[Coren:] British prime minister Boris Johnson and fiancee, Carrie Symonds, announced their son's name on Saturday on Instagram. It is Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas. The name Nicholas is to honor the two doctors who Mr. Johnson says saved his life during his recent bout with coronavirus. They are both named Nick, the other names are the grandfathers of the couple. We're learning more about Boris Johnson's time in intensive care. He told "The Sun" that he was given liters of oxygen to keep him alive and officials were putting together strategic plans in case he did not make it. Joining us now is our Nick Paton Walsh from London. Nick, it would appear that Boris Johnson's condition was even more serious than many realized.
[Nick Paton Walsh, Cnn International Security Editor:] When the prime minister, despite his office's own attempts to minimize how serious his condition was, he has returned to the near-death nature of this experience, saying how it was a old tough moment, I won't deny it. They had a strategy to deal with, quote, "a death of Stalin" type scenario. Obviously you would expect a government to have contingency plans in case their leader who's in intensive care succumbed to a disease. I'm sure there's a bit of a hyperbole flourish there by Boris Johnson. Again an attempt by the prime minister to remind people in the United Kingdom how lethally serious this disease is, too. Possibly to also take away the headlines from a story here increasingly pointing to how Britain being slow in the early days ahead of the worst death toll in Europe. Very close to overtaking Italy's horrifying toll there. This is drawing increased scrutiny as to exactly what it was the United Kingdom did and when. Boris Johnson has always said he was happy with the timing of the lockdown. But there's a lot of focus now on exactly what happened before that and quite what the exit strategy is now for the U.K.
[Walsh:] Britain is close to having Europe's worst death toll. So what did it do wrong or differently? When global alarm bells were ringing loudly, the U.K. was clear it would not lock down too early and that some spread was unavoidable, even desirable.
[Patrick Vallance, U.k. Science Adviser:] If people go too early, they become very fatigued. It's not possible to stop everybody getting it and it is also actually not desirable, because you want some immunity in the population.
[Walsh:] Hindsight always gives a clearer, unfair verdict. But new, updated government figures show the death toll, just in England, was a lot larger than known at the time in the days leading up to the lockdown. And the prime minister said he was still shaking hands...
[Boris Johnson, U.k. Prime Minister:] I shook hands with everybody, you will be pleased to know.
[Walsh:] and no deaths were announced; four had already died in England when Cheltenham horse races were criticized for going ahead, ended the U.K. toll was officially 10 when really 58 had died. And when the lockdown slammed pub doors shut publicly, the toll was 359. But really 847 had died in England alone. Should the U.K. have moved faster?
[Nigel Edwards, Nuffield Trust:] It is too early to tell. But there are some early signs looking at experiences in some other countries that if we'd gone a bit earlier, we might be looking at slightly better results now.
[Sian Griffiths, Cjhk:] It's more likely to be next year when people in the cold light of day can look back at all the different countries and
[Keith Neal, University Of Nottingham:] If you take different measures at different times, then different people would become infected. If we had come in a week earlier, then probably less people would have died up until now. But as the disease continues to spread to the population, the differences are that people will die.
[Walsh:] Testing and contact tracing was a problem from the start partially dismissed and then heavily embraced.
[Unidentified Male:] 100,000 tests per day.
[Walsh:] Many grand schemes were announced, home antibody tests, apps, a volunteer army. But this one actually happened, nearly on time, albeit late. It can't have helped decision-making that Boris Johnson was nearly killed by the disease, too, at its peak.
[Edwards:] Some of the messaging has not been as consistent or as clear as might have been helpful. I give the government a bit of the benefit of the doubt. These are somewhat unprecedented times.
[Walsh:] Still, despite the huge toll, the U.K.'s health service was not overwhelmed. Even huge overflow hospitals like this one in London were barely used. Half of those who died in England, so far, were over 80. Did U.K. not protect them enough? Or was there little that could be done? Tough questions that time and grief will answer. Some introspection already underway here. You heard what could've been done differently, perhaps not to score political points, although that is already happening in some parts of British society. It may be also to see if that could inform the measures coming ahead, how to get Britain out of a lockdown. Some polls are suggesting that Britons are reluctant to return to normal life and still fear the disease. So much is not known here. Yes, the U.K. has a larger population than Italy but I think many are looking at it having the largest death toll in Europe, maybe that happening in the days or hours ahead and seeing that as a moment in which Britain should reflect on. How has it managed to have a health service, which many feared would strain under the burden of people needing intensive care. But it performed remarkably so far. Yet still so many lives were lost. I think many will look at how half of the dead in England appeared to be over 80. Whether that informs future policy and quite how fast Boris Johnson in between his own extraordinary narrative of becoming a father, surviving the disease himself, previously winning a landslide election and finalizing a divorce, whether he can bring the focus of the British population as to how they can get through the messy months ahead and keep the death toll as low as possible, even though, at this point, it is still often over 700 a day reported dead, startling numbers still.
[Coren:] Yes. Staggering indeed. Nick Paton Walsh, as always, many thanks. Israel, meanwhile, is letting some schools reopen this Sunday but some local leaders are taking no chances. CNN's Oren Liebermann is in Jerusalem and joins us right now. Oren, are there concerns that authorities are reopening schools too soon?
[Oren Liebermann, Cnn Correspondent:] Anna, the answer is yes but perhaps not from a health perspective. That is because Israel's numbers when it comes to coronavirus have been relatively good, compared to much of Europe and the United States. There are about 16,000 cases of coronavirus and 230 deaths as a result of the virus. At this point there are more recoveries than there are new infections. The government sees those numbers positively. Why is there concern it's too soon? Because the decision was made on Friday afternoon and confirmed that some schools would open on Sunday. Some of the biggest cities in the country said, you did not give us enough of a heads up. We're simply not ready. We will open later this week. That's why there's some concern that they are not ready after such a quick notice to reopen. What schools and grades will reopen? It will be first, second and third grade as well as 11th and 12th grade. Kindergarten and daycare will not reopen and the grades that to reopen will look very different. Temperatures will be taken, masks will be required, a max of 15 students per class, there will be social distancing. Because of those numbers, school may have to happen in shifts. They are still grappling with how to make this happen but they've looked at the number of coronavirus cases here and the number of deaths and decided it is OK to move forward. It is gradual and it will continue to be gradual. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that restrictions could be put back in place if the numbers start growing to avoid a worst-case scenario.
[Coren:] Oren, shifting gears, Israel's political saga continues. The high court will hear challenges this week to the formation of the Netanyahu-Benny Gantz government. Tell us about what we are expecting.
[Liebermann:] These are high court hearings about the coalition agreement between Netanyahu and his former rival, Benny Gantz. It requires changes to Israel's basic law which is as close to its constitution. There have been questions about whether someone under indictment like Netanyahu can form a government. But the high court has put that off, saying now is not the time. With only a few days left here with having to make a decision. The high court will hold a few days of hearings and decide what happens here. The coalition agreement requires fundamental changes to Israel's law, including can someone under indictment form a government? There are other questions about the makeup of some of the committees, do they include enough of the opposition members, all of that will be tackled over the course of the next 48 hours. And then we wait for a decision from the high court. It will be an expanded panel of judges, 11 judges will hear this because of the significance of this. It's clear at this point, it's written into the coalition agreement that if the high court says you cannot have this coalition agreement, that Israel could very well go to a fourth election, as crazy as that sounds. That means Israel's political saga keeps ongoing.
[Coren:] Another election, hard to believe. Oren Liebermann, joining us from Jerusalem, many thanks. At this time of year in the Nigerian state of Kano, it's common for people to contract any of a number of infectious diseases. But this year, there's been a spike in fatalities. Even as the coronavirus spreads around the world, some are calling these deaths mysterious. CNN's David McKenzie has more.
[David Mckenzie, Cnn Correspondent:] The gravediggers in Kano are revealing a hidden truth, an awful toll. "The day before yesterday, we buried 18 bodies," he says. "Yesterday we buried 20 people and today we have received 14." Locals call this extreme hot season the merger, the time each year when malaria and other infectious diseases converge. This year is worse. "The numbers are double unusual," he says. "Normally we bury only six or seven a day." The government denies that a COVID-19 outbreak is the cause. But their toil raises questions. The dead are mostly elderly and the numbers are rising fast. In Kano, dread is rising with it. This video shows the region's mega hub of commerce and trade as it once was. It is not where Nigeria and surrounding countries can afford to have infections spread unabated.
[Dr. Ibrahim Musa, Epidemiologist:] We're testing
[Mckenzie:] Kano physician and epidemiologist Dr. Ibrahim Musa says many doctors have no protective equipment. With clinics closed due to COVID-19, they are forced to treat patients for just a few hours before sending them home.
[Musa:] What we are seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. So in the next 2-3 weeks, that is when the clear picture will emerge whether we are dealing with a fairly massive spread of COVID-19.
[Mckenzie:] Kano's lockdown came later than elsewhere in Nigeria. The federal government promises to scale up tests and send equipment. Even before COVID-19, health here was never a guarantee. But there were some hard-fought gains. In June, the U.N. says it could be declared polio-free after decades of education and immunization. But humanitarian officials fear that that success could now lost.
[Maulid Warfa, Unicef:] In any humanitarian situation, the world needs to offer a lot of support. But now, the dust is almost everywhere and everybody is trying to protect their own eyes. The world might be forgotten as the countries fight the coronavirus on their own.
[Mckenzie:] COVID-19 is global and state officials promised an investigation into the rise of deaths. But valuable time has been lost and the impact is already devastating David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.
[Coren:] The race to find a vaccine, a magic medicine to make this all go away. Ahead, how the U.S. is injecting a fortune into a company that has never brought an approved vaccine to market.