coverage. i'm natalie allen. a wave of arrests in anti-terror operations across europe is exposing a potential network of dangerous extremism. authorities say they arrested 17 people in connection with thursday's anti-terror raid in belgium. authorities released most but three renine custody. a counterterrorism source says two people killed and one arrested had links to isis and other terror yellscells in other european countries. if france 12 people were arrested after an investigation of the killings in paris. police said the u.k. and germany also made arrests. we have more on the operations now spanning multiple countries. >> reporter: a gun battle rings out in the quaint belgian town. the raid carried out by belgian police was recorded by a local resident. >> i see a lot of policemen, 10 or 12 policemen near the wall in the level of the street with assault rifles. >> reporter: by the time it was over two suspected jihadists were dead n an operation planned for weeks but ultimately became urgent. >> the threats for terrorist attacks are imminent -- >> days hours? >> could have been hours. certainly no more than a day. >> reporter: one of 12 raids on thursday, rutesulting in more than a dozen arrests. police seized bombmaking materials and police uniforms foiling a plot to target officers of the law. >> this of the framework of an investigation looking into an operational cell made up of people some of whom were coming back from syria. >> reporter: a short time after the belgian operation, police in germany carried out raids on 11 properties. two men were arrested on suspicion of supporting isis in syria. but authorities stay did not appear they were planning home-grown attacks. authorities say the raids in belgium and germany were not connected to the attacks in france. a western security source tells cnn the ongoing terror threat appears to involve as many as 20 sleeper cells. between 120 and 180 people ready to strike any time in country like germany, belgium, france and the netherlands. france has already brought in troops to bolster security in the wake of attacks last week. now belgium is preparing to do the same. >> translator: and at this moment a platoon of 150 people is ready and can potentially be deployed in the next days in locations that are decided on by the government. >> reporter: fred pleitgen, cnn brussels belgium. belgian officials say they'll keep a raised terror threat for at least the next month. cnn senior international correspondent iwan watson with more from brussels. it must be unnerving for people there and police that officials haven't rounded up all potential suspects in this cell. >> reporter: that's right. bringing in this reserve force of 150 soldiers to bolster any type of effort as part of this counterterrorism operation, that's one of those measures. we've seen other measures brought into play such as jewish schools here in brussels and antwerp being close. you have to recall this here, a few block from where i'm standing, the jewish museum in brussels was attacked last may. a deadly attack that resulted in the deaths of four people. the suspect in that case was a french citizen. he's being charged with murder for that case. yes, this has put the country somewhat on edge. it's definitely a decision on the tips of people's tongue that they're discussing. when i flew in last night, passengers belgians remarking that there was more security at the airport. the customs searching baggage more frequently than they typically do in the past. there are now here in belgium three people currently in detention connected to these raids that were carried out thursday night the belgian authorities have yet to identify the two men who were killed in that gunfight with the police or the third man who was captured alive. we know there are two men, suspects who was arrested trying to cross the french border into italy, and that belgium has requested their extradition back to belgium. we're starting to wait for the belgian authorities to come out with more information to give us a better understanding of who's behind this alleged cell. as we heard in fred's report these are men believed to have traveled to syria in the past. they're believed to have links to isis but they're not believed to have had any links revealed thus far to those deadly attacks against the "charlie hebdo" in paris. >> and ivan since police were apparently the targets of the attack they foiled is that causing any change in police tactics in their everyday work there in brussels and around the area? >> reporter: we heard reports in the belgian media, for example that, police have been instructed not to go out in uniform alone. that could be a sign of course of the new rick assessment. of course what belgium is facing is concerning europe on a much broader level, as well. we heard fred talking about the arrest of at least two suspects linked to a mosque believed to have isis links in germany. one of the top counterterrorism officials in the united kingdom has announced that additional patrols will be deployed outside community centers synagogues and schools. so it does appear across europe that there's a great deal of concern now that there is a great deal of vigilance. here in belgium, the government has announced a 12-point action plan plans to increase the law enforcement authority's capabilities to wiretap, for example. again, bringing in the military a first here. and basically to expand the security forces and their abilities, and that was a military truck. clearly an army truck that rolled past here. that's a very unusual site in brussels at the capital of the european union. it just goes to show as the military transport truck that rolled past and i can see about a half dozen camouflage soldiers sitting in the back of that that just goes to show how concerned the authorities are and how important to say show strength in the wake of the terror attacks in france and this alleged foiled attack here in belgium. >> certainly an eerie sign. ivan watson with the latest from belgium. thank you. of course ivan mentioned the other spots in europe that you are seeing heightened and accelerated investigations and that is happening in france as well, that saw the attacks last week on the weekly and kosher market. it's now dealing with even more threats apparently. isa suarez from paris. hello. where are the new threats coming from? >> reporter: good morning, natalie. when we are seeing is an enormous amount of anti-terror activity following not just what happened hastert week but also what we have seen in brussels from what we've just reported. and what we heard in the last 24 hours or so is that yesterday in the cover of darkness, police moved in on four suburbs of paris. and they took in 12 people. these were eight men, four women. all suspected of providing logistical support to coulibaly. that's where they are in closing in on any link between coulibaly and the kosher store. four suspects they believed to be on the run. the paper reporting, saying perhaps it was a man who is perhaps now in syria. but someone who drove coulibaly to the kosher store and made the link from a set of keys they northbound the apartment. they're trying to piece the puzzle all together one by one. one aspect they're investigating is part of the kouachi network. it was a week before the "charlie hebdo" attack. he was in touch with the cowkouachi brothers. the people were thought to be in touch with cherif kouachi, the more radical of the brothers. and these people all had a track record one convicted of traveling to iraq in 2006. the other one was the girlfriend whose brother is actually in prison for helping to recruit young isis jihadists in france and the other was a turkish woman. so you're seeing a connection there and starting to get more and more new faces added to the investigation. nevertheless a highly complex and many many anti-terror activity taking place throughout the cover of dark not here in paris. still many questions unanswered. and while all of this is happening, there's a lot of debate about whether the -- where the kouachi brothers will be buried. discussion of the brothers and basically said said kouachi cannot be buried there because he's not from here. meanwhile meanwhile, the mayor of the town where cherif grew up told cnn he doesn't want him to be buried there. a lot of criticism. under french law you have to be buried in the area where you were living. you have two angles going. you have many people angry of what -- clearly angry of what happened here and refusing to let these men be buried in their city. the other side you have an investigation clearly still ongoing. many questions being asked about why the men all had a track record, why did they -- how they kept track of them and why all the people are coming up that minorities never-- that minorities never heard of. a complex web of terror that investigators are trying to plow through. >> and while that goes on, we're seeing video of the secretary of state from the u.s. john kerry, visiting and paying his respects to where the people died. and pledging his support to french president hollande that he's greeting right there. isa suarez with the latest from paris paris. thank you very much. pope francis is back in manila after a truncated trip to tacloban tacloban. next we'll take you there live and show what is next on his agenda and talk more about why he had to cut his visit to tacloban short. the tieyphoon forced the pope to shorten his trip in tacloban. he returned to manila a few hours ago. it was windy and fairly sunny when he landed and greet a large crowd gathered to see him. it was a much different scene from tacloban where the faithful braved high winds and rain for his service. the pope was paying tribute to the tens of thousands killed in 2013 by another storm. you'll remember probably super typhoon hayan and itself devastation. the pope will now spend the rest of his trip in manila. that's where we're joined live. ana, it's interesting and touching that even though the weather was extremely menacing the pope continued with his plans to go to tacloban just to -- to see the people and to try to lift their spirits after they'd been three so much. >> reporter: that trip was never in doubt which is why the pope and his entourage went down earlier than planned. unfortunately, they had to cut the trip short because of the deteriorating weather. it certainly didn't dampen the spirits of the hundred of thousands who turned out to greet him. the pope donning one of the yellow ponchos that everyone else was donning. no one allowed any umbrellas. the pope putting one of those on, as well showing a sign of solidarity. he gave mass in -- an open air mass close to the airport. it was such an emotional scene. almost loss of word. he said to the congregation i don't know what to say to you. you have been through so much. he said that when the typhoon hit tacloban and the surrounding area she'd, i knew -- he said i'm late but i'm here. they paused for a machine of silence, said prayers. people wept and cried. just the pope heading there, showing his support, his solidarity with the people and really just comforting them because so many of them are still grieving. such loss and devastation. more than 7,000 people were killed. many still missing as a result of typhoon haiyan. certainly pope francis heading there just meant so much to the community. >> yes. i can imagine when the storm hit and they lost everything and the loss of life that they could even imagine many months later the pope would be there with them and trying to help them carry on. and now as far as manila and this storm that seems to be chasing pope francis, unfortunately, yet another one that they must endure. is that changing anything as far as the humongous mass that he'll be holding on sunday? >> reporter: where we are situated is where mass is going to be taking place tomorrow afternoon. the setup is behind us, the stage is behind us at the park. we're expecting upward of six million people. it really is going to be extraordinary. as you say, the weather is expected to be bad according to meteorologists. the rain that -- you know it will be the effects of the steve: effects of the typhoon currently hitting. it will not dampen the spirits. tell not turn people away. the last time that such numbers turned out was 1995 when pope john paul ii was here for world youth day. he held mass behind me, a record five million turned out. authorities believe that number is going to be more like six million if not more. extraordinary to think that so many filipinos were turning out. if the indications of what we've been seeing the last couple of days is something to go by they will reach the numbers. tens of thousands lining the streets just to catch a glimpse of the pope as he drives past in his pope mobile. there's such pope mania here. and obviously so. it is a deeply religious country. for the pope to be here just means so much. >> we'll wait and see what his message is to the masses. and we want to emphasize masses for this event on sunday. thank you. pope francis left tacloban just before the worst of the storm hit. derek van damme is here to tell us more about the storm's path. and yes, one airport mishap right after the pope took off. >> that's correct. i'm convinced he either has a very good team of meteorologists or he's been tune information to the cnn world weather center. or praying. >> divine intervention. whichever you look at it. this is the scene the pope missed minutes after taking off from the tacloban airport. a plane overshot the runway. we have footage showing what actually took place. the civil aviation authority confirming this chartered 15-seater plane overshot the runway shortly after the pope took off on his plane toward manila. the plane of trying to take off but of hit by strong winds and veer good 50 meters left of the runway. it was carrying 11 passengers. you'll be happy to know that all of those passengers are confirmed to be okay. as we go forward you can see on the satellite loop, the storm is starting to lose its organization. it's starting to weaken. it has officially made landfall. ironically in the same location as the typhoon from several months ago, north and east of the tacloban region. winds, 130 kilometer sustained. we expect that to go down as we get our next updates from the joint warning center. you see the outer band reaching that region there. there is the eye wall impacting the island. and some of the rain band impacting the islands, as well. now we have a wet forecast for tacloban going forward. and as people head home from the mass that occurred earlier today, they could impact or feel the impacts of dlais harbors and ports. the heavy rainfall leading to localized flooding and we also start to focus our attention on the outdoor mass taking place in manila on sunday at 3:30. look at what the forecast says -- batten down the hatches. a lot more slickers anticipated out there in the crowds. >> they're hearty people. >> thank you. next what the u.s. president and britain's prime minister plan to do about violent extremists they just met in washington. we'll also tell you what the leaders cannot agree on when it comes to fighting terror. u.s. president barack obama and british prime minister british prime minister david cameron have vowed to work together to track extremist groups on line. mr. obama says social media has become a useful tool. of course to many terror groups helping them recruit young, impressionable minds. >> social media and the internet is the primary way in which these terrorist organizations are communicating. that's no different than anybody else. but they're good at it and when we have the ability to track that in a way that is legal, conforms with due process, rule of law, and presents oversight, then that's the capability that we have to preserve. >> you can have tragically people who have had all the advantages of integration, who have had all the economic opportunities that our kaunchs. you still get seduced by this poisonous radical death cult of a narrative. we've seen people who go to fight in syria and may threaten us here at home who have had every opportunity and advantage in life in terms of integration. let's never lose sight of the reel enemy here which is the poisonous -- the real enemy here which is the poisonous narrative that is islam. that's what we have to focus on. >> mr. cramameron singled out tech companies like google and facebook saying terrorists could use the networks to communicate plans for attacks. these companies apparently say they have safeguards in place to prevent such things. back to our top stories. raids around western europe ended in the arrests of multiple terror suspects friday. now we're learning some of them may be linked to isis. more about that ahead. also the crime-filled life a suspected paris attacker led before gunning down four hostages in a parisian supermarket. welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. you're watching cnn live coverage. i'm natalie allen. our top stories. pope francis is in manila right now. he arrived just a couple hours ago after the typhoon forced him to leave tacloban ahead of schedule. he was in the city to honor the thousands, the not,000 killed in 2013 by the super typhoon. a short time ago it made landfall battering parts of the philippines with sustained winds of 130 kilometers an hour. forecasters say the storm will track toward manila where upward of six million people are expected for sunday's mass. a senior belgian counterterrorism source says the terror cell in the eastern city of vervier had ties to isis. two of the suspects were killed in a shoot-out with police. a third is in custody. a source tells cnn not all the terrorists in the cell have been rounded up. this wave of arrests of anti-terror operations across western super exposing a potential network of dangerous extremism. authorities say they arrested 17 people in connection with thursday's anti-terror raid in belgium. the federal prosecutor indicating the group had discuss ed attacking police. other arrests were made in germany and france. they even found fake uniforms in the raid. the shoot-out in belgium and terror attacks in paris highlight the growing threat posed by terror cells including those possibly operating here in the united states. cnn's brian todd has a closer look at how they work. >> reporter: a terror cell disrupted, but europe is still bracing for more attacks. a western intelligence source tells cnn there could be several sleeper cells ready to strike in france germany, belgium, and the netherlands. now new concerns about their planning and timing. >> the worry is lou and when will they be activated. >> reporter: former jihadists and intelligence officers say a sleeper cell is usually made up of a few operatives. they're either acting on behalf of a foreign country or terror group, taking instructions from it or are simply inspired by a group and acting on their own as paris gunman amedy coulibaly did. >> they have the ability to cross borders, to live without being on the radar screen. >> reporter: they're highly skilled at blending in appearing like the guy next door. >> they will have regular jobs. you might see them at the strip joint drinking alcohol. anything to take off the claim or suspicion that they might be extremists or terrorists. >> reporter: the 9/11 hijackers did that, reportedly drinking heavily in bars. some even going to strip clubs. this is a former jihadist who almost went to iraq to fight. he broke away went undercover for canadian intelligence and helped bust a terror cell in toronto. he says many sleeper operatives don't communicate with handlers by phone or over the internet. some are told death go to mosques. don't -- told don't go to mosques. don't give a hint of your religion. >> shave your beard, remove reufove religious garb. >> reporter: slurp operatives stay ice slate-- sleeper operatives stay dormand for years. >> they wait until attention is turned away to strike. >> reporter: and the dynamics of sleeper cells are always changing. one u.s. counterterrorism official tells me terror cells these days do a lot less sleeping. they actively plot hoping to avoid suspicion. and very often they direct the terror strikes themselves rather than wait for a signal. brian todd, cnn, washington. investigators are working to connect the dots between the paris attackers and their roots in yemen. a western diplomat says al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is getting stronger in yemen and recruiting more to carry out more attacks against the west. the group says it orchestrated the paris attack years ago. here's cnn's nick paton walsh. >> reporter: what is ski for french investigators to swiftly establish the links in reality between here yemen, and those attacks in france. al qaeda and the arabian peninsula's 11-minute statement suggests a u.s. citizen was in fact operationally running the attack who they call the blessed battle of paris in their own sick terminology. what is vital for french investigators to work out after that 2011 death, there were continued conversations or resources passed from here yemen, to the kouachi brothers. we know potentially one came here as early as 2009 and maybe cherif potentially traveling under his brother, older brother said's passport came near 2011 and may have returned to france with tens of thousands of dollars. that's vital information because there are other cells around europe. do they have links to the al qaeda hotbed here of yemen? keen to put its branding on what it calls the blessed battle of paris. and of course now a quiet day after friday prayer in the capital. much anger on the streets. at the image of the prophet muhammad offensive to so many muslims being published again in the "charlie hebdo" magazine in the latest issue. the government angry at what it considers yemen being scapegoated. in truth, this is a failed or failing state. a lot of questions still to be answered by yemen. when did the kouachi brothers come here where did they get resources from did they get commands to launch the attacks, a lot of answers still to come from here. >> and those brothers of course carried out the attack on the paris weekly. the other attack from paris, the man suspected of killing four people in the kosher market had a crime-riddled past. we've learned more about what may have led jamamedy coulibaly in the attack. >> reporter: he may go down in history as the religious extremist who died shooting it out with the anti-terror squad. in the gritty paris suburb where he grew up, coulibaly is remember more as a local thug who spent much of his adult life behind bars. in his early school photos obtained by france 2 television he looked likeable enough. teacher said coulibaly, the only boy in an immigrant family with ten children was an ongoing discipline problem. it was in his high school years they're coulibaly first got in trouble. in the end, he'd be arrested five times for armed robbery, and once for dealing in drugs. a lawyer who defended one his acomplays believes coulibaly changed from small crimes to hardened criminal when a microtheft turned deadly and police shot one of his best friends. >> reporter: this was a traumatic event when he lost his friend. he have died because a bullet could have easily hit him. >> reporter: coulibaly teamwork spent -- coulibaly, who spent most of his adulthood behind bars returned to his hometown. according to journalists, he made video of life inside the prison. he seemed like a leader she said, behind bars. >> translator: he was an intelligent boy. one of the tough ones. he was actually very at ease in prison. he was dominant and very much in charge. it was his second home really. >> reporter: it's not clear when he got religion but in 2010, when he was jailed here he came in contact with an islamic extremist. by this time, he wassies tranchledtranchl ed -- was iesestranged from his family. >> translator: yes this area is violent. yes, there is delinquency. yes, there is post. yes, there is suffer willing, but there is also success. >> reporter: if coulibaly's family of muslim it was hardly fundamentalist. one of his nine sisters teaches a dance class she calls booty therapy. back in the family's hometown some remember coulibaly's attempts to fit in. in 2009 he was even invited to the french presidential palace as part of a panel meeting with president sarkoziy to discuss youth unemployment. he worked for a time at the local coca-cola plant where he met the girlfriend who later became his wife and accomplice. people may have known about coulibaly's criminal record but were nevertheless surprised at his terrorist connections. >> translator: we were shocked. it's hard to believe. it's unreal. >> reporter: one person who was less surprised was a social worker who worked with coulibaly as a young man. among other things, taking him to disneyland paris. he said that after not seeing coulibaly for 15 years, he suddenly showed up in his office last spring after getting out of prison. >> he's lost. lost. he needs people to remind him that that can be done. that can't be done. when someone involved with manipulating people you can use him for anything. >> reporter: the mayor told cnn that it's wrong to imply that suburbs of paris like his are nothing but breeding ground for terrorists. many people work their way into mainstream society from here he says like the mayor himself. he add that the large families the unemployment the lack of police the decaying infrastructure provide a fertile environment for all sorts of criminality including the case of amedy coulibaly, terrorism. jim bittermann, cnn, france. pope francis is back in manila five hours earlier than planned after the typhoon forced him to leave tacloban. it was windy when he landed in manila and greet the large crowd gathered to see him. earlier the faithful braved high winds and rain for the papal service. the pope was paying tribute to the thousands, some 7,000 killed in 2013 by another storm, the super typhoon. as the current typhoon moves inland across the philippines, authorities are monitoring the weather conditions ahead of this massive outdoor mass in manila planned for sunday afternoon there. derek van dam is going to tell us what the people that may be standing in the rain could face about that time. >> all is quiet now. if they're gathering ahead of this 3:30 mass scheduled in -- on sunday in manila expected to bring upwards of six million people by the way. and this forecast is actually looking pretty quiet. at least for the next few hours. look as we edge toward the early morning hours of sunday how rain starts to pick up and the winds. that's when it will start to feel the outer band of typhoon mikayla. you see the path moving in a general northwesterly direction the next 24 to 48 hours, impacting the area. an interesting bit of climatology for you. this is actually the driest part of the year for manila. to see this type of rain this time of year is very out of the ordinary. nonetheless, sunday 3:30 the scheduled start of the mass with pope francis. we are expecting temperatures in the middle 20s. nothing out of the hordenary upon the rain will pick -- out of the ordinary. the rain will pick up. gusty winds, as well. we're anticipating this to be a much weaker storm than what it is now. the potential impact to be considered. 150 centimeter of 5050 millimeters of rain. localized flooding in the manila region. winds up to 65 miles per hour. any time you have an outdoor event with this number of people authorities paying close tension to all the logistics at play. this particular storm actually made landfall at 3:00 local time in the afternoon in the same location that hagup iit did a month ago. winds sustained at 130 miles per hour near the center of circulation. however, it is encountering land. so it is starting to break apart. it no longer has the moisture source from the western pacific. we'll start to see a general weakening trend with the storm which is good news ahead of the mass taking place on sunday. tacloban you can see the airport there on the latest radar. the forecast shows windy weather, but this starts to relax heading into sunday as the storm system starts to pull away from the eastern islands. natalie, back to you. >> we certainly know post is a trooper. he's certainly been a trooper through this so far. >> he's got a couple of good people on his side. >> i think so. thanks. after the break, an update on the saudi blogger sentenced to 1,000 lashes. how his controversial punishment calls into question the saudi government's response on free speech 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[ male announcer ] you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. see why millions of people have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. don't wait. call now. a saudi arabian man's weekly flogging is postponed after his wounds have not properly healed from his first round of lashes. he was sentenced to ten years in palestinian and 1,000 lashes -- in prison and 1,000 lashes just for a blog the saudi government said of an insult to islam. now his punishment is drawing attention to saudi arabia's hypocrisy toward free speech and its decades' long friendship with the u.s. cnn's miguel marquez has our story. >> reporter: the man in the white shirt a saudi arabian citizen sentenced to ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes with a cane. his crime -- starting this blog called "free saudi liberals." >> translator: every lash killed me. >> reporter: his wife and three kids fearing for their own safety have now floyded to canada. >> he did nothing. he did not carry a weapon. his only weapon was his pen. >> reporter: convicted of insulting islam, this his fate every friday. handcuffed put on public display, and hit 50 times with a cane. his first round last friday 19 fridays to go. 950 lashes ahead. [ applause ] >> reporter: the shocker here the lashes carried out the same week the saudi ambassador to france marched along with millions of others in the name of free speech. saw saudi arabia saw home to sites. and under russia ryea law-- under russiarya law the punishment fits the crime. the case sharply criticized by human rights groups the u.n. and governments worldwide. >> the united states government calls on saudi authorities to cancel this brutal punishment. >> reporter: we've been here before. saudi arabia long criticized for its dismal record on free speech women's issues death penalty by beheading, and cutting off of body parts for crimes such as theft. >> the saudis play to their own tune. they don't care. >> reporter: former cia operative robert baer has written extensively about saw. he says the country in large part gets a pass not only because it alone can control the price of oil, but it is america's best friend in a tough neighborhood. >> i think the way we look at it is the saudi royal family keeps a lead on a country that could come apart if it weren't for them. and it could be something much worse. >> reporter: american presidents whether bush sr., clinton, bush jr., or obama, have forged close relations with the saudis. that relationship tested like never before after the september 11 2001 terror attack. 15 of the 199/11 terrorists from saudi arabia. -- 15 of the 19 terrorists from saudi arabia. the kingdom has made reforms aimed at curbing terror financing. classification of 29 of the 9/11 report's pages still hotly debated. it was highlighted in the 2004 michael moore film "fahrenheit: 911." >> when congress did complete its investigation, the bush white house censored 28 pages of the reportment. >> reporter: a sharp reminder of the dual nature of the u.s./saudi relationship. the relationship being questioned again because of this man and his thousand lashes. cnn, new york. >> that is not -- pretty horrible to see. a u.s. congressional delegation is set to travel to cuba in the coming hours. this is the first visit to the island nation by american lawmakers since president obama announced a change in policy easing restrictions that have lasted for decades. the group of six democrats will meet cuban officials and envoys from other countries. members say they want to find out how the two countries could develop a constructive relationship. a diddly virus is killing -- a deadly virus is killing the endangered panda in china. next hear the steps china is taking to try to save its most belove and downright adorable animal. stuffy nose... a cough... chest congestion! fast acting mucinex multi-symptom cold breaks up mucus and relieves your child's worst cold symptoms. let's end this. a deadly virus in china has killed two pandas and left a third in critical condition according to chinese state media. with no way to determine how the pandas contracted the deadly virus, kristi lou stout shows what's being done to save china's endangered pandas. >> reporter: with serious damage to his heart kidney liver, and lung the 5-year-old clings to life. one of cheap's beloved giant panned -- china's beloved giant pandas infected by canine distemper. it's already claimed the lives of two pandas despite veterinarians' efforts to save them. once infected researchers say up to 80% of pandas die of the disease. >> "there's no medicine of efficacy for an anti-viral therapy. for infect we need to win time for the pandas' immune system to recover to a level strong enough to resist the virus," says one expert who is helping treat the pandas. chinese state media reported that the impacted panda reserve has sent away all 21 of its healthy pandas. across the province panda centers instituted emergency measures hoping to stop the spread of the dangerous illness. "we used to disinfect panda houses twice and three times a week. and for the enclosure once a week. now we've made the sterilization once a day," said this panda breeder. china has devoted considerable resources to saving the giant panda. an endangered species that is considered a national treasure. scientists have made progress in the past decade getting the notoriously uninterested pandas to breed in captivity which is why the spread of the virus is so alarming for the pandas' caretakers and many fans. cnn, hong kong. >> so unbleachelievably adorable. hope they solve that mystery and that the pandas will be all right. thank you for joining us. i'm natalie allen. my colleague, paula hancocks will be right here with your top stories. you're watching cnn.