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Donald Trump Speaks to Press Ahead of a Visit to Arizona; China is Pushing Back Forcefully Against U.S. Officials Questioning Safety of Wuhan Lab Studying The Coronavirus; Britain and Other Countries Are Launching Their Own Contact Tracing App. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired May 05, 2020 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00] HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The U.S. president has been speaking to reporters. He`s on his way to Phoenix, Arizona to visit a
factory making masks. Let`s listen in.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hello, everybody. So I`m leaving for Arizona. We`re going to be at the Honeywell plant, which is
doing great work for us and it will be, I think, a great day. I love Arizona. Go ahead, please.
QUESTION: (Inaudible).
TRUMP: I just got information, nothing to do with our government, but I just got information on that so we`ll find out. We just heard about it. But
whatever it is, we`ll let you know, but it has nothing to do with our government.
QUESTION: (Inaudible).
TRUMP: Because the House is a set-up. The House is a bunch of Trump haters. They put every Trump hater on the committee, the same old stuff.
They frankly want our situation to be unsuccessful, which means death, which means death.
And our situation`s going to be very successful. The House has put on a committee, an oversight committee, of Maxine Waters and Maloney and the
same people and it`s just a set-up, but Dr. Fauci will be testifying in front of the senate and he looks forward to doing that.
QUESTION: Are you concerned at all by.
TRUMP: But the House, I will tell you, The House they should be ashamed of themselves and frankly the democrats should be ashamed because they don`t
want us to succeed. They want us to fail so they can win an election, which they`re not going to win, but they want us -- think of it, they do
everything they can to make things as bad as possible.
And right now the stock market`s way up, everybody`s excited. They`re going back to work safely, but they`re going back to work. We`re opening up our
country again and this is what we`re doing and I`ll tell you the whole world is excited watching us because we`re leading the world.
QUESTION: Mr. President, were you.
TRUMP: And what happened should never, ever have happened. China should have informed us that they had a problem.
QUESTION: Mr. President, (inaudible).
TRUMP: Say it.
QUESTION: Have you spoken to President Xi about your (inaudible).
TRUMP: I have not spoken to him, no. I have not spoken to him.
QUESTION: Plan on talking to him?
TRUMP: I might, but I haven`t spoken to President Xi. I have not. Yes, jennifer?
QUESTION: Mr. President, your times numbers are about the virus are wrong, what are your.
TRUMP: Well, it`s the report, and that`s the report with no mitigation. So based on no mitigation but we`re doing a lot of mitigation and frankly when
the people report back they`re going to be social distancing and they`re going to be washing their hands and they`re going to be doing the things
that you`re supposed to do.
We won`t be going into stadiums full bore yet for events and soccer and football and all of the different events, baseball. I hope baseball can get
going. But they won`t be going in full bore yet. At some point hopefully in the not too distant future, but that report is a no mitigation report and
we are mitigating.
QUESTION: (inaudible)
TRUMP: Well, we`re -- yes, I think we do, but I`m going to -- we`ll be reporting on it over the next period of time, Steve. We`ll be reporting.
There`ll be plenty of people ask me that question and we will be reporting very definitively over a period of time.
QUESTION: Mr. President, are you concerned about all the people who are (inaudible).
TRUMP: No. I don`t have any. Everybody traveling has been tested. We have great testing. And literally they`ve been tested over the last hour. And
the test result comes back in five minutes. We have great testing, or they wouldn`t be allowed to travel with me. I mean, I would -- it`s not my
choice.
It`s a very strong group of people that want to make sure they are tested, including secret service. So they`re all tested. Everybody traveling on the
plane, the only question I can`t answer, has the press been tested? And I suspect, maybe, has the press been tested? Steve, have you been tested?
QUESTION: Not (inaudible).
TRUMP: Well, I trust you. I trust you.
QUESTION: Are you (inaudible).
TRUMP: Say it.
QUESTION: Are you excited to wear a mask, sir?
TRUMP: It`s a -- I think it`s a mask facility. Right?
QUESTION: Are you going to be wearing a mask?
TRUMP: If it`s a mask facility, I will, yeah. I don`t know if it`s a mask facility, but honey -- we`re going to see Honeywell. They have done an
incredible job on many fronts and so I`m going to pay my respects to a great company and a great state, the state of Arizona.
QUESTION: They do make N95 masks.
TRUMP: They make N95, yeah. And they do, and they make them good. They don`t make the ones that don`t work, like we got sent from certain other
countries. No, no, like other people got sent from other countries. We`re making massive numbers of masks, we`re making our ventilators. We have the
best testing anywhere in the world. Not even close. The antibody test.
You see what`s going on with that. That`s going to be something that I don`t even -- look, we have so much testing, I don`t think you need that
kind of testing and that much testing but some people disagree with me. Some people agree with me, but we have the greatest testing in the world
and we have the most testing in the world.
[11:05:00]
QUESTION: So, there are many of the states that are -- beginning to reopen, they`re not following your criteria in terms of having two weeks of
reduced --
TRUMP: Well, the governors have -- yes, it`s a fair question. The governors have -- I have given them great discretion, I respect the
governors, and I`ve given them great discretion. If, however, I see somebody doing something that`s egregious or wrong, I will stop it in two
seconds.
Many of the governors have called me up and asked my opinion, but -- and really a lot of them have and the relationship is very good, but, you know,
the governors are given like on a story like that where they`re going down and they`re going down rapidly, but maybe it`s short of the 14 days,
they`re given a certain amount of discretion. If I see something wrong, though, we will stop it.
QUESTION: Mr. President, on the -- model, which is now showing 134,000 dead by August, doubling your previous admissions. Are you afraid that
that`s happening because some of these states are relying through guidelines.
TRUMP: No, no I`m not, because that assumes no mitigation, and we`re going to have mitigation. No, we`re letting people out, but the fact that we`re
letting people go and go to their jobs, they have to do it. You know? If they held people any longer with the shutdowns, you`re going to lose people
that way, too, and you already have, I`m sure.
But between drug abuse and I mean, they say suicide, a lot of different things. There`s no win. Just so you know, there`s no great win one way or
the other but I`ll tell you where there is a win. We`re going to build a country, I did it once. Two months ago we had the greatest economy in the
history of the world, the best employment numbers we`ve ever had in history, alright?
I mean, everybody agrees, even CNN agrees with that one. But I will say this, we`re going to do it again and that`s what we`re starting and I view
these last couple of days as the beginning. We`re going to build the greatest economy in the world again and it`s going to happen pretty fast.
QUESTION: (inaudible).
TRUMP: Well, that`s with no mitigation. We`re doing mitigation, we have a lot of mitigation. The fact that they`re out, they`re mitigating, they`re
social distancing, they all know that. They`re washing their hands a lot, but we have to get our country open. We have to open our country. So you
have all reports, look, models have been very inaccurate.
I`ve seen models that are very inaccurate, but, you know, one model that`s very important is that if we did this a different way we would have lost
more, much more than 2 million people. And we did it the right way. We did everything right but now it`s time to go back to work. So I`m going to
Arizona. I will see you there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
QUESTION: (inaudible).
TRUMP: We want them to be transparent. We want to find out what happened so it never happens again. OK?
GORANI: Donald Trump there speaking ahead of a visit to Arizona. Let`s bring in White House Correspondent John Harwood. When asked about allowing
Anthony Fauci to testify, he said the house democrats don`t want the White House to succeed and that he can`t testify because they`re Trump haters
there. So it`s interesting that he would admit to that.
JOHN HARWOOD, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hala, the president does not regard accountability as his friend. We`ve seen that in his attitude toward
getting rid of inspectors general in various federal departments who have subjected the actions of the administration to scrutiny. The Democratic
House, obviously, has a more adversarial posture to the president than the Republican Senate.
And so, that being the case, the president, even though the house has constitutional oversight duty, the president is stiffing them and deciding
that the Republican Senate, a more friendly, more hospitable place, is where he`s going to let the coronavirus task force officials testify. That
doesn`t mean that they won`t get answers in that senate testimony.
The chairman of the Senate committee, where Anthony Fauci and others are going to testify, is someone with extensive expertise in health issues, and
he`s shown some independence from the administration on this subject, but the president wants the most hospitable forum he can to be subjected to
scrutiny.
GORANI: And the President of the United States also said we are leading the world, the whole world is excited watching us. We`re outside the United
States, that`s not something that we`re hearing. And also, again, reiterating his desire for the country to open up, even though in many
states the death rate is still very much on the up and some U.S. States have not seen their peak and a new model projects much -- many more deaths.
How is that going down in the United States?
[11:10:00]
HARWOOD: Well you`ve identified how the critical elements - the president is not really trying to lead at this point, he`s sort of thrown up his
hands as to the conflicting recommendations between public health officials who don`t want a more rapid opening up between business and some of his
economic advisors who do want rapid opening up.
And so the way he`s done that is to say well here are guidelines for states to meet before they open, but then ignore the guidelines if the states
don`t meet them, and cheerlead for their opening up, the same with testing. He says states need to test, and we`re going to help them but it`s really
the governor`s job.
The backstop for the country in this situation is that Americans - you asked about how that - the president`s stance is being received right now,
the vast majority of Americans are saying they do not want to open up right now because they`re fearful.
That suggests at least the possibility, Hala, that people will hold back from activity that`s dangerous that could cause those numbers to rise. Some
rise may be inevitable when you open some businesses and public activities, but the fear and the reticence of the American people may be a break on
that spread in transition and on - transmission and on that rise in cases.
GORANI: And lastly, Arizona - he`s going to Arizona. It`s an interesting state because Mark Kelly, a Democratic challenger is leading in polls
against the Republican incumbent, and Arizona could be a state in play in November 2020. And there is obviously some anxiety among Republicans that
2020 could spell - could result in bad political news for them with this pandemic wreaking havoc on the economy.
HARWOOD: No question, Hala. And Arizona`s a perfect illustration of that. Both the Republican Senate seat held by Martha McSally is in jeopardy. The
polls show that Mark Kelly, the Democrat is leading. And at the presidential level it`s also in jeopardy, Joe Biden has been leading, the
president (ph) - President Trump needs to win Arizona if the Democrats can pull that back with a couple of states in the Midwest, Joe Biden`s going to
be president.
So in addition to whatever public message he sends by going to this Honeywell facility, and whether or not he wears a mask or not, he was
somewhat equivocal on that - this is - there`s a political mission at play here, and Arizona is a signal of how President Trump right now is an under
dog for reelection. Joe Biden is the favorite to win this election, and President Trump amid this economic and public health catastrophe has to
find a way to change the equation to win a second term.
GORANI: All right. Thanks very much, John Harwood. It`ll be interesting to see if he does wear a mask. We know the Vice President, Mike Pence didn`t
wear one during a visit to the Mayo Clinic, though a very different environment. So it`ll be interesting to see. Thanks so much.
Well, the U.S. president has claimed that the coronavirus likely spread after an accident at a lab in Wuhan. However, CNN has learned that an
intelligence report from a coalition of several Western nations contradicts that theory, it calls it highly unlikely and says it probably began in a
Wuhan market.
Donald Trump though, said last week that there is proof.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
TRUMP: They could have stopped it. They are a very brilliant nation, scientifically and otherwise. It got loose, let`s say - and they could have
capped (ph) it, they could have stopped it. But they didn`t.
UNKNOWN: Have you seen anything at this point that gives you a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the origin of this
virus?
TRUMP: Yes, I have - yes, I have.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
GORANI: Well David Culver joins me now, live from Shanghai. We were talking last hour about a report in "The Washington Post," that some
embassy officials in China - U.S. Embassy officials were worried about the safety of a lab in Wuhan studying the coronavirus and its infectious
nature. But the Chinese are saying none of this is true, they`re pushing back quite forcefully and publicly.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh they are, and they`re using state media to do that, Hala. Because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hasn`t yet
had a moment to speak publicly on this given that they`ve been in the midst of a national holiday for several days here.
It is interesting though to have heard the president last week, what you just played there a short time ago, and then go back to what he said just
about a few minutes ago as - before you were talking to John Harwood there.
[11:15:00]
And I was listening to his tone towards the Chinese in particular because it perhaps is an indication that he`s going to be softening on this origin
theory from the lab, given, as you pointed out that several U.S. allies have suggested it`s highly unlikely that it originated in the lab. They
haven`t ruled it out altogether, but that`s their assessment as of now.
So it could be that the president, as he was even answering questions there a short time ago, will not go after that origin theory of it coming from
the lab. But again, he pressed on they need to be transparent referring to the Chinese and that they weren`t forthcoming early on. But that`s
something that our own reporting even uncovered.
And while (ph) we know that there was cover-up mishandling, that there was silencing of whistleblowers and that there was under reporting. And so that
is perhaps the argument that I think others will look at, certainly from the global community perspective and say that`s something that could gain
more support internationally.
However, when he started pushing the lab origin theory it became highly politicized, it angered the Chinese to the point where now they, through
state media are calling for the U.S. to be investigated by international folks to potentially figure out why the U.S. is mishandling their control
of the outbreak right now.
Hala.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
GORANI: OK. David Culver, thanks very much. Coming up, some good signs (ph) coming out of Spain as COVID-19 cases decrease there. But things are
not as bright for the country`s economy, and tourism. We`re live in Ibiza.
And Greece is lifting its lockdown, so how did a country with the second oldest population in Europe manage to keep coronavirus deaths so low? We`re
also in Athens.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Welcome back. The World Health Organization says the first confirmed case of COVID-19 outside China happened in Thailand in January,
however there are questions. And there are questions that are growing in number about when the first case outside of China truly happened, because
in France officials there are throwing a wrench in to that timeline, potentially.
Jim Bittermann joins me now from just outside Paris. So it is possible that there was a case in December, Jim, and I believe we`ve just lost Jim
Bittermann, but we`ll try to reconnect with him.
This is the new age of broadcasting, we have to call people on Skype connections and try to get them on their screens at home, and in this
particular case although it usually works, we just lost Jim. We`ll get back to him when we can.
We have been talking about hopes for a coronavirus vaccine, but a Spanish health official says it`s going to take more than that to control the
outbreak. Meanwhile, social distancing is hurting Spain`s economy, 3.8 million people are now out of work there and the pandemic is affecting
Spain`s tourist industry as its island getaways get hit hard.
[11:20:00]
Scott McClean is joining us live from Ibiza. So the issue with Spain is that yes, they are lifting lockdowns, but Ibiza, from Intera, other
islands, other coastal cities, need tourists from outside of Spain. They need them fast. What is the hope for this summer?
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, you`re absolutely right, Hala. First off, I just want to point out, it`s one thing to be under lockdown in a place
like London or Madrid, but just imagine being stuck inside for seven weeks in a place like this. Thankfully, as you mentioned, the restrictions have
been loosened a little bit. People are allowed outside for certain periods of time each day, but you`ll notice that there`s still hardly anyone on the
beach.
Now because they`ve had so few cases here in Ibiza -- Ibiza and one other island in the Balearic chain, where we are, have tried to convince the
central government to move up their reopening phase so far with no luck. Formentera island, though that you mentioned nearby, is already in that
phase.
Their stores, churches, restaurant terraces are already allowed to reopen, though we just got back from that island and we found there were many
businesses choosing to stay closed. In the Mediterranean Sea, Formentera is an unspoiled paradise with beautiful beaches, crystal clear water and
almost no sign of the coronavirus, but good luck getting there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`ve just been told that we have to go to the main port again to get some kind of test.
MCLEAN: 15 minutes before our 7:00 a.m. Ferry from nearby Ibiza we were told we had to take a rapid test for the virus before being allowed to
board. Almost an hour and a lot of confusion later, our fingers were pricked, our blood drawn, then the results.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are negative.
MCLEAN: Ok, that`s it? Negative and clear to sail. Formentera has had only seven confirmed coronavirus cases and a single death according to the local
government. Because of that, it and three other islands were given special permission to reopen a week earlier than the rest of Spain. Churches,
stores and restaurant patios are all allowed to open with limited capacity.
[11:25:00]
There`s just one thing missing, tourists. By and large, Spaniards aren`t allowed to travel, and Spain`s borders are shut to almost everyone. On the
island, tourism accounts for almost 100 percent of the economy. Alejandro Ferrer, the president of the Formentera island council, says it went from 7
or 800,000 tourists every year, down to zero. How do you come back from this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s complicado.
MCLEAN: It`s complicated. It`s been a month and a half since all establishments had to close and now they have a lot of new rules to put in
place, she says. New rules, but no new customers. Pao Mayer in Mayans (ph) doesn`t see much point in opening his prime oceanview patio this week,
maybe not even this month.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (foreign language).
MCLEAN: If there`s no mobility between islands, there are no tourists he says. He`s banking on domestic tourists this summer but maybe no foreign
ones at all. Juan Mecosta is in the same boat, he opened the island`s first five-star hotel last year. This year, the pool is still green, there`s been
no reason to open it. Can Formentera survive without tourists?
MECOSTA: No. Impossible. Without tourists, Formentera, we have nothing. We have only sand and one of the best beaches in the world. No more.
MCLEAN: A tourist-free island paradise might sound nice, just not to anyone here. So, Hala, new economic data out today shows that in the
Balearic island chain where we are right now, unemployment is up 60 percent compared to where it was last year. Places that rely heavily on tourism are
obviously being hit much harder, but remember that Spain`s overall economy is made up 12 percent by the tourism industry.
Spain had a high unemployment rate even before the coronavirus came along, but today this is a pretty stunning statistic. 1 in 10 Spaniards, that`s
men, women and children rely on some form of government income support.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
GORANI: OK. Thanks very much, Scott Mclean. Let`s reconnect with Jim Bittermann outside of Paris. And Jim, the question has been when did the
first -- well, I`m just not lucky with Jim, am I today. Although, we had the opportunity to talk with him last hour. We just lost him again.
Alright, the tech gremlins are out. That`s OK. I can basically sum up for you what the story is from France and hope to reconnect with Jim for more
context.
But it is possible, according to French officials, that the first recorded case of coronavirus actually happened in December in France. It was thought
to have happened a lot later than that. As similarly in the United States, as well, officials are looking back at severe flu cases and retroactively
trying to determine if those were COVID cases or, in fact, another illness.
And if it is the case, that there was a coronavirus patient in France in December, it means that the pandemic originated a lot sooner so it would be
rather significant. So we`ll try to get back to Jim in France a little bit later if we can. Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro says two Americans
have been captured in a failed coup over the weekend.
In a television address late Monday, he called the men mercenaries claiming their identification shows that they work for Silvercorp, a Florida-based
security company. The CEO of the company told "The Washington Post" that the two Americans were captured Monday along with a larger force, including
six Venezuelans, after launching an operation to infiltrate Venezuela.
Juan Guaido, the leader of the opposition and president of the national assembly, has denied any connection to Silvercorp according to Reuters. CNN
has reached out to the state department and Silvercorp for comment. We have not heard back.
Coming up, Britain is joining a host of other countries in launching its own contact tracing app. Does the program work though? And will it help
authorities combat the spread of COVID? We`ll be right back.
Testing, testing, more testing. That is the mantra coming from infectious disease specialists around the world. They`re urging mass testing to
contain the pandemic. But not all tests are accurate in the U.S. The country already behind the testing curve. Officials are taking steps to
weed out some faulty tests. Elizabeth Cohen has our story.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
TRUMP: Thank you very much.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just weeks ago, President Trump was so proud of removing regulatory barriers in the fight against coronavirus.
TRUMP: We`ve cut through the red tape to give doctors and patients unprecedented freedom to make their own health care decisions.
COHEN: But on Monday, his administration reversed course. It has to do with this, an antibody test. It tells you if you`ve already had COVID-19
and might possibly be immune to it. In mid-March, the food and drug administration started allowing companies to sell tests without first
proving that they actually got accurate results.
The outcome, dozens of companies started selling these tests, and many of them often gave false results. Monday, the FDA reversed course and said now
test developers do have to show their test work accurately.
[11:30:00]
How would you describe what the FDA did back in march?
REP. LLOYD DOGGETT (D-TX): A real breach of the public trust, yielding to President Trump instead of remembering its traditional responsibilities to
protect the public health.
COHEN: FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said it was all part of an evolution. We are continuing to adapt our approach based on real-world
experience and data, he said Monday. This has all informed the changes to our policy regarding antibody tests. But Representative Lloyd Doggett, a
Texas democrat who chairs the house ways and means health subcommittee said it was obvious that relaxing the regulations was a bad idea.
DOGGETT: It seems to have come as a surprise to the FDA that if it does not do its job, fraud arises.
COHEN: Recently earning FDA authorization, this test by Roche. They do have data and their data shows it has almost 100 percent accuracy.
SEVERIN SCHWAN, CEO ROCHE GROUP: And so this is pretty extraordinary, and what that allows us to really reliably test whether a person has been
infected by the coronavirus.
COHEN: Even with a nearly perfect test, there is a problem. If the test shows you`ve previously been infected and have antibodies, you might have
some degree of immunity to the novel coronavirus, but maybe not.
SCHWAN: There`s still open questions on how long will this immunity be? Will it be for one year, two years, several years? Will it, you know, be
full immunity or is a reinfection just less severe?
COHEN: Scientists need to work that out. Another mystery of this virus that`s caused this global pandemic. Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
GORANI: The U.K. is ruling out a new app to track the spread of COVID. The contact tracing app was launched today on Isle of Wight. It`s a small
island off the south coast of England, it`s got a small population. The program uses Bluetooth technology to alert users if they`ve been near
someone who has reported system or tested positive for it -- the virus.
Let`s bring in Hadas Gold, she`s here in London. So for this to work, you need a critical mass of people to use this app and to input the
information?
HADAS GOLD, CNN REPORTER: Hala, that`s exactly right, and the government said that they hope that of the 80,000 households on the island, that at
least half of them will utilize the app because experts say that you need to have at least 50 to 60 percent of a population using these types of apps
in order for them to be really effective in helping us to flatten the curve of the infection.
But let me walk you through how these apps work. As you noted, they use Bluetooth technology to keep track of other devices that you`ve been in
contact with. Now they say -- now the government says that all of this data is anonymous, all it does though is just keep track of what devices you
have been close to for a period of time.
Then if you download this U.K. government tracing app, it will walk you through different coronavirus symptoms and if you mark enough of them that
they think you might have coronavirus, it will send an alert to any devices that you`ve been around saying they have been around a risky contact.
They won`t know who it is, they won`t know when it might have been, but that they might want to self isolate or get a test then. If you do get a
test and you mark it down in the app and you test positive then it will alert those same devices saying, hey, this person has now tested positive
or if you get a negative test it will say false alarm, it`s OK.
Now, they`re rolling this out first in the islands that they can really get a good idea of how well it works, and then they plan to roll this out over
the next few weeks nationwide, and they think that this is a very important aspect of the overall strategy to try to lift the lockdown because it`s not
just the app, because as you -- as we have talked about before, not everybody has a Smartphone.
Not everybody has access to one, not everybody then has access to the app. So the U.K. government is also trying to hire 18,000 human contact tracers,
these people will do sort of the same thing as the app, but just by picking up the phone and asking you what have you been, who you`ve been in contact
with, and then they will actually reach out to anybody that you can think of that might have been in contact with you all. All of these things
together is what the U.K is trying to use to lift themselves out of this lockdown.
[11:35:00]
GORANI: And we were discussing the ages of people who, in fact, use their Smartphone`s on a daily basis or use their Smartphone`s to access the
internet. Unsurprisingly very young people use their phones, what, you know, 100 percent of the time to access the internet, but the older you get
and the less that happens. And older people are more susceptible, more vulnerable to COVID, so how do you -- how are officials going to get around
that?
GOLD: Well, that is where these human contact tracers also come into play. And it is important to emphasize here that this app is not sort of the one
key that will get us to understand and trace absolutely everybody who has been infected because getting that 50 to 60 percent of penetration of the
app is a very high number because even some of the most popular apps out there like Whatsapp, like Facebook might not even have that amount of
people who have downloaded the app.
Now the government is going to push hard on this, we do expect a lot of publicity campaigns around it in order to get people to download it, but
then of course, there are the privacy concerns that people have. Some privacy advocates don`t like the way the U.K. app is being developed
because the data is kept centrally versus decentralized on everybody`s phone.
But the government says having the data centralized is very important for them to be able to study the sort of trend perhaps of symptoms, the trend
of where these infections may be popping up and having it decentralized so they wouldn`t have access to that data.
GORANI: Thank you very much, Hadas Gold. Well, in the gulf countries in the middle east, thousands of foreign workers have lost their jobs because
of the coronavirus lockdown measures and normally they would just fly home. But many workers have been stranded for weeks because borders are closed.
This week India is preparing to begin evacuating some citizens from the region. Sam Kiley is in Abu Dhabi and he`s been looking into this topic for
us. Sam?
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
SAM KILEY, CNN REPORTER: Foreign laborers in Dubai, many of them now unemployed, stranded, feeling hung out to dry by government struggling to
fight the coronavirus pandemic back home. The Emirates simply couldn`t function without these laborers. They keep the wheels of commerce turning,
they keep the buildings being built. Well, the problem is there is no welfare state here.
When they lose their jobs, they used to get sent home. Now they can`t even get home. Foreign workers make up nearly 90 percent of the Emirates
population of about 10 million. About 40 percent of the foreign-born work force is from India. To control the virus spread, the Emirates have imposed
weeks of lockdowns and curfews, leaving tens of thousands either unemployed or unsalaried.
He says I`ve not received the salary of the previous month, March, and out of that salary, they only gave 150 rupees. That`s $2 for food and told us
to manage. This construction worker asked not to be named for fear of losing a job that, for now, doesn`t even pay. He`s unable to get home
because, as part of the fight against the coronavirus, the Indian government has shut its air space completely and refused to repatriate
anyone from abroad.
He says so we want, that until the flights start, give us our salaries. If not, at least give us food. We`ll be happy with that, too. But they`re not
giving that, they`re just saying go, just go. But many of these workers just can`t. So on, about 200,000 Indians have applied to go home, for now,
they`re stuck trying to make a few cents to get them through the day.
The Emirates are aware that they`ve got a serious humanitarian problem that also risks undermining the country`s glamorous self image. So they`re
offering free healthcare for stranded foreigners during the pandemic. After years of criticism from human rights groups over a lack of worker rights
here, the Emirates have rolled out an aggressive testing and quarantine campaign to combat the virus.
DR. AMER SHARIF, HEAD OF DUBAI`S COVID-19 COMMAND & CONTROL CENTER: There are measures in testing, these labor camps screening them and isolating
those who are positive. So there`s a lot of efforts across the government teams and the nongovernment teams to make sure that the -- of the well
being of the laborers and the labor camps in high dense areas in general.
KILEY: More than a million people have already been tested. That`s about 10 percent of the population. For weeks, India has refused to repatriate
its citizens because of the strict lockdown back home. Now, the Indian government says it hopes to start repatriations this week, but the huge
numbers of foreign workers, the dreams of earning enough here for a better life back home is now in tatters.
Now Hala, if you just think that the Gulf nations official levels of remittances from foreign workers here back home is estimated by the World
Bank two years ago at some $500 billion a year, and that`s not counting the informal remittances. You see just how important this region is in terms of
labor, of course, and in terms of the economy for nations like India. We got more than 3 million Indian nationals here, the majority of the
population here is Indian in the Emirates.
But this isn`t just confined to the Emirates at all, Of course Saudi Arabia has nearly 40 percent of its population is foreign workers. And all of
these people have been trapped by the realities of the coronavirus forcing nations, like the Emirates, to create, almost out of nothing, something
approaching a welfare state.
And they have been very open and interestingly aggressive about getting out, doing those testing, there have been no reports here of, for example,
food shortages, but a deep sense of frustration for workers here who want to get home, frustration really directed at their own governments, Hala.
[11:40:00]
(END VIDEO TAPE)
GORANI: All right. Sam, thanks very much.
Crowded train cars like this are just what officials do not want to see in New York City. We`ll look at a plan for the new normal on the largest
transit system in the U.S., coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Starting overnight tonight in New York City the subways will be closed from 1 am to 5 in the morning so the trains can be thoroughly disinfected. The
overnight deep cleaning is just one change officials are making to make commuting in the city safer.
CNN`s Brynn Gingras joins me now live from New York.
So it`s a good initiative, it`s a nice initiative but I mean, is that how most people - it`s not how most people catch coronavirus, you know? They
catch it from other people in their orbit and things like that.
What is the hope - what are they trying to achieve with this?
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Yeah Hala, I mean even the transit workers - there`s about 50,000 of them plus here in New York City, they
lost 100 of their members - nearly 100. So yes, you`re right it is - underneath these grounds is very much a way that COVID can spread.
So one of the major priorities that the MTA is taking is this disinfectant process, it`s never been done before. Of course, how many times have we
heard that in this pandemic? But the goal here is to really make people feel safe to come back to the trains, make the workers feel safe to be
operating these trains and these busses, and really get this city - which depends on mass transit, moving again.
It`s an eerie scene underground in New York City`s subway system. Platforms and trains are mostly empty. The pandemic slowing the country`s largest
transit system to a crippling pace. As New York gears up to slowly reopen the Metropolitan Transit Authority, or MTA which runs the system is
strategizing how it will handle an eventual boost in ridership.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course, yeah, I think that there`s some fear involved with going back.
GINGRAS: And to assure (ph) passengers it`s safe to return. It`s starting with a never been done before effort of shutting down the 24/7 operation
for four hours a night to disinfect every single subway car top to bottom and every station twice a day.
SARAH FEINBERG, NYC TRANSIT AUTHORITY INTERIM PRESIDENT: That might not feel like a big deal but we have almost 500 stations and we`re disinfecting
every touch point, every place where a rider might touch a railing. The next step is as ridership starts to come back, making sure we`re keeping up
with it.
GINGRAS: Disinfecting is the priority, what comes next isn`t yet on paper. The MTA says it`s getting ideas from other countries and medical
professionals, like how to achieve social distancing.
FEINBERG: And the advice we`ve gotten from them is be vigilant about mask use and get as much space as you can.
[11:45:00]
ERIC LOEGEL, NYC TRANSIT TRAIN OPERATOR: Ideally in terms of social distancing, you have a pole right here, right? So that could be one person.
The next person really shouldn`t come in to play until at least here. And then maybe you have another person over here.
GINGRAS: Eric Loegel drives the trains. He`s lost nearly 100 colleagues to COVID-19 in the last two months. Pre-pandemic he says he`d carry nearly
1,000 passengers on a single train. About 150 per car.
How many people do you think can fit on a car with social distancing?
LOEGEL: Oh boy - one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine - maybe say less than 30.
GINGRAS: The MTA plans to hire new people to man the platforms, direct riders to less crowded subway cars. Random temperature checks of passengers
is being considered and decals on the platforms is also a possibility.
Since the pandemic started ridership across all public transit is down more than 90 percent. The MTA estimates it will lose more than $8 billion this
year and recently asked for nearly $4 billion in federal aid.
FEINBURG: We want ridership to come back but we know that we have to make people feel safe and secure. For Weinburger (ph) he says he`ll be back,
reluctantly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For me, there really is no other option than taking the subway.
GINGRAS: It`s going to look like a different subway, isn`t it?
LOEGEL: It`s going to be unlike anything we`ve seen before.
GINGRAS: Yes, and we`ve been talking to a lot of commuters, and essentially we`re learning a lot of people are really just going to change
the way they commute once this city really does reopen, which we`re also hearing from the governor here in New York, it`s going to be a quite a
while, probably the last state in the country to do so.
And so many people are saying instead of the subway I`ll take a bike, or I`ll get in to a taxi - and of course Hala, as you can imagine there are
very strict measures in place there as well. Disinfecting and of course wearing masks for both drivers and passengers of the taxi services and
rideshare programs.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
GORANI: All right, Brynn Gingras, thanks very much. That`s going to be a big question as well for London, so what do you do? How do you keep big
crowds from congregating inside of "the tube," as its called here, do you stagger shifts? Do you - obviously you can encourage people to cycle but
frankly if you cycled in London, you know that it`s sometimes not the safest thing to do - especially if you`re not an experienced cyclist like I
am.
Now there are some signs that life is returning to normal, sort of. For instance, in the birthplace of pizza - a very small step taken there, but
one that is making people quite happy. Pizzerias in Naples, Italy are back in business and they are firing up their ovens again as the country enters
phase two of reopening.
CNN`s Ben Wedeman reports from Naples.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: (Inaudible) is busy - busier than he`s been in more than 50 days. Monday, Italy`s nationwide
lockdown was eased and L`Antica Pizzeria da Michele is now back in business, but only for takeaway and home delivery.
A year ago the restaurant would be full and there`d be maybe 20 people waiting outside, (Inaudible), tells me. It was here that Julia Roberts ate
pizza in "Eat. Pray. Love." But today she`d have to do her eating outside.
This pizzeria opened 150 years ago, in that time it`s stayed open during a cholera epidemic and the entire Second World War It only shut its doors
when coronavirus came to town. Elsewhere in Italy pizzerias continue to provide home delivery, but the no nonsense governor of the Campania region
where Naples is located, wasn`t willing to take risks in this relatively poor, crowded city and ordered all pizzerias to close.
He famously threatened to send police with flame throwers if students gathered for graduation parties. That, fortunately never happened and the
outbreak here has been mild.
Now (Inaudible) can be reunited with their beloved pizza, which local lore insists was invented here. Juliano and Francesca (ph) got by on homemade
pizza during the lockdown, but it just wasn`t the same.
JULIANO (through translator): For us (Inaudible) to go without pizza for this long is almost impossible, says Juliano.
BRUNO (PH) (through translator): Bruno is happy to get his pizza again, but worries people - especially the young are letting down their guard.
Everyone is together he says, it`s more dangerous now than a month ago as far as
[11:50:00]
Are letting down their guard. Everyone is together, he says. It`s more dangerous now than a month ago as far as I`m concerned. But the pizza`s
getting cold so good-bye. This pizzeria in the same family for five generations. Closure is a (ph) high cost. It was depressing, says Joe
Conduro (ph). We have 17 workers which means 17 families, and then there are producers of tomatoes and flour and mozzarella. Lockdown created
pockets of poverty. Now some stomachs and pockets can be filled again. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Naples.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Well in Russia, three health care workers who were working in COVID environments have mysteriously fallen out of hospital windows in
Russia over the past two weeks. Two of them are dead. One remains hospitalized. And there are police investigations under way in all three
cases and many questions about exactly what happened and why. Matthew Chance has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN REPORTER: Well, this is a potentially very dark development in Russia, where a doctor who criticized conditions at the
hospital on social media, he`s now fighting for his life after falling out of a second-story window.
Alexander Schulepov, a doctor who works in an ambulance in the city of Voronezh, is now in a serious condition with head injuries according to
local media reports. Earlier he had been diagnosed with coronavirus and had posted defiant messages online saying he was forced to work after testing
positive. Schulepov later retracted the comments before plunging out of a window in unclear circumstances.
[11:55:00] One of his colleagues told CNN that he`s preparing to be discharged from the hospital where he was received treatment. What`s
promoting so much speculation on social media is that this is the third Russian doctor who`s mysteriously fallen out of a window in recent weeks.
Earlier this month. A doctor in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk died of her injuries after falling during a meeting with local health officials.
Local media said the doctor had opposed the changing of a hospital into the coronavirus facility because of lack of protective gear.
Although the regional health department has issued a statement denying that. Last month the head of medical services at Star City the main
training base for cosmonauts, also died after falling out of a window. The authorities there called it a tragic accident and gave no further details.
What we do know though is that the Russian healthcare system and the medical staff who work in it are under increasing pressure as the
coronavirus pandemic ravages across the country. Matthew Chance, CNN.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
GORANI: So thousands of Americans crowded public spaces last weekend, ignoring social distancing guidelines, some of them not really bothering to
wear masks. I`m sure you saw some of that video and some of these images online, and as temperatures rise, patience among Americans is sometimes
wearing thin. CNN`s Brian Todd has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN REPORTER: The iconic Blue Angels and Thunderbirds staging flyovers over Baltimore, Washington and Atlanta Saturday to pay tribute to
health care workers, thousands flocked to landmarks and other public spaces to catch them. Some calling it a relief from corona fatigue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ve been cooped up for seven weeks and what a better opportunity to come down and visit the nation`s capital than when you have
the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds flying over?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was really nice. It really made you feel really good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, united. Especially seeing other people out here.
TODD: But that much needed respite, experts say is a big part of the problem.
ANNE RIMOIN, EPIDEMIOLOGIST: The problem is that the virus is still circulating in the population. We still need to have all of the social
distancing measures in place, all of the personal hygiene measures in place.
TODD: But that didn`t happen this weekend. Scenes like this at the national mall show that hundreds of people at the time defying requests of
public officials to stay home to watch the flyovers, same for central park and other parks in New York, hundreds not distancing enough, not wearing
face masks.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): I said that I think it`s disrespectful to not wear masks. You could kill somebody because you did want to wear a mask. I
mean, how cruel and irresponsible would that be in?
TODD: In New York, New Jersey, and Florida over the past few days, thousands of people were given warnings, summons and citations for not
distancing enough or failing to wear face mask coverings in public places. Parks and beaches that had been reopened, closed again. A noted
psychiatrist says what we`ve seen is a release, people letting out pent-up feelings of enclosure and anxiety.
DR. LISE VAN SUSTEREN, PSYCHIATRIST: What we are releasing now is simply the notion that we need to continue to worry at such a feverish pitch.
People can`t focus for a long period of time at really high anxiety. After a certain amount of time we get worn out.
TODD: Public health experts say this could grow more dangerous as the weather gets warmer, as more people clamor to get out. Even those that do
engage in distancing at parks may not be doing it in the right way. Gathering in groups of six to eight people defeats the purpose experts say
and there are other nuances people are missing.
RIMOIN: It`s very difficult to navigate that in an open setting where you have lots of people coming in contact with each other and it`s not just
necessarily a direct line, my face to your face. When we talk about six feet distance, we`re talking about it all -- at all angles here.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
GORANI: All right. That was Brian Todd reporting. Quick break. We`ll be right back.
(BREAK)
[12:00:00]
END
