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Worldwide Concern over New COVID-19 Variant Omicron; Several Countries Restricting Travel from Southern Africa; English Channel Tragedy. Aired 12-12:15a ET
Aired November 27, 2021 - 00:00 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 (voice-over): Hello, welcome to CNN NEWSROOM, I am Michael Holmes, appreciate your company.
We begin with a new coronavirus variant seizing the world's attention. The WHO calling the Omicron variant, a variant of concern, as they put it. First identified in South Africa, now detected in several other countries in the region.
Cases have, also, been confirmed further afield, including Israel, Hong Kong and Belgium. It is not yet known whether it is any more deadly or whether it can blunt vaccine efficacy or natural immunity. But scientists fear it could be more contagious and health experts say research is critical right now.
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DR. MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, COVID-19 TECHNICAL LEAD, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: This variant has a large number of mutations and some of these mutations have some worrying characteristics. Right now, there are many studies underway.
There is a lot of work that is ongoing in South Africa and in other countries, to better characterize the variant itself, in terms of transmissibility, in terms of severity and any impact on our counter measures like diagnostics, therapeutics or vaccines.
So far, there's little information but those studies are underway. So, we need researchers to have the time to carry those out.
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HOLMES: In the past 24 hours, governments, around the world, are limiting or banning flights from several southern African countries. CNN's David McKenzie with more on how the global reaction is playing in South Africa.
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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a world fatigued by waves of COVID-19, now renewed fear. In South Africa, scientists identifying a troubling new variant of the virus that is dominating infections here.
DR. JOE PHAAHLA, SOUTH AFRICAN HEALTH MINISTER: A variant of serious concern which is now driving this spike in numbers.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): More than 30 mutations, say scientists, in the spike protein alone. It's a worrying sign. Scientists are working in labs like this one in South Africa, scrambling to confirm if the variant evades immunity from previous infections or, crucially, if it weakens vaccine efficacy. Definitive answers could take weeks.
SALIM ABDOOL KARIM, EPIDEMIOLOGIST AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST: We think it may be a more transmissible virus and it may have some immune escape. Now we don't know that for sure but that's what it looks like.
URSULA VON DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: The European Commission has today proposed to member states to activate the emergency brake on travel from countries in southern Africa.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): But even without clear answers, the world is shutting its doors. Countries all across the globe, rapidly banning travelers from parts of Africa, they say to curb the spread of the variant. Now thousands are likely stranded.
In Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, hundreds of passengers from South Africa forced to sit on the tarmac for hours after landing, then crowding in a COVID testing site after the Netherlands bands traveled from South Africa.
The International Air Transport Association saying, "Restrictions are not a long-term solution."
They've already lost billions to the pandemic.
And anger in South Africa, where officials called the bans "draconian knee-jerk measures."
RICHARD LESSELLS, INFECTIOUS DISEASES SPECIALIST, UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL: What I found so disgusting and really, really distressing, actually from here was not just the travel ban being implemented by the U.K. and Europe.
But that was the only reaction or the strongest reaction. And there was no word of the support that they're going to offer to African countries to help us control the pandemic
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Countries in Africa, now Israel, Hong Kong and Belgium have so far confirmed cases of the variant -- David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.
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HOLMES: Let's take another look at who is imposing travel restrictions now and, in the days to come. The U.S. will be restricting travel from a number of southern African nations beginning Monday. Australia, Canada, Brazil and much of Europe as well as several countries in Asia will also begin limiting travel from the region.
Let's bring in CNN's Will Ripley, joining me from Hong Kong, where at least two cases of the variant, have already, been confirmed.
You just happened to be quarantining yourself, in the hotel, where two people tested positive for the variant, are staying.
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HOLMES: Tell us about that and the level of concern in the region?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this cluster of cases, here, in Hong Kong, just two floors down from where I am right now at the Regal Airport hotel in Hong Kong, some details that are emerging in local media and confirmed by CNN, is how this, supposedly, spread.
It was two people, a man in his 30s from South Africa and a man in his 60s in separate rooms, opposite each other on the hallway. With my mask on I was able to stick my phone out the door and shoot some video down the hallway, just to get a sense of how densely packed this hotel is.
The rooms are very close to each other and every plastic covered chair you see is sitting outside the room. That is where they put our meals. That's where we put our trash..
Other than opening up the door to put out the trash or get our meals, we are not allowed to step outside the room. Neither one of these men, who tested positive, are believed to have actually stepped outside of their room.
And, both of, them were fully vaccinated.
So, is this new variant so contagious, presumably, that it could spread from one, room to the other?
Because it was actually detected, the virus itself, in the hallway between the two rooms. So what they are doing here, if you want to exercise in your room, you have to rent an air purifier. Then, of course, that raises concern about -- you couldn't see any air filters in the hallway, in the video I took, from my limited vantage point.
Literally, just sticking my arm out the door, quickly, for a few seconds, with a mask on. But it doesn't make you wonder, what will happen here if this new, potentially more contagious variant spreads further into Hong Kong?
Of course, this territory has a zero COVID strategy. And that is why travelers quarantine anywhere from 14, days to 21 days. I'm on a 14- day quarantine, because I just came from Taiwan where they have, pretty much, no local transmission of the virus.
But if you talk about these travel restrictions kicking that certainly will affect a lot of transport hubs, including, right here in Hong Kong, whether it be new restrictions for cargo flight pilots or passenger flights being canceled. The repercussions of this new variant, certainly, will extend all
around the world. And we are feeling it here, Michael.
HOLMES: Tell us more about what the impact of those bans might be?
And, what else might be on the menu?
RIPLEY: Anytime a new variant is detected, people in countries or territories like Hong Kong, that have a zero COVID strategy, cringe a little and hope it doesn't spread into their community. Because, if there's even a handful of cases in the community like Hong Kong, the lockdowns kick in. The altering of normal life, so to speak, kicks back in.
Even though we go through all of these -- I think I've spent 4.5 months in quarantine, I think this is my ninth or 10th quarantine -- most people are not traveling internationally regularly right now.
So, once you get through the quarantine process, life in Hong Kong feels pretty normal. People wear masks outside, but you can gather in groups, you are allowed to go to restaurants. All of, that could come to end quickly, if there were to be a new outbreak of this variant.
So, people, obviously, friends of mine on the inside or maybe on the outside, I should say, have been texting me, to ask me if I'm OK. But clearly, wanting to make sure this variant does not spread back into Hong Kong.
It will make for a very unpleasant repeat of the lockdowns and other very strict measures, that many of us, around the world, have had to endure far too much over the last, nearly, two years now.
HOLMES: Absolutely. Will Ripley, in perpetual isolation, appreciate your reporting, as always.
I think every time I interview you. You are sequestered somewhere.
RIPLEY: I'm just a man in the room. I drove here but they said I can't have a beard on air. I heard you can't either, actually.
HOLMES: They made me shave mine too. A class act, Will Ripley, with a view. Appreciate that.
Now Omicron, being described by virologists as the most heavily mutated variant so far. I asked emergency room physician Dr. Rob Davidson to explain the possible risks.
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DR. ROB DAVIDSON, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN: There are mutations happening, in millions of mutations and viruses, all over, all the time. If those mutations give them an advantage, that's where it's a concern. Many mutations cause the virus to flame out or be less contagious, then it goes away. So that means, the protein we've all heard about, that spike protein, that is how the virus attaches in the body.
If that protein is part of some of those mutations in a meaningful way, such that the antibodies no longer recognize it from when people get the vaccines, that would be a big deal. We don't have that information yet. We will know in a few weeks.
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DAVIDSON: The good thing is, these mRNA platforms, within a few months or so, they can be modified to be effective against new mutations that are of concern if the current vaccine looks like it isn't going to be effective.
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HOLMES: We will have the full interview, in a couple of hours, on CNN NEWSROOM.
That new COVID variant, spooked global markets, sending stocks tumbling, on Friday. Wall Street fell sharply, the Dow, suffering its worst day in more than a year. European markets, also, shaken. The major stock indices, as you can see there.
And, the price of oil, Brent crude, and U.S. oil, all falling the U.S. crude, plunging 13 percent.
Of course, infections were already surging in Europe even before impacts from the new Omicron variant. Belgium, among the latest nations to tighten restrictions, to try and stop the spread. The government says, the situation there is, quote, "deteriorating rapidly."
Germany, seeing multiple case records this week. Its acting health minister says, more action must be taken, now but that, quote, "wake up calls have not reached everyone in the country."
Ireland is focusing on booster shots, saying that they would make them available to all adults, to ramp up protection there.
And, the Catalonia region, in Spain, is postponing the rollout of mandatory COVID passes for entering bars, restaurants and gyms.
Why, because so many people tried to download the certificate the website crashed.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, is taking aim at the British prime minister, as a diplomatic spat intensifies over how to handle migrant crossings in the English Channel. France has uninvited the British home secretary from a weekend meeting in, response to Boris Johnson, posting a 5-point plan to halt the crossings on social media, rather than in a meeting.
Mr. Macron, accusing the prime minister of not behaving seriously.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): I am surprised at the methods, when they are not serious. We do not communicate between one leader, to another, on these issues by tweeting and writing letters and making them public. We are not whistleblowers. Come on, come on.
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HOLMES: Both sides began putting blame after 27 died Wednesday while tryint to make the dangerous crossing. Many more are still stranded in camps on the French coast.
Thanks for spending part of your day with me, I'm Michael Holmes. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @HolmesCNN. Do stick around, "MARKETPLACE AFRICA" is next, I will see you later.
