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Trump Halts Immigration to United States; Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) Speculates on Kim Jong-un's Absence from Public; Oil Prices Plunge to Historic Low; Inside a Turkish ICU; Georgia's Rush to Reopen Economy; Meetings Resume in U.K.'s Virtual Parliament; Rural England Copes with COVID-19 Fears. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired April 21, 2020 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
HALA GORANI, CNN HOST (voice-over): Hello, everybody. It is Tuesday. I'm Hala Gorani. Let's take a look at our top stories here as we continue to
cover the coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S. president Donald Trump says he will temporarily suspend immigration to the United States but the late night tweet announcement was
scant on detail. We're live at the White House.
The oil market is seeing its worst turbulence on record, we'll tell you why it collapsed into negative territory.
And some serious questions about the health of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un following recent surgery. We'll explore that story as well.
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GORANI: We start with Donald Trump's latest anti-immigration announcement and his most drastic attempt to limit or even block immigration to the
United States. The president tweeted Monday that he's going to sign an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration.
He cites the danger of the coronavirus, which he calls the invisible enemy, and the loss of American jobs. Critics immediately accused the president of
using the pandemic to advance one of his key policy planks and stoke his political base.
Joe Johns is at the White House.
Does the president have the sole authority to completely block immigration to the United States?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Very good question. And I can tell you that there is Supreme Court precedent that suggests he has the
ability to do that, at least temporarily in a crisis, certainly on health reasons.
But when you look at this really carefully, the question is whether it is for health reasons. The president's tweet last night indicating that he was
going to temporarily block immigration to the United States and it was to protect, among other things, to protect American jobs.
And as we started the reporting process here at the White House this morning, it does seem that most of this has to do with jobs.
And this is something, I have to remind you, the president of the United States ran on in 2016. It was a very solid issue for him. And it brings all
of his supporters on the Right to his side.
But as far as doing anything for the United States, there's a big question as to whether there is a health reason, also a very big question as to
whether there are a lot of people the president can keep out of the country at this stage.
We know from our reporting that it is going to affect green cards and possibly work visas. But a lot of those people have already been prohibited
from the country already on the grounds of the coronavirus crisis.
We're also told from our reporting that it might be put in place for about 120 days or so. And that depends, of course, according to the national
security adviser who was just out here on the lawn a little while ago, that depends on the virus itself.
So a lot of questions here. And you have to point out, as we did just yesterday on this very same space, Hala, that this is an election year. The
president has not gotten a lot of traction from his daily appearances in the briefings here. And it is pretty clear that he needs something to gin
up the base, if you will.
GORANI: And we'll see if that works. And he doesn't just care, he says, about jobs. He also cares about what he himself calls ratings on television
for these coronavirus briefings.
In the midst of tweeting about halting immigration, he says, I've had great ratings, he tweeted, my whole life, there is nothing unusual about that for
me. The White House news conference ratings are through the roof. Monday night football, bachelor finale. But I don't care about that, even though
he tweeted about that.
How is that being received, the fact that the president is in the midst of a pandemic, apparently very concerned with how many people are watching him
on television?
JOHNS: Well, he's done it repeatedly. This is at least the third time I can remember the president has tweeted about the ratings of these
briefings.
But the most important thing is, number one, if you look at those ratings very carefully, it is not because of the president, perhaps in spite of
him, and the bump is not that big, from what the cable news stations have already been getting during those hours.
[10:05:00]
JOHNS: So huge question as to whether the president is driving the ratings. But the other thing and the more important thing is it doesn't
seem to focus on the issue at hand.
And a lot of people have commented on the fact that the president comes to these briefings and talks ad infinitum about the economy, about jobs. And
he talks about a lot of other things than the real human cost, the real human toll.
And the reason why people in this country are so frightened by the coronavirus is because so many people have died, so many people have caught
it. And there is not a focus from the president there -- again and again we have seen, from year to year to year, with him in the White House, always
been this question of empathy from the president.
The president sympathizing with the plight of Americans and you don't get that in a tweet about the ratings.
GORANI: Thank you, Joe Johns at the White House.
Joe was talking about the human cost of all of this. It is something we keep in mind as much as possible here as we watch the pandemic. It is not
just about numbers, not just about politics, it is about the people losing their lives and those too scared to go about their daily lives because
they're scared of catching this horrendous disease.
New Jersey is one of states hardest hit. New Jersey has registered over 4,500 deaths. I'm going to bring in U.S. Congressman Andy Kim, a Democrat
from New Jersey.
Let's talk about these numbers for New Jersey, Congressman.
Why are they so high for a relatively small state?
REP. ANDY KIM (D-NJ): Well, thank you for having me. You're absolutely right. Right now we are in the middle of this forum here. We are right
there in the midst of the biggest hot spot in the entire world, which is New Jersey metro area. And New Jersey we have just well over 80,000
positive cases right now.
In New Jersey, we're a country, we would be number eight in the world now. We have a lot of people here struggling.
GORANI: Are you -- are you -- is New Jersey getting the testing kits it needs, the personal protective equipment that healthcare professionals
need?
Why are -- if not, why not?
KIM: We're not getting what we need. We are trying to scramble every -- our state and our county officials, our hospital workers, our first
responders, they're all doing incredible work trying to get what we can.
But when there is no national effort to be able to get us personal protective equipment, no national effort for testing, we're just not able
to ramp up right now.
I've been continuing to call for additional federal support on testing, on a national strategy here. Right now we have counties fighting counties for
supplies, fighting against each other. Each state is fighting against each other. It is not coordinated in the way we need.
GORANI: One of the things you wrote in an op-ed is that FEMA, the federal emergency management entity in the United States, that you requested a
federally backed testing facility.
And that you were explicitly told that the White House rejected all requests to stand up any more federally backed test sites in the country.
What is your understanding as to why the White House would be blocking these requests?
KIM: Yes, I really couldn't believe it when I heard them say not only were they rejecting my requests for a third FEMA site in South Jersey, given the
fact that our state is the second highest in the entire country, and the White House itself is saying that the Philadelphia metro area might be
next.
So not only was I concerned about that but then to just explicitly say, no more new test sites, this is the absolute wrong way for us to be able to
move forward. We know experts are saying we have to be testing and testing at much higher numbers than we have now. This is the type of --
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: What reason did they give you?
What reason did FEMA give you for this?
KIM: They said that this was a directive from the White House, that the White House said no more new federal test sites out there. We heard it from
president, that he believes that this is something for the states to handle.
I disagree. I think that is the wrong way forward. And many experts also agree that we need to dramatically increase testing and only the federal
government can really get us to where we need to, to nationalize this effort.
GORANI: We mentioned the very high death toll for New Jersey and our thoughts go out to all the people who are dealing with this and all the
people in charge of trying to come up with some sort of response.
But what is the curve looking like for New Jersey?
Is it looking like there is some sort of leveling of the numbers?
[10:10:00]
KIM: We're still seeing the positive cases increase here. What concerns me greatly is the percent of positives that we're getting is roughly around 45
percent. So 45 percent of all tests are coming back positive, which means that the infection rate is going to be much greater than what we see.
We are starting to see a little bit of a curve in terms of those that are hospitalized. And we're hoping that that shows that things are going to
hopefully turn for the better.
But we really can't take anything for granted. And if we don't have the tests in place, we're not doing the contact tracing that we need to, we're
not having that type of support, we -- I really can't see how we're going to be able to responsibly and safely start to reopen our government which -
- and our country and our economy -- which is so very important right now.
GORANI: I just have a quick question, because this is something that raised a few eyebrows. The stimulus checks are not being sent to U.S.
citizens who happen to be married to immigrants who don't have Social Security numbers.
How was that approved?
These are U.S. citizens. They're complaining. They're saying they're being left out of the stimulus program.
KIM: A lot of the implementation across the board has not gone in the way we want it to. In fact, I heard as well that people who are getting -- who
are getting benefits through Social Security that don't have to file taxes normally but have dependent children, that these are people as well that
are not getting everything they need for their relief packages.
So we have been gathering all this information from people within my district and trying to press, to make sure that people are getting the
relief that they need and deserve. The implementation, when it comes to relief, when it comes to small businesses, we're just not seeing the
implementation happening in the way that Congress intended.
GORANI: All right, Andy Kim, a U.S. House Democrat from New Jersey. Thank you for joining us and addressing our viewers around the world on this day.
A lot still of work to be done. Thank you very much.
We're going to get back to coronavirus in a moment but I want to bring you this very important international story about Kim Jong-un, the North Korean
leader.
The U.S. intelligence community is keeping a very close eye on reports that Kim Jong-un is in a grave medical condition. According to U.S. national
security adviser Robert O'Brien, who spoke to FOX News, sources tell us the intelligence reports surfaced after the North Korean leader underwent
surgery.
These are the last images, by the way, that you see on your TV, of Kim Jong-un on state media from about 10 days ago. Kim Jong-un -- and this is
also what is feeding these reports and giving them credence here.
He missed the celebration of his grandfather's birthday last Wednesday and it is North Korea's most important holiday.
Kylie Atwood is following the story from Washington and we'll get to Will Ripley as well. He is on the phone with us. He has reported from North
Korea 19 times, I'm looking at my notes, since 2014.
Kiley, let me start with you. These are U.S. intelligence reports that suggest Kim Jong-un might be in a bad state medically.
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, that's right. So sources are telling us that the U.S. intelligence community is monitoring these reports
that Kim Jong-un is in a grave health condition after undergoing a surgery as you said, off the top there.
And the basic assumption is that he is not in a good place right now in terms of his health. And we know that this is someone who has had
complications with his health care in the past.
But these are increasingly important intelligence reports that the U.S. community is following because it means that he could be closer to a place
of grave danger than he has ever been before.
Robert O'Brien, the national security adviser to President Trump, said that it was too early to begin discussing succession. What happens if, indeed,
he does pass away. He did say, however, the assumption would be that it would be a family succession.
And I have been talking to sources here in Washington, who say that the U.S. government is working on contingency planning now and thinking about
what happens next if indeed there is a situation, where there is humanitarian assistance that needs to be provided to North Korea, if indeed
there are refugees that are flowing over the North Korean border into South Korea, what happens to the North Korean weapons program.
This is a very complicated situation. It is made more complicated by the fact that the U.S. and South Korean alliance now is not standing on the
most steady ground it has ever stood on.
So there are a number of factors here that the U.S. government is working on and looking at closely.
[10:15:00]
ATWOOD: I just also want to note that, just over the weekend, President Trump said he had recently received a nice note from Kim Jong-un. But North
Korea then promptly said that they had not recently sent a note to President Trump from the supreme leader.
GORANI: OK. Interesting. Will Ripley is on the phone with me.
Will, what more are your sources telling you about what might have happened to Kim Jong-un?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Hala. Before Jim Sciutto went to air, I called two sources who are very well informed, highly placed. And they
were startled, shocked and they hadn't heard anything about it. Frankly, that's not surprising.
This kind of information, in it is accurate, if Kim Jong-un underwent a medical procedure of any kind and if it didn't go well, that would be kept
top secret, even from people in high ranks of North Korea's government, because there is only a handful of people inside North Korea at any given
time that know where Kim Jong-un even is.
His movements are closely guarded. You can imagine the secrecy surrounding his health, considering, you know, how important he is to the North Korean
system.
He's been described to me by North Koreans as the brain of the country. Cut off the brain, you don't have a country. So we're not really going to know
for certain what is going on until the North Koreans decide they want to reveal it through some sort of official announcement.
When Kim Jong-un's father, Kim jong-il, died in 2011, for two days everything in North Korea appeared normal. No indication that anything was
wrong until the announcement was made on state TV. So frankly this is going to be a waiting game and we'll probably hear a lot of conflicting reports
between now and then.
GORANI: All right. But meantime he did miss that very important national event, the birthday of the founder of North Korea.
Thanks very much, Will Ripley and Kiley Atwood, to both of you, for that reporting.
Still ahead, the coronavirus pandemic, we will get back to that top story, leading to a record collapse in oil prices. Details on the financial
fallout coming up next.
And we will take you to a busy hospital in Turkey, dealing with a spike in COVID-19 cases. Arwa Damon suits up and shows us some of the more
unconventional treatments being used there. We'll be right back.
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GORANI: Oil prices have absolutely collapsed to a historic low as the coronavirus pandemic has caused a collapse in demand for oil. Monday saw a
stunning decline, you see it there, with U.S. oil futures dropping below zero for first time ever.
The May contract, which expires today, finished trading at negative $37 a barrel. Now let's bring in John Defterios live in Abu Dhabi.
[10:20:00]
GORANI: Before we get to any predictions, John, a lot of people are wondering how it is possible for anything to have a negative price.
Could you explain that, please?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Sure. I'll see if I can put it in simple terms, that's how desperate you are if you are holding a
barrel of oil and you don't have a place to put it and it costs money to transport it.
Then you try to unload it as fast as possible. So they're actually paying people to take oil that they paid for in the past. It was like a flash
crash. At this time yesterday, this hour, oil was trading at $10 a barrel as you suggested; it finished down $37. On this May contract, it came up to
negative $4 but remains in negative territory.
Rightly so. We have this shift, Hala, to the June contracts for WTI. But it is like the COVID-19 contagious effect here; we're down about 30 percent,
Hala. Swings of 25 percent, 30 percent in the early hours of trading here.
And Brent was down to an 18-year low with a loss of 25 percent, struggling to try to get back above $20 a barrel. There is a realization that the glut
has just surged in America. We're right near an all-time high of over half a billion barrels we hit in March 2017.
And it's a similar case right now because as you suggested the coronavirus, eating demand by 30 million barrels a day and the cuts by OPEC and some of
the other players is less than 10 million barrels a day. And that doesn't go into effect until May.
So there is a huge mismatch in the market and the punishment is coming right now in the eye of the storm.
GORANI: So what is the impact on these economies that depend greatly on oil sales? The part of the world you're broadcasting from, the Gulf states,
Saudi Arabia or even Russia?
DEFTERIOS: Well, I think it is a political issue for Donald Trump because there is about 10 states that produce oil or refine it. So that's going to
be an issue whether he decides to take a decision and put on an embargo, for example, on Saudi crude.
Break even price in Saudi Arabia, we're hovering around $20 now, is $80 a barrel; $65, $70 for the UAE. They're losing money even though they're low
cost producers because the budgets are so high.
Russia has become more competitive but at a break even price of $40. So $20 does not work. There is not a winner in sight out of this. What was really
dangerous is we had a seven-week price war, between Saudi Arabia and Russia, and Donald Trump intervened to end the price war.
But it all happened too late because the demand was accelerating in its drop. And as they try to play catch-up now, as one senior trader told me
overnight, you can't fight the physical market if you have the destruction of 30 million barrels a day and that could last June and July.
Cutting 10 and hoping that the U.S. loses production to correct it is almost impossible. So this could be another eight or nine months before we
see equalization in the market and we start to see a recovery in prices perhaps even by the fourth quarter.
GORANI: OK. John Defterios, thanks very much, reporting live from Abu Dhabi.
Now Turkey is about to impose a four-day curfew to help curb the spread of COVID-19 and that four-day curfew starts on Wednesday evening. The Turkish
health ministry says more than 90,000 people in the country has been infected and that surpasses national totals in all other Middle Eastern
countries and China.
Arwa Damon joins me live now. She spent some time over the weekend in an ICU unit, in a hospital dealing with COVID patients.
What did you see, Arwa?
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hala, understandably like they are across the world, the staff are exhausted
because of what they're having to deal with.
And just how new and unknown this experience is. But they feel fairly confident at this stage. However, there are great concerns about the
measures that the country is imposing, with some saying it is not enough.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. YALIM DIKMEN, ISTANBUL UNIVERSITY CERRAHPASA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: You're in the hot zone.
So this patient (INAUDIBLE) is receiving oxygen, the (INAUDIBLE) flow of oxygen (INAUDIBLE). This patient on the other side is having high flow of
oxygen therapy. So this patient is not doing well.
DAMON (voice-over): That's Dr. Yalim Dikmen who heads the ICU in Istanbul University (INAUDIBLE) School of medicine, one of the country's busiest.
He's been an ICU doctor for three decades but nothing compares to this.
DIKMEN: So it is quite intense at the moment.
DAMON: No one really knows where this virus is going. That's got to be a little bit scary at times.
DIKMEN: Scary, intellectually challenging. But we have to do something.
[10:25:00]
DIKMEN: And we are trying to do our best. But we are having very good results actually.
DAMON (voice-over): Turkey has struck out on its own with its treatment protocols, like delaying intubation and opting for oxygen flow therapies
for longer periods of time, administering favipiravir, the Japanese antiviral, and hydroxychloroquine, the controversial malarial drug, very
early on, which many experts say can cause long-term damage that outweighs its unproven benefits.
But the team here says they're not worried about that.
DIKMEN: We are dealing with a jigsaw board puzzle and we just try to find the correct pieces and put them in correct place and we just do something
and hope for the best.
DAMON (voice-over): This patient is in his 40s with no pre-existing conditions.
DIKMEN: So the lungs sometimes get very sick and cannot get any oxygen to the blood. And then in order to keep the patient alive, you have to get
blood out of the body and oxygenate out of the body.
DAMON (voice-over): The patient's oxygenated blood is pumped back in his body.
DAMON: Everything about being here is really intense. The machines are constantly going off, wearing this protective gear and, I have to say,
these nurses, these doctors, they really have nerves of steel.
DAMON (voice-over): The staff is surprisingly upbeat. The hospital is not overwhelmed, despite daily jumps in positive cases, in the thousands
countrywide.
DIKMEN: In this area is another intensive care unit. (INAUDIBLE) we have (INAUDIBLE) spaces.
DAMON (voice-over): Unlike in some areas of the U.S. or Europe, there is no shortage in PPE, bed space or life saving medical equipment. Around 70
of the staff have tested positive for COVID-19.
An emergency room nurse was among them. This is her first day back on the job.
"To be honest, I can't say I'm not afraid. It is stressful," she tells us. "But I am more cautious now than I was before."
No matter how hard the staff here work, no matter how ready they are for an influx they hope will never happen, they can't beat this pandemic on their
own. That is on all of us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DAMON: And, Hala, the hospital staff that we were speaking to there were telling us that the next few weeks are going to be critical. They're very
well aware that right now those scenes of under control -- or an under control situation could change very quickly.
GORANI: Thank you, Arwa Damon.
Ahead on the show, several U.S. states are getting ready to lift restrictions on businesses that require very close contact between people,
like barber shops or nail salons. Georgia is one of those states. We'll be going live to Atlanta.
And lawmakers in the United Kingdom may have a virtual way of working, like many of us. We will be live in London, where a hybrid Parliament session is
taking place. We'll be right back.
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[10:30:00]
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GORANI: Well, some people in the United States are feeling anxious because they live in states where leaders are announcing that they will lift
restrictions on certain nonessential businesses this month.
The states of Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee are among them. That's despite deaths from COVID-19 in the country doubling over the past week.
The governor of Georgia, though, is confident that the time has come.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): Now I will say that, you know, we have more people moving around, we're probably going to have to see our cases continue to go
up. But we're a lot better prepared for that now than we were over a month ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Martin Savidge is near Atlanta, Georgia.
Now how was this announcement received by local authorities?
And also how do you maintain social distancing in a barber shop or a nail salon?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, those are very obvious questions that come to mind. I think a lot of people were surprised, both
those that are civic leaders as well as the general public. They already knew the governor was leaning in favor of opening up some businesses, he
had made that plain.
But no one thought it would be quite as aggressive, in other words, that so many businesses would be opening up so soon. In fact, the mayor of Atlanta
says that she was caught completely off guard, she did not have a heads-up from the governor.
And, of course, Atlanta is the largest city in the state of Georgia. But also, the mayor of Albany, Georgia, a city not people outside of the state
would know, but it is a city that has suffered tremendously under coronavirus.
The death toll, if you look at it, percentage of population, has been one of the highest it has been in Georgia across the entire country. That mayor
says it is too soon to be opening up this way, Hala.
GORANI: And when you look at the curve, I mean, for Georgia, it looks pretty much like it is still following an upward trajectory.
So how -- I mean, how is this move being justified by the governor?
SAVIDGE: And that's another thing that the mayor of Atlanta said, how do you justify it?
There are some positive indications. There have been some signs that coronavirus and the quarantine has made some progress, flattening the
curve, as they always point out. But we haven't seen two weeks of that, which is usually the bar, by which the White House has said states should
measure when they should start relaxing their business quarantines.
Let me just go over some of the businesses here that will be impacted here. You can go to the gym starting on Friday in Georgia. You can get your hair
cut, get a pedicure, have a massage, even get a tattoo and, to celebrate, you can go out bowling.
And then on Monday, you can even dine in at a restaurant and go out to see a movie.
When you ask people about this list, some people are saying here, how in the world do gyms get in there?
One man said, they're practically germ factories.
And how do you practice social distancing?
As you point out, when you're cutting somebody's hair, giving them a tattoo, it just, in some cases, the businesses don't make sense, even if in
general some people might say it is time to ease some restrictions.
GORANI: And what about if employees understandably say to their employers, I am too concerned about my health to go in and cut someone's hair in the
midst of a pandemic, can they be laid off?
Are they eligible then for benefits, how does that work?
How do employers -- I should say employees -- weather this?
SAVIDGE: Right. And we don't know the answer to that because that's going to be made on an individual business by business basis. The governor is
saying if these places want to reopen, they can. It is going to be a problem. There are going to be a lot of people, not just employees but of
course, customers as well.
In fact, some businesses have recognized that and on social media they have already said, despite what the governor is allowing, they're not going to
open up their business just yet. They deem it as unsafe both for their employees and for their customers. They're going to wait.
[10:35:00]
SAVIDGE: And, of course, many in the medical community here have been blasting the governor, saying this is the wrong message at the wrong time,
just as you're starting to make progress against coronavirus in this state.
GORANI: All right, well, we're going to be following that story and also following the statistics to see whether or not this has an impact on the
number of cases and the number of infections. Thanks very much, Martin Savidge.
While some in the U.S. are stunned by these early reopenings, this decision to lift some of the restrictions on the early side, others are quite
thrilled. Protests have popped up in several states with people demanding that the economy open up so they can get back to work.
This was the scene Monday in front of the Pennsylvania capital building. You can see there, you have men, some of them masked, others not masked, in
flatbed trucks, very well armed. Many of the gatherings organized by conservative groups and some individuals.
One poll, though, found almost two-thirds of Americans were more concerned that restrictions would be lifted too soon while only about a third worry
they won't be lifted quickly enough.
So this is a minority viewpoint, though, a very interesting kind of sort of development of that story.
Here in the U.K., medical workers are concerned about a lack of personal protective equipment in hospitals across the country. One junior doctor
says there are very significant gaps in PPE provisions. And hospital chiefs are warning that some equipment stocks are now critically low.
Parliament, meantime, is getting back to work and MPs are expected to vote on a new hybrid form of proceedings that would allow most lawmakers to
attend virtually. Clarissa Ward is standing by in central London, where the virtual Parliament sitting is underway.
Let's talk, first of all, about the shortage of personal protective equipment and all these shipments that were promised, one in particular
from Turkey, and all the delays that have kept hospitals from getting their hands on this crucial equipment.
What is going on there?
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, Hala, this is a disaster for the U.K. government. Before, they were coming under
constant fire for promising that they would be able to up to 100,000 a day the number of tests that they were carrying out for the coronavirus.
Now the emphasis had shifted back again to PPE and the shortage of PPE. This is not a problem, by any means, that is only being experienced by the
U.K. government and certainly everyone can understand that there is a very clear supply and demand issue here, with the whole world trying to get
their hands on this equipment.
But nonetheless, the U.K. is under a lot of criticism, not least from its actual health care workers, according to a study that was carried out by
the Doctors Association U.K., some 47 percent of doctors do not have access to full length sleeve gowns, which is shocking, frankly.
Now we know that there has been this sort of much promised shipment from Turkey of 400,000 gowns, long sleeve gowns, that are necessary for treating
patients with coronavirus, particularly for those who are on the front lines intubating them and putting them on ventilators.
This has been promised for days now that this shipment will be arriving. We're hearing that it should arrive today. But it was supposed to arrive on
Sunday, then it was yesterday.
We heard from one government minister today, who said, listen, we're not going to run out of PPE. But he did concede that the margins were tight.
And now as a result, you are seeing health care workers who are standing up and saying, listen, this is just -- enough is enough. We're not going to do
this job if our protection is not being taken seriously, Hala.
GORANI: Yes, we'll be speaking, by the way, a little bit later in the program to a doctor who works exclusively in a COVID ward here in the U.K.
We'll ask him that question.
How is Parliament sitting virtually?
How does that work practically?
WARD: Well, it is a brave new world, Hala. And, of course, the first order of business is that they have to approve an act to enact this hybrid
system, is what they're calling it. It is a temporary measure to make sure that Parliament is complying with social distancing because of coronavirus.
Essentially no more than 50 lawmakers would be allowed into the main chamber of the House of Commons at any one time. Another 120 lawmakers will
be able to call in or join the session via video link. This is the first time in 700 years that Parliament is functioning in this highly unorthodox
way.
[10:40:00]
WARD: But clearly everyone sees the importance of having Parliament back in session, of making sure that the government's feet are being held to the
fire, particularly with regards to the handling of the crisis.
It is a question of really trying to get it right, trying to ensure that parliamentarians can do their job without putting themselves in danger,
without putting the public at large in danger and by observing those critical social distancing rules which, of course, in the U.K. have been
extended for several more weeks at least, Hala.
GORANI: All right, our chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward, thank you very much.
We were showing our viewers live images from inside the House of Commons, certainly emptier than we're used to seeing it. As Clarissa was mentioning
there, only a certain number of people allowed, of parliamentarians allowed in at any one time.
Coming up, we'll take you to rural England to see how people are coping and giving an unexpected boost to the local economy. Life is becoming simpler,
quieter;, things are going a little bit slower. That's also an effect of COVID. We'll be right back.
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GORANI: Welcome back.
The coronavirus pandemic has changed so much about the way we live our lives. Usually we live in a fast-paced way, public transport; we end up
getting stuck in rush hour traffic. It is go, go, go every single day, morning to night.
But what COVID is doing is that it is forcing us to slow down. And in small villages around the world, including here in the United Kingdom, it is
fundamentally changing how we are relating to our neighbors and our local businesses. Here's Nic Robertson with this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning. It is 6 o'clock on Friday the 17th of April.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): England stirs from sleepless slumber.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The headlines this morning, the boss of an --
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Fretful nights pass, more fevered days ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mayor of London said he believes people should wear face masks whenever --
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Yet far from the capital, in country villages, there is a new calm.
This butcher, Lee Downer, is putting on extra deliveries.
ROBERTSON: How is it going over the last few weeks with coronavirus around?
LEE DOWNER, BUTCHER: Extremely busy. Every shop in the local.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Fishmonger Ashley Major benefiting, despite supply issues, because villages want to stay away from big towns.
ASHLEY MAJOR, FISHMONGER: We've got more people staying in the village. People aren't going into Salisbury to do a weekly shop. They're shopping
local, which is nice.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): An old resilience is re-emerging and not just to the country's fickle weather.
[10:45:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The community here is fantastic. That's made all the difference. We got lots of local farm shops and small businesses who have
been really good at getting sort of small scale supplies.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Tisbury Parish, population 2,400, has a history of getting through tough times, survived five years of the 14th century black
death pandemic and is adapting to today's.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have been doing our services over Zoom, which has been very exciting.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Something else making the difference here, too. Distance from the hot zone, London.
IAN TALBOT, TISBURY DELICATESSEN: I think we're probably quite lucky because we're living in the countryside where you don't feel you're quite
so close to people.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Psychological, not just social distancing, the new village normal.
TALBOT: I don't look at the news continuously because I think you can fill your head with a lot of negative stuff.
DOWNER: I stopped buying newspapers because it is a bit depressing otherwise.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And this is BBC Radio where it's half past 4:00, so it's time for "PM with Evan Davis."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello there, heading to the fourth weekend of lockdown --
ROBERTSON (voice-over): At the nearby hospital, where the few courageously help the many, infrequent ambulances come and go in calm-inducing silence.
Cases of COVID-19 in this southwest corner of the country, so far at least, the lowest in the nation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it's exactly 5 o'clock right now. Any moment we'll head over to Downing Street for the official daily COVID-19 briefing.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Yet, even here, no man an island, no home a castle against the virus' greedy onslaught.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 80,978 people are currently in hospital with coronavirus in the U.K. And sadly, of those hospitalized with the virus,
14,576 have now died. That is --
ROBERTSON (voice-over): In pretty, well heeled Teffont Evias, population around 260, five homes have self-isolated so far. The village rallying to
keep that number down. But now a COVID-19 closed hotel shopping for the village, saving residents' exposure to the virus.
SIMON GREENWOOD, HOWARD'S HOUSE HOTEL: Our demographic is quite old. They're all staying in. They don't want to go out. They don't want to have
to drive to the nearest village, which is at least five miles away. So we came up with the plan to do this from here.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Rural England has risen.
ROBERTSON: Another three weeks of this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that a problem?
I used to be in a submarine. So three months, 90 days underwater with 70 people is normal.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): So sets another day. The only certainty, dawn will follow. And eventually lockdown, fear and virus will be purged -- Nic
Robertson, CNN, Stonehenge, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, from the U.K., let's take you to Spain now, where one of the strictest lockdown setups has started to take a psychological toll on
people there. And, of course, as you may know as well, the death toll in Spain is one of the highest in the world. Scott McLean has that side of the
story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's not easy to take the pulse of a city with almost no one in the street. Spain is under one of the
strictest lockdowns on the earth.
People here can leave only to buy food or medicine or in some cases work. Outdoor exercise is not allowed. Social distance is mandatory and the
police could not be stricter. Shut in for five weeks, we wonder how Spaniards are coping. But to hear from them we had to extend our reach.
In central Madrid, we found people still in remarkably good spirits. And speaking of spirits --
MCLEAN: Are you going crazy?
MCLEAN (voice-over): People also told us they were doing more eating and smoking.
"And I can't stop thinking I only have eight more packs of cigarettes," she tells us.
Physical health has definitely been better. As for the mental kind, we saw professional health.
MCLEAN: Do you worry about the mental health of this country?
"Yes, a lot," she says.
"I see patients feeling agoraphobic, the fear of going out into the street, going to open air places, the fear of interacting with other people."
MCLEAN (voice-over): And not just because of the virus but because of the police and the likelihood of being questioned.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I have to go with my shopping bag very clearly at first sight. Like I'm going shopping, OK.
MCLEAN: For all the anxiety, people also found their wine glasses half full.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You kind of realize really how much time you have in a day.
MCLEAN: Their neighbors more interesting, their relationships getting stronger.
[10:50:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As we are spending more time together, more time than before, it's good for us here.
MCLEAN: -- and their waistlines wider.
"Four or five kilos," he says.
Tired and restless people are still finding time to show their appreciation and finding joy in whatever they can -- Scott McLean, CNN, Madrid.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, my next guest is a doctor here in the U.K. Dr. Asif Munaf joins me live on the phone from a COVID-19 ward in a hospital in England.
I'm showing, by the way, a picture of you after having removed your mask, where we clearly see the marks from the face mask that you have to wear
when dealing with patients who are infected with COVID-19.
What has that been like for you the last few weeks?
DR. ASIF MUNAF, NHS MEDICAL CONSULTANT: The last few weeks have been very daunting, it's been very scary for us. We do not know what we're facing.
This is an unknown quantity. (INAUDIBLE) patients at alarming rates through the hospital doors.
Patients are very unwell. They're (INAUDIBLE) lung injury (ph) they're requiring oxygen, they're requiring ventilatory support. They are often
very (INAUDIBLE) come to us because they have been self-isolating. It really is an unprecedented battle we are facing.
GORANI: How concerned are you with potentially a lack of protective equipment for yourself?
MUNAF: Very, very worried indeed. My medical association, the British Medical Association, released a video today, urging the government and, in
particular the secretary of state for health and social care, Mr. Hancock to really provide for the procurement of adequate personal protective
equipment for all because that has been lacking over the last few days and supplies have gone dry.
And we know that there was supposed to be 800,000 pieces of PPE delivered from Turkey over the weekend that they have been --
(CROSSTALK)
MUNAF: -- quickly.
GORANI: Are you being tested regularly?
How do you know if you -- how would you know if you've contracted the virus, if you don't have symptoms?
Or how does that work for medical professionals?
MUNAF: Right, so a few of my colleagues have been off sick, presumed to be COVID positive. Only few of them have been tested thus far. Testing has
been very limited. I would say less than 20 percent of (INAUDIBLE) have been tested.
But the incidence of COVID-19 in the working population and hospitals, I would say, is more than half. So if we test more, we'll find more positive
cases and this will certainly determine which of us need to be off work and which of us can return to work.
GORANI: Yes. I find this incredible, to be honest, that you're working in a COVID ward and you have not been tested for COVID-19 yourself.
And you're one of the front line doctors dealing with this pandemic?
MUNAF: Absolutely.
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: Why not?
MUNAF: I cannot answer that question. We are here to provide a service. I do not know why we have not been tested. It's (INAUDIBLE) people in the
(INAUDIBLE) who have been tested, politicians, film stars and celebrities, they have been tested.
But people like (INAUDIBLE). For instance, I have a 2-year-old son and an asthmatic pregnant wife and I've not been tested. I really can't explain
that.
GORANI: Are you worried about -- are you -- are you isolating from your family?
Or how are you dealing with this on a daily basis?
MUNAF: Yes. So the local (INAUDIBLE) have been kind enough to provide us a hotel for last few weeks. So I go to the hotel after work. I shower there,
I drop my clothes in a bag and I come back home and then I go to see my wife and my son.
GORANI: Are you seeing a leveling off of admissions or is it still the same flow of patients as the last few weeks?
MUNAF: Yes. It is the same flow. (INAUDIBLE) so there has not been a real increase. I would say there's been a plateau and we have (INAUDIBLE) the
better part of two weeks, so we are eclipsing 40, 50, sometimes 60, 70 patients coming in who are COVID positive. So it is an increased flow. And
it has been steady over the last few weeks.
GORANI: Dr. Asif Munaf, we cannot thank you enough for taking the time to talk to us, for doing the work that you do. You and all your colleagues are
heroic. Thank you so much. Best of luck to you and I hope everyone stays healthy.
We are going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
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[10:55:00]
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GORANI: All right, well, Sweden's Princess Sofia is joining the fight to help doctors and nurses during the pandemic. She'll be caring for patients
and cleaning the hospital so medical workers can help with emergency patients.
The princess said being able to help is extremely rewarding. We have seen a few celebrities address the general public. And Beyonce's daughter is
advocating hand washing as a way to protect yourself during the coronavirus outbreak.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLUE IVY CARTER, BEYONCE'S DAUGHTER: Stick your finger inside of the mixture of soaps, make sure you get a lot on there, then put your finger in
it and the virus goes out. This is why it is very important to wash your hands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: The bowl of water has pepper in it, it represents the coronavirus. Now Blue Ivy did the experiment to illustrate how washing with soap can
help stop you from getting sick and that's good. If some kids see this and it, you know, educates some, that's great.
That's it for me for now. I'm Hala Gorani. Thank you for watching this hour. There is a lot more ahead on CNN after a quick break. Stay with us.
We'll be right back.
END
