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Dangerous Hurricane Ida Barreling toward U.S. Gulf Coast; U.S. Says Strike Killed Two "High-Profile" ISIS Targets; U.S. Embassy Issues Security Alert at Kabul Airport Due to "Specific, Credible Threat" at Multiple Areas; U.S. Evacuation from Afghanistan Now in Final Phase; Australia Reconsidering "Zero COVID" Strategy; Chinese State Media Attempts to Twist Narrative on Pandemic. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired August 29, 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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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

Hurricane Ida making its dangerous trek towards the U.S. Gulf Coast as a category 2 storm but expected to rapidly gain strength in the hours ahead. It is a potentially catastrophic hurricane, which is forecast to slam into the Louisiana coast on Sunday, possibly category 4, as we say, hitting the state on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

The National Weather Service in New Orleans says storm surge and high winds could leave some locations uninhabitable for weeks or months. Both mandatory and volunteer evacuations are in place.

Officials say if residents are planning to leave, they need to do it now or it will be too late. Nearly all of the floodgates in Louisiana's hurricane and storm damage risk reduction system have been closed ahead of the storm. Those that are still open, right now, they're going to be closed in the next few hours.

Prolonged power outages also a major concern. FEMA says it's moving supply trucks and generators into Louisiana ahead of landfall. There are 10,000 linemen in the state already and another 20,000 on standby.

Making matters worse, many hospitals in the area are already maxed out, short of beds due to COVID-19. Health officials asking residents not to go to the hospital unless it is a dire emergency. Now on Saturday, Louisiana's governor stressing the dangerous and historic nature of Ida's threat.

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GOV. JOHN BEL EDWARDS (R-LA): When you talk about rain totals that could be up to 15, 16 inches and -- and in isolated areas, above 20 inches, with that kind of rain, that kind of storm surge, that kind of wind, this is just a very serious storm. It'll be one of the very strongest storms to hit Louisiana since the

1850s. And, ironically, it's scheduled to make landfall on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[01:05:00]

HOLMES: I am joined now by CNN national correspondent, Jason Carroll. He is in Houma, Louisiana.

Let's start with this. What -- what are you seeing now?

I expect it's quiet but what are you expecting to see in the hours ahead where you are?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first things first. You are absolutely right, Michael. It is pin-drop quiet, like a ghost town here in Houma. And that's exactly how emergency officials want it to be.

Houma is under a mandatory evacuation. But in terms of what we're expecting, very good question. Emergency officials are expecting this could be ground zero for Hurricane Ida, which is why you see a number of boarded-up buildings in and around town, some sandbags in front of the buildings.

But certainly not all around town, Michael. We have seen a number of buildings that are not boarded up as well. I was -- spoke to the local sheriff here, who told me that, while Houma is under a mandatory evacuation, he estimates anywhere between 60 percent to 80 percent of the residents have, in fact, decided to heed that warning, that severe warning and have evacuated.

But certainly, we have spoken to some folks, who say they are going to stay put.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: So you are not going -- you are not going to evacuate.

Do you have any concerns about staying?

JESSICA DUPRE, HOUMA RESIDENT: Tornadoes and wind damage. I'm more worried about what we could come home to, wanting to go down that way because probably -- if they have any bad damage here, we have nothing.

CARROLL: Is there anything that anyone can say to convince you to -- to evacuate?

DUPRE: You drive me now?

Because I ain't getting on no interstate. I'm scared.

(CROSSTALK)

DUPRE: I'm more scared of the interstate than staying in the house right here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: You know, Michael, any time you are covering one of these hurricanes, you always find that person who says they are going to stay put for whatever reason, whether it be not wanting to get out on the roads, whether it be wanting to stay behind and protect their house.

But the governor has made it very clear. The sheriff has made it very clear that this is going to be a severe event and time is running out in order to get out -- Michael.

HOLMES: Yes. Pretty hard to fight off a hurricane.

What -- what -- when you look at the level of preparation and we have been watching some sandbagging and things like that on video.

CARROLL: Yes.

HOLMES: Thing -- things are different in -- in Louisiana, particularly since Katrina, right?

Improvements have been made.

CARROLL: A lot of improvements and, in fact, we have seen them. I was actually in Louisiana, post-Katrina, saw, as many people did, Michael, those levees that failed.

And in the years since then, there have been a lot of improvements throughout the state of -- of Louisiana. Right here in Houma and throughout this parish, we have seen improvements on levees. Back in New Orleans, we saw improvements on levees in the Ninth Ward.

For example, though, getting back to where we are, Chauvin, not far from where we are right now, there is a much-improved floodgate that's there. It's about 15 feet.

But most of the levees in and around this parish stand at about 12 feet. And when you look at some of the dire predictions of Hurricane Ida, where you are looking at storm surge that could be anywhere from, what, 10 to 15 feet, you just do the math there and you could see that there could be, you know, some severe flooding that could take place, even with the levees in place.

But having said that, I have spoken to these emergency officials that say, even if one levee fails, there are back-up levees in place as well. But again, even having said that, this is what could be a category 4 hurricane.

Again, they are talking about severe flooding, severe wind, severe rain and again, something that they're urging people to evacuate if they are in low-lying areas. HOLMES: All right. Appreciate the update. Thank you, Jason Carroll

there in Houma, Louisiana. Thank you.

CARROLL: You bet.

HOLMES: And let's bring in Jeff Piotrowski now, he's a storm chaser. He's also in Houma. We've got him on the line.

Good to have you. Now you documented literally dozens of hurricanes, hundreds of other weather events.

Do you have any sense of how Ida might potentially compare to other storms you've chased and filmed?

JEFF PIOTROWSKI, STORM CHASER: Yes. It's going to be in the top -- it's going to be a big one, top 10. What I'm going to give you more importantly is the breaking weather on the Hurricane Hunters in the storm now and they're in -- flying in the southeast quadrant where some of the pressure is down to 954 millibars.

It's down another 9 millibars in three hours; the pressure is falling rapidly and the winds are maybe 125 in the southeast quadrant. They're going to work their way around to the northeast quadrant.

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PIOTROWSKI: We expect a category 3 any minute now come from the hurricane center and the hurricane in the -- east of the quadrant. We expect it to go to cat 3 probably within the next five or 10 minutes, as soon as they get up in the quadrant. We'll probably have category 3.

Based on air and satellite right now, the hurricane looks like it's extremely powerful now. And we're going to have a category 4, a strong category 4, as it makes its way to the southeast coast.

Right now we're going to be very close to, you know, to the western eyewall as we get into the late morning. We expect it to hit here in Houma and the area immediate to the coast, Coral Isle (ph) just down the coast.

We expect winds at 130, gusting at 150 miles an hour as we get toward sunrise. Storm surge will be 15 to 17 feet. I think there might be some isolated areas, 20 feet (INAUDIBLE) as it makes landfall.

But we expect anywhere from eight to 12 inches of rains in areas. We will get a lot of fresh water flooding. Like I said, they've made dramatic improvements over the years with the flood control systems both in New Orleans and the (INAUDIBLE) area.

So the big thing with this will be the wind and the storm surge. But I think we'll -- it's going to be category 3 here momentarily. And we're going to go up to category 4 before landfall. And technically, the new models are coming out (INAUDIBLE) bring it within about five miles an hour, cat 5. So we're talking maybe a high cat 4. We'll see how the pressure falls (INAUDIBLE) intensifying so -- (CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Yes, Jeff, that is valuable information. I really appreciate it. Again, given your experience, how are you expecting the hours ahead to unfold where you are in Houma?

And what advice do you have for people who are bracing for impact?

What would you be doing if you weren't chasing the storm?

PIOTROWSKI: Well, it depends on the truck, right?

So it's all about the eye -- (INAUDIBLE) we see widespread damage. The thing I'm worried about with this is, if we get a high end cat 4, wherever it makes landfall, it goes over a populated or not a populated area, is all the (INAUDIBLE) damage (INAUDIBLE). Roofs are going to come off houses and buildings. Windows are going to break out.

And there's some three- and five-story buildings nearby and they've probably got flat roofs on them, with (INAUDIBLE) on them and that gravel gets picked up with 100-plus per hour winds.

And they'll act like shotgun blasts. The rocks will get hurtled through the air and break out plate glass windows. Expect numerous trees to be down. Telephone poles will be down over a wide area, hundreds and hundreds of miles. They'll lose power until they (INAUDIBLE) expected the power (INAUDIBLE) will climb rapidly during the day today in the millions of people will be without power.

So you're talking about power out over a huge area for weeks, possibly months, in the worst damage areas. So there's no power. There's no gasoline. There's no food, you know, to be able to eat food, because nothing's open.

It's going to be -- you are going to have to do Coast Guard search standby so as the hurricane passes tomorrow, Monday morning, especially in New Orleans and the areas that have water over the levees, you're going to have water rescues from helicopters. They've already got them standing by.

So this is what's going to happen in the 48 hours. It's going to be a major catastrophe. It's going to happen again. The damage will be in the tens of billions of dollars in about a three-state area, Louisiana, Mississippi and up to the north as the storm takes off up into the Northeast in parts of Alabama and Tennessee.

HOLMES: And spoken as somebody who has been there and knows a lot about such storms. Jeff Piotrowski, thanks so much.

You can follow Jeff on Twitter, by the way.

We'll take a quick break. When we return, the U.S. hit back after Thursday's deadly bombing outside the Kabul airport. After the break, executive footage showing the site of an airstrike against ISIS-K.

Also, the final days of the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan. The latest on the race to evacuate Americans and their allies -- ahead.

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HOLMES: The U.S. embassy in Afghanistan is again urging Americans to leave the area around the Kabul airport, citing a specific and credible threat. The alert coming after Thursday's bombing and two days before all U.S. troops are supposed to be out of Afghanistan

President Joe Biden already warning on Saturday that another attack was highly likely within 24 to 36 hours. This as the U.S. hits back against the ISIS linked militants it says were responsible for the blast. The Pentagon reporting two high profile, as they put it, ISIS-K militants killed, one wounded in a U.S. airstrike near Jalalabad.

The aftermath seen in this exclusive video showing the damage around and inside a building. President Biden vowing this strike against ISIS-K won't be the last.

Meanwhile time is running out in the race to get Americans and their allies out of Afghanistan. A U.S. official says around 2,000 people were evacuated over 12 hours on Saturday. The U.S. and allied countries all together airlifting more than 113,000 people out of the country since mid August.

However, there are fears thousands will be left behind, perhaps their lives at risk.

Senior international correspondent Ivan Watson joining me from Hong Kong and White House reporter Jasmine Wright is in Washington.

Ivan, the U.S. saying another attack is likely.

What are you hearing about the situation on the ground.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The warnings are dire and they're being repeated by not only President Biden, who as you said, mentioned that within 24 to 36 hours this could happen.

And the U.S. embassy putting out a statement of what it describes as a credible threat, telling Americans to stay away from the embassy -- sorry -- away from the airport gates. I believe we have a live imagine of the Hamid Karzai International Airport, so you can see kind of the situation there right now from that vantage point.

And the Australian foreign affairs department also issuing a warning, saying that there is, quote, "ongoing and very high threat of a terrorist attack."

[01:20:00] WATSON: Given the just grisly and tragic events of Thursday, when an ISIS-K suicide bomber attacked one of those gates, killed more than 160 Afghan civilians as well as 13 American military service personnel, there is ample reason to take these warnings very, very seriously.

While the American deadline of August 31st for its complete withdrawal, which has been echoed by the Taliban, is very much looming, there's also clearly discussion about afterwards.

And we're hearing that, for example, not only from the U.S. government, which is talking about needing to maintain a line of communication open with its former enemy, the Taliban, about how to pursue movement out of the country in the coming weeks and months, but we're also hearing that from the French president, Emmanuel Macron. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): Yes, discussions have begun with the Taliban on the issue of humanitarian operations and the ability to protect and repatriate Afghans who are at risk. And, yes, we are working alongside with Qatar to allow those operations to proceed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: For its part, Taliban spokesperson has said that border gates will be open when foreign troops complete their withdrawal and that Afghans will be able to leave the country with international air travel, provided they have visas and that they compose (sic) themselves in a dignified manner, according to their country and religion.

But there is reason to question these Taliban statements; for example, they continue to say that there's an amnesty for anybody who worked in the former government and that all Afghans are welcome.

But I have heard first hand from Afghans who have escaped over the course of the last dramatic week, who said that they were being hunted by Taliban fighters, who are going house to house in Kabul, looking for them.

So you have the State Department now saying it's very important to see whether or not the Taliban can follow through on this rhetoric.

Or is this kind of empty promises and empty air?

A final note, I might add: the Taliban have also condemned the U.S. airstrike on Saturday against the suspected ISIS-K target in Nangarhar province, saying that they should have told the Taliban first.

And we heard from eyewitnesses on the ground, who suggest that civilians, including a child and a woman, were killed in that airstrike, though the U.S. military insists there were no civilian casualties -- Michael. HOLMES: Yes, still can't get the thousands of wartime allies, who are

being left behind. Thanks, Ivan.

Jasmine Wright in D.C., Joe Biden making it clear that that strike on ISIS-K won't be the last.

What else is the White House saying?

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The situation is grave. White House officials have repeatedly said that. Thursday after the attack that left 13 U.S. service members dead was the worst day of President Biden's presidency.

So that's why you hear Biden saying that this strike won't be the last. In part, yes, because it is retaliation and trying to signal that the U.S. will defend itself but it's also an efforts to thwart and disrupt any of the potential attacks that are highly likely in the next 24 to 36 hours that he says.

So it also comes really as White House officials and administration at large have told reporters that this is going to be the most dangerous part of the mission, that hasn't been safe really at all since then, as the U.S. really moves into that final retrograde phase, drawing down forces ahead of that August 31st deadline as well as trying to focus on evacuations.

Now the Pentagon said they're still dealing with about 350 Americans who are looking to get out and a countless number of Afghans who helped in that wartime effort. But we have seen the pace of evacuations slow, as they've moved closer to this drawdown date.

And things become dangerous when -- when officials -- excuse me -- when troops on the ground not only have to deal with the evacuations but also have to deal with removing themselves, their weaponry and having less visibility.

So that is why the White House is saying that President Biden will be really focused on this, not only the last days but the days to come, as the clock ticks down toward that drawdown date -- Michael.

HOLMES: All right. Appreciate it. Jasmine Wright there in Washington.

Also you, Ivan Watson in Hong Kong, appreciate it.

We're going to take a quick break on the program. When we return, the regional security concerns after the Taliban takeover. We'll discuss.

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HOLMES: Welcome back. The U.S.-led evacuation efforts from Afghanistan now, of course, in

the final phase, the remaining days expected to be the most dangerous yet, especially with the threat of another terror attack like the one Thursday at Kabul's airport. CNN Sam Kiley reports from Doha.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Joe Biden promised swift vengeance against those behind the atrocities committed at Kabul International Airport with the killing of 13 service men and women from the United States and 170 people from Afghanistan.

And it has come with the drone killing of two ISIS militants in the eastern city of Jalalabad and the wounding of a third, according to the Pentagon. This all coming amid continuing threats, intelligence warnings, saying that ISIS is still intent on mounting threats and terrorist operations against the international coalition at their most vulnerable moment, when they're still trying to evacuate those last few American citizens that they can get in, the last few Afghans that they can get into the airfield and get out.

At the same time withdrawing their military, the British are withdrawing or nearly finished withdrawing about a thousand men and women from their camp, at Camp Barron.

[01:30:00]

KILEY: That leaves the United States to focus on this, the most dangerous part of their mission. It's quite easy to get in; it's much more dangerous to get out. And as they withdraw, they present themselves as easier and easier targets in theory, at any rate, for ISIS-K -- Sam Kiley, CNN, in Doha.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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HOLMES: Now what you're going to look at here is a Hurricane Hunter team as it flew directly into the eyewall of Hurricane Ida on Saturday, all part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And they're gathering data that helps forecasters know what's going on in real time.

The plane is a WP-3D Orion nicknamed Ms. Piggy.

Right now Hurricane Ida is barreling toward the U.S. Gulf Coast, rapidly gaining strength as well. Louisiana's governor says Ida will be one of the strongest hurricanes to hit Louisiana in nearly 170 years.

Could make landfall as a category 4 along the Louisiana coast in the coming hours and on the exact same date as Hurricane Katrina 16 years ago.

Ida already forcing evacuations. The governors of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi have each declared states of emergency. Forecasters say a storm surge of up to 15 feet expected in some areas, winds up to 150 miles an hour. It could leave some locations uninhabitable for weeks or months.

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HOLMES: Coming up, I'm going to be speaking to a New Orleans council man as his city braces for impact from this powerful storm. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

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HOLMES: Hurricane Ida rapidly intensifying as it approaches land and New Orleans could be hit hard. The city, no stranger, of course, to hurricane devastation and, on Saturday, the mayor warning people that, if they wanted to evacuate, they needed to get going.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR LATOYA CANTRELL (D-LA), NEW ORLEANS: What I am told is that this storm, in no way, will be weakening. There will be and there are no signs, again, that this storm will weaken. And there is always an opportunity for the storm to strengthen.

If you are voluntarily evacuating our city, now is the time to leave. You need to do so immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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HOLMES: And for more on how New Orleans is planning to ride out the storm, I'm joined by councilman Joseph Giarrusso.

Thanks for the time. A hot of infrastructure changes were made after the catastrophe of Katrina.

How much better prepared is the area for what might be coming?

JOSEPH GIARRUSSO, NEW ORLEANS COUNCIL MEMBER: It's a great question. Good evening. I think the biggest issue right now is our levee protection. You saw before, there's been mandatory evacuation, the lower lying parishes and parts of Orleans Parish where everything outside of the levees are protected since Katrina.

Obviously there's much more thinking that now that we have a more robust and bigger and better levee systems here, that something of a storm of the degree of at least a 3 will protect us from levee overtopping.

[01:40:00] GIARRUSSO: And obviously we want to make sure people in the city are as safe as possible.

HOLMES: There were a number of evacuation orders, mandatory and voluntary.

Do you feel enough of those orders in the areas where they're most crucial were heeded by people?

GIARRUSSO: Well, you're hearing from the smaller parishes that some people have left. I know there was some frustration with the local officials for people who stayed behind. When you hear the sheriffs and mayors talking about they would leave if they weren't obligated to stay.

Also what were routinely said, too, is you imperil our ability to help other things or situations or even our own ability to help. In the city of New Orleans, I feel like there's been a lot of people who have voluntarily evacuated.

Social media's been lit up with folks talking about how long it took them to go east or west. So hopefully everybody's taking the necessary precautions to get out if they have the ability to.

HOLMES: You touched on this and it is an important point. The New Orleans Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Office saying that emergency personnel will not be able to safely respond during the height of the hurricane.

Obviously, that's a reality people need to understand when it comes to leaving or choosing to stay. You might not get help if you call.

GIARRUSSO: You probably will not get help if you call unless something catastrophic happens. The first order of business is first responders to make sure that things are secure the way that they need to be, that they're protecting everything the best way they can.

Remember, they need to protect themselves, too. So they don't have time to deal with run-of-the-mill quality of life calls or other situations. The first priority has to be protecting city and other areas as this hurricane is approaching and about to make landfall.

HOLMES: It's an interesting side matter in a way but an important one. Many hospitals in the hurricane's target area, which might have wanted to scale back operations or even get patients out there, they're having to stay open, because surrounding ones are full of COVID.

GIARRUSSO: Yes. That's one of the big considerations here for two reasons. Number one is obviously when you have people who are evacuating, are we worried about COVID not only in the city but also spreading it potentially elsewhere.

But then secondly, because of the fact that COVID has been an issue here, I talked to the health department earlier today and while there were some beds that were available by the morning, there's pretty much going to be a full lockdown, at least in Orleans Parish of all the hospitals.

So it is critical to make sure that you've made your plans, that you're ready to be safe and that obviously COVID is another factor. We have two -- we have pandemic happening right now and you have this act of God that's coming simultaneously. It's two big issues hitting us both at the same time.

HOLMES: What are you most worried about?

GIARRUSSO: What I'm most worried about honestly is the wind here. I think that's the biggest concern is, at least for Orleans Parish, that you have so much wind that will be sustained for such a period of time that people will potentially lose their roofs.

And as importantly here in the South, as you well know, it gets hot and humid and so making sure that power loss is at a minimal amount and then making sure that, once the storm has passed, after 24-48 hours that we can get power to people as much as possible.

The secondary thing is obviously the rain. The rain chances have increased. So obviously going to make sure that everything from out power perspective is working as much as possible to pump the rainwater out of the city.

HOLMES: Yes. Well, we wish you well and good luck as this thing approaches and stay safe. Appreciate it. Councilman Joseph Giarrusso, thanks very much there in New Orleans.

GIARRUSSO: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: CNN is covering this powerful storm from all angles.

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HOLMES: Time running out for those hoping to leave Louisiana by plane if it hasn't run out already. At New Orleans' Louis Armstrong International Airport, all flights canceled for Sunday. CNN affiliate WVUE spoke to a young couple visiting New Orleans who said they're stranded and looking for bus routes out of the city.

Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport said early Sunday morning flights on American Airlines are still scheduled to operate but all flights after 10:00 am local time are canceled. Passengers advised to contact their airline for the latest information.

Coming up on the program, we will take a look at the Chinese media campaign to discredit theories about the origins of the coronavirus. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

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HOLMES: Australia reporting another day of record-setting COVID cases. New South Wales recording more than 1,200 new locally transmitted cases on Sunday. That is their highest number ever. That's almost daily records in New South Wales.

Only 35 percent of the population over the age of 16 have been fully vaccinated in that state. And Australia's neighbor down under is also seeing a surge in new cases.

On Sunday, New Zealand reporting dozens of new COVID infections. The country in lockdown until at least Tuesday night. But some cities, like Auckland and Wellington, could get that curfew extended.

China pushing back on theories of where COVID originated. An inconclusive report from the U.S. intelligence community sparked a swift condemnation from Chinese officials. But it doesn't stop there. CNN's David Culver with more on attempts by Chinese state media to twist the narrative on the pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A constant barrage of digital articles with sarcastic cartoons, TV reports, documentaries, even a rap song.

All of it, part of an aggressive Chinese propaganda campaign, aimed to sow doubt and deflect blame when it comes to the origins of COVID-19.

CNN combing through months of online posts and publications, they reveal a seemingly coordinated effort, pushed by state media and diplomats.

Some of the stories appearing authentic and convincing, like the work of Wilson Edwards, whose online profiles suggest he's a biologist from Switzerland. On July 24th, Edwards appeared to post a lengthy article, slamming the World Health Organization for its COVID investigation, claiming the WHO advisory group succumbed to a political tool, a strikingly similar sentiment that's been shared repeatedly by Chinese officials.

Look a bit closer and you'll find this was Wilson Edwards' first Facebook post and he's only got three friends.

Still, his article got picked up by Voice of South Pacific and shared more than 500 times. We found many of those reposting the article, apparent trolls pushing Beijing's agenda.

A deeper dig Into Voice of South Pacific finds that the publication is ultimately run by China News Service, a state-controlled news agency. Not surprising, Wilson's pro-China stance got plenty of play online in other state media outlets.

That was, until the neutral Swiss embassy in Beijing sent out this tweet on August 10th.

"Looking for Wilson Edwards. Hoping to find this biologist."

No luck, it seemed, as the embassy of Switzerland later concluded he doesn't exist.

"If you exist, we would like to meet you," the embassy said.

His Facebook account likely to be fake. And so, too, that article. Suddenly, state media purged all references to Wilson Edwards.

That is just one recent example of China's effort to influence the COVID-19 origin's narrative, by deflecting blame for the worldwide pandemic and then staying silent in the early days, as it spread in China, before it alerted world health officials.

Other efforts include consistently rehashing old conspiracy theories, primarily that the virus started in a lab.

No, not this lab, this one, Ft. Detrick in the United States, the home of the U.S. Army's biological laboratory. Though there is no evidence the virus originated here, that has not stopped the Chinese from trying to push their version of a lab-leak theory.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The U.S. should invite WHO experts to investigate Ft. Detrick.

CULVER (voice-over): And people are getting the message, true or not. One conspiracy article picked up by state media Xinhua on July 30th alleged the virus leaked from Ft. Detrick to Europe. It was viewed nearly 25 million times on a Chinese site Weibo.

A video made by a Chinese state media reporter appeared to show several satellite images of the U.S.' biological labs, suggesting the virus, despite having first been detected in Wuhan, came from the U.S. The video getting nearly 200,000 views on Facebook, which happens to be blocked in China.

The propaganda-fueled push might be working, at least in China. State media tabloid, "Global Times," claimed more than 25 million people signed an online petition to investigate the U.S. military. And just look at the spike in Ft. Detrick interest on Chinese search engine Baidu.

[01:55:00]

CULVER (voice-over): After the initial surge in searches when a WHO field mission was in Wuhan in January of this year, a second spike last month after Beijing rejected a WHO phase II study and began churning out more propaganda, which has since steadily flooded the airwaves and cyberspace.

As President Biden's 90-day intelligence community review on the origins ends, its findings will likely only fuel the fiery war of words over who is to blame for nearly 4.4 million deaths -- David Culver, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And back to our top story. Hurricane Ida charging straight towards the U.S. Gulf Coast. And just in to us now, news that it is officially a category 3 hurricane. It could make landfall as a category 4 along Louisiana's coast in the coming hours, which is, of course, the 16th anniversary of Katrina's catastrophic siege of the area.

Now forecasters say a storm surge of up to 15 feet expected in some areas, winds of 150 miles an hour. And these -- latest alert calls it an extremely dangerous, major hurricane. Take care, everyone, in that part of the country.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @HolmesCNN. Don't go anywhere, though. My colleague, Robyn Curnow, is up after a short break to continue our breaking news coverage.