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Israel's Opposition Party Double Their Time to Form Coalition Government; Opposition is United to Bring Netanyahu Down; Asia Struggle to Contain Coronavirus; WHO Approves Sinovac Vaccine; Peru Breaks the Highest COVID Death Toll Per Capita; Journalists Targeted by Military in Myanmar; Belarusian Activist Stabbed Himself While on Trial; Show of Unity Seen in NATO Territories; Operation Allied Sky Over All NATO Nations; Variant Fears Jeopardize U.K. Reopening; Strain Suspected To Be Hybrid Of Variants Detected In U.K. And India; Tiananmen Square Museum Closed; Sri Lanka Warns Sinking Cargo Ship Could Spill Oil; Uproar Over Naomi Osaka's Withdrawal. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired June 02, 2021 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead here on CNN newsroom, rival political parties in Israel scrambling to make a deal that could bring the -- largest running prime minister. We are live in Jerusalem.

Scientists in the U.K. are ringing the alarm, warning their government not to lift all COVID restrictions too soon.

And a burned cargo ship near the Sri Lankan coast is on the verge of sinking and threatening to unleash an environmental disaster.

Good to have you with us.

Well, Israeli politicians are working to push the country's longest serving prime minister from office have less than a day to stitch together a new government. Centrist Yair Lapid and religious nationalist Naftali Bennett face a deadline of midnight Wednesday about 14 hours from now to pull it off. If they can do it, and the Knesset approves, their coalition would end 12 years in power for Benjamin Netanyahu and usher in a new era in Israeli politics.

So, let's go live to Jerusalem. And journalist Elliott Gotkine, he joins us now. Good to see you, Elliott. So, what is the latest on efforts to pull together this governing coalition deal and what's Benjamin Netanyahu's likely next move?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Rosemary, they are still out there. They are still negotiating. They pretty much have been going at it since Sunday. And the final impediment to the possible coalition that is being discussed seems to be a demand by Naftali Bennett from the Yamina Party. His number two, Ayelet Shaked, demanding a position on a committee that decides on the appointment of judges.

Now if this coalition goes over the line, it would have two places on this committee. And they have kind of, most of the parties involved have agreed that one of those roles would go to someone from the right. In this instance, probably Gideon Sa'ar from New Hope Party who is going to be justice minister if his coalition goes over the line. And one for someone from the center or left, probably.

And that's been promised to Merav Michaeli the leader of the left-wing Labour Party. But Ayelet Shaked who is a former justice minister is demanding that she have, Merav Michaeli's place instead.

That seems to be the final stumbling block preventing Yair Lapid from going to the president the speaker of the Knesset and saying I've nailed it. I've got a coalition government. We can now go to that in the Knesset.

That said, a source close to the negotiations told me that there was significant progress overnight. And nearly everything is done. But as we know, it's not until it's all done.

CHURCH: Absolutely right. Elliott Gotkine, joining us live from Jerusalem. Many thanks.

Dov Waxman is professor and chair of Israel studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Thank you so much for joining us.

DOV WAXMAN, PROFESSOR AND CHAIR OF ISRAEL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES: Thank you for having me on the program.

CHURCH: So, this anti-Netanyahu coalition is sprinting to the finish line in an effort to oust the long-time prime minister from power but it's not over yet. How likely is it that Netanyahu could cling to power and take the country to a fifth election?

WAXMAN: I wouldn't put it past him. Netanyahu is. If Netanyahu is a political survivor, a wily tactician and he's going to be doing everything he possibly can to sabotage this new coalition, right down to the last minute, right down to the vote that will need to take place in the Knesset to approve this government up until the very last minute. He will do everything he can to try and win over some of the defectors from this coalition and to prevent it from coming into being.

But I think he's out of tricks. I think nobody believes his promises any longer, and I think there really is a strong desire on the part of all these coalition members to come together and to make it happen. So, it doesn't look like Netanyahu is going to be able this time to cling on to power.

CHURCH: And it has to be said, this is a truly ideologically diverse national unity government, motivated right now by one purpose, to get rid of Netanyahu. But if they achieve that, how will this politically diverse coalition be and how long do you think it will likely last?

[03:05:00] WAXMAN: Well, it will certainly be a very unyielding coalition. It's going to include a secular leftist, it's going to depend upon the support of Islamist in parliament, it's going to include right wingers and centrists. So, it really is going to include a whole range of different parties with different agendas and different voters. And so, it's going to be a real challenge for it to stay together.

Certainly, it's going to be fragile. But I think the glue that will hold the coalition together is this desire to keep Netanyahu out of power. Not just to depose him now, but to ensure that he doesn't return.

So that I think will be one fact that will encourage them to stick together. Another is the desire. I think on the part of Bennett who will be prime minister for the first two years and Lapid who will be -- who is destined to be prime minister for the second two years. To really make it work, bennet has to prove to his voters who at the moment are really oppose to this government coming to being, that it was a good decision and that he can work.

Lapid would want to become prime minister. So, I think there's a lot riding on it and there is a lot at stake for both of those leaders to try to hold this coalition together, but I very much doubt it's going to remain in power for its full term in office for the full four years.

CHURCH: And for however long this coalition government last, where will they likely stand when it comes to the Palestinians and finding peace in the region?

WAXMAN: Well, the Palestinian issue is one of the many issues in which they are going to be very divided. So, I think there is really no likelihood that this is going to be a government that is going to be able to make peace with the Palestinians or even significantly change Israel's current policies towards the Palestinians whether they be in the West Bank or in the Gaza Strip.

For the most part, I think the focus will be on domestic issues, particularly on economic issues where there is greater agreement and really to try to bring the different parts of Israeli society that have been increasingly polarized in recent years, to try to bring them together, to try to dial down some of the divisive rhetoric and to project more unity.

So, I think for Israelis there will an attempt to bring Israelis together. But I think it's going to be very little effort to bring Israel and the Palestinians together.

CHURCH: And just very quickly, what about Iran and the nuclear program and of course relations with the Unites States?

WAXMAN: Well, again, on the issue of Iran, there is going to be more continuity than change in so far as the, I think, agreed policy for this -- for the next government if it comes into being will be to oppose the Iranian nuclear program and a renewed nuclear agreement with Iran. But the tactics that they may adopt will be, I think somewhat less confrontational than Netanyahu's tactics, have been less combative. And so, I think that also bodes well for U.S.-Israel relations. Just having a different leader at the helm is likely to improve the U.S.-Israeli relationship.

CHURCH: Professor Dov Waxman, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

WAXMAN: My pleasure. Thank you.

CHURCH: The number of new coronavirus infections worldwide has been falling for the last five weeks according to the World Health Organization. But in parts of Asia there are still calls for concern. COCID infections and deaths remain high in India. Health experts now urging the country to make COVID vaccines free.

Malaysia has ended a strict two-week lockdown to curb a surge in infections there. Meanwhile, Vietnam is working to confirm a new variant which appears to be a hybrid of two highly transmissible strains. Health officials say it has characteristics of variants found in India and the U.K.

And China has reported at least 12 new COVID infections in a growing outbreak in Guangzhou. Authorities have sealed off parts of the city to curb the spread.

Well more countries will soon have access to China's Sinovac coronavirus vaccine. The WHO has approved the two -dose shot for emergency shots. Meaning it will be added to the WHO's vaccine sharing program known as COVAX which is facing severe shortages after India suspended its vaccine exports.

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TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Today, I'm happy to announce that the Sinovac coronavirus vaccine has been WHO emergency use listing after being found to be safe, effective, and quality assured following two dose of the inactivated vaccine. Furthermore, the easy storage requirements of Coronavac make it very suitable for low resource settings. It's now the eight vaccine to receive EUA by WHO.

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CHURCH: And CNN's Steven Jiang joins me now from Beijing. Good to see you, Steven.

So now that the China's Sinovac vaccine has been approved for emergency use by the WHP. Which countries will receive it and what percentage of China's population has already been fully vaccinated with Sinovac?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Well, Rosemary, according to the government's latest figure more than 600 million doses of vaccines have been given to people here but they did not provide a breakdown between different types. And there are several homegrown options available here.

But the company, Sinovac have said that four -- more than 430 million doses of its vaccine have been administered around the world including here domestically in China. So, no matter how you look at it it's a huge number of people. And this latest approval from the WHO is definitely a shot in the arm -- sorry for the pun -- for the product because it has been -- it has not been without controversy.

Remember, previously we reported there have been questions about its relatively low efficacy. This product Sinovac vaccine its efficacy was just above the 50 percent threshold set by the WHO for any emergency use approval. And there have also been questions in the past about the methodology used in company's data as well as the perceived lack of transparency including the limited release of its clinical trial and safety data.

Now the company, and the Chinese government of course have always brushed these concerns aside. And now this approval from the U.N. agency obviously is very good news for this product which as you just heard has the advantage of not having very strict temperature control requirement in its storage and the transportation so it can be easily, more easily distributed to many developing countries around the world.

So, this is definitely good not only for the COVAX program but also for the Chinese government which has been increasingly visible and some would say assertive in its global vaccine diplomacy. Rosemary?

CHURCH: And Steven, how is China responding to the latest COVID outbreak in Guangzhou and how many cases are we talking about here?

JIANG: So, the number is actually relatively small. More than 50 new domestically transmitted cases since May 21st when the first case was detected. But by Chinese number though it's very alarming because the government here, especially local officials really want zero cases in their jurisdiction.

And they have responded very promptly and forcefully and taking a page from their familiar playbook, in terms of mass testing, very strict contact tracing and even lockdown and travel restrictions. But the key is, unlike when COVID first hit China when they are locking down entire cities or even provinces, now they are playing these measures with precision.

So, they are designating so called high risk and medium risk areas down to buildings, residential buildings. So in Guangzhou there are only two high-risk buildings and several residential buildings. And of course, there are some restrictions in terms of the people living the city have to show a negative test result.

But relatively speaking, they're trying to really strike a balance here between rapid containment and minimal disruption. But the key here of course is to finding the origin of this latest wave of cases. Because so far, they have not had any success. the first case was a 75-year-old local resident without any travel history and also this virus, the strain affecting the city right now is the Indian variant. So that's their focus right now, trying to getting to the bottom of how this woman was -- contracted this virus in the first place. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right. Steven Jiang joining us live from Beijing. Many thanks.

Brazil is now the last-minute host for South America's largest football tournament set to start in 11 days. The decision to move Cup America 2021 away from Argentina and Columbia has drawn criticism because of Brazil's ongoing struggles with the pandemic. Brazil even recorded the most COVID deaths worldwide last week according to the World Health Organization.

But Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is defending the move to host the tournament in his country. He says, and I'm quoting here, "I regret the deaths but we have to live."

Well, Peru's government has revealed what many already expected, that COVID-19 has been far deadlier than their -- than official numbers have shown there. Here's a look at the death toll. Before Monday's announcement just over 69,000. Now, tough, that number has more than doubled to nearly 181,000, that's the highest per death rate in the world.

Patrick Oppmann has a closer look.

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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For a long time, as they buried their dead in a staggeringly high numbers, Peruvians knew the fight against the coronavirus was being lost in their country. But only now is the true scope of their government's failure to respond to the pandemic coming in a clear view.

[03:15:05]

On Monday, Peruvian health officials acknowledge that they had vastly undercounted the victims of coronavirus and that a reexamination of the death toll showed that instead of nearly 70,000 fatalities, there were more than 180,000. At more than 500 deaths per 100,000 people Peru's pandemic mortality rate now stands as the highest in the world. Peruvians waiting outside hospitals for beds and oxygen for their loved ones said they had lost faith in their leaders.

"I don't know if the government lies to us or tells us the truth. You have that problem. There are dead being taken out of the hospital every day. They go into the hospital every day, and we don't know."

Peruvian health officials said they arrived at the new figures by combining different systems, tracking deaths, and looking at the overall increase in fatalities compared to recent years. Government officials said they did not try to cover up how many people actually died.

" We consider that it's our duty to make this updated information public," she says, "not only as part of our commitment to transparency but also to fulfill our obligations as a state." The revised death toll is unlikely to generate renewed confidence in their government among Peruvians and could influence who will lead the country as Peru goes to vote in a tight runoff presidential election. The vast discrepancy in the death toll maybe just one symptom of an overwhelmed health care that did not have enough oxygen cylinders or testing, or doctors.

"We believe that this occurs because our health care system does not have the necessary conditions to care for patients," he says. "There has not been government support with oxygen with ICU beds. We do not have enough vaccines at the moment."

The pandemic is still raging in Peru. And across much of the rest of Latin America whereas of the middle of May only 3 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated according to the Pan-American Health Organization. Whatever the full figures are, the true toll of the pandemic on this region will likely never be known.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN.

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CHURCH (on camera): Well, they are among the Myanmar junta's targets. Dozens of journalists who have been arrested. Coming, up the efforts to get a detained U.S. journalist released.

Plus, an exclusive look at a joint mission between U.S. and NATO bombers just weeks ahead of the highly anticipated summit between Russia and the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Operation Allied Sky taking aircraft within sight of Russia. It's part of a large-scale NATO mission involving more than 20 NATO members flying over NATO states and in part, it's a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:20:00]

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CHURCH (on camera): A U.S. journalist is spending his second week in detention in Myanmar. Daniel Fenster is one of the scores of journalists the military has targeted. He was detained as he tried to board a flight out of the country.

Anna Coren is in Hong Kong and she joins with the details. So, Anna, what is the latest on the detention of U.S. journalist Daniel Fenster?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, U.S. consulate officials in Yangon still have not had access to Daniel Fenster. As you say he has been behind bars now for more than a week. They are wanting assurances that he and fellow U.S. citizen Nathan Maung are being treated properly and that both are release to their families immediately.

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COREN (voice over): A curious mind with an empathetic heart driven by wanderlust. Danny Fenster knew that journalism was his calling.

DANNY FENSTER, MANAGING EDITOR, FRONTIER MYANMAR: I thought it might be interesting to show the kids how I commute around Yangon.

COREN: So, when the opportunity arose to move to Myanmar and cover this complicated country in Southeast Asia, the Detroit native jumped at it, eventually landing a position at the independent online news outlet Frontier Myanmar as the managing editor.

But when the military staged a coup on February 1st, sparking wide scale protests followed by a bloody crackdown, Danny and his colleagues soon realized their profession made them a target.

BEN DUNANT, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, FRONTIER MYANMAR: There is no safe way of doing journalism. It is a job that you're doing inside a country at extreme risk but it's an extremely one. And I think for a long time in Myanmar being a foreign national was seen as a protection.

COREN: Not anymore.

FENSTER: I miss you so much. I can't wait to get home and see you.

COREN: When 37-year-old Danny tried to board a flight to Kuala Lumpur then on to the United States just over a week ago, authorities arrested him.

BUDDY FENSTER, DANNY FENSTER'S FATHER: Their efforts to squelch journalism it kills life and it kills freedom, it kills truth. And I think that they just need to let him go immediately. He has not committed any crime there.

COREN: He is the fourth foreign national among the more than 80 journalists who have been arrested since the coup began. Another U.S. journalist, Nathan Maung, was also detained back in March when his offices were raided. A family friend of Nathan's told CNN that the editor-in-chief of Kamayut Media was tortured for two weeks after his arrest.

The 44-year-old and his local producer were severely beaten around their heads, burnt on their stomach, buttocks, and thighs with cigarettes, and made to kneel on ice while their hands were handcuffed behind them during interrogations. The committee to protect journalist has describe the abuse as unconscionable.

Both Danny and Nathan are being held in the notorious insane prison, a monument to brutality. Housing more than 10,000 prisoners of which hundreds are political prisoners. The squalid conditions and acts of torture behind these gates are well documented from those who survived to tell their stories.

UNKNOWN: There are many, many people in that who are going through hell right now and they have done nothing wrong.

COREN: Owen, we are not using his real name due to safety concerns, was one of Danny's closest friends in Myanmar. He left the country back in April as the crackdown against journalists escalated.

UNKNOWN: The longer you stayed on the more risk you were taking of them one day coming into your own house and taking you away as well.

COREN: According to the human rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, more 830 civilians have been killed in Myanmar, also known as Burma, in the last four months. And more than 4,300 have been arrested. Danny's wife remains in Myanmar, while his family back in Michigan worked tirelessly to keep his detention in the headlines.

UNKNOWN: I'm going to miss you so much.

COREN: Hoping and praying that the U.S. government can negotiate their son's release.

ROSE FENSTER, DANNY FENSTER'S MOTHER: It's a total nightmare. It's a total feeling have no control. It's heart wrenching and I just want my son home, no matter what it takes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN (on camera): Yes, you can't imagine what these families are going through, Rosemary. Danny's family has set up an online petition hash tag, bring home Danny, lobbying the U.S. President Joe Biden, as well as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to secure Danny's release.

[03:24:57]

In relation to Nathan Maung and those claims of torture, we put them to the U.S. State Department, but they declined to comment. The military has now charged Nathan under their newly imposed fake news law, which carries a sentence of up to three years behind bars. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Anna Coren bringing us the latest on that from Hong Kong. Many thanks.

A Belarusian opposition activist stabbed himself in the throat during a court hearing Tuesday in Minsk. The images are disturbing, although a local human rights watchdog says his wounds are not life- threatening. The rights group says Steffan Latypov harmed himself in court because he says authorities threatened his family.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more details, but I need to caution you his report also contains disturbing images.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well some very troubling scenes in that courtroom in Minsk as the activist Steffan Latypov stabbed himself in the neck while he was on trial. And all of this happened after Latypov's father actually gave witness testimony and that it was then that Latypov himself started speaking, and he said that he had been pressured by the authorities, that they had threatened to go after him but to also go after his neighbors and his family as well.

It was then that he stabbed himself in the neck, and one of the things about those trials in Belarus is that very often the defendant is in some sort of cage. In this case, he then collapsed inside that cage and workers in the courtroom went inside and got him out. He was then carried on a gurney outside, and a human rights group said that he was actually in surgery on Tuesday but that luckily his wounds were not life-threatening.

Now all of this of course causing big uproar amongst the Belarusian opposition. The opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya she calls that a state terror. And the opposition has been calling for tougher action against the Belarusian regime, against Alexander lukashenko, the president of Belarus.

Of course, all of this also coming after the government in Belarus forced that Ryanair jet to land to then get the journalist and activists Roman Protasevich off that plane and arrest him and his Russian companion as well. The Belarusian opposition is saying that they demand tougher action against the government in Minsk especially of the Biden administration, and certainly that's also something that a lot of opposition activists are going to be looking at when President Biden meets with Vladimir Putin.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

CHURCH: And two weeks before that Biden-Putin summit, a show of unity and the skies over Europe and a clear message for the Russian president. U.S. aircraft joined NATO allies in a joint operation that took them overall 30 NATO countries.

Our Nic Robertson flew along and has this exclusive look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Twenty-seven thousand feet over Scotland.

UNKNOWN: NATO you clear the contact already, sir.

UNKNOWN: NATO.

ROBERTSON: Flying at 275 knots with British fighter jets for company.

UNKNOWN: Contact.

UNKNOWN: Contact. And it looks like we're taking in.

ROBERTSON: A U.S. Air Force B-52 long-range Stratofortress bomber refueling on a flight from Spain before returning to a NATO mission, Operation Allied Sky taking aircraft within sight of Russia.

It's part of a large-scale NATO mission involving more than 20 NATO members flying over NATO states. And in part, it's a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Two weeks ahead of President Biden's summit with Vladimir Putin, it's

a timely statement of the steel backing Biden's diplomacy. And puts NATO wings in the skies close to where a Belarus fighter jet forced a civilian passenger plane to land, arresting a Belarusian dissident and his Russian girlfriend, raising tensions.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I'll be meeting with President Putin in a couple of weeks in Geneva. Making it clear that we will not - we will not stand by and let him abuse those rights.

ROBERTSON: The U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker took off from southern England half an hour ahead of the refuel. Both tanker and bomber Cold War era aircraft, older than their air crew, but where this East/West tensions climbing, just as relevant as when they were built.

TODD BERGLUND, CAPTAIN, U.S. AIR FORCE: It is interesting. I mean, all the generations of pilots that have been able to fly it. It's updating every once in a while, but she is reliable and, you know, it's working. So, no real need to change it a lot.

ROBERTSON: The mission, according to NATO commanders, intended to demonstrate what they call credibility of common defense and enhanced readiness. For Captain Todd Berglund, a six-year tanker veteran and its crew, this day like all others in a Stratotanker, nothing left to chance.

[03:30:00]

CAPTAIN TODD BERGLUND, U.S. AIR FORCE: We have to be at a certain place on time with the right amount of gas all the time. So, a little bit of more pressure, but you know, we do it so often. And it's commonly comes a habit pattern and this is our profession so, it just what we do.

ROBERTSON: How much big NATO missions like this face Putin is hard to measure in a few weeks in Geneva when they meet Biden. We will be able to judge. Nic Robertson, CNN, somewhere over the U.K.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH (on camera): Well, Brits are anxiously awaiting a complete reopening from lockdown in just a few weeks from now, but new concerns over variant strains have experts saying not so fast. We will go to London, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well, a top U.K. scientist says if the country wants to avoid a third wave of coronavirus, it needs to delay its reopening plans. His is the latest voice to warn against a speedy reopening. Professor Adam Fin says this, we've still got a lot of people out there who've neither had this virus infection nor yet been immunized and that's why we are in a vulnerable position right now. In a dramatic development, the U.K. reported no virus related deaths

on Tuesday for the first time since the pandemic began. But experts and officials say a rise in variant infections cannot be ignored and reopening plans should be reconsidered.

CNN's Bianca Nobilo is following all of these developments from London. She joins us now live. Great to see you, Bianca. So, how likely is it that the government will reconsider reopening plans?

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN PRODUCER (on camera): Definitely not as likely as it was one or even two weeks ago. I spoke to somebody in government who put the odds now in about 50/50. That lined really well what the issue is here, as has been the case throughout most of the pandemic, the scientist who advised the U.K. government are taking a much more cautious approach than the ministers who are in government, who are keen to balance the risk with obviously the risk of the economy, the risk of people's mental health, being continued -- having to continuation of lockdown and also Boris Johnson's Conservative Party in Britain does have a chunk of it, that there are a lot more concerned with the economy.

[03:35:06]

And with the restriction of freedoms then keeping everyone indoors and trying to mitigate the public health impact. They just think that the cost-benefit analysis means that you should release the lockdown earlier.

So, that's the kind of state of affairs and the chorus of voices that are warning against Britain, relaxing all rules on social distancing and social contact on the 21st of June is growing. You mentioned one U.K. scientists. There have been many coming out over the last week.

And in the last couple hours, the chief national clinical director of Scotland has also come out warning that the country is on the precipice of a third wave. So, the first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has said that she's going to slow the relaxation of lockdown in some areas in Scotland. And this is a really critical development because it is the first sign within the United Kingdom that changes might have to be made to the initial plan as a result of the so-called Delta variant which is believed to have originated in India. Let's take a listen to what the First Minister had to say, Rosemary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLA STURGEON, FIRST MINISTER OF SCOTLAND: Indeed many public health experts are warning that the U.K. could, and I stress could may be at the start of (inaudible) of the virus. And obviously, it would be wrong to completely ignore that warning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: So, Rosemary, what we have going on now in United Kingdom are these parallel tracks, essentially. Those this phenomenal news for the first time in the history of the pandemic and in 400 days where there was no deaths reported within the United Kingdom. That was announced yesterday. And that's a tremendous place to be in. But at the same time we've now had over 3,000 cases per day for a week in United Kingdom which is a considerable rise.

Also it seems the last few days, deaths had been up for around 45 percent prior to that zero death milestone. There's also an increased in hospitalization and cases. Now we all know at this point, that deaths in hospitalization will lie considerably behind the number of cases. And there has really been an upsurge in Britain.

So, whoever I speak to in government or scientist refer to as being (inaudible), all hanging in the balance, it does seem like that balance is tipping towards a growing concern of a need to be more cautious and perhaps to slow down Britain's released and to lockdown, to try and mitigate any potential damage from this spread of this new variant.

And another concern, Rosemary, which is -- probably the chief concern among government ministers at the moment is, what is the incident of vaccine failure? Now when the trials are going on prior to this new variant which has now become the dominant strain in Britain. It seemed the vaccine were very effective, 60 percent in higher.

But because there has been an increase in cases, and those case do seemed to be in the younger generations that aren't fully vaccinated yet, it's difficult to say just how effective is the vaccine. Because that will ultimately be the key to determine of the freedom that Britain will be allowed to enjoy in the coming weeks, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Indeed, Bianca Nobilo joining us live from London, many thanks.

So, let's discuss this further with Keith Neal, a professor emeritus of epidemiology of infectious diseases at the University of Nottingham. Thank you so much for being with us.

KEITH NEAL, PROFESSOR EMERITUS, EPIDEMIOLOGY OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES. UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM: Good morning.

CHURCH: So, scientists suggest the U.K. is in the early stages of the third wave of COVID-19 infections or at least close to what fueled mainly by the Indian variant, how bad could this prove to be and should COVID restrictions remain in place instead of being lifted on June 21st?

NEAL: I think this is a complex case situation, because it's not the same pattern across the country. In fact many areas of United Kingdom have very few cases. And as I heard on the previous report that although parts of Scotland weren't actually relaxed. Other parts of Scotland on their islands have virtually got no COVID or no COVID restrictions.

And there are certainly parts of the United Kingdom particularly rural areas, where there is currently no COVID. I think we need to be concerned, because it is spreading. But we need to be looking at the number of people actually dying. And I think the figure in (inaudible) probably reflects the (inaudible) weekend. But we are running around 10 deaths a day. And the previous comments

say that they've gone up 45 percent, well, that's from -- on basically that's from six to 10 and that's really within random variation. The cases are going up, but they mainly affecting younger people, particularly school age and just above. And these people do not seem to get seriously ill.

There is a small risk of long COVID, but we are not going to see a big wave in deaths and hospitalizations like we did before simply because of the vaccine is working.

[03:40:00]

CHURCH: That's very good news, obviously. And talking about variants. We are seeing a new COVID variants pop up. Vietnam detected a suspected hybrid of the highly transmissible U.K. and Indian strains. How concerned are you about that? What do you think we may see as a result of that?

NEAL: I think we are always going to keep facing variants for as long as we have got COVID, which might be as long as both our lives. Because eradicating a disease like this is going to be difficult, particularly if we don't vaccinate young children. When (inaudible) many sides of doing that. In fact, we are going to have to treat it like we do seasonal flu.

And (inaudible) the great thing about the RNA vaccines is that we can change them very quickly, and the evidence from the United Kingdom which has the greatest capacity in the world, and we are sequencing all our strains that have sufficient material. Our vaccines are still showing something like 90 percent effectiveness against the Indian strain after two doses. They are not so good after one dose.

CHURCH: It's critical isn't it? And then of course, Peru has more than doubled its official COVID death toll after a government review of the numbers and now has the highest COVID death rate per capita in the world. What's your reaction to that? Do you think other nations perhaps need to take another look at their official numbers, perhaps many nations are underestimating?

NEAL: I think that's a very good point and totally true. The under report, I have seen under reporting figures even from the states is really quite high. Which in we think we are only reporting by 20 percent. But that's actually better than most countries in Europe. And that's one of the reasons we look one of the worse. Certainly, the only way of ever assessing the total impact of COVID is to look at what we call excess deaths, which look at the number of deaths that occurred over above the (inaudible) trends of the preceding years.

CHURCH: That seems to be the best way of assessing that. Professor Keith Neal, we'll have to leave it there, thank you so much for talking with us. We appreciate it.

NEAL: Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement takes another hit. A museum commemorating the Tiananmen Square protest closes just days before the anniversary of the massacre. The reason why when we return.

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CHURCH: Hong Kong's June 4th museum has temporarily closed amid a government probe. It's been open for 10 years documenting the 1989 massacre at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The closure comes just days after organizers lost an appeal to allow a vigil commemorating the Tiananmen Square protests. And CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joins me now from Hong Kong with more on this. So, Kristie, what is going on with this closure of Hong Kong's June 4th museum?

[03:45:08]

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, ahead of a very sensitive anniversary to take place this Friday, the June 4th museum here in Hong Kong has temporarily closed over a licensing issue. What we know is this, on Tuesday, officers from Hong Kong's food and environmental hygiene department paid the museum a visit. It's located in the (inaudible) district in Hong Kong and launched an investigation into its operating license.

The museum's organizers has resulted to sudden to temporarily close the museum until further notice as it seeks legal advice. But the museum had only just recently reopened, showing a new exhibit starting from Sunday detailing the over 30-year history of the Tiananmen vigil here in Hong Kong.

And for two years running now, Hong Kong police have banned the once annual Tiananmen vigil citing coronavirus restrictions. I should not that on Tuesday, the city of 7.5 million people Hong Kong has only reported one new local case of the virus. The pandemic has largely been brought under control here.

Now, before the closure of the Tiananmen June 4th museum in Hong Kong and before one of its organizers Lee Cheuk Yan was jailed for his role in the 2019 Hong Kong protest, we went to the museum, CNN spoke to Lee Cheuk Yan and he detailed the importance of memory and the importance of remembering and learning from the past. I want you to take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE CHEUK YAN, HONG KONG PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST: No matter what happens, this new generation, the young generation will also have that remembrance of June 4th. But the problem is how about the next one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: You can hear from Lee Cheuk Yan there that he is concerned about how the memory of Tiananmen will endure in Hong Kong when the vigil has been banned. And now, the future of the museum is in question. Now we know that the museum's organizers, they have also been caring up this crowd sourced fund-raising campaign over the last year. They have raised money for an online version of the museum.

Rosemary, they've managed to raise hundreds of thousands of U.S. Dollars. They are building a digital virtual June the 4th museum. But when we approached museum organizers today and asked them, when is that going to go live, they said because of the political environment? That is uncertain. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Alright. Kristie Lu Stout, joining us live from Hong Kong with the latest on that, I appreciate it.

Well, Sri Lanka warns a cargo ship which is sinking off its coast could soon start spilling oil. The government says the back of the ship's haul has been breached and it's filling with water. The ship had been on fire for almost two weeks. Emergency measures are now in place to try and prevent environmental damage to a nearby lagoon and wildlife.

And our Will Ripley is following the developments for us from Taipei. Good to see you, Will. So, what is the latest on the ship and the environmental impact it may have?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It's certainly is a huge surprise, Rosemary, given that the ship has been burning for two weeks. There was a lot of fear that it could sink. Which is why they had been on the process of trying to tow it out to sea. But now that it's taking on water, that process is becoming more difficult and there has been a warning issued by the marine environmental protection authority for western and southern Sri Lanka along the coast to prepare for an imminent oil spill.

When you have more than 300 metric tons, that's more than 300,000 kilograms of oil that could potentially spill into the ocean that is going to be make the water around the ship incredibly toxic, which is why fishing in the area is now suspended. So, of course you also have in addition to this catastrophic environmental impact, you also have a loss of livelihood for the fishermen who rely on these waters to make their living.

And a cleanup that was already supposed to take potentially weeks, could now stretch into months and even years if these oil spills. There is a contingency plan that's in place for oil in Sri Lanka, but they have no plan for the hazardous chemicals that are leaking out of the ship or the three to four billion plastic micro pellets, the kind of pellets that they used to make plastic products that are now also spilling out and washing up on the shore.

So, what was already on track to be Sri Lanka's worst ever environmental disaster has just gone a whole lot worse, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And Will, of course the concern is all of the damage to the water, to the wildlife. Talk to us about, you know, what needs to happen in terms of trying to find out what caused this and stopping anything like this from happening again.

RIPLEY: Well, you know, the step, number one -- the most urgent pressing concern is to protect the environment. When you have several local species of turtles, some of which are in danger when you have fish that could likely swallow these plastic micro palettes, you have a whole ecosystem that is now in jeopardy as a result of this. [03:50:07]

You have -- you know, you have fishing suspended. You have cleanup efforts underway and there's also an investigation into what caused this explosion two weeks ago on this ship. Now, they are speaking with the crew members who are currently in quarantine, but this is the kind of thing. When you have ships that are carrying oil and chemicals and cargo, that is, you know, always a potential risk.

And so mitigating that risk, creating containers that can withstand an explosion, and two weeks of fire is certainly very important, because the damage that Sri Lanka is seeing right now as a result of the container as you are talking about, a handful of containers that have leak to their contents.

There are around 1,400 large containers on this ship. So, basically anything and everything that is in them, including chemicals, of which their containers have likely melted after two weeks of fire, is now at risk of contaminating the western coast, and potentially even the southern coast of Sri Lanka, because they are also in a situation where they have monsoon rains and very turbulent seas. So, the concern is that this pollution will spread.

So, containing the damage is step number one. Investigating this explosion and the cause of it and preventing it from happening again, of course is a bigger and more pressing concern for -- not just for Sri Lanka, but all of us around the world.

CHURCH: Yes, I mean, it's just heartbreaking to think of the impact of this. Will Ripley bringing us up to date on that from Taipei, many thanks.

Well, Naomi Osaka pulling out of the French Open has caused an uproar in the tennis world. But she has powerful supporters in her corner. How the reaction to her decision has evolved. We are back in a moment.

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CHURCH: It says a lot when one of the world's best tennis player decides to sit out one of the most important tournaments rather than be forced to talk to the media. World number two, Naomi Osaka exiting the French Open for mental health reasons has rattled the tennis world. But her sponsors and other top athletes from inside and outside tennis are coming to her defense.

And the organizers of the grand slam tournaments are also starting to show a little understanding. So, let's bring in World sports Patrick Snell. Good to see you Patrick. So, Naomi Osaka has shun a spotlight on some critical issues that need addressing clearly. What is being said about all of this?

PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS REPORTER (on camera): Yes, there's no question, Rosemary. Thank you so much. This is a powerful statement of intent from the Japanese superstar, no question about that. And it's about time that people sit up and take notice, including organizers of the tennis' four grand slam events. Overwhelming support we are seeing now coming in by enlarge from across the sporting spectrum, no question about that.

From the world of golf, basketball, and of course tennis. Men's top rank star, Novak Djokovic showing his support as well. We'll get to that in just a moment. But let's dig deeper a little bit into their reaction that continues to come in this day.

Meantime, we had Serena Williams earlier in the week weighing in on this. Now oldest sibling, Venus, speaking after her first round defeat in the French capital, about the Osaka (inaudible), how she deals with certain types of questions from reporters and of course those media obligations. Take a listen.

[03:55:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VENUS WILLIAMS, SEVEN TIME MAJOR CHAMPION: For me personally, how I deal with it as I know every single person asking me a question, can't play as well as I can and never will, so no matter what you say or what you are write, you will never light a candle to me. So, that's how I deal with it. But each person deals with it differently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNELL: Very true indeed. Now, I mentioned, Rosemary, the world number one from Soviet, Novak Djokovic, on the men's side of the game, he won his first round match at (inaudible), Tuesday, but his focus also has been very much on what's been happening with Naomi Osaka. Take a listen to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NOVAK DJOKOVIC, 2019 WIMBLEDON MEN'S SINGLE CHAMPION: I support her. I think she was very brave to do that. I'm really sorry that she is going through painful times and suffering mentally as what I have heard. This was -- I must say very bold decision from her side, but she knows how she feels best, and if she needs to take time and reflect and just recharge, and you know, that's what she needed to do. And I respect her fully and I hope that she will come back stronger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNELL: And you said it earlier, Rosemary, powerful voices now speaking up for her. Remember, Osaka withdrew from the event and indeed from the world of tennis for now, at least following a warning from organizers the possible expulsion from (inaudible) could come if she continued to avoid those press conferences. That's what triggered all of this.

When it happen very quickly, the joint statement we got from the four slams which came on Tuesday, it reads in part, is what they are saying now, I want to stress, what they are saying now, we wish to offer Naomi Osaka our support and assistance in any way possible if she takes time away from the court.

She is an exceptional athlete and we look forward to her return as soon as she deems appropriate. Mental health is a very challenging issue which deserves our utmost attention. It is both complex and personal, as what affects one individual does not necessarily affect another.

Again, very important words there. You know, Naomi Osaka, Rosemary has a very powerful platform indeed. I feel she is once again using it to great effect. It's going to be really, really interesting to follow this one carefully, see where it goes, and see what impact and see what's changed this leads to moving forward, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes. She is already changing thoughts and minds. Patrick Snell, many thanks, I appreciated it. And thank you for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with more news after this quick break.

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