Italy Deaths, New Cases Continue Downward Trend; Satellite Photos Raise Questions about Kim Jong-un; Japan's Health Care System Overwhelmed; Vietnam Reports Low COVID-19 Infections, No Deaths
ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Natalie Allen. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. We appreciate it. New satellite images are offering tantalizing clues about the whereabouts and health of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. These photographs show what is likely Mr. Kim's personal train near his compound. But it's not clear he's there. He hasn't been seen in public for more than two weeks. North Korean media say he sent a thank you message to some workers but CNN has not confirmed that report, that it came from him. CNN also reported on Tuesday that the U.S. is following intelligence that Kim was in grave danger after surgery. So what do we make of it? Will Ripley has covered North Korea on 19 separate trips there and he joins us now from Tokyo. Has Kim Jong-un ever disappeared for this long, Will?</s>WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He did vanish from sight for 40 days back in 2014. However, it was not like this. In terms of the speculation and the conflicting reports from one end of the spectrum that he's perfectly fine to the complete other end of the spectrum that the situation is beyond horrible for Kim Jong-un. I think a lot of these reports are based on second-hand information because well-placed sources I have been speaking with since Tuesday and Jim Sciutto's reporting that the U.S. is monitoring intelligence that Kim Jong-un is in grave danger after surgery, these are people who are usually in the know and they have no idea. Because nothing is more secretive in this -- one of the world's most secretive countries than the health of their leader. They're not going to really tell anyone anything until they're nice and ready. So on state media, you have these routine reports that Kim Jong-un sent a greeting to someone or sent, you know, regards to someone else. These are, you know, electronic messages that somebody else signs off on. They're not confirming or denying the rumors that are spreading around the world. And the silence speaks volumes that something is going on. And then, of course, the presence of his train. It doesn't prove or disprove anything about his health, it adds credibility to the fact that he's probably there. If he's traveling by train and not his preferred method, by plane, that could say a lot of things. Maybe he did have surgery and he can't fly. Maybe there's a serious procession that's about to leave from his compound. It's all speculative until we get the facts from the North Koreans if and when they're ready.</s>ALLEN: It's not like he's an old or aging leader, either. Why would he be in grave danger? We know that you're also following another major story for us there in Tokyo and that is the crisis of the pandemic and it seems it's gotten so bad there that the health care system is near the point of collapse. What can you tell us?</s>RIPLEY: We have seen in just one month a more than tenfold increase in the number of coronavirus cases here in Japan. This is a nation that still has an observable sense of complacency among the general population. People are still out. Yet case numbers are rising quickly and people seem to be hearing the warnings but not taking them seriously.</s>RIPLEY (voice-over): Loudspeakers are blaring amongst Tokyo warning people to stay home. Some are listening. Many are not, packing supermarkets, parks, playgrounds, even a gambling park. Japanese health experts warn that without social distancing, hundreds of thousands could die of coronavirus. Getting tested remains incredibly difficult. This man's daughter had a 104-degree fever, 40 degrees Celsius for 4 days. "My wife and I were very nervous. Desperately asking for a test but they kept saying no. They even hung up on me." Within days, his entire family was sick.</s>RIPLEY (voice-over): They tried to get tested for two agonizing weeks. "It was scary. Our first daughter also had a fever, then a seizure. We took her to the hospital but it was too late." She was just 16 months old when she died of flu-related meningitis five years ago. His wife and children were never tested for the coronavirus. A doctor says the same thing is happening to a lot of his patients. "Only 10 percent of my requests are accepted."</s>RIPLEY: 90 percent denied?</s>RIPLEY (voice-over): On average this month, Tokyo is testing less than 300 people a day. Japan's health ministry has repeatedly told CNN widespread testing would be a waste of resources. Just this week, some areas did begin offering drive-through and walk- through testing. But it is not widely available. Undertesting is not the only problem. Hospitals are turning away ambulances at a rate four times higher than last April.</s>RIPLEY: Your patient is laying there for up to nine hours, getting no treatment whatsoever and hospitals kept turning him away? "I have never experienced being turned away by so many hospitals before the coronavirus outbreak." Japan's medical association warns the public health system is on the brink of collapsing. Running low on ICU beds, ventilators and personal protective equipment. "We only get one mask per week." CNN agreed not to use her full name, identify her hospital.</s>RIPLEY: How is one mask a week possible to keep you safe from the virus? "It is scary," she says, showing me the cloth mask that she uses. Experts warn that cloth masks don't protect nurses from coronavirus. Several Japanese hospitals have already become clusters of an infection. "I am worried about how long this will continue. I am afraid that there is no end in sight." With case numbers skyrocketing in Japan, this may be just the beginning.</s>RIPLEY: How do you shape public policy if you don't have an idea how many have the virus? Widespread testing is what experts say is necessary to find out how many people are walking around sick. Yet here in Tokyo, their testing for the month of April an average of less than 300 people per day. In New York they're testing an average of 20,000 people per day. Supporters of Japan's approach will say, but look at the low number of deaths right now, over 300 but less than a lot of countries. But seven weeks ago, all of the United States had less than 200 deaths. Things can change quickly if the virus spreads quickly.</s>ALLEN: Absolutely. Quickly, Will, I'm curious, why are people in Japan not practicing social distancing? Why does this seem to be a laid-back reaction to what's going on?</s>RIPLEY: One, the government's messaging before the postponement of the Olympics was very relaxed, saying that Japan had a low number of cases. Now there is a nationwide state of emergency. But the problem is, a lot of people have had no choice but to go to work because 80 percent of Japanese companies are not set up for telework. And so people have no choice but to show up at their jobs if their bosses tell them to do so. Only some of the big corporations like Toyota, Nissan and Honda have had employees working from home. A lot of companies haven't done that. It will be the beginning of the golden week holiday. People will be off work. They won't be packing their offices and the subways. The question is, will they stay home as the government is suggesting and warning them to do so? Or will they be out enjoying the time off, gathering in groups at restaurants that are still open? That is what we need to watch and it could be a turning point one way or the other for Japan as the number of cases continue to accelerate here.</s>ALLEN: All right. Great reporting as always, Will. Thank you so much. Will Ripley, stay safe there in Tokyo. Staying in the region now, as places like Japan are overwhelmed, Vietnam is drawing attention for its apparent success in containing the epidemic. Michael Holmes has that.</s>MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Vietnam, a country of 97 million people and less than 300 confirmed cases of COVID-19. And no deaths. That's the official figure from the government and that has caught the attention of experts and the international media. The World Health Organization attributes Vietnam's apparent success in beating back the virus to the Communist state's ability to get the public to cooperate, including mass quarantines, lockdowns, mandatory social distancing and aggressive contact tracing and testing.</s>NGUYEN MANH VIEW, COFFEE SHOP WORKER (through translator): Vietnam's strategy in the fight against COVID-19 was remote and early prevention even before the pandemic got complicated.</s>HOLMES (voice-over): The first two cases of the virus were detected in January.</s>HOLMES (voice-over): Authorities immediately suspended flights to Wuhan, then the ground zero of the pandemic, and closed the border with China to all but essential trade and travel. In addition, aggressive contact tracing began, relying on grassroots Communist Party networks in neighborhoods. Here's how one Hanoi resident put it. "We go to each and every alley, knocking on each and every door. We follow the guidance from our government that fighting the pandemic is like fighting our enemy." Easing the restrictions came after no new confirmed case was reported in about a week. But the authorities here insist the crisis is not over. In fact, a town in a province close to the Chinese border was locked down early this month after one case of the virus was detected. Restrictions also remain on two villages during the capital, Hanoi, according to state media. Hanoi residents welcome the easing of restrictions but this man, reminding people not to let down their guard.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The social distancing has been eased. But this outbreak is unpredictable. Therefore, we cannot anticipate anything.</s>HOLMES (voice-over): In the meantime, many here, just happy that a semblance of normality is back.</s>ALLEN: People are cooped up but that means wild animals are out to play. Next, the effect this pandemic is having on wildlife but the risk that is also evident of a pandemic of saving some endangered species. That's coming up.