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Palestinian Protesters and Israeli Police Clash in Jerusalem; Time to Relax Indoor Mask Mandates; India's COVID-19 Cases Slightly Goes Down, Calls for Massive Lockdowns; Three Injured in Times Square Shooting; Kabul Death Toll Rises to 85; Doctor Who Treated Alexei Navalny is Missing; Climate Change Protest in Paris; Administration Gears Up For Infrastructure Push This Week; Lawmakers Prepare To Oust Cheney For Not Backing Trump; Celebrations In Spain As State Of Emergency Ends. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired May 10, 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 so much for joining me this hour. Im Robyn Curnow. So just ahead on CNN.

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More violence clashes as Palestinians face-off with Israeli police on the streets. We'll have a live report from Jerusalem with the latest.

Plus, vaccination rates have dropping in the U.S. despite the push to get more shots in arms. We'll speak with a doctor about overcoming vaccine hesitancy.

And the winner of one of the most watched horse races in the world is now under scrutiny. You'll hear what the horse trainer has to say.

Great to have you along this hour. Thanks for joining me. So, an uptick in violence in Jerusalem is raising international concerns. The U.N. Security Council will meet privately in the coming hours to discuss it.

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There have been nightly clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police over the possible evictions in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. The Palestinian Red Crescent says at least 19 Palestinians were injured on Sunday, and an Israeli Supreme Court hearing on the evictions has now been delayed. A new date will be scheduled within 30 days.

Well, Elliott Gotkine is in Jerusalem with the latest on all of this. And Elliott, hi. I do want you to just update us on this information that Israel is to temporarily halt visits to the Jewish holy site and the Muslim holy site as these tensions continue to soar. ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: That's right Robyn. This was a statement

to put out by the chief of Israeli police, saying that, at this stage, visits will not be allowed to the (inaudible) Temple Mount to Jews and Haram esh-Sharif to Muslims, a site that is revered by both faiths.

This has been another statement by police actually coming out more recently in the last few minutes, saying that a short while ago, hundreds of rioters began throwing stones at one of the gates in the old city. And that following this, the police forces there were ordered to go into the Temple Mount to stop the rioting from taking place.

So, although a new day has dawned, the violence has continued, and there are concerns that not only is this violence -- notice there -- not only is there no letup in the violence, but that thus far, everything seems to be getting worse.

CURNOW: And there's been international pressure, regional pressure, and reaction to all of this. Now, we see -- hearing that the Security Council will discuss these images that we are seeing now on our screen. What is the likely outcome, if any?

GOTKINE: Well, today is Jerusalem Day which Israelis celebrate as the reunification -- what they see as the reunification of Jerusalem following the capture the eastern part of the city including the old city in the 1967 Six-day War. There are concerns that, you know, there will be further flashpoints especially as the so-called flag march takes place and Israelis march from the western part of the city to the western wall, which is kind of the outer perimeter of the destroy the Jewish temple and partially the Muslim quarter on the way.

So yes, there are international calls for de-escalation. The U.S. national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, has spoken with his counterpart here in Israel to express Americas concern and calling for things to be contained.

But, I think certainly, from Israel's perspective, you know, international pressure and international comments about what is going on is not really their focus right now. They believe that, you know, they have the right to quell violence which they believe was begun by the Palestinians to ensure that, you know, security is maintained in Jerusalem.

Now, we've already heard from the police kind of preventing visits to Temple Mount. We're still waiting to see if there is any comments on the march which is due to take place later today. But as I say, violence has already continued into this morning with Palestinian protesters throwing rocks at police and police getting back on to Temple Mount to try to quell the violence.

CURNOW (on camera): And we'll see what the impact of that is. We'll come back to you as soon as you get more information, if you get it. Elliott Gotkine there in Jerusalem. Thanks so much for that report.

[02:04:557] And we are learning more about how many people in the U.S. have received a COVID vaccine shot. The CDC says more than 259 million doses have gone into arms so far. That's making public health experts feel better about relaxing some restrictions, including wearing masks indoors. Here is what Dr. Anthony Fauci had to say.

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GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS HOST: You've had experts like the former head of the FDA, Scott Gottlieb, say it's time to start relaxing the indoor mask mandates. Is he right?

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: No, I think so. And I think you're going to probably seeing that as we go along and as more people get vaccinated. The CDC will be, almost in real-time, George, updating their recommendations and their guidelines. But, yes, we do need to start being more liberal as we get more people vaccinated. As you get more people vaccinated the number of cases per day will absolutely go down.

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CURNOW (on camera): Now, more than a third of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated against COVID. Over 140 million Americans and all, according to the latest data from the CDC. Experts say the country needs at least 70 percent vaccinated to reach herd immunity. Well, Dr. Fauci says the U.S. is moving in the right direction. Take a listen.

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FAUCI: As you get less and less people in the cohort of unvaccinated, it becomes more difficult to get there. When you have a large cohort of unvaccinated people, then you get your 3 to 4 million people per day. Right now, we are averaging about 2 million a day. So, if we do that, which I think we will, I think, I believe strongly that we will reach the president's goal of 70 percent of adults getting at least one shot by the 4th of July.

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CURNOW (on camera): So, how do you get more shots into arms? According to new research from the Kaiser Family Foundation, incentives could go a long way. CNN has a team of reporters covering all of the vaccine perks.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I'm Bianna Golodryga in New York. As more universities and colleges announced COVID-19 vaccine requirements for the fall, one New Jersey school offering an added bonus. Rowan University announced that any full-time students who show proof that they are fully vaccinated by August 7th will receive a $500 credit towards their course registration. And an additional $500 towards housing costs. The university is mandating vaccines for all students living on campus or attending classes in person.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jean Casarez in Manhattan. Mayor Bill de Blasio is announcing that New York City has administered almost 7 million COVID-19 vaccinations. And now, in an effort to build tourism, they want to offer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to any visitor that comes here.

The plan is to install mobile COVID vaccination sites at major tourist attractions around the city, like Times Square, the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge Park, the High Line, and even Central Park. But, it's all dependent on a green light from the state.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm martin Savidge in Atlanta. If you live in Memphis or Shelby County, Tennessee and you get a COVID-19 vaccine, you could get something else. A brand-new car. This week, local officials unveiled the sweepstakes, which could lead one lucky person to win the choice of a sports car, pickup truck, sedan, or SUV.

You have until the end of May to get at least one shot to have a shot at winning. It's all part of an effort to get more people vaccinated in Shelby County where health officials say so far, about a third of people have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine. Sorry, proof of residency will be required.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Alexandra Field, as part of a major push to get more younger adults to get their shots, more and more are throwing in a free beer. Budweiser offering a free beer to anyone aged 21 and up who shows proof of vaccination. A number of participating breweries across the state of New Jersey, doing the same thing. And, in Connecticut, the governor announcing that participating restaurants will offer free drinks to people with proof of vaccination for the last 2 weeks of May.

CURNOW: Well, joining me now from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is Dr. Amesh Adalja. He is a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security. Doctor, hi. Good to see you. So much vaccine hesitancy despite the availability, widespread availability of vaccines here in the U.S. Why is that?

AMESH ADALJA, SENIOR SCHOLAR, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: Well, this is likely a multifactorial type of issue that there are some people that are opposed to this vaccine no matter what. But, what really I think is driving vaccine hesitancy is those people that are on the fence, that they don't see the value of this vaccine to their lives and they might heard misinformation, they might not think they are at risk.

They may not think that things change when they get this vaccine. And I think that's what we need to combat, is really showing people that this vaccine is something that should be a value to them, that it will allow them to reclaim the pre-pandemic life that they've put on hold for over a year.

CURNOW: Doesn't need to be some sort of national strategy. What can change their minds?

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ADALJA: What I think is the best way to change people's minds is showing them how this vaccine benefits them. That now they can go about their life in a way that is free from the risk of either contracting COVID-19 or spreading COVID-19.

That these vaccines are highly efficacious and they are very, very safe. And we need to really underscore to people that they can start to do activities that they may have been afraid to do when they get this vaccine.

CURNOW: So, are you saying, you know, like for example, Dr. Fauci saying today folks who have the vaccine perhaps don't need to wear masks indoors. Are you saying there should be kind of us and them scenario, which make people aware of how much they are missing out because they are the ones that are going to have to have the mask on indoors, for example?

ADALJA: Exactly. If you are a fully vaccinated individual, the virus is going to treat you very differently. So, why shouldn't other people treat you very differently? Because you are no longer a risk. So I do think we have to start really being much more aggressive at talking about what people who are fully vaccinated can do safely.

And I think the public health guidance needs to be proactive. We're seeing the CDC take baby steps, which are very cautious, but in the right direction, but really not reflecting what people want to do with this vaccine. People want to be able to go back to their prior lives and I think that's what we want the CDC to be able to say.

And I think the data is showing that. If you look at countries like Israel, if you look at all the clinical trial data, these vaccines are not only able to prevent you from getting symptomatic infection, but very likely to prevent you from being able to even spread the virus with an asymptomatic infection.

CURNOW: How much -- you talk about mixed messaging perhaps or just a lag in public health messaging. How much did the suspension of the Johnson & Johnson and even some of the conversations around AstraZeneca vaccine, how much did that play into people's misunderstanding of perhaps what this could do for them?

ADALJA: It greatly did. If you look at the polling, people now are much more hesitant when it comes to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, just as they were with AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe. And it seems like we didn't learn those lessons.

That this pause really was something that was going to be very difficult to unpause because what's going to stick in people's minds is as if there was something wrong with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Not that this was an extremely rare side effect that was outweighed by the benefits of the vaccine.

And the J&J vaccine is really important because it is a single dose vaccine. It doesn't require onerous cold storage, so you can get that out to hard-to-reach populations. And because it's a one and done dose, you can find people, you can go to door and vaccinate them, and then they're fully vaccinated in 2 weeks.

So I think this is something we really have to examine because the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a way to reach those populations that maybe are procrastinating, don't want to go to a vaccine center. And if you could do this door-to-door with that vaccine, you might reach a lot of them.

CURNOW: Some advice, then, for people like me. I was in a Pilate's class a little bit earlier on today and the person next to me wasn't vaccinated. I'm vaccinated. And they said they didn't want to get vaccinated because they've been asymptomatic, that had COVID asymptomatic.

And also, they've been taking vitamin D so they should be fine. How do you broach these kinds of conversations with people in your ordinary life who might be coming in and out and how do you convince people when you hear them say things like that?

ADALJA: Well, first of all, you got to figure out exactly what's driving their vaccine hesitancy. So, in the case that you just presented I might say, yes, you might have COVID in the past, but that immunity is not going to be as strong and as durable as if you get vaccine induced immunity especially when it comes to problematic variants like the South African variant or the Brazilian variant.

So the vaccine would make sense for you to be able to rid yourself of any fear of COVID-19. You really just have to show people what this -- what the vaccine data shows. And I think this vaccine is probably one of the best vaccines that humans have ever created in terms of its efficacy.

So, the vaccine sell themselves if people are open to hearing that message. And I think you can meet people where they are and many people can have their questions answered and hopefully will nudge them to get the vaccine.

There is some individuals though that are completely against this vaccine and that's going to be hard. It's those people in the middle, the ones on the fence, that I think we really need to reach to get us a higher level of population immunity.

CURNOW: Thank you for that advice. Dr. Amesh Adalja there. Appreciate it.

ADALJA: Thanks for having me.

CURNOW: So, hard hit India has released its latest coronavirus figures and they are still very high. But, they are no longer in record territory. Take a look this. The number of daily cases has now dipped below the 400,000 mark that has been exceeding it in recent days. The death toll is also lower and now some 3,700 fatalities reported this is Monday compared to more than 4,000 daily deaths we saw over the weekend.

Meanwhile, nearly half of India's states and union territories are under lockdown. New Delhi has been extended through May 17th. And the prime minister is under growing pressure to impose a national lockdown. I want to bring in Anna Coren. Anna as live from Hong Kong and you're monitoring all of this. What is the likelihood of a national lockdown? ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Robyn, the question is certainly being

asked of Narendra Modi, the nation's prime minister, who has been missing since the 20th of April.

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That was his last address to the public. And pressure is growing on him to impose a nationwide lockdown. Obviously, states and union territories have taken it upon themselves. You mentioned 17 out of the 36 states and union territories in India have enforced this lockdown, which hopes to, obviously, stop the spread of this second wave that has ran rampant across much of India.

We are seeing rolling lockdowns. You mentioned New Delhi. This is the third time it's implemented this weeklong lockdown. And, it will continue. It will continue until numbers come down. You mentioned those numbers released by the health ministry a few hours ago. We don't know whether we should read too much into it. Has India surpass the peak or is this just a lull after the weekend when we do see lulls come due to a lack of testing?

Perhaps it is because the lockdowns are in place. Perhaps it's also because the international aid is slowly getting on to the places where it is needed. But we also know that there is still an acute shortage of oxygen across the country. The Supreme Court of India has taken upon itself to set up a nationwide task force to work out the distribution of oxygen and where it is greatly needed because of those acute shortages that we have seen right across the country.

But Robyn, certainly, people are wondering where is the prime minister? Why isn't he addressing his people? And why hasn't he imposed a nationwide lockdown?

CURNOW: Anna, thank you so much for that update. Good to see you.

So coming up on CNN, after months of lockdown, party goers cut loose across some of Spain's biggest cities. Signs of a post COVID normality start to emerge there.

Plus, a manhunt is now underway for a suspect in Saturday's Times Square shooting. We have the latest after the break on that. You're watching CNN. Don't go away.

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CURNOW: There has been a shooting in Times Square as New York tries to reopen after the pandemic. And now the city's police department is on the hunt for a potential suspect. Evan McMorris-Santoro has the details.

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN ANCHOR: This remarkable video tells a story of a scary moment on a busy Saturday evening in Times Square. Shots ring out after a scuffle, police say, and three innocent bystanders are hit, including a 4-year-old girl. You can see police running through the scene with right after the shots were fired.

She was shot in the leg and police say she was taken for surgery in the hospital and is expected to recover. Police released this photo of person they're trying to speak with in relation to the incident. This comes at a scary, scary moment for New York City. We're trying to reopen here and get back after the pandemic has laid this city flat on its back.

Times Square, the home of Broadway is hoping to reopen theaters at the end of the summer. And police and other officials are hoping a surge in gun violence won't prevent tourists from coming back. Evan McMorris-Santoro, CNN, New York.

CURNOW (on camera): Thanks Evan for that. So, six people were killed after a gunman opened fire at a birthday party in Colorado Springs. Police believe the shooter killed himself at the scene and was the boyfriend of one of the victims. A seventh person who was injured later died at the hospital.

The governor of Colorado sent out a statement saying, "the tragic shooting in Colorado Springs is devastating especially as many of us are spending the day celebrating the women in our lives who have made us the people we are today."

And dozens of families in Kabul, Afghanistan are spending the last days of Ramadan burying their daughters after a gruesome attack outside a school on Saturday. The death toll has risen to at least 85 killed, many of them were young girls. Almost 150 others were wounded.

The Taliban say that they aren't responsible and they have announced a 3-day cease-fire for the Eid holiday. But, for the families and mourning, there is not much to celebrate as Michael Holmes now reports.

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Loved ones gather to bury the dead, dozens of school girls killed in a blast as they were leaving class on Saturday afternoon in Kabul. An uncle cries out.

GHULAM HUSSAIN, UNCLE OF SCHOOLGIRL WHO WAS KILLED (through translation): She was 15-years-old and was studying in class 8. She was very intelligent and didn't miss a single day of school. Yesterday, her mother told her not to go to school but she said, no, I will go today, but I will not go tomorrow. She told the truth and we buried her here today.

HOLMES (voice-over): Afghan's interior ministry says a car bomb initially exploded followed by two IEDs just outside the school.

MOHAMMAD TAQI, DASHT-E-BARCHI RESIDENT (through translation): First, it was the car bomb and then the second blast went off. And afterwards, came the third. I did not panic and rushed to the scene and suddenly I found myself amongst bodies, whose hands or heads were cut off and bones were smashed. All of them were girls. I saw dead bodies were piled on top of each other. HOLMES (voice-over): The Afghan government blames the Taliban, but

the Taliban denies any involvement, blaming instead the actions on sinister circles operating in the name of ISIS. No group though has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Many insurgents in the country are known to despise the education of girls. But for the loved ones, no claim of responsibility will bring back the dead. Michael Holmes, CNN.

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CURNOW (on camera): The former chief doctor at the Russian hospital that treated Alexei Navalny is now missing. Russian state media say the doctor left a hunting base in a forest on an all-terrain vehicle on Friday and hasn't been seen since. Search teams have found the vehicle, though.

Now, the doctor was the chief physician at the Omsk Emergency Hospital when Kremlin critic, Navalny, was admitted for suspected poisoning.

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The doctor however gave multiple press briefings at the time saying Navalny suffered from "a metabolic disorder which caused a sharp drop in blood sugar." He was later promoted. The doctor's disappearance comes after two other doctors from the same hospital died earlier this year. One of those doctors oversaw Navalny's medically induced coma and is not clear if the other had anything to do with Navalny's treatment. We'll keep you posted on that story.

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This is Paris where thousands of protesters took the streets on Sunday to call for tougher measures to battle climate change. The protests come after lawmakers approved a climate bill that environmental activists say doesn't go far enough.

AXEL DESVIGNES, PROTESTER (through translation): Scientists are calling for an overhaul of society, the way we produce food, heat our houses, the way we travel, et cetera. So we either we decide through -- take restrictive measures and it's like shooting yourself in the foot or we will suffer.

CURNOW: In a landmark ruling in February, a court ruled that France must do more to combat climate change.

So, coming up on CNN, as restrictions eased in some parts of Europe, people are making the most of their newfound freedoms. We'll have more in a live report from London. That is just ahead.

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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN HOST: Welcome back to all of our viewers here in United States and all around the world. I'm Robyn Curnow live in Atlanta. It's 29 minutes past the hour. And it is by no means everywhere but if you know where to look, they're certainly signs around Europe of a gradual return to normalcy.

Spaniards are making the most of their newfound freedom the streets were packed with party goers after a state of emergency expired across much of the country late on Saturday night. More than one quarter of all Spaniards have had at least one shot and one in eight are fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, over in the UK, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to announce a further easing of restrictions in England.

He's expected to confirm a relaxing of most social distancing rules beginning a week from now. Well, for more on all of that, let's bring in Scott McLean. Scott is joining us in London. I want to talk about Spain in just a moment. But first, let's go to Boris Johnson's plans and the relative freedom that you guys might be experiencing after a pretty long winter over there in London.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Really long winter Robin and the keyword that you just use there is relative so Boris Johnson is going to be holding a press conference later today where he is expected to announce that the easing of lockdown is right on track.

That means that one week from today in England, at least small indoor gatherings will be allowed. Bars and restaurants will be allowed to serve indoors and there will even be some sporting events which will be allowed to have larger crowds in the 1000s, not full capacity by any stretch of the imagination but larger than what we've seen before, which is nobody in the stadiums.

This is all part of a plan that was laid out months ago to slowly ease restrictions out of lockdown. But it all hinged on the success of the vaccination program, which right now is put shots in the arms of two- thirds of the adult population. It also Robyn, hinged on the effectiveness of the vaccination program, meaning that if there's another wave of infection in this country that enough people would be vaccinated that the health care system could handle it, no problem and you wouldn't have a huge spike in hospitalizations and deaths.

The government also wanted to make sure that COVID mutations, new variants weren't going to derail the progress that's been made. So a lot of boxes have been ticked here. Britain's infection rate is the lowest that it has been since September. And when you compare the UK to Europe in both cases and deaths, they are well above - are well below, I should say the European average thanks to many European countries still catching up to the UK in the vaccination department.

And because of these promising numbers, a lot of people in this country even from within Boris Johnson's own party say lockdown restrictions should be eased a lot quicker. They're wondering why with this kind of data, we have any restrictions at all, but the Prime Minister is stressing look, we don't want to be - we don't want to have to go back.

So at least for now, Robyn, one week from today, we'll have some more relative freedoms. CURNOW: So we're going to be seeing you partying like the Spaniards

because they are certainly having a fantastic weekend by the looks of some of the pictures that have come into us. Talk us through what's been going on in Spain.

MCLEAN: Yes, so this was Saturday night when Spain's six months state of emergency came to an end not across the country, but in most regions of the country at least. So we saw people packing the beaches of Barcelona and packing into Madrid's Portugal Del Sol that is basically the Time Square of Madrid.

Police had to sort of corral people try to get them to go home. And I have to tell you, Robyn, this is an odd site, I can tell you from personal experience that this square in Madrid at least was heavily secured at the outset of lockdown. You had police there, you had soldiers there who would ask you where you were going, make sure that you were alone and make sure that you had a good reason to actually be out.

So it shows you how far Spain has come. The only problem with these parties that we're seeing is that they're actually in violation of Spain's new rules which say that even outdoor gatherings, you shouldn't have more than six people.

CURNOW: Yes, that's - that's - that's definitely more than six people but I think everybody knows that feeling of that. They might just need to let loose a little bit. Great to see you. Thanks so much. Always. Scott McLean there in London.

MCLEAN: You bet.

CURNOW: Right Oh, still to come safe from COVID at the cost of mental health. Though COVID cases may have dropped in England thanks to its third lockdown but now the country has to manage a rising tide of mental health issues. This is important. We'll talk about that. Next.

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CURNOW: Welcome back. I'm Robyn Curnow. So Monday is the start of Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK, a campaign that is taking on added significance in England following the nation's third COVID lockdown. Isa Soares went to a Youth Center in London where children are discussing how the Pandemic has affected their mental health.

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ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Since lockdown lifted and doors reopened four weeks ago, kids aged eight to 18 have been coming here for kick about with friends. A game of ping pong. And crucially for this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It made my additional needs worse, and then it made on top of that the anxiety as well. SOARES: The Center has now become a place where kids can open up and

begin to heal with mentoring and mindfulness sessions, a response to what staff here are calling a mental health crisis among young people. This is reflected in the latest UK government data, which suggests that one in six children may now be suffering a diagnosable mental health issue, up about 50 percent since 2017.

What did you experience during lockdown that you hadn't experienced before?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just this great cloud over my entire life.

SOARES: For many here that cloud never cleared. There were pressures of virtual learning and a digital divide.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I used to have the best grades.

SOARES: And anxieties about contracting or passing on the virus, loneliness and isolation. Outside of this group, doctors told us they've heard stories of chaotic home lives with some young people experiencing neglect, overcrowding and domestic abuse.

How many of you have seen your parents break down in tears? Um, I'm with you. T

KALEY MCDOUGALL, HEAD OF FUNDRAISING UNITAS YOUTH ZONE: There has been a really marked increase especially in Conondale of new households living below the poverty line often and it must be as an impact from the pandemic, people losing their jobs, people not being able to sustain housing. So yes, it's definitely getting worse.

SOARES: And multi-million dollar private outposts like this are few and far between. Charities and sector workers warn of an under resourced and oversubscribed support network, which children faces stark reality, get worse or don't get seen.

CHRIS MANN, HILLINGDON HOSPITAL MATRON: We're seeing double the amount, triple the amount of children we used to do pre COVID being admitted and there with a variety of self-harm. So that's children drawing attention to the fact that they've got a concern. They've got a worry and that's their way of expressing that. And also with eating disorders.

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SOARES: 17-year old Eesha tells me she faced physical and emotional pain as her health declined during lockdown.

EESHA PARASHARA: When I ate certain foods, or when I ate every meal on my stomach would hurt for about an hour and a bit afterwards, and then not going to the toilet for about two weeks or three weeks. And when you see I was really bloated. And then I looked to my body in different ways. I don't want putting on weight. Why am I not going to toilet? Is there something wrong?

SOARES: And you never had any of this before COVID? PARASHARA: Before COVID I - ask anyone I could not care less. I was a

foodie. I loved my food.

SOARES: Behind as she says, anxiety, loneliness and a constant presence of social media. Together, they became a toxic combination. Why were you worried about your image?

PARASHARA: Because you're at home, you aren't move in about and you're looking in the mirror every day thinking am I putting on weight?

SOARES: Lockdown loneliness has turned the children into the collateral damage of this Pandemic? Now it's no longer a question of if, but how this Pandemic will shape the generation. Isa Soares, CNN, London.

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CURNOW: Thanks Isa for that story. World Sport is next for our international viewers. For everyone else, the news continues.

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CURNOW: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Robyn Curnow. So the White House is set for a major push this week aimed at drumming up support for President Joe Biden's domestic infrastructure plan. Republicans have already declared the $2.3 trillion package to be too big. But the President has meetings this week with several key Republicans and Democrats.

White House correspondent Arlette Saenz has the details on what we can expect.

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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The White House is gearing up for its infrastructure push this week as President Biden is set to host Republican lawmakers here at the White House to talk about his proposal. The President has two meetings over the course of this week featuring Republican lawmakers, one of those being on Wednesday when he hosts the Big Four congressional leaders, which will include House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the first time the two men are coming to the White House here to meet with President Biden.

And this comes as the Senator McConnell has insisted that his focus is 100 percent on stopping the administration as they make progressive moves. Now the President has dismissed those comments from McConnell saying that they've worked together in the past and the President firmly believes that there are areas where he can cooperate with Republicans, and he believes that includes infrastructure.

That is what the focus of his meeting with Republicans on Thursday will be as he hosts a group of six GOP senators here at the White House to see if they can hammer out some type of deal on infrastructure. And the White House Chief of Staff in a new interview, talked about some areas where the President thinks he can find agreement.

RON KLAIN, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: What President Biden has said is that he wants to try to find common ground with Republicans on his economic measures that have been bipartisan in the past. And I think that's the thing, Mike, we need to focus on. Building bridges, building roads, connecting people with broadband, building electric charging stations for the roads of the future. All these things. These things shouldn't divide our two political parties.

SAENZ: While the President spent the Mother's Day weekend at Camp David, White House staff held internal meetings and continued their conversations with lawmakers on infrastructure. Members of the President's so-called jobs cabinet, including Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Secretary Jennifer Granholm will also continue talking to lawmakers over the course of the next week as the White House is heading into a critical period as they're trying to get bipartisan sign on to this proposal. Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.

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CURNOW: But divisions in Washington are hardening, not just between the two rival parties, but within the Republican establishment bears heavy tension as Republican lawmakers prepare to ask Liz Cheney from her leadership position. And it's all because she denounced former President Donald Trump's lies about the election being stolen.

Well, the House Minority Leader is now throwing his support behind Elise Stefanik, to replace Cheney for the number three post.

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KEVIN MCCARTHY, U.S. HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: Everyone in leadership serves at the pleasure of the conference. And as you know, there is a lot at stake. Democrats are destroying this nation. To defeat Nancy Pelosi in this socialist agenda, we need to be united and that starts with leadership. That's why we will have a vote next week. And we want to be united in looking, moving forward.

MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK ANCHOR: Do you support Elise Stefanik for that job?

MCCARTHY: Yes, I do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: Well, that vote could happen as early as Wednesday. Well, joining me now from New York, CNN political analyst and Princeton University historian Julian Zelizer. Julian, hi, lovely to have you on the show. So certainly going to be a big week because it feels like the Republican Party is very much trying to decide their ideological center here. JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think Liz Cheney is

challenging the direction of the party, even though she herself has been part of making the party. And she's finding a lot of pushback. To challenge the former president, to challenge the Republican leadership makes you an outlier. And so she's testing this to see how far she can go with this internal challenge.

CURNOW: Is it likely that she's going to be jettisoned? And with that in mind, who is there next in the sights of these pro-Trump supporters in the Senate particularly?

ZELIZER: Yes, I mean, I do think she'll be jettisoned. I think she knows that. I'm sure their eyes are on people like Senator Romney in the Senate who's been a problem for the administration. In the House, there's no comparable Republican who's caused that much trouble. Maybe Congressman Kinzinger of Illinois. So maybe some of those, but I think in the Senate, Senator McConnell feels like he has them pretty contained and the Romneys in the end won't cause that much trouble.

[02:50:00]

CURNOW: What does all this mean for President Biden's agenda then, particularly when it comes to the issue of infrastructure? They're going to be a lot of meetings this week. He's obviously put a put his, you know, his cards on the table calling for bipartisanship. How - how realistic is that?

ZELIZER: It's very difficult. Senator McConnell has made it very clear. He has literally said his objective is to block the administration from accomplishing anything, which is what he said with President Obama, and he was serious. So I think the administration will try to see if there's one or two Republican votes, he's open to possibly splitting apart the infrastructure package.

But most important, he'll try to use the bully pulpit to build pressure by appealing directly to Republican voters, even if Republican legislators won't play ball.

CURNOW: Yes, I mean, that was going to be my next question is about public sentiment? How much can this president urge ordinary Americans, whether they're Republicans or even Democrats, that something needs to be done here and that there needs to be some sort of pressure on those folks in DC?

ZELIZER: He could do it with infrastructure. That's something a lot of people care about. Everyone wants good bridges and roads, everyone wants broadband access. And I think the polls reflect that a lot of Republican voters aren't as closely aligned with their leaders, as the GOP would hope.

That said, I don't think anything is really going to move most of the Republicans on Capitol Hill, even their own electorate right now, but that's what the President is going to try to play on.

CURNOW: Where is there a point of compromise when it comes to these conversations the President is going to be having on infrastructures and some other projects? I mean, is it about tax? Avoiding tax increases? Is it about pushing for lower numbers? Where can these people come to some sort of agreement if possible?

ZELIZER: I think the only real possibility is to break this big bill apart and to focus in on one area where there does seem to be stronger Republican support. That's funding for traditional infrastructure projects, like bridges and roads, which cut across every state, red or blue, and then deal with the rest of the package in a different way, possibly through what's called the reconciliation package. I think that's the question, does he cut this apart?

And does he find one piece that he can secure some Republican support, and then just move forward with his own party?

CURNOW: Julian Zelizer, thank you very much for joining us. Have a good week.

ZELIZER: Thanks for having me.

CURNOW: A criminal group from Russia is believed to be responsible for a major cyber-attack that prompted a temporary shutdown of one of the largest fuel pipelines in the U.S. That's according to a former senior U.S. cyber official, who also tells us the criminal - the criminal group is known as the 'Dark side.' Well, the White House set up an interagency working group over the weekend in response.

The gas supplier Colonial Pipeline says some of its smaller lines are back up and running but their main lines are still down. The company transports nearly half of all fuel for the East Coast and there are concerns how the attack could impact fuel supply head of the summer travel season.

One Republican senator says protecting the nation's cyber security is something both parties can agree on.

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SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): It's going to take an ongoing relationship, by the way, a bipartisan relationship in which we better equip small businesses and large businesses to withstand cyber-attacks. I promise you this is something that Republicans and Democrats can work together on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: And now to a controversy in one of America's premier sporting events. The winner of last week's Kentucky Derby could be forced to forfeit that victory. Race officials say Medina Spirit tested positive for elevated levels of a drug that could have given him an unfair advantage. But the horse's trainer is vowing to fight the allegations ahead of the next leg of the Triple Crown. Our CNN Sport's Carolyn Manno report on this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS: Medina spirits Kentucky Derby when is in doubt after a positive drug test revealed traces of an anti- inflammatory that can mask health issues in horses before race. I spoke with Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, and he unequivocally denied any wrongdoing, and said that this drug was not administered to his Kentucky Derby winning horse.

He was however emotional after learning the news and speaking with reporters earlier this morning.

BOB BAFFERT, MEDINA SPIRIT HORSE TRAINER: Yesterday, I got the biggest gut punch in racing for something that I didn't do, and it's really, it's disturbing. It's an injustice to the horse.

MANNO: We're now waiting on the results of additional tests that will ultimately determine whether or not the horse is disqualified as a Kentucky Derby winner.

[02:55:00]

And Bob Baffert also has the right to appeal those results, as well a process that could take a very long time to adjudicate. Churchill Downs has also suspended Bob Baffert from training, or running any horses on their property until the situation is resolved. A result that he told me was incredibly disappointing as he has a lot of respect for the Kentucky Derby as he put it, and would never do anything to jeopardize a result there.

In the meantime, organizers of the Preakness Stakes are gathering their own information as the second leg of the Triple Crown is right around the corner scheduled for next Saturday. They will ultimately determine whether or not Medina Spirit will be allowed to run there. Carolyn Manno, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: And finally this hour the whale is free. We've been following a small Minke whale that was stranded in the River Thames in London. While early on Monday, good news after being stuck for almost four hours, the whale is now back in the main river. Thanks to rescuers who actually carried it there using inflatable stretches.

The whale was first spotted on Sunday and it's believed to be about three meters or about 10 feet long. One onlooker said it was exciting to watch the rescue but also very upsetting. Some good news there. So thanks for watching CNN, I'm Robyn Curnow, you can follow me on Twitter and on Instagram @RobynCurnowCNN. I'm going to hand you over to my colleague, Rosemary Church. She's next.

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