Colombians Struggle with Income Inequality as Cases Rise; Museums Finding Ways to Remember COVID-19 Crisis.
CURNOW: So the coronavirus has not only taken hundreds of thousands of lives around the world, but it's also robbed many of their livelihood. Well, Phil Black now has a look at how people in the U.K. are grappling with the economic and emotional strain of the virus. Here's Phil.</s>PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tourists don't come to Trafalgar Square anymore, but there are still crowds. The vast space is now being used to feed the homeless, while ensuring social distancing.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come that way, please.</s>BLACK: Most of the people who've stayed in London's streets through the pandemic are long-term rough sleepers. But the charity still working here report a recent trend. There are many new faces. People, suddenly homeless, because of COVID-19. There are the obvious economic courses. London's lockdown made lots of already insecure, casual work quickly disappear. But vulnerable families have also splintered under the emotional strain of living through this pandemic. Right up until lockdown, Colin Reynolds lived with his elderly parents. (on camera): What did they say to you?</s>COLIN REYNOLDS, HOMELESS: They asked me to leave. So I left. Because my parents are high-risk, it wasn't a good idea for me to stay there. So I left and come to London, because there's more hope here.</s>BLACK: Life for Cohen, and his family, was never easy. He has a long history of crippling depression and anxiety. Now, the further pressures of this crisis have torn him from support that he desperately needs. On Weymouth Beach, along England's southern coast, there's no obvious sign people in this community are struggling, but Andy Price knows the truth. His community cafe, set up to help traumatized military veterans, has quickly embraced a new purpose.</s>ANDY PRICE, HELPING FEED NEEDY: They'd been like parcels -- parcels of milk, lots of cereal (ph).</s>BLACK: The isolated, the poor, the suddenly jobless, owners of what were recently thriving businesses, anyone who needs it. And the need is great. As he hits homes across Weymouth, Andy knows many of those he now helps, bristle against the idea of receiving charity.</s>PRICE: They think you've gone and failed. You're failing as a parent. You're failing as an individual. And really, like -- like we're kind of discovering now, you're only one paycheck away from needing support.</s>BLACK: Carrie (ph) Watts, and her husband, Michael, are grateful for Andy's help, but accepting it is hard.</s>MICHAEL WATTS, MK CLASSICS: I should be earning, providing for my family. But I'm -- I'm just not. I'm just -- I've just sat, doing nothing, pretty much. Just sat here, wondering, if one day, I'm ever going to be able to go back to what I love doing. And genuinely, that upset me.</s>BLACK: Soon after lockdown, people stopped ringing Michael to fix their cars, and Carrie needed hospital treatment for COVID-19. They almost lost everything. CARRIE (ph)</s>WATTS, TREATED FOR COVID-19: Dear, just what you can do? Just to see how -- how long things can go before maybe you just hit rock bottom.</s>BLACK: In the northern city of Sheffield, we see the same pain. People who, just a few months ago, had independent lives and plans for the future. Now, patiently waiting in the rain for handouts. Phil Barrett is a self-employed electrician.</s>PHIL BARRETT, ELECTRICIAN: In the initial start of the lockdown, we were selling food up here for people, and we never expected that we'd be on the receiving end of some of it towards the end of this.</s>BLACK: Back in central London, Colin Reynolds goes back to his sleep swap, in the entrance of one of the city's iconic theaters. He doesn't know when he'll sleep in a bed again, when, or how, he'll see his parents. (on camera): You haven't known a chapter of your life this uncertain before?</s>REYNOLDS: Nope. Not this bad.</s>BLACK: One day at a time?</s>REYNOLDS: Yes, yes. And that's all I can do.</s>BLACK (voice-over): COVID-19 has killed more than 40,000 people in the U.K. It's stolen the emotional and financial security of many more. Phil Black, CNN, London.</s>CURNOW: A powerful piece. Thanks to Phil and his team for that. Now, in Columbia, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases is steadily rising. The pandemic is adding to the misery of many Colombians who are already struggling with income inequality, unemployment, and homelessness. Stefano Pozzebon reports, right now.</s>STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three months ago, Lilibeth Fiore (ph) had a job and a House, but the pandemic took nearly everything away from her. Like almost half of the entire Colombian labor force, Lilibeth (ph) worked informally, first as a caregiver in private homes, and then, as a street vendor. Lockdown measures against coronavirus meant she has seen no income since March. And to make things worse, her House was bulldozed at the beginning of May. The city says it was unsafe. But now, she can't find a home. She has no job, and rental accommodations are sparse during the pandemic. Now she can only look at what remains of her House.</s>LILYBETH FORI, INFORMAL WORKER (through translator): Before the virus, we had a life. Now, we don't. We don't know what we're going to eat, or what will happen to us.</s>POZZEBON (on camera): Colombia may have been spared the worst of the health crisis, but the economy is suffering. Unemployment almost doubled in Columbian cities since the beginning of the lockdown. And without a job, the people who are displaced from these areas, are saying that they're facing life on the street. (voice-over): Lilybeth and 60 other people now live in tents, an impromptu settlement just meters away from their houses used to stand. Now, the pandemic has only added to the frustration of people like Lilybeth, who says she took to the streets in November last year, to demand social change. It has also increased the disparity between those who can afford the quarantine, and work from home, and those who cannot. By one estimate, as many as 7 million Colombians could fall back below the poverty line by the end of the year. A level not seen since 2002. Fabian Marroquin also took part in the protests last year, when he was working as a cook. Now unemployed, his home near Lima also demolished, he thinks a return to the streets is the only way for things to change for the better.</s>FABIAN SERGIO MARROQUIN, INFORMAL WORKER (through translator): The government's slogan is stay at home, but where should I stay if they took away my home?</s>POZZEBON: The Colombian government has so far pledged $74 million to prevent lay-offs, but little of those resources are designed to help the informal economy. Colombia is now lifting some quarantine measures, while still trying to control the virus. It's a thin line between a health crisis and the economy collapse. Stefano Pozzebon, CNN, Bogota.</s>CURNOW: From the main streets in the U.K. and Columbia, to Wall Street now. The growing concerns of a second wave of the coronavirus, in the U.S., has sent Wall Street plunging. The Dow sank more than 1,800 points on Thursday. Take a look at these numbers. That is the largest set-off since mid-March. The fall also comes on the heels of a dire outlook from the Fed. It warned the U.S. economy has a long road to recovery. Well, let's go to John Defterios, who joins me now from Abu Dhabi. John, hi. I know you're on the line.</s>JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR (via phone): Yes.</s>CURNOW: What do you make of these latest figures coming out of Wall Street?</s>DEFTERIOS: Well, I think there's a reassessment of the valuations we've witnessed since March. We have to look that we went up more than 40 percent on the broader index, the S&P 500. But the good news is, we started off terribly in Asia, but there's been a slight rebound of sorts linked to U.S. futures. So let's take a look at those Asian markets, and you'll see what I'm talking about. The Nikkei index was down better than 2 percent. Now it's down about 8 tenths of 1 percent. Hang Seng has been holding pretty steady, with that lose of about one of the 3rd percent, but the one and soul, with like the S&P 500, rose for a very long time, now if you look at U.S. Futures, this would give some solace to the Asian market. We're up right across the board, better than 1 percent. The hardest hit has been Seoul, and that's because it was very much like the S&P 500, rising for a very, very long time. And then if you look at the U.S. futures, this was giving some solace to the Asian markets. We're up right across the board better one percent. One and a quarter percent, to 1.4 percent. So that is, if you will, the good news. The challenge is, though, this is a wake-up call because of the potential damage here from COVID-19, with the benchmark crossing two million cases in the second wave. Larry Kudlow, economic advisor to the White House, tried to play it down, saying it's a bad day in the markets. We've had a great run before. Our medical system can handle it. And then the treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, was suggesting we can't go back and go back to a lockdown at this stage, because we have additional medical needs that need to be addressed, and the economy is opening it up and that we can handle it. Let's take a listen to Mnuchin.</s>STEVEN MNUCHIN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY (via phone): We can't shut down the economy again. I think we've learned that, if you shut down the economy, you're going to create more damage, and not just economic damage, but there are other areas. And we've talked about this, medical problems, and everything else, that get put on hold. I think it was very prudent what the president did, what we have learned a lot. And I also would just -- the fact that Congress, the House, the Senate, responded with the administration in an unprecedented way to put $3 trillion in the economy.</s>DEFTERIOS: You know, there's a question mark whether that $3 trillion is going to be enough going forward into 2021, Robyn, and 2022. Right now, the administration is suggesting there's plenty of liquidity. But there we have this break, as we talked about in the last two weeks. Wall Street's been going up, because interest rates are low. Main Street is suffering. I mean, you still have an unemployment rate of 13 percent. And the Federal Reserve was saying, Look, we're contracting nearly 7 percent this year, 6 and a half percent, which is astronomical. So you cannot expect a smooth road to recovery here. And this is a reassessment that we're seeing this week.</s>CURNOW: OK. Thanks for that analysis there. John Defterios live from Abu Dhabi. So coming up, the White House is also trying to explain President Trump's controversial decision. His first post-lockdown rally is set to happen on a day that has a deep meaning for African-Americans.