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WHO Warns Against Treating COVID-19 As "Endemic"; Novak Djokovic Detained Ahead Of Australian Visa Hearing; Heavy Snow And Ice Threaten Millions This Weekend; Ukraine Hit By Cyber Attack After High-Stakes Talks End; France Reports Record Number Of Classes Canceled On Friday; Kazakhstan Aftermath Reveals Burned-Out Mayor's Office In Almaty; Remembering Bob Saget. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired January 15, 2022 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world, I am Paula Newton.

Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, world number one men's tennis player Novak Djokovic awaits his fate: play in the Australian Open or get booted out of the country. The latest in live reports out of both Belgrade and Melbourne.

And the U.S. warning Russia could be preparing a so-called false flag operation, justifying an invasion of Ukraine. We're live in Kiev with the latest.

Plus, from Georgia to Maine, Americans brace for a dangerous winter storm that could leave millions stranded and without power. Details from the CNN Weather Center.

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NEWTON: Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic is spending the night in immigration detention in Melbourne once again, as he fights to stay in Australia.

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NEWTON (voice-over): Now this is video of him arriving there earlier, following his second visa cancellation. His appeal will be heard tomorrow by three judges in federal court. The top-ranked player is hoping to get the visa restored in time to play that grand slam event, right, the Australian Open on Monday.

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NEWTON: But he will have to defend against the claims that his presence could hurt Australia's vaccination efforts. Meantime, fellow tennis star Rafael Nadal spoke to CNN's Phil Black and said the focus should be on the sport, not Djokovic. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAFAEL NADAL, TENNIS PRO: It's important to come back to tennis conversations, in my opinion, nowadays. Nobody in the history of our sport more important than the sport by itself.

You know, Novak, Roger, myself, McEnroe, Borg, Connors, nobody is more important than the sport because the players, we stay here, then we leave. Tournament stays, the sport stays and the Australian Open will be great with or without Novak Djokovic.

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NEWTON: OK. Our Paula Hancocks joins us now from Melbourne and Scott McLean is with us from Belgrade, Serbia.

Paula, I will start with you. To use a trite term, right, so much for the happy slam. This has really unraveled in really disappointing ways. You heard Rafa Nadal there. He clearly has an opinion at this point. You can really measure the fatigue on his face by everything that's going on.

What is going to unfold now, especially in the next 12 or 14 hours to come?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Paula, I think there's a sense that many of the players are just fatigued completely with this. They just want it resolved. And many people here in Melbourne as well.

So Sunday is going to be a crucial day going forward; 9:30 in the morning is when the detailed arguments will start, when the federal court will start their hearing. And we will -- we know that, tonight, this Saturday night, Novak Djokovic is back in detention. He's in the Park Hotel, we understand, which is where he was this time last week as well.

So what we are hearing is a little more detail as to what the government's argument is, why the immigration minister decided to cancel this visa, because it is in the public interest, we're being told.

There is a concern that Djokovic's presence here would increase and incite the anti-vaccination sentiment, also talking about the possibility of civil unrest.

In another part of the filings, Alex Hawke was talking about how there's a concern that there could be some people who want to emulate the way that Novak Djokovic behaved after finding out he was COVID-19 positive.

That goes back to knowing, him admitting that, the day after he knew he was tested positive, he actually went and did a photo shoot. So what the lawyers of Djokovic want is for this to be done and dusted tomorrow.

They will look for a legal error, which may overturn the decision. Beyond that, if it looks like it's going further, the court can recommend -- I shouldn't say recommend; they can actually say that the minister should give a bridging visa, which would allow him to play whilst the proceedings are going on.

But it's unlikely because the minister is the one revoking the visa. Paula.

NEWTON: Yes, a lot of details, wait to hear it in court.

Scott McLean now to you in Belgrade.

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NEWTON: This is resonating there obviously; as you pointed out to us before, he's a national hero there. But really extraordinary now to actually have the president of the country weighing in.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. And the president made it abundantly clear, if you mess with Novak Djokovic, you are messing with all of Serbia and the Serbian people.

After originally telling us, his office telling us that he wasn't going to comment, the president came out with a statement, a taped statement, later in the afternoon. And that statement is not going to do much for Serbian-Australian relations by any stretch.

He said that the pressures and the attacks on Novak Djokovic had reached such a fever pitch that he had to come out and say something.

And he really framed it as a moral question for Australia, that if they didn't want him in the country, why did they issue him a visa in the first place?

Now the president says his issue is not with the Australian people. It is not even with the Australian court system. His issue is with the political intervention. Listen.

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ALEKSANDAR VUCIC, SERBIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I am amazed at the fact that such decisions can be made by the executive and after the valid decisions of the judiciary.

They often preach to us about what the rule of law is.

Why do you mistreat him and make fun of him?

Not only him but also with his family and an entire nation that is free and proud.

Do you need it to win some elections?

Do you need it to please your public?

(END VIDEO CLIP) MCLEAN: Now president Aleksandar Vucic's statement did not mention Djokovic's decision not to take the vaccine. But by extension, he is defending Djokovic's right to take it, even though he really wishes that he would.

Most Serbs will tell you, look, the choice to take the vaccine, that is a personal choice that every person has to make. But a spokesperson for the prime minister's office told us, if Djokovic did take the vaccine, it would go a long way to convincing other Serbs to take it as well.

One other thing to point out. Paula mentioned December 18th, Novak Djokovic acknowledges that he broke quarantine here in Serbia. We asked a Serbian health official yesterday during a press conference whether or not the government has any plans to prosecute Djokovic for that, since it has previously gone over -- or partially prosecuted people for breaking quarantine -- jail sentences, harsh fines.

In this case, the short answer is, no; there's not going to be any consequences because, when Djokovic broke the rules, it was not during a state of emergency. And they only have a legal mechanism to go after people when that state of emergency is in place. Paula.

NEWTON: Yes, you can't get fined apparently in that operation for poor judgment.

Paula, quickly to you, we just heard what many Serbians were thinking. I imagine it was cold comfort, the decision for many Australians here, given the fiasco?

HANCOCKS: Some people have said this is a sense of embarrassment this is going on so long.

I think Andy Murray, the British number one, said it best, it's not good for Australia, it's not good for tennis and it's not good for Novak. And I would add not the Australian government, either. Nobody comes out of this well. It's been a complete debacle from start to finish. And it's not over yet.

Sunday is going to be extremely illuminating and extremely busy. I think there is a scene of relief that it may be coming to an end. Of course, if he does get the permission to stay or if the visa is reinstated once again, then this goes on even longer.

NEWTON: Yes. Some of our analysts have pointed out this could follow tennis and sport all over the world in the months to come, as many countries tighten up their visa mandates. Paula Hancocks in Melbourne, Scott McLean in Belgrade, a big thanks to you on the ground reporting for us.

Now updating you on the pandemic: with any luck, waiting in those long, tiresome COVID testing lines and I'll add stressful as well could hopefully be a thing of the past. Beginning next Wednesday, Americans will be able to order home COVID tests.

The program will allow four free tests requested per address, available at covidtest.gov, beginning on January 19th and will ship within 7-12 days of order. This comes as hospitalizations are unfortunately reaching new highs. More states and health care systems are calling in National Guard personnel to help fill gaps as health care workers call out sick.

According to HHS data, nearly 156,000 people in the U.S. are currently hospitalized with COVID. And 19 states report their intensive care units are now 85 percent full.

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NEWTON: Dr. Robert Wachter is the chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California in San Francisco. He's also the author of "The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype And Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age." And he joins me now.

This virus still requires a lot of diligence, it seems to me. Yet some countries, Spain, to be one, seem to be shifting health policy and speeding to that post pandemic posture that we all want and treating it like the flu.

The WHO says not so fast. It's a dangerous move.

What do you say?

DR. ROBERT WACHTER, CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA/SAN FRANCISCO: I think it all depends what stage you are at with Omicron in the United States.

We're surging now but it appears that we're reaching a peak, probably this week or next. Then it's likely we're going to come down. And once you come down, you've reached a high level of population immunity and you're dealing with a virus that is less severe than the one before it.

So I think as you get to the far end of your Omicron surge, it's a reasonable thing to let up the reins a little bit and let people have some more freedom, assuming that most of your people are vaccinated, boosted or the ones who are not have gotten infected.

If you've not gone through your surge, then it seems foolhardy to let down your guard because you're going to hit pretty badly. We're seeing hospitals just overwhelmed in the U.S.

NEWTON: When you say let down your guard, even if we're on the other side of this peak in a few weeks, what does that look like?

Does it look like our new normal, which is really you get your vaccines and you wear a mask now and again?

WACHTER: Probably so. It really can be a situation where, if most people have a high level of immunity and the virus, which is the threat, which is Omicron right now, is circulating at relatively low levels in your community -- so not many people are infected -- I think then you go back to something that is not entirely normal.

I think folks at risk -- I'm old enough, I'm probably going to still wear a mask when I'm flying or in public transportation. But I will go to a restaurant. I will go to a bar. I will go to a movie.

I think -- and you're going to watch the COVID reports the way you watch the weather reports. If there does appear to be a surge, then we will require a mask again in certain indoor spaces.

But I think that's the kind of situation, where, truly, in a month or so in the United States, we may be at a point where it actually is like the flu, where the risk to most people is no worse than the flu.

But we're not there yet. And in many parts of Europe, they're not there yet. So I think it's premature to do it now. It seems a little bit foolish to do it now, when I can see the finish line from here.

Now is it really the finish line?

That depends on is there a new variant that comes and knocks us for a loop, as this thing seems to do now and again?

But if we don't see a new variant, I think we may be in a place where saying it is like the flu is no longer a big lie, as it was last year. It may very well be true.

NEWTON: This is definitely a refreshing perspective. Ironically, we're getting here because of the Omicron variant and it seems to lead to less severe disease in most people.

I do want to ask you, though, if you get to the endemic phase and it is too soon, are you afraid of the impact on health care systems in the United States, around the world, especially when health care workers like yourself and all around you are just exhausted and depleted?

WACHTER: Yes, I think that is the biggest risk. Well, it's not just that hospitals will be overwhelmed; I mean, people will die if people let their guard down and they don't have a high level of immunity.

We talk about Omicron as being milder; it is somewhat milder but maybe on the order of 50 percent to 70 percent milder than a virus that has killed in the United States 830,000 and several million people around the world. So we're not talking 95 percent milder; we're talking 50 percent to 70 percent.

So it's still a very important threat, particularly for people who are unvaccinated. So the reason to be careful, while there's a surge, is not just to prevent the hospitals from being overwhelmed; it's not nothing. It's still a big deal. And in the United States, people are saying it's so infectious that it's inevitable you'll get it.

That's just wrong. It's inevitable you'll be exposed to it. But if I'm wearing N95 or a really good mask and I'm being a little careful, I don't think it's inevitable you'll get it and I think it's worth trying to dodge it at least to the far end of the surge. NEWTON: I think it's always a good reminder, Doctor, that viruses are

dangerous and in any case, you just don't want it because you don't know what the repercussions are down the road. Doctor, we'll leave it there.

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NEWTON: Thank you for joining us.

WACHTER: My pleasure. Thank you.

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NEWTON: Listen up, millions in the United States are now under winter weather alerts from snow to ice to rain. What to expect this weekend, that's after the break.

Plus, a week of high-stakes talks: there's no signs of easing tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Coming up, what the U.S. says Moscow is planning to justify.

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NEWTON (voice-over): You're looking at Des Moines, Iowa, just a few hours ago. It's just one of several states across the Southeast and East Coast under threat of a major winter storm.

Officials say tens of millions of people are now, at this hour, under winter weather alerts in the United States. The storm is set to plow through the region with heavy snow and potentially treacherous ice.

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NEWTON: The leader of the anti-government group Oath Keepers pleaded not guilty on Friday to seditious conspiracy and other charges in connection with the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Stewart Rhodes is one of 11 people charged with sedition. Among other things, the indictment claims armed Oath Keepers stationed themselves in the Washington, D.C., area ahead of the riot. That's something Rhodes himself mentioned in an interview, just days after the election.

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STEWART RHODES, LEADER, OATH KEEPERS: We have been already stationed outside of D.C., as a nuclear option. And in case the attempt to remove the president illegally, we will step in and stop it. Inside D.C., we'll also be on the outside of D.C., armed, prepared to go in if the president calls us.

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NEWTON: Oath Keepers and military style gear can be seen there in this video. That was shot in the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.

The U.S. says It has information that Russia is preparing a false attack to justify invading Ukraine. It comes after a week of diplomatic meetings between Moscow, the United States and NATO after Russian troops built up near Ukraine.

Those talks failed to achieve anything at all. Now the U.S. says there's evidence that Russia will carry out acts of sabotage against its own proxy forces as a pretext for invasion.

Meantime, Ukraine says Russia is likely behind the cyberattack that hit scores of government websites. Officials say as many as 70 sites were targeted, with a threatening text, warning, quote, "Be afraid and wait for the worst." CNN's Sam Kiley joins us live from Kiev.

You know, Sam, Ukraine has seen all of this before, right? They have seen the so-called allegations from U.S. intelligence of what's to come.

But at this point in time, are they doing anything differently, in order to prepare, given what little came out of the meetings in the last few days?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the first thing is they continue to ask for more military help, more provisions of training, more weaponry. They know very well that no other nation is going to send troops to defend Ukrainian territory, particularly against a Russian invasion.

They don't want to see a third world war started on their territory. But they do want help seeing off any potential invasion. That will be something that has changed the calculus for Vladimir Putin, when he's deciding whether or not to send troops in on the ground.

In 2014, there really wasn't much of a Ukrainian army to speak of at all. They can now muster some 200,000 members of the armed forces, who have been trained on NATO-type weaponry, getting toward NATO levels of standards and getting quite a lot of help from NATO to do that.

A large amount of military coming in from the United States; British and American training teams are here. So they've also been on a higher state of alert, particularly increased in the last few days for certain units.

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KILEY: Following this intelligence coming from the United States, that -- and very much as the Ukrainians here would have predicted, there is a belief, in the United States, that a false flag operation will be conducted by covert operators.

This is a statement coming from the Pentagon in public, no less, not a leak from an intelligence source but a public statement from the Pentagon, covert operators, planning to attack themselves, their own side and blame the Ukrainians, of course, for war.

The Ukrainians have got other intelligence of their own, suggesting a similar operation that might likely be blamed on them, it's being maybe conducted against Russian troops in Moldova.

And then this cyberattack that Ukrainians believe -- they don't have the evidence to point back to Russia -- all part of a campaign to put pressure on them and the international community over this issue of whether or not NATO, going forward, can join NATO at all. Paula.

NEWTON: Yes, Sam. I'm sure Ukraine will continue to ask for more military help from the United States and others, as this goes forward in the coming weeks. Sam Kiley for us.

Professor Robert English is the director of Central European Studies at the University of Southern California. Earlier, I asked him what he thinks about the allegations of what Sam was talking about there, those Russian so-called false flag attacks. Take a listen.

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ROBERT ENGLISH, DIRECTOR, USC SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: ROBERT ENGLISH, DIRECTOR, CENTRAL EUROPEAN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: Yes, I think there's a bit of a propaganda game going on both sides.

I have no doubt that Russia has operatives in Ukraine, that they've had for some time. But it seems amateurish. Imagine, at the same time they're preparing a pretext for invasion, they're also hacking Ukrainian government websites and announcing they're coming.

That's not quite consistent. And for the Russian part, they're accusing us of placing chemical weapons and helping prepare a genocide. So I'm a little more skeptical of these claims for both. It's part of the propaganda war that's ratcheting up at this moment.

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NEWTON: And that was Professor Robert English there and we thank him for his insights.

Now a growing scandal for prime minister Boris Johnson over parties held at Downing Street during COVID lockdowns. We'll tell you why he's apologizing to the queen herself. That, after the break.

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NEWTON: Novak Djokovic's bid to avoid deportation and compete in the Australian Open will soon be put to the test. Three judges will be hearing the Serbian tennis star's appeal tomorrow. He's spending the night in detention.

The Australian minister says allowing Djokovic to stay in the country would increase anti-vaccine sentiment. The controversy has overshadowed the tennis tournament. Tennis star Naomi Osaka now the latest to weigh in. Listen.

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NAOMI OSAKA, TWO-TIME U.S. OPEN CHAMPION: I think it's an unfortunate situation. He's such a great player and it's kind of sad some people might remember him in this way. But I also think it's up to, you know, not tennis players; it's up to the government, like how Australia is deciding to handle it.

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NEWTON: Now a new report about parties at 10 Downing Street that broke COVID restrictions has prompted a new apology -- yes, another one from the prime minister. But this time, Boris Johnson is begging the pardon of the Queen Elizabeth herself now.

One alcohol-soaked gathering described in a report was held the night before Prince Philip's funeral. The next day, the queen sat alone at her husband's socially distant memorial. There's already an inquiry underway into other gatherings at 10 Downing Street that broke the protocols. Our Salma Abdelaziz is live in London with the latest.

This just goes on and on and on. You have to wonder, though, about the sincerity of the apology, even to the queen, given the fact that someone, including the prime minister, had to know, this isn't just right when you have people, who had their loved ones literally dying alone in hospital during those very hours.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Paula, this is not one isolated incident we're talking about. This is not one specific period in time. If you take a look at this dizzying array of allegations, it appears it didn't take much to start a party at Downing Street.

It could be a warm day outside and you could have a garden party. You could be leaving work and be invited to a bring your own booze party. It could be Christmastime and there could be a Christmas party.

Look, for a very long time now, prime minister Boris Johnson's critics have accused of him essentially of being an elitist, being someone who didn't take the office of the prime minister seriously, who did not take the job of leading the country in a somber and mature way.

For these critics. all of these parties prove that point. That's why at times Boris Johnson has be likened to Trump for his laissez-faire attitude.

How is Boris Johnson reacting?

Well, his officials were out yesterday, let's talk about anything else -- distraction, distraction, distraction. I have one example for you, the foreign secretary.

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LIZ TRUSS, FOREIGN MINISTER, UNITED KINGDOM: He has apologized. I think we now need to move on and talk about how we are going to sort out issues.

I have spent the last 24 hours with the E.U., talking about sorting out the situation for the people of Northern Ireland. And we now need to get on with that and, of course, wait for the results of the Sue Gray inquiry.

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ABDELAZIZ: "Let's move on," you heard it there, Paula, let's talk about anything -- the G7, Northern Ireland, the vaccine, anything at all but the parties that are going on in Downing Street.

But I highly doubt anybody is moving on anytime soon, Paula. There's that investigation in place going through all these allegations, ranging from 2020 to 2021, to find out whether or not prime minister Boris Johnson should be implicated. Paula.

NEWTON: That means he will continue to face more questions about what he knew, which parties he attended, all of that, as Omicron is still a factor in Britain. Salma Abdelaziz, appreciate that update.

Elsewhere in Europe, Germany's top health official says around 1 percent of the country's population is currently infected with COVID. It reported a record high for the third day in a row. Friday, more than 92,000 new cases.

The Netherlands, meantime, is relaxing some of its COVID restrictions beginning today. Nonessential stores, hairdressers, beauty salons and other service providers will be allowed to reopen.

And a French court has suspended Paris' strict outdoor mask mandate.

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NEWTON: The tribunal warned that its conditions were neither necessary nor strictly proportionate to the protection of public health. I'm joined by CNN's Melissa Bell, following all of this from Paris.

You know that ruling on masks, I was stunned that you have to wear, by law, masks in Paris outside. I know now that's been overturned.

But it certainly does indicate that level of fatigue, right, right across Europe, for a lot of these restrictions? MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and restrictions that are becoming long-term ones. Nearly two years long from when this virus first hit Europe, Paula, we're looking at the most contagious ways that we've seen so far, that Omicron wave that you talked about a moment ago, essentially so many people getting infected.

And people getting infected at a faster rate than ever before and forcing government to change the way they think about how they're going to deal with it. So the point is, the government -- the Dutch, for instance, reopening hair salons and beauty parlors.

That is about learning to live longer term with a virus that is going to spread beyond control of authorities. With less pressure on hospitalizations in ICUs -- and we mentioned in Spain, that figure of number of contaminations in a single week.

The point is, what the Spaniards are seeing, as are other European countries, it's not the pressure from the hospitals. It's about helping the general population cope with the fact that a greater portion of the people will get sick.

We saw record numbers in France, Netherlands and Germany, too. And more people getting sick and trying to keep schools open, for instance.

At the same time, that fatigue, as you mentioned, led this week to school teachers, striking here in France on Thursday, opposed to rules that have been changed to try to keep children in school, despite the fact that so many of them are getting sick.

We saw that backed up by the figures, yesterday; a record number of classes closed across France, the highest number closed since the pandemic hit and since the lockdown in March 2020. That tells you how bad things are.

We expect more protests here in Paris as the government tries to harden its vaccine path, to close everything, restaurants, bars. You basically have to be vaccinated to get there. A lot of people unhappy about that.

NEWTON: And we'll continue to follow it all, CNN's Melissa Bell live for us in Paris. Thank you.

Still ahead here for us, a close-up look of the aftermath of anti- government protests in Kazakhstan. CNN gets inside a government building that was set ablaze during the demonstrations.

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NEWTON: Torched buildings, smashed ATMs and boarded-up businesses all a testament to the violence during recent anti-government protests in Kazakhstan. CNN is the first media organization to gain access to the mayor's office in Almaty, torched during the demonstrations. Fred Pleitgen is there for us.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Inside the charred carcass of the Almaty Mayor's office, a massive cleanup is now underway. By hand and by machine work has started to repair the damage caused by violent protests that gripped Kazakhstan.

DNM is the first media outlet allowed inside to survey the extent of the damage.

PLEITGEN (on camera): The authorities have brought in dozens if not hundreds of workers to clean up the aftermath of what were those street battles here in Kazakhstan's largest city of Almaty.

And it's really remarkable to see the full scale of the destruction here in the mayor's office. As the authorities here say rioters entered this building and set fire to all of it.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Kazakhstan's officials say they were dangerously close to losing control, not just here Almaty but other places across the country. Kazakhstan's president said protests that were originally against high fuel prices were hijacked by what he calls "terrorists."

He issued a shoot to kill order and summon an international Military force led by Russia.

KASSYM-JOMART TOKEV, KAZAKHSTANI PRESIDENT: We prevented dangerous threats for our country security as part of the counter terrorist mission. We are trying to identify people who committed those crimes.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): The government says things are now largely under control and there is evidence of that across the city life he's almost back to normal. The Russian led Military force has started its withdrawal although that process is set to take another nine days. But authorities say their crackdown will continue.

Around 10,000 people have been detained and more than 160 killed. Opposition activist Zhanbolat Mamay was at the protests.

He says things started peacefully but then he, too, was beaten by what he called provocateurs.

He provided us with this video seeming to show what happened. And these photos of what he looked like after the attack. Mamay says he believes the rioting was a pretext for a violent crackdown.

ZHANBOLAT MAMAY, OPPOSITION ACTIVIST: As the government decided to slaughter their own people and then one greater problem, I think that it was done not only with the help of Kazakhstani security forces but with the interference of Russian troops. PLEITGEN (voice-over): Kazakhstan's leadership denies attacking peaceful protesters and says they've launched a full investigation into who was behind the violence that erupted.

Meanwhile, the country's president has vowed to improve people's living conditions and rebuild the sites damaged as fast as possible -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Almaty, Kazakhstan.

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NEWTON: We'll be back with more news in a moment.

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NEWTON: The beloved actor and comedian Bob Saget has been laid to rest at a private service and burial in Los Angeles. It was attended by family and friends. Now he died suddenly almost a week ago now at the age of 65. A larger memorial will be held a little later.

As CNN's Randi Kaye reports, celebrities took to social media to recall their close friend.

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RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To those who knew and loved Bob Saget, he was more than just a TV dad.

JIMMY KIMMEL, ABC HOST: A word that came up a lot was the sweetest. And Bob was the sweetest, he was the sweetest man.

KAYE (voice-over): An emotional Jimmy Kimmel pay tribute to his friend on his late night show.

KIMMEL: He had something funny to say about everything and nothing bad to say about anyone.

He was very kind to everyone and he had no problem telling you that he loved you and what you meant to him.

KAYE (voice-over): Now his loved ones and friends are sharing what he meant to them, after the actor's sudden death in an Orlando hotel room, Sunday.

His close friend and fellow cast member from "Full House," John Stamos posted this picture of him with Saget on Instagram, writing, "I'm not ready to accept that he's gone. I'm not going to say goodbye yet. I'm going to imagine him out there still on the road doing what he loves, with all his heart and humor."

JEFF ROSS, COMEDIAN: Around the 4:05, remembering Bob Saget. KAYE (voice-over): Saget's close friends musician John Mayer and comedian Jeff Ross are picking up pieces of his life. They made this live Instagram video as they retrieved Saget's car from Los Angeles airport.

JOHN MAYER, MUSICIAN: I was saying, I wish, I wish to God I had 100 more things like this to do, because that would be an awesome thing to lean on. You know?

ROSS: Tomorrow we're going to pick up his dry cleaning.

John brought Bob home, so that means a lot. Thank you for that. There's no windshield wipers for the eyes, only for the windshield.

KAYE (voice-over): "SNL" star Kenan Thompson clearly moved by Saget's death. He told the view he'd seen Saget recently in LA.

KENAN THOMPSON, ACTOR AND COMEDIAN: You know, it hurts a lot.

[05:55:00]

THOMPSON: He never like put that air on of, you know, in being a diva or anything like that because of his status. He was just a genuinely great person.

KAYE (voice-over): Sirius XM host Rich Eisen stunned by the sudden death of his friend remembered his humor and his big heart.

RICH EISEN, SIRIUS XM HOST: And he would open his mouth and the filthiest things would come out of it. And that was his style. That was his sense of humor.

He was just so nice and his heart was so big. Part of that big heart and his love of life and family, his sister died of an awful, awful disease called scleroderma. It killed his sister. And he spent his entire public and working life raising money for the Scleroderma Research Foundation.

KAYE (voice-over): Actor Tom Arnold mourned the loss of his friend and a great comedian.

TOM ARNOLD, ACTOR: He was an amazing, amazing comic. I think being a stand-up comic was the most important thing for him. And he certainly has the respect of everyone of my business.

KAYE (voice-over): Bob Saget, a friend to so many, a loss too great to comprehend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: And certainly, from that report, you can see that he is a man who nurtured so many relationships in his lifetime. Actor and comedian Bob Saget died Sunday at the age of 65.

And I am Paula Newton. I want to thank you for your company, CNN "NEW DAY" is next for our viewers in the United States; "CONNECTING AFRICA is up next for international viewers. We'll have more news after the break.