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WHO Asks Wealthy Nations to Pause Booster Shots; Europe Added More Countries to its Green List; Virus Excuses No One on Its Path; Israel Targeted Terrorist's Rocket Launch; Scorching Fires Swept Thousands of Homes; Brazil's Supreme Court to Investigate President Bolsonaro; Outbreak Lingers Despite Sydney's Strict Lockdown; Australians Worn Down As Delta Variant Outbreak Drags On; U.S. Men's Basketball Advances To Gold Medal Game; Tokyo Posts Record 4,166 New COVID Cases On Wednesday; Iran's New President To Be Sworn In. Outrage Over Alleged Rape And Murder Of A Nine-Year-Old Girl; Belarusian Olympian Seeking Asylum Arrives In Poland. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired August 05, 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 on CNN Newsroom, wealthy nations are told to hold off on COVID vaccine boosters. The WHO's effort to help poorer nations get vaccinated.

Plus, it was a day to recognize the lives lost in the port of Beirut explosion one year ago, instead it turned violence as protesters shook the city calling for accountability.

Then wildfires and a severe heat wave scorched Southern Europe as a summer of extreme weather rages on.

Thanks for being with us.

Well, global COVID cases now have surpassed 200 million as the highly contagious Delta variant increasingly strains health care systems across the globe. Three countries, the U.S., India and Brazil, account for more than 40 percent of the cases. And U.S. AID announced $700 million in funding to help the international community battle the virus.

Globally, low vaccination rates remain a concern, only about 15 percent of the world's population is fully vaccinated against the virus that has killed more than four and a quarter million people.

Well in the U.S., the CDC says the Delta variant now accounts for more than 90 percent of COVID cases, and a former U.S. official has this warning for the unvaccinated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BRETT GIROIR, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TESTING CZAR: The virus

will evolve. There will be variants and variants, and variants. We are dealing with Delta now it's almost 100 percent of the cases in the U.S., the next variant is just around the corner, if we do not all get vaccinated.

We've been saying this for months and for weeks, and I just begged the American people to understand that to defeat this virus we have to get everybody's level of immunity up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (on camera): The Delta variant is forcing many countries to consider rolling out a COVID booster shot, but the World Health Organization is calling for the shots to be put on hold for the next two months, it wants more people around the world to get their first vaccine dose before people in wealthy countries get their third.

CNN's Larry Madowo has the details now from Nairobi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've noticed growing demand for vaccines here in Kenya, and around the continent as more African countries reported new cases of the Delta variant. I was at a vaccination site in Nairobi where some people told me they knew they had to get the shot when they saw just how many new cases of the Delta variant are being reported here, except, there aren't 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 four billion vaccines administered globally so far, 80 percent went to high and middle-income countries, and the poor nations just don't have enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: I understand the concern of all governments to protect their people from the Delta variant, 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADOWO: The World Health Organization is essentially appealing to rich nations to go easy on booster shots until at least 10 percent of the population in every country is vaccinated by September. Most African nations, for instance, will miss that target. The big problem is that rich nations are the biggest producers, the biggest consumers and the biggest donors of COVID-19 vaccines.

Unless the virus is eliminated in this part of the world, nobody is 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.

CHURCH: Argentina will start letting people mix vaccines so more can receive their second doses. The country has seen delays in getting enough of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine so now people will have the option to get an AstraZeneca or Moderna or wait for more Sputnik supplies to arrive.

[03:05:04]

The decision follows a study showing mixed vaccines provide a similar level of immunity when compared with two Sputnik doses.

While new infections are soaring in the U.S., parts of Europe are heading in the opposite direction, and that has England and Scotland ready to allow more visitors. Starting Sunday, Germany, Austria and five other countries will be added to the green list. That means travelers returning to those parts of the U.K., will not have to quarantine unless they test positive for COVID. And people arriving from France will be exempt if they are fully vaccinated.

Well for more on this CNN's Phil Black joins me now live from London. Good to see you, Phil. So, what is the latest on this green list and how does all of this work exactly?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Rosemary, these are some key changes that have been announced regarding the U.K.'s traffic travel system. I think the notable change that you've touched on there is France. Up until now, France had sat in a category all by itself, the so-called amber plus category.

The practical difference is that if you return to the U.K. or into the U.K. traveling from a regular amber list country and you are fully vaccinated, you do not need to quarantine in your home for 10 days. That has not applied to people returning from France, they still had to quarantine, but that will no longer be the case now because France is joining the regular amber list, and that's going to mean a great deal to a great many people who choose to spend their summers in France.

Other countries joining the amber list as well, India, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar. These are countries that are moving from the red list to the amber list. The red being the toughest most stringent list for designated coronavirus hotspots return from the list. And you usually have to spend quarantine in a government designated hotel at your own expense, that will no longer be the case for these countries that are moving from red to amber, and as we touch to the green list is expanding as well.

These are countries where people can travel to and from freely without any need to quarantine, regardless of vaccination status. The green list will now include Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania and Norway as well. All of these changes, front page news, leaving the U.K. because simply Brits are desperate for a holiday and the travel industry is somewhat desperate to reopen and get going again. And there has been tremendous pressure on the government to simplify

the system. Today's changes will go some way towards satisfying those critics, but the government openly says that it is quite happy to be cautious at the moment because the pandemic is not over and the gains that have been made here need to be protected, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes. Cautious is smart. Phil Black joining us there, many thanks. I appreciate it.

Well in the United States, the highly contagious Delta variant is causing COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths to rise in almost every state. The CDC says the variant now accounts for more than 93 percent of infections. Meantime, fewer than half of Americans are fully vaccinated. Take a listen to this warning from one health expert.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICIES: This virus is highly infectious. If you decide to try to run the game clock out, don't try to do it. This virus will find you. It will affect you in virtually, and we just have to give people that sense.

Now if that's not enough to motivate people to get vaccinated, then the only other things are the mandates that say, OK, if you are going to work here, if you're going to go here, or do this you have to get vaccinated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (on camera): Joining us now is Dr. Peter Drobac, an infectious disease and global health expert at the University of Oxford.

Good to have you with us.

PETER DROBAC, GLOBAL HEALTH EXPERT, OXFORD SAID BUSINESS SCHOOL: Hi, Rosemary. Thank you.

CHURCH: So we just heard the sobering message, if you're not vaccinated Delta will infect you it's a wakeup call for those refusing to get the shot, but of course, a terrifying prospect for those who can't get access to the vaccines and that is what is happening important in poorer nations which could become breeding grounds for new more deadly variants if not, if vaccines are not made available. So, how do we solve this inequity?

DROBAC: Well it's a huge problem it's one we've seen coming for a long time and unfortunately, Delta is really just accelerating the risk and really the impending tragedy in many parts of the world, countries that have had to go back into lockdown, countries that are seeing the highest rates of death that they have from COVID throughout this pandemic, and it's only going to get worse.

You know, in many countries fewer than 10 percent of people have been vaccinated and as has been pointed out here, this makes all of us less safe because in addition to the real moral failures in allowing what are now really preventable deaths to happen around the world, this makes us all less safe from the standpoint of new variants potentially emerging.

[03:10:02]

CHURCH: And of course, the other big problem is anti-vaxxers and nations that have lots of COVID vaccines. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll shows that among unvaccinated, U.S. adults, 53 percent think getting the COVID vaccine is a bigger risk to their health than getting COVID-19, while 34 percent think getting the virus is a bigger threat.

Clearly, the message is not getting through that vaccines save lives. How do you simplify the message so that these people understand and get vaccinated?

DROBAC: Well, I think there a couple of things. The first is that of course there is a lot of misinformation out there on social media and certain corners of media as well, and that has really, I think overwhelmed some sections of the population, so we really do need to do more to step up and fight that misinformation because it is killing people.

The second thing is that a lot of people have different reasons for hesitancy about the vaccines, and they need to not be not shamed but persuaded, that often works best not by top down messaging but by grassroots messaging, by local people, people in your community, people that you trust. And so, I think that more investments in community base support and messaging to persuade people to get vaccinated is important.

And then finally, of course, we're seeing more moves now towards vaccine mandates in workplaces, in public spaces. And I do think that given everything, you know, if a person makes a decision not to get vaccinated themselves, the problem is that it puts others around them at risk, and I think that's kind of where your freedom stops and we'll see more of these mandates in the future.

CHURCH: Yes, exactly. Let's talk about mandates, because it looks like COVID vaccines will very soon become mandated for all active duty U.S. troops. How significant is this move and could it signal the beginning of many more COVID vaccine mandates, particularly given New York City starts its COVID vaccine mandate next month and L.A. hopes to do the same.

DROBAC: Yes. I think we'll see more and more of this happening and it seems like it's going to happen largely through -- through businesses, you know, doing so as opposed to government vaccine mandates. I think seeing in the active duty military is a really important step and it's going to be a really important signal for a lot of businesses to potentially follow suit.

It still is going to be difficult to manage and one of the things that's going to be difficult is how our businesses, for example, going to be able to enforce this and retail settings in workplace settings. There are a lot of ethical issues to get past.

But ultimately, I think given the threat of Delta, given the rise in cases it's the right direction.

CHURCH: How much do you worry about where things will stand in the fall and then come winter for the northern hemisphere?

DROBAC: Yes, very concerned, obviously, this is the time when the weather is nice and people are more outdoors that, you know, if anything, the risk should be lower as we move into the fall and the winter seasons when people are more indoors when the cooler, drier temperatures favor respiratory viruses.

It's very likely that unless we get to much higher levels of vaccination that we could see further increases in infections and then potentially hospitalizations and even deaths. The other risk as we get into the winter season is that hospitals already get busy from influenza and other seasonal diseases, and we're seeing that COVID is putting stress on our health care systems again already, and there's always a risk that there could be overwhelmed in the winter.

We need to use this time we have in the summer to get infections down as much as possible and to really accelerate vaccinations as much as possible.

CHURCH: Dr. Peter Drobac, always a pleasure to talk to you, many thanks.

DROBAC: Thank you.

CHURCH: We are following a developing story. Israel says its fighter jets have struck rocket launch sites and terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon. It comes after rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory on Wednesday. The Israeli Defense Forces say Lebanon is responsible for all actions originating in its territory and warned against any further attempts to harm Israeli civilians.

Well it's just past 10 o'clock in the morning in Beirut, a city that saw protests and anger erupt on the streets Wednesday, the first anniversary of the deadly port blast. Lebanese security forces clashed with protesters who are frustrated that one year on, there are fewer answers and no accountability.

Last August 4th, hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate ignited at a warehouse setting off the massive explosion that killed more than 200 people and injured thousands.

CNN's Ben Wedeman witnessed the protest firsthand. He joins me now from Beirut. And Ben, you were right in the thick of it at one moment there, talk to us about what exactly happened.

[03:15:00]

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, these were protests that happened sort of just behind me on the road that goes by the Lebanese parliament which is currently surrounded by blast walls. And they went on for several hours. These were protests by mostly young men and some young women who continue to be very angry at the government here.

Which, for the last year, has overseen an investigation into the port blast, but an investigation that has been obstruction time and time again by Lebanon's political elite who clearly don't want to be held accountable for the fact that, for six years, 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate sat in the port just over there and exploded one day and one day -- day ago.

Now just a little while ago, in fact, we saw a guillotine that had been set up in this square, martyrs square, to symbolize what many Lebanese want to do with their politicians. It's just been loaded up on a truck, and so this morning Beirut is quiet. Life back to normal, not because all is forgotten and forgiven, simply because given the economic and financial crisis here, people have to get back to work to earn what little of their daily bread they can afford.

And speaking of bread, yesterday, French President Emmanuel Macron oversaw a donor's conference for Lebanon. They came up with $370 million to aid this country in crisis. This is money that will not be funneled through the Lebanese government given donors fears that it will simply be siphoned off into corruption and the Swiss Bank accounts of Lebanese leaders.

And it's rather ironic that such a poultry some is being provided to Lebanon when you think that three years ago, a donor's conference came up with $11 billion for Lebanon, but it was conditioned upon basic reforms and a commitment to fight corruption. And, of course, those Lebanese leaders never came up with those reforms, and never fought corruption. Rosemary?

CHURCH: It is a sad state of affairs, is it? Ben Wedeman joining us live from Beirut. Many thanks.

And for more on this, be sure to read more of Ben's reporting on cnn.com.

Just ahead, it is the worst heat wave in more than 30 years to hit Greece. And fires continue to burn out of control there and in neighboring Turkey. We will have the latest.

[03:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH (on camera): Wildfires in western Turkey have breached a thermal power plant in Mugla. Crews were able to remove explosive materials beforehand, but there are fears that tons of coal left inside could still ignite.

And in Greece, more than 70 people have been hospitalized with breathing problems after wildfires broke out in an and around Athens, enveloping the city in a smoky haze.

CNN's Kim Brunhuber reports on the dangerous situation across Southern Europe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): What began as a clear blue sky over the Grecian capital Tuesday soon turned into plumes of smoke smothering Athens. By Wednesday, a thick haze coated the city surrounding its famed landmarks.

Wildfires raging on the outskirts of Athens forced residents to flee as flames consumes their homes. The fires are now largely controlled, but fears remain it could surge again as Greece suffers its worst heat wave in more than 30 years.

In neighboring Turkey, firefighters are struggling to contain deadly blazes sweeping across parts of the country, becoming more dangerous by the moment. After incinerating swaths of forest, flames have breached a power station in the country's southwest, the plant was evacuated and some of its flammable materials dumped, but environmentalists still fear the impact as the coal-powered station burns.

Turkey's president says these are the worst fires the country has ever seen as a heat wave across the region increases the chances of more burning to come. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, and Serbia also face heat warnings.

E.U. scientists say that the Mediterranean is becoming a wildfire hot spot, adding to worries that the climate crisis maybe amplifying extreme weather in Europe and around the globe.

Kim Brunhuber, CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: So, let's go live to Athens, Greece where Elinda Labropolou is standing by. So, Elinda, what is the latest on these fires and, of course, efforts to contain them?

ELINDA LABROPOLOU, JOURNALIST: Well, at the moment, there are a lot of fires still burning across Greece, some of them very serious. There is a fire on the island of Euboea that seems to be out of control at the moment, and more villages are being evacuated.

This is a tourist destination as well so this include a number of tourists were on Greece on holiday. And there's also a large fire burning very close to the archeological site of ancient Olympia. And there are huge tremendous efforts there to try and contain the fire before it reaches the archeological space.

Just to give you a sense of scale of what has been going on in Greece in just over 48 hours. We've seen a good 200 fires break out as a result of the heat wave. The temperatures here are sweltering, we're looking at an average temperature of about 43 degrees Celsius a day. That's the highest, and the most extensive heat wave we've had in Greece in over four decades. In Athens, things -- conditions remain difficult. There was a large

fire that has now been put out, but it was burning for a couple of days here until yesterday. And as a result, the skies remain hazy, it's difficult to breathe, you can really taste, almost, the smoke. And authorities have been asking people to stay indoors and tried to keep their windows closed in order to keep the air particles out from reaching their homes.

So, this is a heat wave that we expect to last throughout the week. So, we expect conditions to remain difficult and there is also weather forecasts that winds are likely to pick up, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And as we talked about last hour, a lot of people there in Greece don't have access to air conditioning. What about efforts to shelter some of these people who could perhaps lose their homes, or certainly enduring really severe conditions?

LABROPOULOU: Well, a lot of people have already lost their homes on the island of Euboea, at least 150 homes have been destroyed and during the large Athens fire, dozens of houses as well. So, authorities have taken measures, they have made sure that these people are now being put up in hotels. And there are shelters, there are communal spaces for people who don't have air conditioning, who do not have access to air conditioning, so they can spend the day there if they need to, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Elinda Labropolou, joining us there from Athens, Greece. Many thanks.

Brazil Supreme Court will investigate the country's president, Jair Bolsonaro over his election fraud claims which he has made without evidence.

[03:25:02]

CNN's Shasta Darlington has more from Sao Paulo.

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A Supreme Court justice has ruled that President Jair Bolsonaro should be investigated for making unproven claims that the country's electronic voting system is fraudulent. The judge added Bolsonaro to a broader ongoing probe into the spread of fake news by members of his government.

Bolsonaro has been pushing claims of fraud about Brazil's widely respected electronic voting system without presenting any evidence. Last week, he admitted on public television that there is no way of proving whether or not the elections were rigged or not. Nonetheless, he has continued to insist that without paper receipts, electoral results are not reliable.

He has repeatedly warned that the presidential election next year will not be held if paper receipts are not reintroduced.

The latest ruling by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, this came after Bolsonaro missed the deadline on Monday to present any proof of his claims. Separately, the country's highest electoral court has already launched an inquiry into his attacks on the legitimacy of elections. Bolsonaro's approval rating has plummeted in recent months and his critics have accused him of trying to undermine confidence in the country's institutions ahead of the elections next October.

Shasta Darlington, CNN, Sao Paulo.

CHURCH: Ahead, growing frustration as lockdowns don't seem to be doing much to stop the spread of the Delta variant in Sydney.

Then a tale of two Tokyos, one where the Olympic Games go on, the other where surging cases shuts down restaurants and bars. This as we follow the latest from the Olympics.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH (on camera): New details on our top story this hour. The number of confirmed global COVID infections has crossed 200 million. The new surge being driven by the highly contagious Delta variant. Several countries in Asia are also reporting a spike in cases. Thailand reported a record number of daily cases for the second day in a row, and 160 new COVID deaths.

In Japan, where the Olympics are in full swing, the country is expanding emergency restrictions to eight more prefectures as COVID cases hit record highs. China is also scrambling to control a Delta variant outbreak with millions being tested in the city of Wuhan alone, where the COVID pandemic began.

[03:29:57]

In Australia, a strict lockdown has not broken the back of the Delta variant in Sydney. The state of New South Wales is reporting 262 new cases, mostly in Sydney, which has been under lockdown for almost six weeks. The restrictions are now being expanded north to the Hunter Valley region.

As Paula Hancocks reports, it's all starting to wear some Sydney residents down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A nurse talks to her patients 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 hot spot in terms of the COVID disease and 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, a confronting sight for many.

LAYAL EL-ZAHAB, GROCERY WORKER: A high percentage of people don't believe in the coronavirus. 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 MORRISON, 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 at just 20 percent of those 60 and older.

CONDI: Yes, there has been some issue along the way and there's no doubt we are in a bit of a pickle now in terms of the lockdown. But you know, if we all encourage our fellow friends, our fellow citizens, our fellow community to come and get vaccinated, well, and I think will get back to some normality. Hopefully pretty soon.

HANCOCKS: Business owners like bookseller, Jane Turner (ph) 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 is hard. It's hard to swallow.

HANCOCKS: The Gertrude & Alice cafe book shop is an institution in beachside Bondi.

TURNER: I feel very void by the -- our customer base after 20 years and people that have a relationship with this store and with us who want us to be here at the end of it. Do other store have that, I don't know.

HANCOCKS: Few in Sydney can predict the end to an outbreak the city never expected.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Live picture of the Olympic rings in Tokyo, the U.S. Men's basketball team has advanced to the gold medal game after beating Australia, 97 to 78. Team USA had to overcome a 15-point deficit early in the game, but then dominated the second half. They'll play either Slovenia or France for the gold medal on Saturday. China, the U.S. and Japan are leading in the gold medal count so far, with the U.S. ahead in total medals.

Well, in addition to extreme heat and high humidity, Tokyo is suffering through record numbers of new COVID infections. Wednesday was the city's worst single day yet with nearly 4,200 new confirmed cases.

We get more now from CNN's Blake Essig in Tokyo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Shunsuke Shirakwa has been bringing the funk for more than 20 years. On a normal night of Brown Sugar, the beers pouring, the bubbles are flowing and there's not an empty seat in the house. But, tonight is 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 (through translator): 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 have 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 current surge has been fueled by the Delta variant, counting for about 90 percent of confirmed cases in the capital, he says the Olympics are indirectly related to the rise of COVID-19.

[03:35:11]

HIDEAKI OKA, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST (through translator): 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 they stay at home, but in holding the Olympics they send out a confusing message.

ESSIG: Inside the Olympic bubble, cases have remained relatively low. And 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 is not completely true.

UNKNOWN (through translator): 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 of the first triathlon mixed relay. At the BMX freestyle event, 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 of the national stadium to take a picture with the Olympic rings. And that, according to Dr. Naoto Ueyama, the chairman of Japan's Doctors Union, is a big problem. Unless things change, he says cases could triple here in Tokyo, within the next two weeks.

NAOTO UEYAMA, CHAIRMAN OF JAPAN'S DOCTORS UNION (through translator): It's often said that there is a time lag 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.

Blake Essig, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Just ahead, Iran's new president promises to improve public trust, but can he do the same with global partners? What we can expect from Ebrahim Raisi with his swearing in just hours away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Outrage is growing in India after a nine-year-old girl was rape and murdered at a crematorium on Sunday. Hundreds protested in Dali on Wednesday, including the girl's parents demanding justice. Four men had been arrested, one of them a priest, but they have yet to be charge. Police are investigating this as a crime of cast violence. The girl's parents are part of what's considered India's lowest cast.

In just a few hours, a new president of Iran will be sworn into office, Fred Pleitgen joins us now live from Tehran with more on this.

So, Fred, what changes will this new president likely bring?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, there's going to be a lot of changes here in Iran. The Raisi administration, Ebrahim Raisi has already said that obviously he wants to move the politics here in this country into a more conservative direction.

[03:40:02]

And I think one of the interesting things about this, Rosemary, is what you have in Iran now, what you really haven't had in the past eight years. If you really have unity of the political direction among the supreme leader, now the presidency, with Ebrahim Raisi, the parliament also because, of course, he also want a big majority in parliament as well and the very powerful military, of course, first and foremost, the Revolutionary Guard Corps in this country.

So that means that Ebrahim Raisi -- he certainly has all the tools at hand right now to move the country in that direction, he said that his main priorities are going to be fighting corruption here in Iran, obviously first and foremost though, improving the economic situation of the country. And to a certain extent, that means trying to lift sanctions on Iran which, of course, is directly linked to those talks that are still going on to try and revive the Iran nuclear agreement.

Ebrahim Raisi has said that those talks are going to continue, but they are not going to continue at all cost. Because one of the other things that the Raisi administration wants to do is it wants to focus less on trying to improve ties with western nations, for instance the U.S. and European countries and more trying to improve ties for instance with countries here in the region with African nations as well.

To build up what the conservatives here in this country called a resistance economy which really, they are trying to make the country less dependent on foreign trade, and also less pervious for instance, international sanctions. Of course, right now the country are in a very, very heavy sanctions at the moment which are really tough on this country's economy. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right. Fred Pleitgen, joining us live from Tehran, many thanks.

And earlier I spoke with Karim Sadjadpour, a senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment For International Peace, and we talked about the stalled nuclear talks and what it would take to see some progress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARIM SADJADPOUR, SENIOR ASSOCIATE, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: As long as Iran is able to sell its oil to China, it doesn't feel a great sense of economic angst and urgency that either they have to make concessions or they could face economic collapse.

And so, I think the Biden administration's intention was to try to, you know, provide Iran some early incentives to incentivize them to send the nuclear deal, but I think it had the opposite impact, we feel less of a sense of urgency. And so what is likely going to have to happen is, you know, more united international pressure against Iran to first get them to revive the nuclear deal.

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CHURCH: Sadjadpour said that he expects increased hostility from Iran towards the U.S. and Israel when Raisi takes office. And we will of course continue to follow developments in Iran as Raisi is sworn in.

The Belarusian sprinter, whose Olympic dreams were crushed by her country has safely reached Poland, Kristina Timanovskaya landed in Warsaw, Wednesday, several days after she was thrust into the global spotlight for refusing to return to Belarus. Team officials tried to send her home from Tokyo early, after she criticized her coaches, but when her family warned she was in danger, she appealed for political asylum. Poland, long critical of the Belarusian regime, then offered a Timanovskaya and her husband humanitarian visas. Ahead, "World Sport" has the latest from the Olympic Games. Thank you

so much for watching "CNN Newsroom," I'm Rosemary Church.

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