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China Grapples With Surge In COVID-19 Cases; Aid Groups Suspend Afghanistan Operations After Ban On Women Working For NGOs; Zelenskyy Warns Of Another Wave Of Russian Strikes Before New Year; Migrants In Danger As Freezing Weather Poised To Sweep U.S.; Parkour Athletes Switch Off Paris Lights One By One. Aired 1-1:30a ET

Aired December 26, 2022 - 01:00   ET

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

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LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to all of our viewers watching from around the world. I'm Laila Harrak. Ahead on CNN Newsroom, China stops publishing daily COVID data even as new infections explode amid rolled back restrictions.

Plus, a deepening crisis in Afghanistan as several foreign aid groups suspend work in the country following the Taliban's ban on female employees.

And the holiday season offering no break from Russia's relentless attacks on Ukraine, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns of dark and difficult days ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with Laila Harrak.

HARRAK: We begin China, where officials have ended daily reports of new COVID cases as the country struggles with a huge surge infections. The National Health Commission says the responsibility of reporting cases now falls to China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, but it's unclear how often they'll publish new numbers.

Infections have skyrocketed since the dramatic reversal of Beijing's strict zero-COVID policy. In an eastern province near Shanghai, officials are reporting more than 1 million new cases a day, and they expect that number to double in the coming days.

Let's get you more now with the CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joining me from Hong Kong with more. Kristie, as China experiences this surge in COVID-19 cases, its top health body has now stopped posting daily case numbers. Why?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The timing is really puzzling, you know, why is this announcement taking place at this moment? You know, this is what's happening now is cases are surging across the country. The top health authority in China, the National Health Commission has stopped publishing daily COVID-19 case counts. On Sunday announced that all relevant outbreak information would be handled by department it manages, the CDC. Now, China's CDC has so far published data on Sunday and on Monday. It's unclear if this will continue to be a daily update from that organization, but concern is certainly rising over what is the true scope and scale of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. We know that official figures are unreliable, especially now, given the fact that China is conducting less testing as before edited winds from years of its zero-COVID policy.

And we are still getting some interesting data points coming in from various provinces and cities in China, for example, Zhejiang Province, that this is a province just south of Shanghai. It's home to about 64 million people. Authorities there saying that they are experiencing 1 million new cases of COVID-19 every day.

And according to CNN's calculations, that breaks down to roughly 1,563 new daily infections per 100,000 people. Authorities there also add that they expect the peak to arrive sometime around New Year's Day, that's next weekend of about 2 million new cases of COVID-19.

We're also monitoring the situation in Qingdao. This is a major port city located in the northern Shandong province. This is a city. It's home to 9 million people. Qingdao is reporting, according to health officials, there about half a million new COVID cases a day. And you also have the situation that. we're following in Dongguan, which is a major economic manufacturing powerhouse in the south, home to 10 million people. It is reporting, according to the health officials, there 250,000 to 350,000 new cases of COVID-19 each and every day.

And I want to show you this statement from a health official there in Dongguan, just signaling an increasingly dire situation there, saying this, quote, the peak of COVID infection is approaching. Infection numbers are increasing at an accelerating rate in Dongguan. Our health system and health workers are facing an unprecedented challenge and immense pressure, unquote.

And Laila, despite the surge of cases in Dongguan, Zhejiang and Qingdao and across the country, China reported zero COVID related deaths in the six days leading up to Sunday. This according to China's CDC. Back to you.

HARRAK: Kristie Lu Stout reporting. Thank you so much for your continued coverage.

LU STOUT: Thank you.

HARRAK: Multiple countries are condemning the Taliban's decision to ban female employees of aid organizations from working for major international aid agencies have announced they are temporarily suspending operations in Afghanistan. A senior official for Save the Children says female staff are crucial for getting assistance to children and other women.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DAVID WRIGHT, SAVE THE CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL: To have access to women and children, you need to have female health staff. And so if you don't have female health staff, you won't have access to those people.

So essentially, it's just not possible for us to do our job if we, our female colleagues are not able to get out there. It really is a grave situation, and particularly when it comes to the stabilization centers. But, of course, as I say, we're in the middle of winter. There's cases of pneumonia that need treating. So ultimately, this is not resolved. Within a week or so, children are going to start dying as a result of this decision.

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HARRAK: Well, meanwhile, the Red Cross and the European Union say the move will severely restrict the delivery of aid, and the EU is urging the Taliban to reverse its decision. Qatar also expressed deep concern over the bat. However, in a tweet, a Taliban spokesperson lashed out at a U.S. official asking her not to, quote, interfere in Afghanistan's internal issues.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is warning difficult days may lie ahead before the end of the year, even as Ukrainians across the country gather to pray for peace and mark the Christmas holiday.

Inside a Kyiv metro station, the sounds of resilience as Ukrainians break out in song during an air raid alarm. Residents say the songs helped lift their spirits. All to the south in Kherson, some Ukrainians marked Christmas in church just a day after a deadly wave of Russian strikes targeted the city. And even on Christmas Day, the sounds of shelling could be heard in Bakhmut, a frontline city that's been the scene of fierce fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces.

Mr. Zelenskyy issued this warning ahead of the new year.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Only a few days of this year left. You must be aware that our enemy will try to make this time dark and difficult for us. Russia has lost everything it could this year, but it is trying to compensate for its losses with the gloating of its propagandas after the missile strikes on our country, on our energy sector. I know that darkness will not prevent us from bringing the invaders to their new defeats, but we must be ready for any scenario.

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HARRAK: Meantime, in Russia, state media, quoting the Defense Ministry is reporting that three Russian servicemen were killed when a Ukrainian drone was shot down as it approached a military airfield in western Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin says he's now ready to negotiate over the war in Ukraine. That's according to an interview with state TV. Mr. Putin says he's ready to talk with everyone involved about acceptable solutions, but claims Ukraine is refusing to negotiate. Ukraine says it's actually Russia who doesn't want to negotiate. In a tweet, the Ukrainian presidential adviser said, quote, Putin needs to come back to reality, and that it's Russia who's trying to avoid responsibility.

While Russia's invasion of Ukraine tensions with China and climate change. Nic Robertson has a preview of what to expect in global diplomacy in the New Year.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voiceover): This year's war in Ukraine, the biggest land war in Europe since 1945 is both a symptom of diplomacy limits and a harbinger of potential decay to come. Russian President Vladimir Putin's unprovoked aggression is yet to be tamed by sanction or reason despite diplomatic outreach.

OLAF SCHOLZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): I believe it's right to have constant discussions. There must be a moment where Russia realizes that it needs to get out of this situation.

ROBERTSON: China's Xi Jinping, whose increasingly bellicose diplomacy defying claims to Taiwan, is watching Ukraine learning possible international limits on his own potential land grab. Scholz, who is picking up his predecessor Angler Merkel's peacemaking mantle, used his recent visit to Beijing to try to shut down Russia's war and head off one over Taiwan.

SCHOLZ: It is important for China to use its influence on Russia. It is about principles of sovereignty and territory and integrity.

ROBERTSON: 2022 has tested diplomacy more than any other year in decades. On the upside, democracies have risen to the challenge diplomatic unity in the face of Russian aggression.

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): As war returns to European soil, we need to become brothers in arms once more.

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ROBERTSON: On the downside, it's shown diplomatic words alone won't work. They need to be backed by military muscle.

JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: What happens at the negotiating table depends on what happens on the battlefield. Therefore, the best way to increase the chances for a peaceful solution is to support Ukraine. We will not back down.

ROBERTSON: The past year is setting the stage for diplomatic storms to come.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We will defend ourselves with all available means at our disposal.

ROBERTSON: Putin continues to tease the threat of a nuclear strike, potentially taking diplomacy in 2023 to its limits.

FERNANDO ARIAS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, ORG. FOR PROHIBITION OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS: It has exacerbated existing tensions to a point where unity of the international community cannot be presumed.

ROBERTSON: Add to this the increasing tensions with China, and 2023 is shaping up to be an even greater challenge than 2022.

RISHI SUNAK, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We recognize China poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests, a challenge that grows more acute as it moves towards even greater authoritarianism.

ROBERTSON: Paradoxically, another growing challenge, climate change perhaps offers a way out of the downward diplomatic spiral and need to combat global warming together.

JOHN KERRY, U.S. CLIMATE ENVOY: Working very closely without China, even if the U.S. is as, we are, moving towards a 1.5 degree program, which we are if we don't have China, nobody else can make to that goal.

ROBERTSON: As with previous years, 2023 will offer opportunity to develop diplomatic off ramps, perhaps none more poignant than the G7, to be hosted by Japan in Hiroshima. There'll be another climate summit too. As this year's COP27 in Egypt showed, during global economic hardship, domestic politics, Trump collective salvation.

The G20 in India could be a place where compromises are made. The war in Ukraine would be in its 19th month, and by then, battlefield realities hard to ignore despite Putin's new threats of a long war.

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: This will end, and it will end almost certainly with diplomacy, with the negotiation. What I think we have to see is a just and durable peace, not a phony piece.

ROBERTSON: So the big diplomatic question for 2023 how to get Putin to agree. The answer may lie in the soaring food and energy costs triggered by the war. If the global situation worsens, collective pressure for some kind of peace will increase. The test of 2023 what to do if Putin ignores the warnings? Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

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HARRAK: It was not a merry Christmas for migrant families living on the streets of a Texas border town in freezing temperatures. Some were pleasantly surprised by a visit from Santa Claus. We'll have a report from El Paso, Texas, in just a few moments.

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HARRAK: Millions of Americans could soon get relief as the Arctic blast that pummeled most of the U.S. in the days before Christmas slowly starts to weaken. The winter storm brought heavy snow, bitterly cold winds, and frigid temperatures to central and northeastern states. At least 37 people have died as a result of the storm, and about 98,000 homes and businesses are still without power.

More than 55 million people are still under wind chill alerts, and freeze warnings are in effect across the south.

The National Weather Service says Buffalo, New York, caught the brunt of the storm, getting more than a meter of snowfall over the weekend. New York's governor asked the federal government on Sunday for an emergency disaster declaration to help the state cover the costs of what she called a once in a lifetime storm. Here's the governor talking about the impact of the extreme weather in Buffalo.

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KATHY HOCHUL, NEW YORK GOVERNOR: For a city with the reputation for epic snowstorms, this is the worst of the worst. And there are many reasons we'll analyze the impact of climate change, but what we're seeing is extreme weather getting even, extremer flooding from Lake Erie, the frost, and the freeze that came down so quickly.

The amount of snow literally five weeks ago, we had at least a four or five day event, but we had record amount of snow, the most amount of snow ever to fall in the state of New York in a 24 hours period had hit one month ago.

Seems like every month we're having to break a new record. So, it is extreme, it is dangerous and deadly. We have hundreds of National Guards, men and women ready to come in. We have 200 on the ground now. I need several hundred more. They get stuck themselves. We've had to have rescues for the National Guard and our ambulances and our fire trucks and our state police.

They also fall prey to the zero visibility, the blowing snow drifts, and it's dangerous for anyone to be on the road. So we've overcome a great deal. We've had hundreds of rescues of people from vehicles. And also the other crisis is not just what's happening on the roads, but the power is out, and that has caused pipes to break.

My own home in Buffalo, in a condo, is flooded right now with broken pipes. So this is happening all over. But we have people that have not had power since Friday and we deployed usually 5,000. We had 7,000 utility crews ready to restore the power, but it has been impossible to get to many of the substations. But even when we get to the substations to be able to turn on the power, we find that there's now been structural damage and it's frozen. So those are the biggest challenges.

What's happening on still treacherous roads, trying to clear them, get two people in vehicles that are stranded. We've recovered many of them, but also what's happening inside the homes. We have vulnerable senior citizens. We are trying desperately to get to warmer places.

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HARRAK: While the storm has also caused travel nightmares on the roads, on trains and in the air, more than 3,000 flights were canceled across the U.S. on Sunday and there were almost 6,800 flight delays according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.com. The airport in hard hit Buffalo is expected to remain closed until Tuesday morning and there were also numerous disruptions in Amtrak train and Greyhound bus services.

The world's busiest airport for passengers in Atlanta had the most cancellations and delays. Listen to what one traveler went through to get to his destination.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our story is that were supposed to leave today from DC to go back to Las Vegas via Atlanta, but we found out about 6:00 p.m. last night that our flight was canceled, receiving no indication that it was canceled. We just had to look online and see that it was so we had to make a decision. Well, there was no flights available for the next several days from DC. So we took the initial and rented a car and drove 12 hours, including stop to get here to Atlanta to reach our connecting flight.

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HARRAK: Well, the Arctic blast has made things even more dangerous for migrants entering the U.S. from the southern border. The Department of Homeland Security has been warning migrants against traveling from Mexico during the winter storm.

Many are now sleeping on the streets in El Paso, Texas, and they see the freezing temperatures have been difficult. But they say being away from their families during Christmas has been especially hard. So when Santa Claus visited a migrant shelter recently, parents and children were excited to greet him. CNN's Camila Bernal has the story.

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CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Despite very difficult circumstances, a lot of happy children, thanks to the generosity of the people of El Paso, Santa Claus came to this shelter where the migrants are sleeping and spending the night, and many other locals bringing toys, bringing gifts for so many of the children that are here with their parents.

I spoke to one mother who told me this present would have been completely impossible in my native Venezuela. And this is inexpensive gifts that are making these children and these families really grateful on Christmas Day.

Look, a lot of the people here cannot go to the city run shelters. The city of El Paso has opened the convention center, but only about 300 people are sleeping there, because in order to go to that location, you need to have the proper documentation. So the only option they have is a nonprofit shelter like this one run by Sacred Heart Church in El Paso.

But they are completely at capacity. Their capacity is for about 130 people. They're sleeping about 200 of them every day when the temperature is about 20 degrees. But the problem is, because they don't fit, a lot of these migrants have to sleep outside. That's why you're seeing so many blankets. That's why you're seeing them one next to the other, because they're always trying to keep warm.

So many of them telling me, I don't necessarily want to be here, but it is the necessity from our country that have forced us to come here. I talked to one father who told me that he saw Santa Claus here and he took a picture with him, sent it to his seven year old son in Venezuela, and told him, look, Santa is in the US. So the bike that he so desperately wants is going to be delayed because Santa is still here in the US.

He says that when he finds a job here in the U.S., he will be able to send his son's back bike. Camila Bernal, CNN, El Paso, Texas.

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HARRAK: Still ahead. Scaling walls, climbing buildings, and jumping over obstacles. Athletes in Paris are going to extremes, all in the name of energy conservation. Will show you how they do it. Next.

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HARRAK: It's not just Superman who can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Parkour athletes in Paris climb walls and jump over staircases to keep businesses from wasting energy. The goal to save electricity across the City of Light during an unprecedented energy crisis seen. CNN's Saskya Vandoorne reports.

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SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER (voiceover): Once a month, Kevin Ha and his friends take small steps to save energy in France through the unusual sport of Parkour.

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By day, you'll find them jumping, running, climbing and somersaulting over obstacles across Paris. So that by night using the wall run technique, they turn off outdoor lights that have been left on.

KEVIN HA, PARKOUR ATHLETE: Singles lights turned on all the night is such an absurdity in a world with limited resources. So the best way to save energy is actually to consume less.

VANDOORNE: The lights off movement started about two years ago went viral and has been spreading beyond Paris to cities including Marseille, Rennes, Dijon and Tours. The group can get through 60 lights a night. They say they're just enforcing a long forgotten law that stores should turn off window displays between 1:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. or face a fine of up to $1,600.

HA: But the real question is what we can leave for the next generations. We can just send a larger message and tell them to be careful. We need everyone to take part of the movement in order to have a real impact.

VANDOORNE: Their actions have also caught the public's imagination, because of Europe's energy crisis, with the French government, asking households and businesses to make real changes this winter.

MACRON: (through translator): Don't be afraid of the times we live in. They are tough. I don't know what will happen in the next few weeks. So we have to be prepared for anything. But we are a strong nation and we are here. But it is in this moment that the most daring win.

VANDOORNE: Across Europe, Christmas lights will be dimmed this year to send a message of energy conservation and solidarity with the people already feeling the pinch of high utility bills and inflation.

VANDOORNE (on camera): What people think of Christmas lights in Paris, they picture, but this year in a bid to save electricity, the lights wrapped around 400 trees will be switched off two hours early.

DAN LERT, DEPUTY MAYOR OF PARIS (through translator): Our goal is to reduce energy consumption by 10 percent this winter, and we're going to take several measures to achieve that. We're going to lower the temperature in our schools, our municipal facilities, our gymnasiums and our colleges by one degree. We will also lower the temperature in our municipal swimming pools.

VANDOORNE (voice-over): Despite these energy saving measures, the threat of blackouts loom as does the prospect that even the City of Light may have to go dark. Saskya Vandoorne, CNN, Paris.

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HARRAK: Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Laila Harrak. Hidden Treasures is up next.

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