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U.K. Media Says Government Drafting Plans To Ease Lockdown Restrictions; Virtual Global Conference Aims To Raise Billions For Vaccine; Lufthansa To Reduce Fleet Size With 10,000 Jobs At Risk. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired May 04, 2020 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
UNIDENTIFIED: These apply to you, now more than ever it's important to stay home and stay safe.
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Bianca Nobilo outside London and this is CNN.
HALA GORANI, CNNI HOST: Welcome back to our continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I'm Hala Gorani. Some European countries like Spain
and Italy were once hot spots for coronavirus. Now they are slowly opening back up. We take you there live.
A very different situation in Russia though as the numbers continue to rise by more than 10,000 cases a day. And China and the United States are
trading barbs over the origin of the virus. We are live in Shanghai and the White House.
And we start this hour with steps, small steps, towards normalcy in Spain. Phase one of the country's re-opening plan began today on four islands. One
of them is Formentera in the Mediterranean.
And you can see it there near the bottom of your screen to the south of Ibiza. The other three islands are off Spain's Atlantic coast. Formentera
is accessible only by boat. To get there, CNN Scott McLean and his crew had to get a rapid antibody test for coronavirus in Ibiza.
This happening as most of Spain enters the more limited phase zero today. Scott McLean joins me now from Formentera to show us what the phase one
reopening means for that island. And I guess Formentera is a good test case, Scott, because they only had a handful of cases to begin with, they
are an island obviously so they were more insulated. What does it look like, this phase one re-opening for a place like Formentera.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure, Hala. So Formentera only had seven coronavirus cases, only one death. And so they were rewarded for their
relatively low number of cases by being able to sort of skip that phase zero that you mentioned and go straight to phase one while a week before
the rest of the country.
But check out the streets, there's not a whole lot of people here, which might be surprising but there is one bit problem here and that's that there
are no tourist. So a lot of the businesses here that could open have decided not to open at all because they say if they do they'll lose money.
There just simply are not enough people here to sustain every single business. Keep the -- consider this as we go into the main square here.
This island last year saw seven or 800,000 visitors here. It has only about 10 or 12,000 people on it who live here full time.
And so it's a massive number. You talked about that test that we had to do to actually get on this island. I asked the head of tourism, the tourism
board here, whether she thought that was a long term solution. She said well, maybe not.
The reliability of those rapid antibody tests is maybe not as good as they would like it to be at this point and also considering just the vast
numbers of people that are coming to this island that may not sustainable or realistic to do that.
Even just the few dozen people who were on boat delayed it by more than an hour. But I just want to take you over here and show you this patio here.
This is about as close to normal life as you can possibly imagine things being here in Spain.
But obviously things are not back to normal. Many people say that their businesses will remain closed. They are still holding out hope, many
business owners that the tourist will come back at some point this summer. But there really is no winter season here so if they do come back, it needs
to be soon, otherwise, this season is a write off, Hala.
GORANI: Fair enough. I mean actually sitting on a terrace in the sun, enjoying a beverage just feels like a distant dream. Certainly here we are
not reopening on any level similar to that in London.
I -- I guess the question is though what happens if they do see a spike in numbers. I mean if this reopening, let's hope that's not the case but leads
to more cases and so that the curve kind of starts sloping back up, what then.
MCLEAN: Yes, that's a great question, Hala, and it's certainly a concern of the central government, which is trying to keep in place this state of
emergency that they've been in now for almost eight weeks. They want to extend it for another two weeks so that thy have the controls in place to
be able to yank back some of those restrictions that maybe they're starting to loosen and tighten back up their lockdown.
In the rest of mainland Spain, people are required to wear masks on public transit now. But you're now allowed to go in and say go shopping for
clothes. The only thing is you have to make an appointment. Here, you don't have to do that.
And so all of these sort of measures, you can take them back. The problem is people are getting a little bit weary here as they are in other
countries as well. And so you can only sort of toy with them so much before you end up perhaps with real unpopularity of these measures.
And so that is why these governments are trying to go slow, especially here in Spain so that they don't have to reverse course, they don't have to go
back to where things were before. But as of right now, the numbers look pretty promising in Spain. Knock on wood, Hala.
GORANI: Yes, knock on wood less fewer than 200 new cases between Saturday and Sunday, which is much, much lower than it's been. Thanks very much.
Let's take you to Italy now, also another former hot spot, which is starting to ease these restrictions. It's entering phase two today after
enduring the longest lock down in Europe.
[11:05:00] Some 4 million people can return to work but smaller businesses remain closed and restaurants can only offer take out services. And anyone
entering an indoor space must wear a mask. Barbie Nadeau joins me now from Rome.
I mean just being able to take take-out, here in the U.K. we haven't had restrictions that were so strict. But I mean not being able to have take
out or be able to walk far from your house for weeks and weeks and weeks. That -- people must be breathing a sigh of relief.
BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Hala. It is just like a whole new world here today. You know take out also includes coffee bars.
They're open for the first time for take out today. People were standing in squares all across the city of Rome drinking their cappuccino out of a
plastic cup, something they've never really wanted to do but were very happy to do today.
And as you mentioned, 4 million back at work. These are people that couldn't work from home. These are people who need desperately this
paycheck. You know we've got stores open a little bit longer tonight.
The grocery stores that have been open this whole time can stay open longer. Parks are open. People can go more than 300 meters or 900 feet from
their home. They haven't been able to do that for two months. So it feels very, very liberating even though by most standards of measure, we are
unlocking to the point that most countries actually lock down to.
Now they're doing here what they're doing in Spain, is checking every step of the way before they unlock more, uses science as a guide to determine
whether or not there's a spike in new cases, whether or not there's a second wave.
May 18th is the next brave new world day here and that's when we're going to see retail shops open. Then June first maybe we'll get to the beaches.
Maybe restaurants will be able to serve inside. These are all big, big, big steps to take but the government says they'll only do it if the number of
cases stays manageable.
And if it doesn't, it look like there's going to be another wave, Hala. So there's baby steps to go, Italy is on its knees, it's getting back up on
its feet. There's optimism, still quite a bit of frustration but at least there's some hope finally after a very long time, Hala.
GORANI: Yes, I can imagine just that people are feeling like they can -- they are liberated. Thanks very much, Barbie Nadeau. But what Barbie was
saying is interesting too is that they have basically eased restrictions to the level of the lockdown that we are experiencing here in the U.K., even
though we are very close to -- to Italian and Spanish numbers in this country.
The prime minister of France has laid out plans to lift the nationwide lockdown, telling the French Senate that the country is at a critical
moment and cannot stay confined. The plan includes payments of more than $5,000 for businesses that have been forced to close and payments for
students and people under 25 who've lost their jobs.
France will open in multiple stages just like the other countries, starting next Monday, the 11th, with the option to extend the state of emergency to
July 23rd. So things will be returning to some level of normalcy on the 11th.
Greece is ending its strict six week lockdown today, allowing small shops to open and letting people travel locally. Now Greece entered a lockdown
very early in the pandemic and it is paid off for it because it's been a success story in Europe with fewer than 3,000 infections for a population
of more than 10 million and 144 deaths, which relatively speaking is low.
CNN's Nick Robertson spoke to Greece's prime minister about what emerging from a lockdown looks like for the country. Here's his exclusive interview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Greece's economy is dependent -- heavily dependent on tourism, 20 percent or more depending on tourism. So
opening up means letting in tourist.
KYRIAKOS MITSOTAKIS, GREEK PRIME MINISTER: Not -- not at the first stage. We are not more dependent than say Portugal or even to a certain extent
Spain. We are -- all southern countries are heavily dependent on -- on tourism. Now the real question is will we be able to have tourist come in
the later parts of the summer.
ROBERTSON: Can you?
MITSOTAKIS: Only if we agree to a very specific protocols, hopefully at the European level. Let's assume people, you know, get a test before they -
- before they flight out and then we carefully monitor them. Either an antibody test or a PCR test.
[11:10:00]
And then of course the tourism experience this summer may be slightly different from what you've had in previous years with more social
distancing, maybe no bars maybe open or no tight crowds but you can still get a fantastic experience in Greece provided that the global epidemic is
on a downward path.
But best case scenario is Greece is open for business July 1st. And we're working towards that. So we're preparing towards that but of course it
involves airlines because most people fly into Greece and very, very strict but also enforceable protocols.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you put a figure on how big you think the economic loss might be (inaudible) percentage terms?
MITSOTAKIS: I've resisted because it's going to be very different. I don't want to give you a big range but it's going to be much worse if we don't
open up at all for the summer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have that?
MITSOTAKIS: If we manage to get some tourists it's going to be -- it's going to be better but all -- it's around 10 percent seems to be a
consensus amongst most European countries as what could happen which is a massive contraction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be a very different summer isn't it?
MITSOTAKIS: It is going to be a very different summer but we hope that the worse is behind us and again what I -- what I keep as a legacy of this
crisis is the sense of collective success and I dare to use the word pride. Greeks haven't been proud in a long, long time. For ten years we were the
punching bag of Europe.
UNKNOWN MALE: Has this changed the situation?
MITSOTAKIS: I think it has changed in terms of our -- in terms of our self confidence and also confidence in the state. I'm not saying confidence in
the government necessarily but people trust the state. They trust the experts. The first thing I did was to give the floor to our top
epidemiologist. And he's doing the daily briefings, it's not me.
UNKNOWN MALE: This seems to be dare I say a very strong message for the United States and the United Kingdom whose track records at the moment on
this pandemic are probably some of the worse in terms of death and infection rates.
MITSOTAKIS: Well, everyone is doing it their own way. This is the way--
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know but is there a right way and does Greece have the right way?
MITSOTAKIS: Well, I think there is -- I don't think there is a single right way but I think we clearly did it at least in terms of the first
phase until now I think we've done it the right way.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: All right, that's the Greek Prime Minister. So we mentioned Spain, we mentioned Italy, France and Greece. So, all countries that are seeing a
reduction in their COVID-19 numbers and countries that shutdown early like Greece. That is not the case in Russia. It's actually the opposite right
now.
The country saw more than 10,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday alone following four straight days of record daily increases and it's putting
some tremendous pressure on Vladimir Putin.
Matthew Chance is following developments. Why are the numbers going up so much in Russia? They had ample warning that this could be an issue with the
pandemic unfolding in other parts of the world. What went wrong there?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And they're one of the first countries to act when the virus first reared its head in
China. They've got a big long border with China and they actually were very early to seal that border.
And since then they've had a lockdown enforced in Moscow particularly in other cities as well which has been very strict and is being policed
through the use of digital passes to permit people to go outside of their residencies. And so they're doing a lot to try and sort of curve the spread
of this virus.
But I think from the out set the numbers were being sort of played down. There's been a lot of speculation about whether they're being played down
on purpose. Russia, remember was making a big thing about how it was in control of this epidemic.
It was even exporting personal protective equipment to countries like the United States to Italy, to Serbia as well to show that it was -- had so
much more of a handful if you like on this crisis than other countries did. But the situation has obviously turned very negatively.
You mentioned the figures there. 10,000 today, more than 10,000 yesterday and it's been like that for the past several days. 145,000 people in Russia
now are confirmed as having been infected with the virus but those figures, Hala, are just the tip of the iceberg.
[11:15:00]
I mean the Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said a couple of days ago that he thinks that 2 percent of the population of the capital city have
coronavirus and that would be 250,000 people in Moscow alone and so while we're seeing these casualty figures grim as they are they're likely to get
much, much worse in the days and in the weeks and months ahead as the full picture emerges, Hala.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: All right, Matthew thanks very much. China and the U.S. are now accusing each other of mishandling the coronavirus pandemic. The word evil
is even being thrown around, details on that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Evil is the word that was used on Chinese state media to describe comments by the U.S. Secretary of State. Mike Pompeo is claiming there is
enormous evidence that COVID came from a lab in Wuhan, China. U.S. President Donald Trump has also pushed that theory.
He now says he believes the start of the pandemic was a horrible mistake by China. So, it sounds like you -- he's saying that potentially it wasn't
deliberate. Now, of course China is concerned. It is pushing back. State media released videos like this calling the U.S. accusations groundless.
David Culver is live for us in Shanghai with more on this world words. We'll go to the White House in a moment. But first China is essentially
saying (inaudible) very much objecting to what the Secretary of State and the president are saying.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're right, Hala. They're just missing this in it's entirety but they're also infuriated particularly with
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. They have been strategic in not criticizing President Trump and President Trump likewise has not criticized President
Xi directly.
However, at the Minister and State Department level they have gone at one another and particularly Pompeo. He has been really the target of state
media over the past week in multiple commentaries that have aired during their evening broadcast which is on CCTV, the state run broadcaster.
And this evening was no different. They called him evil. They went on to say that he is creating rumors recklessly in the face of science. And here
is what they're referring to in particular. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in
Wuhan.
UNKNOWN FEMALE: Do you think they intentionally released that virus or it was an accident in the lab?
POMPEO: I can't answer your question about that because the Chinese Communist Party has refused to cooperate with world health experts.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
CULVER: Chinese state media is creating the narrative here and pushing this one in particular that the U.S. is simply putting the blame on China
as a politicized way to (inaudible) with the American people and particularly they say the U.S. is trying to deflect from it's lack of
preparedness.
Now, Hala, the danger in that argument going forward for the Chinese seems to be if other countries join in on this call to investigate the origin and
we've heard some murmurings within Australia, within the U.K., within parts of Europe as well.
And that could create trouble for the Chinese in particular as they're continuing to put out this message that the U.S. is just trying to deflect.
And they say that the origin is not in a lab. They consider it to be natural, Hala.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[11:20:00]
GORANI: All right. Thanks very much, David Culver. Let's get to the White House Correspondent. John Harwood joins me now. Is this basically an effort
to kind of deflect any responsibility for how this coronavirus pandemic was handled because obviously we're seeing the death toll climb way past 60,000
now?
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hala, the administration's going to great lengths to try to absolve itself from responsibility for how
this pandemic has exploded in the United States. Having said that we have two regimes with credibility problems. Clearly the Chinese have not been
transparent and Mike Pompeo was willing to let hang out there the idea that this virus might have been created in the lab, although it seemed to me the
just of his comments elsewhere in that interview was that it had been an accident. President Trump suggested the same last night in a town hall with
Fox where he said he thought maybe China was embarrassed about a mistake that occurred.
In any event, the administration finds it politically useful to tag China as the source of the virus, to tag China for having concealed the severity
of the virus as a way of explaining why they had not taken it seriously in the beginning, and they're also trying - and this is not a coincidence - to
tie Joe Biden, the Democrat who's going to be President Trump's opponent in November, to tie him with being soft on China. So it's all a way at a time
where the president's on the defensive, his poll numbers are down to suggest that this is a problem that came from elsewhere, not from the
administration.
GORANI: And he gave Fox News an interview in which he said that he was being treated worse by journalists than Abraham Lincoln was. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They always said Lincoln - nobody got treated worse than Lincoln. I believe I am treated worse.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
GORANI: OK, so he - obviously the president is very, very focused on how he's portrayed in the media. It seems to be one of his primary concerns.
HARWOOD: It's kind of striking, Hala, that while doing a town hall television event in one of the most hallowed monuments in the United States
that the president cast himself as the victim here, and he's done that consistently saying that the press is out to get him, the Democrats are out
to get him. That flows in the same direction of saying, well, the Chinese have inflicted this on us.
The issue for the American people and the issue that we all have to deal with in our daily lives is the state of the pandemic now. And as for voters
in the fall they're going to have to judge did the administration do a successful job in handling this? The president said last night, yes, they
should judge me on that. We've done a spectacular job. Polls right night indicate the American people don't think he's done a spectacular job. All
the governors handling this in the individuals states have higher ratings than him, and we see in polling that two-third of the American people think
that the administration was slow and behind the curve. So this is a problem that the administration faces going forward, and putting blame on others
and casting yourself as a victim is one way the president deals with that.
GORANI: All right. John Harwood, thanks very much. Turkey's having some measure of success tracking the outbreak with tracing teams. Thousands of
these teams have been unleashed to try to identify interactions with people infected with the coronavirus. So if somebody was symptomatic, they'll see
who they were in contact with. And their ability to trace cases according to them is 97 percent. Arwa Damon goes along one of these tracing teams in
action.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're following one of the contact tracing teams in Istanbul. We just met up with them. They are
out there every single day trying to put together the clues, connect the dots as to how the virus is spreading, and Turkey is crediting a lot of its
success against coronavirus to the fact that it is able to very aggressively contact trace.
There are about 6,000 teams country-wide, and they are just constantly out. They're asking about her medical history. So she has hypertension. She's
been complaining of a runny nose. Her son has been in touch, come into contact with someone who has previously tested positive. They're about to
take a sample to swab.
(CROSSTALK)
It takes about a maximum of 24 hours for the results to come back, and if she ends up testing positive, then that is the jump off point for another
contact tracing round to take place. What they're doing right now is actually registering her son into their internal system. It's an app that
allows them to track everyone who needs to be quarantined and others as well. Because it is the son who is actually in touch with someone who was
COVID positive, he may or may not have been the one who passed it onto his mother, but either way he now has to stay quarantined for 14 days. And if
people break their quarantine, the consequences can be quite severe ranging from paying a fine or even doing prison time.
MELEK NUR ASLAN, PUBLIC HEALTH DIRECTOR OF FAITH DISTRICT, ISTANBUL (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): As of the first day, Turkey had already a pandemic
plan within the system from past pandemics. So we were always ready. We took the plan off the shelf, put it into action, and alerted all of our
contact tracing units so we didn't lose time to plan a response or to say what should hospitals do during this disaster.
[11:25:00] DAMON: So this is the operations room, and they have - people are speaking Turkish and Arabic, so he right now is actually on the phone
with somebody trying to get their history as to where they have been and who they've been in contact with.
What Dr. Aslan is telling us is that they have to rely on people to be honest because if they don't have accurate information then they can go in
the wrong direction, and everyone here is aware that their success against COVID-19 is what hangs in the balance. Arwa Damon, CNN, Istanbul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Coming up, a global pledging marathon is held by leaders around the world. The goal to raise billions of dollars to help find a COVID-19
vaccine. Not a physical marathon by the way. This is all virtual. Plus the U.K. will reportedly unveil plans to ease its lockdown about a week from
now but with Britain's death toll on track to be the highest in Europe we ask is it just too soon to consider easing restrictions?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hala?
GORANI: Oh, apologies. I have a slight technical issue that didn't allow me to hear our air, but I'm back. Britain's Prime Minister
[11:30:00]
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Oh, apologies. I have a slight technical issue that didn't allow me to hear our air, but I'm back.
Britain's Prime Minister will reportedly unveil a plan to ease lockdown restrictions in the coming week as his country inches toward a pretty
somber milestone.
According to British media reports, the government is drafting a proposal to lift current safety restrictions. It includes strategies to reduce the
spread of the virus where social distancing is just not possible.
Meanwhile, and I was talking about that grim milestone, the U.K. is on track to become -- to have the highest death toll in Europe if current
trends continue.
Our chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward joins us now live from 10 Downing Street. We all work in offices. We shared one, Clarissa, for
many years.
If new rules come into place, it's going to drastically alter the way we interact, the way we work, no hot-desking, no sharing of keyboards and the
like.
What is -- what is this report that we expect on Sunday suggest should change?
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the first thing, Hala, is that it will still say that most people should not
return to work, that only people who really need to go back to work should go back to work. And that that even is going to be done in a sort of phased
or gradual way.
So, you might start off with allowing construction and manufacturing and then move into different arenas.
Once you do go back to the office, though, you can be pretty sure it's going to look very different from anything you remember. You talked about
the fact that we shared an office. Well, now they're talking about potentially having social distancing enforced, that where social distancing
can't be enforced, you might have to have Plexiglas or plastic barriers to protect employees.
You might have to have mandatory PPE. Imagine trying to wear a mask throughout the day or plastic gloves throughout the day while you're
working.
And then of course, the other issue is, how do you get to work? When does public transport reopen -- or it's already open, but to what extent does it
bolster its capacity again? How do you avoid crowding on train platforms?
They've talked about introducing a one-way system potentially. So, certain people would get on in one area of the platform, other people would get off
in a different area.
But clearly, a lot of work needs to be done in terms of giving the public guidelines before something like that can be successfully implemented.
They've also talked about asking people to walk to work or cycle to work and staggering office hours so that different people are arriving at
different times -- Hala.
GORANI: Yes, and I mean, even when public transport is considered not at capacity, it is impossible to be two meters away from other passengers if
people are allowed to go back to work in significant numbers.
And I mean, I wonder at what point will they make that determination then?
WARD: Well, I mean, the crucial question here for the government, and particularly, you mentioned that grim milestone, more than 28,000 people
dead in the U.K. This week, the U.K. supposedly will overtake Italy as having the highest death toll in the whole of Europe.
So, let's be clear, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under a huge amount of pressure now to make sure that any lifting of this lockdown is done in
the most prudent way possible, and in order to avoid that second wave of infection, which really would be such a disaster not just for the public
health sector, but also for the economy would probably result in another round of social distancing and lockdown that might be even more protracted.
So, that's what the government is really focused on when they talk about the sort of necessity of being very cautious about lifting this lockdown.
And compared to Europe, they're definitely taking a much more stringent and prudent approach, but not without good reason, Hala. The U.K. hasn't got a
stellar records so far in its handling of the coronavirus and they want to make sure that going forward, they don't see another wave of infection,
that they have an opportunity to sort of get on a better path moving forward, Hala.
And another key to that, of course will be what's going on behind me finding the vaccine. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is saying that's what
it's all about -- global effort. Countries need to come together and find a vaccine to stop the coronavirus in its tracks.
GORANI: All right, thank you, Clarissa Ward. Well, the European Commission has pledged more than a billion dollars in what is being called a global
pledging marathon to find a vaccine for COVID-19.
Leaders from around the world are joining in, not the President of the United States though, he stayed out of this particular global initiative.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour asked the head of the European Commission about that.
[11:35:10]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: We want to have this online pledging conference on Monday, the fourth of May, and indeed, we
want to raise $8 billion, and we all know, this is just the beginning. We will need more.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: It looks like what people have been asking since the beginning, some kind of global task force
to really coordinate many things, but in this case, vaccines.
I know that the U.S. government has not been particularly reliable as a leader in this moment, but it's just not willing to participate. Have you
ever come across that kind of reaction from the United States in a global crisis like this?
VON DER LEYEN: Well, the United States are doing a lot domestically with research for a vaccine is concerned, and indeed they are informed about our
Global Initiative, and I hope that in one or the other way, they decide to join.
But for sure, the American footprint is there because we have outstanding American scientists and philanthropists that are joining our call for
action and I'm very glad about that.
So, we invited the whole world and I think the whole world is joining.
AMANPOUR: What will be the effect of not having the kind of galvanizing power and the throw weight that the United States can deliver, like it did
in the Ebola crisis, like it did during the PEPFAR, the AIDS crisis for the developing world, and many other things. What do you think might be the
result of not having that U.S. leadership?
VON DER LEYEN: Well, I think it's, first of all, a test for all of us in multilateral activity to join forces. That's what we do. And let's wait
until Monday, the fourth of May, and let's see who is joining finally. I still have that perhaps the American government will join forces with us in
one or the other way.
But important is that all of us, we decide to give our share and to make sure -- and this is so important, to make sure that this vaccine is not
only found and developed, but it's manufactured in zillion doses that are necessary and that we make sure that it is deployed in every corner in the
world to a fair and affordable price.
I think this aim is something which should really align the whole world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: All right. There you have it. Now, the economic impact of this pandemic is devastating. It's devastating for so many people -- thousands,
hundreds of thousands. The Lufthansa workers for instance, 10,000 of them could lose their jobs.
The German airline says it will reduce its fleet by about a hundred planes. The airline CEO made the announcement Friday adding that he can't rule out
any layoffs.
He says the company -- and listen to this amount -- lost $1.3 billion last quarter and that this current quarter we're in will be worse. Fred Pleitgen
brings us this exclusive report -- Fred.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Hala. Well, there's probably no place in Europe where you can see more vividly
the coronavirus pandemic induced crisis of the aviation industry more vividly than here at the hub of Europe's largest airline of Lufthansa.
And Lufthansa says right now, they are flying at less than one percent of their usual capacity. They say usually they have about 350,000 passengers
every day. Right now, that's down to 3,000 passengers. That really isn't a lot of flights that they're being able to conduct every day right now.
And you look at the planes behind me, those planes aren't moving and it doesn't look like they're going to move anytime soon, but they still are
costing a lot of money, because of course, all the pilots still have to get paid. The ground staff still has to get paid.
Fuel needs to be managed, and of course there is a minimum amount of maintenance that needs to be conducted as well.
Lufthansa says, for them, it's essential that they get government assistance, and it's not just for them to be able to survive this crisis
right now, it is also to be able to be competitive in the future.
And if you look at the aviation industry, there's other airlines here in Europe that have already secured payroll assistance and other assistance
from governments -- Air France KLM.
Look at the U.S., the Trump administration obviously also doing a lot to prop up the airlines there.
Lufthansa says that it was extremely strong before the crisis. They believe they're going to be strong after the crisis as well. But they do think it's
going to take a couple of years for them to get there -- Hala.
GORANI: Thank you, Fred Pleitgen.
U.S. meat processing giant, Tyson says it expects more plant closures this year. It's also warning there will be a limited supply of its meats in U.S.
supermarkets.
Tyson and other meat processing plants have been suspending operations after thousands of their workers across the country tested positive for
COVID-19.
Omar Jimenez is talked with a cattle farmer in Wisconsin about the dire situation he now faces.
[11:40:13]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's a farm in its fifth generation, but one that's never operated in an environment like
this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRY QUAM, MARDA ANGUS FARMS: We'll make the changes we need to make.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ (voice over): Terry Quam is an Angus beef cattle farmer in Wisconsin and represents the first link in a farm-to-table food supply
chain with segments on the brink of crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ (on camera): How concerned are you specifically?
QUAM: There's no handbook for this. There's no answer of when things are going to come around and be normal. When will people get to go back to the
restaurants and eat the healthy beef that we produce at the restaurants?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Quam has mostly affected by the stay-at-home orders. But he also markets to meat packers, the same types of facilities that are
now seeing coronavirus outbreaks across the country including in Brown County which includes Green Bay, Wisconsin, where more than half of all
confirmed cases in that county stem from meat packing plants.
Filiberto Martinez says he was concerned workers like himself weren't being given enough protective equipment, so he said something about it and now
he's unsure if he has been suspended or fired.
"I don't think I did anything wrong," he says. "I simply asked for more protection and more safety so that myself and everyone who works there
won't get infected or lose their lives."
Martinez says, he, along with a workers rights group, Voces de la Frontera, filed a complaint to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
claiming they were having to work at a faster speed due to less workers being present and that their PPE was getting so wet with sweat some was
dripping on to raw meat.
"One of our co-workers next to us, we saw him sick," he says. He said, "You know what, if you're feeling bad, why don't you go home and go get
checked."
He said, "No, I don't have anything." And like I said, there's the fear that this person had to lose the benefits of his job. It's a balance
workers across the country are trying to find.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERNEST LATIKER, TYSON FOODS EMPLOYEE: They told me I have a better chance of catching the coronavirus going out to Walmart than at Tyson. Come to
work, you're safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ (voice over): Tyson told CNN they couldn't address the specific situation as described, but that particular Tyson plant in Iowa closed with
over 150 confirmed cases tied to the facility. This, as thousands of other workers in the U.S. have either shown symptoms or have been hospitalized.
And with President Trump's Executive Order compelling these locations to reopen or stay open, workers are caught in the middle.
"Who wants to die," Martinez says. "I think no one. And so, it's not the same thing to be in the danger versus when you're looking at the danger."
The effects have been noticed a grocery stores, too. Kroger, for example, putting limits on some meat purchases tied to shopper demand.
Back on the farm, the worries are less about what people are eating and more about finding places to sell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUAM: When Mother Nature throws us a curveball, you've got to figure out a way to get around it and work with it and take care of business.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ (voice over): And the business of keeping America fed is being tested alongside the health of the many who make it a reality.
Omar Jimenez, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, this just in to CNN, Don Shula, who is the winningest coach in the history of the NFL has died at the age of 90.
Shula's teams made the NFL Super Bowl six times. He also led the 1972 Miami Dolphins to the only undefeated season in league history. That team honored
was honored -- was honored at the White House by Barack Obama. This is from 2013.
We're going to take a quick break. Ahead, President Trump says he is sure a COVID-19 vaccine will be ready by the end of the year, but experts warn,
probably not. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:46:14]
GORANI: Well, we talk a lot about the global race for a COVID-19 vaccine because after all, it's only when we have a vaccine that our lives will
fully return back to normal.
The U.S. President says he is confident that one will be available by the end of this year. Experts though have repeatedly said it would take a lot
longer, even his own response coordinator says it's not that simple.
CNN's Elizabeth Cohen has our story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Sunday night, President Trump was quite sure about the prospect of a vaccine
against COVID-19.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are very confident that we're going to have a vaccine at the end of the year -- by the end of
the year have a vaccine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: But not everyone seems so sure. Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Response was cautious Sunday about whether a
vaccine would be ready by January, saying it depended on the progress of clinical trials.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR On paper, it is possible. It's whether we can execute and execute around the globe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN (voice over): Dr. Anthony Fauci also cautious saying January is possible, but --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: What might happen is that people months from now will say, well,
you said we were going to have a vaccine in January. I didn't say that. I said, we're going to shoot to be able to have one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN (voice over): And the scientists at the University of Oxford had to walk back a statement his colleague made that she was 80 percent confident
the Oxford vaccine would work.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIR JOHN BELL, CANADIAN IMMUNOLOGIST: I certainly wouldn't put the possibility at 80 percent. That's a pretty big number.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN (voice over): While the world waits for a vaccine, several us teams at the company, Regeneron, for example, and at Vanderbilt University, are
working on a treatment for people infected with COVID-19 that could come along faster.
It's called the monoclonal antibody. They hope to start studies in the coming months.
People who have survived COVID-19 develop antibodies to the virus. Scientists take the most powerful antibodies and synthesize them in the lab
and give them as a drug to people sick with coronavirus.
And for now coronavirus, patients have remdesivir, the first drug that's been shown to have an impact against coronavirus in a clinical trial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL O'DAY, CHAIRMAN, GILEAD SCIENCES: We intend to get that to patients in the early part of this next week, beginning to work with the government
which will determine which cities are most vulnerable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN (voice over): We don't know if remdesivir saves lives. Early results are inconclusive, but it did shave four days off recovery time for
hospitalized patients. That's why scientists continue to look for something even better against COVID-19.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, we've talked a lot about what is going on in Africa and some countries in Africa, even though they're quite densely populated have not
had very high numbers of COVID-related deaths.
At this time of year in the Nigerian state of Kano, it is common for people to contract any number of infectious diseases. This year there's been a
spike in fatalities, even as the coronavirus has spread around the world, and some are calling these deaths at this stage at least mysterious. So,
what's going on in Kano?
David McKenzie has that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The gravediggers in Kano are revealing a hidden truth, an awful toll.
"The day before yesterday, we buried 18 bodies," he says. "Yesterday, we buried 20 people; and today we have received 14."
Locals call this extreme hot season the merja, the time each year when malaria and other infectious diseases converge. This year is worse. "The
numbers are double unusual," he says. "Normally we bury only six or seven a day."
The government denies that a COVID-19 outbreak is the cause. But their toil raises questions. The dead are mostly elderly and the numbers are rising
fast.
[11:50:04]
MCKENZIE: In Kano, dread is rising with it. This video shows the region's mega hub of commerce and trade as it once was. It is not where Nigeria and
surrounding countries can afford to have infections spread unabated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. IBRAHIM MUSA, EPIDEMIOLOGIST: No testing which heightened the fear and the anxiety of the public.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Kano physician and epidemiologist Dr. Ibrahim Musa says many doctors have no protective equipment. With clinics closed due to
COVID-19, they are forced to treat patients for just a few hours before sending them home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MUSA: What we are seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. So, in the next two to three weeks, that is when the clear picture will emerge whether we
are dealing with a fairly massive spread of COVID-19.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Kano's lockdown came later than elsewhere in Nigeria. The Federal government promises to scale up tests and send
equipment. Even before COVID-19, health here was never a guarantee.
But there were some hard-fought gains. In June, the U.N. says it could be declared polio-free after decades of education and immunization. But
humanitarian officials fear that that success could now lost.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAULID WARFA, UNICEF: In any humanitarian situation, the world needs to offer a lot of support. But now, the dust is almost everywhere and
everybody is trying to protect their own eyes. I am worried we might be forgotten as the countries fight the coronavirus on their own.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE (voice-over): COVID-19 is global and state officials promise an investigation into the rise of deaths. But valuable time has been lost and
the impact is already devastating.
David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Are you a parent homeschooling your kids and getting a bit anxious about whether or not they're falling behind? Well, that's the story we'll
be exploring after the break because some teachers are starting to warn of a possible COVID slide.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Welcome back, so I was asking you before the break if you're starting to get a little stressed out about homeschooling your kids and
wondering whether or not they will fall behind. That is an important question because on top of these several weeks out of school, lots of kids
will get the summer break tacked on to that, which means many, many months without in-person learning.
And when parents are stressed, children are also stressed. CNN's Laura Jarrett reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTEN DICARLO, PARENT: I am worried about where they will be if they are going to be at the level they should be at when they get back into school
next year.
I do think the learning loss is huge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAURA JARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Parents across the nation growing increasingly anxious with school closed for months as education
experts begin to warn of a possible COVID slide for student heading into summer break.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEGAN KUHFELD, RESEARCH ANALYST, NORTHWEST EVALUATION ASSOCIATION: So, it`s kind of a double whammy of starting to forget and losing that kind of
academic mindset we had at school, and missing out on a couple important modes of instruction. Particularly for those young kids where we know
learning happens at a really fast rate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT (voice over): Drawing on existing data from roughly five million students in 3rd through 8th grade, Megan Kuhfeld a research scientist at
the Northwest Evaluation Association has been using learning losses typically seen in the summer to forecast how extended school closures could
cause significant backslides for students currently struggling to adapt to remote instruction.
[11:55:11]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KUHFELD: What we saw was pretty alarming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT (voice over): Kuhfeld predicts that for students working through the toughest conditions now, come fall, they could have retained as little
as 70 percent of their reading progress and only 50 percent of gains they've made in math. Potentially serious secondary consequences of COVID-
19 widening the achievement gap between wealthier and lower income students.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KUHFELD: There's a lot of technology limitations. We know many at least don't have access to internet or a quiet place for kids to be learning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT (voice over): Already teachers like Jill Marangon, a Special Ed teacher in New York, says she sees the signs of students falling behind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JILL MARANGONI, SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER: Fifth graders that were strong writers in school who would have never turned in anything without editing
it first, you see what the work they're turning in and it's missing capitals. It's missing punctuation, run-on sentences. It's just lacking
that quality that they had at school and that they just don't have now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT (voice over): And it's not just concerned teachers and parents, kids are stressed about school too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARANGONI: I had a second grader say to me, Miss M, do you think I'm going to be allowed to go to 3rd grade. Am I doing okay? It breaks your heart to
think, like, this is what this seven year old is thinking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT (voice over): While the full extent of any COVID slide remains to be seen, parents like Kristen Dicarlo, a mom of three in Atlanta, says she
hopes teachers are ready to adapt to learning losses whenever classrooms finally reopen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICARLO: School systems are going to have to pick up and recognize. They can`t expect a child from pre-Algebra into Algebra immediately. There`s
going to have to be some remediation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT (voice over): Laura Jarrett, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Stay with us. After the break, we will take you live to New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: The New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is holding a coronavirus news briefing. Let's listen in.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): ... that are most essential and pose the lowest risks. Okay? Most essential and the lowest risk.
Phase 1. We're talking about construction, manufacturing and select retail with curbside pickup.
They are the most essential with the lowest risk.
Second phase professional services, retail, administrative support real estate third phase, restaurants, food services and accommodation fourth,
art, entertainment, recreation and education.
END
