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CNN INTERNATIONAL: New COVID Cases Set Records in U.S. and Parts of Europe; U.S. C.D.C. Defends Reducing Isolation Time to Five Days; Omicron Variant is Hindering U.S. Economic Recovery. Aired 3- 3:30p ET

Aired December 29, 2021 - 15:00   ET

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

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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Hello everyone. I'm Lynda Kinkade live in Atlanta.

Tonight, coronavirus cases surging around the globe. Record infections are gripping countries in multiple continents, and still health officials are lowering quarantine times as we learn to live with COVID.

And later, we will take you to Hong Kong where another pro-democracy news outlet has been forced to shut down.

And a first on CNN, Vladimir Putin requests a call with Joe Biden. We are live in Moscow where 100,000 Russian troops remained stationed on the border with Ukraine.

Nearly two years into the pandemic, new COVID cases are soaring to record levels in the U.S. and in parts of Europe. The omicron surge has sent the U.S. infection rate to more than a quarter of a million people a day on average, breaking a record set back in January.

France has reported 208,000 new cases over the last 24 hours -- a European record. The French Health Minister says that amounts to two people every second being infected. Well, the U.S. is not far behind. It recorded more than 900,000 new cases over the last seven days. Both the U.K. and Italy have just set daily records, too.

On a global scale, the World Health Organization says weekly cases are up 11 percent compared to the week before. Our Matt Rivers is in Mexico City with the latest from Latin America where many countries now have higher vaccination rates than the U.S. and Europe.

But first, I want to go to Salma Abdelaziz who joins us live from London. And Salma, this fourth COVID wave, very much here in Europe and the U.K., we are seeing day after day new records being set. But in the U.K., at least, this is a country that was praised for its fast rollout of vaccines. Who is ending up in hospital? What is the Prime Minister saying?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: I mean, these are mind boggling numbers. I've said record breaking, I think so many times in the last week I've lost count because it just keeps skyrocketing. We're simply not at that peak yet.

The French Health Minister said he got vertigo looking at the data because so many people were getting sick. Every second two people in France testing positive for COVID-19 and some officials are concerned that there is also a delay in the case counts because of the Holiday period. So these numbers might be even higher.

But what we're not seeing Lynda, thankfully, is skyrocketing hospitalizations or skyrocketing death rates. And yes, I have to caveat that there is a delay between when we see a surge in cases and when that results in people ending up in hospital, but health officials saying especially here in the U.K. coming straight from the Prime Minister that omicron is milder and that's why we're not seeing as many people wind up in hospital.

The Prime Minister was at vaccination center today and he said 90 percent of those in ICU, almost 90 percent of them are people who did not have their booster shots. So, we begin to understand the government's thinking here in the U.K. We don't need more social restrictions would be Prime Minister Boris Johnson's argument, what we need is more people boosted so they don't wind up in hospital.

And the other challenge that is being presented here, Lynda, is just the simple basic one of keeping the trains running. When tens of thousands of people are testing positive every day, you can imagine the amount of sick-outs, the amount of essential services that are getting those sick-outs and simply can't function. We're already seeing that with the airline industry where thousands of flights have been canceled. So, that's yet another challenge with this variant.

It's not just going to be about the hospitalizations, it's going to be about how you keep your country functioning when so many people are sick -- Lynda.

KINKADE: And Salma, we are certainly seeing more restrictions, more lockdowns in place across Europe. What's the feeling right now as U.K. Europe, people in your region approach 2022?

ABDELAZIZ: I think it's a very difficult time. I say that almost on a personal level. London had one in 20 people test positive for COVID-19 on the week before Christmas. There is not a household here in the city that was not impacted this week during Christmas two years after pandemic having to pick up their phones again.

My family had to do it and say I'm sorry, we're not going to see you for Christmas this year. It's a really tough pill to swallow. It's a story that's repeated across Europe. And I think that's what's difficult for officials right now. They have to deal with some serious pandemic fatigue with people who are simply heartbroken from two years of being apart, two years of difficulties who believe that once they got vaccinated, the pandemic was over and convince people you know what, now is the time for more social restrictions and I think that's why you see demonstrations in parts of Europe right now. Big backlashes against social restrictions.

[15:05:10] ABDELAZIZ: So, it's a really fine balancing act right now, Lynda,

between trying to get that surge down and keeping people going.

KINKADE: Yes, I can only imagine. We are seeing very similar cases here. Salma, thanks so much.

I want to bring in Matt Rivers for perspective from Latin America because, Matt, certainly at the start, when wealthy countries were acquiring a lot of vaccinations, Latin American countries were really struggling to acquire doses, but now they have a higher vaccination rate than many other countries in Europe and the U.S., amazing turnaround. What is that success attributed to?

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Lynda, it's kind of amazing to be able to talk about good news for once when we're talking about the coronavirus pandemic here in Latin America. I mean, how many live shots have we done together you know, over the past few years, where we talk about how brutally so many countries in Latin America have been impacted, in part because there were no vaccines in the beginning.

But your question, what causes turnaround? It's because there's more vaccines available. That's the simple answer here, is that as we've gone through 2021 and more vaccines have been produced, the countries around this region have been able to get their hands on more of a supply, then they've been able to get their populations vaccinated.

I think what maybe was lost at the beginning of the year was the perspective that Latin America has a lot of countries that have a long successful track record utilizing public health systems to get their people vaccinated.

I mean, look at Brazil, for example. You know, we were in Brazil, the beginning of the year talking about how there were no vaccines, despite there not being a lot of vaccine hesitancy amongst Brazilians, despite a strong public health system, there simply was not enough supply to go around.

That has changed, which means that in certain urban centers like Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, you're looking at 99 percent of the adult population of those urban centers are having had received at least one dose. You've got countries like Chile and Cuba, who have vaccination rates above 80 percent, worldwide, Ecuador, you know, you have Argentina all at or above 70 percent.

So basically, Lynda, the region has caught up. And that is fantastic news because as we've seen throughout this pandemic, you know, where you see certain waves in Europe, and then you see them in the United States. Usually they come to Latin America afterwards, and so we're waiting for this kind of omicron surge here in Latin America.

But thankfully, the population here is much more equipped to handle that surge because of this rapid increase in vaccination rates over the last six months.

KINKADE: Yes, as you say, Matt, really good to get some great news when it comes to covering this pandemic.

Matt Rivers for us, good to have you there in Mexico City. Our thanks also to Salma Abdelaziz in London.

Well as COVID cases soar, Spain is the latest country to reduce the amount of time people should isolate or quarantine. The Spanish Health Ministry now recommend seven days instead of 10. Last week, the U.K. said people could leave self-isolation after seven days with a negative test result.

Well, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control is recommending just five days for people who are asymptomatic or whose symptoms are resolving. Its Director is defending the move while critics say it is not supported by data.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: Our guidance was conservative before. It had said 10 days of isolation, but in the context of the fact that we were going to have so many more cases, many of those would be asymptomatic or mildly asymptomatic, people would feel well enough to be at work, they would not necessarily tolerate being home and that they may not comply with being home, this was the moment that we needed to make that decision and those changes.

ERIN BROMAGE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: To say that somebody on day five or day six is no longer a risk to other people, that data that we have on viral shedding just does not support that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, for more, Louis Mansky is the Director of the Institute for Molecular Biology at the University of Minnesota. He joins us now. Good to have you with us.

LOUIS MANSKY, DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE FOR MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Good to be with you.

KINKADE: So there is certainly a lot of confusion and doubt. I mean, people I know who found out they had COVID five days ago are now reaching out saying quarantine is over, do you want to meet up? I mean, how do you know if they're still contagious?

MANSKY: Yes, I think one of the things that is missing from the C.D.C. guidance would have -- it would have been nice to have some testing follow up to confirm that somebody that would be coming out and still wearing a mask knows their status in terms of whether or not they're still positive for the virus or not.

But in general, wearing masks is certainly the appropriate precaution to be taking after coming out of isolation. One of the things that is slightly missing from that as well would be the quality of the mask, obviously the N95 or KN95, the higher quality masks would be strongly preferred over lower quality or cloth masks, which really don't do as much as the higher quality masks. [15:10:19]

KINKADE: So for people that can get a rapid test, because obviously they are in low supply and that was part of the reason we heard the C.D.C. say, we don't necessarily need people to test after those five days. How accurate are those rapid tests that people are doing at home, because from what I'm reading, it sounds like they're less sensitive to the omicron variant?

MANSKY: Yes, they're probably less sensitive. They are probably not the best test, but for certain -- for people that are asymptomatic throughout the -- once they originally test positive that if they're asymptomatic, or have very mild symptoms the entire time after five days, that if they have gone from no symptoms and remain asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, and they become asymptomatic, at that point, the amount of viral shedding is likely very miniscule, if at all.

And so even an inaccurate test such as that may not provide that much value at all, but probably, it is not really necessary because of the fact that they're likely not going to be shedding any virus.

KINKADE: Can you explain for us why we are seeing more children in hospital with COVID now than we did earlier in the pandemic?

MANSKY: Earlier in the pandemic, they were being kept at home, right? They weren't going to school, so they were somewhat isolated from society. So they weren't -- they were learning at home, and I think it's only been since they've been going out to school now that they've had greater opportunities for them to be exposed to the virus, and now we're starting to see more of them being infected.

KINKADE: We'll have to leave it there for now. The Director of the Institute of Molecular Biology at the University of Minnesota, Louis Mansky, good to have you with us. Thanks so much.

MANSKY: Thank you again.

KINKADE: Well, the U.S. economy appear to be bouncing back until omicron got in the way and the variant's impact on business has some economists now downgrading their forecasts for next year. Here is CNN's Matt Egan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Omicron is clearly messing with the economic recovery. Thousands of flights canceled, back to the office plans shelved, college football bowl games and Broadway shows called off, Apple stores in New York City shutting to customers -- all of this COVID related.

Now, the disruption is different this time. Boosters and vaccines are widely available at least in the United States. Symptoms do not appear to be as severe and U.S. officials are vowing not to shut down the U.S. economy. But the incredible speed that omicron is spreading, combined with a shortage of tests are causing real problems for businesses and everyday American families. And there's an economic impact here as well in terms of furloughed

workers and lost sales. Open Table Data shows that restaurant traffic is slowing especially in New York, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. Some economists are downgrading their economic outlook for 2022.

The chief economist at Jefferies told me that she expects the US economy to grow during the first quarter at the slowest pace of the entire recovery, and wouldn't be surprised to see payrolls go negative in January.

And there's a lot of uncertainty over what omicron will mean for messed up supply chains, which are a major driver of inflation.

There are some positives out there. The stock market is not freaking out about omicron, at least, not anymore. The S&P 500 has recovered its losses and is trading near all-time highs, and COVID isn't keeping people out of movie theaters, at least not anymore.

The new Spider-Man film just became the first movie to rake in $1 billion in global sales during the COVID era. Ultimately, the economic impact and the impact of daily life is going to be shaped by how long the omicron wave lasts and how society reacts to it.

There is hope that omicron is spreading so rapidly that the impact could be short lived.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Thanks to Matt Egan there.

Well still to come tonight, the U.S. President will hold a phone call tomorrow with his Russian counterpart. We'll have more on what the leaders are expected to discuss after this short break.

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KINKADE: Welcome back.

Press freedom has suffered another setback in Hong Kong. The independent pro-democracy media outlet Stand News has closed down after a police raid. Several staff members were arrested. CNN's Ivan Watson has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): One of the last remaining independent media voices in Hong Kong, silenced. Two hundred police officers raided the newsroom of the online portal Stand News early Wednesday. Police also arrested at least seven people including six current and former senior staff, charging them with the publication of seditious material.

Among the arrested, pop singer, Denise Ho and outspoken supporter of past pro-democracy protests. DENISE HO, POP SINGER AND PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST: Our fight is still

going on. It is not dying down. And yes, I think this is a new generation of a fight for democracy in Hong Kong.

WATSON (voice over): Hours after the arrests and raids, Stand News announced it is shutting down immediately, similar to the silencing of the newspaper "Apple Daily," which ran its printing presses for the last time in June after police arrested its publisher and editors and seized its assets.

WATSON (on camera): Do you consider this a success when you raid a news organization and arrest their executives and then they close down as has also happened with "Apple Daily" this year?

STEVE LI KWAI-WAH, HONG KONG POLICE NATIONAL SECURITY DEPARTMENT: I feel success is we detected a case of a seditious intent involved in National Security issues.

WATSON (voice over): But a more senior city official calls the arrested journalists evil.

JOHN LEE, HONG KONG CHIEF SECRETARY: They are the evil elements that's damaged press freedom.

WATSON (voice over): Hong Kong authorities have been on a Christmas crackdown of sorts, under cover of darkness on December 23rd, workers quickly removed this statue dedicated to the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. It had been standing on the campus of Hong Kong University for 24 years.

Since the violent anti-government unrest of 2019, the Hong Kong authorities have been on a campaign to crush political dissent. Dozens of opposition politicians now sit behind bars or have fled into exile, and most opposition candidates were disqualified from participating in this month's legislative elections, which only got 30 percent voter participation.

And the peaceful street protests that were once part of the city's culture have been all but banned.

At the meeting days before Christmas, Chinese leader Xi Jinping congratulated Beijing's top official in Hong Kong.

XI JINPING, CHINESE President (through translator): Over the past year, Hong Kong situation has continued to consolidate from chaos to under control, and the situation has continued to improve.

WATSON (voice over): Beijing's version of law and order leaves little room for the freedoms that the city once enjoyed.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[15:20:02] KINKADE: Well, it has been a brutal year for Lebanon, an economy in

collapse, political gridlock and no real answers about that deadly port blast in Beirut. We're going to have a report on the country's bleak outlook when we come back.

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KINKADE: Welcome back. Roughly 24 hours from now, U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to hold a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The U.S. official says they'll discuss a range of topics and will preview an upcoming meeting between American and Russian diplomats.

It comes as the West is trying to pressure Russia to draw down its military presence near the border of Ukraine.

CNN's Nic Robertson joins us now live with more on all of this. And, Nic, it sounds promising to have this phone call not long after that recent video call that the leaders of the U.S. and Russia set to speak tomorrow, and this is a result of a request from Russia.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It is, but you know, we haven't had any information really from the Kremlin about why specifically President Putin wanted to have this. We know from the White House that President Biden said that he thinks it's important to talk leader to leader, you know when requested. So that's why he's happy to take this call.

But it seems there is quite a strong message to come from the United States to Russia at this time. They're saying that they're not seeing Russia do anything to sort of de-escalate current tensions. There are still lots of Russian troops close to the border with Ukraine, U.S. officials say.

And we know that just in the past few days, the Pentagon had a spy plane up above Ukraine. So, it was able to see, look down at where Russian troops were. So that would be relatively recent information, I think is our understanding at the moment.

So the message to President Putin seems to be from what we are hearing from the White House, that if you want to get anything like what you want at the table with the United States, when the talks start January the 10th, if you want to achieve that, then it's better to have it in an atmosphere of de-escalation and that doesn't seem to be you know, the situation at the moment.

So the pressure really does seem to be being put on Russia, to tone down its behavior, perhaps move some troops away from the border, if it wants to achieve any of its goals.

And there is another message here as well that we are learning from U.S. officials and that is that if President Putin and Russian forces do invade Ukraine, then NATO is prepared to send additional troops to the Eastern border of Europe and that is something that is not going to sit well with the Kremlin.

So you know, there's a huge amount on the table. U.S. officials are saying that this is still at a crisis point.

KINKADE: Yes, it certainly is. All right, Nic, we will no doubt talk tomorrow. We'll see how this meeting goes -- this phone call between the Russian and U.S. Presidents. Thanks so much.

Well, at the start of the year, it seemed things couldn't get any worse in Lebanon. The economy crashing politician seemed paralyzed and no one has been held to account for that deadly Beirut port explosion, but as Ben Wedeman reports, the country has slipped further into dysfunction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is what a collapsing state looks like -- perennial disorder, sporadic violence, basic services barely functioning, basic goods in short supply, a national currency and economy in freefall, and a squabbling political class, incapable or unwilling or uninterested in putting aside their differences to save this country once described as the Switzerland of the Middle East.

[15:25:21]

WEDEMAN (voice over): When 2021 began, it seemed things couldn't get worse. Beirut was still reeling from the August 2020 port blast. COVID was ravaging a population already battered by a deep economic crisis. The politicians couldn't agree on the formation of a new government, and as 2021 ends, events have proven things could get even worse.

The Cabinet of Prime Minister Najib Mikati hasn't met since October, divided between those who want Tarek Bitar, the Judge investigating the Beirut port blast to resign and those who want him to stay.

The Lebanese currency already a fraction of its pre-crisis value has plummeted from historic low to historic low. The economy continues to shrink.

2021 ended up being the year that never was, the year when the families of the victims of the port blast demanded justice, which never happened. The year when once again Lebanon's leaders failed to serve the people almost 80 percent now live below the poverty line the United Nations reports.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres visited the ruins of Beirut's port, tweeting afterwards: "The Lebanese people deserve the truth." He is the latest in a long list of world leaders to call on Lebanon's politicians to do their duty and save the country from falling into the abyss, those calls still falling on deaf ears.

Ben Wedeman, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Well, he was a giant in the fight for social justice and the conscience of a nation. Archbishop Desmond Tutu is being remembered across the world, but nowhere more so than in his native, South Africa.

The mourners gathered a short time ago for a Memorial Service in Cape Town.

[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]

KINKADE: Earlier on Wednesday, the Archdeacon of the Anglican Church of Johannesburg led prayers outside Tutu's former home in the township of Soweto. The funeral for the anti-apartheid icon is New Year's Day.

Desmond Tutu died Sunday at the age of 90 and he was one of the most prominent religious leaders in the world. A tireless advocate for human rights and the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, may he rest in peace.

Well, that's it for this edition of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade, thanks so much for watching.

"MARKETPLACE MIDDLE EAST" is coming up next. Stay with CNN.

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