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Omicron Variant Prompts Global Travel Restrictions; COVID-19 Restriction Protests around the World; Biden-Putin Virtual Summit Tuesday; Chris Cuomo Terminated from CNN; Indonesia Volcano Eruption. Aired 12-12:30a ET

Aired December 05, 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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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Paula Newton.

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, as Omicron spreads around the globe, new rules and stringent travel restrictions are now in place.

Direct diplomacy: the U.S. and Russian presidents are set to talk as worries grow about a possible invasion of Ukraine.

And dozens of people are now missing as a deadly volcano erupts in Indonesia.

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NEWTON: It is a troubling fact that, just as so many parts of the world gear up for the holidays, international travelers are once again facing severe restrictions and mandatory quarantines.

As governments try and halt the spread of the new variant, Omicron, now Chile, Zambia, Romania are the latest to join the growing list of countries where Omicron has been detected. In her final weekly podcast as chancellor, Angela Merkel urged people to get their vaccinations.

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ANGELA MERKEL, CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY (through translator): Get vaccinated. It doesn't matter whether it's the first or the booster vaccination. All vaccination is useful. It gives the vaccine recipient security and at least excellent protection against the serious course of the disease. And the highest possible vaccination rate will help all of us in this country to put this pandemic behind us.

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NEWTON: Now many of the new travel rules are still aimed at arrivals from southern Africa, where Omicron was first detected. And many of those countries are now lashing out, saying the new restrictions unfairly target African travelers.

For the second straight day, South Africa reported more than 16,000 COVID cases, four times what it had just a few days ago. We get the latest now from CNN's Salma Abdelaziz in London.

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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Omicron variant has put the world on edge, triggering new travel bans and lockdown measures. More than 35 countries have reported cases of the coronavirus variant.

Doctors and scientists are racing to gather data, to determine if it's more transmissible, causes more severe illness and whether it could impact the efficacy of vaccines.

DR. SOUMYA SWAMINATHAN, WHO CHIEF SCIENTIST: The early reports that we have, starting with (INAUDIBLE) province where it was first observed and then across the (INAUDIBLE) provinces of South Africa, we do think that it's quite infectious, quite transmissible.

It is something to worry about. Certainly we didn't want to see another variant emerge and spread around the world at this stage of the pandemic, certainly not what we wanted. But we are not entirely surprised. And I think we're much better prepared to handle it.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): But many countries are taking no chances. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a nationwide lockdown for all unvaccinated people.

Italy imposed mask mandates in Rome and Sicily ahead of the holidays.

And Ireland introduced new restrictions, closing night clubs and imposing a 50 percent capacity cap for indoor events.

Rio de Janeiro cancelled New Year's Eve celebrations after Brazil detected its first Omicron cases.

South African scientists first detected Omicron. COVID cases in the country nearly quadrupled between Tuesday and Friday, passing the 3 million mark for the first time since the start of the pandemic; 70 to 75 percent of the cases sequenced in South Africa in November were confirmed to be of the Omicron variant.

Health officials continue to underscore how important it is to get vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19.

In the U.K., prime minister Boris Johnson received his booster and urged residents to do the same as soon as possible.

BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: The target that we have set ourselves is to offer a booster to everyone eligible by the end of January. And as with the first jabs, we'll be working through people by age group, going down in 5-year bands.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): While it may be a few more weeks until scientists know more about Omicron, the world continues to act fast to fight the latest obstacle in the coronavirus pandemic -- Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

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NEWTON: OK. Now another feature of this pandemic, we haven't seen COVID related protests all over the world. The latest this weekend, take a listen.

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NEWTON (voice-over): That was in Austria. Tens of thousands of people demonstrated over the current lockdown and the government's plan to make vaccinations mandatory next year.

Now on Saturday meantime, thousands protested in Australia. Have a look there, on both sides with demonstrators for and against vaccine mandates filling the streets of Melbourne.

And in Brazil protesters in Sao Paulo are demanding the ouster of the president, Jair Bolsonaro, unhappy with his handling of the pandemic. Remember here, more than 615,000 people in Brazil have died from COVID so far.

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NEWTON: Rafael Romo joins with me on the latest on coronavirus in Latin America.

But we want to highlight Chile, such an interesting case study in the way the pandemic unfolded for the very reason it was one of the first to vaccinate so many people.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR: They did many things right at the very beginning. They went ahead and made arrangements with different pharmaceutical companies to get any vaccine they can and they could. And they did.

The problem was that they lowered the guard a little too soon. We're talking about a year ago, when they were pushing for reopening malls and sending children back to school and then the New Year's celebrations that were raves held; not openly. They were not legal yet.

So it was a situation combining many good things with many bad things. Looking at the numbers, in the first trimester, the first quarter of 2021, things got worse again. And then another spike in June that was even worse than the first one they had at the beginning of the pandemic.

But the good news is that, this week, they announced that 91 percent of the population have been fully vaccinated.

NEWTON: Wow.

ROMO: And the other thing, if you think about a comeback, is that they surpassed Israel as the number one country in the world with the most -- with the highest percentage of people who have received a booster shot. So a mixed picture here.

NEWTON: From that, we get a glimpse in how they intend to fight the new variant. They want to boost their way out of it.

ROMO: Yes, it's been very difficult because they relied too much at the very beginning -- they used the Sinovac vaccine widely. Even though it's better than nothing, the results were very mixed, not what they hoped for. A lot of reinfections, people going to the hospital. And so that's the reason why there was this big push for the booster shot.

And they started in August. It's been going very well. In September, they started vaccinating minors. That's also going very well. And when you look at the most recent numbers, definitely the trend is down.

NEWTON: OK. Rafael Romo thank you so much. Again, good to see you, as I said, in that part of the world, where there have been varying degrees of success and failure in fighting the pandemic. Appreciate it, good to see you.

ROMO: Good to see you.

NEWTON: Now to China where the Omicron variant remains top of mind as the country prepares to host the Beijing Winter Games in just 61 days, posing the biggest test yet for China's COVID control measures, as thousands of international athletes head to Beijing.

Remember, China enforces the so-called zero COVID policy, meaning it conducts widespread lockdowns and testing to eliminate even the smallest of outbreaks.

One example of the policy was at Shanghai Disneyland in October, when a single confirmed case sent the park into a snap lockdown. Besides COVID -- zero COVID-19, China's vaccination rate is more than 75 percent.

But some estimates -- but at the same time the WHO says trials show that China's vaccines are less effective than the mRNA counterparts. We heard from Rafael about the trouble in Chile.

Sometimes that efficacy can be as low as 50 percent against symptomatic COVID. Now there is the added concern, of course, of the new variant. The Chinese meantime dismiss concerns and criticism of their vaccines.

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NEWTON: Joining me now is Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health on the Council on Foreign Relations.

Thank you for being with us. China has been interesting in the way they handled this pandemic. Depending on your opinion, they have either been extraordinarily successful, right, at containing the virus, going for COVID zero or they've been naive.

How does the new variant change things for China's strategy? YANZHONG HUANG, SENIOR FELLOW, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: You know

the China zero COVID strategy has been under criticism, both within China and abroad.

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HUANG: But now in a strange twist, with the new variant, actually may vindicate this strategy. You know, China actually is using other countries' response to the variant to claim the superiority of their pandemic response.

To many Chinese, the argument is that, had it not been for the stringent pandemic control measures which they pursued, the result would have been disastrous for China.

NEWTON: And given the fact that, as far as we know, it originated there and given the fact that they had to deal with the containment in the first instance, what have they lost, though, by pursuing this zero COVID strategy?

HUANG: Well, this is associated with tremendous social, economic, political and even foreign policy costs. We talk about how China's economy actually has suffered because of the strategy. We talk about how it has caused so much inconvenience for Chinese, who want to travel in China and who want to travel overseas.

And people actually they are -- with these frequent outbreaks now in China, because of the Delta variant, actually, people are getting more dissatisfied with that strategy.

NEWTON: And I'm wondering if you believe that there would be a push to try and change the strategy.

And some people have speculated, part of the problem with the strategy is the Chinese vaccines; that, in fact, that this containment policy would categorically have to change in the future, because those Chinese vaccines just aren't effective enough against new variants.

And perhaps their immunity wanes much more quickly than the other vaccines.

HUANG: That's right. The -- one of the strategies China to have this mass vaccine rollout is based on the thinking that, once they have reached a certain level of vaccination rate, say 80 percent, you know, then China would be in a more competent position to relax zero tolerance strategy.

But I think what the problem is, that this zero tolerance strategy basically cannot tolerate even single infections. And we know even the best of vaccines cannot eradicate the virus.

You know, so this vaccination strategy, you know, not even to mention how effective these vaccines are, right, become irrelevant, right, in terms of pursuing this strategy.

NEWTON: And all eyes again on China as we move toward the Olympics, about two months away now, and the plans that they have to stick to that zero COVID policy, even as the Olympics are on. Yanzhong Huang, thank you. Appreciate your time.

HUANG: Thank you.

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NEWTON: Now U.S. intelligence is laying out a timeline for what a Russian attack on Ukraine could possibly look like. What troop levels say about a full-on Kremlin invasion. That's coming up.

And pleading not guilty: the parents of the alleged Michigan school shooter face a judge after setting off a fugitive manhunt. CNN's exclusive video of their arrest coming up.

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NEWTON: Now for a country that says it isn't invading its neighbor, Russia has a lot of explaining to do. Kremlin forces are converging near Ukraine in the tens of thousands. And U.S. intelligence says, at this rate, they could launch an invasion within months.

All this ahead of a virtual summit between U.S. and Russian leaders. CNN's Matthew Chance has details from Kiev.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Russia is planning an imminent invasion of Ukraine. Diplomacy is being urgently stepped up with the U.S. and Russian leaders agreeing to direct talks via the link.

The Kremlin says a virtual summit between President Biden and Vladimir Putin will take place on Tuesday evening, Moscow time.

Russia, which U.S. and Ukraine officials say has deployed tens of thousands of troops, is demanding new security guarantees from the U.S. to stop any further expansion of NATO to the east.

President Putin told incoming ambassadors to Russia he would press his U.S. counterpart for a written legally binding commitment.

Take a listen.

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VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): We propose to start meaningful talks. I would underline that we need legal and political guarantees as our Western colleagues didn't fulfill their verbal promises they gave. In particular, it is well-known that NATO promised on words not to expand to the east but did the opposite. Russia's legitimate worries were ignored and are still being ignored.

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CHANCE: Amid further U.S. intelligence reports of more Russian military deployments near the Ukrainian border. One report estimates Russian troop levels could reach 175,000 before any military offensive. Moscow denies it's planning another invasion.

President Biden says the U.S. is putting together a, quote, "comprehensive and meaningful set of initiatives" to, in his words, "make it very, very difficult for Mr. Putin to go ahead and do what people are worried he's going to do."

U.S. officials have warned that more severe economic sanctions against Russia would be on the table if a Russian attack on Ukraine takes place -- Matthew Chance, CNN, Kiev.

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NEWTON: Now the parents of the suspected Michigan school shooter have pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter. James and Jennifer Crumbley are each being held on a $500,000 bond after setting off a fugitive manhunt.

This exclusive video that you see there shows the couple being taken into custody from a warehouse in Detroit. Police say someone aided the pair while there. Prosecutors will now decide if charges are brought against that person.

In the meantime, during the Crumbley arraignment Saturday, their lawyers claimed they had fully intended to turn themselves in before being arrested. They also denied their client's son had unrestricted access to the gun accused of using at Oxford High School earlier in the week.

Four students were killed in the shooting. Six other students were wounded, as well as one teacher.

Suspended anchor Chris Cuomo is no longer employed here at CNN. His termination was announced Saturday and it goes into effect immediately.

The move comes after documents from the New York attorney general showing Cuomo effectively worked as an unpaid aide to his brother, then the New York state governor, Andrew Cuomo, as he faced sexual harassment allegations. CNN's Brian Stelter has more now from New York.

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BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there. Yes, this is sending shock waves across the television news world. Chris Cuomo was one of the most prominent anchors here on CNN but he has been terminated. And it all stems from the sexual harassment scandal involving his brother, the former New York governor, Andrew Cuomo.

Here is the statement from CNN Saturday night, announcing the news, saying, "Cuomo was suspended earlier this week pending further evaluation of new information that came to light about his involvement with his brother's defense.

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STELTER: "We retained a respected law firm to conduct the review and have terminated him effective immediately. While in the process of that review, additional information has come to light.

"Despite the termination, we will investigate as appropriate."

So reading between the lines there, CNN management retained a law firm to conduct its own investigation. And whatever that law firm found was apparently enough for CNN boss, Jeff Zucker, to take action on Saturday.

I reached out to Chris Cuomo for comment. Here is what he said in a statement.

He said, "This is not how I want my time at CNN to end. But I've already told you why and how I helped my brother. So let me now say, as disappointing as this is, I could not be more proud of the team at "CUOMO PRIME TIME" and the work we did as CNN's number one show in the most competitive time slot."

Chris Cuomo saying here, "I owe them all and will miss that group of special people, who did really important work."

There are a couple of unknowns here.

Number one, what was the additional information that came to light to CNN management this week?

And the company is not commenting.

Number two, how will viewers react to this news?

There were many Chris Cuomo fans who were frustrated by the suspension and wanted to see him back. However, at the same time, there were many CNN staffers, who were very angry at Chris Cuomo for the way that he enmeshed his personal and professional lives, the way that he was working with New York governor's aides in order to try to help his brother survive the sexual harassment scandal.

That kind of detail is what came out in the text messages and in the sworn testimony that was released back on Monday. Monday led to Tuesday's suspension and now to Saturday's termination.

Right now, we do know that Cuomo's staff will not be affected. Chris Cuomo's team will remain in place at CNN. And there will be a new 9:00 pm show at some point in the future.

But ultimately the most important detail here is about journalistic ethics and standards, about having standards and practices and making sure that the CNN brand is not affected by any single person's conflict of interest -- Brian Stelter, CNN, New York.

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NEWTON: Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, a volcano erupting in Indonesia has left multiple people dead. And its ash cloud is so enormous and high, planes are getting warnings. A live report next.

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NEWTON: Wow, gosh, incredible images there from Indonesia, where a volcano erupted Saturday, people literally running for their lives. Officials say at least 13 people have been killed and scores more injured. Thousands have been forced to evacuate.

Pilots are now warned and to be on alert with the ash clouds towering 40,000 feet into the air. And it does pose a danger to those jet engines. Blake Essig is with us from Tokyo as you are following the story.

I have to say I was stunned by the pictures that we've been looking at today. The concern now seems to be for those rescuers, trying to reach people who are still trapped.

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Paula, conditions seem to be deteriorating as we speak. Search and rescue efforts are currently underway. And the exact number of people impacted remains unknown.

Authorities say the number of victims that have since been identified have been injured as a result of hot ash falling from the sky.

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ESSIG: According to people forced to evacuate, who have spoken to CNN, tell us that they fear that there are many more victims. And that's because people still haven't been able to locate family members.

And say that a lot of houses have been either fully covered by ash or impacted either fully or partially by both hot and cold lava flows.

The volcano erupted on Saturday afternoon, sending people, living in the area, running for lives, as you said, as the volcano spewed a column of smoke and ash turning day to night.

This eruption of Mount Semeru killed at least 13, wounded nearly 100 more and forced hundreds of families to evacuate. Officials say more than 900 displaced people are evacuated to evacuation centers made up of schools, a mosque, village halls and homes. Currently the military is sending personnel, gear and equipment to

help with the search and rescue effort while doctors and nurses have been sent to local health facilities to treat victims.

While search and rescue efforts remain underway, there is some good news to report. A spokesperson for the country's disaster mitigation agency says that 10 people who were trapped after the eruption were rescued earlier today and have since been evacuated to safety.

But again, residents are still believed to be missing and the exact number of victims is still unknown. That's in part because officials say that there are a number of villages that they can't reach because of heavy mud flow and fallen trees that have blocked roads.

Now as for those on the ground, authorities continue to warn people limping around the people living around the slope of the volcano to avoid for fears of further volcanic activity.

But despite those warnings, a nurse near the disaster location tells CNN that some villagers, who have no ability to evacuate, are going back to their village to save cows and goats. This is happening at a time when, she tells us, that hot clouds and ash are one again forming and that it's starting to get dark, despite being in the middle of the day -- Paula.

NEWTON: That's a point, right, the volcano is still active and quite dangerous. Blake, I appreciate the update.

Now A blizzard warning has been issued for a tropical paradise. As much as a foot of snow is expected to fall in the mountain peaks of Hawaii's big island this weekend. The U.S. National Weather Service issued the first blizzard warning for the island in more than three years.

Wind gusts are expected to reach over 160 kilometers per hour. Many Hawaiians will just see heavy rain. Incredible pictures as they wait to see what happens with the forecast.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Paula Newton. Stay with us. "ROAD TO THE FUTURE" is next.