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European Medicines Agency to Release Results of Oxford AstraZeneca Emergency Review; Former Brazilian Leader Urges Biden to Call Emergency Coronavirus Summit; Russia Condemns Biden for Calling Putin a "Killer"; U.S. Secretary of State Says China Has Role to Play in North Korea Denuclearization; Tanzania's President Dies after Weeks Unseen; Football Association's Child Sex Abuse Scandal. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired March 18, 2021 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The benefit of the AstraZeneca vaccine far outweigh its risk.
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This hour, millions of AstraZeneca vaccines are sitting unused in European fridges. The much-awaited verdict
from the European Medicines Agency due next hour.
Then --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brazilian health officials announced that a new single day record had been set.
KINKADE (voice-over): COVID cases continue to crash Brazil's hospitals. Doctors now juggling more patients than ever, with no beds left.
And --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): This man says that, for the first time in his life, he may leave his ballot blank.
KINKADE (voice-over): Election fatigue in Israel. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu now looking to form new alliances, going into yet another
election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: It's 10:00 in the morning in Atlanta, 11:00 am in Brazil and 3:00 in the afternoon in Berlin. I'm Lynda Kinkade in for Becky Anderson.
Welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD.
In just one hour, the European Medicines Agency is set to give its much- anticipated verdict on the safety of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. And millions of people right across Europe are eagerly awaiting the answer,
with the vaccine now on hold or restricted in 19 E.U. nations.
We've already heard from the EMA chief, who says the vaccine's use should continue and that its benefits far outweigh the risks. The World Health
Organization agrees with that assessment and officials saying report of blood clots in a few dozen AstraZeneca recipients that sparked the pause
may have nothing to do with the vaccine. Take a listen.
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DR. HANS KLUGE, WHO EUROPE (through translator): (INAUDIBLE) embolism is the third most common cardiovascular disease in the world. It happens in
populations, regardless of whether you're vaccinated or not.
At this point in time, however, the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine far outweigh its risk and its use should continue to save lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: The pause is only adding to frustration over Europe's sluggish vaccine rollout and it comes amid blunt criticism over AstraZeneca from the
E.U. for production delays and shortages. Our correspondents are tracking this story. Frederik Pleitgen has been on this story from Berlin. Cyril
Vanier is in London.
And the U.K., of course, is forging full steam ahead with the AstraZeneca rollout and criticizing the E.U. for pauses. First, I want to go to Fred,
because the cost of delays in rolling out the vaccine is, to put it bluntly, lives. And we are seeing a third wave of cases in Europe.
What can we expect when we see these findings presented?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: First of all, you're right. That third wave really seems to be there. And a lot of
European countries, talk about France right now, also Poland, really in a massive amount of new cases every day.
Germany also reporting a huge amount of new cases as well. And so, therefore, the fact that AstraZeneca and some of these countries is not
being administered right now, is, of course, something that really delays some of these vaccination campaigns even more that have been sluggish to
begin with.
That is something that does put a lot of lives at risk. Quite interesting to see, because the German authorities did say that they believe that it
was not implausible that some of these blood clots detected in people in which -- in which three people died here in Germany, that it's not
implausible those may have been related to the taking of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Now of course, the European Medicines Agency has the whole time said that they still believe that the benefits outweigh the risks of taking the
vaccine. Even the German government has still said they believe that, if the vaccine is a good vaccine, yesterday we heard Ursula van der Leyen, the
head of the European Commission, even she came out and said she believes in AstraZeneca. She believes in the vaccine.
So all of them right now are waiting to see what the European Medicines Agency is going to say. And then possibly these vaccination campaigns,
which have been delayed a great deal, could get back on track and could get going again.
As you rightly pointed out, Lynda, there are a lot of people waiting for that here in Europe. But also a lot of people who have become hesitant
about taking the AstraZeneca vaccine. We talked about the hesitancy near Germany. In France, for instance, only 20 percent of the people there trust
the AstraZeneca vaccine.
KINKADE: That is absolutely a big issue, Fred. Good to have you with us.
[10:05:00]
KINKADE: I want to go to Cyril because, obviously, in the U.K., we know that more than 11 million people there have had at least one dose of the
AstraZeneca vaccine and they say that there has been no excess deaths or blood clots as a result. And the prime minister there, Cyril, already
saying that he is going to get that vaccine soon.
CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris Johnson, the U.K. prime minister, seemed very pleased yesterday to announce that he was going to
get his vaccine shortly.
He made a point of saying that it would be the AstraZeneca vaccine, not the other one in use in Britain, which is the Pfizer vaccine. The AstraZeneca
vaccine is a point of national pride here. It was developed at Oxford University and has very high efficacy. It's very good at cutting down on
hospitalizations and deaths.
There is absolutely no question about that. And Britons have seen the benefits of using it. Three months ago, they were deep into a third wave of
coronavirus cases, with 60,000 infections a day. Now it's down to 5,000. And this after a strict lockdown but also relying on the AstraZeneca
vaccine.
Boris Johnson writing in an op-ed earlier this week that the vaccine is safe and works extremely well. And that isn't just a political assessment.
It's backed up by the data that the U.K. health regulators are looking at. And they have the same assessment as the EMA.
They say for the moment, we see no proven connection between adverse health effects and the vaccine.
KINKADE: All right, Cyril Vanier in London and Frederik Pleitgen in Berlin. We will continue to follow this story.
Next hour we'll have live coverage of the European Medicines Agency's announcement on the AstraZeneca vaccine and reaction from inside Europe.
While countries like those in the E.U. fight about which vaccines to use, others like Brazil don't exactly have that luxury. And hope there is
running out. The Pan American Health Organization says they're still reporting record high infection rates a year into this pandemic.
The death toll is the second highest in the world. And hospital, ICU stays, are nearly full. Matt Rivers is following this story from Rio de Janeiro.
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MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just about one year ago Brazil recorded its first death from the coronavirus and, right now, things are,
unfortunately, worse than they have ever been.
It was on Wednesday that Brazilian health officials announced a new single- day record had been set in terms of coronavirus cases recorded, more than 90,000 cases recorded on Wednesday.
Health officials also reported more than 2,600 additional deaths from the coronavirus. That is second most all-time for a single day behind the
previous record, which was set just yesterday, on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, we heard from the country's most important medical research institute, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. They talked about the current
situation, talking about how grave it is and they said, quote, "The situation is the greatest health and hospital collapse in the history of
Brazil."
If you look across the country, the latest analysis shows all but one of 26 Brazilian states showing ICU capacities in those hospitals at 80 percent or
more -- Matt Rivers, CNN, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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KINKADE: We're now joined by Dr. Artur Brito from Sao Paulo. You've been working as an infectious disease specialist in Sao Paulo.
Thank you for your time. You've been working as an infectious disease specialist in COVID wards and ICU units at three major hospitals there. We
know the numbers are awful. Just describe what you're seeing on the front lines.
DR. ARTUR BRITO, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST: Yes, Lynda, good morning to you, too, and to everyone, at least morning in Brazil. I don't know over
there.
But, yes, we are seeing -- now it's -- the situation is worse than it's ever been, actually. I'm in Sao Paulo, so I have the luxury of being in a
state that has much more infrastructure than other places in Brazil, like in Manaus and the Amazon, where the system collapsed in November. And even
oxygen was lacking from ICU departments.
So it was a terrifying situation. But now, even in Sao Paulo, in all the places are working, we don't have spaces, beds in hospitals anymore. So
people are actually, in private, like fancy hospitals in Brazil, like expensive hospitals, because we have a public and also a private health
system.
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BRITO: So even in those places, they don't have beds anymore, not even ward beds or ICU beds. So we are now beginning to be afraid of medicines,
important medicines like sedatives, going short. We won't be able to give them to the patients. So that's our current situation in Sao Paulo and all
over Brazil.
KINKADE: We know that more than 280,000 people have died in Brazil as a result of COVID. And every single day we're seeing the daily death record
toll break the last, every single day. Here in the U.S., we obviously have seen inequality play out as a factor. You mentioned it briefly there.
Can you talk about how inequality is playing out there?
BRITO: Yes, I think we have a similar situation as the U.S. But we are a country with even greater inequality, so it's even worse actually because
the factors are all the same.
I mean, of course, all of our population is lacking because we're Brazilians. But the Black population suffers more. And the social
inequality in Brazil is bizarre. So as I said, we have a public and private system. And although the public system has been a relief for -- 80 percent
of the Brazilian population depends only on the public system.
So if we didn't have any public system, we would be much worse than we are now but, of course, the private system has got much more money. So if you
don't have a private insurance and you need a hospital, you are dealing with even worse conditions now.
So we have different death rates within different hospitals, in a sense that we're not on the same boat in Brazil. That's been a reality. I work in
two private and one public hospital. So I can see that in an everyday basis.
KINKADE: We've seen, since the start of the pandemic, Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro continuing to downplay the pandemic, downplay the problem.
And in the last year, as a result, in part, you've had four different health ministers having to deal with it. No doubt that has made a terrible
situation even more difficult to manage.
BRITO: No, that's more clear by the day. We have a president that doesn't understand the situation, doesn't want to understand the situation, doesn't
empathize with regular Brazilian people, who criticized most of the measures that, all over the world, are being used to slow the pace of the
pandemic and try to control the virus at least a little bit so we didn't get to the situation we are now.
So of course, we have even scientific papers that shows that countries who have leaders who undermine the pandemic did much worse. And I think Brazil
is the biggest case in the world. So, fortunately, we are not one of the places that have the least infrastructure. We have some infrastructure. So
until now we've been able to control things with opening more beds, more hospitals.
But of course, that's got a limit because the spread of the virus is much faster than the capacity we have to open new places to put new patients.
It got to a point where, you can open new beds but you don't have people to work on them; although we could vaccinate all Brazilian health workers
until now, we already did it. But the number of professionals is not enough.
KINKADE: All right. Dr. Artur Brito, we appreciate your perspective in Sao Paulo and wish you all the best. Thanks so much.
BRITO: Thank you, Lynda, and thank you all.
KINKADE: Brazil's former president Lula da Silva wants U.S. President Biden to hold a conference to address the pandemic and the vaccine
inequity. His comments came in an exclusive interview with Christiane Amanpour. And just days after corruption and money laundering convictions
were annulled.
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LULA DA SILVA, FORMER BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): You should see and I know that the U.S. has vaccines in a surplus and that they're not
going to use all that vaccine.
And maybe that vaccine, who knows, could be donated to Brazil or to other countries even poorer than Brazil that cannot afford to buy the vaccine.
[10:15:00]
SILVA (through translator): So one suggestion that I would like to make to President Biden through your program is it's very important to call the G20
meeting urgently. It's important to call the main leaders of the world and put around the table just one thing one thing, one issue, vaccine, vaccine
and vaccine.
So the responsibility of the international leaders is tremendous. So I'm asking to President Biden to do that because I don't believe in my
government. And so I couldn't ask for that for Trump but Biden is a breath for democracy in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: You can watch Christiane's full interview with former Brazilian president Lula da Silva at 11:00 pm in Abu Dhabi. That's 7:00 pm in London.
South Korea's consulate in the U.S. state of Georgia is warning its citizens overseas to prepare for potential violence. It comes after eight
people were killed in a series of massage parlor shootings in Atlanta on Tuesday. Four of the victims were Korean.
Meanwhile, China says the attacks are outrageous and sad. Beijing is now calling on America to solve its racism problem and protect the safety of
its people there. Six of the shooting programs were Asian but police say the shooter's motive is still under investigation.
Still to come on CONNECT THE WORLD, Russia's angry response after U.S. President Joe Biden calls president Vladimir Putin a killer. And Joe
Biden's secretary of state heads for the next top on his first overseas trip trying to improve relations with China and North Korea. We'll have
some analysis from a former presidential adviser when we come back.
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KINKADE: Welcome back. A tit-for-tat diplomatic spat is brewing between the United States and Russia. The Kremlin angry after these remarks from
U.S. President Joe Biden.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He will pay a price. We had a long talk, he and I. I know him relatively well. This conversation
started off I said, I know you and you know me. If I establish this occurred, then be prepared.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC HOST: So you know Vladimir Putin.
Do you think he's a killer?
BIDEN: Yes. I do.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So what price must he pay?
BIDEN: The price he is going to pay, well, you will see shortly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Russia is calling the comments unprecedented, saying the U.S. leader, quote, definitely does not want to improve relations. The Kremlin
has since recalled its ambassador to the U.S. back to Moscow for what it says are necessary consultations on future relations with Washington.
To help dissect all the drama, I want to bring in CNN's Matthew Chance, who joins us live from Moscow.
The U.S. president certainly did not mince his words in declaring the Russian president a killer. The Kremlin, obviously, already saying that
those sort of comments are unprecedented.
[10:20:00]
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they're not happy about that sort of designation by President Biden, the Russian leader
as being a killer and they've made critical remarks of that.
Vladimir Putin himself, in fact, over the past hour or so, has been speaking on national television, giving his reaction to those remarks.
When he was asked by one of the reporters, what would he say in response to President Biden, he said, I would wish President Biden health and wish him
well. He said, I say that without joking or without any irony, which is a strange thing to say.
but of course, what it's a reference to is, on Russian state media, it's been absolutely filled with speculation that Joe Biden's age and his state
of mental health had an impact on the comments he made about President Putin.
Putin clearly speaking into that sort of idea that it's a mentally feeble President of the United States that's making these comments. It plays well
domestically.
It didn't stop there. Putin went on to say that people tend to see others as they are themselves, voicing this sentiment that translates as it takes
one to know one or something like that. He went on to raise the genocide of Native American tribes in the United States, in America, to raise the issue
of slavery, the bombing by the United States of Japan with nuclear weapons in the Second World War, sort of saying, look, is it really the Russians,
is it really us that's the killers?
Or is it the United States that are the killers?
He took this opportunity of this insult essentially that he got from President Biden to remind people in Russia and around the world, of course,
who are watching this of the historical grievances that the Russian people have, many of us have, with the United States.
So the Kremlin clearly trying to turn this to their advantage. But they're very angry and the fact that they've recalled their ambassador from the
United States, that hasn't happened for decades.
It's a sign of that anger and also a sign that they are concerned that this relationship with the United States, which has been fractious for several
years, is going to get worse before it gets any better -- Lynda.
KINKADE: Certainly sounds that way. Matthew Chance in Moscow, good to see you. Thank you.
The U.S. secretary of state is getting ready for his first meeting with senior officials from China. The Chinese say they don't expect a sudden
thaw in relations. China's ambassador said Beijing does not have high expectations about meetings with Antony Blinken in Alaska. Those talks are
set to start soon and go through until Friday.
They come just hours after a trip to meet with South Korea's president, Moon Jae-in. Blinken says China has an important role to play in keeping
the Korean Peninsula safe.
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ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: China has a unique relationship with North Korea. Virtually all of North Korea's economic relationships,
its trade go -- are with or go through China. So it has tremendous influence.
And I think it has a shared interest in making sure that we do something about North Korea's nuclear program and about the increasingly dangerous
ballistic missile program.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: We want to bring in former presidential adviser and CNN senior political analyst David Gergen.
Good to see you.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you, Lynda. Good to see you.
KINKADE: So the U.S. secretary of state set to meet with China's foreign policy chief today. Of course, there are a lot of disagreements to discuss,
from trade, human rights, regional security.
What can be achieved?
It sounds to me like expectations are low on both sides.
GERGEN: They are indeed. The relationship between the U.S. and China has, in many ways, reached the lowest point since 1949 when the Communists took
over. And similar to what you just heard about U.S. relationship with Russia, there are a lot of people who think the U.S. relationship with
China are actually going to get worse in the near term.
We'll have to see. I think both China and the U.S. are heading for Alaska to have a talk, which is really about a reset in the relations, both sides.
The U.S. is extremely disappointed in the behavior of China over the last few years with regards to technology, military affairs, human rights, Hong
Kong, Taiwan.
There a list of grievances the U.S. has and there are a list of grievances on the Chinese side that they'll want thrashed through. So this is going to
be a tense meeting for the most part. They'll issue something at the end of it.
But everyone knows there's some serious business being done. Notably, the United States first, before sitting down with China, the United States
first sent Blinken into Tokyo to talk with the Japanese, talk to the South Koreans. And, through the Quad process, President Biden has been having
conversations with Australia and India.
[10:25:00]
GERGEN: In effect, the United States has been lining up its friends, its allies, before talking to China.
KINKADE: Just because you've mentioned the Quad, I want to ask about that strategic alliance against China, that being U.S., Japan, Australia and
India.
GERGEN: Right.
KINKADE: How much of that is about trade?
GERGEN: Is about what?
I'm sorry.
KINKADE: About trade; how much is that alliance focused on trade?
GERGEN: OK, you were a little garbled there, I'm afraid. But the alliance -- the alliances on both sides have frayed, both with the Russians and
America and with America and China.
But it's not to say they can't be reset. It is to say that it's difficult. I think the one issue that's lurking in the background, we just came off a
sharp exchange between President Biden and the Russian, Putin. Now we've got exchanges building up that could be tough with China.
There is a danger in this situation that you drive -- if you go too far with it, if America gets too angry, you drive the Russians and the Chinese
into each other's arms. And that would not be helpful for U.S. diplomacy or for stability in the world.
KINKADE: Looking at what took place over the last year, how much did the U.S. relationship with China disintegrate further as a result of president
Trump directly blaming China for the coronavirus?
GERGEN: Oh, I think there's no question that the Chinese took very ill the Trump years, which Trump had to say. Even as Trump was -- had developed a
relationship with the Russians and almost seem to be protecting them, the relationship with the Chinese definitely got harder edged.
And I think that's where we are today, that there is this hard edge. And no one quite knows how this is going to all come out. I think what Blinken is
looking for is to move from this deteriorating situation, which, I think, if Trump had been in office, re-elected, would have gotten quite bad in the
next few months, next couple of years.
But I think he's -- Blinken has a chance to reset, if it's done carefully, done wisely and with the support of a lot of allies. The Chinese will feel
maybe they've got to clean up their act and can't do some things and be less aggressive.
Hopefully, the same thing will happen over the Russians. But at this point, I don't think we know whether these relationships are going to continue to
deteriorate or whether they may show some stabilization.
KINKADE: Certainly in need of a reset with regard to that relationship. David Gergen, good to have you on. Thanks so much.
GERGEN: Thank you, Lynda.
KINKADE: Well, still ahead on CONNECT THE WORLD, Tanzania are saying farewell to its president.
Will it change how the country copes with COVID-19?
We'll have a live report next.
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KINKADE: Welcome back.
Tanzania is in national mourning for the next two weeks following the death of president John Magufuli. He was 61 years old. The vice president says he
died Wednesday of heart problems in a hospital in Dar es Salaam.
There was speculation he was critically ill with COVID-19 during the pandemic. He had downplayed the dangers, claiming Tanzania had defeated the
virus through prayer.
CNN's David McKenzie is standing by for us in Johannesburg and joins us now.
David, just take us through what we know about his death because officially we're hearing heart complications. But there are a lot of, particularly
opposition politicians, pointing to COVID-19.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, several weeks ago, my sources and other reporters' sources in Tanzania started raising the prospect that he
was sick with COVID-19. He did disappear for more than 2.5 weeks.
He would regularly go to church services, often railing against the measures other countries had put in, to try and stem the pandemic,
including telling people not to wear masks, saying that vaccines shouldn't be coming into the country.
He even at one point suspended the testing for COVID-19 in the country, leading to a lot of pressure from the WHO and foreign diplomats in the
country and even his neighbor, Kenya. So there were those rumors, many of them, not just from the opposition but from everyone.
But because of the secrecy around his health and his location, you know, those, for now, haven't been exactly corroborated. As recently as last
Friday, the prime minister warned people not to spread rumors. Several people, in fact, were arrested for doing just that.
But given the secrecy and the autocratic nature of his presidency, in many ways, I think many people are raising serious question marks. But the
reality is, no matter what, this very prominent leader in East Africa has now officially passed away and the vice president will take over.
KINKADE: In terms of his legacy, the president was praised for cleaning up corruption.
Did he reach that goal?
MCKENZIE: Well, certainly in the early years, he was known as the bulldozer. He came in, did get rid of government wastage. The previous
administration to him was heavily tainted in allegations of corruption. So he was seen as someone who could get things done.
I think since then, his legacy has become more complicated. He cracked down on the free press in Tanzania, civil society; he certainly rolled back,
according to many, rights for young women and girls in the country. So it's a complicated legacy around the continent.
And overseas today, there have been praise and dismay at him passing since it's a critical country in the continent and an important leader. This is a
significant moment. But behind the scenes from that, it's a complicated legacy.
And that loss of democratic space in Tanzania and the way he treated COVID- 19, there were literally families trying to bury their loved ones in the cover of darkness last year.
And so much confusion this year in the midst of what appeared to be a second wave of the disease, that, in the short term, at least, will be his
legacy for many going forward.
KINKADE: Absolutely. David McKenzie, good to have you on the story for us. Thank you very much.
I want to bring in a guest for more on this. Linus Kaikai is the director of strategy and innovation at Citizen TV Nairobi and joins us via Skype.
Good to have you with us. I have to ask you, obviously, about the president being one of the most prominent coronavirus skeptics in Africa. He was only
61 years old.
How will he be remembered?
LINUS KAIKAI, CITIZEN TV NAIROBI: Thank you, Lynda. The developments south of Kenya, the neighboring nation of Tanzania, have been received with a lot
of shock, although there had been quite a lot of time to basically worry about what was going on there because of the turn taken by the president of
Tanzania, which is to stand in the opposite direction of everything COVID- 19, whether it's vaccines, whether it's the way the disease is spread or whether it's about masks.
[10:35:00]
KAIKAI: He took a very different stance from the rest of the region. Now the shock is, this is the second president to die in this region of COVID-
19. Last year, the president of Burundi died over COVID related complications. So in the region, it is quite a shock.
And quite a mixed legacy because, on one hand, he is well regarded at home because of his development record, whether it's the infrastructure part,
where he has managed to deliver on the construction, a lot of bridges constructed, roads during his time.
He's regarded quite well on that front but diplomatically he was quite a difficult time to deal with, even at the regional level. He doesn't attend
meetings of federal heads of states, he didn't seem to have very warm relations with his fellow presidents around the region.
KINKADE: So according to the vice president, he died of heart complications. It was opposition politicians that came out and said that he
had COVID-19 because he hasn't been seen in public in recent weeks.
Is there any other indication that he may have had the coronavirus?
KAIKAI: I think the biggest indication that a lot of analysts are looking at is the people -- the number of people around him, the number of people
around the president that actually died of COVID-19.
There was the first vice president of Zanzibar. There was also his chief of staff that -- who works literally next door in his office, also dying of
coronavirus. And then there was the meeting that was held in Chato (ph) some time mid-February that brought together all these leaders, three of
them that are now dead.
So it is expected that it is reasonable for somebody to draw a conclusion that if the people around you are falling dead because of COVID-19, it is
very, very likely that, even though the president had a heart condition that started in 2006, he's been (INAUDIBLE) and working with that case (ph)
actually, it is possible then that COVID-19 complicated that further.
KINKADE: Can you give us some sort of insight into how bad the COVID-19 situation is there, given that Tanzania hasn't reported any data since last
April?
KAIKAI: We can only speculate. There have been no official numbers out of Tanzania since April 2020. That's the position of President Magufuli. He
just basically ordered an end to reporting of the numbers. So we have absolutely no indication.
But just by looking at events around the border points, especially the border with Kenya, there was, at one point, 50 truck drivers tested
positive. Literally every truck driver that was at a border post was testing positive for COVID-19.
So even though the official numbers have not been coming out, it is believed that the situation there is not good at all.
KINKADE: His death, of course, creates quite a political vacuum there.
How could his death alter the political landscape going forward?
KAIKAI: The first thing that will happen is a major realignment of the ruling party structures within Tanzania. Their constitution says that the
vice president, in the event like this, where the president dies in office, assumes office for the rest of the term.
So what you expect to see in the next few days is the swearing-in of the vice president to be the next president and to serve until 2025. It will be
clear on Saturday, when the ruling party, called the Revolutionary Party, meets on Saturday to decide another very important appointment. And that is
the appointment of who will be the next president.
Just one thing about the political message in Tanzania. There's a very thin line between the state and the party. So the ruling party has been in
office since independence in 1960 to date. Also we expected to see the structure that balances power between the mainland Tanzania and the island,
Zanzibar.
Sulu Hassan, the vice president, comes from Zanzibar. So when she becomes president, the vice president automatically must be from the mainland.
The other balance they have to strike is that of religion. When it is -- when a president is Muslim, then the deputy president or vice president has
to be a Christian. It is unwritten. It's not anywhere in the constitution of Tanzania.
[10:40:00]
KAIKAI: But this was the method put in place by the founding president. And it has been followed and we expect it to be followed once Hassan takes
office anytime now.
KINKADE: All right. We'll have to leave it there. Linus Kaikai, director of strategy and innovation at Citizen TV citizen Nairobi, good to have you
with us. Thank you.
You are watching CNN. We'll be right back. Stay with us.
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KINKADE: They call it the beautiful game but football's dark and ugly side has been exposed by a massive sex abuse scandal in England. Don Riddell is
across that one for us today on "WORLD SPORT."
Hi, Don.
DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is just an awful story. It emerged a few years ago. But it's back in the spotlight in a very big way
this week because an independent review, which ran to 710 pages, looked at exactly what happened and what went wrong and what can be done in the
future to try and prevent it.
This is obviously a very, very difficult and worrying time, especially for families and young players in the game. We've seen scandals like this in
other sports, notably in gymnastics.
But now football in England is having to confront it as well. Today I have spoken with the former Premier League striker, Paul Stewart. He played for
some really big clubs -- Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham -- and he was one of the first to come forward. And it was really interesting and
quite sobering getting his perspective.
He's also not particularly happy with the report and the details in it. We'll be talking about that next on "WORLD SPORT."
KINKADE: Certainly a very important story. "WORLD SPORT" coming up next. Thanks, Don.
And I'll be back at the top of the hour.
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