Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Omicron Surge Wreaks Havoc with Holiday Air Travel; South African Omicron Cases Decline, Suggesting Peak Has Passed; Donald Trump Pushes Back on Vaccine Skepticism; Ex-Cop Found Guilty in Daunte Wright Shooting; Russian Leader Blames NATO for Ukraine Crisis; Former Afghan President Urges Cooperation with Taliban; Spreading Positivity Despite Another Tough Year. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired December 24, 2021 - 00:00   ET

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

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Ahead this hour, just as holiday travel surges by land, sea, and air, COVID sick-outs, infections and pandemic restrictions are causing long delays and creating frustration everywhere (ph).

[00:00:35]

New data on Omicron confirms it's significantly less severe than the Delta variant.

And cheers outside a U.S. courtroom, when a former police officer found guilty of manslaughter in the shooting death of a 20-year-old black man during a traffic stop.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: Thanks for joining us here for CNN NEWSROOM. Just as holiday travel has started to surge, with millions on the move around the world, COVID-related delays are causing chaos and frustration for many travelers from the U.K. to the U.S., to Australia.

In the U.S., air travel topped pre-pandemic levels Wednesday quite again on Thursday. Now hundreds of flights are being canceled, mostly because of staff shortages related to COVID.

United and Delta announced more than 200 flights scheduled for Christmas Eve have been scrapped. Alaska Airlines has also canceled a handful of flights.

In Australia, dozens of flight cancellations or postponements nationwide are being blamed on a shortage of frontline staff, forced to self-isolate after coming into contact with someone infected with COVID.

In the U.K., some long-distance train services have been canceled, due to a high number of drivers and train managers calling out sick with COVID.

And the Royal Caribbean cruise ship on its way overseas will be forced to remain at sea, after being denied port entry by Curacao and Aruba because of a COVID outbreak among vaccinated passengers and crew.

For the very latest, we head now to CNN's Selina Wang. She is live for us in Tokyo.

So I suspect that maybe this is just the start of it. This could get -- have a sort of cascading effect, if you like, over the coming days.

SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, as you said, chaos and frustration for so many of these travelers in Australia who are getting their Christmas plans thrown into disarray.

So we have learned that about at least 80 domestic flights, 40 of them have been canceled in Sydney on Friday.

Jetstar's spokesperson told us that these cancellations happened late, because a large number of their frontline team members have been identified as close contacts of someone with COVID-19, and have to test and isolate.

The airline apologized for forcing these -- these cancellations and said that they have successfully rescheduled the majority of passengers until later flights.

Now, in addition to Jetstar, the domestic airlines that fly from the Sydney airport are Qantas, Virgin and Rex. Qantas and Rex have told CNN that none of their domestic flights have been canceled.

And John, local media had been reporting on the frustrations of many of these Middle East travelers said that went through all the necessary steps to board their aircraft, getting their negative PCR tests, but now their Christmas plans are getting ruined.

And this is as COVID-19 cases are surging across Australia. Queensland reported its highly daily case count since the pandemic started, reporting more than nearly 600 new cases.

Health authorities there said that they expect this to put some strain on the hospitals system, and that they expect the case numbers to significantly grow in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, New South Wales has reported several convective days of a record high daily COVID-19 cases. But despite the surge, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said that the country is not returning to lockdowns, not returning to shutting down people's lives.

And he said in a recent news conference, quote, "Australians have worked very hard to have this Christmas together, and we want to protect that."

But that may be difficult to do so, John.

VAUSE: Selina, thank you. Selina Wang there, live for us with the very latest from Tokyo.

The Omicron variant continues to spread at an unprecedented rate across Europe. Daily infections have been hitting record highs all this week, and officials say those numbers will only increase in the days and weeks ahead.

In France, an all-time high of 88,000 new infections on Thursday, and while the health minister says new cases are doubling every two days, for now the government has no plans for announcing new pandemic restrictions.

But in other parts of Europe, restrictions have returned in many countries. Italy, just the latest, issuing an outdoor mask mandate.

New data from the U.K. shows people infected with Omicron are about 30 percent less likely to be admitted to hospital than those with the Delta variant.

But in South Africa, which saw the world's first outbreak of the Omicron variant, the number of new infections are now falling and falling fast.

[00:05:03]

As CNN's David McKenzie reports, many healthcare workers now believe the latest pandemic has -- pandemic wave, I should say, has peaked.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dispatched south of Johannesburg, paramedic Mohammed Rasool says Omicron is nothing like Delta.

MOHAMMED RASOOL, PARAMEDIC, PULSATE EMERGENCY: During then, it was only COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID. And nothing else.

Will you be able to walk, sir?

MCKENZIE: We were with them during the chaos, when the Delta wave of COVID-19 ripped through South Africa. Severe patients crashed quickly. Rasool's team spent hours looking for hospital beds.

Charities like Gift of the Givers rushed to set up field connects, scrambled to distribute oxygen concentrators to save lives.

With Omicron, they say they haven't sent out a single one.

RASOOL: The patient, they are complaining of tightness of chest.

MCKENZIE: Rasool says their callouts now are for less severe patients, like this 46-year-old who tested negative, but is still suspected of having COVID.

RASOOL: We reassess after five minutes, check the chest.

MCKENZIE (on camera): There's been a surge of cases of COVID-19 with Omicron, but there hasn't been a surge of severity or hospitalizations. This kind of callout is pretty typical. What advice do you have for other countries that are facing an Omicron wave?

NICHOLAS CRISP, ACTING DIRECTOR-GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: Don't panic. This is -- you will ride the rave. Far less use of oxygen. Far fewer people being admitted despite the high numbers of cases. Very high transmission of people getting mild illness, not even getting diagnosed at home.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): It's still unclear why it's seemingly milder or whether that will translate globally.

Scientists here believe up to 80 percent of the population in South Africa may have had COVID-19 before, likely providing a shield of immunity against severe infection. Vaccine coverage also plays a major major part.

CRISP: This would have been an absolute nightmare, if it was Delta. So I think we can just be very grateful that it has not been as devastating as it could have been.

MCKENZIE (on camera): But there is still reason to be cautious, it seems?

CRISP: Yes, well, we've learned that with COVID generally, you never let your guard down.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): For a brief moment, though, Rasool dares to hope.

RASOOL: Severeness of the illness was a lot better than it was, so I'm actually quite optimistic about it.

MCKENZIE: David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Dr. Ashish Jha is the dean of Brown University's School of Public Health. He joins me now from Providence, Rhode Island.

It's good to see you. It's been a while.

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, BROWN UNIVERSITY: Thanks for having me back, John.

VAUSE: OK. So now, there seems to be some more specific data coming in on the severity of Omicron compared to Delta. It comes from the U.K. And it says that the risk of hospital admissions alone, with Omicron infection and possibly two-fifths of that for Delta.

In other words, the risk about 40 percent lower. The risk of needing emergency or hospital admission, approximately three-fifths compared to Delta. About 60 percent lower.

But researchers added this morning, "It is important to highlight that these lower risks do not necessarily imply reduced hospital burden over the epidemic wave, given the high growth -- higher growth rate, rather, I should say, and immune evasion observed with Omicron."

So it's actually a little bit more clear with this numbers game, right? Will the reduced severity be enough to compensate for the increased level of contagion? Some say, you know, it could be doubly as contagious as Delta, maybe even more.

JHA: Yes, so the data so far, I actually think it's probably three to four times as contagious as Delta. At least, that's what the preliminary evidence suggests.

That -- you know, it's nice that it's 40 to 60 percent less severe. It will not make up for the three- to four-fold increase in contagion. So you are going to see a big pressure on hospitals. You're going to see massive numbers of infections.

We're already seeing that in the U.K. We're breaking all the records. I think we're going to see that in the United States. The highest numbers in the U.S. were 260,000 infections in a day. We're going to blow past that and keep going.

And this less severity is definitely helpful, John. But not good enough to not put pressure on our hospitals.

VAUSE: And one of the keys here is trying to reduce the pressure on hospitals. It's all about booster shots. Israel now recommending a fourth shot for the elderly and health workers. The assumption is that it's just a matter of time before we all need a fourth dose all around the world.

But the White House medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, for now, right now, is not entirely convinced. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES (via phone): I think it's too premature to be talking about a fourth dose. One of the things that we're going to be following very carefully is what the durability of the protection is following the third dose of an mRNA vaccine.

So how does the new data on the severity of Omicron play into this debate over a potential fourth dose of the vaccine?

JHA: Yes, I think Dr. Fauci's completely right. I am at this point, based on the very little data we have, I'm actually skeptical that we will need a fourth dose.

The Israelis have done a very good job, so I don't need to criticize them. But I am skeptical.

[00:10:05]

And the way that the Omicron wave plays into this, John, is my expectation at this point is that this is going to be a very large wave of infections. We're going to have 50, 60, 80 million Americans potentially get infected. If that's right, that adds a lot more immunity to the population.

And even if you see waning antibodies, you still have a very, very area of population immunity. So I think there's a lot to be sorted out here. I certainly would not be planning on a fourth dose right now. VAUSE: In the viral world, contagion is king. So long-term, if this

data on severity holds up, and we get this higher immune level within our communities, does this mean that COVID, in a year of so, could be a milder, less deadly version of what we've seen throughout the pandemic?

Because even now there are indications that Omicron symptoms are different to the other variants. Much more an everyday (ph) cold.

JHA: Yes, you know, what's really interesting is two things are happening at once. The virus is evolving, as viruses do. But the human species is also changing. We're not evolving in this way, but we're changing in the sense that we are building up more and more immunity to this virus.

So I definitely expect over the next year that whatever the virus does, we will be have a lot more immunity within a year. And that means that our ability to manage whatever Mother Nature throws at us, is going to be much, much better than it is right now.

VAUSE: Well, that's good news! Now, what appears to be an important moment in the ongoing war of misinformation over the safety and efficacy of vaccines. And it comes from the former president, Donald Trump, pushing back against the right-wing vaccine skeptic who was interviewing the president.

She suggested that COVID vaccines were killing people. Here's Donald Trump. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When will (ph) the vaccine work, but some people aren't taking it.

CANDACE OWENS, TALK SHOW HOST: Yes.

TRUMP: The ones -- the ones that get very sick, and go to the hospital, are the ones that don't take their vaccine. But it's still their choice. And if you take the vaccine, you're protected. People aren't dying when they take the vaccine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So is this too little too late, or a better case of better late than never?

JHA: Oh, it's definitely better late than never. I think it's terrific. Do I wish that he had said it nine months ago? Of course. That would have been terrific. That doesn't matter. At this point, the president remains a very powerful spokesman for a lot of people.

He's well-trusted by a lot of Americans. I think as long as he keeps staying on that message, that was a very, very good science communication. He's absolutely right. Vaccines prevent severe illness and death. And so if he keeps reiterating that, I think it will make a difference. VAUSE: OK. Dr. Ashish Jha, thanks so much for being with us.

JHA: Thank you.

VAUSE: Just ahead, a former Minnesota police officer found guilty of manslaughter after a fatal shooting during a routine traffic stop. So why did the jury not buy her defense, that she mistakenly fired her handgun, thinking it was her taser?

Also, the world according to Vladimir Putin, laid out in a four-hour- long news conference. Why he says NATO is to blame for the crisis in Ukraine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:15:06]

VAUSE: South Korea has pardoned former president Park Geun-hye nearly five years after she was imprisoned for corruption. And the pandemic, it seems, is why.

The justice minister says the act of clemency is meant to promote unity during this difficult time.

Park is the first South Korean leader legally removed from office, after being impeached in 2017.

And just this year, South Korea's top court upheld an earlier sentence of 20 years on a bribery conviction.

A Minneapolis jury has found former police officer Kim Potter guilty on two counts of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright. Potter showing little emotion Thursday as the verdict was read.

The jury deliberated for about 27 hours over four days, ultimately rejecting Potter's defense that she mistakenly fired a handgun, believing it was her Taser.

Twenty-year-old Daunte Wright was killed during a traffic stop last April. Demonstrators cheered outside the courtroom as the verdict was read. Wright's mother was relieved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATIE WRIGHT, DAUNTE WRIGHT'S MOTHER: Every single emotion that you could imagine, just running through your body at that moment. I kind of let out a yelp, because it was built up in the anticipation of what was to come, while we were waiting for the last few days. And now, we've been able to process it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Porter was taken into custody immediately after the verdict was read, right there in the courtroom. And now faces 15 years in prison.

State guidelines, though, recommend a shorter term. Her sentencing is scheduled for February 18.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held his annual year-end news conference on Thursday and was asked directly if Russia would invade neighboring Ukraine.

But Putin sidestepped the question, again blaming NATO for rising tensions.

CNN's Melissa Bell is in Moscow with details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a marathon press conference, nearly four hours of it, that did provide more insight into what Vladimir Putin is thinking when it comes to Ukraine, and how he sees the tensions there. But didn't provide any sense that an agreement might be found between Moscow, the United States, and NATO when they get together in January for the expected talks over Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin clearly named the blame for recent tensions at the feet of NATO. And reiterating his demand that, for those negotiations to work for any progress to be made, NATO would have to announce, would have to decide that it was not seeking any further eastward expansions.

Something, of course, that NATO has ruled out, and the White House press secretary reacting to Vladimir Putin after the press conference said was clearly was a nonstarter.

Vladimir Putin explained that the fears what was happening in the Ukraine, his fears, his impression that a war was being planned, and that those sanctions that are being threatened might be also part of that preparation for Ukrainian war against those Russian-speaking populations in the east of the country.

This, it gives an idea of the tone that he's struck this Thursday.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): What's not clear here? Are we deploying missiles near the U.S. borders? No, we're not. It was the USA who came with missiles to our house. They're already at the doorstep of our house. Is this a redundant requirement? Not to instill any more missiles near our home.

BELL: Vladimir Putin expressing his clear distrust of NATO and his fears of what an eastward expansion might mean for Russia and for weaponry that might find itself on its borders.

Now, we also heard, as I mentioned a moment ago, from the White House press secretary, in the wake of that press conference, Jen Psaki, clearly pushing back on the idea that the tensions around Ukraine are the fault of either NATO and the United States, laying the blame clearly at the fleet of Vladimir Putin.

Also pointing out that NATO is a defensive organization, rather than an offensive one and explaining that, whilst it was welcome news that NATO and the United States and Russia should have agreed on the principle of talks, there were clearly Russia demands that were unacceptable, either to NATO or to the United States.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The first president of Afghanistan is calling on the international community to work with the Taliban during an exclusive interview with CNN's Becky Anderson, Hamid Karzai said cooperation is the only way to get paid money to millions in Afghanistan, who otherwise would starve to death.

He also praised a recent U.N. resolution that would help deliberate, while keeping it away from the Taliban.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HAMID KARZAI, FORMER AFGHAN PRESIDENT: I welcome very much the resolution by the U.N. Security Council in addressing the liquidity issues in Afghanistan of the flow of money, and in trying to provide -- and hopefully as soon as possible -- assistance to the Afghan people.

This is a welcome step, and we welcome it.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Is it enough?

KARZAI: It may not be enough, but it is a start. And a good start. The end part (ph) will be when our own economy runs well, when we have our own institutions functioning, when we have our own efforts, producing for us our bread and butter. That is what we must do. Sooner rather than later.

[00:20:21]

ANDERSON: Does that mean the international community working with the Taliban? I mean, this effort by the U.N. and others is to unfreeze assets to provide some liquidity into the system to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe. Does the international community need to work with the Taliban?

KARZAI: Well, there definitely, definitely will be instances where we -- they need to work with the reality on the ground. The reality on the ground is that the Taliban might be the de facto authorities in the country. So they'll have to work with them in order to reach the Afghan people, in order to provide assistance to the Afghan people.

But it is also then, for the Taliban authorities and ask all Afghans together, the people of Afghanistan, to make sure that our country remains peaceful, to make sure that our country progresses on its own.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: And when he was asked about the Taliban's long history of atrocities, Mr. Karzai said all sides committed atrocities in Afghanistan. Two more statues commemorating the victims of the Tiananmen Square

crackdown have been taken down in Hong Kong. The Goddess of Democracy statue was removed from the Chinese University of Hong Kong Friday morning, local time, along with a separate memorial at the city's Lingnan University.

This comes a day after workers dismantled the famous Pillar of Shame culture, in Hong Kong University. The monuments were among the last remaining Tiananmen Square memorials in the city.

Japan will not be sending government officials to the Beijing Winter Olympics. The country's chief cabinet secretary made the announcement Friday but stopped short of calling it a boycott. Says Japan believes that the respect for human rights is important.

Well, 'tis the holiday season. So after the break, we'll go around the world, meeting those determined to spread some holiday cheer despite a very tough 2021.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Queen Elizabeth will not be spending Christmas at her Sandringham country estate, but will spend the day with her son, Prince Charles, his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall. At Windsor Castle, where the queen is now staying through the holidays.

Meantime, Prince Harry and Meghan, the duchess of Sussex, are sharing the first photo of their six-month-old daughter Lilibet Diana. The little girl seen on a holiday card, which they just released on Thursday. There she is.

2021 will be remembered for lots of things, the never-ending pandemic, an angry volcano, relentless fires, deadly tornadoes, Afghanistan. Yet, around the world, people are showing their inner strength, doing their best to recover and spread a little bit of holiday cheer.

Here's CNN's Al Goodman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AL GOODMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the end of another hard year, the festive lights in New York City are a soothing sight, the gift many of us wanted -- a return to our normal lives, and the vanquishing of COVID-19 -- is still elusive.

And even though it may be a struggle for some to see, there is something to celebrate this year: our resilience. Traditions may be altered, but in many places, go on. Like taking the children to see Santa Claus.

In this winter wonderland in Finland, there's no sitting on Santa's lap and no whispering in his ear. Mom and Dad will just have to be in on that little secret. But Santa has a wish, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been hearing worrying news around the globe about well-being and coping of children and young people. Now it's time to turn these worries into plenty of goodwill.

GOODMAN: People around the world are finding ways to make the season a little brighter, like this Santa in Peru, visiting children infected with COVID-19. Wearing a mask, Santa didn't come down the chimney, but delivered presents instead through open windows with the help of a fire truck.

Migrant children strike a pinata at a shelter in Tijuana. A little holiday cheer, as families gather together for a religious festival to commemorate Mary and Joseph's search for shelter before the birth of Jesus, a quest close to the heart of many people here who have been stuck in this border town for months, while they wait for permits to enter the U.S.

A volcano blotted out the livelihoods of many residents of Spain's La Palma Island. Thousands were forced to evacuate, as rivers of lava incinerated houses, buildings and farms.

One church says it will rise above those ashes and has even incorporated them into its nativity scene.

RUBEN LOPEZ, VOLCANOLOGIST: This is the church closest to the -- to the volcano. We wanted to make them have a smile.

GOODMAN: People in Kentucky are still trying to come to terms with the devastation caused by tornadoes that obliterated entire neighborhoods and killed dozens. One woman says she may have lost her house but will keep a promise made to her daughter.

GINNY WATTS, TORNADO SURVIVOR: I tell our baby we're going to Santa Claus wherever we're at. You know, he's coming to visit. And we'll do the best we can.

GOODMAN: Doing the best we can, when things seem to be at their worst. Maybe that's the true spirit of the season.

Al Goodman, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. Thank you for watching. I'll be back at the top of the hour with another edition of CNN NEWSROOM.

But in the meantime, coming up after the break, "The Forgotten Forest: Deforestation in the Deep."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)