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Biden To Meet With Japanese Pm On Monday; Russian Missile Damaged 1,000 Apartments In Kharkiv Region, Many Schools; Australia's Labor Party Wins, Albanese To Be Next PM; Trump and Pence Split Over Georgia Governor; WHO Confirms 90+ Cases Of Monkeypox Worldwide. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired May 22, 2022 - 03:00   ET

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

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us around the world. Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

Ahead, a change at the top in Australia. Prime minister Scott Morrison concedes defeat ending nine years of conservative rule.

Any moment now, the U.S. President will be arriving in Japan from South Korea. This will be his second stop on his tour aimed at boosting alliances in Asia.

In Ukraine, new vehicles are helping fight the war. Civilians donating their cars to help troops on the front lines, defending their country from Russian aggression.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: U.S. President Joe Biden is headed to Japan after wrapping up a three-day visit to South Korea. He left Osan Air Base just outside Seoul a short time ago, expected to arrive in Japan in about an hour to mark his first trip to Asia as commander in chief.

While Biden has tried to focus on bolstering America's economic ties in the region, the shadow of potential conflict is never far away. Saturday, the U.S. and South Korea announced plans to hold joint military drills. Blake Essig is in Tokyo with a preview of what to expect from the Japan leg of Biden's trip.

But let's start with Paula Hancocks.

So the headline was the resumption of joint military drills. But there were important economic issues at stake here, too.

What headway did President Biden make while he was there?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kim, the headlines that he really wanted to see was about the economic ties that he had developed here. And President Biden was in the region to reaffirm his commitment to two very important allies at a time when he's been focused on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

He was coming here, he also said, to talk about supply chains, to talk about economic security. And there were some significant deals; a deal from Samsung, to be investing in the United States, creating jobs, which President Biden was quick to mention.

And also to try and strengthen supply chains, which has been a real issue for the United States over recent months. But of course, the specter of North Korea always does overshadow many of these announcements.

Now they did talk about the security issues. They did, with President Biden and President Yoon, discuss whether or not to expand military drills. Up until several years ago, this was the norm here on the peninsula.

It was really during the previous U.S. president's time, that these were canceled in some cases, as he wanted to try and improve relations with Kim Jong-un as he was within his summitry period at that time.

Then COVID-19 put spade to some of these drills as well. So by saying that he wanted to expand these drills, it will inevitably cause some friction with North Korea.

He was asked, President Biden, talking about the economic benefits of deals that had been done, whether he was concerned about intelligence assessments, that there could be a missile or a nuclear test by North Korea while he is in the region. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We are prepared for anything North Korea does. We've had -- we've thought through how we should respond to whatever they do. And so I'm not concerned, if that's what you're suggesting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: He was asked also if there was a message to Kim Jong-un, to which he simply said, "Hello. Period," a short message for the North Korean leader.

He has acknowledged publicly that he has been telling North Korea he is happy to speak and also happy to help them with their COVID outbreak.

BRUNHUBER: All right.

Blake, so Biden will be landing in Japan in the next hour or so for the bilateral with the Japanese prime minister but also meeting leaders from the Indo-Pacific. So take us through what we're expecting.

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he has the Quad summit.

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ESSIG: Australia, India, Japan, the United States, the leaders of all four countries are going to meet on Tuesday for that summit.

But first, obviously, we have President Biden meeting the emperor tomorrow morning. And then the bilateral with prime minister Kishida, also on Monday. It is always a big deal when the sitting president visits any foreign country.

From the Japanese perspective, this is a huge opportunity both internationally and domestically for the Japanese prime minister, who has only been in office since last October and has an upper house election this summer.

This is a chance to show the country he is a respected international statesman and capable of taking relations with Japan's most important ally, the United States, to the next level.

Now from the U.S. perspective, President Biden's first trip to Asia is also incredibly important after four years of the former president, a period that many experts say undermined the faith, trust and confidence that key allies had in the United States.

More recently, the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, there are a lot of people in this part of the world questioning the political will of the United States to deploy troops abroad. Take a listen.

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CLEO PASKAL, FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: And the perception is you may not be able to count on the U.S. in that kind of a situation for whatever reason. Who knows what is going to happen in the rest of the U.S.

But regardless, I think that Japan has a very strong section of the population who don't want to be reliant on outside powers in order to be able to make its decisions that might or may not risk its serenity (ph).

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ESSIG: In the bilateral meeting with Japan's prime minister, security will be a top priority. That being said, when President Biden and Prime Minister Kishida meet on Monday for their bilateral meeting, we expect that the two sides are going to release a joint statement, pledging to deter and respond to China's increasingly active military in the region.

For President Biden to make it clear that the United States will defend Japan, including with the use of nuclear weapons if Japan is attacked. And Kim, it is worth noting that a big part of the pledge to deter and respond to China falls on Japan as a result of the rise of China territorial disputes with both China and Russia.

With a potential war in Taiwan and a nuclear armed North Korea, members of Japan's ruling party realized they must to do more to protect themselves and take a more proactive stance.

Now domestically here in Japan, there has been a push to increase defense spending from 1 percent to 2 percent of its GDP, GDP -- excuse me -- improve defense capability within the framework of the country's pacifist constitution by developing counterstrike capabilities, as opposed to waiting for the fight to come to them. Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All, right well, we will keep following along with President Biden's trip. Paula Hancocks, Blake Essig, thank you so much, we appreciate it.

The president of Poland reportedly has arrived in Ukraine and will address the nation's parliament later today. he will be the first foreign head of state to speak to lawmakers since the war began.

Elsewhere, the Russian military claimed it destroyed a large shipment of U.S. and European weapons in Western Ukraine on Saturday. There has been no confirmation of that. But Ukrainian military officials in the city of Rivian (ph) say missiles struck military infrastructure.

And in Eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military says the Russians destroyed a bridge between Sievierodonetsk and a neighboring town. Ukraine's president, marking his third anniversary in office, was as defiant as ever in his nightly address. Here he is.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Russia has used virtually all its resources to destroy us. The situation in the Donbas is extremely difficult. As in previous days, the Russian army is trying to attack Slovyansk and Sievierodonetsk. The armed forces of Ukraine are deterring this offensive.

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BRUNHUBER: And we are learning that Friday's missile strike on a town near Kharkiv was even more damaging than this video shows. Besides destroying the newly renovated cultural center, the mayor says the blast damaged more than 1,000 apartments and many schools.

President Zelenskyy says more 1,000 educational facilities have been destroyed across the country since the war began. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is standing by in Lviv.

And Suzanne, with those latest attacks on schools and cultural institutions, has that changed the mood on the ground at all?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is very discouraging. And yet, determining really. It is a motivation for so many people that I meet here. President Zelenskyy is saying that this is not just a goal of the Russians to actually destroy their lives, their educational institutions but the very Ukrainian culture itself.

He was very candid about the situation in the east, about the Donbas, saying that it was extremely difficult.

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MALVEAUX: And Ukrainians across this country they are trying to do what they can, whatever little they can, to help those fighters. I met such a woman, who is actually donating cars and driving them to the front lines herself.

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MALVEAUX (voice-over): Down a quiet dirt road in Lviv, this small auto repair shop looks like any other. But it is playing a vital role in Ukraine's civilian resistance.

It is backbreaking work, souping up this run-of-the-mill truck to head to the front lines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

Uliana Hileta, who normally works as a graphic designer, is planning to drive it to the front lines herself.

ULIANA HILETA, GRAPHIC DESIGNER AND VOLUNTEER DRIVER (through translator): Every trip is filled with emotions, full of hard work and also full of joy that I can be part of something bigger. I can bring at least some things that will make us closer to victory.

MALVEAUX (voice-over): Uliana has been organizing car donations to the Ukrainian military since Russia invaded Crimea in 2014. Now her efforts have been increased with five trips so far this year.

MALVEAUX: So you're by yourself for 17 hours in this big vehicle?

Petite as you are, are you afraid, are you concerned?

You are going close to the front lines by yourself.

HILETA (through translator): It would be strange if I wasn't scared, because everyone is scared about their lives. But apart from the fear, there is also love, which is always stronger. It is the love of our motherland.

MALVEAUX (voice-over): Civilians here are desperate to help the army however they can, donating money to import as many cars as possible.

This truck, now painted and ready, is destined for Donetsk in Eastern Ukraine where Russian troops have been shelling relentlessly for more than a month, injuring and killing thousands of civilians and battering the Ukrainian forces.

Soldiers say donations like this have been invaluable, as they brace for a long conflict.

It is really unpredictable. Sometimes the car might survive for one or two months. But sometimes on the next day it can be under enemy fire and get destroyed.

MALVEAUX (voice-over): It is an 800-mile journey from Lviv to Slovyansk. And it is not just the car that Uliana will give to those fighting. The truck is filled with new uniforms, military equipment and lots of fuel.

As she packs, she imagines these supplies will help soldiers like her brother-in-law and other close friends, loved ones now fighting in the east.

HILETA (through translator): We had coffee two days before the war began. Now they are on the front lines. But the fact that I can help the soldiers makes me less worried.

MALVEAUX (voice-over): Her treacherous journey hopefully paving the way to a free Ukraine.

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MALVEAUX: And she is just a few hours away from Slovyansk in her drive now. We have learned from Ukrainian military officials, however, that the Russian army, that they plan to continue their offensive in that very area in the days to come. So we are certainly keeping a close eye on her journey and wishing her well. Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely, keep us informed. Suzanne Malveaux, live in Lviv, Ukraine, for us. Thank you so much.

All right, still to come here on CNN, why Australian voters delivered a sharp rebuke to prime minister Scott Morrison's conservative coalition. We will have a look at who will be leading the country next. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Anthony Albanese will be the next prime minister of Australia. Voters in the national election picked his Labor Party over prime minister Scott Morrison's conservative coalition to lead Australia. He will be sworn in with a new government on Monday.

Morrison's defeat amounts to a rebuke of his leadership style which critics called more authoritarian than collaborative, especially during the pandemic. For more on, this let's bring in Zoe Daniel Melbourne, she is an independent elect member of Parliament. She just claimed an election victory over a two-term liberal MP and is also a former journalist.

Thank you so much for being here with us and congratulations on your victory.

What message do you think that sends?

ZOE DANIEL, INCOMING AUSTRALIAN MP: I think it sends a message that the incumbent government was drifting too far to the Right. The people who sit more in the center of politics were finding it difficult to vote for the coalition government and also didn't necessarily want to flip to the progressive side of politics, to the Labor Party.

So many people have gravitated to independents like myself. We have several professional women, who have stepped up individually to stand and differences around Australia. I'm one of those.

And I'm feeling very grateful today to have been elected to a safe liberal seat with a two-term incumbent. And indeed the seat has been a safe liberal seat since federation, so since 1901.

BRUNHUBER: Well, that underscores the sea change that has happened there.

So if the new prime minister can't form a majority government, what role do you think you and other independents might play?

DANIEL: Well, I think to be an honest broker from the cross bench, I think what we have had in Australia is a broken two-party political system where a partisanship has been the dominant factor, where collaboration between the two major parties and bipartisanship has become very difficult.

And therefore, forward movement or progress on really critical issues, including climate policy, has become really intractable. So I'm a lifelong swinging voter. So I've voted for both the progressive and conservative side of politics and both platforms. So I seek to try and create some collaboration from the cross bench.

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DANIEL: But one of my key platforms was certainly more economically focused on climate policy, something that I think we really do need to speed up action on in Australia and obviously people in my electorate agreed with that.

BRUNHUBER: Let me jump in on that issue, because this has been sort of dubbed the climate election in Australia. I mean the environment always polls as an important issue in many countries, we see that often here in the U.S. But it rarely proved to be a decisive election issue.

So why do you think it resonated so much now?

DANIEL: Because I think that climate policies are being weaponized to the extent that people started feeling that they weren't being listened to. They worry about the future of their children, they worry about the environment in which they live.

And they also worry about their future prosperity and what our economy might look like if we don't transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy. And there was a sense that people didn't feel that they had a voice with this conservative government, that has had very low, for example, carbon reduction targets. And in a state like this, I guess that's reflected in the vote,

electing an independent member who can take views of the community forward directly.

But there are also issues about trust in politics in Australia, as I know you have in the U.S. as well, where people have a sense that their leaders aren't really representing them, where there's one rule for them, one rule for everyone else.

So there has been a big push, for example, for a federal anti corruption commission here in Australia, something that has been resisted by that coalition government that has been moved on. And that has also been a priority for me and that's been reflected in the views of people in the state.

BRUNHUBER: I'm wondering how hard it will be to work with a leader, who might be seen as more of an incrementalist on the environment. Australia's one of the world's biggest exporters of coal and fossil fuels. The new prime minister famously promised renewal, not revolution.

So what happens if you do want revolution at least on certain key issues like the environment?

DANIEL: Well, I am someone who will try to create progress. It is not about being a radical, it is simply about reflecting the views of the people in my electorate. We know that 80 percent of people in what has previously been as I said a deeply conservative electorate, really want faster action on climate policy.

So it is a case of having those conversations, being able to sit down and really talk about what can we do to bring about this transition. Also considering the impact on communities of doing that. It will be very interesting to see, once we get the final numbers of the makeup of parliament just how much leverage as an independent that someone like myself might have.

BRUNHUBER: Exactly. Well, listen, congratulations again on your well earned victory and good luck in the days and years ahead. Thank you so much.

DANIEL: Thanks for having me. Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: Five days after the Pennsylvania primaries, we still don't know who will be the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in November. TV personality Mehmet oz is ahead of former businessman and Army veteran Dave McCormick by the barest of margins. CNN's Melanie Zanona reports from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

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MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Senate GOP primary in Pennsylvania is coming down to the wire. Mehmet Oz only leads David McCormick by about 1,000 votes. But the consensus is here on the ground is that this is headed toward a recount, which would be automatically triggered if the race is within half a percentage point. Both campaigns appear to be gearing up for that scenario. They have

added lawyers and experts who have experiences in a recount. And David McCormick's campaign is also making clear that they plan to fight to have all undated ballots included in the final count.

This comes after a court ruling ruled in a local Pennsylvania race that all undated ballots should count from a last November election. It is unclear whether that ruling will indeed apply to Tuesday's GOP primary.

But Oz's campaign is already hitting back, saying they plan to oppose McCormick's legal effort and saying that they are pulling from a Democratic playbook. So we have an early preview of the fight to come, as both sides are gearing up for a potentially long and drawn-out battle here in Pennsylvania. Melanie Zanona, CNN, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

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BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, Georgia holds its primaries on Tuesday. The Republican contests for governor is getting the most attention because some see it as a test of Trump's hold on the party. The former president has endorsed David Perdue's campaign to oust governor Brian Kemp, while Trump's former vice president Mike Pence is endorsing the incumbent. Eva McKend reports.

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EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER CORRESPONDENT: Trump's endorsement of Congressman Loudermilk and other Georgia Republicans already favored to win their races in the final hour here indicate he's concerned about Tuesday.

[03:25:00]

MCKEND: Now he not only coaxed David Perdue into running against Governor Kemp but has made this endorsement very high profile. And it seems as though Governor Kemp just continues to have the momentum.

It's not that his endorsement isn't prized or valuable in a Republican primary and it is not that many Republican voters don't believe the big election lie that the 2020 election was somehow rigged or stolen, they do. It's just that they have other issues on their mind as well.

And David Perdue has just made the Big Lie a cornerstone of his campaign at the expense of all other issues. In recent weeks, he shifted his strategy a bit to argue that Governor Kemp, more generally, has sold out Georgians to corporate interests but that is not a message that seems to have landed.

Meanwhile, Governor Kemp not taking anything for granted still imploring his voters to get out there on Tuesday.

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): Don't believe the polling, be excited by the momentum but use that and encourage you even more to leave no doubt on Tuesday. MCKEND: While Perdue continues to have Trump on his side, Governor Kemp has been campaigning with a slew of Republican governors from across the country. Former Vice President Mike Pence will be here on Monday.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And thanks to Eva McKend for that report.

And thanks so much for joining, us I'm Kim Brunhuber. For those here in the U.S. and Canada, I will be back with more news in after the break. For our international viewers "INSIDE AFRICA" is after the break.

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

Poland's president is expected to speak to the Ukrainian parliament later today, the first foreign head of state to do so since the war began. The Russian military is claiming it destroyed a large shipment of U.S. and European weapons in Western Ukraine on Saturday. There's been no confirmation of that.

But Ukrainian military officials in the city of Irpin say missiles struck military infrastructure. U.S. President Joe Biden has signed into law a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine, ensuring that American weapons, equipment and other aid continue to be sent without interruption.

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BRUNHUBER: Let's get military perspective with British defense analyst Stuart Crawford in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Thank you so much for joining me. So let's start with this new U.S. aid package.

What difference will that make, also given that Russia keeps claiming they're blowing up depots of these Western arms that are arriving in Ukraine?

STUART CRAWFORD, DEFENSE ANALYST: Well, the short answer is that it's going to make a huge difference; $40 billion is an enormous amount of aid.

And if you add it to the aid that the U.S. sent in March, you have a total of something like $57 billion, which may be small beer in U.S. terms but, for the Ukraine, it's about one-quarter of their domestic product, domestic revenue, prewar. So it will make a huge difference. It's quite difficult to just plan

out exactly how much is going to weaponry, how much is going to humanitarian aid. But it's very significant and a great statement of support for Ukraine from the USA.

BRUNHUBER: Do you believe these claims that the Russians are blowing up these depots?

We get them fairly regularly and they do seem to corroborate at least with reported missile strikes.

So is that really taking a big dent out of this aid?

CRAWFORD: It's very difficult to tell. The old adage is that the first casualty of war is truth. And there will be claim and counter claim. Sometimes extremely difficult to verify any of them.

I don't think there's any doubt that there will be some impact on the military supplies coming into Ukraine from the West. But how significant that is, it's difficult to tell. And we'll probably only find out after hostilities end, if and when they do.

BRUNHUBER: Looking at the state of the Russian military here, we don't know exactly how many troops they've lost. Ukraine claims some 28,000 Russian troops have been killed. Some units seem to be seriously depleted.

So how long can Russia keep this up without mass mobilization?

CRAWFORD: That's a very good question. Some estimates say that they've lost approximately or up to approximately one-third of the troops that they committed initially. The answer is that they can't keep going forever the way they are at the moment.

One of the things that slightly mystifies me as a military man is why the Russians are now choosing to attack the Ukrainians where the Ukrainian defense is at its strongest, which goes contrary to most military doctrines, where you usually look to attack the enemy where it's at its weakest.

The short answer is Russia cannot keep this up forever in terms of men or materiel. So we can only hope that there's a hasty end to this conflict.

BRUNHUBER: Do you mind just sort of elaborating a bit about what you're talking about, attacking them at their strongest?

Where do you think they should be attacking them?

Where are they making their mistake here?

CRAWFORD: Well, I mean -- the original mistake, of course, was trying to capture Kyiv by what we would call a coup de main, by sleight of hand, by driving in an not expecting any opposition.

Obviously they were defeated there. They've now concentrated on the east. Now Ukrainian forces in the east have been entrenched and ready for this attack for eight years, since 2014, since parts of it were taken over by the Russian separatists.

And it just seems a contradiction in military doctrine to attack the enemy where it's at its weakest -- sorry, at its strongest. I know that they've tried to encircle parts of the Ukrainian forces. But they don't seem to be militarily competent enough to do that at the moment.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's the key issue there. So listen, the war is heading into its fourth month.

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BRUNHUBER: You said at the beginning of the war that the Ukrainians would ultimately win if they managed not to lose.

So at this point now, are they winning?

CRAWFORD: Well, they're certainly not losing. And I think that, I hope that the aid that's coming from the U.S. and from other Western countries will now enable them to go from a strictly defensive mode into an offensive mode and begin to choose where they fight rather than being in a reactive mode.

Looking at it as a strategist, I would anticipate that they will -- and there is some evidence already that they're doing this -- strike to the south and try and retake Kherson, then perhaps threaten Russian forces in Crimea. And I think that would really make the Russians sit up, to be attacked there.

BRUNHUBER: It certainly looks like it's settling into a long stalemate. President Zelenskyy of Ukraine has admitted that, ultimately, the conflict will need a diplomatic solution.

Are we any closer to knowing what that might look like?

CRAWFORD: No, I mean, I couldn't really guess that. I mean, all I could speculate is that, as and when it comes to negotiating a peace, which inevitably it will do, whether the Ukrainians might be open to swapping the Donbas for Crimea -- certainly if I was in charge of it, that would be an attractive thing to me.

But I think that the Ukrainians are set on recapturing all the territory that's been taken by the Russians. So we're not quite at that point of compromise yet.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, unfortunately, still looks like a long road ahead. Really appreciate your expertise, Stuart Crawford in Edinburgh.

CRAWFORD: Thank you very much.

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BRUNHUBER: A critical shipment of baby formula is on its way to the U.S. right now as American families cope with a nationwide shortage. We'll have a live report from Germany as Operation Fly Formula gets underway.

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BRUNHUBER: A U.S. military flight is on its way from Germany to Indiana, carrying more than 130 pallets of baby formula. It's the first shipment under the Biden administration's Operation Fly Formula. Americans are dealing with a nationwide shortage.

Underscoring the operation's importance to the White House, the U.S. Agriculture Secretary will greet the flight when it lands in Indianapolis later today. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen is at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany.

One shipment, I don't imagine, will make too much of a dent.

Is there more coming?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There is supposed to be more coming. We are told that there will be more flights, possibly the first one midweek. They have not gotten specific.

We know that they might not necessarily be military like the one that's up in the air now. They might actually end up being sort of military contracts with commercial flyers. As you said, 1.5 million bottles, 8-ounce bottles of formula. That's something.

It is not going to turn this problem around. The Abbott factory, the one that's been shuttered, that is such a major producer -- or used to be -- of formula, they now say that they hope to be up and operating by the first week of June.

But still, it will take them six weeks to start getting product out onto shelves. They say they'll be working at double capacity. So parents in the U.S., they'll be seeing a little bit of relief in the coming weeks. But it will really be many weeks until this turns around.

BRUNHUBER: Elizabeth, I mean, sadly, we've already seen several babies admitted to hospital for issues related to these shortages, which shows just how serious the consequences can be.

COHEN: That's right. We think about babies, of course, they need their formula. But for a healthy baby, you know, this is terrible but probably not a health threat. But for babies that started off with medical problems, this is really, really an issue.

We have spoken with many parents, whose children have been in the hospital because the children were on a particular formula for their health needs. And they really, the parents, couldn't find another formula that addressed those needs and that their child could tolerate.

So yes, there are just rings and rings, unfortunately, of terrible consequences. And it's not just babies. It's also older children. Older children also sometimes rely on formula if they have specific medical problems.

And we've been speaking with parents, who are really, really worried that their children are going to have terrible health effects because they, in some cases, have had to ration formula for their children.

BRUNHUBER: Help can't come soon enough. CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen in Germany, thank you so much.

Switzerland and Israel are reporting their first cases of monkeypox. The Swiss case has been reported in Bern and the Israeli health ministry says a man admitted to a Tel Aviv hospital on Friday tested positive for the disease on Saturday. The man had recently returned from Western Europe. He's been quarantined and remains in good condition.

The World Health Organization said on Saturday they were more than 90 confirmed cases of monkeypox worldwide, at least 28 potential cases under investigation.

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BRUNHUBER: Joining me is Dr. Anne Rimoin, a professor of epidemiology at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, joining me from Los Angeles.

I wanted to start with the obvious question everybody is asking, which is, how worried should we be about this?

But looking into it, the answer isn't necessarily very straightforward. So I want to start with this. You've been studying monkeypox for decades. You warned years ago about the possibility of it becoming a much greater threat.

So let's start with the worst-case scenario, that many people might be imagining here, considering what the world has been through and is still going through with COVID.

That's this: could this spread widely, say here in the U.S., with tens of thousands of cases or even become another global pandemic?

DR. ANNE RIMOIN, EPIDEMIOLOGY PROFESSOR, UCLA FIELDING SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Kim, thanks for having me.

You're asking a very important question, which is, how concerned should we be?

We should definitely be concerned. It's very concerning to see all of these clusters of monkeypox outside of Africa for the first time ever. But monkeypox is a very different disease than COVID-19, which what you're alluding to in terms of global pandemic.

Are we going to see something like this happen? The answer is, monkeypox is much less transmissible than SARS-CoV-2.

[03:45:00]

RIMOIN: It is something that really requires very close person-to- person transmission or person-to-person contact, as we know, from what we know about studying this virus. So my answer is, we need to be concerned.

We don't need to be raising an alarm beyond the fact that we need to be concerned. We need more data before we can really make a real judgment on what this actually means.

BRUNHUBER: Right, OK. Let's go back and put this into context. Normally the disease, as I understand, is sort of contained to rural west and central Africa.

How unusual what is we're seeing now and why do you think it's spreading globally now?

RIMOIN: There's several reasons that we're seeing monkeypox come up in the news more frequently and why now we're seeing cases pop up globally.

The first thing is, we no longer have immunity to pox viruses because of this great achievement by public health: eradicating smallpox. When we eradicated smallpox, we stopped having to immunize populations. So the smallpox vaccine was retired from the normal vaccination schedule.

And as a result, since the early '70s, the vast majority of the world has not been getting vaccinated. As a result, we just don't have immunity to pox viruses the way we do. That's why we would see -- we've seen cases of monkeypox get imported from Africa. This is why we've seen cases increase in Africa.

In fact, the paper you're referencing is exactly that, discussing how monkeypox is increasing. So makes sense we're going to see more cases.

Why are we seeing these -- go ahead.

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BRUNHUBER: Yes, if there are more cases, though, could we see something like we saw in COVID, the disease could mutate in immunocompromised hosts, to become more transmissible, maybe more virulent?

RIMOIN: Well, you know, it's certainly possible. But here's the thing. Monkeypox is a DNA virus and it's a very stable virus. So it's going to take a lot more transmission for that kind of scenario to occur.

Now, of course, as we've discussed with SARS-CoV-2, viruses mutate when they have the opportunity to replicate. And eventually you could see a constellation of mutations that could become concerning. And certainly seeing multiple chains of transmission over periods of

time and potentially immunocompromised hosts could lead to changes in this virus. So it's very important to watch.

BRUNHUBER: So you warned years ago, when you were studying this, that if we didn't monitor and control monkeypox in rural Africa, it could spread, get established maybe in other -- in animals in other countries. You said the public health setback would be difficult to reverse.

So how difficult might it be?

And how would we go about doing it if it does become established in animal populations here?

RIMOIN: The thing about monkeypox is it is a zoonotic disease. And there are multiple reservoir species that are susceptible. That's why we saw, in 2003, we saw the virus jump from a Gambian pouched rat to an American prairie dog in a holding facility.

Then, infected, several of these prairie dogs, went on to infect hosts. We were very lucky at that time that it didn't get into other species, into any wild species in the United States, and begin to start spreading in animals.

So we really want to make sure that this virus does not -- doesn't have the opportunity to spread beyond where it's already existing. It is something that we do need to be concerned about.

This is why it's going to be very important to have very good disease surveillance. We have to identify all of the cases. We really have to understand where these introductions have come from, how this virus is spreading. And that's going to be how we're going to determine how best to control the virus.

BRUNHUBER: Hopefully, with everything the world's been through, we've at least developed a bit more robust infrastructure for surveillance and responding to health threats like this, because, of course, as you well know, more than anyone, they will keep coming. Anne Rimoin, thanks for your expertise, really appreciate it.

RIMOIN: My pleasure.

BRUNHUBER: The final round of golf's second major of the season is just hours away with a familiar name a no-show. Tiger Woods' aching body is taking its toll. We'll have details when we come back.

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BRUNHUBER: That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back in just a moment with more news. Please do stay with us.