantly is this country's vaccination program.

[05:35:00]

ABDELAZIZ: That really is the only shield of protection that the authorities have against this dangerous variant of COVID-19 that's prevalent here. So far you have about 11 million people in this country, about 1 in 5 adults that have received the first dose of the vaccine.

We have heard yesterday that the over 50s should receive their vaccine by May, so that is a positive sign. Scientific advisers have said that is the point at which restrictions can be eased. But quite crucially, all of these vaccinations, they need to get into more and more people's arms before we can ease any of the rules.

CURNOW: Thanks for the update, Salma.

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CURNOW: Joining me now is Dr. Rachel Clarke. She is a palliative care specialist and author. Her latest book, "Breathtaking: Inside the NHS in a Time of Pandemic," captures what life was like inside the U.K.'s National Health Service during that first wave of the pandemic.

Doctor, hi. Great to have you on the show. Thanks for joining me. So -- so when you wrote this book, I mean, the first wave, certainly, feels like a very long time ago for all of us.

Did you have any, real concept of -- of how this pandemic would play out, the world that we live in now, when you were writing that first -- about that first wave?

DR. RACHEL CLARKE, PALLIATIVE CARE SPECIALIST AND AUTHOR: Not even slightly. It was shattering, a year ago, in the U.K. We were going through what you experienced in -- in New York City. Our health service, completely, overwhelmed.

And patients dying in -- on a scale and at a swiftness that none of us had ever witnessed, before, in the National Health Service. It was absolutely devastating. And the only thing that kept you going was -- was sort of the -- the

-- the belief you clung onto, that, one day, this would be over.

And if anyone had said to us, a year down the line, your health service will be more overwhelmed, the deaths will have reached a peak no one ever imagined, I think, we would have curled up in balls of misery, really. And yet, here we are, again.

CURNOW: And, again, you know, the prospect of months and months ahead of you.

How are doctors and nurses doing?

CLARKE: Well, the --

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CURNOW: Haven't curled up in a ball, just yet?

CLARKE: Not quite, although, the tragedy, this time around, is that this awful second wave wasn't inevitable. It didn't have to happen. And I think a huge number of us, doctors and nurses, feel as though, inexplicably, our government made the same mistakes, second time around.

We locked down too late. In the run-up to Christmas, we were just desperate for lockdown to be put in place.

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CLARKE: It didn't happen. And so, a quarter of all our deaths in the United Kingdom, over 25,000 people have died in 2021. So in the last four or five weeks. And that's devastating.

Staff -- many of us are suffering from post-traumatic stress symptoms, anxiety, depression. I -- I talk to colleagues, who, sometimes, tell me they are feeling suicidal. And that's, I think, because everybody is so burnt out and shattered by the first wave.

But now, we are going through it all over, again. And it is -- it -- it's just really tough on health care professionals just now.

CURNOW: It certainly is. And, also, you mentioned the devastating toll in human lives. I mean, nearly half a million people will have died here in the U.S. in the coming weeks. Where you are, as well, you talk about these massive numbers of people.

How do we begin?

How do you begin to sort of process this collective pain, the -- the magnitude of these losses?

I mean, I read out the numbers, day after day. And it -- it doesn't quite -- you can't quite fathom how many people are being lost around the world. It's horrifying.

CLARKE: It -- it really is. And our -- our -- our death toll, now, is over 100,000. So it's on a par with America.

And I think, when you're a doctor and you are seeing these human beings, right up close, and you, literally, are seeing COVID-19 suffocate the life out of your patients, you know that every single one of those people is a -- is a loved and cherished human being.

And they are leaving behind grieving mothers, fathers, spouses, children. And it is absolutely heartbreaking.

But I think, I try to hold onto my sanity, in a way, by -- by saying to myself, every single one of those human beings, we, in the health service, are doing all we can to ensure that, right up until the end, right up until that final breath, we are treating them with care and love and compassion.

And nobody in my hospital, we won't let anybody die alone.

[05:40:00]

CLARKE: We will do everything we possibly can to make sure that a nurse or a doctor or somebody sits with the patient and holds their hand and talks to them and sometimes reads out letters from their loved ones who can't come into the hospital. So they know they're not alone.

And that's what I hold on to. That is what tells me that, despite all of this, people are good. And we get through this, together. It's the only way to get through a pandemic, by holding onto our humanity and never letting those unimaginable numbers of -- of lost souls be statistics. They're human beings.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Powerful, beautiful words there. Our thanks to Dr. Rachel Clarke, who spoke to me in the last hour.

The streets of Myanmar's largest city are now filled with protesters for the last few months. They're angry over the military coup that ousted their democratically elected leaders. A live report straight ahead.

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CURNOW: Pro democracy demonstrators are out on the streets of Yangon. Take a look.

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CURNOW (voice-over): They are protesting against the military coup Monday that removed their democratically elected leaders. The nation's data network has also been shut down but people still can make voice calls and texts. A lawyer for civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the ousted president says he has had no contact with either one. Let's go straight to Ivan Watson, who has been monitoring the events and is joining us live with the latest.

What do you make of what is playing out on the streets of Myanmar today?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Let me get to that. But this is still a rapidly unfolding situation. And I just want to bring you one piece of news first.

There is an Australian adviser, who was an adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi's elected civilian government that was overthrown on Monday.

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WATSON: And Reuters is reporting that he was just detained and issued a statement saying he was probably going to be detained. His name is Sean Turnel. And the Australian government says that they are providing assistance to a number of Australians at this time of upheaval.

But they are particularly concerned about one individual, they say, is being held as a police station and they have summoned Myanmar's ambassador to register their concern about this.

Now moving on to the demonstrations in the streets in Yangon, the commercial capital today, at the beginning, it seemed like one demonstration was organized by labor unions. But they seem to have grown throughout the day to absorb other passersby and drivers in the streets.

There has been a substantial riot police presence, with trucks full of police officers, water cannons standing by but no reports of confrontations thus yet.

I've just heard from an eyewitness in the center of the city near town hall, who is describing a very unusual scene of demonstrators, who just seem to be showing up, posing for photos, waving the three-finger salute from the movie series, the "Hunger Games," which is also a sign of protest across the border in Thailand over the last year.

And the eyewitness being surprised that people are posing for photos with this salute in front of the police, clearly not worried for the time being that they could be detained. This kind of growing protest movement is happening in an information blackout, as the authorities seem to have shut down the internet.

CURNOW: So we're getting a report from Reuters that a foreigner has potentially been detained. We know this is a familiar playbook in terms of a crackdown by the military in Burma.

How deep do you think the protests are?

WATSON: I do think that the coup on Monday, even though there were rumors and speculation it could be coming before that, it has shocked society in Myanmar and it has taken some time for people to figure out how to respond to it, in part, because more than 130 members of the government and leading activists also appear to have disappeared into detention.

We're not hearing from the detained president and de facto prime minister, Suu Kyi. And we've seen this bubbling opposition movement, protest movement, calls for civil disobedience bubbling up over the course of the week.

And in parallel with that, we've seen signs that the military junta wants to crack down on means of communication, ordering the closure of Instagram and Twitter on Friday. and now telling all mobile phone operators on Saturday to shut down data transmission.

Let me just point to a statement coming from the U.S. embassy in Myanmar.

It says, quote, "We support the right of the people of Myanmar to protest in support of the democratically elected government and their right to freely access information."

The U.S. adding to a chorus of international voices demanding the release of the detainees and the reinstatement of the democratically elected government.

CURNOW: OK, Ivan, thanks for all the latest details. We'll check in with you if there is anything more.

So crowds of farmers in India have now been blocking roads outside New Delhi, part of a series of protests that have been going on for months. They want the government to repeal market reform laws. Vedika Sud asked farmers about their protests at one of these camps that they set up near the capital.

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

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.

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SUD (voice-over): 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.

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CURNOW: Coming up, one of the world's best-known actors have died but leaves behind a rich legacy on screen and stage. Christopher Plummer has passed away. And we'll look at some of his greatest performances.

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[05:55:00]

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CURNOW: Finally, we want to mark the passing of a motion picture great.

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CURNOW (voice-over): Christopher Plummer there in perhaps his most recognized role as Captain Von Trapp, the stern father who falls in love in "The Sound of Music." He died on Friday at his home in Connecticut.

The award-winning Canadian actor was also known for his roles on Broadway and on the stage and he won his only Academy Award in 2010 for the film, "Beginners," when he was 82.

At the Oscars ceremony, he asked the statuette, "Where have you been all my life?"

Christopher Plummer was 91.

That wraps this hour of CNN. I'm Robyn Curnow. For viewers in the U.S. and Canada, "NEW DAY" is next. International viewers, stay tunes. "AFRICAN VOICES" is next.