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Connect the World
Russia Struggles as Coronavirus Cases Rise; Some U.S. State Start to Reopen; Lebanon's Hunger Protests; Sheryl Sandberg and David Miliband on Coronavirus Pandemic. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired May 01, 2020 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:01:30]
HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome, everybody. I'm Hala Gorani. And this is CONNECT THE WORLD.
Like every other day in the last few months, we have lots of news on this coronavirus pandemic.
So for the next hour, we will take you around the world -- from Russia, where cases are rising and the prime minister is testing positive.
To the United States where some states are starting to open up.
And the Middle East as well, where the pandemic has exacerbated an economic crisis in Lebanon and reignited protests in the street.
And later this hour, I'll be speaking to Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg and former Foreign David Miliband. We'll talk about how COVID-19 changed our
lives, online and among the most vulnerable communities.
Let us start this hour in Russia.
You may remember as the coronavirus raced through Europe back in March, Russia claimed that it was in fact largely unaffected. It was sending
medical equipment to other countries, even to the United States.
Now, the news out of Russia is getting worse, by the day, with the nation still on lockdown. New cases in Russia jumped by nearly 8,000 today. That
is the largest increase so far.
And that comes a day after the prime minister announced that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and is self-isolating.
Matthew Chance joins me now with more on what's going on there.
And what is the prime minister's -- how is he doing, self-isolating, we know Boris Johnson had a tough time of it, do we know how the Russian prime
minister is doing?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We haven't had that update, but he told Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, last night
on state television when he made this announcement that he tested positive for coronavirus on a video call that he was on with the Russian president
that he was heading off to hospital and he sort of said he would give Vladimir Putin a call when he got to that hospital. He looked absolutely
fine. For the past couple of weeks, we're told by Russian officials the prime minister has been essentially, you know, self-isolating and
distancing himself at least from various officials had to be working with to do his job.
But, you know, it does send a very grim message, doesn't it, you know, that Russia, which as you mentioned had been saying it had this virus under
control, even seeing officials at the top of its administration being affected acutely by it and that, of course, comes amid the latest casualty
figures that have been released by the Russian statistical office saying the number of people infected is now more than 114,000 and it is up 8,000
people in just one day. The most in a single day that they had since this crisis began, Hala.
GORANI: All right, Matthew Chance, live there with an update on what is going on in Russia.
Now, from Russia, let's take you to the United Kingdom, an optimistic message from Prime Minister Boris Johnson, let us all hope that this
prediction and this assessment pans out, in his first briefing since recovering from COVID-19.
Mr. Johnson announced that Britain is now, quote, past the peak of this disease, unquote. But obviously it is far too soon to celebrate the number
of coronavirus cases are still on the rise, and the country is on track to have the highest death toll in Europe. And a new study shows that ethnic
minorities in this country are dying at a much higher rate than the white population and there are still questions about why that is.
[10:05:09]
Let's bring in CNN's Nick Paton Walsh here in London.
And the Prime Minister Boris Johnson also brushing aside and pushing back against any criticism when he addressed reporters yesterday that his
government was responsible for acting too slowly -- for reacting too slowly to the pandemic and not providing hospital and front line workers with
adequate protection.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, this was his key first time to stand in that podium after he recovered from the disease and
clear to give a message of positivity, certainly I think they waited for him to be there to say the peak had passed, officially. But at the same
time too preparing the nation for possibly continued social distancing or restrictions ahead of May 7th, next Thursday, when they're due to review
the current measures in place.
We hint that we would be seeing possibly changes to schools, child care, maybe some nonessential shops being allowed to reopen again, but that
possibly detailed in the weeks or days ahead. And also the London mayor suggesting too that even if we do see stores opening again, it may be that
pubs, restaurants, clubs long distance away from being able to reopen.
So, the government clear to try and sound as though the measures they put in place have been effective while also battling off the notion they acted
too late. I have to remember back when before we saw the lockdown put in, there had been a week ahead of that in which people that had mild symptoms
were told to stay at home and government had persistently said if they introduced those measures too early, that people would not pay attention to
them and start coming out again.
And, Hala, I'm sure you can see here too in London, life is quickly getting it seems back to a -- busyness again we haven't seen for some time. So,
they have a tough challenge next week when they try to get everyone to stay indoors yet further.
GORANI: Yes, even senior conservative politicians, Nick, accused the government of infantilizing Britons by, you know, not sharing with them
whatever strategy they might have because then they might be feel like the lockdown period would end soon.
So there really is a hunger out there, even for members of the conservative party, for some sort of road map and the prime minister has promised
something next week, I believe.
WALSH: Absolutely. As I said, it isn't clear precisely how they will lift these restrictions. There has been criticism particularly from the
opposition Labor Party here that there isn't a delineated map. The government put forward five points they know they want to satisfy, frankly,
all metrics that they determine themselves.
But the key one really now, protective equipment being key, the death rate going down, infection rate going down, being sure there isn't a second peak
key is, of course, the second peak at this point of making sure the NHS isn't overwhelmed at a future point. But they are under great pressure
across the nation, to get the economy rolling again, to limit that particular damage.
We're hearing airlines suffering enormously here, ideas that the airport at Heathrow in London may not see any expansion in the years ahead as planned.
A lot of damage being done here, particularly too to London's public transport, which if it does reopen, it may well itself be in a different
socially distanced kind of way.
So, huge changes to life in the capitol likely. The government simply hasn't laid out how it intends to do that plan, possibly, because it fears
people will start enacting those measures ahead of when they're supposed to -- Hala.
GORANI: Yes, and I agree with you, I've noticed more traffic on the roads, I've noticed more people on the sidewalks. So perhaps people are starting
to experience very high levels of cabin fever and they're getting a bit impatient. But the numbers are not encouraging in the United Kingdom.
Thanks very much, Nick Paton Walsh.
In Spain, major European hot spot is moving past the worst of its outbreak in a way that we can measure, in a way that we can observe. Madrid's field
hospital, once filled with COVID patients, actually closed on Friday. More than 100,000 people have recovered from the virus in that country. And
earlier this week, the Spanish government announced plans to reopen starting as early as next week and some of the lesser affected areas.
Let's get to our Scott McLean. He is live in Madrid.
So, it is interesting that Spain, the government there feels there is no need anymore for that big field hospital.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're absolutely right, Hala. And if you have any doubts about just how remarkable this is, let me show you
the scale. We're talking about a room easily the size of an airport hangar that is filled with beds from wall to wall.
And, remember, there are two of these that were filled. At its peak of the facility, they were seeing 1,300 patients.
[10:10:03]
They saw 4,000 in total in the six weeks since this facility was open. And they got started less than 24 hours after they were first asked to become a
field hospital, and in the beginning, in the early days, there were definitely moments where there were complaints about this place being badly
disorganized.
But perhaps you can understand why, considering this went from being a convention center to a hospital in such a short period of time. Each one of
these beds has a nurse call button and oxygen. Not a ventilator, those are in short supply, but access to oxygen.
Spain right now is starting to loosen its restrictions. Even tomorrow, adults will be able to exercise outside for the first time in seven weeks,
Hala.
So, the government is confident that they can avoid a second spike, but not so confident that they're willing to dismantle all of this. All of this as
you see it right now will stay in place for the next month. When they do start to take it apart, all of the equipment will go away.
But in here, in the floor, and then coming up here, you can see all of these tubes and things for the oxygen, those all will remain in place, so
that they can quickly get this back in working order if need be, Hala.
GORANI: OK. So, that's interesting. They're keeping the infrastructure in place. That means there must be a concern that a second peak is possible.
MCLEAN: Yes, you're absolutely right. I mean, part of the problem with this virus is that it has such a potentially a long incubation period that
officials say, you know, it takes a week, it takes two weeks to really see whether or not you're making any progress.
So, a week and a half ago, they let kids out for an hour a day to go in play. They haven't probably seen the impact of that change. Tomorrow,
they're going to start letting adults out to exercise for an hour a day as well. But it may take a while to see whether or not these things are
happening too fast. Even on Monday, in some parts of Spain, I mean, some remote parts of Spain, parts of the Canary Islands and one of the Balearic
Islands, you'll even see restaurant terraces start to open because they've had so, so few cases, the week following, that's when the rest of the
country will see similar changes.
But, again, they want to be able to measure this, and Spain has really had a hard time ramping its testing capacity, to where they need to be, even to
their initial goal of 80,000 tests per day. They haven't gotten there yet. So, they're flying a little bit blinder than they would like to be into the
future of trying to deescalate, as they say, in this country, from the peak of this outbreak.
GORANI: All right. Scott McLean, live at that large field hospital -- inside the large field hospital in Madrid, he's been there since the
beginning, reporting on this pandemic, thanks very much, Scott.
Across the border, French officials have announced a decline on the daily death toll on Thursday. Less than 300 corona-related deaths were recorded,
which is relatively speaking an encouraging number.
CNN Paris correspondent Melissa Bell joins me now live.
And the French president, even though there is a plan to lift some of the strictest lockdown measures, is careful to tell the French this doesn't
mean we're returning completely back to normal.
MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. What they've been very clear about, he reminded the country again today, Hala, is that
although it begins on May 11, that lifting of the stay-at-home order, it will take some time for the country to get back to what it was and we're
talking about a staggered reopening of the economy that will be spread out no doubt over many months, and reevaluate in June to make sure that the
numbers are still going down.
This, of course, Hala, as France is now being under its lockdown policy for more than six weeks, and what we've seen all over the world, a history
that's been repeated again and again, Hala, is how different confinement can look, that it is not at all a great level, on the contrary, it has
served as a magnifying glass for some of the equalities that exist.
Here in Paris, there is a particularity due to the country's cities, geography, its history. That means that many of the more difficult
neighborhoods, the less affluent neighborhoods are essentially outside of the city limit themselves. We decide and go and see how the lockdown look
there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BELL (voice-over): For some, France's stay-at-home order means living in fear.
Doubacar Diallo, one of the 600 people who live in the social housing complex just outside of Paris, says that COVID-19 arrived here in early
March.
One apartment is being disinfected after its occupant suspected of having coronavirus was found dead inside.
Many, including Doubacar, who are sick with COVID symptoms, and told to stay in the building where people live four or five to a flat, but where
many more will gather in the kitchens at meal times because he says many have lost their jobs and have nothing to eat.
DIALLO DOUBACAR, RESIDENT (through translator): They have abandoned us, and yet here we are the workers, we participate in the enrichment to
France. We contribute to Social Security and pay taxes. So, when it comes to contributing, we are not excluded,
BELL: At a local train station, people continue to travel in and out of Paris. For many them, working from home is just not an option.
TAHA BOUHAFS, LOCAL JOURNALIST: They are postmen, train workers, supermarket employees, hospital workers, nurses, delivery men, and the
self-employed. It is they who bring sushi to the guys in their homes. It's they who allow society to continue to function. They're carrying the
society and bearing the greatest toll.
BELL (on camera): It's only six minutes on the train from Paris' Gare du Nord to the station here at Saint-Denis, and yet it feels like a different
world.
One simple figure: in the first week of April, mortal rates inside Paris were up 174 percent on the year before. That same figure here in Seine-
Saint-Denis is 295 percent.
(voice-over): At the Saint-Denis de l'Estree church, the priest has just held his third COVID funeral in as many days.
VINCE LASCEVE, SAINT-DENYS DE L'ESTREE PRIEST (through translator): What I can say is that maybe the confinement is hard to hear because of the living
conditions for many. There's a much higher density population, with many more people living in each residents than say in the fancy apartments of
Paris.
BELL: A stay-at-home policy that is not only harder to endure here, but one that is also more heavily enforced.
France's interior minister says the number of coronavirus police checks in Saint-Denis is twice the national average.
Taha Bouhafs tells me that the epidemic has only amplified differences all too keenly felt here. He shows us the spot where last week, that sense of
injustice turned into several nights of confrontation with the police.
BOUHAFS: There is already the social tension, because people here are considered second class citizens. They have the impression the player
abandoned and the disdain and this violation that is unleashed on them.
BELL: Bouhafs says that it is only a matter of time before the violence that he documented here last week erupts one more.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BELL: Here in France, Hala, but also through the measures designed to combat it, is that here are two very confinements, essentially living side
by side, but also that Paris depends so much more than perhaps it realizes on the suburbs that are much more often vilified than they are recognized.
GORANI: That's a very great point. Thanks very much for that report, Melissa Bell, with that journalist, it was interesting. They are the ones
who keep the society running when everything else shuts down. They're the ones that deliver your sushi -- that was a good line.
Thanks very much, Melissa Bell, in Paris.
After the break, open for business in the United States, as more than 30 states start the process of reopening. We head to Texas to look at that
state's plans. And the risks that come with it. We will be right back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:20:08]
GORANI: Well, the new month means a slew of U.S. states are lifting those stay at home orders. More than a dozen are easing restrictions and that is
starting today as well. And in the coming days, more than 30 states will have at least partially reopened.
And that is despite some of the states not meeting the White House guidelines to relax safety measures. This is a scattershot approach, of
course. It would be more scattershot, this is a federal system after all.
But it does have health experts warning that some states will see an increase in cases, and more deaths. The reopenings come as the U.S. death
toll from COVID-19 tops 63,000 this week. About 2,000 Americans are dying of COVID-19 each day according to figures released over the last few days.
Now, Ed Lavandera joins me from Dallas, Texas, one of the states starting to reopen.
So, what does this gradual lifting of the lockdown measures look like and what are some of the associated concerns.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me give you a breakdown of what is allowed to reopen and in what way. Basically retail stores, movie
theaters, restaurants can reopen. But can only open at a 25 percent capacity. There has been some criticism as to exactly how you enforce that.
But nonetheless, that is what is allowed. What is not allowed is hair salons, barbershops, gyms and bars. The governor here in Texas says they
will make that decision here in the next couple of weeks as to when to reopen those businesses.
But, Hala, what we're seeing is, again, people and business owners and companies struggling to figure out to what extent do they open? Is 25
percent business even worth the effort in all of this? Some people say it is essentially a money losing endeavor at this point until it opens up
further. So, that's the struggle that many companies are trying to balance here. Not only the financial side of it, but as well as the health aspect
of all of this.
What is interesting here, Hala, here in the last day, we take the city of Dallas. Yesterday, they had before even this opening happened, 180 new
coronavirus cases, that is the highest spike they have seen since the pandemic started. So, some concern about that, that really that we're not
on the downslope of this trajectory, but a plateauing of cases and deaths and that sort of thing.
The governor says in two more weeks, he'll re-evaluate and perhaps open up even more at parts of the economy here in Texas. But there is a great deal
of concern and trepidation because it does take time. If you start -- if you get sick today, it might take a couple of weeks before doctors and
health officials to figure out that you've been infected and what that means.
So this is a delayed kind of information that comes when people get infected and really the effects of this will take some time to see how it
plays out over the next couple of weeks. But a great deal of trepidation is what we're sensing all across the state -- Hala.
GORANI: All right, and, questions about what happens if workers don't feel safe and they're not entitled to unemployment benefits in that case and
many other parts of the U.S. So that also is going to be difficult to navigate.
Ed Lavandera, thanks very much for that.
And the U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing a conspiracy theory once again that the coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab, that it was
manufactured there. This despite the director of national intelligence saying there has been no such assessment.
When asked, Mr. Trump gave no evidence to back up this allegation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is a lot of theories, but, yeah, we have people looking at it very, very strongly -- scientific
people, intelligence people and others.
REPORTER: What gives you a high degree of confidence that this originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology?
TRUMP: I can't tell you that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, sources tell CNN the White House is considering several ways to punish China, including sanctions and even canceling U.S. debt, which
would be a very, very significant move, by the way. We'll see if they go down that route.
Let's go live to the White House. We're joined by Joe Johns.
And so, the president is at pains here to point the finger at China, and even floating this conspiracy theory that maybe this virus was made in a
lab. You know to make the president look bad, to hurt his re-election chances.
And this is -- this is -- it seems like some sort of new avenue, new strategic avenue for the president to go down.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's for sure. It created a little bit of confusion here at the White House. Before I go on,
I do want to just say that Larry Kudlow, the president's chief economic adviser has said that in his view, one of the things the United States is
not going to do as accountability or retaliation or whatever for coronavirus to China is to cancel debt which would be essentially saying no
to the full faith and credit of the United States, Larry Kudlow has said that's not going to happen.
[10:25:23]
Now, as far as the president's views on the origination of coronavirus, it is very important to sort of follow the progression. Number one, the
director of national intelligence came out with a very specific statement that says the virus was not manmade or genetically modified and the
intelligence community is going to continue to try to find out whether this virus originated in a laboratory or whether it came from animals.
And then the president here at the White House just yesterday was asked by one of the correspondents, during a question and answer session, if he had
seen anything that gives him a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the source of the virus. The president said yes,
yes, I have.
So in some ways this is possibly, we said possibly here at the White House, a question of semantics. What exactly does the president mean when he
answers yes to a question about the origination of the virus?
He did not say, by the way, that he believed the virus had been created in a laboratory and Kellyanne Conway, the president's counselor was out here
on the driveway earlier, and what she asked correspondents to do is to take the president's answers to questions about this issue in their totality,
and if you do that, the president did seem to say several times that the issue was still under investigation, still trying to get to the bottom of
it, which kind of comports with what the director of national intelligence was saying.
Hala, back to you.
GORANI: All right, Joe Johns, thanks very much at the White House.
Still, we will be looking at that idea that the president is floating about that origination of the virus in a lab. His rival, the presumptive
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has been speaking to the media today. He is saying that the accusations of sexual assault against him are
not true.
The former Senate aide Tara Reade says Biden touched her inappropriately in 1993. She says that she complained at the time to colleagues about
uncomfortable interactions with then-Senator Biden, but not about the alleged assault. Now, a bit earlier, the U.S. presidential candidate told
MSNBC there are no records of such an attack. Biden says women have the right to come forward but in the end the truth matter.
This is Biden a little earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm saying unequivocally, it never, never happened, and it didn't. It never happened.
I don't remember any type of complaint she may have made and was 27 years ago. And I don't remember, nor does anyone else that I'm aware of, and the
fact is that I don't remember. I don't remember any complaint ever having been made.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: After the break, major humanitarian groups are warning of the long-term consequences of COVID-19 for the most vulnerable populations,
including women and girls. I'll be speaking to the COO of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg, and David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee,
about some of those warnings and about how COVID-19 will change all of our lives and about also how to combat misinformation on social media
platforms.
All those important questions are ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:31:19]
GORANI: Welcome back.
Now, data from around the world shows that COVID-19 kills more men than women, and puts more of them in the hospital than it does women. But it is
being argued that much longer term, women will be the ones facing long-term consequences, other vulnerable groups as well.
Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, and David Miliband, the head of the International Rescue Committee, wrote an opinion piece for "Politico".
They write: When emergencies strike, vulnerable people suffer most. That almost always means women and girls. Programs that help women and girls
need more resources fast. And everyone, governments, businesses, philanthropies and international agencies must focus specifically on
protecting women against the health, economic and social consequences of COVID-19. This can't be an after thought.
Sheryl Sandberg and David Miliband join me now.
So, Sheryl, I'll start with you, thank you to both of you for joining us on CNN International and we're seen all around the world. So this is a topic
of great interest to our viewers in parts of the world where there are more of these vulnerable populations.
Sheryl, why do you think that COVID-19 or a pandemic like this one could end up hurting women and girls more than men in this particular case?
SHERYL SANDBERG, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, FACEBOOK: Well, we start out with huge inequality. Women do the great majority of the work and care
giving. They earned a very small fraction of the world's income and they own even less of the world's property.
And so the unequal access to clean water, to sanitation, to safety because of gender-based violence, all of this gets exacerbated in a health crisis,
and in an economic crisis and we have both. And it is really important to remember that before this, we have a crisis for women and girls. We have
200 million girls who are subject to genital mutilation. We have 130 million girls who are out of school.
The world has a humanitarian crisis that is larger than any since World War II. And that means we have to have a gender-based lens on all of this,
because women and girls are often hurt the most.
GORANI: Yes. And there are issues with domestic violence, in rich and advanced countries as well where women are sometimes trapped with their
abusers.
And, David Miliband, I want to ask you about some of these grim predictions if, you know, more care isn't taken to stop the spread of this pandemic,
where we might see several million people die of COVID among the most vulnerable populations. Could you expand on that?
DAVID MILIBAND, PRESIDENT AND CEO, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: Thanks very much.
Look, Sheryl has given you important data. We've got a double emergency. It's a health emergency, but it is also a social and economic emergency.
We published data this week from the Imperial College technical background that has informed a lot of the thinking in advanced industrialized
countries. We showed that for the 34 countries where the International Rescue Committee works, these are fragile and complex states around the
world, the infection level is likely to be between 500 million and a billion people, and even if you assume Chinese levels of healthcare across
those countries, which is a generous interpretation given this countries like South Sudan only have four ventilators, but even with that assumption,
we're looking at between 1.5 million and 3.2 million people dying.
Sheryl's point, which is that there is a double inequality for women and girls is absolutely key because they're 70 percent of the healthcare
workforce and we're seeing rising levels of domestic violence against women in the places where we work.
[10:35:04]
And that's why the actions that we're proposing are so important.
GORANI: Yes. And one of the most important things too is debunking fake news, conspiracy theories and false information and Facebook says it wants
to do this. Combat misinformation. But how do you do that? You have -- even today, the last 24 hours, the president of the United States himself talks
about the possibility that this virus originated from the lab, no proof of that, to potentially exploring injecting ourselves with disinfectant.
Obviously, that could be harmful.
How do you even start doing that on a platform like Facebook?
SANDBERG: Well, I think, you know, the challenges and I think the mistakes we made many years ago really helped set us up because for -- to deal with
this because we were able it invest a lot of money in processes and systems.
So when coronavirus first happened, we started working right away with CDC, local health ministries, the WHO, to make sure that harmful health
information was taken down. I think even more importantly or as importantly, we're making sure we get authoritative health information in
front of people. We have now through news feed banners, Instagram, have gotten authoritative health information to 2 billion people.
And so, as this evolves, we're going to keep working with health authorities to make sure people get the information they need, including
local information about what is going on in their area.
GORANI: Mm-hmm.
And, David, let me ask you about, well, there is one -- this is a question I've been exploring with many of the doctors, one potential positive in
some of these developing countries and that is that the median age is so low. I mean, in a country like Egypt, that's reported only a few hundred
deaths, could one of the strengths here in the response of international organizations be a very young population? Have you seen that to be the case
at all in some of the more, you know, troubled parts of the world that are dealing with other crises?
MILIBAND: Yes, half the world's refugees and displaced people are under the age of 24. So that certainly helps, but in the 34 countries that I
referenced where the International Rescue Committee works, there are over 200 million people over the age of 50. And given the underlying health
conditions, the weakness of the underlying health situation for people who are dependent on international humanitarian aid, we're fearful that older
population is particularly vulnerable, especially since you see multigenerational households, you see people in very cramped conditions, in
places like Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, where there are a million Rohingya Muslims.
So, while part of the demography is on our side, the underlying health vulnerability is grave indeed and that makes the battle for truthful
information, credible, trusted information all the more important. Every time I speak to our teams on the ground, they say they're battling not just
against the lack of sanitation. They're battling against fake news.
And the most trusted, most important asset in any health crisis we learned in Ebola is social trust. That takes incredible local people able to give
out truthful information.
GORANI: Yes. And, Sheryl, you talk about -- about women and how you believe that women, the rights of women, the needs of women in the
workplace need to be taken into account to reshape a friendlier more efficient workforce of the future. And one of the things about Facebook is
that -- I understand that until June 2021, your plan at least is for no in person meetings of more than 50 people.
How is this pandemic going to reshape, do you believe, the way we all work and live?
SANDBERG: Well, I think Mark and I just feel so strongly about protecting our employees. We were one of the first companies to send people home. We
were one of the first companies to close our offices.
We are paying everyone. Our employees, our contractors, full pay, full bonuses. Whether or not they can work from home, some can, some can't. And
we have announced that we're going to be one of the last companies to cut back and we know we're lucky we can keep the lights on, we can pay people.
So, where we are also focused is helping other companies that can't do this. We launched $100 million fund for small businesses around the world
and we're trying to build the free products and services that small businesses need. And I do think this is going to change how we work. If
you're a company like Facebook that can work from home, we said we're going to stay home later so that we can give room for essential workers, and
other people who need to come back their ability to come back first.
I think we all have a responsibility to do what we can.
GORANI: I have a question, Sheryl, from our media correspondent Hadas Gold. She reported on WhatsApp, and as you know, WhatsApp sometimes used to
spread messages that could be harmful and fake news.
[10:40:01]
Why -- why not send each WhatsApp user a message about how to find reliable information in their regions? Is this something that you would consider?
SANDBERG: Yes, and we have been using all of our platforms and we're exploring using WhatsApp, and WhatsApp has been very broadly used by a lot
of local and national health ministries to spread good information. We're very focused on that.
GORANI: All right. And, David, let me ask you a personal question, and Sheryl, to you as well. How has this been for you, this lockdown, how has
that refocused you or changed the way you work?
MILIBAND: Well, I think like many of us, I've got lots of first world problems which we're lucky to have frankly. We're in a very lucky position.
Obviously, there's no school for my kids, there is a whole change in the domestic lifestyle. Obviously, our offices are closed in New York.
And what I've been focusing on is making sure that as an organization, the International Rescue Committee, which is 30,000 staff around the world,
13,000 employees and 17,000 auxiliary workers, our absolute priority has been staff safety, because we know that unless our staff is safe, we can't
deliver services. It's being on making sure that we have frontline response to the health crisis, but it's also continuing on our other programs for
education, for the protection of children and women, for economic livelihoods, because this emergency is about health, but it is also about
the wider social economic environment.
And the truth is that it is the holes in the global safety net exposed by this global pandemic and we need to learn the right lessons going forward.
GORANI: All right, I'm being told I have to wrap up, but, Sheryl, I wanted to give you the last word on this, because, yes, David is making the point
that the -- this is an inconvenience for us, it is life altering tragedies for others.
But what lessons will you take from this?
SANDBERG: Well, like David, you know, we're just very focused on protecting our workers and on delivering a really important service.
Facebook and Instagram, people need to connect. So, we have a responsibility to do this.
And I think we have to remember that those of us as David said, we have fist world problems, think about going through this where washing your
hands is a luxury. We need to remember the most vulnerable people in the world, and women and girls through this crisis.
GORANI: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Sheryl Sandberg and David Miliband. We really appreciate you joining us on CNN today.
We were talking there about parts of the world where there are crises, that are turning desperate people into protesters who are -- believe they have
nothing left to lose. And that is the case in Lebanon. After nearly two months of lockdown because of coronavirus, food prices are soaring, the
Lebanese lira is in free fall, losing more than half of its value.
People are hungry. They're back on the streets, despite the fact that coronavirus is still a threat. After three nights of violent clashes, a
sense of resilience on display in Tripoli. Protesters were seen handing out roses and food to soldiers.
CNN's Jomana Karachi reports on Lebanon's poorest city.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOMANA KARACHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The streets of Lebanon's second city transformed into a battle zone at night. Protesters lobbing
bombs at the military, undeterred by the tear gas and rubber bullets as they defy the nighttime coronavirus curfew, picking up where they left off
before the pandemic, an uprising against the ruling establishment in living conditions that have gone even worse. A currency that lost more than half
its value, soaring food prices, and rising unemployment.
We're out to demand our rights. The dollar now is 4,000 lira. These young men have no food at home. They can't afford food, this protester tells us.
They chant revolution.
Daytime brings an uneasy calm to the streets of Tripoli, the country's poorest city, no surprise it is at the heart of the so-called hunger
protests.
The unemployed and the hungry gather in clock tower square. There's a lot more than a global pandemic on people's minds here.
If the situation remains like this, there will be escalation, this man says. If your child is hungry, you will eat your rulers to feed your
children.
The nearly two-month coronavirus lockdown hit an economy already on its knees. Staying at home for most here meant losing their livelihood, their
daily wages.
[10:45:00]
Before the pandemic, World Bank projections put the country's poverty rate at 45 percent for this year. Now, the cash-strapped government says three
quarters of the population needs aid.
Everything has gone more expensive, the street vendor tells us. We don't know how we're living. When I go to sleep, I pray I never wake up.
It is a desperate situation, and Ahmed wants to show us what poverty really means in his city. Under the centuries old suit, families living if one can
call it that, in an underground rundown structure. Two families crammed into this. The makeshift kitchen and toilet blend into one. Even the
miserable existence comes with $25 a month rent.
Ahmed, a taxi driver, says he can no longer afford his baby girl's formula. It's doubled in price.
He doesn't take part in the protests. Nothing comes out of them, he says.
Far from the chaos on the streets, Lebanon's poorest and most vulnerable suffer in silence and out of sight.
Jomana Karachi, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: All right, coming up -- we're going to take a quick break on CNN. When we come back, the duchess of Sussex lost the first stage of her case
against the British tabloid. Max Foster joins me after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:48:28]
GORANI: The duchess of Sussex has been dealt a major blow in her legal battle against the British tabloid. London's high court struck out part of
Meghan Markel's case against the publisher of "The Mail on Sunday". She is suing for breach of privacy after the paper printed parts of a letter she
wrote to her estranged father in 2018.
Our royal correspondent Max Foster joins me now live from Windsor, England.
So what -- how does this explain what happened, exactly.
Max, can you hear me?
Well, we're going to leave that -- we're going to leave Max there, he's in Windsor, as you can see, from that lovely castle behind him. We'll try to
reconnect with Max about this setback for the duchess of Sussex in a moment.
But I want to bring you an update on the airline industry, because this COVID-19 pandemic, for airlines, has been absolutely devastating, of
course. Ryanair is one of those airlines suffering. Airlines everywhere else are looking for ways to survive, simply survive. They'll no doubt have
to make some major changes to how people travel from mandatory face masks and temperature screenings to social distancing.
[10:50:00]
Now, Richard Quest looks at what airlines are already doing to try to keep passengers safe and not sick in the face of COVID-19.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Social distancing and air travel, contradictions in terms. With long queues, evaporating leg
room, and invasive reclining, air travel is ill suited for our new coronavirus reality. The pandemic has left global travel at a virtual
standstill and it is clear the way we fly will need to change before passengers will feel comfortable returning to the friendly skies en masse.
Before the crisis, there was this massive drive to maximize capacity on board, pushing the flying public ever closer together.
Now, airlines must embrace the exact opposite. At the very least, it seems, the middle seat will probably stay empty for the foreseeable future, even
though that will make it almost impossible for airlines to make money.
The International Air Transport Association CEO Alexandre de Juniac says ticket prices will have to go up.
ALEXANDRE DE JUNIAC, DIRECTOR GENERAL, INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION: In these conditions, there is no airline which is able to fly
and make money in this plot (ph). So it means two things. Either we cannot fly or we have to increase price of the tickets by at least 50 percent to
100 percent. It is the end of the cheap travel for everyone.
QUEST: Airlines are ramping up other precautions. On JetBlue, Air Canada, Korean and Lufthansa, masks will be mandatory for the duration of flights.
Emirates is limiting carry-on baggage to only the essentials. Meals are doled out in bento style boxes to reduce contact. Even the in-flight
magazines have been removed from seatback pockets in case they carry the virus.
Expect to see cabin crews donning visors and gowns, full personal protection equipment could be the order of the day.
And Qatar Airways says it is doing thermal screenings of its crew.
In spite of all of these measures, Barry Diller, the head of Expedia, believes flying and social distancing are simply incompatible.
BARRY DILLER, CHAIRMAN, EXPEDIA: The idea that you can take the middle seat out of an airplane and have any kind of, quote, social distancing is
absurd. You can't. It does not work.
Social distancing works when it is complete. You can maybe clean planes better. Yes, this would be good anyway. But social distancing in these
kinds of arenas is a myth.
QUEST: The Italian cabin design firm Avio Interiors gave us a glimpse of what the future could look like. This shield could be fitted on existing
seats, putting a barrier between passengers to increase isolation.
A more extreme interior overhaul, turns the middle seat around entirely to keep contact between passengers at a minimum.
To be sure, the travel industry will reopen, and we will take to the air again. However, for passengers like you and me, the experience we go
through may never be quite the same again.
Richard Quest, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, I don't know about you, I kind of like those screens between passengers, COVID or no COVID.
Let's get back to the duchess of Sussex, who has suffered a legal blow in her battle against the British tabloid.
Max, if you can hear me now?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I can, sorry about that earlier on.
Yes, this is a blow to the duchess, it is a win for associated newspapers that publishes "The Mail on Sunday" and "Mail Online", which were the two
publications she took to court.
It is a hearing ahead of the main case. Large parts of it have been thrown out. They aren't central to the case, but they are central to what the
duchess is trying to prove here, and that this that the mail on Sunday acted maliciously and dishonestly in publishing a letter that she sent to
her father, the "Associated" newspapers denying all of these charges.
What it means is when this does go to trial, it will be a privacy case, it will be about copy right as well. So, still relatively interesting.
And it does become a test case in many ways because in terms of copyright, the big question is who owns copy right of a letter that is sent. So, if I
send you a letter, who owns that copy right, you or me, and does the world have a reasonable expectation that letter may get out into the wider world?
This is being sent to the wider world. These are all sort of debates that will come up as a result of this.
[10:55:02]
And there is also the big public interest question about whether or not a letter should be published more widely when it is very personal in nature.
Lots of big questions coming up at the trial, disappointed duchess of Sussex, though, today, though I think they are going to go into this what
will be a very high profile, very contentious case with some confidence. They have the central core of the case still intact.
GORANI: Thank you, Max Foster.
Coming up, he's almost old enough to remember the Spanish flu, and treated typhus sufferers during World War II. He is France's oldest doctor and he's
now caring for COVID patients.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: France's oldest doctor will not stop working throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Christian Chenay turns 99 years old this year,
even with no health woes of his own, he knows just how dangerous the coronavirus is for the elderly, including himself. But he says lack of
preparedness for a pandemic like this has left him frustrated.
Dr. Chenay has been holding virtual consultation patients and makes weekly trips to a retirement home to provide support.
Merci, Dr. Chenay.
As we all deal with this pandemic, life goes on. It must go on.
Today, I get to pass on some happy news from our own CNN family. Anderson Cooper has announced he's a new dad. He welcomed his newborn son Wyatt
Morgan Cooper into the world on Monday. And he shared these pictures at CNN's global town hall last night. Congratulations, Anderson. We're all
very happy for you.
Before I go today, a programming note, starting Monday, the second hour of CONNECT THE WORLD returns to CNN right after this hour. So I'll be there
for both, two hours a day.
Thank you for your company and for watching us and trusting us with your news on the pandemic and other big news stories around the world. It's a
pleasure being with you every day. So be sure to watch.
Have a great weekend, if it is your weekend, and I'll see you on Monday.
END
