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Quest Means Business

Japan May Extend Restrictions After Tokyo Outbreak; U.N. Reports Pandemic Cost Tourism And Related Industries $2.4 Trillion In 2020; Chinese Ride-Hailing Giant DiDi Raises $4.4 Billion In U.S. IPO; Bill Cosby Released After Conviction Overturned; Delta Variant Spreads As Africa Lags On Vaccinations; Wall Street Logs Winning Performance For First Half Of 2021. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired June 30, 2021 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:15]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: It is the final hour of trading for the first half of 2021, and look at the big board, it shows you how things

are trading. It's up 187 points at the moment, been up all through the session, strong session. We'll talk about why and how in the program with

David Rubenstein.

Also, the events of the day, the ultimate challenge. The IOC's Executive Director tells me the Tokyo Olympics will be worth the cost and the

controversy.

DiDi makes its debut. The Chinese answer to Uber is higher on the first day of trading.

And I'll be speaking to the head of the head of W.H.O. in Africa as the delta variant takes hold.

I'm live in New York today. It is Wednesday, last day of June -- June 30th. I'm Richard Quest, and yes, on the last day of June, I still mean business.

Good evening, we have a busy agenda ahead of us, including the release of Bill Cosby from prison in Pennsylvania after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court

vacated his convictions. We will update you later in the hour, and we'll show you what happens when he does leave court and be assured you won't

miss anything as the events take place.

First, though, we begin, the Executive Director of the Olympic Games says the delta variant is adding even more challenges to an Olympics already he

is describing as the hardest thing he has ever organized.

With nearly three weeks to go until the opening ceremony, a game that's already been rescheduled from last summer. I spoke to the man in charge of

it all, Christophe Dubi in an exclusive interview.

Now the time at the moment in Tokyo, it's already July the first; the significance of that is new rules have just come into effect putting all

Olympic visitors including athletes and staff and the tight restrictions for the next 14 days required to keep logs of movements, who they meet,

their daily health checks -- the lot.

And the reason of course, organizers and are confronting a new surge of cases in the capital. It adds a layer of complexity to the planning. The

Executive Director tells me when the Games finally do go ahead, it'll be worth it, he believes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHE DUBI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, IOC OLYMPIC GAMES: It is the ultimate challenge and the ultimate reward. Again, the things we can count, where

will you be and you will remember that moment and the closing ceremony, everybody will remember that moment. Will we have full stadium? No. Will we

have though, the whole world into the stadiums and the energy of the stadiums back to the world? Absolutely.

So complex, yes. But so worth the effort of the collective memory we're creating here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: The full interview with the IOC Executive Director is coming up in a moment after we hear a report from Tokyo, where there's an effort to get

more people vaccinated before cases surge out of control. Our correspondent in Tokyo is Blake Essig.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's been a little more than a week since state of emergency orders were lifted in Tokyo and several

other prefectures; ever since COVID-19 cases have started to rebound increasing for a 10th day in a row compared to the week before and that

could have an impact on the Olympic Games set to begin in just 23 days.

Recently, a panel of experts advising Tokyo's Metropolitan Government warned that the delta variant first detected in India is showing signs of

spreading and suggested that it could soon become the dominant strain here in Japan.

Currently, only about 11 percent of Japanese people here have been fully vaccinated in government officials say infections are spreading mostly

among young and middle-aged groups that haven't been vaccinated.

In an effort to limit the spread of infection, quasi state of emergency order is in place for Tokyo through July 11th. Tokyo government officials

have decided that the first eight days of the torch relay segment scheduled for next week in Japan's capital will be moved off public roads and held

without spectators.

Japan's Prime Minister has also said that the Olympic Games could be held without fans if the COVID-19 situation worsens.

Now, at this moment, Olympic organizers plan to allow no more than 10,000 local spectators at events or half the venue's capacity, whichever figure

is lower. Now despite continued calls for the games to be canceled or postponed, tens of thousands of athletes and foreign delegates will be

arriving in the coming weeks and that could include First Lady Jill Biden, who might attend the opening ceremony while a final decision hasn't been

made.'

When asked whether the First Lady will go, President Biden said quote, "That's the plan."

Blake Essig, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[15:05:25]

QUEST: The Games Director has told me this is the hardest event he has ever organized in 24 years at the IOC. Tokyo has had to deal with an

unprecedented number of hurdles.

For instance, the cost factor itself. Delaying the Games has already added billions of dollars to the price. One Oxford study said it's the most

expensive Summer Games in history. Then the safety, the IOC has had to make plans for COVID outbreaks amongst the athletes specific to every single

sport and event unique to those events.

And third, the complicating factors are still emerging. For instance, the delta variant, which the director says there are extra layers of rules for

countries to follow if they've been hit by the delta variant.

And so to exclusive interview with Dubi, where he was confident, he says, once these Games are underway, all the hard work will have been proven to

have been worth it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DUBI: It's the hardest thing because it is the most complex. So, it is that the hardest thing, Richard; at the same time, we have quality of people

here in the institution that are just stunning.

QUEST: So, one question which I sort of -- I ask with a certain obviousness. But is it worth it? I mean, the somersaults to get these

Olympics up and running. And I know that people in Japan are now more in favor of it than they were, the mood is shifting towards it.

But is it worth going through these gymnastics, if you will, just to have a sporting event when the world is facing such a pandemic?

DUBI: You see, I was reflecting about this moment, which for me, is always is always defining for the rest of the world, and that's the 10 second

count to the opening ceremony. We all have that souvenir of being there when the Games will open, and they open to what? They open to the world

gathering at one place in one stadium.

And this is the world united behind their colors, their uniforms, their music, their pride, and this is priceless. To see that, to see that the

athletes coming in as one is something that is absolutely unique, then, of course, we do it for the athletes, but we do it for the symbolism of having

the whole world together in Tokyo on the 23rd of July. And yes, it is most definitely worth it.

QUEST: You obviously have a plan for an outbreak of COVID. And obviously, that plan cannot mean the whole thing has to shut down because there's an

outbreak in the swimming pool or amongst the swimmers or amongst the gymnastics or amongst the marathon runners or whatever. What is that plan?

DUBI: The plan here is to identify first in every single sport and in every discipline what the rules are and how they do apply in a case of a positive

athletes. And this has been very well-trained and rehearsed in the context of more than 400 events at an international level, 54,000 athletes have

competed at the highest level and here, we've learned a lot.

Now, the complexity here is that once you have each and every sport, they do not all have the same rules. But what is really important is to identify

what happens in case there is an athlete that becomes positive. What's the sequence in order to identify the close contracts? What happens to the

close contact? How do you analyze the close contracts so that if they are not at risk, they can continue the competition?

So yes, all this is absolutely planned to the minute details.

QUEST: Right, because if you come into contact with somebody who has got it, but you are fully vaccinated, there's an -- yes, you carry on.

DUBI: And there, it is very interesting because you carry on, but vaccination does not mean that you're protected a hundred percent, so you

still have to go through the rigor of PCR testing, nasopharyngeal each and every day to demonstrate that yes, you were a close contact, but your

health condition is so such that you do not present a risk for the other competitors, so you're free to go.

[15:10:03]

DUBI: And to do that, to make that judgment call, we have a range of experts from around the globe that are gathering here, and every time we'll

have a case, they will help the authorities here to determine what happens next.

QUEST: I see that you're forecasting 80 percent vaccinated at this particular one, I'm surprised that that number is so low. I would have

thought that anybody coming even remotely who had an opportunity of coming to Tokyo would have been vaccinated.

DUBI: Now, the issue here is what you see in day-to-day life, which is in some countries, it is very complicated to access to a vaccination. So, we

made a great effort to seek assistance from different countries and different manufacturers to organize, where we could -- a system of hubs

where those that do not have vaccination in their country could go to these hubs and get their two shots.

So, it was of immense magnitude and that number reflects actually something that is much bigger than what happens in civil society for the reason that

you just mentioned, everybody wanted to be vaccinated. And again, in some countries, you simply don't have vaccination, you don't have access to

vaccination. So something had to be done here.

QUEST: How worried are you about the delta variant? And I'm not sure why necessarily in your case will be more worried about that than anybody else,

you know, you don't want virus at all, let alone the delta variant, but has the delta variant added a new wrinkle to the planning?

DUBI: You have to be able to adjust your plans and make sure that the information is clear, which is not easy, because the rules that we're

applying to everyone, suddenly you add on top a layer of additional rules and that has to be explained through a system where you have thousands of

individuals that will be impacted.

And as a result, what you have is that those nations affected by the variant have extra layers of rules that they will have to follow. But with

again, the rigor and the detail of the planning that has been done, that complexity can be absorbed.

QUEST: Wow. This is -- this is beyond complicated. This is three dimensional chess, with overtones on it, isn't it?

DUBI: You can look at it from the other perspective, it is the ultimate challenge and the ultimate reward. Again, the things you can count -- where

will you be and you will remember that moment and the closing ceremony, everybody will remember that moment.

Will we have full stadium? No. Will we have though, the whole world into the stadiums and the energy of the stadiums back to the world? Absolutely.

So complex, yes. But so worth the effort of the collective memory we're creating here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: The IOC Executive Director.

The cost of a year of lockdowns and suspended travel and events apparently is costing the world trillions of dollars in lost tourism. The estimate is

two and a half trillion by the end of last year in related costs. According to a new U.N. report, the W.T.O. the World Tourism Organization that is,

warning that a slow vaccine rollout could end up costing as much this year.

Vaccine rates are lagging in those countries dependent on tourism. The U.N. Travel Organization doesn't expect tourism to return to pre-pandemic levels

until at least 2023. Anna Stewart is here.

I sort of wonder reading that report, I mean, I guess they had hoped, people had hoped 2021 was going to make things -- was going to at least

start getting things better, but it's not really panning out like that.

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Yes, compared to last year, we don't have just one vaccine, we've got multiple vaccines successfully developed,

manufactured rolled out, you would expect tourism to have made some sort of recovery. And here, we're looking in this report several scenarios and one

of them has absolutely no recovery in tourism whatsoever and the cost from last year and this year combined in that worst case scenario, Richard,

would be $4.8 trillion for the global economy.

And you mentioned, that is hitting developing nations particularly hard. They bear the brunt of those costs.

QUEST: If you continue -- if we continue down this road, Anna Stewart, how much serious damage not as long lasting, but permanent damage is done to an

industry? They're saying 2023 is when levels get back to where they were.

[15:15:04]

STEWART: 2023 or actually over half of the experts that were interviewed for this report put it at 2024, even further beyond, and I think you have

to really look at some of the economies that are hugely reliant on tourism. It's a lifeline for millions. That's what one member said today.

They need to see a return of tourism, but it is the vaccine rollout and it's a multitude of issues, isn't it? It's not just supply, its

infrastructure, it is the digitization of health records. How can that be fixed?

QUEST: Where are you going for your summer holiday?

STEWART: Devon, Richard, I can't get very far, can I? But I am double vaxxed.

QUEST: You re double vaxxed. It's very difficult because not just when you get there, it's all about coming back, isn't it, into the United Kingdom,

into England with the amber list and all of that.

STEWART: It's the confidence issue. Why book a holiday? I did it last year and I ended up booking a multitude of flights to come home. It's not the

peaceful relaxation you want, is it? And I think that is part of the problem. It's not just restrictions and the virus, there is also a much

longer term, it is the issue of confidence -- Richard.

QUEST: The scones and clotted creaming Devon are superb. Anna Stewart will have a lovely time wherever she goes. Thank you.

Now, Africans are facing a frightening surge in COVID. Let's remember whatever we may have in terms of vaccines in the developed world, the

shortage across the continent leading to massive lockdowns. Zimbabwe's Finance Minister is with us later in the program.

And markets are well up on the first half of the year. The founder of the Carlyle Group, David Rubenstein -- and where it is all headed, in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: The Chinese ride hailing company, DiDi started strong on its New York Stock Exchange debut. Shares were up 20 percent, now around one

percent higher, so it looks like it was properly priced as you know we talk about this a lot.

The IPO has raised about $4 billion, the most by any Chinese company in the U.S. market since Alibaba and DiDi has come a long way in a decade. It

bought Uber's China business and forced the American competitor out of the country.

It also branched out into electric vehicles and autonomous driving, and the executives claim to make it a global technology company.

Clare Sebastian is with me. Now, when you say a global technology company, what do they mean? I mean, are they going to compete against Uber in the

rest of the world?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I mean, it is possible, Richard, in some markets, but that looks like it might be some way off.

Right now, 93 percent of their sales are in China. They are in 15 other countries, the biggest of which are Brazil and Mexico and it is possible

that they could expand beyond that into, you know, probably more emerging markets to begin with.

[15:20:15]

SEBASTIAN: But this mostly is for investors in the U.S., Richard, a bet on China, a bet on the consumption of ride hailing in China, and particularly

as the cities there grow.

The statistic that DiDi cites in its IPO prospectus from a survey that they commissioned by a Chinese consultancy called CIC, they say that economic

growth is expected to drive the urbanization rate in China to 70 percent by 2030. That's adding an additional 200 million city residents by 2030.

That they say that is the key to looking at this company and their addressable market going forward. That, and of course, the fact that this

company is investing big in two areas, electric vehicles and autonomous driving.

Going interestingly where Uber has now deemed it really can't afford to go, having pulled out of his own autonomous driving efforts at the end of last

year, capital intensive, so the big question, of course, as with all ride hailing companies is, will they be able to make a sustainable profit?

QUEST: Clare Sebastian, thank you.

The S&P is hovering near record highs as we get ready to blow the halftime whistle on 2021. The Dow is up some half a percent. The NASDAQ today lower

after hitting all-time highs on Monday. But if you look for the year overall, both the S&P and the Dow are up double digits since the beginning

of the year.

The investors celebrating the latest ADP data, private sector adding 692,000 jobs.

David Rubenstein is co-founder of the Carlyle Group. He joins me now from New York via Skype. David, it is good to see you, sir. I appreciate you

taking time. Thank you.

Let's start on the economic front here. We know the Fed were probably looking back end of next year into 2023 for lift off on rates, and we are

told inflation is temporary and contained. Do you buy that?

DAVID RUBENSTEIN, CO-FOUNDER, CARLYLE GROUP: I do think it's not a serious a problem as some in the market have thought. The truth is, during the

pandemic, many companies slowed down their production. And so now, as durables have been in great demand, people really have been buying more

durables than manufacturers predicted, prices have gone up, but I think it's temporary.

And remember, we've had inflation of under two percent for about 10 years. That's very low. Historically in college textbooks on economics, it was

said that inflation of three to four percent is normal. We've been well below that. So, right now, we're probably going a little above three

percent, but I don't think it's anything really to be alarmed about, not really now.

I worked in the White House in the Carter years, and we had double digit inflation. That's serious inflation -- inflation of three percent is not

serious.

QUEST: Right. But then you do get this timing question, do you think the markets are making too much on the timing of for example, talks over talks

over tapering, and when liftoff happens, do you -- did you think we will be in for many months of what to wait and see?

RUBENSTEIN: Well, when you've got lots of money at stake, people are paying attention to every word that Jay Powell utters, and I think there's no

doubt going to be some overreaction.

And I don't think we're going to have a taper tantrum of the type we had a few years ago when Ben Bernanke he was talking about tapering the

quantitative easing, but I do think people expect that there will be some tapering at some point next year, for sure, and I suspect the continuation

of $120 billion of purchases a month will continue for some time.

And generally, I think that inflation is not their biggest problem economically right now. I don't think that's the biggest problem.

QUEST: So, what is? If that's not, where do you see the biggest problem?

RUBENSTEIN: I think the biggest problem in the United States is we have to get the economy back to a level where most people are participating in the

economy. Right now, we still have eight million people unemployed who were employed before.

So, while the unemployment rate is technically 5.8 percent, the real rate is about 8.3 percent, so we need to get more people back to work. And then

secondly, and the most significant problem I think we have is the pandemic produced greater income inequality than we had seen before, and we had

great income inequality before, so many people have fallen way below where they were before.

And therefore, we don't want to be an economy that is a tale of two cities, wealthy people in the tech world, wealthy people in the financial service

world, and then people who are blue collar workers unemployed and unable to adjust to the new economic system. That's the big problem.

QUEST: What are the most pressing issues? Temporary, arguably, but it is there. Is this whole idea of a fundamental shift in the way we work, the

so-called working from home, the hybrid system. I'm obviously in the studio, I don't know whether you're in your office or at home, but do you -

- where do you stand on those who say hybrid versus the Morgan Stanleys, Goldman Sachs, and what's Carlyle doing in terms of hybrid?

[15:25:07]

RUBENSTEIN: Well, let me say that the pandemic has produced a way we will work differently forever, almost certainly. In just one year, we've

recognized we can do a lot more at home or with technology. I think most people who are large employers are saying to their employees, we want you

to come back, but you don't have to come back five days a week at the same hourly numbers that we'd had before.

I think most employers are happy to have people come back to work and want them to come back to work because I think there's some benefit to having

people together. But I don't think people feel you have to be in the office five days a week, as you were before or six days a week in some cases of

people who are really workaholics.

QUEST: Those days have gone. David, it's good to see you. You're looking well, and that is to be applauded. Thank you, sir.

RUBENSTEIN: Thank you, Richard. Good to see you.

QUEST: Thank you. It's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, live from New York. Health officials in Africa C.D.C., a very different story. They're making dire

warnings about the delta variant. The W.H.O.'s Regional Director for Africa is with me, and you'll also hear from Zimbabwe's Finance Minister, QUEST

MEANS BUSINESS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

QUEST: A stunning legal reversal in years, Bill Cosby is a free man, out of prison, released after the Supreme Court in Pennsylvania overturned his

conviction for sexual assault. He was released around an hour ago.

Cosby was sentenced to 10 years in 2018. Now, the court -- the Supreme Court says his rights were violated during the trial.

CNN's Sonia Moghe, CNN senior legal analyst, Elie Honig join me now.

Sonia, start with you. He's out. He's gone.

SONIA MOGHE, CNN PRODUCER: Yes. He walked out at 2:20 p.m. Eastern Standard Time here in the U.S. today. His defense attorneys confirmed to us, he was

picked up by a spokesman.

[15:30:10]

His legal team said that they are headed to Pennsylvania to celebrate with him.

This is a big victory for Bill Cosby after so many years of battling these charges. Now it is important to remember that this panel of judges made

this decision to release him from prison not because of any evidence of crime itself but because of a really big piece of evidence that was used in

his criminal trial, a civil deposition that he sat down for.

Now what they cited heavily in their decision was that a previous prosecutor, who declined to press charges against Cosby, made that decision

to decline to press charges against Cosby because, number one, that DA, Bruce Castor, felt that there was not enough evidence to convict him beyond

a reasonable doubt.

So he believed that the best option for the victim was for her to have him sit down for a civil deposition. And so Cosby sat down for that deposition.

And the statements that he made were used against him in a criminal trial. So that was really the crux of this decision.

QUEST: Sonia, we'll let you get back to your news gathering duties because obviously, this story is moving and moving fast.

Elie, I want to pick it up with you here on this question. So the judges basically said that he couldn't be tried because a previous prosecutor had

reached an agreement that he wouldn't be tried. That seems pretty fair to Cosby.

He gave evidence in a subsequent civil deposition as a result of that.

Why did it ever get prosecuted then by the later prosecutor?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Richard, that's a good question to ask. First of all, the first thing you have to think about here are the victims.

There are dozens upon dozens of victims. This has to be just a devastating moment for them.

So what the court of appeal -- the supreme Court of the state of Pennsylvania held today is that the deal that the prosecutor made back in

2004-2005 was we're not going to prosecute Bill Cosby.

And that compelled Bill Cosby to give testimony in a civil case. He had been sued by one of the victims and because he no longer had the threat of

a criminal charge, he couldn't take the Fifth Amendment. So therefore, he testified against his own interests in that civil case.

And then that testimony was used against him in the later case that he was eventually tried and convicted for. So there is really two questions to ask

here.

One is why did the original prosecutor make this deal?

We can second-guess that I think quite fairly.

And two is, if there was a deal in place, why did the later prosecutors go back on it?

And that's really what the Pennsylvania supreme court had a problem with. They said look, like it or not, your office is your office. Your office

made a deal in 2004-2005. You can't go back on it years later.

QUEST: Do you agree with that?

HONIG: In the big picture, I do. I mean the argument that the later prosecutors made was that, well, the fact had changed. But here's the

problem. And here's where they messed up, I think, Richard. They still used his deposition testimony.

I think that what prosecutors should have done, if it came years later and they decided this case has to be charged -- and I think that's the right

decision -- then you don't use that deposition testimony because the way you got that deposition testimony was the original deal that Castor made in

'04 and '05.

QUEST: But the -- I mean, victims, victims' lawyers are rightly outraged. The man has admitted in that deposition that he used Quaaludes and drugs to

-- before to have sex with women.

They are saying, that on a technicality -- more than technicality -- but he has got out of prison and the victims have basically been shafted once

again.

HONIG: It is infuriating. There's no question about it. I completely understand that. And I agree with it. And it is important to note, Bill

Cosby has not been cleared. He's not been exonerated. This is a procedural -- you can call it a technicality. But this is a procedural decision.

And really the fault lies here with the original prosecutor who made this deal, which I think was way too lenient. And then the later prosecutors,

who still used the benefit of that deal, who still used that testimony -- if they felt it was important to retry it, they should not have used that

old testimony. And by doing so, they ran the risk of this happening.

QUEST: Elie, I could talk for hours more about this and they -- but, unfortunately, we have some breaking news that I do need to bring to --

talk with you, so please forgive me, Elie Honig, thank you.

Now the breaking news, Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. Defense chief who was the architect of the Iraq War, has died at the age of 80. He served as Defense

Secretary under both Gerald Ford and George W. Bush, making him both the youngest and the oldest person to hold that office. His family said he died

surrounded by his family in New Mexico.

COVID is overwhelming African hospitals as the Delta variant spreads. The director of the continent's CDC says it's frightening for the week ending

on Sunday.

[15:35:00]

QUEST: COVID-19 cases were in Africa at 20 percent and the deaths rose more than 16 percent. That's the WHO. The global vaccination map shows Africa is

trailing well behind the rest of the world. Only 1 percent of its billion population is vaccinated.

We talked about this many times on the program. Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO's regional director, is with me from the Republic of Congo.

Doctor, I can't see this ending in the short term anything but badly. You have the Delta variant increasing; you've got hospitals and health care

systems underway and you've got a population that's not vaccinated.

DR. MATSHIDISO MOETI, WHO REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR AFRICA: It is indeed a huge concern. And we, in the WHO and the governments in the African region, in

Africa, are very concerned about this situation.

We're seeing the Delta variant present now in 16 countries. And in a few of them, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, it is

recently the most predominant variant when they do their genomic sequencing.

So it is a very big concern. We are, therefore, very strongly advocating for everything that can be done, sharing of vaccine doses so that African

countries can speed up their vaccination campaigns. This is vitally important.

So I agree with you very strongly.

QUEST: So it's estimated there are 11 billion doses needed for Africa, give or take. A billion or so donated at the G7. You're not even close. COVAX

isn't even close. The numbers donated so far won't -- will make a dent but that's all.

MOETI: That's true. The situation is very challenging at the moment. We have seen and we have heard countries make these promises of donations,

which are very much appreciated by African countries. And at the same time, we've seen African governments take their position within the framework of

the African Union to also look for vaccine supplies themselves.

COVAX is challenged by several realities. The first is that what was this really great idea of this multilateral platform for global solidarity, for

equity and access to vaccines has been hugely challenged by, first of all, supply challenges at a global level.

I think the capacity to produce was overestimated. And then the world's biggest producer, India, ran into such a crisis with its own situation,

that they have not been able to deliver to COVAX as promised.

Now we know as well that wealthy countries have bought up or reserved for themselves volumes of vaccines that are sometimes several times more than

their populations. So they certainly do have reserved more vaccine than they need.

And so what we are urging, in order to make a dent on this very challenging picture, is, first of all, to increase significantly the current donated

promises. We have the G7 countries having committed to donate 807 -- 70 million doses. These are urgently needed.

It is very important as well to release for the African Union's vaccine task team to buy some of the vaccines that have been reserved by wealthy

countries. And then African countries have to gear up themselves to be able to deliver the vaccines when we receive them.

So we need all of this to happen at the same time super urgently.

QUEST: We have just a minute or so left.

Ultimately, do you believe that more lockdowns will be necessary?

Is that the way to get over this third wave, this Delta wave?

It will have to be lockdowns?

MOETI: Yes. I'm afraid there are some situations, lockdowns will be inevitable. And governments are trying to avoid that. But sometimes it is

necessary to cut, slow down the transmission and give the opportunity for public health measures to speed up again.

And most importantly, for people who are, frankly, exhausted with some of the measures, to get the energy to get going again and for the vaccination

to catch up. So it may be necessary to do that though it is very regrettable for economies, for families, for children needing to go to

school, for many aspects of life in our countries.

QUEST: Doctor, thank you, I appreciate it. We will continue to talk more. And we'll talk to you again, obviously, when your busy duties allow. Thank

you for joining us on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

I will show you the markets as we leave you toward the end of the hour. The Dow is up 211. It is a strong performance. We are on the last day of the

first half. And we are seeing gains on all the major markets.

[15:40:00]

To put that into perspective, we've got double digit gains for H1 on both the Nasdaq and the SNP 500 and the Dow. And that is the way you see the

three -- I was wrong when I said the Nasdaq was up. It is down just a tad.

But the SNP will hit a record if it closes that way. We'll find out if it will close in about 20 minutes from now. That is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Join

me for the dash to the closing bell, which is at the top of the hour. Between now and then, "MARKETPLACE EUROPE" is next.

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QUEST: I'm Richard Quest. Two minutes to go. Our daily dash to the closing bell on the last day of the first half, H1 in 2021. And U.S. markets are

set to close a strong first half of the year. Dow's at more than half a percent on the day.

It's at more than 12 percent for the year. SNP, a record close; 14 percent gain for the year to date. The Nasdaq off just yesterday's all-time high,

12 percent gain for the year so far.

Most agree and across with the Dow 30, Walmart, the best of the day and a solid session for bank stocks as well as along with Walgreens and Boots

Alliance.

The executive director of the Olympic Games says the Delta variant is adding more challenges to an event he's already says the hardest thing he's

ever organized. I spoke exclusively to Christophe Dubi from Tokyo, who told me if the games finally do go ahead, it will be worth it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHE DUBI, IOC OLYMPIC GAMES EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: It is the ultimate challenge and the ultimate reward.

Again, (INAUDIBLE) we can count, where will you be?

And you will remember that moment. And the closing ceremony, everybody will remember that moment.

Will we have a full stadium?

No.

Will we have, though, the whole world into the stadiums and the energy of the stadiums back to the world?

Absolutely. So complex, yes. But so was the effort of the collective memory we're creating here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: And a reminder, the Olympics start in just a couple of weeks from now.

That is the dash to the bell at the end of the first half of the year. I'm Richard Quest in New York. Impressive gains on SNP and on Dow. Let's see

what happens in the second half. What's going to happen now is whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it is profitable. The closing bell

is ringing on Wall Street. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" follows.

END