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Greece to Welcome Tourists Despite Pandemic; British PM Welcomes New Baby; Trump Orders Meat Processing Plants to Stay Open; Putin Acknowledges PPE Shortage; Protests Continue in Lebanon; Doctors Face Their Own Mental Health Challenges; British Farms Hurt by Lack of Seasonal Workers; Biden Faces Calls to Answer to Sexual Assault Allegations; Juventus Player Tests Positive for Fourth Time. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired April 29, 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, everyone. Welcome to the program. I'm Hala Gorani. This is CONNECT THE WORLD.
Boris Johnson attends the birth of his son in the morning and returns to Downing Street in the afternoon as the country continues to face the
coronavirus pandemic.
Then the American strategy in question as the top medical adviser gives a dire warning about the second wave.
And Greece says it will be open to tourists this summer.
Do the numbers and the experts support such a move?
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GORANI: The U.K. government of Boris Johnson is still very much in crisis mode, trying to remedy what many saw as the lackluster and delayed reaction
to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today lawmakers have a new deadline to focus on. First off, as I mentioned at the top of the hour, prime minister Boris Johnson and his partner,
Carrie Symonds, welcomed a new baby earlier this morning and we learned he's already back to work at 10 Downing Street. Let's bring in Clarissa
Ward here in London.
It is not, of course, the prime minister's first child; it is his fiancee's. And we know with first kids, with -- you know, when you're not
on your -- you're perhaps a bit more relaxed about things.
But also there are pressing issues for him to address, Clarissa?
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. He did say there will be some kind of short paternity leave but not right now. And
you can understand why, particularly given that he was absent for some weeks during the time when he was sick, very sick, with coronavirus, and
because of the very serious challenges that are currently facing his government.
He did not attend Prime Minister's Questions today, which I think is understandable, given the fact that his son was born this morning.
But Dominic Raab, his number two, the foreign secretary, did attend. There was some tough questioning coming from the opposition, particularly on the
issue of PPE and what appears to be the systematic failure of this government to adequately line up the amount of personal protective
equipment that is needed for the United Kingdom's healthcare workers.
This has been a persistent bugaboo for this government for over a month now. We heard Dominic Raab try to sort of explain that, listen, this is a
global supply shortage. It is not just the U.K. that is affected and that is true.
But certainly other countries appear to have been better able to remedy the situation in order to protect their healthcare workers.
There were a lot of other subjects as well that were raised but certainly fair to say that this government is under a lot of pressure right now to
show that it can deliver after, as you said, what many would categorize as a sort of lackluster beginning.
GORANI: And regarding the potential timeline on lifting lockdown measures, also a lot of people in this country have said, look, we're not saying lift
the lockdown now; we're saying we need some sort of communication about the government's strategy. And we haven't really gotten that.
WARD: No, I mean, the attitude projected from the government has been we're not even going to talk about lifting lockdown right now because, if
we talk about it, you're going to start to think it is imminent. And if you start to think it is imminent, you're going to start to slacken or loosen
your standards.
And we really need the public to sort of keep its foot on the gas and keep implementing these stringent measures for the moment because they are
showing signs of bearing fruit.
So we do know that, behind closed doors, of course, particularly businesses but also some Tory conservatives have been putting quite a lot of pressure
on the government to articulate a vision for what the lifting of the lockdown will look like.
So that at least businesses and investors can start to feel a little bit more comfortable, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
But Boris Johnson's biggest fear he's articulated on several occasions is the potential for a second wave of infection, which would be devastating
because all of the gains that have been made would essentially be wiped out, whether those be gains in terms of fighting the disease from the
healthcare point of view but also, economically, it would be devastating to have to fight a second wave of infections.
[10:05:00]
WARD: So the government sort of pulled between two camps here, wanting to give people a sense of what a future lifting of the lockdown might look
like and, particularly, when it comes to schools, they're facing a lot of pressure to move in that direction.
But desperately also wanting to hold on to the gains that have been made, particularly as it is now emerging that some of those gains might not be as
rosy as one had hoped because it is emerging more and more that, while deaths might be decreasing in hospitals, in care homes they are
skyrocketing. So this is a real problem going forward, Hala.
GORANI: Yes. All right, Clarissa Ward, thanks very much.
Now to a grim, grim milestone in the United States. The country has topped 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases. That's about 1 out of every 3 cases
in the world; 58,000 people have died in the U.S. of COVID-19.
And for perspective, that's more deaths than during the entire Vietnam War. But despite those frightening numbers, more U.S. states are starting to
reopen. And the hodgepodge approach has a top member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force sounding some alarm bells. Martin Savidge has our
story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A strong warning from the nation's top infectious disease doctor.
FAUCI: If we are unsuccessful or prematurely try to open up and we have additional outbreaks that are out of control, it could be a rebound to get
us right back in the same boat that we were in a few weeks ago.
SAVIDGE: That fear resounding from some state leaders, who continue to say testing is still an issue.
GOV. NED LAMONT (D-CT): There's no way I can safely reopen the state unless we have more testing.
SAVIDGE: But in other states, the open signs are already on the doors of some businesses. Restaurants in Georgia have table service back and by
Friday, Texas will, too. Governor Greg Abbott told local leaders they can't override his executive order to relax some restrictions.
MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER, HOUSTON, TEXAS: I hope we don't see a resurge of cases three to four weeks down the road. I mean, people are going to be
very careful before they step out.
SAVIDGE: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says he will announce a plan on his state today.
DESANTIS: For Florida, going from where we are now to phase one is not a very big leap. We're going to approach it in a very measured, thoughtful
and data-driven way.
SAVIDGE: Meantime in Ohio, some healthcare procedures can be scheduled again starting Friday. And when retail stores are allowed to resume
business on May 12, masks will be recommended but not required.
GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): My hope is that everyone wears a mask. I've said, Look, I go out in public, I wear a mask. What this does is it protects the
workers.
SAVIDGE: Face coverings are required by anyone over the age of 2 in Illinois, where social distancing can't be practiced in public.
GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): The stay-at-home order in Illinois is still very much in effect.
SAVIDGE: And as many living rooms across the country turned into classrooms for the rest of the academic year, students in California could
be heading back to school earlier than expected.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): We're concerned about that learning loss even into the summer. And so we are considering the prospect of an even earlier
school year into the fall. As early as late July, early August.
SAVIDGE: In New York, after Blue Angels and Thunderbirds soared over the skies to salute frontline workers, Governor Andrew Cuomo giving this tough
reminder.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): Every day, I think maybe today is the day the nightmare will be over, but it's not. Three hundred and thirty- five people
passed away yesterday from this virus in this state. That's 335 families.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: That was Martin Savidge reporting.
I want to bring in Joe Johns at the White House.
Trump is invoking the Defense Production Act to order meatpacking plants to stay open, even though over 3,000 workers, I understand, have tested
positive; 20 have died.
Critics say why invoke that act for meatpacking plants but not for ventilators or PPE?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's one of the real questions. And there are a lot of questions about this executive order on
meat processing and poultry processing as well.
The fact of the matter is, despite the president's executive order, these plants may not be able to remain open at regular processing speed the way
the president would like. One of the reasons is because they simply don't have enough people. A lot of people have had to call in sick or worse due
to coronavirus.
[10:10:00]
JOHNS: And there is another problem, even before the crisis jumped off, there was a real issue of personnel at a lot of these plants.
And that was because essentially the Trump administration had been arresting a lot of people on immigration raids and deporting them because
many of these low paid workers, often Latinos, come into the country without proper work papers.
And the administration under their hardline policies on immigration have said they have to go. So many of these plants, pork and chicken especially,
have lost a lot of people already.
And now it is a very severe situation because people are also sick. And this coronavirus, they're afraid to work. So there is a real question, of
course, about how that is going to affect the supply lines in the United States.
GORANI: All right. Sure, there are some states in the U.S. that are essentially telling workers, you know, if your plant reopens and you don't
show up, you're considered to have voluntarily quit. So you might not even be eligible for employment benefits and that's putting people in difficult
positions.
I want to ask you about the U.S. vice president, Mike Pence, who visited the Mayo Clinic, he wasn't wearing a face mask. The Mayo Clinic put out a
tweet it deleted, later deleted, saying they told the vice president he needed to wear protective equipment to visit the hospital.
What happened there?
Why would the vice president visit a clinic with COVID patients without wearing a protective face mask?
JOHNS: Awkward at the very least. And hearing behind the scenes very quietly there are people who believe it was a mistake to do that for a
number of reasons.
First, it is the mixed messaging that this administration has put out again and again on coronavirus, saying on one hand to do certain things; on the
other hand, never mind. And this is a perfect example of that.
Virtually everybody at the Mayo Clinic, you can see in the pictures, they had on masks in the background, only the vice president himself was not
wearing a mask. He said it was because he knew he didn't have coronavirus because he was tested a lot.
That's not the right answer especially since he is the leader of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. And their guidelines say that, if you are
going to come into contact with people, you need to wear a mask.
So a problem for this administration for the vice president as well. And the question, of course, is whether he does that again because the
president himself said he's not interested in wearing a mask either. But the public, it's not quite a requirement but certainly serious suggestion
from the White House.
GORANI: Yes, sure. And the Mayo Clinic deleting that tweet raised some eyebrows. Thank you very much, Joe Johns, at the White House.
Russia's president says the country has ramped up production of personal protective equipment. That is Vladimir Putin. It's still, though, facing a
shortage across the country. Russia reported a record spike in the number of daily cases of COVID-19. And Vladimir Putin extended the nonworking
period until May 11th.
But as you can see, the streets of Moscow are not exactly empty. This particular scene we're showing you does not have any people in it but here
you have it, there's street traffic for sure. Matthew Chance is with me now.
A month ago, Russia was sending ventilators to countries like Italy and the United States.
So what is happening now?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. A couple of weeks ago, Russia was sending planeloads of protective equipment, PPE, to
the United States, to Italy, along with doctors, to Serbia, other countries as well, as if to promote, you know, just how much of a handle it had, if
you like, on controlling this pandemic.
The situation has really turned around dramatically. There has been a lot of criticism domestically from medical workers about that sort of foreign
aid effort on the part of the Russians and a lot of detail about how many shortages there are in hospitals around the country when it comes to those
basic protective suits, masks, things like that.
There have been medical workers going on social media, complaining there is not enough supplies.
Well, you know, yesterday, in a speech on national television after he met regional governors, Vladimir Putin acknowledged that the production of PPE
was not at sufficient levels, said it has been increasing rapidly, producing 100,000 protective suits every day back in March.
Now it's 150,000, he said, per day. It is nowhere near enough the kind of levels needed because of the sheer numbers of people in Russia being
diagnosed with COVID-19. That figure increased today to just under -- just a hair under 100,000 people.
[10:15:00]
CHANCE: There are still less than a thousand people confirmed dead in Russia as a result of this virus and this disease that it causes.
And, you know there is a lot of skepticism still about those figures. Remember, it is a country of more than 140 million people. To give you a
comparison, here in Britain, there are 65 million people and there are more than -- well over 21,000 people, perhaps more than that, who have been
confirmed as killed, tragically, by this virus.
So you know, it gives you a sense that there is potentially, you know, a big upside, if you like, in terms of the amount; the numbers could grow in
Russia, when the final sort of tally is taken as to what kind of impact this virus had in that country.
GORANI: All right, thank you very much, Matthew Chance, live in London.
Now Greece, of course, is one of those countries that relies very, very heavily on tourism. So the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdowns and also
the travel bans around the world will devastate it economically unless it could come up with some sort of solution to add tourists to the mix.
They are hoping to do so, with a new set of guidelines, by this summer.
Is that realistic?
Nina dos Santos joins me now live with that.
What is the strategy for Greece now, Nina?
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNNMONEY EUROPE EDITOR: We don't have a huge amount of details on what exactly they may plan to implement. But we do know that
Greece had far fewer deaths than other European countries. About 138 people have lost their lives to coronavirus.
Compare that to the U.K. where the death toll stands at over 20,000. And you can see why Greece tried to make the argument that perhaps it is a
safer place to be than some of the other European countries.
Infections have been just over the 2,500 mark. And what we heard today from the Greek tourism minister is that he's making the case that Greece has
taken steps early to lock things down, to make sure that the infection didn't get a significant foothold in its population.
And therefore it could be a safe place to go, bearing in mind that they may well have to implement social distancing and things like that to keep
people safe on the beaches.
But the reality is that this is also about saving the Greek economy. This is a country that, by various standards, GDP and the tourism sector
somewhere between a fifth of GDP to up to a third of the country's whole GDP.
The tourism sector employs one in four Greek people and it is a massive generator of euros and other forms of hard cash. Greece, up until 2018, was
locked in a recessionary spiral after its bailout more than a decade ago. It doesn't want to go back those kind of days.
They're keen to say, in various interviews in this big communication strategy, they have a task force going to try and ease this lockdown.
They're going to be heading into the tourism season, where neighbors like theirs say further east in Turkey still implement quarantine measures for
new visitors that have arrived for the first 14 days that they spend in that country.
So Greece here, keen to say in a couple of months they will be open for business, in the hospitality sector, albeit in a slightly different manner
and a safer manner than before in terms of social distancing.
GORANI: As far as tourism is concerned, I mean, I don't know if you've been to Greece but I've been to Greece a lot. And the summer, it is going
to be tough. The beaches, the restaurants, the cafes, the shops, how do you keep people apart from each other?
Until you have a vaccine, there is an element of risk involved. But it is difficult for Greece and so many other countries. Thank you very much for
that, Nina.
We're going to take a quick break. When we come back --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI (voice-over): -- activists say Lebanon's central bank governor among other officials are to blame for the economic crash. We'll be back
with the very latest on protests gripping Lebanon once again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[10:20:00]
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GORANI: Well, demonstrators once again filled the streets of cities across Lebanon, frustrated, angry and desperate. Tensions are flaring as the
country is facing a double crisis, not just the virus pandemic but also an absolutely crumbling economy.
Protesters are targeting banks out of frustration. They're setting them on fire. They're throwing Molotov cocktails. Local media report clashes with
security forces continue. Some anti-government demonstrators filmed the next video on Monday night. A word of warning, some may find the audio
disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI (voice-over): All right. There it just gives you an idea of how tense the situation is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Jomana Karadsheh has covered the region extensively. She joins me now with more on the Lebanon's so-called hunger protests.
What is interesting about what is going on is that, even security forces, even the military are now saying, we are as desperate and hungry as the
protesters. This is truly a country on the verge of collapse.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Hala, you're referring to that scene we saw on Monday, where protesters explaining to the security
forces, saying that we're hungry and the security force member telling them that we are hungry, too.
The situation right now seems to be calm but there is an expectation that protests will begin again. We have seen the epicenter of these protests in
the northern city of Tripoli, that's the second largest city, and it is porous.
Our team on the ground there in Tripoli has been speaking to activists right now and, you know, to your point, what they say they're trying to do
is picking up where they left off before the coronavirus pandemic, where the popular uprising was taking place, people were fed up with the
political institutions of the country, the political elite, the leadership of their country.
And now this is being compounded by the financial crisis, this currency crisis, where they have seen the Lebanese lira lose about half its value in
recent months. And people say they're hungry.
And what these protesters in Tripoli are telling our team there is they're trying to tell the Lebanese army that is deployed to the streets of Tripoli
that they want them to join their protests, they're basically in this together.
People are really frustrated. This is a real crisis. It has impacted people. We saw these incredible figures from the Lebanese government
itself, you know, the World Bank was anticipating, projecting that 45 percent of Lebanon's population is going to be below the poverty line this
year.
But following the pandemic and the impact it has had on the economy, like other economies around the world, the government right now is expecting
that 75 percent of the population is going to require financial assistance and aid from the government.
And people say, you know, they're angry, they're frustrated, they're hungry. And they don't know how they're going to be able to feed their
children, pay rent right now. So it is going to be a very difficult situation for the government.
[10:25:00]
KARADSHEH: It is admitting that it is in a very tough position right now to try and resolve and people's patience is really wearing out.
GORANI: All right, Jomana Karadsheh, thank you very much.
South Africa now has a dark history when it comes to battling HIV/AIDS. But now the country is using the lessons that it learned from that disease to
try to approach COVID-19, battling that disease more effectively. David McKenzie has more on that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Thokoza Township, there is no denial of COVID-19.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is s lockdown, but the clinic is open.
MCKENZIE: Only fear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are just scared. Otherwise if I had corona I will die.
MCKENZIE: Here, they know exactly how a virus can destroy the very fabric of the nation. They lived through the worst of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
ANITA PATO, COMMUNITY HEALTH CARE WORKER: It was bad. It was the (inaudible) for testing. I was scared of testing. We didn't do much.
MCKENZIE: Health worker Anita Pato, wants to make sure people know that this virus is different. And so too is the government's initial response.
In the early 2000s, when HIV/AIDS spread uncontrollably in South Africa, it was met by a president and health minister who failed to grasp AIDS for
what it was.
THABO MBEKI, FORMER SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT: How does a virus cause a syndrome? It can't.
MCKENZIE: They failed to listen to experts when it came to lifesaving treatment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I say garlic, I say lemon. I say eat fruit.
MCKENZIE: You remember those days and I remember them in South Africa. Were you thinking about that when COVID looked to strike South Africa?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every day. Every day. You know, we can't get large numbers of people dying. You know, we came from a period where we had large
numbers of South Africans dying from HIV. We can't repeat that, clearly. And we shouldn't.
MCKENZIE: So the current government listen to its own experts like Yogan Pillay, in taking decisive action. Including a swift nationwide lockdown.
YOGAN PILLAY, DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: If we had a very robust economy that could withstand the shock, we could say that,
you know, it was an easier decision to take.
MCKENZIE: It was a tough decision?
PILLAY: This was a very tough decision for the government to take, but they took it, because they didn't want to repeat the mistakes.
MCKENZIE: South Africa still has the world highest number of people living with HIV, close to 8 million. But thanks to antiretroviral and an army of
community health workers, with funding and advice from the United States, the disease is no longer the death sentence it once was. 35,000 of them,
trained for the fight against HIV, now containing the spread of COVID-19.
So, what she is explaining to them is that even though there is a lockdown that they should go to the clinic that's open 24 hours if they feel the
symptoms of COVID-19.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like this disease must stop. It must not control us. We have to control this corona.
MCKENZIE: And that's why here, even in the poorest communities, where social distancing is impossible, there is hope that the curve can flatten
and lives can be saved -- David McKenzie, CNN, South Africa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: After the break, see a need, fill a need. Some furloughed workers are helping pick fruit and vegetables across the U.K. But there aren't
enough of them and the country is having to fly in Romanians to fill the gaps. We'll be right back with that story.
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[10:30:00]
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GORANI: Welcome back.
Returning to one of our top stories, a new baby but the same challenges ahead for the British prime minister Boris Johnson, who, as you know, also
was infected with COVID-19 and that added to some of the anxiety and pressure that no doubt he was facing.
Joining us now is the deputy editor of "The Spectator," Freddy Gray, with more.
First of all, well, he's not taking much of a paternity leave right away, he's back at 10 Downing Street.
But how does this kind of change the challenges that the prime minister is facing?
He was sick with COVID, he was criticized in the beginning for not attending some important meetings, even before he came down with the
illness.
What does this new baby change, if anything?
FREDDY GRAY, "THE SPECTATOR": I think it is fair to say that Boris Johnson has quite a lot on his plate at the moment. He's gone through a general
election, he won a general election, he's still wrestling with the enormity of Brexit. Now there is the even bigger enormity of the pandemic, which he
was affected by and had a near brush with death himself.
And now he has a newborn baby to deal with. It is very good news. And everybody in Westminster who is fair minded is happy for him.
But there is a lot to worry about at the moment. And Boris is still quite frail. He gave a speech recently, in which he did seem to be losing his
breath quite a lot. It is not certain he's 100 percent. The country needs him to be fit. And, you know, we wish him well, of course. But there are
concerns about how busy he could be.
GORANI: Yes, there are concerns also about a lack of leadership. No one blames him for taking time off to deal with the severe illness or on the
day his son is born.
But at the same time, the country, it felt for several weeks, really, there was, you know, there wasn't the kind of communication you would expect from
a government handling a crisis as severe as COVID-19.
And how has that affected the U.K. in that sense?
Because the criticism is that measures were implemented too late, the shortages haven't been addressed and PPE and the like.
GRAY: I think some of the criticism is unfair but I think there is a legitimate criticism that this government is very reliant on the charisma -
- and it is a very large charisma -- of Boris Johnson. And without him there is -- it is quite a weak cabinet, it is fair to say.
I think one of the arguments to be made in the future is that Boris needs to strengthen his cabinet, bring in more powerful personalities, bigger
leaders, other than him so that it doesn't have to all be about Boris Johnson.
GORANI: Yes.
And -- but I mean, unfair in what sense?
Some of the criticism was leveled at Boris Johnson before he became ill. You, I'm sure, read the "Times" report he missed meetings in the leadup to
the pandemic, he was distracted by personal problems.
Are those unfair criticisms?
GRAY: I think there are a lot of flaws in that report. I think it is certainly true the British government made mistakes in the buildup. That's
why our death rate is higher than, say, Germany's. But I don't think any government has really coped with this crisis perfectly.
I would say -- if you want to do a lead table of where Britain comes, I would say we're in the middle of how governments have reacted to this
crisis.
I think, in terms of the report, I think there is a lot -- there is a lot of newspapers that are addicted to sort of attacking this government and
attacking Boris about Brexit and trying to show the government being incompetent. I'm not sure it is always quite fair.
GORANI: Well, this was the "Times," so I guess you can't accuse them of necessarily supporting the opposition on this one but let me ask you about
the exit strategy.
[10:35:00]
GORANI: Yes. The exit strategy. And even senior Tories, say this is infantilizing when senior cabinet ministers say we can't communicate to you
the exit strategy because otherwise it would confuse the message and we wouldn't trust Britons not to break the, you know, not to break the
lockdown rules if we tell them we have an exit strategy.
What do you make of that?
Do they deserve clarity?
GRAY: I think people do deserve clarity. The problem with giving clarity is the government isn't quite sure what the next best move is. I think it
is very easy to demand these solutions from government. And people should. But one does have to sympathize with the unprecedented nature of this
crisis at the same time.
GORANI: Sure. Let's talk about Carrie Symonds, you wrote about her, the partner of Boris Johnson.
How do you think she's handling all of this?
I really -- anybody would feel for a woman giving birth in the middle of a pandemic with all the pressure that she must be feeling.
How do you think -- what are your sources telling you about how she's doing this whole period?
GRAY: She definitely disappeared a bit from public life presumably because of the pregnancy. But Carrie is a very political animal. She's not like
most prime minister wives. She's much more of a first lady type figure or perhaps even more political than a first lady type.
She was very involved in politics. And one of the reasons a lot of people in Westminster say that she and Boris are an effective couple, not just
privately but politically, is because they work together on politics. They're both political obsessors, really, and very good at helping each
other out in the mad, power-loving world that is Westminster.
GORANI: All right, Freddy Gray, always a pleasure. Thank you very much, the deputy editor of "The Spectator."
Now we're going to get to the medical side of things in a moment. A German company conducting human trials of a COVID-19 vaccine said it has finished
its first round of doses. BioNTech says 12 study participants have been vaccinated in Germany and researchers are looking at the optimal dose and
the safety of the vaccine.
The company's partner, Pfizer, says plans to test the COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. are on the fast track for approval. And Pfizer adds millions of
doses could be ready by the end of the year, which would be really warp speed if you consider that most experts we have spoken to have told us that
a 1.5-2 years is quite typical.
One hurdle doctors are facing now is getting what they need. By that, I mean, protective equipment but also sometimes just some counseling for
mental health and, in some cases, PTSD.
We're joined by Ron Daniels, an ICU doctor and the founder of the U.K. Sepsis Trust and he joins me now live.
Let's talk about the any lingering effects among patients who have recovered from COVID-19, who contracted coronavirus, then tested negative,
because, for instance, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, still some people are saying, seems a bit tired.
What are some of the lingering effects one can expect?
DR. RON DANIELS, NHS ICU DOCTOR: Well, of course, this is a new condition and it is very early in anyone's recovery profile to understand what this
looks like. But it is highly likely it will follow the recovery pattern of other conditions that render people in intensive care for prolonged periods
of time, conditions like sepsis.
We have heard that Mr. Johnson seems to be tired and breathless. The fatigue, the often disabling fatigue can be a post effect of sepsis and
it's highly likely with COVID-19. Because it causes inflammation in the lungs, we expect people will be breathless.
I had minor symptoms a few weeks ago. I'm still a little breathless now. Goodness knows what it is like for people that were in intensive care. And
then the mental health. There is cognitive sequelae, poor concentration, poor memory, poor judgment but also psychological, up to and including PTSD
in around a fifth of survivors in intensive care.
GORANI: Let's talk about the mental health aspect here. A brush with -- being in intensive care means your condition is so severe that there is a
real risk of passing away, of dying from whatever ailment you're being treated for. That is very frightening to anybody.
How do you -- how do patients usually process this?
DANIELS: Well, absolutely. There is the anxiety and the fear of being critically ill. But it is more than that.
[10:40:00]
DANIELS: It is about the sedative drugs we give, the loss of the day and night pattern. Frequently patients experience delirium and hallucinations
and that has its own effects on the psychology afterwards.
We typically see patients who are experiencing disordered sleep, strange dreams, sometimes panic attacks, nightmares, up to and including post
traumatic stress disorder. And these aftereffects can be in a significant portion of patients and can take months to gradually improve and sometimes
in a few patients they don't improve.
GORANI: Yes. And it affects doctors sometimes. A New York emergency room doctor, Dr. Lorna Breen, sadly took her own life. She had been treating
COVID patients now. We're not in a position to know what was going through her mind when this happened but it just highlights that mental health among
the ER doctors is a major concern.
DANIELS: We need to set this in the context of there are certain groups of health professionals who have a higher suicide rate than the general
population. This is going to be escalated hugely during this pandemic.
People are operating outside their comfort zones, working in different environments, they're dealing with more patients than ever before.
And then there is the real strangeness. For us in intensive care, managing the family and the patients around the dying process is a really rewarding
and important part of the job. We can't do that in the way we are used to now.
We're having to do it remotely. That's going to really take its toll on those health professionals. I'm really concerned about the mental health of
our health professional workforce in the intermediate future.
GORANI: How are you doing?
Were you -- did you contract COVID?
DANIELS: I did. I was fine. I was one of the lucky ones. I exercise regularly. That doesn't completely prevent the risk from this virus but it
does seem to reduce it a little. I did OK. I felt pretty washed out. Pretty breathless, had a cough. It gradually improved.
Now kicking a ball around, going for a run and stuff, I find that, even four weeks after my illness, I'm still suffering with more breathlessness
than usual. I hope it will gradually improve. But it is a strange illness that keeps on giving.
GORANI: One quick last one, the -- one of the things I find most terrifying about this illness is you can feel symptoms and think you are
doing OK at home and you're taking the Tylenol and all of that.
And then a week later, after you think you're doing better, is when sometimes patients are admitted to the hospital and unable to breathe.
Why does that happen?
DANIELS: This illness appears to have two phases. You mentioned, we kind of liken this to what we call paracetamol overdose. You take the overdose
or a patient takes the overdose, they think they're OK but then their liver starts to fail.
It is scary like that, this condition. It seems to have two phases. It seems to be the initial infective phase, where the virus is replicating and
making us feel lousy, but then there is the secondary inflammatory overreaction that some people seem to get.
And it affects the edges of the lungs and makes people very, very breathless, sometimes really quite quickly. That huge inflammatory reaction
is similar to the condition that we see in sepsis and it strikes, as you say, typically around seven days after the first symptoms.
GORANI: All right, so scary. Dr. Ron Daniels, thank you very much for joining us.
Staying in the U.K., with seasonal migrant workers stuck at home, some furloughed workers are stepping forward to fill in the gaps. But those
numbers are not high enough and some people are growing fruits and vegetables in this country are saying they're getting pretty desperate. Nic
Robertson has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): In the Garden of England, the county of Kent, a crisis looms. Lettuce harvest has
begun. Row upon row, right for picking. Any other year, this would look like locked in profit, but not this.
COVID-19 is killing markets and cutting off workers from farms.
McDonald's now shuttered, normally stuff their chicken wrap with this specially grown Apollo lettuce.
NICK OTTEWELL, PRODUCTION AND COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR, LAURENCE J. BETTS LTD: Potentially there's 25 or 30 tons a week of crop that's currently without
having plowed.
ROBERTSON: What does the rest of the season look like?
OTTEWELL: We break even this year. Slightly under.
ROBERTSON: That bad?
OTTEWELL: That bad.
ROBERTSON: Bad is an understatement. Nick Ottewell who has managed these 1750 acres, one of the largest lettuce producers near London, for over a
decade.
[10:45:00]
ROBERTSON: COVID-19 isn't just costing him sales. It is cutting him off from his regular annual migrant workforce.
OTTEWELL: It is seasonal work. And British people have wanted to do seasonal work, for whatever reason. And companies like us has relied on
migrant workers for decades now.
ROBERTSON: As the lockdown tightened, Ottewell helps flies some of his regular skilled Romanian seasonal workers in early. But he is still down 45
workers. The government says it is acutely aware that the fresh produce picking season is beginning now. They estimate that only one-third of the
total migrant labor force is in the country, and are hoping that furloughed workers will help out with the harvest.
Ottewell is skeptical, but giving it a shot with all the 50 local emailed applicants to these (inaudible) for training. The farm needs them until the
fall. Sally Penfold, 45, lost her restaurant job. Says she is good to stay.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For me, this is security. This is money coming. And it is giving me something good and honorable to do. I. going to be outside in
the sunshine.
ROBERTSON: Daniel Martin, 32, furloughed civil engineer, training to be a forklift truck driver, maybe not.
DANIEL MARTIN, ACCEPTED FARM JOB: I could go back at any point, really. I have a sort of a feeling from my work that is still going to be potentially
a couple of months.
ROBERTSON: Industry experts, the alliance of ethical labor providers, say a 55,000 farm job applicants following the outbreak of covid-19, only 150 got
placement. Most could not commit the time. Ottewell knows he is gambling. He says, each worker costs him $1,200 to train. Money he can't spare.
OTTEWELL: I am so nervous. Because I have been working in this industry my whole career. And all of my experience tells me people are going to think
they can just turn up, treated like a bit of a fun thing to try for a couple of weeks.
ROBERTSON: As we talk, some of his prayers are answered. Three Romanian's arrive, recently covid-19 unemployed, let go by a local restaurant.
OTTEWELL: They were working at an Indian restaurant. The restaurant had to shut down. The first question I asked those three was, are they going to be
commit for the summer. And they said yes. So I said, OK let's go.
ROBERTSON: This is a summer like no other.
Will there be tossed salads?
Much now depends on the British worker -- Nic Robertson, CNN, Kent, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Joe Biden is facing growing calls to respond to decades-old allegations of sexual assault.
[10:50:00]
GORANI: One time Senate aide Tara Reade says Biden assaulted her in the early '90s. He has denied the claims. And former candidate for Georgia
governor Stacey Abrams says she believes him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STACEY ABRAMS, FORMER GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I believe women deserve to be heard and I believe they need to be listened to. But I also
believe those allegations have to be investigated by credible sources. "The New York Times" did a deep investigation and they found the accusation was
not credible. I believe Joe Biden.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: To clarify, "The Times" report that Abrams referred there did not make an actual determination on whether the allegation was credible. Abrams
narrowly lost the Georgia's governor race in 2018 and is openly making her case to be Joe Biden's pick for vice president.
One of India's most beloved actors, Irrfan Khan has died at 53, a very talented actor. He was known in both Bollywood and Hollywood for his roles
in "Life of Pi" and "Slum Dog Millionaire." Here he is talking about the deep meaning behind "Life of Pi."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IRRFAN KHAN, ACTOR: I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go. What always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say
goodbye."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, he had been diagnosed with a rare type of tumor, a few years ago. And then this week he was admitted to the critical care unit of a
Mumbai hospital for a colon infection. His mother died just last week; he was not able to attend her funeral because of the lockdown. He leaves
behind a wife and two children.
Rest in peace, Irrfan Khan. We'll be right back.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
GORANI: All of this uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, when will the lockdowns be lifted, when will our lives return to normal is
affecting every segment of society, including, of course, sports.
A source confirms that Juventus striker Paulo Dybala has tested positive for the fourth time in six weeks. Other players have also been sick and
football fans are wondering when the season will resume.
When will it ever resume?
"WORLD SPORT's" Alex Thomas joins me now.
This has to be done safely. And with players still testing positive, how can it be?
ALEX THOMAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a multibillion dollar industry that would kind of like preferential treatment because we can all do with
the distraction in our lives now. But it also is really wary of being seen to get preferential treatment when there are hundreds of thousands of
people still dying around the world and medical and health workers still struggling to get the right protective equipment.
The Dybala story is interesting, he is a huge star for the team that has won the Italian football championships the last eight seasons running, the
best goal scorer behind Cristiano Ronaldo.
When he first tested positive, he mentioned it to his followers on Instagram on March 21st. He and his girlfriend both tested positive.
[10:55:00]
THOMAS: A source close to the striker told CNN he's now tested positive four times in six weeks, which has all sorts of implications. We know the
World Health Organization told us early this week because COVID-19 still such a new disease, we don't know everything about it.
There is evidence that just because you get it once, your immunity isn't going to protect you from getting it a second time and in Dybala's case,
more than two teams.
All the club will say is that Dybala is still positive and, when he tests negative, it will be communicated.
GORANI: What are some of the options they're considering, playing without fans or what?
THOMAS: We can show you a graphic of where the sort of big European leagues stand right now. UEFA for European football said all the leagues
across the continent need to tell them by May 25th how they are going to complete the season that got so massively interrupted by this crisis.
England, Spain, Italy, still exploring ways to complete the season. The Premier League bosses will meet on Friday. Germany says they want to resume
in May if the government approves. In France, we know the government there has said no sporting events at all until September.
So their top championship has said we can't go on, they'll decide whether later on they'll have a champion or not. In the Netherlands, they have
ended the season but haven't declared the champions. It is the first time since the 1950s that they had a year without any champions at all.
It shows what unprecedented times we're in. If you try to hold matches behind closed doors, there is a real fear that fans would still try to
gather outside the stadiums. And even if you try and isolate the players and keep testing them regularly, it is still such a huge logistical
challenge to try and prevent the spread of coronavirus through sports even behind closed doors.
So you know, many people casting serious question marks over seeing the end of the season, it already has been interrupted, which should be heartache
for those fans of clubs that were currently top of the table.
GORANI: All right, great.
And, Alex, how has it been working from home for you?
THOMAS: I hate it, Hala. I'll be honest with you.
(LAUGHTER)
GORANI: You hate it?
Why?
THOMAS: I do. I would much rather be in the office.
GORANI: OK. Well, and also maybe a bit of traveling wouldn't hurt as well. Expand our horizons. Thanks very much, Alex Thomas, for that.
And we are about to wrap this hour up. And don't forget there is a town hall on Thursday as well with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper to
answer all of your coronavirus questions. I'm Hala Gorani. I'll see you next time. Stay with CNN. A lot more ahead.
END
