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Fauci: Omicron "Is Going To Take Over" This Winter; NYC Mayor Weighing Fate Of New Year's Eve Festivities; N.Y. Tops Single-Day Case Record For Third Straight Day; U.K. Dep. PM Responds To Lockdown Picture In Guardian; Paris Canceling New Year's Eve Fireworks Display; Israel Adds U.S., Canada, 8 Others To "Red" No Fly List; Manchin Says He Won't Vote For "Build Back Better" Plan. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired December 20, 2021 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[04:00:24]

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and right around the world. I'm Isa Soares in London. And just ahead right here on CNN Newsroom.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a tsunami coming.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: It is going to be a tough few weeks to months as we get deeper into the winter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you are unvaccinated with this variant, you are going to get infected.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wish everybody would go and get the vaccine tomorrow.

SOARES (voice-over): Sounding the alarm, U.S. health officials warn Americans should prepare for a tough few weeks and months ahead with the spread of Omicron. Senator Joe Manchin deals a potentially fatal blow to President Biden's Build Back Better plan abruptly ending months of negotiations.

And Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai says she's always been free. We have the details on her latest interview.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from London. This is CNN Newsroom with Isa Soares.

SOARES: Hello everyone, welcome to the show. It is Monday, December 20th. And nearly two years since the COVID-19 pandemic turned the world really upside down, the threat is far from over. One U.S. health expert says we're beyond counting COVID waves. Instead, the country is facing a tsunami from the Omicron variant. It's now been detected in at least 45 states, you can see in -- on your screen.

And experts say it's just a matter of time really before Omicron accounts for a majority of new cases. It comes as U.S. is already grappling with a surge driven by the Delta variant. Countries now averaging more than 130,000 a day -- infections a day. And experts warn Omicron will only add, of course, fuel to that fire. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: We are going to see a significant stress in some regions of the country, on the hospital system, particularly in those areas where you have a low level of vaccination, which is one of the reasons why we continue to stress the importance of getting those unvaccinated people vaccinated. This virus is extraordinary. It has a doubling time of anywhere from two to three days.

Right now in certain regions of the country, 50 percent of the isolates are Omicron, which means it's going to take over. We are going to be in for some serious difficulties right now and we better be doing more to mitigate against that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well as Dr. Fauci said, unvaccinated people likely face a tough few weeks ahead. And new CDC data suggests that compared to fully vaccinated and boosted people, those not protected by a vaccine, as you see there on your screen, are 10 times more likely to test positive and 20 times more likely to die.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden is preparing to meet with the White House COVID response team in the coming hours, also set to address public concerns about Omicron in a speech on Tuesday.

Well, with cases really soaring in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio is weighing what to do about the city's famed New Year's Eve festivities. He says a final decision should be made before Christmas. Meanwhile, the Mayor says is the way to attack this Omicron front (ph). Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: We expect Omicron to be a fast and temporary phenomenon. We expect these next weeks to see a very, very big surge in the number of cases more than we've seen previously. And then we expect after a period of time that it will dissipate. This temporary reality demands an urgent immediate step, which is to maximise vaccination.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, overall, the state of New York continues to report some really troubling COVID numbers with records being broken daily as you can see there. CNN's Polo Sandoval has a story for you. POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For three days now, New York State has seen a significant increase in the number of new COVID cases. Now, in fact, a record number of COVID cases confirmed throughout the state here. We have heard some optimism coming from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday saying that the bringing back of several of these mitigation efforts, also this increase in numbers that, yes, it is happening right now. It's a new reality, but it is a temporary one.

But when you speak to New Yorkers, there is a concern and fear that things are possibly going to get worse before they get better. And so we have seen just massive crowds at COVID testing sites throughout New York City, people who are trying to at least secure an appointment to actually get those tests. Some, it is a requirement if they're going to be travelling soon.

[04:05:03]

But for many, almost everybody, they want to be tested. They want that extra peace of mind even though majority of them are vaccinated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like a couple of friends, I have to have been vaccinated did also like, catch COVID or have scare. So just kind of like trying to play safe for the family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To be safe. You never know. Even you're vaccinated, you still get it. So it's better to make sure than to be sorry later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: As recent as last week, New York City actually announced a multipoint approach that is meant to try to slow the spread, that includes increasing the number of locations where people could get vaccinated and also where people can get tested. And even making those home kits available for those who are not able to actually stand in line for hours at a time.

But the big, big advice obviously coming from officials not just here in New York City but throughout the country is for the safety (ph) of the population that's not vaccinated, to get the shot if they already did, to get boosted. And if you got boosted, get tested.

Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.

SOARES: Thanks, Polo. Well, coronavirus infections are soaring right across the U.K. with the Omicron and Delta variants driving up case numbers over the weekend topping 90,000 on some days. The British health secretary says hospital emissions are rising especially in London. City's mayor want further COVID restrictions are inevitable. He's now declared the rapid rise in new infections a major incident.

Elsewhere in Europe, streets in the Netherlands are largely desert, as you can see there with the country enforcing one of the strictest lockdowns on the continent is set to last until at least January the 14th. Meanwhile, authorities in Denmark say COVID infections there could reach up to 45,000 a day by Christmas. And thousands gathered in Brussels on Sunday to protest COVID restrictions. Belgium has recently required COVID process to enter bars, as well as restaurants.

CNN has reporters covering every angle of the story. Cyril Vanier is with us this morning from Paris. Let's start though with Salma Abdelaziz here in London. And Salma, as I've just pointed out, we're seeing really soaring case numbers and the Prime Minister clearly under pressure to act, how likely are further restrictions at this stage?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: I think everyone's waking up this morning asking is, will there, will there not be a lockdown for Christmas? I mean, you saw the numbers over the weekend and over last week, tens of thousands of positive cases every single day. Breaking records that have not been seen since the start of this pandemic.

Over the weekend, the London mayor declaring a major incident in the city, saying further restrictions are inevitable. Scientific advisers, the Sage Group which guides the government's restrictions. They published a new statistics over the weekend that say without further restrictions in place. This country you could see up to 3,000 people a day arriving in hospital. They blame this, of course, on the Omicron variant.

The scientific advisers are pushing the government for tougher measures to be in place before the end of the year. They say every day is important when you're in this crucial period between the positive cases and hospitalizations because, of course, the fear is is that all of these huge surge of positive cases that we're seeing right now will translate a couple of weeks into some people showing up in hospital sick, putting pressure on the healthcare system.

Now, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his administration have been insistent that the restrictions in place are tough enough. But I think this morning, we're hearing their tune change a bit. Dominic Raab, the Deputy Prime Minister, was on the morning talk shows today and he said there is no hard and fast guarantee that there won't be further rules put into force before Christmas time or during the Christmas period. He advised everyone to be cautious to be careful.

And I think that's what everyone is doing, he said. Just taking matters into their own hands, deciding whether or not --

SOARES: Yes.

ABDELAZIZ: -- to self-isolate with their family because of all of these positive cases.

SOARES: Absolutely. And Salma, let's talk wine and cheese, not our own consumption of it, unfortunately. But another photo, another headache for the Prime Minister, who it seems gather last year when we were all in lockdown. How damaging is this for the Prime Minister at this point?

ABDELAZIZ: So yet another photograph this one in the Downing Street Garden apparently allegedly taking place in May of last year when there were restrictions in place published by The Guardian. Now, Downing Street, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government says for their part that this was not a social gathering, that these were people having drinks after work. That's what you're looking at, is key workers who finished their job for the day and are enjoying a moment, of quiet a moment to have a drink.

Now, I think the rest of the public will say that simply doesn't fly especially after we've seen one photograph, after one video, after another photograph, after another allegation. This growing snowballing scandal of Christmas parties taking place in Downing Street. So really this is going to put pressure on the government, losing authority and legitimacy at a time when they need it most, Isa.

SOARES: Absolutely. Salma, do stay with us. I want to bring in Cyril. And so, we've seen France also battling with the surging cases. What's being done in France and indeed elsewhere in Europe to try and slow the spread of Omicron ahead of the holidays, we've got what, five days or so until Christmas?

[04:10:10]

CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're right. Absolutely, Isa. When you have a, you know, what you have on the continent really is a lot of governments scratching their heads on how to slow this down. They know it's inevitable that Omicron will become the dominant strain, that's going to happen as soon as next month.

What they want to do is slow it down to give a chance to as many people as possible to get boosted. So France is betting on boosters, other countries like Italy, Spain, also betting on boosters, as well. Right now, the rollout of the booster in France, and that's open to all adults, has been very effective.

About 1 percent of the entire population of France is getting boosted every day. Roughly about 800,000 people, excluding weekends. Now, that's a very good rate. And that means that within three months, you know, everything else being equal, and at the same rate, you would have roughly the entire population of France, or the entire eligible population that would be boosted, and therefore would have a significant level of protection against Omicron.

So that really is the plan. There isn't a Plan C. Well, this is Plan B, I guess you could say. So there isn't a Plan C. But in the meantime, countries like France have to figure out how they can slow down, right? The rise not only of Delta, which appears to have peaked in this country, but also the expected rise of Omicron.

France right now taking fairly light measures. They're cancelling the fireworks display at the Eiffel Tower for New Year's Eve. They're cancelling other large gatherings, just around New Year's Eve. So that's very targeted. And their more long term measure is that they want to crack down on the unvaccinated.

And by that, I mean, they want to essentially exclude them from public spaces. It wasn't popular, but the government deems that it is necessary and therefore, they want to turn the health pass into a vaccine pass. Meaning, that only the vaccinated would have access to large areas of public life, Isa. And that could strike potentially in January.

SOARES: Which is what we're seeing more and more across continental Europe. Cyril Vanier for us in Paris, Salma Abdelaziz in London, thank you very much to you both.

Now, Israel is taking strong measures to slow the spread of the Omicron variant. It's adding the U.S., Canada and eight other countries to its red no fly list starting at midnight local Tuesday. The move come as Israel's Prime Minister warns in a fifth wave of COVID-19 has arrived.

Journalist Generalist Elliott Gotkine joins us now live from Jerusalem. And Elliott, as it faces this fifth wave, clearly, Israel putting in place these travel restrictions. Talk us through the measures and how they're being received where you are.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Isa, the measures are based on the fact that most of Israel's cases or a confirmed cases of the Omicron variant has been 175 so far, along with 380, which are highly suspicious of being Omicron. Most of those cases came from people travelling into Israel from overseas.

So what the country is trying to do by adding countries to its ever expanding so called red list, it's no fly list, is to try to reduce the number of imported cases. And that's why we've seen the U.S., Canada and others being added, and they will be added from tomorrow midnight, local time. We've already seen the U.K., a lot of Western European countries, much of Africa being added to that list as well.

So they want to reduce the number of imported cases, in a bid to try to slow the spread of Omicron in the country. I think they've accepted that this fifth wave is here, that it is going to spread that cases are probably going to spike over the next three to four weeks. But they want to give the country more time to boost vaccinations that used to be a world leader now. It's just kind of a middling country versus others in terms of vaccinations.

And in particular, it wants to ramp up the campaign to vaccinate children that began a few weeks ago. There's only been about 10 percent of children that have been vaccinated so far. They really want to increase that and the other thing that Naftali Bennett, the Prime Minister said in his news conference on Sunday evening, was asking the private sector to go back to working from home if they can. And it looks like the public sector will probably follow suit soon after. Isa?

SOARES: Yes, various measures to try and really slow the spread of Omicron there. Elliott, thanks very much. Great to see you.

Still to come right here on the show, what they're saying at the White House and in Congress about Senator Joe Manchin's stunning decision to reject President Biden's Build Back Better plan. That is next.

Plus, a Chinese tennis star is walking back allegations about sexual assault and the Women's Tennis Association has responded. Those details in a live report from Tokyo coming up next. You are watching CNN Newsroom.

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[04:18:32]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE MANCHIN, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRAT: I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can't. I've tried everything humanly possible. I can't get there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're done. This is a no?

MANCHIN: This is a no on this legislation. I have tried everything I know to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin there dealing a major blow to President Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan. Manchin is under fire from the White House after rejecting the nearly $2 trillion spending package.

Excuse me, supporters of the plan can't get it through the evenly divided Senate without his vote. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux has more on how Washington is reacting to his decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Senate and the House are on recess for the holiday but the reaction was fast and furious. Democrats, Moderates as well as Progressive angry, frustrated, disappointed, all tweeting out statements over the weekend regarding this bombshell announcement that was made. Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California tweeting that she was infuriated and disappointed that those who would be losing out would be the caregivers.

And she said, primarily black and brown women, children, the poor, the homeless, not to mention the climate, many provisions to protect the climate, also in that bill. On this -- at the same time, we heard from Republicans almost uniformly Senator John Cornyn, describing as an early Christmas gift that this was a bill that was reckless and costly.

[04:20:04]

We have seen this play out for months and months and months now. Senator Manchin at the center of all, this as his colleagues, Progressives and Moderates have tried to bring him over and convince him that he is the lone standout that they need to pass this legislation to, in fact, vote for it and see what he would find acceptable. They started off as $6 trillion price tag to this, they cut it down to 3 trillion, and then about $1.75 trillion. The latest complaint from Manchin was that the child tax credit extended for one year. He said, well, if you extend it for 10 years, it'll be a lot costlier. And the CBO, the Congressional Budget Office actually scored it as such, but the Democratic colleagues came back and said, first, the bill you have before you is a one-year extension, not 10. That is a hypothetical.

And secondly, the CBO didn't take into account any kind of revenue, generating mechanisms that might also be proposed and kick in during that period. And so they said it really wasn't a valid complaint. There are -- some of his colleagues, those who are most angry, most frustrated who are announcing they don't even believe that Manchin negotiated in good faith.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE SANDERS, U.S. SENATE INDEPENDENT: I hope that we will bring a strong bill to the floor of the Senate as soon as we can, and let Mr. Manchin explain to the people of West Virginia why he doesn't have the guts to stand up the powerful special interest. If he doesn't have the courage to do the right thing for the working families of West Virginia and America, let him vote no in front of the whole world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: I spoke with Senator Dick Durbin before they went on recess and he said that --he joked that if they went home to eggnog and fruitcake, maybe they'd come back with better attitudes. They'd be able to negotiate. But he was optimistic that they would strike a deal sometime early next year.

And I asked him why. And he said, well, this is -- because the American people need this legislation that they are in desperate need of this. But clearly, that argument did not hold up for Senator Manchin. And the question now becomes whether or not there is a piece of this bill that could be taken out a standalone portion that perhaps Manchin and even some Republicans would support.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN at the Capitol.

SOARES: Why the White House is accusing Manchin of going back on his word, a statement from Press Secretary Jen Psaki says in part -- I'm going to read it to you -- "We will not relent in the fight to help Americans with their childcare, health care, prescription drug costs and elder care and to combat climate change. The fight to Build Back Better is too important to give up. We will find a way to move forward next year."

Though it's all hypothetical at this point, Senate Republicans are ready to deny President Biden appointment to the Supreme Court if they take the majority next year. Discussion about Justice Stephen Breyer's retirement is escalating. Five Republican senators said they'll oppose any lively nominee from the White House. Democrats worry if they call on the 83-year-old Justice to retire soon will backfire and who remain on the bench. Now to the investigation into the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger says the House Select Committee is looking into former President Donald Trump's possible involvement and whether or not he committed a crime. When asked whether he thought Trump broke the law, Kinzinger said, quote, I don't want to go there yet. But he added this.

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ADAM KINZINGER, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: What I think is almost more important is what led up to January 6th, what is the rot in the democracy that allowed the 6 to happen? And have we corrected from that sense? Because what really matters to me is I want to hold the people guilty accountable. But I want to make sure this never happens again.

Otherwise, January 6 will have been yes, a failed trial run. But sometimes they failed trial run is the best practice to get one that succeeds. A coup that would succeed in toppling our government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well Kinzinger also said it's important for the public to see the truth after the committee released text messages sent to former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the riot. Kinzinger said the messages proof Trump's White House was aware of the violence unfolding that day at the U.S. Capitol.

Now more than 200 people are now dead and dozens more missing after Super Typhoon Rai battered the Philippines, that is according to the Philippine National Police. Though the official death counts still stand just over 30, National Police say more than 230 people have suffered considerable injuries The storm hit the Philippines last week with the strength of a Category 5 hurricane.

Every Malaysia authorities say monsoon flooding has displaced more than 41,000 people. According to the state news agency, rescue efforts are ongoing, as you can see there. Officials say hundreds of motorists had to be rescued from a stretch of highway on Saturday. Malaysia's prime minister promised in a Facebook post to devote $23 million to flood recovery efforts. It's going (INAUDIBLE) view.

And after a couple of weeks of extreme weather, we are still looking for calmer weather moving into the holiday weekend. Meteorologist Tyler Mauldin is with me now with the very latest. Good morning to you, Tyler.

[04:25:10]

As we prepare for the U.S. -- for the holiday travel season, how -- what can we expect weather wise?

TYLER MAULDIN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Isa, we've got a little bit of everything coming our way across the U.S. weather wise in the next several days. We'll start with Monday. The Monday map shows an area of low pressure gathering strength across the Gulf of Mexico. That's going to be plot problematic for us across the southeast. And then more of the way of storm systems across the Pacific Northwest.

So let's go through all of these in turn. We'll start down here in the Gulf of Mexico, where you see the storm system moving to the northeast. It's going to spread rainfall to the Deep South, not just Monday, but Tuesday and Wednesday too. So that's going to cause some issues. If you're doing any holiday travelling down here across the south, we can see approximately 4 inches of rainfall from northern Florida up through southeastern Georgia and on into the Carolinas.

Meanwhile, across the West Coast, we're not just looking at rain, we're looking at heavy snowfall too. This is great for the ongoing drought. And it's great for the snowpack too, which has recently gone from just 18 percent all the way up to 98 percent. That too, is great for the drought.

What's happening here is an area of low pressure is dropping down. It's also strengthening, it's expanding and it's going to cause another atmospheric river to come ashore. And those atmospheric rivers caused a lot of rainfall and snowfall to accumulate in very short order. In addition, this week, Isa, we're also looking at above average heat across two-thirds of the U.S.

Case in point, Atlanta, Georgia, you'll be seeing your temperatures rise all the way up to nearly 70 degrees Fahrenheit come Christmas Day. The average high is 55 degrees Fahrenheit here. So we're well above average for this time of the year. Certainly not going to feel like Christmas.

It's also not going to look like Christmas in the city of Atlanta. That's because of the heat, the sunshine. So I can tell you that you're not going to see a white Christmas here.

Historically, a white Christmas would be seen across the mountains, the Rockies, going on into the Cascades, maybe across the Great Lakes in New England. Well for this year, Isa, here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking with all this snowfall that we've been picking up here lately. It is very likely across the mountains out west. We'll see a white Christmas.

It's possible across the northern plains because some clipper systems moving through. And I can say the same for the Great Lakes and also New England too. In fact, I would say across New England, Isa, that's going to be a great spot to see some snowfall on Christmas Day.

SOARES: I would love to get some snowfall, wouldn't be lovely and make it extra special. Tyler, great to have you on the show. Hope you're with us during the week.

We can track Santa later on this week. Great to have you with us, Tyler Mauldin there.

Now, South Africa's President ends his self-isolation after testing positive. Coming up, how his country's latest wave of COVID-19 looks very different from previous ones.

And then later on the show, new revelations about the Trump administration's handling the pandemic from the ongoing direct -- outgoing director of the NIH (ph). What he says Trump officials pressured him to do, next.

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