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European Union Expected to Welcome Vaccinated Americans this Summer; U.K. and U.S. Pledges Help to India to Fight the Pandemic; Japan Declares Third COVID Emergency Ahead of the Olympics; Asian Women Makes History and Wins Big at the Oscars; Fire at Baghdad Hospital Leaves 82 Dead; Palestinians Cheer Removal Of Barriers In Jerusalem; Footage Released After Unarmed Black Man Shot In Virginia; Poll Shows High Rate Of Burnout For Health Care Workers. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired April 26, 2021 - 02:00 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 HOST: Hi, welcome to all of our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. Thanks for joining me. I'm Robyn Curnow. Ahead on CNN, fully vaccinated Americans can soon get an unexpected reward. One that could impact their summer travel plans. We have that story.
Plus, the U.S. and its allies are sending aid to India, the new epicenter of the pandemic, where the number of cases are skyrocketing. And then, a historic night at the Academy Awards as one movie dominates and its director, makes history.
We begin with good news for Americans dreaming of a European holiday after more than a year of COVID restrictions. The European Commission president tells "The New York Times" that fully vaccinated Americans will be able to visit E.U. countries this summer.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 95 million people are now fully vaccinated in the U.S. That is more than a quarter of the population. And that travel is likely to bring a big financial boost also to European economies that are suffering under the weight of travel bans. Richard Quest has more. Richard?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: The E.U. and the U.S. have been working on a deal for some time. Now, Europeans have accepted, in principle, that since Americans are being vaccinated with one of three vaccines, all of which have been approved by the European regulator, then there is no reason why U.S. citizens shouldn't have access, unconditional access, to the European Union.
There are logistical problems that involve recognizing the vaccination certificates being issued in the United States. The E.U. is using -- moving towards a digital green pass whereas Americans are being given little white cards. So, how to ensure those cards are valid and not forgeries at the
border that will be a big question. As for the United Kingdom, it won't be part of any deal with the E.U. because the U.K. is not a member of the European Union. However, it will be astonishing if the United Kingdom did not have its own deal in place before long. Richard Quest, CNN, New York.
CURNOW (on camera): But the story is very, very different in India which has just broken the global record for new daily cases for a fifth consecutive day. Health authorities reported nearly 353,000 new cases on Monday. Hospitals in the Delhi region are tweeting SOS messages for oxygen amid shortages.
And the U.K. and the U.S. and other nations are sending supplies and support. The U.S. Surgeon General explained why it's so crucial to help.
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VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: And it matters to us for several reasons. First and foremost, because we are human beings and we should care about with how (inaudible) other human beings around the world. Second though, if there is uncontrolled spread of the virus in other parts of the world that means that there is a greater chance that new mutations and variants will develop and may escape the protection of the vaccines that we have in the United States. And that means that those viruses, those mutant viruses, those new variance, could travel here to the U.S. and cause real challenges here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW (on camera): Anna Coren has a now look at the struggle on the ground. Anna?
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ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Volunteers roll out canisters of oxygen to victims of COVID desperate for air. But this is no hospital. It's a sheikh temple in a city on the outskirts of New Delhi, where aid workers are treating people in the back seats of cars since medical facilities in the capital are too overwhelmed to taking new patients.
JASPREET SINGH, SEEKING OXYGEN FOR FATHER (through translation): People who are not getting beds or oxygen and are dying in government hospitals, for them it is a great help. They are getting oxygen. It's a great help for the people struggling to breathe.
COREN (voice-over): Its life and death for some. Conditions aren't much better inside hospitals. In some places, with two to three patients to a bed and little room for standing. Outside another hospital, people are treated in cars and ambulances as they hope and wait to be admitted.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi says this second wave of the virus has shaken the nation. The government had deployed military planes and trains to bring in more oxygen from around the country and overseas. The U.K. now promising to send ventilators and other medical equipment.
The E.U. and the U.S. say that they will help too, but that's little comfort to those infected right now.
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For days, India has had the highest number of new daily cases in the world, causing critical shortages, and forcing some people to turn to more immediate means to help loved ones.
UNKNOWN (through translation): My father is 70 years-old. Last, night I purchased an oxygen cylinder on the black market and it's already empty. Oxygen cylinders aren't even available on the black market now.
COREN (voice-over): Dwindling resources and a scramble to replenish them. Until then, the anguish of families trying to help the sick and dying is one thing in India there is too much of. Anna Coren, CNN, Hong Kong.
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CURNOW (on camera): I want to get some perspective now on the situation in India from someone working there. Dr. Giridhara Babu is a professor and Head of Lifecourse Epidemiology at the Indian Institute of Public Health -- Public Health Foundation of India Bangalore. Thank you very much for joining us. How bad is it right now and what are you -- what advice are you giving to hospitals and doctors?
GIRIDHARA BABU, HEAD, LIFECOURSE EPIDEMIOLOGY, PUBLIC HEALTH FOUNDATION OF INDIA: Hi, Robyn. The situation is very grim, very concerning. India did expect a second wave, but not to the tune of these many cases. Already more than 300,000 and in a few days, we are seeing at least a half million cases each day.
As the surgeon general of the U.S. rightly pointed out, this is the concern because not only it results in more deaths now and it may also lead on to newer variants of concern. The oxygen supplies are dwindling. Yes, please, go ahead.
CURNOW: No. I just wanted to talk. You talk about a new variant. You're an epidemiologist. How concerned are you that this is being fueled by a new mutation and what kind of information do you have on that?
BABU: In the areas, especially in very crowded areas where the antibody levels of nearly more than 50 percent in the first wave, there are also having positivity of more than 25 percent, which clearly means that any protection against the earlier variant is not really useful because of the newer variant spreading faster.
Because so many people are being infected faster, there is also a surge in the people requiring critical care. That's one of the main reasons why critical care capacity is almost, you know, take a big hit. Even in the metros, which are relatively better prepared compared to some of the other very populous states such as with (inaudible). And the metros have --
CURNOW: Yes. Even in places like Delhi, I mean, doctors and hospitals are sending SOS messages. People are having to bring their own oxygen if they can find it. What stories are you being told by people who you are speaking to?
BABU: These are mostly sad stories. When I talked to some of my own colleagues who work in the emergency department, they are very sad. They have to turn many patients away because they don't have beds, they don't have oxygen.
As I said, this is mainly because the number of cases and the number of beds available simply do not match even in the most prepared circumstances. It would be even more concerning in the areas with (inaudible) system.
CURNOW: Who -- as we are looking now at many of these patients lining up, hoping to be treated, who is falling sick? Is it a lot of young people? People with comorbidities? What are you seeing?
BABU: Based on the data, almost every age group is affected. But younger people are affected more compared to the first wave. The zero to 10 years age group is also relating a little bit higher compared to the first wave.
CURNOW: Children you mean.
BABU: The first wave -- yes, children less than 10 years old also are infected. But, the highest mortality is still in the 70 years plus age group, which means that we need to be protecting Delhi at least (inaudible) by providing critical care where they deserve most.
CURNOW: One of the other devastating images besides what we're seeing now of people trying to get care and not being able to get, is the amount of people dying, funeral pyres, cremations, not being able to get access, people having to keep bodies at home because they can't send their loved ones away with a goodbye because there are just so many as we can see from these images here, so many people dying. How is that impacting people and doctors, as well?
BABU: I think that, of all the things that the country is undergoing, is a major setback because as I said before, although it was expected, even in the states that had prepared well, they simply did not expect so many cases, so many deaths. I've given an example of the state that I'm living in, Karnataka.
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It had prepared oxygen and beds to meet at least twice the number of cases in the first wave. But, the cases are nearly five times more and burial grounds, crematoriums, were not designed or prepared, and just can't be prepared overnight.
I think now there is a surge in cases and people are struggling to make new burial grounds, new crematorium. It's heartbreaking. Somehow we need to regroup, refocus, and ensure that we come out through this successfully.
CURNOW: Do you think this is the peak? And if that's the case then, deaths will get worse and amplify over the coming weeks.
BABU: I'm afraid this is not the peak. Robyn. The kind of data that we see, at least, we are two to three weeks away from the peak. That's like at least, I am advocating that local lockdowns are necessary to reduce the feeder pipe (ph) of this illness in these cities where all the health system has taken a hit. And most probably after two or three weeks, it should start receding in terms of the epidemic (inaudible).
CURNOW: Goodness. Thank you very much. I know you've got a lot of work to do. Thank you for the work you are doing and all the doctors in India, thank you as well. I hope you have some strength to get through these next few weeks. We'll talk again doctor, thank you. Dr. Giridhara Babu. Thank you.
BABU: Thank you.
CURNOW (on camera): Now, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic torch relay continued on Sunday, but the route was lined with spectators and organizers set paths to this relay will now be taken off public roads next week due to COVID concerns. Japan has declared its third state of emergency in Tokyo and Osaka and is planning to ramp up vaccinations as infections rise once more. Selina Wang reports.
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SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Tokyo Olympics are just three months away, but Japan is far from ready. The country is struggling to contain a fourth wave of COVID-19 driven by more contagious variants.
The prime minister has just declared another state of emergency in Tokyo and other prefectures. Japan may be one of the most technologically advanced countries on the planet, but it has struggled to roll out the COVID-19 vaccine.
Japan has fully vaccinated less than 1 percent of its 126 million people. The slowest of G7 countries. Only 17 percent of health care workers have received two shots, just 0.1 percent of senior citizens have had a single dose.
(On camera): Do you think the Olympics should be canceled?
KENJI SHIBUYA, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR POPULATION HEALTH, KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON: I think it is time to reconsider it and eventually cancel it.
WANG: If you had to predict when Japan's population will be fully vaccinated, I mean, how long is it going to be?
SHIBUYA: Given (inaudible), it would take 10 years or something.
WANG (voice-over): Officials have blamed European export curbs for the delay, but red tape, poor planning, and vaccine hesitancy have also held the country back. A key reason is Japan's slow approval process. The country requires additional domestic clinical trials of new vaccines. So far, it's only approved Pfizer's.
Officials say the cautiousness is necessary. Japan has one of the lowest rates of vaccine confidence in the world, driven by a series of vaccine scandals over the past 50 years. A key lawmaker said, vaccinations for people over 65, which only started this month, may not be finished until the end of this year or next.
For Japanese Olympic hopefuls, the slow rollout is leading to mounting anxiety. Seventy-three year-old Kimie Bessho, is, vying to be in her fifth summer Paralympic games. A competition, she says, she is risking her life for.
I'm prepared to die under these circumstances, she tells me, but I don't want to die of COVID.
The qualifiers for Paralympic table tennis are just weeks away in Slovenia. Bessho says she's called her local health center many times. They say they still have no plan to provide vaccines. Despite public opposition to the games in Japan, officials have projected unwavering confidence.
I express my determination to realize the Tokyo Olympics and the Paralympic games as a symbol of global unity this summer. And President Biden, once again, expressed his support, he said.
The question is what kind of symbol the Olympics will be if japan is unable to protect its citizens. Selina Wang, CNN, Tokyo.
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CURNOW (on camera): So there were some great moments and history was made at this year's Academy Award. The film "Nomadland" was the biggest winner on Sunday in Hollywood. It won several awards including best picture.
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CHLOE ZHAO, FILM DIRECTOR: We thank the Academy and we thank our brilliant fellow nominees. And we thank all of the hearts and hands that come together to make this movie.
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CURNOW (on camera): The film's director there, Chloe Zhao, also won for best director. She's the first Asian woman to win in that category. The star of "Nomadland," Frances McDormand, won best actress for her performance as van dwelling woman who roams the American west.
Meantime, the actress Regina King, started Sunday show with a moving speech about George Floyd and police brutality.
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REGINA KINH, ACTRESS AND DIRECTOR: I have to be honest, if things had gone differently this past week in Minneapolis, I may have traded in my heels for marching boots. Now, I know that a lot of you people at home want to reach for your remote when you feel like Hollywood is preaching to you, but as a mother of a black son, I know the fear that so many live with. And no amount of fame or fortune changes that.
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CURNOW (on camera): For more now on the history making evening at the Oscars, I bring in Will Ripley. Will, hi. You're there in Hong Kong, and this was certainly also a really big night for Asian women.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is. And yet, much of the audience here in Asia wasn't able to watch the Oscars because they were censored in mainland China and also not aired here in Hong Kong. I'll get to the reasons for that in a minutes. But one of the big takeaways this year, a huge night, a historic night for streaming services.
Fifteen of the 23 statuettes handed out for movies that were either released exclusively on streaming services or simultaneously in theaters. You talked about "Nomadland" and this amazing night for the director, Chloe Zhao. Born in China, she is the first Asian woman, second woman ever to win the Oscar for best director.
And yet, as I talk about this right now, we are being blacked out in mainland China, Chinese media has been silent, The #Oscar is censored all over. An interview in 2013 that Chloe Zhao gave to Filmmaker magazine, where she was accused by Chinese nationalists of insulting China because she called it a place where there are lies everywhere.
Now, in her acceptance speech, she actually spoke glowingly about her upbringing. But, people here in Hong Kong and the mainland, didn't get to see it. In South Korea, a lot of celebration and praise right now for "Minari" co-star Yuh-jung Youn. She's the first Korean actress to win -- that's not her. That's Chloe Zhao.
But let's go to Yuh-jung Youn, the first Korean actress to win an Oscar. Yes, there she is. She's a big star in South Korea. And this film is actually about the journey of South Korean immigrants who made their way to the United States in the early 1980's. And it was a tough road that she showed in her film, and it's a tough time right now for a lot of Asians in the United States.
You spoke earlier about the Black Lives Matter Movement. Well, there's also been violence against Asians as a result of COVID-19. And there was a hate crimes bill. It was just passed last week to fight violence against Asian-Americans. That was passed almost unanimously in the U.S. Senate.
So to have these films, this diversity, this representation at a time of such important cultural issues, Robyn, it is a very important moment, but it's just sad, frankly, that so many millions of people here in Asia, did not get to see this on the Oscars. CURNOW: And the fact that even just reporting it like we're doing now
is also being blacked out. It's astonishing. Will Ripley, thank you, though, positive movements and much to be celebrated despite that. We'll be right back after this quick break. You are watching CNN. Stick with us.
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CURNOW: Iraq's prime minister has suspended the country's health minister and the governor of Baghdad. It comes at least after 82 people were killed in a massive fire at a hospital treating COVID patients. Officials believe it started when oxygen tanks exploded. I want to go straight to Istanbul. Arwa Damon is standing by. I mean, the story is just utterly heartbreaking. What more do we know? And also, this death toll seems to have gone up.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It's gutting, Robyn. It's absolutely gutting. And those who somehow managed to survive this can barely even begin to come to terms with it. And those moves by the government, they mean nothing to the vast majority of the Iraqi population.
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DAMON (voice-over): The person filming cries out in horror. There is the sound of another blast from within the inferno. A woman screams. It's Baghdad's infectious diseases hospital, filled with COVID-19 patients and their family members. Hussein Salem was inside caring for his mother. He was urging her to try to eat something.
I couldn't save her, he sobs. We try to evacuate my mom, but once we reach the door, we were blown away by one of the blasts, he remembers. The pain, still so raw, so in comprehensible. He's at the Baghdad morgue waiting for her charred remains, along with the others, whose loved ones either suffocated to death or were burnt. Some, beyond recognition. His father's anger seeps through his sorrow.
When tragedies happen, government officials always give bogus reasons. They always try to justify their devilish ways, he says. As seen in this CCTV video, the explosion, believed to be an oxygen tank that blew, came from inside one of the rooms. People start to run. Someone, it looks like a patient, an elderly man, is pulled out.
The flames appear to be getting larger. A man arrives with a handheld fire extinguisher. But, with no fireproofing, it was not enough. That blast led to a series of others. The fire alarm was faulty. It was half an hour before the civil defense says it got a call. By the time they responded, so many were dead. So many were wounded. Residents in the area had taken it upon themselves to try to help, breaking through windows to save those inside.
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Back in February, we filmed at this hospital in the intensive care unit. We spoke to doctors and family members about people's reluctance to come to hospitals, about the lack of faith in Iraq's health care systems, who have yet to recover from sanctions dating back to the Saddam Hussein era. And then, nonstop war and rampant corruption.
This, this is what all of that has led to. (Inaudible) stares at his hands, cut up from breaking glass to let in some air. His aunt and grandmother perished inside. He could not save them.
No one could imagine that this could happen, he says. But, tragically, Iraq has a way of delivering the unimaginable. And with it, unimaginable pain.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DAMON (on camera): And Robyn, what makes this especially bitter is that it could have been avoided. These people did not need to suffer like this. Those who died that horrific death, did not need to die like that. And in many ways, it really goes to the systemic problems that exist in Iraq today.
CURNOW: So, with that in mind, the prime minister suspended the health minister and the governor of Baghdad. Will that appease the anger in Baghdad?
DAMON: Highly unlikely, at this stage. Many Iraqis will feel as if the government is just looking to try to scapegoat certain officials or to just point the blame at someone else when, in fact, this really is, as I was saying, one of the core issues that is plaguing Iraq today.
This systemic entrenched corruption, mismanagement of funding. People really failed to understand how it is that their oil-rich country is incapable of providing basic services like electricity to the entire population.
And, on top of all of that, incapable, it would seem of bringing its medical infrastructure up to an acceptable standard because this is hardly anything new. Yes, this one incident is especially horrific, but people, for years now, have been complaining about the lack of medical infrastructure.
This has been an unknown problem, like so many of the other known problems. But, the issue is that no matter who ends up being in power in Iraq, the vast majority of the population will tell you that their government is not prioritizing the welfare of the people. And that needs to change, Robyn. And that's not going to change with these current moves by the Iraqi government even if they do end up finding specific individuals culpable.
CURNOW: Okay. Thanks for the update there. Arwa Damon, live, in Istanbul. So you're watching CNN. Still to come on, Palestinians are celebrating in Jerusalem after barriers put up by the Israeli police were removed. That's next.
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CURNOW: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Robyn Curnow, it's 31 minutes pass the hour. Live from Atlanta. So Palestinians celebrated on Sunday night after Police barriers at the center of nightly clashes in Jerusalem came down. Hadas Gold joins me now live from Jerusalem with more on that. Hi Hadas. So what's the situation right now?
HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So Robyn, I'm standing in outside of Damascus Gate. This is a plaza outside of gate. This is actually one of the - this is the main entrance for Muslim worshippers to enter the Old City and it's calm and clear right now but that hasn't been the case since the start of Ramadan.
This has been the site of near nightly clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli Police pelting him have been protesting the erection of barricades that have prevented people from sitting and congregating here. Popular place especially for young people at night during Ramadan.
The Palestinian protesters have at various points throughout the last few days thrown rocks and glass bottles. The Police have responded with stun grenades, rubber bullets and this foul smelling water, the stench of which remains in the closet to this day. But last night those barricades came down. And when they did, Palestinians, a hundreds of Palestinians filled the plaza.
They were cheering, they were chanting at one point, they were saying that Jerusalem will remain in Arab city. But tensions have been boiling in the city for quite a few days now not only because of the protests here in the plaza, there's also been incidents of violence. Palestinians on Israelis, Israelis on Palestinians.
And those tensions also have spread down south to Gaza where over the course of the last three days, more than 40 rockets have been fired by Gaza militants into Israel, including five last night. The Israeli army say that they have responded with airstrikes and they've also closed the fishing zones around Gaza as well. But the authorities are hoping that the removal of the barricades here last night will bring some calm back to the city because Jerusalem has been relatively calm for the past few years.
But the last few days have seen some of the highest levels of tensions that the city has seen for some time. Robyn.
CURNOW: Hadas Gold there outside Jerusalem, inside sorry by Jerusalem by the Damascus Gate. Good to see you. Thanks so much. Keep us posted on that. So coming up on CNN Newsroom, leaders in Southeast Asia reach an agreement on ending the violent Military crackdown in Myanmar but pro-democracy activists say it won't be enough.
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CURNOW: Myanmar's deposed civilian leaders expected to appear in another court hearing in the coming hours. Aung San Suu Kyi is facing six charges from the Military which stole power back in February. Meanwhile, the Junta leader attended the ASEAN Summit this weekend, his first international appearance since the coup.
The summit ended with a consensus agreement that the violent crackdowns on protesters must come to an end. Paula Hancocks has the details from Bangkok. What's interesting here is that local - the regional leaders didn't ask for Aung San Suu Kyi to be returned to power. It seems like there's been an agreement that this coup is OK, or is that not correct?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Robyn, that's certainly the way that many activists and those within Myanmar are seeing it. The fact that there wasn't this insistence that over 3300 people who have been arrested according to one tally for one advocacy group, release the fact that they didn't call for Aung San Suu Kyi, the ousted leader to be released, the president of the democratically elected government.
And that is certainly one source of criticism for what ASEAN did agree to. So what they've effectively agreed to is this, this five points plan, and one of the point says that all violence must stop. We did hear from Malaysia's Prime Minister Speaking to reporters after the meeting, saying that they haven't specifically said that the Military had to stop violence, because Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the coup, in the face of this bloody crackdown, believes that it is the protesters who are causing the violence, which we know not to be the case.
So what they said was that the five points would be ending violence, constructive dialogue. There would be an envoy for ASEAN for this group of southeastern nations, and that that envoy would have access to Myanmar, and that there would be acceptance of aid. But it is a glaring admission, that there was no insistence that that those protesters and leaders be released.
There was also criticism from many of the activists that it was Min Aung Hlaing who was invited, the face as I say, of this crackdown, does it give him extra legitimacy? Is this ASEAN accepting him as the current leader of Myanmar?
There is this national unity government that has been created, this is made up of some of the protest leaders, some ethnic leaders, and also some of those ousted leaders. They were not invited and did not have a seat at the table, which has come under heavy criticism as well.
But from ASEAN's point of view, they do point out that this is at least the first step in trying to end the violence, whether it actually makes any difference whatsoever on the ground, that is something that we will have to wait and see because as of now, we are not seeing any indication that the crackdown has ended. Robyn.
CURNOW: Paula Hancocks there. Thanks so much for that update. So Indonesia is officially pronouncing the 53 crew members on board sunken, summary as dead. The missing vessel was found by broken into several parts about two miles from its last known location in the Bali straight. Search teams found the sub's wreckage on the sea floor at a depth which the crew could not survive. [02:40:00]
A Navy official says the crew are not to blame for the disaster. He blamed a natural or environmental factor but did not provide further details on that. So thank you very much for spending part of your day with me. I'm Robyn Curnow. If you're an international viewer, World Sport is next.
If you're joining us from here in the U.S. or Canada, I'll be right back with more news; don't go away.
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CURNOW: Protesters marched in Los Angeles on Sunday demanding justice in the wake of several police killings in the U.S. Activists say the guilty verdict in the trial of disgraced former Police officer Derek Chauvin is a good start, but that much more police reform is needed.
Others went further and called for defunding and abolishing the police but overall, everyone was united in their desire to keep the momentum for the fight for justice. And the lead prosecutor in Derek Chauvin's trial made a candid confession. He says he was never convinced they'd win the case until the verdict was finally read.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith - Attorney General Keith Ellison spoke with 60 Minutes, a short time ago. CNN's Adrienne Broadus has the details.
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ADRIENNE BROADUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Like many Minnesotans and black Americans across the country Attorney General Keith Ellison experienced disappointment. Ellison was the lead prosecutor in the trial of Derek Chauvin. He revealed in a 60 Minutes interview on Sunday, he had doubts about this case.
SCOTT PELLEY, 60 MINUTES HOST: Was there ever a time that you thought you could lose this case?
KEITH ELLISON, MINNESOTA ATTORNYE GENERAL: I was never convinced we were going to win this case until we heard the verdict of guilty. I remember what happened in the Rodney King case, when I was a pretty young man, young lawyer. And I remember how devastated I felt when I heard that the jury acquitted those officers.
Whenever an officer is charged with an offense, particularly when the victim is a person of color, it's just rare that there's any accountability. And so there was every moment of this case, I thought, what are we missing? What haven't we done?
BROADUS: But Ellison assembled the team, some of the prosecutors working on a volunteer basis and over an 11 month period, Ellison and his team reviewed that video. The video that shows George Floyd pleading for his life and on that video, Ellison says at least 27 times, Floyd said he could not breathe.
Ellison also said during that 60 Minutes interview, he and his team had to act as if they didn't have any video.
PELLEY: When you first heard the word, guilty, you thought what?
ELLISON: Gratitude, humility, followed by a certain sense of, I'll say satisfaction. It's what we were aiming for the whole time. I spent 16 years as a criminal defense lawyer. So I will admit I felt a little bad for the defendant. I think he deserved to be convicted but he's a human being.
PELLEY: Somehow I did not expect to hear from you a note of compassion for Derek Chauvin.
ELLISON: I'm not in any way wavering from my responsibility but I hope we never forget that people who are defendants in our criminal justice system that they're - they're human beings, they're people. I mean, George Floyd was a human being. And so I'm not going to ever forget that everybody in this process is a person.
BROADUS: Meanwhile, I wasn't surprised by Ellison's compassion. It speaks to his character and it's a cornerstone of his faith. Chauvin is scheduled for sentencing in mid-June, Adrienne Broadus, CNN Minneapolis.
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CURNOW: The family of a black man, shot and killed by deputies last week in North Carolina may have a chance to watch that body cam footage on Monday. That's what their attorney tells CNN. So few details have been released in the shooting of 42 year old Andrew Brown Jr. Wednesday in Elizabeth City.
The sheriff's office's deputies were trying to serve him with an arrest warrant at the time. Seven deputies have been placed on leave. The sheriff says he plans to file a court motion to get the footage released to the public. And there's disturbing new body cam footage and emergency audio from the shooting of an unarmed black man in Virginia. A sheriff's deputy - sheriff's deputy had given this man Isaiah Brown a ride home. Then a 911 call set up a chain of events that ended with a man being shot multiple times by that same deputy. Authorities say the deputy was responding to a domestic disturbance call and mistook Brown's phone for a gun.
[02:50:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DISPATCH: Isaiah, are you holding your hands up?
OFFICER: Show me your hands.
DISPATCH: Put your hands up. OFFICER: Show me your hands now. Show me your hands.
Drop the gun.
He's got a gun to his head.
Drop the gun now, stop walking towards me, stop walking towards me. Stop. Stop.
Shots fired. Shots fired. One down. Show me your hands, show me your hands. Drop the gun, drop the gun.
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CURNOW: Virginia State Police confirmed that Brown was unarmed at the time of that shooting. His family says he was shot 10 times and remains in serious condition. After more than a year of the COVID Pandemic, America's health care workers are running on empty. A new poll from the Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation lays out some troubling signs. Have a look at this.
Roughly three in 10 health care workers say they've weighed up leaving the profession. More than half are burned out and about six in 10 say stress from the Pandemic has harmed their mental health. To talk about that I want to bring in Dr. Mona Masood an outpatient's psychiatrist and the Founder of the Physician Support Line.
Doctor, thank you very much for joining us. What kind of pressure of frontline health workers under at the moment?
DR. MONA MASOOD, FOUNDER, PHYSICIAN SUPPORT LINE: Frontline workers, physicians, nurses, everyone on the actual frontlines of COVID, as well as kind of behind the scenes in our clinic clinics and outpatient settings are all under a tremendous amount of pressure, being called heroes, and being expected to kind of fight a battle or a war that they felt like they never were adequately prepared for.
And even a year out from the start of this Pandemic, it feels very much like a never ending trauma.
CURNOW: And how is that being exhibited then?
MASOOD: So I mean, as part of the Physician Support Line, we take a lot of calls from physicians who are experiencing whether we want to call it burnout or moral injury, about the work that they're doing. And the experience is very jarring, we'll have calls, we had a call from an ICU physician, intensive care physician who just got off of doing a back to back 24 to 48 hour shift.
He had to cover for somebody that couldn't make it because they got sick. And he just got off that shift, and called us from the drive home from the hospital, still feeling kind of the effects of the mask that he was wearing throughout his very long shift. And as he's talking to us about how he can't process all the trauma and death that he witnessed in his last shift, he pauses and there's a catch in his breath. And, and we asked him, what are you seeing, and he's, he's talking and
he's talking about that he's seeing people not wearing masks, people who are hanging out, who are having, you know, acting like everything is as normal, and it's very jarring and very disheartening. And it's hard for people to work like that, to know that everything that they're giving is you know, is it's - it feels very isolating.
CURNOW: So how, how are they going to get through the next year of this? And do you think that there is a huge amount of people who are deciding that they just don't want to be a doctor anymore? They don't want to be a nurse? That that the personal, emotional and mental risk, we're not talking here about even getting COVID is just too much.
MASOOD: Yes, there is definitely what we call as psychiatrists, we call it an escape fantasy, where it's just dumb. I can't do this anymore. I don't feel attached to what I'm doing anymore. I don't feel purpose in my work, which is very - is very alarming for physicians and healthcare workers because it's not easy to become either of these things.
They require - it requires a lot of training, and many years and a lot of dedication and experience to be able to do this work. And so having them leave like this or even think about leaving like that is something that our system cannot afford.
CURNOW: What is the overriding emotion feeling that you're getting from these doctors and nurses who are calling into your helpline and the ones that you counsel? Is it anger? Or is it sadness? Or is it - is it just sort of a chronic burnout that you would perhaps see with soldiers coming back from war as a kind of PTSD situation?
MASOOD: Right. It's - it's actually, you know, an interesting combination of all of those things which actually manifest as betrayal. Something that we often hear from soldiers as well as health care workers from this past year is I did to sign up for this. This was not part of what I was hoping to do, as being a public servant, you know, with soldiers.
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There's a very different kind of hope or purpose of why they are participating in a wartime effort. And for - for doctors and for people in health care, it's the same thing. We know there's inherent risk in the work that we're doing. But to go in inadequately prepared and feeling very much that we are left to do it on our own is incredibly betraying.
CURNOW: Dr. Mona Masood, thank you very much for all the work you're doing. And please pass our thanks on to all these human beings, not heroes, that are doing so much hard work there on the frontlines. Thank you.
MASOOD: Thank you, Robyn.
CURNOW: NASA's Ingenuity helicopter is setting records after its third flight on Mars in just a week, going further and faster than before. Ingenuity's navigation camera shot black and white images that could help with aerial scouting in future missions. The 82nd flight was also captured by cameras on the Perseverance Rover. NASA says Ingenuity will likely fly again in the next few days. Well, I'm Robyn Curnow. Thanks so much for joining me.
You can follow me on Twitter and on Instagram @RobynCurnowCNN. Another hour of CNN with my colleague Rosemary is up next. Enjoy.
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