Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Merck's COVID-19 Pill; Hope for a New Normal in Japan; U.S. House Approves 30-Day Extension on Road Projects; Sarah Everard Murder; Interview with DP World CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem on U.S.- China Tensions. Aired 3-3:30a ET
Aired October 02, 2021 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. Appreciate your company. I'm Michael Holmes.
Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, this little pill could transform the fight against COVID, promising to cut the risk of death or hospitalization from the virus in half.
Taiwan claiming that 38 Chinese military aircraft invaded its Air Defense Identification Zone, the largest incursion yet. We take you live to Taipei.
And London's police under fire for advice they gave women on the heels of the murder of Sarah Everard.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: Welcome, everyone.
A sobering marker for the countries worst hit by the coronavirus. More than 700 Americans, having -- 700,000 Americans, losing their lives to COVID, for more than any other nation. Daily deaths remain high in the U.S., even as case numbers, steadily, fall.
Meanwhile, there are hopes that a new type of COVID treatment could be a major breakthrough. Merck says, data shows its antiviral pill reduces the risk of hospitalization or death, by half. Dr. Anthony Fauci, saying that the development is significant.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF COVID-19 MEDICAL ADVISER: The news of the efficacy of this particular antiviral is obviously very good news.
The company, when they briefed us last night, had mentioned that they will be submitting their data to the FDA, imminently. And the data are impressive. There was a 50 percent diminution of importance, is that in the placebo group, there were eight deaths. In the treatment group, there were no deaths. That is, also, very important and very good news.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And, there may be more booster options, soon, in the U.S. Vaccine advisers to the Food and Drug Administration, meeting in mid October, to discuss booster doses for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
Later in the month, the panel is set to discuss using Pfizer's vaccine for children under 12.
Some parts of the world, still, seeing infections rise. Singapore, about to reimpose restrictions after its highest number of daily infections, yet, 3000 new cases, reported, there Friday.
Earlier, I spoke to Dr. Jayne Morgan, who is executive director of the Piedmont Health Care COVID Task Force here in Atlanta. I asked her if she thought the Merck pill could be an effective new weapon, in fighting COVID.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JAYNE MORGAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PIEDMONT HEALTH CARE COVID TASK FORCE: This is a tool and certainly, we are welcoming this tool.
As we look at patients who can't have breakthrough infections or, unfortunately, the unvaccinated who may become infected, this is an opportunity to keep people out of the hospital and certainly, out of the morgue.
HOLMES: It is promising.
Is there a risk, that this and other treatments, which may be on the way as well, could disincentivize the unvaccinated?
To stay unvaccinated and say, I'll take the pill if I get sick.
If so, what impact might that have on overall virus control if that were to happen?
MORGAN: Certainly, I hope not. I hope we can get ahead of this messaging, because it won't be the first pill to come. We have a plethora of other companies, making all types of medical therapeutics.
But this is not prevention and like your grandma used to tell, you an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. You don't want to get infected. You don't want to have exposure to the virus and risk being sick and then, having to take a medication or a therapeutic, to contain a virus that, is already, inside of you.
So we want everybody to consider and continue to move forward with the vaccinations so we can prevent illness. In the case that you become ill, certainly, we are welcoming these pills into our arsenal, as we continue to fight this pandemic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: COVID optimism seems to be catching. Meanwhile, the hope that we might gradually put the worst of it behind us is something else that is spreading around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES (voice-over): Dinner and drinks, the return of one of the simple pleasures of life in Japan. It's just one of the signs of getting back to a sense of normal in some spots around the globe, where the number of new coronavirus cases has declined.
[03:05:00]
HOLMES (voice-over): Japan lifted a state of emergency in, all regions of the country, for the first time in 6 months, allowing restaurants to increase their hours of operation and sell alcohol, once again.
New infections, in Japan, have dropped dramatically. From over 20,000 a day in August, to just under 2,000 now. Welcome progress for people who have been encouraged to skip nonessential gatherings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I was just commuting between my home and my company. Because of the lack of communication, I felt lonely.
HOLMES (voice-over): The WHO, saying, globally, the numbers of weekly new COVID-19 cases and deaths, are declining. Most recently, down 10 percent, from mid-September. Cautious optimism, though the virus is still circulating and killing.
Experts warn, it could quickly rebound. Vietnam, also, easing some coronavirus measures after a gradual decline in cases there. A stay- at-home order, lifted, in Ho Chi Minh city. People in the capital of Hanoi, now, exercising outside and small groups and malls and retail stores, have opened, something that, many, hope will revive the economy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): This year, the outbreak is more complicated than the last. There has been jobless now with no income. So, staying at home feels very suffocating.
HOLMES (voice-over): Masks are required on Havana's famous seaside promenade but the popular spot to fish or soak up the sun is also open again, after being off limits for nine months, because of Cuba's COVID-19 restrictions.
Even the traditional double kiss is Paris, is making a slow comeback after falling out a favor during the outbreaks in France.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I stopped kissing people on the cheek during COVID, due to social distancing. But now, I do kiss people I know but only to the loved ones, not people I don't know very well. HOLMES (voice-over): The power of the human touch or a breath of fresh
air, small reminders of life before the pandemic and what could one day bring us closer to normal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Turning now to Taiwan, where defense officials are reporting the largest incursion, yet, by China's air force. The self-governing island says 38 military aircraft entering the Air Defense Identification Zone on Friday. This, coming as Beijing celebrates the founding of the People's Republic of China. Let's get the latest from CNN's Will Ripley, who is live for, us in Taipei.
So, the planes didn't go into sovereign airspace but a lot of them, clearly, there is a message.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Beijing is very strategic with these aerial incursions, because they don't violate international law. Taiwan's airspace extends 12 nautical miles from the coast. And the Air Defense Identification Zone goes farther than that, like a buffer zone.
When a plane enters the Air Defense Identification Zone, the air traffic control, in that country, will ask them to identify themselves and alert the military of a possible incoming threat.
So, what Beijing does by flying these massive amounts of military hardware into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone is they are staying in international a space but also sending a strong message.
One analyst called it tantamount to political warfare in a propaganda win for the mainline audience. Look at the hardware in the sky, on Friday, 2 different waves, near Taiwan. You had 32 fighters in total. Four nuclear capable bombers. One anti-submarine aircraft. One early warning aircraft. Look, they think it is bullying and is intimidation, here in Taipei.
The timing, they, say is not a coincidence. It happened, on Friday, which is the day that Beijing marked their national day. Celebrating 72 years, since the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Incidentally, during those 72 years, the government in Beijing has claimed this island, of almost 24 million, people as its own, sovereign territory, even though the island of Taiwan has its own government, a democratically elected government. It's the only Chinese speaking democracy in the world.
And the ministry of foreign affairs here didn't mince words when they put out a statement, in response, to this latest active, what they consider, military intimidation. They said, Taiwan, is Taiwan. It is not part of the People's Republic of China. The People's Republic of China has never ruled Taiwan, for a single day.
And, yet, with flyovers like this, the message Beijing is sending, it's quite clear. They're saying, they will not rule out the use of military force, to prevent Taiwan from, formally, separating, formally declaring its independence, from the mainland.
HOLMES: All right Will Ripley, in Taipei. Appreciate, it thank you so much.
Nearly 4,000 federal highway workers, who were laid off on Friday, should be back on the job, soon. The U.S. House, stepping in late on Friday, to, temporarily, restore government highway funds, that expired, when the House failed to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill.
[03:10:00]
HOLMES: The U.S. Senate approval of the 30-day extension is expected on Saturday. Now the vote came after President Biden met with Democrats, to try and resolve the interparty impasse over both the infrastructure bill and a much larger economic package.
Afterwards, the president was confident an agreement would, eventually, be reached.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm telling you, we're going to get this done.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: When? When?
BIDEN: It doesn't matter when. It doesn't matter whether it's in six minutes, six days or six weeks. We're going to get it done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The White House, having an even bigger challenge, later this month, when Democrats must grapple with raising the debt ceiling but do it without any Republican support.
Now the Taliban may run Afghanistan but some of the country's own embassies are refusing to recognize the new government. As CNN's Ben Wedeman reports, from Rome, that has placed them in a sort of diplomatic limbo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Taliban have seized control of Afghanistan but 5,000 kilometers away in Rome, the old Afghan flag flutters over the embassy.
KHALED AHMAD ZEKRIYA, AMBASSADOR, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF AFGHANISTAN: So what we do is we issue visas and also we extend the duration of our -- the passports.
This is called the Golden Room.
WEDEMAN: Ambassador Khaled Ahmed Zekriya continues to work and live with this elegant villa that has housed his country's embassy for almost a century.
ZEKRIYA: We, from 1964.
WEDEMAN: Boasting relics from a different era.
ZEKRIYA: Two Electra 225 were bought by former Prime Minister Musa Shafiq. The king sent one to the embassy of Afghanistan to Italy. We have 11 local employees.
WEDEMAN: Since the Taliban takeover, Ambassador Zekriya says he's had to let some staff go. Others received their last paycheck in September.
The new boss in Kabul gets a cold shoulder here.
ZEKRIYA: They have contacted us twice, once via an official memo, we declined to response because we do not recognize the current caretaker regime of the Taliban.
This is called the Oriental Corner --
WEDEMAN: Many Afghan embassies are in a similar situation, getting by collecting consular fees, yet refusing to deal with the new regime.
ZEKRIYA: And then --
WEDEMAN: Italy and Afghanistan established ties in 1921. King Amanullah visited Rome seven years later. The last king of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah, lived in Rome before returning home after the Taliban were ousted 20 years ago.
With the Taliban back in power, Ambassador Zekriya shrugs off the notion the group has changed, warning the world may have gone full circle back to 2001.
ZEKRIYA: Has the war ended in Afghanistan?
Against global terrorists, I don't think so. I think this is based on naivete and I think ill calculation. The Biden administration has indicated that the American war has ended. This is my message. I think a world war with transnational terrorism has begun.
WEDEMAN: Or to put it diplomatically, the more things change, the more they stay the same -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: In the wake of Sarah Everard's murder, London police have issued new safety tips for women. Why critics are calling the advice tone-deaf.
Plus, a code red in Hawaii after a volcano eruption. What officials are saying about the world's most active volcano on Hawaii's big island.
(MUSIC PLAYING) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:15:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOLMES: The U.K. prime minister, Boris Johnson, is saying he has confidence in the police and is standing by the London Metropolitan Police commissioner. This comes as Cressida Dick is coming under mounting pressure to resign over the Sarah Everard murder.
The police, force is also being criticized, for the advice they give to women who were approached by a lone police officer. CNN's Nina dos Santos, reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNNMONEY EUROPE EDITOR (voice-over): Former Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens may now be behind bars but the Sarah Everard case is by no means behind the Metropolitan Police.
They have said that they've issued new guidelines for people who feel unsafe if they're approached by a lone undercover police officer, they can now ask for help, call 999 if they feel unsafe, ask for identification or draw attention to themselves and hail down a passing bus.
Here on the streets of London, many women saying that, that is wholly impractical and also it wouldn't have saved Sarah Everard's life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If people took misogyny and stopped crimes against women more seriously, it leaves me feeling very angry. They need to have training and any signs of, you know, a bad attitude toward women needs to be rooted out straight-away. People need to understand this cannot go on.
DOS SANTOS: Do you want a public inquiry?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
DOS SANTOS: The woman at the helm of the Metropolitan Police Dame Cressida Dick said that she wants to ensure that all of the lessons that need to be learned are learned by the institution.
But this has rocked a 200-year-old force, a crucial one which is the most important police force in the country. And for that reason, opposition politicians are saying there needs to be a full cultural review and a public inquiry into how exactly Wayne Couzens was vetted and how bad behavior is dealt with inside policing in the U.K.
On Friday, it emerged that the police conduct watchdog was investigating five officers and former officers of the Metropolitan Police for being in a WhatsApp group with Wayne Couzens back in 2019 that was allegedly sharing indecent material.
For now, Dame Cressida says that she won't resign and continues to enjoy the support of both the mayor of London and the home secretary. But questions about how the Sarah Everard's case undermines trust in policing in the U.K., for now don't appear to be going away soon -- Nina dos Santos, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Nigeria's president is saying he is ready to lift his ban on Twitter but with some strings attached. In a speech marking the nation's Independence Day, the president said, the social media giant would need to agree to four sets of conditions. They include, opening a local office and, paying taxes in Nigeria.
Other officials said earlier, Twitter would also have to manage its engagement, together, with Nigeria's government. The Buhari administration, blocking access to Twitter in June, after the company deleted one of his tweets that, many, considered offensive.
Traveling faster than a jet but firmly on the ground. CNN looks to the future of Hyperloop. Our coverage, from the Dubai Expo 2020, when we come back.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:20:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOLMES: A code red aviation warning is in effect, on the big island of Hawaii, after the Kilauea volcano started erupting on Wednesday. This was the scene, from above, on Friday. High levels of volcanic gas are the primary hazard of concern. Officials say it can have far reaching effects downwind.
Love, a continuing tour up for multiple events but so far, it is confined to who weighs volcano national park. Over the past day, the lava lake surface has risen by 4 meters but has slowed since first erupting.
Expo 2020 Dubai, is underway in the United Arab Emirates, as the official broadcaster of the event, CNN is bringing you perspectives from key players in international business and politics.
Today, we look into the future of the logistics business. Our Becky Anderson spoke with Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the chairman and CEO of the multinational logistics company, DP World.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): The global supply chain, it's what keeps cargo moving around the world the stuff we need in our everyday lives. DP World is an Emirati global logistics company that began with a single port in Dubai back in 1972.
Almost five decades later and the company has positioned itself as one of the leaders in that global supply chain responsible for moving 10 percent of the world's trade and, at its helm, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.
I caught up with him at the DP World pavilion here at Expo 2020. And I started by asking just how much damage the pandemic has wrought.
SULTAN AHMED BIN SULAYEM, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, DP WORLD: With the pandemic disrupted the whole supply chain around the world and disrupting China and disrupting China now.
ANDERSON: But at present, we see a real bottleneck in the world's supply chains.
How long is that going to last?
SULAYEM: Short term, we dealt with it. Long term, it's going to linger for a while. Look at China's, China's lockdown. And every time there is an incident of COVID case, I will possibly lock down and this will continue for a while. Today, you're lucky to find an empty container.
Today, from $7,000, a container to the West Coast of America from China, or the Far East is to $30,000; these are unheard, of course. But people need products and supply chain has to fulfill it.
And people now going to decide, do we really need to manufacture everything in the follies?
Is it logical?
I believe the pandemic taught us something and gave us opportunities.
ANDERSON: So there is such a disconnect between Washington and Beijing at the moment. Is that an uncomfortable position for the UAE?
SULAYEM: Nothing particularly, China is actually our main trading partner for a long time. The United States is also a big trading partner and ally.
Today, I believe that the cold war between America and China is not as harsh as during the Trump Administration. We are friends of both and we are business men and pay that well with politicians.
ANDERSON: So let's go sit in the Hyperloop, the Virgin Hyperloop.
[03:25:00]
ANDERSON: Let's do this.
Sulayem is also the chairman of the much anticipated virgin Hyperloop, a high speed transport system for goods and passengers.
ANDERSON: Sir, DP World has taken a significant stake in Virgin Hyperloop. You are the chairman, how significant is the stake, out of interest?
SULAYEM: I would say north of 80 percent. But you know I look at this from an investment point of view as really an insurance against disruption. The biggest risk today is technology disruption. And if they are disrupted and you do anything about it, that's a problem.
ANDERSON: When do I get a chance to sit in a pod like this in a seat like this and take that journey from Dubai to Riyadh, which today is a drive of about 10 hours?
When will I do this journey and in how much time?
SULAYEM: It's been decades. It is years.
ANDERSON: Before 2030?
SULAYEM: I hope, so I see it either in India as fears or in Saudi Arabia at the moment. Our hope is that when we achieve economies of scale and you have longer roads and it is popular, probably for a speed of an airplane. You will pay with the price of a truck.
ANDERSON: When you worked as a customs officer back in the day at what was a small port here in Jebel Ali in Dubai, did you ever believe that, one day, this organization would be moving 10 percent of the world's trade?
SULAYEM: I didn't. I didn't actually when I was -- when I joined, the port was empty. And I really miss it. I hope and we are live to see more verses in this place.
ANDERSON: It's been a pleasure talking to you today. Thank you, sir.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes, thank you for spending part of your day with me. More CNN NEWSROOM at the top of the hour with Kim Brunhuber. "AFRICAN VOICES CHANGEMAKERS," next, I'll see you tomorrow.
