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2018 Report Found "Major" Damage In Champlain Towers South; Fifth Body Found In Champlain Towers Wreckage; Families Hold Onto Hope After Florida Building Collapse; Hot Air Balloon Crash Kills Five; Record-Breaking June Heat; Biden Walks Back Comments On Infrastructure Bill; Matt Hancock Resigns As U.K. Health Secretary After Breaking COVID-19 Restrictions; New Zealand Suspends Quarantine-Free Travel With Australia For Three Days. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired June 27, 2021 - 03:00   ET

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


[03:00:00]

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Search crews are hoping to find survivors in the rubble of the Florida building collapse but time is critical. There are new questions about the structural integrity of the building from a report filed three years ago.

Plus, President Joe Biden is backtracking on what he wants to be a signature program. Why he's now clarifying some of his remarks.

And Broadway is back. The first big show welcomed ticket holders Saturday night.

Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

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BRUNHUBER: We begin, of course, in Florida, where the death toll has risen following the catastrophic collapse of a 12-story building in the city of Surfside. Five people are now confirmed dead after a body was pulled from the rubble by search and rescue crews on Saturday; 156 others are still unaccounted for.

The mayor of Miami-Dade County says the aggressive search for survivors is still the top priority. The cause of the collapse is unknown but we've learned there were major structural problems with the building that were flagged back in 2018. CNN's Randi Kaye has more on the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Officials here are also looking at a report from three years ago, which has certainly caught the attention of many. It's from 2018 and it's a structural field survey report.

It talks about the structural integrity of this building that collapsed. And there are some things in it that are quite alarming. They cite the sizeable cracks in the concrete slab below the pool. They have crumbling in the parking garage, they say. They found abundant cracking in the parking garage, in the concrete columns and in the beams, in that parking garage. Also they say that the previous garage concrete repairs are failing.

So the question is why wasn't anything done about this -- or was anything done about this in the last three years?

It is important to note that, in this 2018 report, there is nothing to indicate that this building is facing imminent collapse or at risk of collapse. So I just want to be very clear about that.

But the mayor here in Surfside, Florida, say it's really unclear to him what steps were taken to address the concerns cited in the 2018 structural field survey report -- I'm Randi Kaye reporting in Surfside, Florida. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Joining me now is Forrest Lanning. He is a structural engineer with FEMA Region 9 in California and he deals with collapsed buildings and major disasters, including earthquakes.

Thanks so much for being here with us. You've seen the details in the 2018 report about the structural problems and the repairs needed. You've looked at the pictures of the building before the collapse. So let's set aside hindsight here.

Should the alarm bells have rung much more urgently?

FORREST LANNING, STRUCTURAL ENGINEER, FEMA REGION 9, CALIFORNIA: I think so. I mean, it's been several years since that report came out. And reading through the report, there was evidence of the concrete spalling, cracking and corrosion on the rebars.

What's really concerning is it was happening in the basement. The basement covers the whole block. So it extends beyond the footprint of the building. Above the basement is the exterior, is the outside. The report was stating that there was no slope to the slab.

So it was ponding water so the water would just stay on there until it evaporated. And there was a lot of calcium carbonate in the concrete and there was attempts to repair cracks.

But the report also stated that there was further cracking since the repair, which, to me, would be a huge red flag. That's something that needed to be done and it's unfortunate what happened. But there is -- there was warnings for this.

BRUNHUBER: One of the possible factors experts are talking about is salt from the ocean, from the air. Many years ago, I covered a deadly pancake collapse of a structure. And engineers found runoff from the deicing road salt contributed to the corrosion of the rebar and the bonds with the concrete.

So explain what effect the long exposure to salt has on the integrity of buildings?

LANNING: So having the outside air is a problem. Having high humidity is an even bigger problem.

[03:05:00]

LANNING: But having high humidity and salty air is the worst combination. When you have oceanfront structures, you -- the structure is being basically blasted by the sea air, it's full of salt, especially if it's right on the beach the entire lifetime.

It doesn't get a break from it. And salt is the worst corrosive agent for the rebars inside. So usually in structures that are going to be in this maritime environment, there is extra thick what we all concrete cover protecting the steel rebar.

Now I don't know specifically in this case if it had extra concrete for them. My guess is that it wouldn't because a lot of the structure was internal to the building. You usually do that only on exterior features.

But it sounds like there was excess amount of cracking through the top slab of the basement and through on the exterior cladding of the entire building. There's evidence of a lot of this.

BRUNHUBER: The concern, of course, is that this could be more widespread in terms of other buildings perhaps. Miami-Dade's county mayor announced there will an audit of all the buildings in the county that are at the four-year point and beyond. It sounds like a huge undertaking.

But why 40 years? Why is that the magic number?

If the building's 35 years, you know, is there nothing to worry about there? Why is that significant?

LANNING: I'm not really sure where they came up with 40 years. A lot of times, buildings have a lifespan they're designed for. Typically, depending on the type of use of buildings, but more or less they're about 50-year lifespans.

And so 40 years is -- my assumption is that's approaching the end of that lifespan so they're going to do this whole recertification of the building. There's enough time before the end of the lifespan.

BRUNHUBER: But with bridges and other important structures like that, they do it much more often.

Shouldn't that perhaps be doing it every 10 years or something like that, considering especially some people are saying climate change might play a factor, with the changing climate?

Should we perhaps change our regulations?

LANNING: I agree. I think it probably should be 20 years. It should definitely be shorter than the 40 years, especially on oceanfront structures.

Now if there's buildings on the interior inland, that are away from the ocean, 40 years might be fine. But these are these oceanside -- the oceanfront structures really need to have their inspections more often. There will be a lot more, quicker corrosion. It just gets a beating from it, including with all of the hurricanes that hit Florida.

BRUNHUBER: Finally, as someone who has dealt with some 100 collapsed buildings in various parts of the world, what can you tell us about chances of survival post-collapse?

I know you have sobering statistics but also maybe a reason for hope.

LANNING: Yes, so when a building collapses and people are trapped inside, there's usually an initial percentage of occupants, who, unfortunately, will die right off the bat. There is another amount who are still alive. Now depending on what type of injuries they have, they will last from minutes to hours and then, if they're uninjured, they can last up to a week.

The biggest opportunity to find survivors will be in the first 48 hours. After the first 48 hours, that chances diminish greatly. That's not to say you won't find survivors. There has been times where they've found survivors out until a week. So there is still hope out there.

But that window is really just the first 48 hours. That's why it's really critical to get urban search and rescue teams out there immediately. It's really going to be up to the local urban search and rescue teams because you cannot mobilize a lot of the other teams as quickly. Because even though I said the first 48 hours, the first 24 hours is even a better chance. And so timing is everything.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, let's certainly hope for the best. There's certainly still a reason to hope. Thank you so much for joining us, Forrest Lanning, really appreciate you sharing your expertise with us.

LANNING: Great. Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: As crews continue their search, the families of the missing are facing agonizing uncertainty and praying for a miracle. CNN spoke with the children of Judy Spiegel, one of the 156 people still unaccounted for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL SPIEGEL, DAUGHTER OF MISSING WOMAN: My mom is just the best person in the world. She is so caring and loving. She, like, loves my kids. And obviously, I'm dealing with my own stuff but I also have to worry about my daughter.

I have two daughters, but one's too little to really know and understand. The picture that we just saw was Scarlett with my mom.

But my daughter keeps asking. [03:10:00]

R. SPIEGEL: We told her last night that my mom is missing and we can't find her.

And she told me that, "Well, she's really good at playing hide-and- seek, so she's probably hiding in her house.

"Can I go with there with you?

"I know where she hides."

And I said, we have a lot of people helping. We told her that I've been on the news. We're doing everything that we can.

But my husband told me that, she asked again today, "Have they found Grandma? Has Mommy found Grandma?"

JOSH SPIEGEL, SON OF MISSING WOMAN: I'm scared to death. I just want my mom back.

R. SPIEGEL: I know.

J. SPIEGEL: And we're praying as much as possible. We just want more people to help. So if there's anyone else that can help, that's all that we want. We love my mom. She's the most amazing person in the world. And we would literally do anything, because we know that she would do anything for us.

R. SPIEGEL: My dad was in town for Father's Day. Josh's birthday was Father's Day. We were all celebrating and happy. And my dad left Monday morning. And they were supposed to go to New York. They have this trip coming up. It's days away.

Like, I don't really understand it. Like, my heart breaks for my dad, but at the same time, I'm just so thankful that he wasn't there, too, because, obviously, the thought of losing my mom, who's my rock and my best friend and everything, is the most awful thing. But I don't really know if I would be standing if I lost the two.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Residents of the other Champlain Towers are asked to voluntarily evacuate. Reporter Joseph Ojo from CNN affiliate WPLG has a story of a woman who survived by climbing through rubble in the dark, holding her dog.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHARON SCHECHTER, CONDO COLLAPSE SURVIVOR: I mean, I was one of two, I think, that survived on my floor.

JOSEPH OJO, WPLG REPORTER (voice-over): As Sharon Schechter was fast asleep --

SCHECHTER: I started hearing noise that was a little unusual. OJO (voice-over): -- her condominium came crashing down.

SCHECHTER: It felt like the whole building was shaking.

OJO (voice-over): She looked outside to see what was wrong --

SCHECHTER: I realized, I said, Oh, my God, where's the building? There's no building.

OJO (voice-over): -- then quickly grabbed her dog and ran for safety.

SCHECHTER: I mean, I literally walked out with nothing.

OJO (voice-over): Sharon tells me she and others tried running down the only available stairwell, but then they were faced with a ton of rubble.

SCHECHTER: There was no way, we're screaming help, we're here, come get us, we're here, banging on the door.

OJO (voice-over): She tells me she had to climb through the rubble and on top of cars to get out.

SCHECHTER: It was pitch black. It was like Titanic. You know, we're finding our way out until we get to some light.

OJO (voice-over): And when she got out --

SCHECHTER: Now, it's like, Mike, Mike's in the building. Where's Mike? You know, I called him, I have his number.

OJO (voice-over): -- all she could think of was her neighbors who didn't make it out.

SCHECHTER: I felt like a mourning every minute for someone in that building.

OJO: Sharon operates a Medicare insurance business out of her apartment. She says the building collapsed so quickly that she wasn't able to grab her personal items like her passport and important documents for work. Although her livelihood is gone, she is grateful to be alive.

SCHECHTER: I'm hoping that there's a reason why I survived a bigger -- a bigger picture.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: That was reporter Joseph Ojo from CNN affiliate WPLG.

Members of the community came together in a vigil to honor the victims in the collapse on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): St. Joseph's Catholic Church is just blocks from the scene. The church has several parishioners that lived in the part of the condo that collapsed and were unaccounted for as of Friday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: U.S. President Joe Biden expressed his sympathies to the families of the victims, saying in a tweet, "My heart is with the community of Surfside as their grieve their lost loved ones and wait anxiously as search and rescue efforts continue.

"Yesterday I spoke with Governor DeSantis to let him know that we are ready to provide assistance as needed by state and local officials."

Biden approved an emergency declaration for Miami-Dade County on Friday.

And you can help. So please head to cnn.com/impact and you'll find links that have been verified by CNN. That's at cnn.com/impact.

Desperate for updates and stuck hundreds of miles away. For dozens of families whose loved ones are missing after Thursday's collapse, the wait for answers is taking place from abroad.

Plus something goes horribly wrong during a hot air balloon flight in New Mexico and the balloon crashes to the ground with no survivors. We'll have the latest on that. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: U.S. authorities are investigating a deadly hot air balloon crash. The balloon went down in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Saturday, killing five people. The crash involved power lines, temporarily knocking out electricity to 13,000 people. Evan McMorris-Santoro has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A horrific hot air balloon crash in New Mexico left five dead on Saturday morning. An Albuquerque police department spokesperson tells CNN the balloon's gondola hit a power line and caught on fire before detaching and crashing into an intersection.

The balloon itself landed in a nearby back yard. Authorities found four dead at the scene and a man in dire condition. He later died in the hospital. The victims range in age from 40 to 60 years old and include the pilot of the balloon. All were from New Mexico.

Most of them had been released but among the victims we do know about are a former Albuquerque police department officer and his spouse. For New Mexico, a ballooning haven, this tragedy hits especially hard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR TIM KELLER (D), ALBUQUERQUE, NM: For all of us in New Mexico, you know, we think about ballooning and what it means to us. I do know that this is a tragedy that is uniquely felt and uniquely hits hard at home here in Albuquerque and in the ballooning community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Federal investigators from the FAA and the NTSB are now supervising the investigation. The NTSB has long called for more regulation of ballooning. This call came after an eerily similar crash involving power lines in Texas in 2016.

[03:20:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT SUMWALT, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: The truth of the matter is the NTSB feels that there needs to be greater oversight by the regulator.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: An NTSB spokesperson told CNN, those comments still reflect the feeling of the agency when it comes to balloons. NTSB data shows 12 fatal balloon crashes across the country since 2008. And that data does not include today's crash -- Evan McMorris-Santoro, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: More than 18 million people are under excessive heat warnings across parts of the Western U.S. Portland, Oregon, hit 108 degrees Fahrenheit, over 42 degrees Celsius, on Saturday. Seattle, Washington, is breaking records. It was in the triple digits as well and Saturday morning was the second warmest of all times.

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BRUNHUBER: U.S. President Joe Biden is correcting course after his comments on a bipartisan infrastructure bill drew swift fire from the other side of the aisle. Arlette Saenz breakdowns (sic) the White House's apparent about-face.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Biden dove into cleanup mode Saturday after making comments earlier in the week that threatened the future of his bipartisan agreement on infrastructure.

Just hours after that agreement had been reached, the president tied that bipartisan plan to a larger reconciliation bill that's expected to just pass on Democratic votes, saying he said he would not sign one without the other, comments which really frustrated those Republican senators who had been working with him on that agreement.

Now on Saturday, the president acknowledged the frustration and said that Republicans were understandably upset.

And he added, "My comments also created the impression that I was issuing a veto threat on the very plan I had just agreed to, which was certainly not my intent."

The president went on to say that he fully supports that bipartisan proposal and that he intends to support it and promote it with vigor. Now the White House really jumped into damage control mode, trying to ease the concern of those Republican senators and moderate Democrats.

President Biden even holding a personal phone call with Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. And after the president's statement on Saturday, two of those senators, Rob Portman, a Republican, and Sinema, a Democrat, both tweeted out their support for that original bipartisan agreement.

Now the president is planning to take his sales pitch for this plan out on the road, giving a speech in Wisconsin on Tuesday. But really this is going to be a long road ahead as the president is trying to seek this bipartisan support for his infrastructure proposal. But it's already off to a bumpy start.

[03:25:00]

SAENZ: Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: When we come back, families holding on to hopes and coming to grips with their greatest fears.

Plus a very touching moment as firefighters honor the victims of the collapse. That's just ahead.

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BRUNHUBER: Back to our top story, five people are now confirmed dead in the devastating building collapse in Surfside, Florida. The whereabouts of 156 others are still unknown.

Major structural problems with the Champlain Towers South condominiums were flagged back in 2018. That's leading to concerns about the nearby North Tower and just how safe it is.

Surfside mayor is recommending residents there evacuate out of caution. Meanwhile, an impromptu memorial for the scores of people still unaccounted for stands about a block away from the collapse.

With each passing hour, it grows with pictures, flowers and mementos, as families cling to hope their loved ones will be found alive.

As more time passes, the likelihood of finding survivors fades but the mayor of Miami-Dade County says they're not giving up. She spoke with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Saturday and praised the efforts of an international team of rescue workers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR DANIELLA LEVINE CAVA (D), MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FL: We are continuing, we are searching and we are hoping to find more people alive in the rubble. We still have hope. We're using the dogs, the cameras, the sonar, all of that. And our experts tell us there is still a chance.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Are you getting all the help you need from local, state, federal authorities?

I know you're getting help internationally as well?

[03:30:00]

CAVA: Exactly. We are getting the help we need. It's been extraordinary.

First of all, we have the best team in the world for search and rescue. These folks have trained and are Task Force One, that's what they're called, through FEMA. They have been all over the world, the Haiti earthquake, 9/11. So they know what they're doing.

Then as well we've had, embedded from Mexico and Israel and as well as from around the United States.

BLITZER: What's the hardest, from your perspective -- you're the mayor here.

CAVA: Yes.

BLITZER: -- in Miami-Dade County, you've got a huge responsibility.

What's the hardest thing you have to deal with?

CAVA: The families.

BLITZER: Have you been talking to the families?

CAVA: Yes, yes. Of course.

BLITZER: Tell us about those conversations.

CAVA: It's just unimaginable because, of course, when it's your loved one and you just have no clues where they are and you don't understand why it is that they haven't been located, I -- they've offered to go to the pile and dig.

And I said, if I could dig, I would dig because clearly we all want to find these people alive.

And that is how the fire rescue team is treating it. They live to find people alive in the rubble. So it's really just devastating to say we don't have news. They need to wait. They need to be patient. And that's how it's -- (CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: For some of these family members, and my heart goes out to them, they've said they want to go over the rubble.

Are you going to let them do that?

CAVA: We're working on a plan to allow family members to have an opportunity to be by the site and pay vigil to their family.

BLITZER: They feel this would be very, very, you know, emotionally satisfying for them to see it.

CAVA: Yes.

BLITZER: Some of them wouldn't want to go but some would.

CAVA: Yes.

BLITZER: But you're open to letting them go?

CAVA: Absolutely. We're working on arrangements and we'll be able to report that soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: That was Miami-Dade county's mayor, speaking to our Wolf Blitzer.

The impact extends of this tragedy extends far beyond South Florida. Many of those still unaccounted for are from Latin American countries. Their loved ones outside the U.S. are watching the situation unfold from afar. CNN's Matt Rivers has more from Mexico City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, so many American families are awaiting news, any sort of word on the fate of their loved ones as a result of this partial collapse.

So, too, are dozens of Latin American families whose loved ones are among those that are missing. Remember there are multiple South American countries that have citizens that are among the dozens and dozens of people that remain unaccounted for at this point.

We've done some reporting over the last several days, talking to different family members from some of those South American countries. And the consistent theme we hear is that, among the worst of all of this is just the lack of information, the lack of any sort of news on the fates of their missing family members.

We know this is an international response. Both Israel and Mexico saying that they have sent workers, rescue workers, to try and help with the international effort, with the search and rescue effort that is currently underway in South Florida. We also know the U.S. government, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio's office

trying to expedite visas for the foreign nationals who have family members who are among those missing at this juncture.

I tried to get family members the ability to even come to South Florida and be their present as these rescue efforts continue but, unfortunately, we know that the more time goes by, as each hour ticks by, the chances of finding people alive in that debris continues to go down -- Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Many family members are waiting for news and trying to stay hopeful that their loved ones will be found alive. Others are trying to come to grips with their worst fears. Here are their stories in their own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you hold out for hope?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm trying to be strong because my aunt was a very strong woman.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We go through waves of disbelief and hope. You know, you hear and you see tragic things. But you don't expect it to happen to your own, and especially something like this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were asleep and hear this loud thunderous sound. Don't know what it is. My initial gut was a loud clap of thunder. The power went out. I thought the building was struck by lightning. Then I see a great cloud outside of the -- outside of the apartment building. I think it's smoke. I still think it's lightning.

When I open to go yell to the fire department, I realize it's not smoke because there's no smell to it. And it's sticking to my fingers so it's the concrete dust. And now I know that the building fell down. Still don't think it's ours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After you see the video of the collapse, if you're in one of those towers, especially I the one where my mom and my grandmother were, where it fell down and then the other building fell on top of it, it's extremely hard to hold out to hope.

[03:35:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As soon as I saw that, the -- this, I fell apart pretty much, you know, because when I saw this, I knew that they were gone. It's hard for me to take a look at it (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're still hopeful and we're praying for a miracle. We're hoping that there's in some type of a pocket somewhere within the rubble, seeking -- just waiting for someone to come find them.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: We have some very touching pictures we want to bring you, of firefighters honoring the victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue released two photos on Saturday of the Champlain and Firefighters Visiting the memorial site near the Champlain Towers .

According to the department, they played for strength and peace for the families affected by the collapse. They also prayed for the protection and endurance of those involved in the ongoing rescue efforts.

You can help the collapse victims and their families. Please head to cnn.com/impact and you can find links to charitable organizations that have been verified by CNN. It's cnn.com/impact.

When we come back, more on the growing coronavirus outbreak centered near a famous beach in Australia and new restrictions popping up across the country.

Plus, Matt Hancock resigns as Britain's health secretary just a day after apologizing after breaching COVID-19 restructures. We'll explain coming up. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Thousands marched through the streets of London Saturday in protest of the COVID lockdown as well as austerity measures. They're also calling for the government to step up the fight against climate change.

A lot of COVID restrictions have had to stay in place in the U.K. because of the spread of the Delta variant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The U.K.'s health minister is calling it quits after causing a scandal for breaking social distancing rules. Matt Hancock was caught kissing an aide in a photo published by "The Sun." The British tabloid said they are having an affair.

[03:40:00]

BRUNHUBER: And the images are from May before people were allowed to come in contact with those they didn't live with.

CNN's Isa Soares joins me live.

Isa, it's not necessarily the affair that's the core of the controversy but that he wasn't socially distanced.

ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kim. It wasn't so much the affair or the morality of it, it's more the hypocrisy.

Let me give you the sense of how the papers in the U.K. are covering the story. Pretty much front page across all the papers here. Let me start with the "Sunday Times."

It says, "Humiliated Hancock quits," inside it says, "Puritan in chief who became the minister for hypocrisy."

"The Mail," "Hancock Quits His Job and Marriage."

And then if I can show you a picture of "The Observer," inside you have, "Hancock may have gone but questions of integrity linger."

It goes to the point you made. It wasn't so much that the CCTV image that was put on the front page of "The Sun" newspaper on Friday. This image shows Matt Hancock, the then health secretary, in an embrace with his aide.

It wasn't that that really broke the camel's back. It wasn't the infidelity or the morality of it but it was the fact that many people felt it was hypocritical of him.

He was the man, who, of course, created these rules. He was the architect of the social distancing rules. That photo, according to "The Sun," was from May the 6th. In that time we were in stage 2 of restrictions.

What does that mean?

You couldn't hug family members, you couldn't hug anyone. There was social distancing. In fact, only a week after that photo was taken of him, could you officially start hugging people?

That you saw the easing, let's say, on social distancing. You can imagine the furor of people up and down the country who saw the man who created these rules, the architect of these rules, suddenly breaking them.

Families of those who lost loved ones, who have been saying across the British media here, "I couldn't hug my loved one who died in hospital."

"I couldn't go to funeral of a family member."

So people were pretty angry with the hypocritical nature of it all. It left him in a position that was untenable, really. Take a listen to what he said when he decided to step down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT HANCOCK, BRITISH HEALTH SECRETARY: I understand the enormous sacrifices that everybody in this country has made, that you have made. And those of us who make these rules have got to stick by them. And that is why I have got to resign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: So it's also a question, Kim, of credibility. He was, of course, health secretary. He gave everyone the guidance, the advice we all should be listening to. It left him in a delicate position.

Critical, too, I should add, Kim, he felt -- and it's clear many Tory MPs were backing him and supporting him because they worried about the damage that the messaging -- how this might impact government messaging in the future.

BRUNHUBER: And Boris Johnson facing criticism for not firing him. CNN's Isa Soares, thank you.

A scientist advantage South Africa says the Delta variant is dominating the new COVID-19 infections there. South Africa is facing a third wave of the pandemic. The acting health minister said she expects the third wave to surpass the second wave. South Africa is the worst hit country in Africa for reported COVID-19 cases and deaths.

A COVID cluster centered around Australia's famous Bondi Beach is growing. A two-week stay at home order was imposed. But as you can see in this video, the crowds showed up at the beach anyway in parts of Australia's Northern Territory.

Ivan Watson is monitoring all of the developments.

Ivan, what more can you tell us?

[03:45:00]

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Australia's now struggling with this outbreak with fears as you just mentioned of another potential outbreak in the north of the country. With a population that's quite vulnerable. The vaccination rate is quite low. Only 10 percent of the population has been vaccinated.

And the immunization program has been plagued with setbacks and missed targets that the government has set for that.

In the case of the state of New South Wales and Sydney, it's at Bondi Beach where the first case is said to have involved a driver, who was transporting airline crews. The numbers are growing pretty dramatically, though we're only talking about 110 confirmed cases so far, which would be the envy of many other countries in the world struggling with much higher numbers.

The authorities are predicting that those numbers will continue to grow. Take a listen to the premier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES: I also do want to foreshadow that, given how contagious this strand of the virus is, we anticipate case numbers will increase beyond what we've seen today. We are seeing that people in isolation unfortunately have already

transmitted it. So we do want to anticipate that case numbers will increase.

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WATSON: Among the confirmed infections are actually the state's agriculture minister, who had to go into isolation earlier in the week. Lawmakers who would share dinner and then go into the parliament building, the authorities are softening the kind of lockdown.

They're not calling it a lockdown, they're calling it stay at home. They're introducing a number of measures there.

Meanwhile, New Zealand has temporarily suspended its quarantine free travel bubble between New Zealand and New South Wales and there concern in the Northern Territory around Darwin after there was a confirmed case of somebody working in a gold mine.

And now the authorities are trying to contact trace some 900 people, who also worked in the mine and are believed to have traveled to other parts of the country.

It goes to show, even in a country like Australia, doing relatively well compared to the U.K. and the U.S., is struggling and vulnerable to another new outbreak.

BRUNHUBER: Warning for all of us. Thanks so much, Ivan Watson in Hong Kong. Appreciate it.

Broadway springs back to life after more than a year. And fans can't hide their excitement as Bruce Springsteen revives his show. That's next. Stay with us.

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[03:50:00]

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm here to see Springsteen on Broadway. I'm excited to see anything on Broadway. I'm so glad Broadway's back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One thing about the news that, you know, Springsteen was the first opening, I thought that was definitely the light at the end of the tunnel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a great thing for New York and a great thing for the Garden State. You've got to love New Jersey.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): The Boss is taking charge again on Broadway. Bruce Springsteen brought back his solo show to New York Saturday night. It's one of the first shows to come back to Broadway since the pandemic shut down all performances last year.

His comeback proves that he is, as his song says, "Born to Run." This run on Broadway will include 30 shows until early September.

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BRUNHUBER: The first stage of the Tour de France took off with a bang Saturday but ended with two massive crashes. Look at this.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): This coming up here, there it is, that's the first one. It happened when German cyclist Tony Martin collided with a fan holding a large sign. That caused other riders to fall like dominoes. One rider was forced to leave the race because he was injured in the crash.

The second pileup happened closer to the finish line. It involved four time champion Chris Froome and dozens of other riders.

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BRUNHUBER: Unfortunate to see there.

The Tokyo Olympics are just 26 days away. Organizers say they're enforcing strict measures to minimize the threat from coronavirus. The Tokyo Olympics committee president says holding the games without spectators remains an option.

Meanwhile, the torch is winding its way through Yamanashi Prefecture. It will visit Mt. Fuji on Sunday and will travel through five more prefectures until it reaches Tokyo.

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BRUNHUBER: The Chairman of the Senate Intel Committee calls the new U.S. intelligence report on UFO sightings "inconclusive." It looked into more than 140 sightings of what is officially called "unidentified aerial phenomena" in the United States.

Now only one incident was explained. For the others, the report says there was no evidence alien life or foreign countries were involved. But investigators could not entirely rule them out, either. Reports say the unexplained phenomena pose a flight security risk and possibly a challenge to national security.

I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment. Please do stay with us.