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WHO Approves Global Inquiry Into Pandemic Response: Resolution Calls For Impartial, Independent And Comprehensive Evaluation; Lombardy Region Accounts For Nearly Half Of Italy's Death Toll; President Donald Trump Continues To Defy Medical Guidance And Warnings; Premier League Clubs Start Small Group Training Sessions; United Kingdom Trial Tests If Dogs Can Sniff Out COVID-19 In Humans. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired May 19, 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]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Hala Gorani. This hour, President Trump threatens to permanent defund the World Health
Organization as the organization approves an inquiry into the origins of the pandemic and CNN returns to the Italian Lombardy region which accounts
for nearly half of the country's 31,000 COVID fatalities. Millions of people are in the path of the super cyclone that's barreling down on India
and Bangladesh. We have a live report.
So a lot of news involving the World Health Organization, first of all it decided today to launch a global inquiry into the Coronavirus pandemic
response. Member nations approved a resolution for an impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation but the action will likely not
reduce the U.S. President's disdain for the WHO Donald trump is threatening to permanently stop U.S. Funding for the organization accusing it of being
too closely tied to China.
He wrote a letter to the Director General of the WHO giving the organization 30 days to make major improvements, even threatening to
withdraw from the WHO altogether. White House Correspondent John Harwood joins me now with more on that angle. Is this an idle threat? Is this
rhetoric in an election year or the real possibility that the United States will retreat from yet another international organization while China is
signaling that it will move in and increase its funding?
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think options "B" and "C," Hala. It is an election year gained at by the administration which is
trying to mitigate blame on itself for its own response to Coronavirus. And I think it's also not necessarily an idle threat.
Donald Trump has shown he's willing to disrupt international relationships in the service of his America First policy. Of course, his stance is
somewhat undermined by the fact that earlier in the year he had praised China and praised the WHO for working hard to control Coronavirus but as
this catastrophe has expanded in the United States he is looking for ways to say, hey, it is not my fault.
It's China's fault. They were concealing the outbreak. The WHO deferred to China. They were also not transparent and that's why it's so bad in the
United States. It's true that around the world many countries as you indicated, Hala, want to get to the bottom of exactly what happened at the
beginning of this pandemic because so many have paid such a huge price for this but in U.S. political terms that's a separate thing from judging how
the U.S. Administration itself has handled it?
Donald Trump has gotten a tremendous amount of criticism for that and trying to deflect some of that criticism.
GORANI: And then, he dropped, of course, that bomb yesterday. It was a surprise to everyone. He had spoken of the Hydroxychloroquine drug that he
touted in the beginning of the pandemic as being potentially, you know, a drug that would help shield people from COVID and then said yesterday that
in fact he's been on this drug for the last two weeks.
This is quite remarkable, isn't it? Because doctors have been quite clear saying there's absolutely zero proof that this helps protect anyone against
COVID and if anything it could be dangerous because it causes heart rhythm problems, especially for an older man like Donald Trump.
HARWOOD: Hala, it was a stunning moment because we all remember at the depths of this crisis when President Trump was desperate to have some good
news to tout to the American people he seized on Hydroxychloroquine which had been a cause celeb in right wing media saying while the Coronavirus is
overestimated as a threat and also we have got this response, this therapeutic response in Hydroxychloroquine.
He touted it and then there were some clinical research that came out that discredited the idea of using it. There's research still going on but
preliminarily finds raise questions about the side effect and particularly the lethal potential side effects for people in terms of heart problems.
I think after that happened, President Trump stopped talking about it but I think at this moment he's feeling the oats. We have some progress on the
vaccine development. We've got some numbers coming down in the United States. The economy is reopening and he took yesterday as an opportunity to
say, no, no. I wasn't wrong about Hydroxychloroquine. I was right. I'm taking it and I'm still here.
GORANI: All right. Interesting, we'll be speaking to a doctor later on in the programs of the potential dangers of taking a drug not designed to
treat COVID.
[11:05:00]
GORANI: Thanks very much. John Harwood and also by the way we were expecting the President to make an announcement in the Roosevelt room of
the White House delivering remarks on supporting farmer in the United States. That will be a live event.
This is the first time that the World Health Organization's Annual Assembly is being held virtually. Let's bring in Ivan Watson in Hong Kong with more.
The WHO Chief spoke a short time ago. Did he react at all to Trump's threats?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He's been underscoring a commitment to transparency and to share and be open with the world. He
did not directly to the best of my knowledge respond to the really blistering criticism that's come from the Trump Administration over the
course of the past 24 hours on a number of fronts.
There has been approval from the members of the World Health Assembly of this draft resolution that was signed by more than 100 countries calling
for a review, a, "Impartial, independent and comprehensive" evaluation to look at lessons learned from how this pandemic really came to be?
And he has and China has said that, yes, we can have this review in the Director General of the WHO's words, you know, at an appropriate time. In
the Chinese leader Xi Jinping's words when COVID-19 has been brought under control. The - China has been in this unusual position of now defending the
WHO from the U.S. which was one of the integral players in helping set up the U.N. system in the first place in the aftermath of World War II.
Listen to what China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson said earlier today in response to President Trump's four-letter - four-page letter really
criticizing the Director-General of the WHO
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZHAO LIJIAN, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: The U.S. letter is full of vagueness. It tries to mislead the public to smear China and shift blame
away from its own incompetent response. Currently COVID-19 is spreading in the U.S. the most pressing task is cooperation and solidarity to save
lives. We urge a few U.S. politicians to stop the blame game and together defeat the virus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: Now, President Trump as we were just hearing from the White House is a flawed messenger, criticizing the WHO and China because he was
applauding Xi Jinping and transparency in January in the first weeks of the Coronavirus pandemic when China was really the only country that had a
major outbreak.
But his letter does point out some inconsistencies, the fact that the WHO was echoing Chinese government official assertions claiming that there was
no human to human transmission of Coronavirus. By mid-January and then having to do an about face some two weeks later. Senior
U.S. officials have also been slamming the WHO for not inviting Taiwan to attend this World Health Assembly for four years in a row. While the WHO
has been calling for unity and saying that everybody has to work together to deal with this pandemic, it has refused really to acknowledge this self
governing Island of some 23 million people because China really objects to Taiwan being accepted as an independent country.
China, of course, insists that Taiwan is a breakaway piece of Chinese territory. Hala?
GORANI: All right. Ivan Watson, thank you very much, live in Hong Kong. Back in Washington, U.S. officials are in Capitol Hill to give their first
report on the nation's economic response to COVID-19. The Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and the Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are
testifying on the stimulus programs applied by the $2 trillion Cares Act its' all being held virtually by the way.
There's nobody testifying physically on the Senate floor. Two months ago this act was designed to support the economy and businesses struggling
under stay-at-home measures. Now, in his opening statement Powell described the massive economic blow from the pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: The scope and speed of this downturn are without modern precedent, significantly worse than any
recession since World War II. We are seeing a severe decline in economic activity and employment and already the job gains from the last decade have
been reversed. While more than 20 million people lost their jobs and recent research founds what others have found, people earning less are the hardest
hit.
[11:10:00]
POWELL: This reversal of economic fortune has caused a level of pain that's hard to capture in words as lives are up ended amid great uncertainty about
the future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: And now as the Federal Reserve Chairman and this testimony is coming on the heels of a government report that revealed that a huge chunk
of the stimulus money still hasn't been spent and that is angering people who feel like they have not gotten the money they need just to stay afloat.
We're talking not about salaried employees, generally speaking small businesses, self employed people, all of the anecdotal evidence that we are
getting from all over the country that some people feel they're not getting the help that they need still at this stage to get back on their feet and
so the hope, the prayer for some is that as states begin to reopen, the pandemic, infection rate will stay low, will not spike, and that people
will be able to get back to work.
Now newly released climate report shows COVID lockdown measures will likely lead to the largest decrease in carbon emissions since the end of World War
II. So you know if you want to look for silver lining may be there it is. CNN's Bill Weir joins us live from New York with more. So talk to us about
the actual number and also the real-life impact on the air that we breathe and on the nature around us.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRSPONDENT: Well, first of all, Hala, all of the lead authors on this survey say there's no real silver lining here.
These are forced behaviors we are seeing that are of course come hand in hand with a lot of suffering, a lot of anxiety and obviously sickness and
death.
So it shouldn't take something this tragic to force humanity to reconsider the energy but the numbers are pretty stark and driven, they looked at
dozens of countries in all 50 states really immediately was driven by the lack of ground transportation.
That completely drove those carbon emissions off a cliff down 40 percent, 50 percent in many cases. Daily emissions decreased by 17 percent or 17
million tons of carbon dioxide but really just sort of a drop in the bucket compared to all the carbon that humanity's been putting into the atmosphere
for last 100 years over the industrial revolution.
And just for perspective they're estimated a 4 percent to 7 percent drop for this year in emissions in 2020. That's great and all but in order to
hold to the Paris Climate Accords, in order to hold to that 1.5 degree Celsius warming, human kind would have to have 7 percent reductions every
year between now and 2030. And if you see the economic price that's come with that right now that's a heavy lift.
GORANI: Uh-huh. All right, thanks very much. Also, once the economy reopens the level of pollution goes back up. Thank you very much, Bill Weir. In
Italy's hard-hit north some communities are left traumatized bay devastating phenomenon. Their elderly residents are paying the ultimate
price. We'll have that story from the Lombardy region.
Plus, Brazil reaches a bleak milestone recording the third highest Coronavirus infections in the world.
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[11:15:00]
GORANI: For the first time since March Italy is reopening its - sorry reporting its lowest increase in Coronavirus deaths. This is leading to the
reopening of some small businesses. So far the virus has killed more than 32,000 people in the country, more than half the fatalities are in Italy's
northern Lombardy region. Our Ben Wedeman returned there finding communities traumatized by the wave of death among the elderly.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The lockdown is over in this cemetery in Northern Italy. One person succumbed to Coronavirus on
the 11th of March but only now can family and friends say farewell. Her voice breaking, his daughter says good-bye. But we never abandoned you. We
never would, she says because you'll always be in our hearts.
This community in the foothills of the Alps suffered one of the highest per capita death tolls of Italy. It was as if a tsunami overwhelmed us,
especially the oldest people she tells me. The average age of those who died from Coronavirus in Italy is 80. For the town of Nembro March was a
month of daily death. You just need to look at the death notices here.
This woman died on the 7th of March. This man died on the 8th of March. This woman died on the 7th of March. This woman on the 9th of March and
this man on the 7th. Of Nembro's main nursing homes original 87 residents, 34 died from the virus. The first on the 19th of February but it took
provincial health authorities more than a month and a half to test anyone in this home.
The very first swabs done here were the 10th of April says the Nursing Home Director Barbara Codalli. It's been more than a month since any COVID
deaths occurred here. Now relatives can visit loved ones again at a distance. But the situation remains precarious for the elderly in Milan's
nursing homes where the death toll has been described as a massacre.
She's also dying without oxygen because we don't have machines says a nurse who shot this cell phone video. We muffled her voice because she fears for
her job. As the pandemic intensified the staff at the nursing home assured Carla every day her 85-year-old mother was fine.
On Sunday, April 5th, Carla called the nursing home they said her mother was on oxygen and morphine. The next day she died. What's so tragic says
Carla for those of us who lost the loved ones we didn't have the possibility not just to see them for more than a month but we also couldn't
be close to them in the last days as they suffered.
They needed the hand of their loved ones and not just that. We couldn't even hold funerals. As the pandemic intensified, the Lombardy regional
government asked nursing homes to accept COVID patients which may have contributed to the high mortality rates in the homes.
The regional government declined our request for comment responding that the matter is under investigation. Alessandro Azzoni's mother - was in
Milan a care home. She's now in hospital with Coronavirus in critical condition. He shows me how sections of her care home marked in red were
turned into COVID wards.
Alessandro has founded a group demanding an investigation into nursing homes. The elderly he says Alessandro are part of society with a memory,
they gave us life. We can't just throw them away.
[11:20:00]
WEDEMAN: In a corner of Milan's main cemetery, more than 120 fresh graves. Here, too, most were old, most were in nursing homes. This is where the
unclaimed dead from Coronavirus are buried, unclaimed because many of them had no family. They died alone with no one to mourn their passing. Small,
plastic crosses mark the end of lives lost.
GORANI: Ben Wedeman filed that report joins me now live from Rome. So we have been reporting that the case numbers, infection rate, all those
numbers are going in the right direction. What is daily life like now in a city like Rome?
WEDEMAN: Well, it is getting back to normal in the sense, maybe you will be able to see behind me people are out and about they're no longer
restrictions on people's movements within their communities. Shops, bars, restaurants, hair salons are functioning again although they have severe
limits on numbers.
But people do really feel the weight of the death toll which now exceeds 32,000 since this crisis began. So sort of the joy, the lightheartedness of
spring in Italy isn't here like it was in the past this year. Hala?
GORANI: All right. And what about - I mean, obviously Italy relies a lot on tourism revenue. And they must be eager to try to find some sort of formula
to be able to welcome tourists this summer. Have they come up with a strategy?
WEDEMAN: Well, as of June 3rd Italy will be welcoming international visitors again. But it's not altogether clear if they will be welcoming
them from everywhere. The emphasis initially is going to be on citizens of the European Union. Because, of course, Italy does - tourism is incredibly
important and what we have seen since this crisis began is that tourism is utterly collapsed in the month of April.
The number of tourist nights spent, foreign tourist nights spent in Italian hotels was 99 percent below the year before and still now, I mean, for
instance when we were in Northern Italy last week in our hotel the only people who were there were either Italians or journalists. There were no
tourists to be seen and I can tell you, for instance, I was outside St. Peter's yesterday.
There was a very short line of people outside. They were all Italians. There are no tourists essentially in Italy at the moment and that's
completely contrary to what you would see right now at this time of year here in Rome - Rome's Piazzas Del Popolo and elsewhere in the country,
unfortunately, Hala?
GORANI: And also last hour we were showing our viewers these - this footage of Gond Leers in Venice wearing gloves and face masks. It's great that
small businesses are able to operate again but again, I mean, you're not sending the message that things are back to normal.
You want people to be able to travel confidently and make sure that if there's another spike in cases and things shut down again that they can get
refunded, their deposits and the rest of it. I mean, it just still feels like there might be many months of uncertain times for Italy and countries
like it in Europe, right? Is that what you're hearing on the ground?
WEDEMAN: Yes. I don't think anybody in their right mind is assuming that the season, the tourism season which is really from the beginning of spring
until at least the end of summer is going to be anything that approximates a normal one.
And, of course, Italy is an industrial economy, as well. And that's taken a hit. The estimate is that the economy is going to shrink at least by around
10 percent and that was an estimate from about a month ago so the actual impact on the economy may be even greater.
Fortunately, Italy has a very good social net for the unemployed and the government is trying to come up with new ways to support those people who
are no longer able to make - to earn an income.
In addition to that, Italy has a very good health system that obviously has been under quite a lot of strain as a result of this crisis so Italians
unlike Americans don't have to worry about going bankrupt because of medical bills.
[11:25:00]
WEDEMAN: But the impact on the economy is very much in your face and it's going to be a difficult go for quite sometimes, Hala?
GORANI: Thank you, Ben Wedeman, in Rome. Brazil has the third highest number of confirmed Coronavirus cases in the world now following the U.S.
and Russia. On Monday alone, the country reported almost 650 deaths and more than 13,000 new cases in just 24 hours. The death toll for Brazil is
up to nearly 17,000 people and that's more deaths than any other Latin American country.
Journalist Shasta Darlington is in Sao Paulo, Brazil with more on the situation there and we were discussing, Shasta, the fact that the President
of Brazil doesn't seem to be taking the threat too seriously.
SHASTA DARLINGTON, JOURNALIST: That's right, Hala. That's a big part of the problem. On the one hand you have Governors and Mayors trying to implement
these social isolation measures but then you have the President Jair Bolsonaro not only going out and attending rallies but really encouraging
Brazilians to go back to work.
And he said repeatedly that unemployment and hunger will kill more people than the virus and unfortunately that message does resonate among some
people. A number of Brazilians, a large percentage of the population, works in the informal sector and so when they were told the shelter at home
they're not getting unemployment.
They're getting a very small benefit worth about $100 a month if they can manage to get into the system. So I think unfortunately Bolsonaro's message
is being listened to by some which is why we have seen this week the Brazil has surpassed the U.K. in the number of confirmed Coronavirus cases now
over 250,000. So as you said, it is now the third.
It isn't clear according to officials we're far from peaking and so really isn't clear how far this could go? Here in Sao Paulo more than 90 percent
of intensive care beds are full because less than 50 percent of the population is sheltering at home despite a quarantine that's in effect.
People have gotten more relaxed, let the guard down. And there's this reluctance to enforce a stricter lockdown because officials are concerned
it would be unpopular and might not even get the police on their side, Hala.
GORANI: Okay. Shasta Darlington in Sao Paulo. Still ahead a startling announcement from Donald Trump, why the U.S. President says he's been
taking an anti-malaria drug that he's touted as a treatment for COVID-19 against the advice of medical professionals?
Plus, English Premier League teams move one step closer to a returning to the pitch but there's still a long way to go. We'll tell you about that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
GORANI: Not long after the Coronavirus began the spread through the United States, President Donald Trump began touting an anti-malaria drug called
Hydroxychloroquine as a treatment. We all know how to pronounce it now because he's mentioned it enough times but it was a surprise to say the
least when the President announced yesterday that he's actually been taking the drug. Joe Johns has that story.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A stunning announcement from President Trump saying he's taking daily doses of Hydroxychloroquine despite multiple
studies concluding it does not help treat the Coronavirus and at least one showing it could cause heart problems.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Hydroxychloroquine. Right now, yes. A couple weeks ago started taking it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?
TRUMP: Because I think it's good. I have heard a lot of good stories. If it is not I'll tell you right. I won't be hurt by it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Trump says he asked his physician whether it was a good idea to take the drug as a preventive measure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I asked him what you think. He said well if you would like it. I said, yes, I'd like to take it. A lot of people are taking it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Overnight the White House doctor sending this memo mentioning Trump's personal military valet is positive test earlier this month without
explicitly linking it to why the President began taking Hydroxychloroquine? Writing we concluded the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the
relative risks. Trump's claim he is taking daily doses comes after weeks of promoting the anti-malarial drug without proof it works.
(BGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: So we know that if it - if things don't go as planned it is not going to kill anybody. Hydroxychloroquine, try it. If you'd like, what do
you have to lose?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: The President often going against the advice of his own medical experts like defying CDC guidelines in March saying he would continue to
shake hands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You can't be a politician and not shake hands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Trump refusing to wear a face covering even while touring this mask manufacturer in Arizona and at a press conference in the Rose Garden last
week as many White House staffers looked on wearing them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: In the case of me, I'm not close to anybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: He has also mused aloud about other unconventional treatment ideas like using disinfectants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: That I see the disinfectant knocks it out in a minute, one minute. Is there a way to do something like that? By injection inside or - or
almost a cleaning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Still President Trump downplaying the lack of evidence Hydroxychloroquine works.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Here we go. Are you ready? Here's my evidence. I get a lot of positive calls about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: But the FDA says the drug carries risks and should be used outside a hospital or clinical trial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: He's the President. He can get tested and checked out and EKGs and stuff like that but what about
everybody else? The message is very clear. Don't take this. We don't have evidence it works. It could be harmful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, that was Joe Johns reporting. I want to bring in a Doctor Saju Mathew from Atlanta; he is a CNN Medical Analyst and Primary Care
Physician. Talk to us about the potential dangers of taking Hydroxychloroquine if you're not taking it to treat conditions like malaria
or autoimmune diseases like lupus.
DR. SAJU MATHEW, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Good day to you, Hala. Just as the FDA mentioned, they have issued a warning against the use of
Hydroxychloroquine and COVID-19. They have deemed it to not be safe or effective and just as you asked me, Hala, if you're not taking this
medication to treat known conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus or even malaria, it can cause heart arrhythmias, these are heart rhythm
problems.
And if you're taking other medications it can also interact with, say, cholesterol medications or even anti-depressants. So this is not a drug
that is shown to be safe and effective in patients with COVID-19.
GORANI: And so, Donald Trump is 73 years old, he is considered overweight on the high end of the cholesterol scale. If this is a drug that could
potentially cause arrhythmia of the heart, you know, why wouldn't a doctor recommend against it?
MATTHEW: It's a good question. I'm not in President Trump's personal physician and I would like to believe that his personal doctor warned
President Trump about the potential complications. You know, if you're over the age of 60, our risk for heart disease goes up in and of itself and then
on top of that if you have high blood pressure, if you're overweight, if you have if you have cholesterol issues, then your risk for these heart
arrhythmias go up even more.
[11:35:00]
GORANI: Yes. And what about - I mean, there's a difference between I think what the President is hoping at least if he is indeed taking this drug, I
know he says he is taking it. But the idea is that it's preventive as far as he's concerned. That he says some health professionals even take this
Hydroxychloroquine. Is there any evidence at all that taking this drug could prevent you from getting infected in the first place?
DR. MATHEW: So, Hala, you know the FDA only recommends using this drug in clinical trials and they're sort of two clinical trials going on. Clinical
trials in patients who are really sick that is in the hospital, maybe even on ventilators. They have been studied with the drug to see if it's been
effective.
Few of those studies have been small studies Hala, so we don't have enough data and a few studies have actually said that a lot of these patients have
these heart complications. The second clinical trial would be in front line workers and to answer your question specifically and to what President
Trump alluded that would be a drug that would be used as prophylaxis.
Can I take this medication to prevent even getting COVID-19 in the first place? Now, that clinical trial is currently going on with front line
workers and as we all know front line workers are at the highest risk of acquiring COVID-19 from consistent exposure to really sick patients.
Now, we don't really have results back yet from that second clinical trial but, you know, I don't want to be completely pessimistic, Hala, and say
that this doesn't have a place in patients taking it as prophylaxis.
We just don't have enough data yet and, you know, I grew up in Africa and I've actually taken a cousin if you will of Hydroxychloroquine called
Chloroquine to prevent malaria but, remember, that drug has been studied in malaria and these drugs have been studied in patients with rheumatoid
arthritis and lupus but we have not really had enough data specifically in COVID-19 patients.
GORANI: So just to understand, when you say that some of the possible side effects are arrhythmia, what impact would arrhythmia have? Developing an
irregular heart beat has on someone who is the older end of the scale who's got high cholesterol and high blood pressure? What kind of impact would
that have on their body and health?
DR. MATHEW: You know, to be fair, a lot of heart arrhythmias could be benign meaning that your heart goes out of that normal synchronized
conduction. But if you have an arrhythmia that's dangerous, there are dangerous arrhythmias it could cause sudden cardiac death. And like I
mentioned earlier if you are already are at a high risk group that heart arrhythmia can work against some of the medications that you are taking and
cause a lot of heart failure complications.
It might even cause a stroke so it can be very dangerous. But a lot of these heart arrhythmias typically end up being benign. The bottom line is
we just don't have enough studies to show that this is safe in COVID-19 and we also know that a lot of patients with COVID-19 have heart complications
so that in and of itself poses a risk as well.
GORANI: Yes. I want to ask you a quick last question on Georgia because as we know the Governor and as you know full well since you live there
reopened the state's small businesses, nonessential businesses more than three weeks ago now. We haven't seen the number of cases and the infection
rate or the rate of the rise of cases and the infection rate go up as dramatically as some had warned it would if the Governor reopened too soon.
How do you explain that?
DR. MATHEW: There could be a couple of explanations, Hala. Number one, just because businesses are open doesn't necessarily mean that people are going
to these places whether it's salons or restaurants. Yes, there are a lot of precautions being taken which is good about the number of people being
seated you know takeout dining.
And also let's remember that there is a little bit of a lag from the time you're exposed, the incubation period could be 5 to 14 days so if it takes
two weeks to really become sick, and then go into the hospital, there could be a lag period of about four weeks.
I'm not trying to be pessimistic. I hope and pray that those numbers actually don't go up but I think it's a couple of come combinations which
is people are probably not flocking these places consistently which I think is good.
[11:40:00]
MATTHEW: You should be responsible and number two that lag period that I described.
GORANI: Yes. Also some criticism that the numbers kept were not in sequence day-to-day. We saw a State like Texas for instance reopen and then saw a
spike in cases so to - I mean, to the point you're making I guess is we have to wait and see and then make a more complete assessment. Dr. Matthew,
thank you so much joining us live from Atlanta.
MATTHEW: Thank you, Hala.
GORANI: We appreciate your time. Earlier we talked about criticism against the World Health Organization over its handling of the pandemic but the
agency is not the only target. As Nic Robertson shows us, some of the most powerful leaders in the world have been accused of failure in the fight
against the virus.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Vladimir Putin as he likes to be seen, tough guy. But not riding so high now. Russia roiled by
Coronavirus has raced to number two spot behind the U.S. for infections. Indications are Putin's early tough it out stance imagining the nation in
its own invincible image exporting PPE overseas and late lockdown are coming back to bite him.
No clearer indication of his discomfort than Russia's apparent dissembling of the COVID-19 death toll in Moscow. Effectively, underreporting although
the city's health department says the way its recording death is extremely accurate. Putin is not the only strong man leader humbled by his handling
of COVID-19.
Bolsonaro Brazil's so-called Trump of the tropics, a populist pushes back against lockdowns actively encouraging public rallies to demand businesses
reopen and is now lost his second health minister this month over COVID-19 differences. Even as Rio's poverty-ridden - communities teem with infection
and national rates rise. COVID-19 is no respect of strong man logic. The reverse, it thrives on ineptitude.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I was at the hospital the other night where I think there are a few Coronavirus patients and I shook hands
with everybody you will be pleased to know and I continue to shake hands.
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ROBERTSON: Even Britain's rich man's populist PM Boris Johnson was felled after upstaging the virus. A month later, after he said this, he was close
to COVID-19 death in ICU. President Xi autocrat did what really powerful leaders can do. Shutting regions down, stopping the virus in its tracks and
deflecting blame for the spread beyond China's borders but even he is immune to COVID-19's invisible peril. His outreach of medical aid to the
world, no, some of it faulty, too little too late for many and that coupled to China's own crippled economy could down scale his reach.
Belarus's Alexander Lukashenko Europe's longest surviving strong man embodies the blindness of unchecked power instructed no cowing to the
Coronavirus. Ice hockey and other sporting events to continue when even Putin demurred to COVID-19, canceling his biggest annual power parade this
month, Victory Day, Lukashenko went ahead.
Thousands marched in tight formation an extreme un-pandemic proximity. So far according to the state's own less than transparent stats Belarus not
ravaged as a result of Lukashenko's month-long lockdown rejection. And as autocrats like Lukashenko are economic with the truth, we may never know
the real picture.
Putin, who in his early COVID-19 days, had Russia's patriarch overfly and bless the country still has the worst to come and won't be able to hide
from it easily. COVID-19 may not finish these strong men off but it may well leave them diminished for years to come. Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
GORANI: English football fans are a step closer to having all their dreams come true. Premier League clubs are set to start again on Tuesday. Now that
the league voted unanimously to allow small group sessions but the organization says that contact training still isn't permitted so how does
that work, so essentially teams have to train with social distancing measures in place.
[11:45:00]
GORANI: World Sports Don Riddell is live from Atlanta with the very latest on that. How do you train - so they have to stay two meters apart? How does
that work?
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Well, this is going to be phase one of the Premier League getting back to training, Hala and we still don't know when
they may or may not actually resume with the games and trying to finish off the season?
But what they're talking about right now is Phase One and Phase One means that they can only train with groups of five players or less, they kind of
try and maintain social distancing. They're going to have to change at home and drive to the training ground by themselves.
And that's how they're going to try and make it work and they're going to try to sort of roll the dice and hope that works and work up through the
phases and then hopefully return to the premier league full-time.
But it's going to be difficult, especially since we have learned just within the last few minutes that the Premier League has been testing the
players. They tested 748 players and staff over Sunday and Monday and 6 players have come back with positive tests from 3 different clubs.
They have been instructed to self isolate for seven days. So this is the kind of thing that these players are running into. And some of them are not
at all happy that they're being forced to rush back so quickly.
GORANI: All right. That's astonishing that they had the positive players. It'd be interesting to see how that impacts the training schedule. Thanks
very much, Don. Still ahead, India and Bangladesh in the eye of a dangerous super cyclone you are looking at the strongest storm ever recorded in the
Bay of Bengal. We have a live update next.
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GORANI: Millions of people are in the path of super cyclone Amphan at the India/Bangladesh border. If you are watching us from that part of the world
there is a storm coming your way but it is really that one coastal section that you have to truly worry about.
It is the strongest storm ever recorded in the Bay of Bengal. Yesterday it was packing winds of up to 270 kilometers per hour. It is expected to make
landfall Wednesday evening and India's disaster response team that you can see here warning people to evacuate with bullhorns.
Nearly 300,000 in India and about 2 million in Bangladesh are being evacuated or moved to shelters. CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers joins me now
live from Atlanta with more. So that's - you know, that's almost 2.5 million people, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLIGIST: Oh, absolutely. If you live within ten meters of sea level you need to move. I mean, there's just nothing you can
do about it. The storm surge of 5 meters plus waves on top of that will wash you and your village away. Run from the water with this one. This was
equal to a category 5 Atlantic hurricane yesterday when we talked at this exact moment.
[11:50:00]
MYERS: Now it's a little bit less. Now it is a little bit less strong we're only at 185. But do not let your guard down looking at this number because
the water, the surge, is still under the storm. The surge is still coming.
And if you look at pictures of this area, this is a delta region where many villages aren't 1 meter above ground and this is all - all this saltwater
is going to push into this area here of Bangladesh and also Eastern India.
There will be significant waves along the other coasts, too both sides with waves somewhere in the 40, probably, feet somewhere around 12 meter ball
park that will be on the shore. We're also going to see this surge. This is saltwater there is another problem with rainwater.
But this saltwater is going to push up these basin estuaries somewhere in the ballpark of 4,000 kilometers of tributaries that are going to be
flooded at least at some point and then the rain is going to come down. Salt water trying to go up rainwater coming down and that's the double
we're going to get with this storm.
Rainwater one side, fresh water the other side and the saltwater coming in up from the Bay of Bengal. This was 88-degree water yesterday, 31 degree
Celsius water yesterday. That's almost too warm to get in if you're in a pool. It is not even refreshing. This is water that this storm needed. It
got strong it went from literally nothing to a super cyclone in just a few days.
So we're watching and praying for people here. They're going to have a very difficult 24 hours from now.
GORANI: Thank you, Chad Myers. We'll keep our eye on this terrible storm. Now a development in the nine-year-long Syrian Civil War, representatives
of opposing forces have agreed to sit back down for some constitutional negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland. It won't happen right away.
It is as soon as the Coronavirus pandemic allows it. The Reuters News Agency says the U.N. Special Envoy did not announce a date for the meeting
but urged the United States and Russia who back opposing for this to encourage the peace process.
Now it's a question of not getting too excited over a round of talks. There have been 12 rounds of peace talks in Kazakhstan. Eight rounds at Geneva
conferences, but with they're fighting relatively calm since a ceasefire in March there are hopes that this could at least be a positive step forward.
The Prime Minister of Lesotho has officially resigned. It comes after months of pressure over the alleged involvement in the death of his first
wife. She was shot dead in 2017 Thomas Thabane blamed his resignation on political rivalry though. Not the scandal. His current wife has been
charged with the murder of his ex-wife. And police sought to charge him, as well. But the Nation's High Court is determining whether or not he has
immunity.
Coming up the U.K. is using dogs or trying to use dogs to detect the Coronavirus. How they are being trained to sniff out COVID-19?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Finally a new potential way to sniff out COVID-19. A trial is under way in the U.K. to see if six specially trained dogs can smell the virus
before symptoms even appear. Max Foster has our story.
[11:55:00]
MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: This dog is being trained to detect prostate cancer. She is presented with urine samples and rewarded when she
identifies the correct one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good girl. What a good girl.
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FOSTER: This dog is able to identify the odor of malaria sufferers. The next mission here is to train dogs to sniff out people infected with COVID-
19.
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DR. STEVE LINDSEY, PROFESSOR BIOLOGICAL & BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES, DURHAM UNIVERSITY: The way we're going to do that is by collecting, using face
masks and asking people to wear these face masks for few hours and then carefully collect those and the other thing we're going to do is get people
to wear nylon socks, that sounds a bit strange but we know from our previous experience that this is a really good way of collecting odors from
people and it's such an easy way to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: If the training is successful, one of their first deployments is likely to be airports where dogs are already used to sniff out drugs and
other contraband. If they help reopen the travel industry that could be the boost to international trade the governments everywhere are looking for.
Max Foster, CNN, outside London.
GORANI: And imagine this, you're out wearing a mask and need to eat so what do you do? Remove the mask? Well not anymore. Inventers in Israel have
developed a mask to allow you to eat without removing it. Gosh. What is this thing, first time seeing this? So here's how it works, when you
squeeze this lever it opens up the mouth area and take in the food. Would you try it? Here's what some people think.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While I'm still wearing it? It's a mask.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think this mask could hold with this kind of ice cream dripping all over. I wouldn't want to wear it afterwards.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: All right. The inventers say the mask can be used in restaurants to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 but you have to open it at some point.
More up next, I'm Hala Gorani. I'll see you next time. Stay with CNN.
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