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U.S. and Israel Agreed on Common Goal About Iran; Sri Lanka's President Finally Resigned; Brittney Griner's Fate Undetermined; China's Economy Worsen with COVID Policies; Ukraine Wants Russia to be Declared as Terror State; War Causes Mental Health Issues; Survival is Tough for Civilians in Ukraine; Monkeypox Spreads More. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired July 15, 2022 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Live from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. I'm Kim Brunhuber.

Ahead here on CNN Newsroom. U.S. president faces a crucial day in his visit to the Middle East as he prepares to hold talks with Palestinian and Saudi leaders.

And at any moment, Brittney Griner's trial is expected to resume in Russia. We'll have a look at what's next after the American basketball star pleaded guilty.

And after months of war, why some doctors are concerned about the long-term effects of the daily mental trauma Ukrainians face.

UNKNOWN: Live from CNN center, this is CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: We're following developments out of the Middle East this hour as U.S. President Joe Biden is focusing his attention on the Palestinians today. Biden is scheduled to meet in a couple of hours from now with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem.

And before that he'll visit Victoria Augusta hospital in east Jerusalem where he is expected to announce a new U.S. aid package. U.S. president met with the new Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Thursday with Iran's nuclear ambitions a key topic, both agreed Tehran should never be allowed to get nuclear weapons, but they differed on how to achieve that goal. Here they are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Today, you and I also discussed the mayor's commitment to ensuring Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon. This is a vital security interest to both Israel and the United States. And I would add for the rest of the world as well. I continue to believe that the diplomacy is the best way to achieve this outcome.

YAIR LAPID, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Words will not stop them, Mr. President. Diplomacy will not stop them. The only thing that will stop Iran is knowing that if they continue to develop their nuclear program, the free world will use force.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: All right. Let's go live now to Jerusalem and journalist Elliott Gotkine. So, Elliot, before we turn to what's happening today, take -- take us through what's happened so far.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: So, Kim, I suppose the highlight yesterday was this press conference where we saw the both President Biden and yair Lapid expressed their slightly differing approaches to Iran. Although we did see a slight change in Biden's language on this trip in an interview that was broadcast in which he said that the U.S. would use force against Iran to prevent it from getting nuclear weapons, albeit as a last resort.

The Israelis want that to not just be a last resort, but to be a kind of sort of Damocles hanging over the Iranians such that if their nuclear program progresses to developing a bomb, that force would be used.

We also saw Biden greeting athletes at the Maccabiah Games, the so- called Jewish Olympics yesterday evening, say -- telling the U.S. athletes go get them and watching the opening ceremony there. He also received the Presidential Medal of Honor from Pres -- Israel's President Isaac Herzog. They both have Irish heritage. President Herzog equipping that it was a good day for the Irish.

So that was some of the things that we saw yesterday. And of course, today, another very busy schedule, not least his visit in the next what, 25 minutes or so. He's due to turn up at the Augusta Victoria hospital in east Jerusalem on an unaccompanied visit. Not accompanied by Israelis, which some Palestinians may see as a sign of hope that the Biden administration supports their aspiration to have east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. And then of course, there's that meeting with Mahmoud Abbas later on Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. So, OK. That's his schedule. So, for the Palestinians then what are they actually expecting to get out of Biden's visit? Because of course their concerns have sort of been on the -- on the back burner for the Biden administration so far.

GOTKINE: Kim, I suppose first very quickly, what we are not expecting to come out of it. We're not expecting the U.S. administration to announce any new Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. That peace process is more abound. This administration doesn't seem like it wants to get engaged on that front.

We're not going to see the Biden administration. We don't think announce any fulfillment of its campaign pledges to reopen the Palestinian mission in Washington, to reopen the U.S. consulate in east Jerusalem that serves Palestinians, and certainly not to reverse the Trump administration move of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

[03:05:03]

Those are things that we won't see. What we will see is more moves to improve the economic lot of the Palestinians to help improve food security, to help improve healthcare. So, when President Biden turns up at the August -- Augusta Victoria hospital in east Jerusalem, he's expected to announce that he will ask Congress for an additional $100 million in funding towards Palestinian hospitals.

He's also expected today as part of his visit to Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank in Bethlehem to announce that there will be another $15 million for food security for the Palestinians and another -- another $200 million in U.S. funding to go towards the UNRWA, the U.N. agency that helps support Palestinians and their descendants, not just in the West Bank, but in surrounding countries as well.

There will also be announcements we're expecting to help smooth the travel of Palestinians from the West Bank into Jordan, and also for the long overdue rollout of 4G mobile phone, infrastructure, something that they hope will improve the digital economy of the Palestinians.

So, the U.S. administration seems happy to splash their cash, seems happy to express its support for the two-state solution, but doesn't seem really interested in expending this political capital that it would take to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. That is not something we expect to happen.

Maybe a disappointment to some, but given how the depth to which U.S.- Palestinian relations had plunged under the Trump administration, these small announcements will, are actually quite significant against that backdrop. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: All right, Elliot Gotkine in Jerusalem. Thanks so much, I really appreciate it.

Now for more on this story, Fawaz Gerges is a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics and the author of many books on the Middle East, including "Making the Arab World." And he joins me now from London. Thanks so much for being here with us.

So, President Biden's trip has been sort of shy of making any grand promises. So, what is the goal here? What would a successful trip look like?

FAWAZ GERGES, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Well, I mean, I think if you ask me, if President Biden has any vision for the Palestinians, I would say he comes empty handed. Even though President Biden repeats constantly that he believes in a two-state solution, an Israeli state and a Palestinian state living side by side in peace.

He has not invested any political capital. The Palestinians have been thrown under the bus. Israeli occupation in Palestinian lands continues, more Israeli settlements are being built. The peace process is frozen and the Palestinians really are getting crumps from the Biden administration.

And as importantly, the Biden administration even though it means well, it has not really reverse some of the horrible initiatives that were made by the Trump administration and made any kind of establishing a Palestinian state almost impossible.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, well, that's exactly it, because I mean, Biden has always sort of sought to differentiate himself from Trump on every issue, including the Middle East. But in practice you're saying he's basically stuck very closely to what President Trump has been doing. What do you think? How is he going to differentiate himself do you think?

Because you know, he's been encouraging Saudi-Israeli (Inaudible), which is something again that President Trump was doing. So where do you think he's going to differentiate himself, do you think?

GERGES: He really has not. On the Israel-Palestine question the Biden administration is an extension of the Trump administration and the reason why so not because President Biden is not -- does not really know what needs to be done. What needs to be done, we all know what needs to be done.

The international community, the international public opinion. Even the Israeli public, you need to end Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and you need to basically allow the Palestinians to establish a state of their own. And you need to reconcile the Palestinians with the Israelis if you really want a genuine peace.

And I think the president wants a genuine peace. You have to reconcile the Palestinians and the Israelis. This is the fundamental fault line. What you -- what the Biden administration and what the Trump administration had been talking about the so-called the peace Accords between Israel and the Arab regimes.

[03:09:55]

These are geostrategic maneuverings, geostrategic superficial relations between authoritarian Arab regimes and an Israeli state that occupies Palestinian lands. To be able to have Israel be integrated into the social fabric of the Middle East you need to basically reconcile Israel with the Palestinians.

On this particular question this is not rocket science, by the way. I'm not making any political statements here. This is really 101. The Biden administration does not want to invest any political capital in really pressuring the Israeli leaders to stop building settlements, to increase the costs of Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, and also to help the Palestinians basically, bridge the divide between Hamas, the Hamas group in Gaza and the Palestinian authority in Ramallah. The Biden administration has led them --

(CROSSTALK) BRUNHUBER: Let me -- let me just jump in because we -- we don't have much time, but you said you, you know, he -- Biden is not willing to invest the political capital. I mean, at least, you know, small steps. Maybe he is investing actual capital with this major aid package for Palestinians for things like, hospitals, food security, and so on.

So, how big is that sort of, not just concretely, but also symbolically the fact that he's resuming aid that President Trump had cancelled.

GERGES: To give you an idea what we're talking about. President Biden has offered Israel $4 billion a year. He boasts about the Palestinians are getting 100 million for the hospitals, starved, I mean, broken hospitals and 200 million for the United Nations for their refugees.

What you need is a martial plan for the Palestinians similar to that of the Ukraine. Think of how the western states have responded to the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. You're talking about a martial plan in the aftermath in the day for the morning after, nothing for the Palestinians.

What happens? What happens to western values? Why is the Russian invasion occupation of the Ukrainian lands is illegal and horrible, and which is, is. And why the United States and the international community are doing hardly anything about ending the Palestinian -- the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and creating a martial plan for the Palestinians and integrating, integrating Israel into the social fabric of the region. This is the only way. The rest is also is just a gimmick.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Well, listen, I really appreciate your insights into the region. Fawaz Gerges in London, thank you so much.

All right. We want to take you to a courtroom near Moscow where Brittney Griner's trial will resume shortly. And she has just arrived for the proceedings. Thursday's hearing ended without a verdict. The American basketball star pleaded guilty to drug charges last week.

Russian authorities accused Griner of smuggling significant amounts of a narcotic substance while the U.S. State Department says she's being wrongfully detain. A two-time us Olympic basketball, gold medalist was arrested back in February at the Moscow airport a week before Russia invaded Ukraine. Russian authorities say she had cannabis oil in her luggage.

Griner faces up to 10 years in prison. So, we will have more on this in a live report from London in just a few minutes.

Now to Colombo and celebrations over the president's official resignation. Protestors partying in the streets say the ousting of the president represents a victory over government mismanagement and corruption.

And the president resigned via e-mail on Thursday after fleeing to Singapore. But until a few hours ago, it wasn't entirely clear if or when the resignation would be approved. Now speaker of the Sri Lankan parliament says he's summoned lawmakers to meet on Saturday to start the process of picking a new president. Now no date has yet been set for the vote.

The prime minister is currently serving as interim leader, but under the Constitution, he can only hold the office for a maximum of 30 days.

CNN's Kyung Lah is covering this live from Tokyo. So, the president has fled, now officially resigned. What's been the reaction so far.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the reaction on the streets, they have been celebrations. It has certainly come as welcome news to the protestors who took to the streets and took over the presidential palace as well as the PM's office originally over this past weekend and into mid-week out of their rage that they feel that the government has led to the economic hardship of the country due to mismanagement.

So, there is certainly jubilation in the streets right now. So, as far as where the political process stands, we are just getting word that the -- the prime minister who was the acting president has now officially been sworn in as the acting president.

[03:14:59]

And then as you mentioned, Kim, next week there will be the next phase of the political process of parliament choosing the new president. So, we have an acting president right now, the gentleman who was the prime minister, he is officially in charge for just a few days. And parliament will then select a new president.

The immediate job at hand at whoever becomes the new president will be to look at the economic issues because that's what this is all about. All these people who you're seeing celebrating on the streets are hoping for some relief. The country has been struggling for the last few months with global economic pressures from inflation, from shortages, from fuel due to the war in Ukraine and rising prices.

So that has led to food shortages, fuel shortages, medicine shortages. And so what these people want in Sri Lanka right now is some economic relief. They are hoping they get that with the government because they are desperate to get that relief, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. A long, long road ahead. Kyung Lah, thank you so much.

Well, analysts anticipated that China's second quarter gross domestic product would be weak while the numbers are in the worse than expected. China's economy grow -- grew only four-tenths of 1 percent in the second quarter of this year, compared with the year before, that's lower than projections and significantly less than 4.8 percent GDP reported in the first quarter.

Now the news rattled some of the Asian markets. Here's a look at how they're doing right now. Last hour, I spoke with Frederic Neumann in Hong Kong. He's HSBC's chief Asia economist and co-head of the global research in the Asia Pacific region. And I asked him to put China's second quarters GDP numbers into context for us. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREDERIC NEUMANN, CHIEF ASIA ECONOMIST, HSBC: Well, China rarely sees a contraction in GDP quarter on quarter. It's a very rare event. And of course, that was driven by some of these virus restrictions that were imposed in many cities at the beginning of the second quarter.

So, this is a big setback for the Chinese economy, but what could also argue it's temporary in the sense that many of these restrictions have now eased and gradually we're seeing economic growth recover, but it will probably take a bit of help from the government more stimulus to really rev up the engine again, because China is nowhere close to its pre pandemic pace of economic growth at the moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The COVID-19 outbreak, as well as a banking scandal have created a perfect storm for China's economy.

CNN's Selina Wang explains.

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SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're all struggling to find work. These are migrant workers in Beijing. They congregate in labor markets like this, waiting day and night for a job. This man tells me he lost his job because his factory shut down during the pandemic. He's saying that it's harder to find work. The pay isn't good. He's been here for four days, waiting 16 hours every day in the heat for a job, and still hasn't found one. "It's probably because of the pandemic," he says.

China's zero COVID policy has inflicted devastating economic pain, grinding entire cities to a halt for months shutting down communities over a single COVID case. And this is the result.

This was one of Beijing's most popular bar and restaurant areas packed with people. Now, so many businesses are empty or have permanently closed down. They're unable to survive these on and off lockdowns with no end in sight.

Unemployment is soaring, people aren't earning as much so they aren't spending as much, but even saving has become a risky bet. Since April, Brian hasn't been able to access several million renminbi that he deposited in a small bank in Hun (Ph) in China.

We are referring to him only as Brian due to fears for his safety.

Was that your life's saving?

BRIAN, BANKING SCANDAL VICTIM: Yes, for sure. I worked almost 10 years and that's all I have with my family. I'm losing my weight. I'm losing my, you know, my mind.

WANG: He is one of hundreds of thousands of depositors according to state media across China currently fighting to recover their savings from several banks in rural central China. Many of them, including Brian, travel to Hun and for answers.

In June, he says they protested outside the local government building for five days straight. Brian traveled back to Hunan in July joining a large-scale peaceful protest. But police violently quashed the protestors.

[03:19:58]

Videos show security officers dragging protestors down the stairs, beating anyone who resisted including women and the elderly, according to witnesses, leaving some of them injured, bloodied and bruised.

A day after the violent protests local authorities promised to start giving small payments to some depositors, but it's unclear how many people are eligible and how much they'll pay back.

Are you worried that without this money you can't afford a comfortable life for your family?

BRIAN: Definitely. All my savings is gone and I had just -- I just had my little baby. I have nothing for the family now.

WANG: They cry and wail, exhausted. There's nothing these depositors can do. Authorities say they're investigating the cases but experts worry this is just the tip of the iceberg.

MICHAEL PETTIS, PROFESSOR OF FINANCE, PEKING UNIVERSITY: I would be really surprised if you didn't see this spread in a lot of different provinces, the country has enormous debt problems and very slow growth. This is the worst shape the economy has been in probably since about 30, 40 years ago.

WANG: For Brian, his vision of China is already shattered.

BRIAN: All of a sudden one day, you know, all you earned is gone, then you'll feel that why, why do you still fight for it? Fight for the future.

WANG: He's hoping to one day leave and raise his child far away from China.

Selina Wang, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: American basketball star Brittney Griner's fate could be decided in a Russian court today. We'll have the latest on her trial as we await a verdict, coming up. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: American basketball star Brittney Griner is back in a Russian court today after Thursday's hearing ended without a verdict. Russian authorities accused Griner of smuggling significant amounts of a narcotic substance. While the U.S. State Department says she's being wrongfully detained.

Joining us now is CNN's Nina dos Santos. So, Nina, what are we expecting here today?

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're expecting is that her legal team is going to be putting forward written submissions after we had oral submissions yesterday. So, this is the defense putting forward its case even though on the 7th of July she already plead guilty to transporting this substance into Russia, saying that she didn't intend to, but she essentially packed in a rush and it was in her suitcase.

She's been accused of transporting a banned substance cannabis oil into Russia. And it was apparently discovered in her luggage in Sheremetyevo airport outside of Moscow early in February. And she was arrested on February the 17th.

Now what's interesting about what happens in these court proceedings in Russia is that she has actually already pled guilty to this charge, but what essentially her defense team is doing over the next couple of days is putting forward submissions to try and mitigate the sentence.

[03:25:03]

She could be facing, Kim, up to 10 years in jail. It's thought that she might have pled guilty to this charge to try and expedite proceedings. You remember that back on the 4th of July she wrote a letter to the U.S. President Joe Biden, imploring him not to forget her as saying that she was terrified she could be behind bars for quite some time. And she was devastated at the impact this was having on her wife and the rest of her family as well.

She also implored him not to forget other Americans who are believe to be wrongly detained in Russian jails as well. And this is prompted yet more speculation that essentially once this trial is over, we could be dealing with a prisoner swab. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: All right, we'll be following this story throughout the day. Nina dos Santos, thanks so much.

And President Biden will soon wrap up his trip to Israel in the West Bank ahead of his trip to Saudi Arabia. Before he leaves, the president is expected to visit a Palestinian hospital in east Jerusalem. That's just ahead.

Plus, the brutality of war leaving emotional scars on many Ukrainians, as we've seen more attacks overnight mental health experts are seeing signs of problems, they fear lonely get worse. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Right now, U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit a Palestinian hospital in east Jerusalem. There he is expected to announce that he'll ask Congress to provide up to $100 million to the east Jerusalem hospital network, the funding that was cut off during the Trump administration. From there, the president travels to the West Bank to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Well, in Ukraine, we're getting updated information about a barrage of explosions that rattled the city of Mykolaiv. Its mayor says 10 strikes targeted the city overnight destroying multiple buildings including this hotel. Two universities in the city were also hit. Now those explosions in Mykolaiv follow Thursday's horrific missile strike on the city of Vinnytsia.

Now, this surveillance video shows the moment Russian missiles hit the city killing at least 23 people. And you can see people ducking for cover there as the blast blows out the windows in its building. More than 60 people were injured. And rescuers are still digging through the rubble of collapsed buildings looking for more than 40 others who are still missing.

President Zelenskyy later said Russia has done what no other state would. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): This day has once again proven that Russia must be officially recognized as a terrorist state, no other state in the world poses such a terrorist threat as Russia.

[03:30:06]

No other state in the world allows itself to daily destroy peaceful cities and ordinary human life with cruise missiles and rocket artillery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: People who survive attacks like that one often walk away with invisible scars. Experts say going through something like that can damage people's mental health for a long time to come. And some medical professionals are seeing red flags among many Ukrainians who deal with war on a daily basis. And they say these problems won't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAMILO GARCIA, MENTAL HEALTH EXPERT, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: Right now, especially in the east we are still seeing acute faces of stress. We are expecting if we don't act that those symptoms evolve too worse, or get worsen. They can evolve to anxiety disorders, depression disorders, and we will definitely see some PTSD as time -- time pass by.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Doctors also say they've seen a spike in heart attacks. Adding the stress of war can make physical chronic conditions worse, but even when help is available, that doesn't mean people will necessarily use it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARCIA: We don't only deal with stigma about, I'm not crazy, so I'm not going to a psychologist, but also lack of knowledge. So they said like, are you going to end this or are you going to end the war or are you going to give my house back? No. So what should I work with you for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: All right, we'll be right back with more news. Please do stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Well, a moment ago we were talking about the invisible scars, the mental stress brought on by the war in Ukraine. So, for more on that, we're joined now by Andriy Kozinchuk, military psychologist and a volunteer in Ukraine's armed forces. And he's speaking to us from Mykolaiv, the city rocked by explosions overnight.

Thanks so much for joining us.

So, so first, just the latest from Mykolaiv where you are, where as I said there's been this barrage of explosions. What more can you tell us about the situation there?

ANDRIY KOZINCHUK, UKRAINIAN MILITARY PSYCHOLOGIST: Hello. Glory to Ukraine. This morning it was missile's attack. I don't know what exactly what was missile, but somebody said that from submarine Russian submarine, it was attacked to universities and two civil buildings. So not military.

I don't know about injuries now because we're just trying to understand what was that at? And it was at early morning at 8.30 a.m. So people was at the streets and it was little, but it's every day, it at this region every day Russian attack us by rockets.

[03:35:02]

BRUNHUBER: Yes. I want to talk about the strain caused by that constant bombardment. I mean, you were you a military psychologist first, then you became a regular civilian psychologist. Now you must be sort of -- sort of somewhere in between as you help both soldiers and civilians deal with this brutal psychological effect of this war.

So, when Ukrainians see what's happening in places like Vinnystsia, when those and other atrocities are happening across the country, what toll is this taking on people there?

KOZINCHUK: You know, at mostly I work with military guys because I am military. So, I don't in -- Vinnytsia about this is horrible thing. But Vinnytsia is not at the border, not on the frontline it's full civil city. And I can understand what's the mission of Russian, what they wanted to do.

So civil people really scare at all cities in Ukraine because we all -- all of us would say we not in safety in all territory of Ukraine. So, every city, every town and village could be occupied by Russian rockets. And this is no good. Because if we, military, we have guns, a lot of guns, but civil people have to live in peaceful life. And it's not good.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. I mean, as you say, you don't -- you don't have to be a soldier on the front lines or even a civilian who's under direct bombardment to be affected by this all. Aside from the understandable fear that people are feeling, the insecurity that you just talked about, there must be a lot of anger as well.

KOZINCHUK: Yes. You know, Ukraine not just fear, but we -- and this is emotions and this is reaction for not that -- that we are not in safety, that we -- when you are in dangerous, you have to be -- you have to reaction to fight and to go out to running.

BRUNHUBER: To fight or flight. Yes.

KOZINCHUK: Ukrainian they hear reaction angry. We wanted to fight and in peaceful cities too. So, what we -- how we can fight. Soldiers and officers, they are fighting by gun. And our civil people their own volunteers. So, they are trying to support the military people and give some results for them. And this is a lot of stuff for guns, for uniform and so on.

So yes, if you ask every peaceful citizen of Ukraine what do you think about Russia? They always will be angry. We're out angry and want to have a Russian blood.

BRUNHUBER: What happens if people don't find a way to cope with that anger?

KOZINCHUK: You know, this destroys human inside. Because emotion, this like energy, you know, and you have to go out this energy to something acting, something acts. But if you don't do nothing and you can share with people is destroyed yourself by some, you know, depression or maybe a lot of -- think on your skin. So, this is a psycho physiology -- physiological injures. So, you have to go out your emotion. Don't -- we are always trying to say people, please don't stay inside you. Talk about it. Act. Do something about.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. Listen, we will have to leave it there. But I really appreciate your insights. And also, be safe there in that city. That's just seen so many bombardments in Mykolaiv, Andriy Kozinchuk.

KOZINCHUK: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: I really appreciate it.

Global COVID-19 cases are up for the fifth straight week according to the World Health Organization. It reported a 6 percent increase from July 4th through the 10th compared to the week before. Omicron remains the dominant variant around the world. The WHO says it accounts for 84 percent of all sequences reported in the past 30 days of cases of the BA.4 and BA.5 variants increasing. And COVID isn't the only virus that's concerning health experts. More cases of monkeypox are being confirmed around the globe with Saudi Arabia reporting its first case on Thursday. Its health ministry says it was discovered in a prison returning from the outside of the kingdom.

And London Mayor Sadiq Khan says he's concerned about the spread of the virus in the British capital. He's appealing for the government to urgently tackle its spread.

[03:39:57]

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control there are more than 11,000 confirmed monkeypox cases in 65 countries. And monkey -- monkeypox cases are also going up here in the U.S. and so is the demand for the vaccine, but U.S. health officials say the supply isn't meeting that demand.

CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanja Gupta tells us why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHIAS FORD, RECOVERED MONKEYPOX PATIENT: It started off with just a few lesions. I got intense flulike symptoms. So as the flu symptoms abated the lesions will a, more of them start to appear, and b, they became at worst excruciatingly painful and at best mildly irritating.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Knowing exactly what it feels like to have monkeypox, Matt Ford has taken to social media to now warn people about the virus.

FORD: This (muted) sucks and you don't want it. I've got these on my arms.

GUPTA: But now his frustration is that even as awareness grows, those who need it might have a hard time finding a vaccine.

FORD: The supply is so low, but there's not that much to go around.

GUPTA: Since May the number of cases in the United States has continued to grow quickly, but the two-dose JYNNEOS monkeypox vaccine has been rolling out slowly.

DAVID HOLLAND, CHIEF CLINICAL OFFICER, FULTON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH: We got an allotment of 200 vaccines and the appointments for that went in about an hour and a half.

GUPTA: New York City Mayor Eric Adams has reached out to the White House to underscore his state's unmet demand. The two doses are usually given four weeks apart, but Mayor Adams wants the White House to consider a longer interval in between the doses so more first doses could be administered immediately.

Right now, the CDC recommends the vaccine for high-risk individuals, people who have been diagnosed with or exposed to monkeypox and people who are at higher risk of being exposed to monkeypox. That means not for the general population's prevention.

CARLOS DEL RIO, PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AND GLOBAL HEALTH, EMORY UNIVERSITY: The problem is we simply don't have enough vaccine. So we we're trying to play catch up. We need to get vaccination to people because we know that it, you know, vaccinating people may not necessarily prevent the infection, but it will certainly decrease the severity of disease.

GUPTA: The CDC estimates this vaccine is at least 85 percent effective, giving it within four days of exposure is best to prevent the onset of disease. And even if given within 14 days of exposure, it may still reduce the symptoms.

So, I'm looking at something that I've never seen before as a doctor. I want to introduce you to Koy (Ph). She's 22 years old. And what she has is an active case of monkeypox. But this is not necessarily what monkeypox always looks like.

For Matt Ford, the lesions started smaller and not as obvious.

FORD: I maybe would've suspected that they were like the herpes simplex virus or some other skin condition.

GUPTA: Right now, public health officials are sounding the loudest alarms in the LGBTQ community. That's due to most cases being reported in men who have sex with men. But experts warned the outbreak could still expand.

DEL RIO: It's a very reminiscent of the early days of HIV, right? In which it was impacting, you know, man have sex with a man, the gay community in the United States. And it's almost like the general public were not paying attention. And then HIV became a disease that affected other people. It affected everybody. And then all of a sudden, people got interested.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN report.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: All right. Thanks so much for watching. I'm Kim Brunhuber. We'll have more CNN Newsroom in about 15 minutes. African Voices Changemakers is next.

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