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Fauci Fears Variant Worse than Delta Could be on its Way; Global Cases Top 200 Million as Delta Variant Spreads; WHO Wants Moratorium on Booster Shots Through September; Wildfires Spreading Across Southern Europe; Israel Warplanes Strike "Rocket Launch Sites" in Lebanon; Medals on the Line in 12 Sports including Karate; Games Go On Despite Tokyo's Fourth State of Emergency; Recent Attacks Underscore Taliban Threat to Security; Civil War Looms as Taliban Move to Capture Territory. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired August 05, 2021 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm JOHN VAUSE. Coming up this hour on CNN Newsroom, a global milestone amid a COVID resurgence bringing warnings of a more contagious, dangerous variant is likely a question of when not here.
In Turkey, firefighters appear to be losing the battle to save a coal fueled power plant. The surrounding area now evacuated amid fears of a major explosion.
Day 13 of the Olympic Games, karate makes it a boost sensation on the track and a ton of medals up for grabs. Patrick's now will have it all.
For a year and a half now as our battle with the coronavirus pandemic has (inaudible) flowed there has been one constant, a relentless upward climbing number of infections and deaths. And now the official number of confirmed infections is past 200 million. Now new surge is being driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, the outer bands of an oncoming flood of new patients who see healthcare systems once again under pressure and feeling the strain. Three countries, the United States, India and Brazil account for more than 40% of all those cases, almost 3% of the world's population has now been infected since the pandemic began, a number that would equal the eighth most populous country in the world.
In the U.S. the CDC says the Delta variant now accounts for more than 90% of COVID cases. There are long lines at testing sites something not seen in a long time. With some states like Arkansas running low on ICU beds.
China is also scrambling to control a Delta varied outbreak, millions being tested in the city of Wuhan. That's where the COVID pandemic began. CNN's Steven Jiang monitoring all of this from Beijing. So Steve, just brings up say the situation in China, in particular, a Wuhan, that seems especially troubling?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: That's why it's both quite symbolic and poignant. We've also almost come to a full circle now. And we've actually already seen social media posts and videos of people emptying supermarket shelves to stock up on food and supplies with their memories of that brutal three month lockdown from last year, obviously still very much raw. But what the officials in Wuhan have been doing is really echoing their counterparts across the country. That is they're determined to err on the side of over caution. That's why you've seen them order the city wide testing of 11 million residents when fewer than 10 cases were reported. And even up to now they have just recorded 12 cases. But this familiar playbook now that is multiple rounds of mass testing and extensive contact tracing being deployed across the country because they are genuinely concerned about this, the spread of this cluster of Delta Varian cases which shows no sign of abating.
The latest figure we got from the government was on Wednesday, they recorded 94 new locally transmitted cases obviously pales in comparison to what we're seeing in many parts of the world, including the U.S., but in this country, they hadn't seen this level of infections for months. And that's why, you know, they are increasingly at the local level, re-impose draconian measures we hadn't seen for a long time, including also mass quarantine of 1000s of people for just a handful of cases that happened in Wuhan, and also here in Beijing and local officials and also telling residents not to leave town in the middle of the peak summer travel season, as more and more tourist attractions and airports have been shut down.
And among the latest developments was national immigration authorities announcing they're going to stop issuing or renewing Chinese people's passports for any non-essential, non-emergency travel in their in their effort to further restrict cross border travel.
But of course, China's borders have been largely sealed for well over a year. So all of this is also part of the government narrative that all of the more recent clusters or outbreaks have something to do with people or goods from overseas, that's why securing borders remains a top priority. But John, all of this is another indication that they're sticking to their current approach of zero tolerance towards locally transmitted cases, even though there are growing questions about the long term sustainability of this policy. John.
VAUSE: Yeah, it's looking sort of an increasingly fragile approach to take when it comes to the Delta variant in particular. Steven, thank you. Steven Jiang in Beijing.
As more countries consider a COVID booster shot, the World Health Organization is calling for a moratorium for the next two months, so more people around the world can get their first vaccine dose before wealthy countries give out a third. CNN's Larry Madowo has details from Nairobi.
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LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've noticed a growing demand for vaccines here in Kenya and around the continent as more African countries report new cases of the data variant. I was at a vaccination site in Nairobi where some people told me, they knew they had to get the shot on this. So just how many new cases of the Delta variants are being reported here, except they're just not enough shots available here in Kenya, or in most parts of the continent. That's what the World Health Organization is talking about here. Of the 4 billion vaccines administered globally so far 80% went to high and middle income countries, and the poor nations just don't have enough,
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, WHO DIRECTOR GENERAL: I understand the concern of all governments to protect their people from the Delta abundant. But we cannot and we should not accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccines, using even more of it, while the world's most vulnerable people remain unprotected.
MADOWO: The World Health Organization is essentially appealing to rich nations to go easy on booster shots until at least 10% of the population in every country is vaccinated by September. Most African nations, for instance, will miss that target. The big problem here is that rich nations are the biggest producers, the biggest consumers, the biggest donors of COVID-19 vaccines, unless the virus is eliminated in this part of the world. Nobody's safe because the virus mutates and new variants will make their way all over the world. So this is still a global problem. Even though many people here in Africa do not feel that we're in this together. Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.
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VAUSE: Vaccine demand is growing in Africa. Many Americans who have access to ample supplies of vaccines still do not want the shot. On Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci issued a stark warning for those refusing to be vaccinated, saying there could be a variant that's lingering out there that can push aside Delta. If another one comes along that has an equally high capability of transmitting but also is much more severe, then we really could be in trouble.
Dr. Dennis Carroll is an infectious disease expert and the former Director of the Emerging Threats Division at the U.S. Agency for International Development. He joins us now from Washington, D.C. Welcome back. It's good to see you.
DENNIS CARROLL, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT: Good to see you, John.
VAUSE: You know, from the beginning, it seems the threat from the COVID mutations was underestimated. You're mostly we're told virus mutations happen all the time. Nothing to worry about that is until the Alpha variant came along caused a spike in infections last year that was followed by beta which seemed to target young people making them sick. Gamma then re-infected those who already had COVID. We all know about Delta and now there comes word of Delta plus, which could be even more contagious. But even if Delta plus is not the next dominant strain worldwide, is there any reason to assume the Delta variant represents some kind of ceiling in terms of infectiousness of the coronavirus?
CARROLL: No, not at all. Look, one of the prime directives of all viruses is to evolve and adapt. And, you know, what we're seeing, and we've seen over the last year and a half, is really a poster child of this directive. We've seen the viruses, each step along the way, figure out how they can make themselves more infectious, and able to spread more widely. And even in the face of the vaccine, they're learning how to adapt and evolve. So it's a, you know, this is a situation where the virus is very flexible, very adaptable. And unless we bring the same kind of rigorous adaptation to our response, we're going to find ourselves very much victimized by this virus.
VAUSE: And when it comes to mutation, the rate of mutation of COVID-19 I was reading, it's considered to be relatively low. But where does have an advantage is the sheer number of people who are infected or have been infected 200 million confirmed cases worldwide, which is likely a fraction of the actual real world number. So if just one infected person can carry 10 billion copies of the virus, they become a mutation breeding ground and away producing billions of mutations every day. If a more deadly, more contagious variant emerges only once in every million trillion mutations, that just becomes a numbers game, doesn't it because especially in light of the fact that there is so few people who are being vaccinated either by choice or because they don't actually have access to vaccines?
CARROLL: Well, this is the real important storyline here is that we're looking at a virus which is spread around the world. And the vaccines are very localized, they're very limited to a number of countries.
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And we really have to change our strategy around vaccination that we have to follow the virus and not simply continue to vaccinate within our own geopolitical borders. So you've seen, you know, the disparity, Europe, North America 50, 60, 70% of the populations were vaccinated, but you look across Africa and South America and parts of Asia, and you're looking at 1, 2, 3, 5% vaccinated, those areas that are under vaccinated are the breeding grounds for all of these new variants. And unless we take a strategy that focuses on where the virus is we're to continue to be vulnerable to new variants emerging, and the consequences of those variants, ultimately, potentially, you know, outmaneuvering, our vaccines, that is the horror story that we're all concerned about, that you know, a virus that is able to adapt, and ultimately, you know, freely infect, even among highly vaccinated people. So, unless we begin to use vaccines in a way that are targeted to prevent the spread of the virus, instead of protecting people within very specific countries, we're going to be very vulnerable. So we have a very big issue ahead of us. Is this a global problem that requires a global response? Or is it one that is a response that continues to be nationalized, particularly among the wealthy countries.
VAUSE: It does seem that there has been a lack of global coordination from the very get-go of a roll up and taken off by the United States which seem to have been left vacant. Hopefully that will change. Dennis Carroll, as always, thank you so much for being with us.
CARROLL: John, thank you very much.
VAUSE: Australia's biggest city has been under lockdown now for six weeks and authorities have extended the stay at home order to the Hunter Valley just north of Sydney. Many though have become increasingly angry and frustrated over the strict pandemic restrictions. CNN's Paula Hancocks has details.
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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A nurse talks her patient through his COVID-19 vaccine with the help of a translator. At a makeshift clinic in the immigrant rich Sydney suburb of Bankstown, this was a sports club six weeks ago, when COVID-19 was almost forgotten in Sydney, when months would go by without a single locally contracted case. But now the Delta variant is spreading quickly. And unequal disease hurting working class neighborhoods like Bankstown.
MARK CONDI, CEO, BANKSTOWN SPORTS CLUB: This is a hotspot in terms of the COVID disease. And it is because it's a diverse community. We needed to do our bit to encourage people to come and get vaccinated because really, that is the only way out for us.
HANCOCKS: Here many work paycheck to paycheck. It's a younger population, home to the essential workers keeping the city alive through lockdown. But despite cases rising fast in this part of Sydney, the government's messages are hard to accept. Soldiers patrol the streets are confronting site for many.
LAYAL EL-ZAHAB, GROCERY WORKER: A high percentage of people don't believe in the coronavirus. And the lower percentage obviously, you know they prefer for the lockdown to occur.
HANCOCKS: Sydney never expected to suffer a COVID second wave. The federal government had a huge head start when it began its vaccine rollout in February. They said few cases, meaning time was on their side. But six months later --
SCOTT MARRISON, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: I'm certainly sorry that we haven't been able to achieve the marks that we had hoped for at the beginning of this year.
HANCOCKS: The vaccination rate lags are just 20% of those 16 and older.
CONDI: Yes, there's been some issues along the line and there's no doubt we're in a bit of a pickle now in terms of the lockdown, but you know if we all and encourage our fellow friends, our fellow citizens, our fellow community to come and get vaccinated, well then I think we'll get back to some normalcy hopefully pretty soon.
HANCOCKS: Business owners like book seller Jane Turner have been told they must survive lockdowns until the national vaccination rate is quadrupled. JANE TURNER, GERTRUDE & ALICE CAFE BOOKSTORE: It feels endless and that's hard. That's hard at this moment.
HANCOCKS: Gertrude & Alice Cafe book shelves is an institutions in Beach side Bondi
TURNER: So I feel very void by the (inaudible) by up to 20 years and people that have the relationship with this store and with us who want us to be here at the end of it. Do other stores have that? I don't know.
HANCOCKS: Few in Sydney can protect the end to an outbreak, the city never expected. Paula Hancocks, CNN Seoul.
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VAUSE: Still to come in Tokyo business owners say there are two sets of rules for controlling the pandemic, one of them, another for the Olympics. Also had wildfires in Turkey force hundreds to evacuate over fears a power plant could soon explode. We'll have the very latest on the devastation across southern Europe. And later, a bride relieves painful memories one year on after the Beirut blast. We'll hear her story in a moment.
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VAUSE: Wildfires in western Turkey have breached the outer perimeter of a power plant in Mugla with a number of structures now burning. Explosive materials were early at removed but there are still fears, tons of coal left inside could ignite. Turkey's Defense Minister evacuated 10 neighborhoods around the power plant by sea. People were loaded onto boats as flames engulfed the residential areas.
Emergency crews have battled nearly 200 fires across the country in the past eight days, many reigniting because of high temperatures as well as strong winds.
In Greece, Athens was shrouded in a haze of smoke on Wednesday from wildfires which surrounded the city. Dozens went to hospital with breathing problems as Elinda Labropoulou reports from Athens. The damage right now is immense.
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ELINDA LABROPOULOU, JOURNALIST: It's been an incredibly difficult 24 hours in Greece as a country is experiencing a tremendous heat wave. And with it, many large fires have been breaking out. The authority site 118 fires have broken out in just the last 24 hours alone. A large fire has destroyed dozens of homes in northern Athens and suburbs of Athens covering the city in black smoke and making it very difficult for people to breathe over 70 people have been taken to hospital with respiratory problems while authorities have advised people to stay home and actually keep the window shot in order for the dangerous air particles not to enter their homes.
Large fires continue to burn in many parts of the country including popular Island destinations where tourists and locals have to be evacuated such as the island of Evia, while the archaeological space of Ancient Olympia also had to be evacuated as there's a fire very close by. The temperatures are expected to remain high until the end of the week. And authorities are saying that Greece alert is needed. Great caution needs to be exercised in these difficult circumstances. Elinda Labropoulou, CNN, Athens, Greece.
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VAUSE: CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri is following conditions across the region. So it's pretty much Greece and Turkey which is suffering the worst of this but they're not the only ones.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: They're not the only ones, no, next door in Italy as well. We're seeing a remarkable, incredible amount of fire is beginning to break out here in the last couple of days and just going back to last Sunday. The numbers are staggering. And of course you see the scenes play out here, across Acropolis and also in portions of Greece near the Ancient Olympia region, of course back from 1776 B.C. for over 1000 years. Every four years, the Olympics were held across that region, evacuation is now in place in that region of Southern Greece.
[01:20:19]
And here we go the heat still in place, there is a storm system on approach. That's what we look forward to hear, to see maybe a relief as far as temperatures are concerned and also some rainfall for the firefighting efforts. And I can tell you, the temperatures will cool off just a little bit, they were in the upper and middle 40s yesterday. Now we're in the middle 40s and upper 30. So we're seeing a little bit of a cooling trend but still running as much as 10 degrees above average in this region and in Greece alone, 118 fires these are new fires that have broken out in the past 24 hours. So the gusty winds certainly haven't helped you look at the numbers since Sunday, some 6000 hectares of land have been consumed, compared to 10,400 hectares consumed and all of 2024 days worth of fires here has essentially reached 60% of that in just four days. But if you work your way towards areas of Italy, you notice 303 large fires, those are fires considered to be greater than 30 Hectares. And notice the 10 year average there is roughly 100 large fires per year versus the 303 we've seen so far in 2021.
So here's the storm system, it is going to approach this region increase the cloud cover even set off some strong storms just north of it into portions of Kyiv, into areas even over the Ukraine and back westward into Poland as well. Some of these storms will produce tornadoes. I looked into the numbers 27 reports of tornadoes since last Sunday across Europe, not too unusual Europe average is about 400 tornadoes per year. But those strong storms are in the forecast and are just north of this region. I'm concerned that the rainfall is not going to make it to the south. Models just don't bring any moisture here. The only moisture you'll find is some high clouds cruising by, and certainly the gusty winds associated with some of these storms.
But notice the temperatures in Athens from 41, down to 39 down to 36. This is close to where it should be for this time of year. But the gusty winds indicated in this region and the yellows and oranges, those are 50 to 60 kilometer progress, John, so that's the concern here. So you get part of what you need here which is cooler temperature, but the winds again going to increase the challenges for the firefighting efforts.
VAUSE: Well, Pedram. Pedram Javaheri thanks there with the very latest. We're an Israeli military response to rocket fire from Lebanon has now come from the air with Israeli fighter jets targeting what officials say a rocket launch site and terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon. This comes after rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory on Wednesday. It's not the first incident has one of many in recent months earlier, Israel responded to that attack with artillery fire. The Israeli Defense Forces say Lebanon is responsible for all actions originating from its territory and warned against any further attempts to harm Israeli civilians. That rocket fire strike number of major fires.
Security forces in Beirut fired tear gas to disperse protesters who were on the streets voicing their anger at the government or the anniversary of a massive explosion at the city's port which killed 200 people injured 1000s and displaced hundreds of 1000s more. CNN's Ben Wedeman was in Beirut on Wednesday. He filed this report from the protests.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is how a day of commemoration for the August 4 blast has come to an end, clashes between protesters and the Lebanese security forces for down the street and around the corner. These are the biggest protests we've seen since the days following the blast last year and according to the Lebanese Red Cross, already dozens of people have been injured. And this really is the result of this deep, deep anger of so many Lebanese with the ruling elite or ruling elite that is mismanaged the economy, led to an economic and financial collapse. That as a result of its negligence, corruption and mismanagement, lead to the Beirut toward a blast a year ago today killed more than 200 people, wounded more than 6000 and rendered 300,000 people homeless.
Now, this right here once a luxury hotel, but because of the unrest here, it has been completely boarded up with steel but these people are banging on the wall just to show their anger and dissatisfaction with the situation. And here we have more tear gas flying in. This really underscores the failure of the Lebanese political system to meet the basic needs of the people and therefore the people are reacting in this way. I've Ben Wedeman, CNN reporting from Beirut.
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VAUSE: So many lives were lost in Beirut one year ago, others would change forever. There has been no rebuilding of the city, the devastation still easily seen. And for some painful memories remain of what should have been a day of happiness. You may recall the images of a bride posing for pictures at the moment of the explosion. A deafening sound tearing through the square, almost knocking the bride off her feet, one year later, she says she's still haunted by what she went through.
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ISRAA SEBLANI, MARRIED ON DAY OF BLAST (through translation): We don't even like to remember that time, especially me to the extent where I still don't have a photo of my wedding day hanging up at home. I didn't put up the photo of us on our wedding day. And I can't even though I received it as a gift, but I can't. That day that I was waiting for a long time affects me in two ways. One that I couldn't be happy and second, the fact that it was my wedding day, I should supposedly be happy, but it was a disaster for the Lebanese people. I can't see parents who lost their children, and their children who lost their parents with the destruction that happened and be happy. I won't lie to myself.
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VAUSE: The newlyweds say they plan to be working on their wedding anniversary this year, a distraction to keep themselves busy.
Protesters in India demanding justice for a nine year old girl who was raped and murdered at a crematorium on Sunday. Her family is part of the Dalit community considered to be India's lowest cost. CNN's Vedika Sud has the latest details now from New Delhi.
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VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): A grieving mother calls out to her child, come and hold me again, she says. A nine year old daughter was allegedly gang raped and murdered Sunday evening at this crematorium in India's National Capital, New Delhi. Ever since locals and activists have been protesting placards at the protest site demand justice for India's daughter.
The mother who belongs to the Dalit community India's most oppressed caste say she was called to the crematorium by the accused who claimed the daughter had been electrocuted and was coerced into committing the body without involving the police.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): My daughter was raped. The accused didn't let us call the police. The priest is lying that she was electrocuted.
SUD: Four men, including the crematoriums priests have been placed in custody, the formal charges have not yet been pressed. By the time people from the village intervened, most of the child's body had been burned, which is now posing to be a problem while investigating the crime.
(On camera): Have any of the accused come forward to confess that they did rape the victim?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a negative ma'am. SUD: Activists say that rape victims and their families hesitate to record rape crimes fearing intimidation by perpetrators of the crime, harassment, and social stigma.
(Voice-over): An eerily similar case was reported in Delhi's neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh last year, when a 19 year old Dalit girl was allegedly gang raped and cremated without the consent of a family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): The Dalit community has been facing such oppression for a very long time.
SUD: As history repeats itself, another bereaved mother begins a long wait for justice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): I want justice for my daughter. I want justice for my child, hang the rapists.
Vedika Sud, CNN, New Delhi.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. Hello, world.
I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
The Belarusian Olympian turned dissident has finally made it to Poland. Sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya arrived in Warsaw Wednesday after a brief layover in Vienna.
Over the weekend, officials with the Belarusian team tried to force her on to a flight home after she publicly criticized her coach. She appealed for political asylum while at the Tokyo Airport, after her family warned her it was not safe to return.
Poland then offered Tsimanouskaya and her husband humanitarian visas. She was welcomed at Warsaw Airport by Belarusians living in Poland. They're wearing red and white symbols of resistance.
Plenty of action in track and field at the Tokyo Olympics with medals in hurdles, shotput and triple jump.
Day 13 will also bring the Olympic debut of karate. And Australia and Belgium will compete for gold in men's field hockey. It's the Kookaburras' first Olympic finals since winning the gold medal at Athens in 2004.
We have Blake Essig standing by live this hour in Tokyo. We also have CNN World Sport anchor Patrick Snell here in Atlanta.
Patrick, we'll begin with you with all the action, a lot of medals up for grabs this day. PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Yes. And some Australian
success to tell you about, John, I know you'll be delighted about that. We'll get to that, promise.
27 gold medals up for grabs this day. I want to start with a big shock, this coming not too long ago Thursday. The men's 110 meters hurdle. And another golden moment for Jamaican sport though, if not Team USA. Much of the focus ahead of his race on the world champion, American competitor Grant Holloway.
He was actually leading until the final hurdle. But that's when he just seemed to lose his momentum. And it would be Hansle Parchment to take full advantage just powering his way to victory in a season best time of 13.04 seconds for him.
Huge disappointments though for the 23-year-old Holloway who hasn't lost a hurdles race, you know, since August of last year. A silver medal for him there at the Olympic stadium.
Meantime, the speedy track at Tokyo 2020 producing plenty more drama. This was on Wednesday in Tokyo as Canadian star Andre De Grasse going one better than his Rio performance to finally claim gold in the men's 200 meters. The 26-year-old crossing the line ahead of two Americans including the world champion no less, Noah Lyles
And an historic first for Burkina Faso at these games. The country's first ever Olympic medal after Hugues Fabrice Zango securing the bronze. This was in the men's triple high jump. Really special moment indeed.
Zango saying afterwards his achievement felt extra special given today's Independence Day in his homeland.
And gold going the way of Portugal's Pedro Pichardo after he produced a leap of 17.98 meters. China's Zun Yao Ming taking silver with a personal best of 17.57.
Meantime, John, you're going to love this one, Thursday, the teens continuing their dominance at the skate park within the last few minutes. 18 year old Aussie Keegan Palmer taking gold in the first- ever Olympics men's park skateboarding competition. The Australian scoring 95.83 on his final run to seal the gold medals. Silver medal going to the young Brazilian competitor Pedro Barros, a wonderful achievement for him.
[01:34:50]
SNELL: And I do want now, before we close -- before I send it back to you, John, I do have to update a story that we told you about last week when the American BMX racing star Connor Fields suffering a brain hemorrhage. This, he'd been competing in the Olympic semis.
Now, we can tell you that the 28-year-old is being released from hospital in Tokyo today. He feels (ph) a 2016 Rio gold medalist crashed during his third run, this was last Friday, in fact, before then he had to be stretchered off and taken by ambulance for treatment at the hospital there in the Japanese capital.
He's returning to the U.S. state of Nevada for his rehabilitation. Great news him for him. He'll be doing that alongside family and friends. And of course, we do wish him all the very best there in his recovery.
John, back to you.
VAUSE: It was a nasty spill, glad he is on the mend.
SNELL: Yes.
VAUSE: Patrick, thank you.
Let's go to CNN's Blake Essig who is standing by live for us in Tokyo. And Blake, it seems it's gold medal as well for Tokyo for New Delhi COVID infections, exactly what many experts had feared.
BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, John not the goal that you want to win throughout these Olympic Games.
We've seen a lot of amazing records broken on the track, in the pool and that's unfortunately, we have also seen a record number of COVID- 19 cases now here in Tokyo and across Japan.
The infection rate is surging and doctors say because of the Olympics, it's about to get a whole lot worse.
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ESSIG (voice over): Shunsuke Shirakawa has been bringing the funk for more than 20 years. Ona a normal night at Brown Sugar, the bear is pouring, the bubbles are flowing, and there's not an empty seat in the house.
But tonight's not normal. In fact, this bar hasn't had a soul for more than a year.
SHUNSUKE SHIRAKAWA, OWNER, BROWN SUGAR (through translator): It was a really hard year and I didn't have work. I didn't know what to do.
ESSIG: That's because each of the first three times the government declared a state of emergency in Tokyo, and asked bars and restaurants like Brown Sugar to close early and not serve alcohol after 7:00 p.m. Shirakawa complied.
SHIRAKAWA: I was listening to what the government was saying. I only worked for a month this year.
ESSIG: By the fourth time a state of emergency was declared, Shirakawa had had enough. He said holding the Olympics while cracking down on bars and restaurants is confusing.
Since the latest state of emergency was declared last month, cases in Tokyo have skyrocketed. In fact record high case counts were reported four different times just last week. While Dr. Hideaki Oka, an infectious disease specialist, says the corona's surge has been fueled by the delta variant count for about 90 percent of confirmed cases in the capital, he says Olympics are indirectly related to the rise of COVID-19.
DR. HIDEAKI OKA, SAITAMA MEDICAL UNIVERSITY: The government's decision to push ahead with the Olympics doesn't reflect what the people wanted.
People are ignoring the states of emergency. The government is requesting that they stay at home. But in holding the Olympics, they sent out a confusing message.
ESSIG: Inside the Olympic bubble, cases have remained relatively low. In Tokyo 2020, officials say the Olympics is not behind the recent surge in host city cases, denying that the games have created a flow of people.
But as you walk the streets of Tokyo and attend various Olympic events, it's clear that's not completely true.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There probably won't be another Olympics in Japan in my lifetime, so I wanted to come here to the rings and experience the atmosphere.
ESSIG: Despite a ban on spectators in Tokyo, crowds gathered to witness history at the first triathlon mixed relay. At the BMX freestyle even, the bridge hundreds of meters away from the venue was packed with people trying to catch a glimpse of Olympic action.
And every day, a large number of people are outside at the National Stadium to take a picture with the Olympic rings.
And that according to the Dr. Naoto Ueyama, the chairman of Japan Doctors' Union, is a big problem. Unless things change, he says cases could triple here in Tokyo within the next 2 weeks.
DR. NAOTO UEYAMA, CHAIRMAN, JAPAN DOCTOR'S UNION: It's often said that there is a time lag about of about one or two weeks between the peak of infection and movement of people.
The infection is still going to rise.
ESSIG: A rise in cases with no end in sight. A crisis that will continue to strain a medical system that doctors say is already on the verge of collapse.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ESSIG: Well, recently Japan's top coronavirus advisors says, he fills a great sense of danger and that is because he says that the General Public doesn't share a sense of crisis and there seems to be little chance the current out break could be stopped.
Now declaring a state of emergency is the strongest measures that the Japanese government can take to stop the spread of infection. But medical professionals say that the mixed messaging by the
government is the reason that the current order is not effective.
They called for stronger measure to be taken including canceling the Olympics even at this late stage to send a message to the people that the crisis is real, John.
VAUSE: Blake, thank you.
Blake Essig there, live for us in Tokyo.
Well, fear in and anxiety in Afghanistan. The Taliban's relentless push to seize control includes a deadly attack in the capital. The U.N.'s warning about civilians at risk.
More on that in a moment.
[01:39:51]
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VAUSE: Taliban's recent attacks in Afghanistan's capital has underscored the serious threat the pose to security. The militants have claimed responsibility for a car bombing within Kabul's heavily fortified green zone which killed at least eight civilians. The interior ministry said government forces battled the attackers for more than four hours.
CNN's Clarissa Ward is in Kabul and has more now on the aftermath of the attack.
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CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We actually ran up onto the roof after hearing that large blast that really shook the capital and shook people sense of security. It had been largely quiet here for a number of months. But this was a complex attack. There was that one big explosion, then we heard a second explosion, a third explosion. There was sporadic gunfire.
The intended target of the attack was the acting defense minister. He was not killed. But unfortunately, eight civilians were killed. There was another attack again this morning in a similar neighborhood. No casualties, there are only two people were wounded.
But again, this all coming at a moment where people here in the capital of Kabul feel extremely anxious about the rapid, rapid offensive that the Taliban has made as the U.S. has been withdrawing its forces.
They are now in control of countless districts, border crossings. They are currently threatening half of the provincial capitals in this country. And they're actually laying siege to three major ones -- Kandahar, Lashkargah, and Helmand Province and Herat.
And Afghan security forces have simply been overwhelmed by the speed and the ferocity of this onslaught. The vast majority of momentum and territory that the Taliban has been able to take has happened since May, when the U.S. began withdrawing its forces.
And the big reason, people say is because the Afghan army really relied on U.S. air power. One analyst estimating that 80 percent of the Afghan military's ability to respond to the Taliban threat was done through the U.S. Air Force.
Now the U.S. is carrying out some strikes in those key provincial cities that are under siege. We also heard the Afghan military urging civilians in the city of Lashkargah to leave the area.
If they were in an area and in a home that it was in an area that was under the control of the Taliban, they said you must evacuate, indicating that some kind of a counter offensive from government forces may be eminent.
And you know, one more thing I just wanted to add because it was such a unique moment. After this attack, we heard people come out from across the city enchanting Allahu Akbar, which of course means, "god is the greatest".
But in this context, it really was about an affirmation of support for the Afghan Security Services and a sort of cry of defiance against militancy and against the Taliban.
The people of Kabul coming together and saying essentially, we will not be cowed, we will not be afraid.
Clarissa Ward, CNN -- Kabul.
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VAUSE: Two veteran U.N diplomats are calling on the United Nations to act now to avoid all-out civil war in Afghanistan.
In an op-ed for "The New York Times", they write, "It doesn't have to be this way. Peace is still a possibility. The U.N. must now step up and guide Afghanistan away from catastrophe. The alternative, an all out civil war beckons, is too grim to contemplate.
With us now from Tokyo is Tadamichi Yamamoto, one of the authors of that op-ed. He's a former U.N. special representative to Afghanistan.
Sir, thank you for being with us. We appreciate your time.
TADAMICHI YAMAMOTO, FORMER U.N. SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE TO AFGHANISTAN: Well hello, John. Thank you. It's nice to be with you.
VAUSE: Now, you're making this call for the U.N. to fill this diplomatic leadership void in Afghanistan. And in a place like Afghanistan, diplomacy without the backing of credible force, seems born to failure. So with that in mind, if you have a country or countries which would provide some kind of military backup here to the U.N. in this operation.
YAMAMOTO: Well, I think we have to first realize that the (INAUDIBLE) is now growing and Taliban is, as you say, making some headways. But I think both sides will have to realize that there is no immediate solution.
There may be, shall I say, the advance of one side at one time, but that is not going to last. Given the actual situation in Afghanistan, neither side shall be able really to prevail militarily
And I think they both know this for which the Taliban is testing the political and military landscape after the U.S. withdrawal. Now, it's going to be unfortunate if this testing has to end with a military stalemate as some of the military commanders you have from the United States have said.
Really because as we have written, it doesn't have to be this way. They can negotiate at the table and try to reach the balance, critical balance, which will enable them to start the peace negotiations.
VAUSE: In your op-ed, you write that one of the reasons for the violence across Afghanistan is because there has not been a unified effort to hold the peace process together.
In the absence of international mediation, the two sides are raging against each other on the battlefield, rather than engaging at the negotiating table.
The U.S. State Department shares this view about the urgent need for a political settlement. Here's the spokesperson from Wednesday. Listen to this.
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NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: I think what is true and this is not just our opinion, this is the considered judgment of the international community, is that only a diplomatic solution can bring about the opposite of what we are seeing now.
If what we're seeing now is violence and bloodshed, only that diplomatic solution can bring about an outcome that is just and durable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So what my point is here is, it's not an unreasonable assessment or conclusion to reach. But the only problem it seems is that Taliban has broken almost every major commitment they've made during these peace talks.
You can make an agreement with someone, like the Taliban, it doesn't mean they'll stick to it, right? That's the problem. YAMAMOTO: As I said, you know the Taliban is testing the new political
landscape and military landscape. There has to be a clear message coming from the international community that that is what's going to work.
And I think you have a scene that almost all countries -- the U.S., Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, India -- all these countries have said the same thing.
But individually, or in a sort of small number of groups of countries. What we are advocating that there has to be a unified, single voice which unequivocally states that there is no immediate solution and that no international community members is going back up or accept such a solution.
The solution has to be a political (INAUDIBLE) negotiation. And we hope that the U.N. Security Council is one really, authoritative organ to be able to do this because the message has to come at the highest level. And so they have to do tests as I said together so that neither party can feel that they can actually have a room for maneuver. That's --
VAUSE: Right.
The U.N. mission in Afghanistan has called on all parties to do more to protect civilians or the impact will be catastrophic.
YAMAMOTO: That's right. Exactly right.
VAUSE: Do you believe that the Taliban has any concern for the consequences or the fall out of their military action on civilians?
[01:49:51]
YAMAMOTO: You know, I had almost a monthly regular talks with the Taliban (INAUDIBLE) until March 2020. And this is exactly the point that we have raised most seriously with them.
And they have come to accept that civilian casualty is not something that the people can tolerate. And so they say that they are avoiding civilian casualties and they are actually making their own count, having their own report.
They say that they are sort of looking into the previous (ph) cases where civilian casualty is actually serious. But we are seeing that their military and political strategy is at this moment to make arrests.
That's why, you know, what I said at first that if the political balance will have to be achieved through a military stalemate, it's actually very tragic and there are many sacrifices which is totally unnecessary.
Both sides, Taliban and the government should accept that they can reach this balance before the negotiation. VAUSE: I think there is a widespread agreement that this is all
heading to a very catastrophic ending and one that no one really wants.
But I guess at the end of the day, it seems to be one that it is difficult to avoid.
Tadamichi Yamamoto, thank you sir. We really appreciate your time. Thank you for being with us.
YAMAMOTO: No. Thank you very much. Thanks.
VAUSE: Take care.
Well, some Afghans who helped Canadian forces in Afghanistan by working as interpreters and other jobs are being resettled now in Canada. The first flight of those refugees has landed in Toronto. More flights expected in the next few weeks. The government says it will not be releasing details about where the refugees are being resettled. That is for their own safety.
We'll take a short break. When we come back here on CNN NEWSROOM.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She swiped left, I swiped right, we've been locked up for so many months now (INAUDIBLE) love.
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VAUSE: Not just Cupid's arrows this year. How shots of COVID vaccines are setting off a summer of love.
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VAUSE: Welcome back everyone.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed listing the Emperor Penguin as threatened under their Endangered Species Act. It's all because of climate change. The species depend on arctic ice to survive. That is now melting. And so now, there are estimates that by 2050, about half the population could decrease. Experts say there's still time though to reverse that.
Well, thanks to vaccine, business is booming and love is blooming this summer in cities across the United States. Wedding planners, jewelers, dating apps are all getting a slice of the action.
CNN's Clare Sebastian reports now from New York.
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CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For Shane Williams, months of COVID restrictions had been leading to this moment and it didn't disappoint.
SHANE WILLIAMS, LAWYER: I originally had it planned for actually December of 2020 in Quebec.
SEBASTIAN: When the pandemic prevented them from traveling, the lawyer from New Jersey used that setback to save up. He hired a proposal planning company and even added a few more diamonds to the ring.
WILLIAMS: COVID, that was such a rough year, it was just -- we were locked in the apartment the whole time, and I really wanted to spend some time and make it special. So I decided to wait until we could come to New York.
SEBASTIAN (on camera): Did he exceed your expectations?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He did.
SEBASTIAN: For professional proposal planner Tatiana Caicedo it's been a busy summer and an emotional one.
[01:54:59]
TATIANA CAICEDO, PROPOSAL PLANNER: Very often client is saying that his partner went through a lot this year and they want to do something nice for them. So, yes.
(INAUDIBLE)
SEBASTIAN: After months of fear and isolation, love, it seems, is back. Jewelers report engagement ring sales are soaring and Google says search interest in dating hit a five year high in July.
(on camera): Here in New York around two-thirds of adults are now fully vaccinated. So despite concerns about new variants, sunsets bring daters flocking to Manhattan's waterfront.
(voice over): Many who we spoke to, couples who got together during the pandemic --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It feels like we're just starting to date because we're just now getting to get out and get to know each other in other settings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. We still have not seen our first movie together.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We met on (INAUDIBLE), in the middle -- or beginning of May last year, so right in the middle of it all --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She swiped left, I swiped right. We've been locked up for so many -- for so many months now. (INAUDIBLE).
SEBASTIAN: And so the dating apps that made this possible this summer brings new marketing opportunities. Dating app BLK which caters to the black community --
Releasing this remake of a previous hit from (INAUDIBLE)
JONATHAN KIRKLAND, BLK: I will say since the release of that thing (ph) up we've definitely seen a spike in registrations, like 30 percent more registrations than like four-week prior trends.
SEBASTIAN: And like many dating apps, BLK now lets you filter for vaccination status with its Vaxified badge.
KIRKLAND: To date, we've had over 180,000 BLK users add the badge to their profile. And we find that over half of our users they want to know if their match is vaccinated or not.
SEBASTIAN: So while it's clear COVID changed the way people date, it also helped many realize what matters is the people that you love.
Clare Sebastian, CNN -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Oh yes. Oh yes. Rihanna has a lot to cheer about. The singer has officially joined the billionaires' club. Forbes puts her net worth at $1.7 billion, making her the wealthiest female musician, the second richest woman in entertainment, behind Oprah.
She is known for a string of hits like "Work", "We Found Love" and "Umbrella". But the money doesn't come from the music it seems. She say s a majority of her fortune from her cosmetic empire Fenty Beauty. Well done.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. CNN NEWSROOM continues after a very short break with Rosemary Church.
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