belief display. is one of scandinavia largest iron ore deposits. and it's driving a wedge between those seeking wealth. those defending their way of life. balance a witness documentary on a jersey or. a low i maryam namazie and london with a quick look at the main story now after 8 months of tense talks in just 7 days before the deadline the european union and the u.k. have clinched a trade deal the agreement for a 0 tariff 0 quota relationship covers everything from energy to fishing the e.u. want protection for a level playing field on regulation while the u.k. avoided a future role for the european court of justice at the end of a successful negotiations journeyed i normally feel joy but

today i only feel quite satisfaction and frankly speaking relief. i know this is a difficult day for some and to our friends in the united kingdom i want to say parting is such sweet sorrow. but to use a line from ts eliot what we call the beginning is all from the end and to make an end is to make a beginning. so to honor your pins i say it is time to leave rex and behind our future is made and europe i think this deal means a new stability and a new certainty in what has sometimes been a fractious and difficult relationship. we will be your friend

you our line your supporter and indeed never let it be forgotten you are number one market because although we've left the e.u. this country will remain culturally emotionally historically strategically geologically attached to europe or a challenge has been following developments from london it's a huge achievement you can't deny that many people feared that it couldn't be done before the end of the year this is the kind of trade deal the usually takes perhaps a decade and they've done in less than a year so you know you can applaud that but you know. cliches obviously devil in the detail it really is with this over the next few weeks i think this will be

poured over of course the m.p.'s have to do that before they vote on it. before the end of the year or think on when wednesday. they'll be looking at all of the ramifications of it and i think they'll realise how thin this deal actually is because of the short time frame that they have to negotiate this there is so much that it doesn't actually cover the u.k. mainly has a service based economy and this is a trade deal that by and large covers their products. now in our headlines 2 new strains of the corona virus have emerged in africa with separate mutations recorded in nigeria and south africa new variant in south africa is believed to be more infectious contributing to what experts of called an alarming rate of contagion the country's total number of cases is rapidly approaching $1000000.00 several nations have now restricted travel from south africa as a precaution. and then thousands of truck drivers will remain stranded at the

english port of dover for christmas day waiting on negative coronavirus results so far only 3 drivers have tested positive with more than $2300.00 getting the all clear at of the chance to cross the english channel fewer than $100.00 vehicles have left the port on wednesday evening most are likely to have spent a total of 5 nights in their vehicles with limited food water and access to sanitation stay affiliated media in ethiopia is reporting that soldiers have killed a group of men accused of an attack on a village the incident in the western region of benny show more than $100.00 villages killed media reports suggest 42 armed men were killed after prime minister ahmed sent in troops he visited the area the day before the attacks calling for unity a lack came after recent deadly clashes between ethnic groups that have more on that story a bit later on coming up next lords of water asking if water is the new oil we'll have more news in about 2525 minutes time.

if you don't it is a perfect creation itself a good excuse you could go so soon gossage and pull me off ah so much wrong don't get out your book won't do the accounts do what you did on my little one press if rising norwood's across the u.k. london 39 degrees breaking with a light bulb you have. got to love given that i've got a 1000000 other gardening going with soon to kill about just for good gold and all dogs to. make equally tell you. don't smoke some believe you're sure to do me don't i don't know specifically i'm going to shoot. some a $29.00 team in europe illustrated the urgency of the climate crisis which claimed

its 1st victim. water. the demand is going straight up and the supply is going straight down i mean it is so dark it's stark. send it to you and i'm granting. immunity on the money does you no more news when it rains down to the front is nearly 2 thirds of them are affected by this to fall most of us in their homes destroyed while mothers and my due to the climate we want to go bring you. today 70 percent of the earth's pure water that is used for human consumption. it has become the most coveted resource on the planet we. live in. new. orleans. not doing enough. that will cause

water to die and say hey you go. you won't be wearing any clothes you won't be using him at all fun you might be driving in a car might be living in a house you might be having breakfast you might be having lots of be having dinner . watery is in paper think that we do you mean the looming money. to save humanity wall street wants to start a revolution. make water profitable and create water markets just like oil markets . water falls from the sky therefore it should be free whenever i hear that i always say diamonds are current nature and they're not free. from the it's a financial product like any other financial model these china india are often on the way around i want to highlight bob $495.00 like

a little box of data good just the beginning of do some water financial revolution . the blue gold rush has begun. and he will stop putting. the human right to water means that it's not a charity it's an issue of justice. this is the issue of our time this is the crisis of our time. with financial pressure on human mobilisation rising the battle over water has already begun. who will come out on top the planet the people with the muck. none the financial companies of europe. here is where the relationship between

water and finance 1st began 30 years ago. at the time it was simply a question of commending the virtues of privatisation. it was margaret thatcher prime minister at the time who championed the cause. for those who live. near. wartime in the benefit of below the national night. that amount of time was a sin and i believe. that says. what happened was the entire system the entire physical system as well as the concession was sold to the private companies. every drop of water in the ploy a private club to take. one

of the 1st thing some of the companies to. go. to people he had paid the bills. the number of people who've had their water cut off for failing to pay their bills has almost tripled in a year. one company for example disconnected $11000.00 customers and the source the company was concerned. they could stay this collective if they didn't pay their bills they didn't get any more so. they always come back now to talk about. how far do you have to come so far on the shelf. life you think you have to make this journey that they just come down to. us.

i mean you could have drank anything but it just think. we didn't even have to care for this during the last song. i said myself is the sky. from the market perspective but doesn't the market can careless if people died of cholera really that's not a joke their job is making money and leave them not very well. finally 10 years later a law is passed that prohibits companies from cutting off the water supply to those who haven't paid their bills. but this is not enough to deter the financier's on the contrary. in the early 2000 and new generation of traders and to the world.

namely private equity funds for vulture funds. they are hungry and completely unaccountable. they may be from which have a 10 year life and they therefore they need to get their returns over that decade that they will be vienna's and then they need to find a new way. say you have a lot of international investors people who may never have been to a water plant in yorkshire talk or baby. never been to yorkshire before this is a wonderful business and truly sick links you don't need to do anything about water and you don't need to care anything about. the new owners arrived from canada hong kong i'm a lazy. 'd in london thames water distribution authority that covers 20 percent of the country is booked

by the australian based mcquarrie funds. i was aware of mccoury i mean they were quite a famous institution in australia where they've been known as something i think they were called the millionaire factory because so many people who worked at a quarry became very rich as a result of the bonuses that they had and. but cory were one of the 1st private equity companies to say that these are good places to believe one of the simple reasons for that is if you there is and is going to be population growth. if there's population growth there's going to be more water taken from. david hall was the man who revealed this war to scam. in 2017 he published

a study in which he detailed 30 years of abusive practices. rising buildings soaring dividends to shareholders and tax evasion. a caricature of financial competence. we ended up polluting a belt. 2.5000000000 pills. was being taken else of the system but private capital now a 1000000 reason for that was that the dividends low paying themselves were very very ridiculous so these companies were perfect cash machines they still are they still.

everybody believes correctly that we are being swindled by the world cup because. what david hall study then did was it said is this really how you think that essential services should be. i think is the best way by financial interests so graphically. the australia based mcquarrie finals was the thames water just of the time. when it sold its function in the company march 22nd 2 mcquarrie says it had just over $13000000000.00 of debt somebody at that point will have to repay all those boring well there's any one source of money in the whole water industry and that is the

customer and when the customer has to repave those borrowings that will affect the charges they have to pay and of course the owners will never return the dividends they've taken out those have just gone. i think they take a view that this is. affecting this crime. the funny thing is that you case experience with privatisation is no one else in the developed world has done it it's a one off and. sometimes you have to ask yourself why is. today over 80 percent of britons would like to go back to a time when water was a common public and essentially free resource. but this concept is slipping away.

rains sweltered through another 24 hours of extreme haze of a night it barely dipped below 30 degrees in many parts of the state with temperatures soaring into the need to hide the reasons for that was. really not the right kind of stuff but not enough to wrangle the life of the storm it remains strangely hot a guy with him because things are going to. run really. australia . on the frontline of climate change. here drought is

a part of everyday life. in this parched country australians are getting closer and closer to tomorrow's world a world where water is a scarce and expensive resource. about the man is a dairy farmer who lives in new south wales one of the driest regions in the country. for many months now his reserves have been empty. the only solution for feeding his animal is to buy extra water from the private market. or he'll you know . go. to die to run just for my kale and it cost me close to half a $1000000.00 for 12 months of oil $500000.00

can you afford that it would put a great deal this trying on us if we if we did it a great deal a strong. right . like we now if i'm in the last 3 months it's already spent $1000000.00 on bordeaux. a storm could come straight tomorrow up at all and. so it's they've spent the money but still a game of fun with it but it's going to work on all. which basically the chaos alarm goes we've told the board to grow crops for the can . we can't afford a real lot of grinding out there getting very little not a grind at all at the moment.

side they're producing. 50 percent less than what they should be but he's told me. it's just save all my drawings of all i keep going. and i am trying to get at the other end of it. strike by the mikes and helping each other out and now it's a little like dog eat dog world at the my space with with the waterfall a c. .

it has become like. it is bought and sold with a single click thanks to mobile phone and an application connected to the market available 24 hours a day. its price changes day depending on supply and demand. it's there aka touching a compatible fate in it but i can easily. not less of that money. once the transaction is approved there are a geisha in china open automatically and poor out millions of liters to customers those who can pay.

people are just taking water from us and it's a lot of exciting effort for man or. why we doing it is we next year the rivers of fall and then we don't have to go back on to that i can market to buy water again well what happened when we die. we multiply russian reluctance. to combat water shortages the australian government has chosen to rationing. each year it allocates a quota to the major water consumers farmers industrialists and cities. this is calculated based on activity existing reserves and weather forecasts.

along with this new law called the water act water markets have been created where anyone can come and purchase additional rights or sell some of the. value of coal as the market is changing and there are over the last couple way certainly was not i don't judge or modeling i may say driving really happening around a water level evolved quality on a 5 dollars an hour later martin martin from the waterfront thanks kate look for to hearing from you in just 10 years the water business has become the new el dorados with a turnover of $2000000000.00 a year morning yeah i am not a top 1st thing. i want to find is the world's leading water stock exchange was because they work with the mega liter a unit of measurement equipment to 1000000 liters.

some are tame he called me the water market parnia. i'd like to cite then i'm a pawnee or in the world. i must always have gotten the word of the world since actual money was handled the transmitter these are only got i think yet you have 6 weeks. so we reset that a gun then. ran for negligence on that we secured that saw a huge amount of transfer $250.00 takes plus the side prices to die around the $500.00. make it later all mean leaders you've got. is i think it's. what $500.00. was that 300 euros 350 euros for 1000000 liters of water. it's pretty

cheap when you look at it from that perspective. isn't it a good thing that way a family putting a value on this resource because in putting a value on it we're going to respect that will. in this new world every drop come. water is no longer a natural resource but a commodity. in the world the water markets the key players of the agricultural industry as is the case with webster the country's largest producer the about.

the directors of this company are among the richest water that's at the head of or is worth more than $200000000.00. the oms amass counterweighted and exported all over the world in relation to the amount of water used this is their most profitable cross. on this farm brendan barry has the title of water manager. this is a new area of expertise. that they. that's i would call any. of you know what right. if you got not a big name big up in the title he didn't even file. but the nonpareil of the

real number of. days although not figure on that but they michel that mom and i comment about that more on some of the famous 50 percent the order of the day just to market one on. the total value of that water is more valuable than all the land we have all of the plant and equipment and all the last talk that we hold. the water market in this area this year has gone from about $320.00 per meghalaya to all of a $700.00 per megawatt hour and that's in a period of a ground force months and that will probably double the process but that's how it works.

it's 10 years since the arab spring should countries across the middle east a decade on from the 1st uprising we'll look at the legacy of the revolution. join us as we assess the changes in the political landscape of the middle east and north africa. on al-jazeera. a secret mass grave in arlen discovered at an institution run by a catholic nun is. a nation shocked to its core. people in power

investigates a scandal but destroyed families cost thousands of lives and still raises profound questions about the ties between the catholic church and the irish state. arlen's mother and baby scar. on a. a unique perspective on nigeria we have so much more we just don't snore so money's this most that we have. through the eyes of a celebrated african photographer to pollution in the delta region us limpin still being us what you just did. it 3 years on how has life changed and rewind ga saudi on al-jazeera. one half go through a show and half lebanese so diversity is really important to me and al-jazeera is the most diverse place i've ever worked that's we have so many different

nationalities and this is east brought together in this one nice organization and this diversity of perspective is reflected in our coverage giving a more accurate representation of the world we report on and that's a key strength of al-jazeera. oral. or. hello i'm maryanne demasi and i'm going with a quick look at our main story now after 8 months of tense talks and just 7 days before the deadline european union and the u.k. have clinched a trade deal the agreement for a 0 tariff 0 quality relationship covers everything from energy to fishing one protection for a level playing field on regulation of the u.k. avoided a future role for the european court of justice but its prime minister forrest johnson says he has delivered the promises of the 2016 vote to leave this country

no longer bound by the rules i think this deal means a new stability and a new certainty in what has sometimes been a fractious and difficult relationship we will be your friend your ally your supporter and indeed never let it be forgotten you will number one market because although we've left the e.u. this country will remain culturally emotionally historically strategically geologically attached to europe. in are all the headlines to new strains of the corona virus of emerged in africa with separate mutations recorded in nigeria and south africa the new variant in south africa is believed to be more infectious contributing to what experts have called an alarming rate of contagion the country's total number of cases is rapidly

approaching $1000000.00 meanwhile thousands of truck drivers will remain stranded at the english force of dover for christmas day waiting on negative coronavirus results so far only 3 drivers receive positive test results with more than 2300 getting the all clear at of the chance to cross the english channel fewer than 100 vehicles have left the port on wednesday evening with most likely to now spend a total of 5 nights inside that cause. and then stay affiliated media in ethiopia is reporting that soldiers have killed a group of men accused of an attack on a village the incident in the western region of bani shango more than $100.00 villages killed media reports suggest 42 armed men were then killed after prime minister ahmed sent in troops programme rolls of water now continues but i will be back with the news out for you at 2100 g.m.t. in about half an hour from now see them.

as water manager brendan is more of a trader than a farmer. a big stack of grind has a value that's money water is no different in that sense. you know our business we want to use air water officially because if we do that we can drive a greater profit into the business and that's what we're ultimately he forced to deliver a profit for the shareholders. interest. he manages his stock with the help of a specialized broke up next battus. he too embodies the new generation business men

looking to exploit water. for them drought means good business. it's an. interesting lease. i don't think there is yet thousands of mega ladies on the market at the moment. the market doesn't seem to be terribly logical at the moment in our view it's sort of grey didn't feel the market and it's a balance between the. 3 but that's that's that's because of where we are and there's not that much more rounds are paid off you know you fairly skittish. frustrating life. so i go yeah look i think there dearies and such or such a state down there you know the number of kids getting sold a lot of it's quite. ridiculous. that for

a very badly every dairy farms on the market so if you did want to do something down there i think is acquiring land still going to be not going to be typical. so you are accustomed. what one can i go and i don't. want to go there might be on. my. own. 48 if they take 5050 i got to yeah. right a 110 and 20 but 20 got you know what really got 340504400. 40 like here and

101. 105 are behind her going to buy it so really. no. i don't or for that one out on the little of my so you still going to use when you sold it on to you. but she's never been is to pay. the water crisis and soaring prices have forced david on into bankruptcy he has had to sell the family dairy farm and now joins the long list of victims of the water markets and i don't know. that a 100 of them. it's an end of an era we're going in this district golmaal off. of it leave more than 10

kilometers ready from where our street. special dog. trainer named. no no no name we don't know anything and then i don't know any of you and i only want to know if you look at your around catch flies for the last 12 months and 4 years ago when you realize you're spending more and more waters and then jenny said to me. you concave going on a lot this. that called the citation was a very nauseous. 3 more dishes in the in the sink and stump they out there. as their emotional. speed laws is probably not as much emotion as slight or wrong when

we selling calles welcome to you who i'm on the raise and who are grandmother and great grandma all that. all they tell me again i've worked. with my 500. if this national initially the creation of water markets was welcomed by farmers. big agricultural players saw it as an effective way to buy water whilst others plan to supplement their income by selling their someplace where it will break to go down but if they break the 10 years later the market had become worthless sucker if they want great time at the rate that a lot. of right there's lots of people that don understand what about i don't understand the law just let you cave on to what all the talk of the stuff of what's

happening and i don't think a lot of us know what's happening in the water market. alicia buoying you know a look at the water market because lots of farms around a depression. so especially if you look at 4 and you think of all of the good in us it's gone up. the. hill the strain is on extremely low as has searing temperatures put emergency crews on notice and authorities ready to answer any major process records fell today and more city temple tomorrow without light forecast to hit 45 to gray's knotting the hottest guy on record for the city is the face wounds of wifey and that you can fall any night adelaide in southeast australia the driest city on the driest continent on the planet. adelaide says

a think tank it's here at the university but the idea of water trading was conceived. and in some use you might get 0 water. so they said nobody can take any more water so you're going to have to find a way. share war what happened very quickly. as a result of work that i did or started dies that will what we need to do is to unbundle the system and take a license and you set out the bank life accounting system little lady everybody trade at what cost and to do that in all the regulations and. mike young is the founding father of the australian water markets a renowned economist he attended harvard university and has advised the united nations. this is the man writing the new history of water.

water scarcity is really think so water scarcity is part of the future of the world the global predictions of that by 2050 more than half the world will be living with limited water resources an abundance is a thing of the past. water needs to be many still very precious why. and why is it drives innovation that make sure our water goes to the best use as it possibly can so we make money and feed ourselves well. and that lead to the interest in water markets and drive a revolution. the revolution started by mike young has turned climate change into a market force. it's fascinating to see how sophisticated our water markets

of the count if this rainfall cost in a week's time the price of water will go down because farmers now they won't have to irrigate if it's going to be really hot for the next fortnight then the price of water goes out. in the future. nor. do. i but i think the reason why you really come to a university is to buy the world a better place to live so i teach a course on how to my world a better place to live it. comes your way i think. mike young has opened up water markets to all farmers small savers and above all

professional investors. who are now a days everybody can buy water on the stock market for consumption or simply for speculation. when water becomes scarce ice becomes scarce and then somebody has to stop using it what markets do is they are. discover and reveal the most appropriate people to pull out of agriculture as it is from making cars as it is for lots of things we live in a competitive world. markets mature spot market stuff derivative markets for water options forwards new intelligence and information systems we're building artificial intelligence and

machine learning. spurs were when the guy in the mike money but. mike a living out of just trying to or worse we're just interested in getting war might boil water to mike a living. just might leave boy and selling water. the system was 14 for the farmers to create wealth for the for the economy but its main tycoon from the farm is now. in the money. water purchased at the market price has drained the australian countryside.

only the agricultural giants have the means to compete with the investors who are pouncing on this new rule material. based games going around the world to encourage basis the ball into the water market with they used returns that they say buying huge amounts of water and they might in huge money out of. water becoming the new australian gold it is if if you can mark a 25 percent return on your investment. or would new trial undo it.

it was melbourne's hottest day in 5 these temperatures hit 42.3 degrees on the city of life 42.921 living in the southern part of the state police are treating. the steal their grief at midnight in the open. the new nodes of water live in the city of melbourne the business capital. they are bankers insurance pension and investment fund managers. and they are gradually taking control of this blue dog. i don't need to outlay you know would i lie and when would i consider it yes but i'm not a farmer i'm an investment banker which to do invest not much maybe $20000000.00.

price of water has doubled but in the next 10 years it will double again because of intensive agriculture. there's a lot of discontent between the farmers and the people controlling the water and so the farmers sometimes over those people have water barons or water bandits because they controlling water that many times i can afford. as an owner of expansive water reserves david williams prints his water to farmers as others would rent land. in the future is looking bright. if we go to 9000000000 population and the chinese want more food in the indonesian one more food in the indians one more food and they can afford to pay for it then we 1st need to find more intensive ways of growing food that means more water.

and that's going to leave you smack bang in the hay get there all the hay a price of hay you allocate it and how you regulate it. with the being a best on border 'd it's getting back to the all guys all the land molds and the pace of from us if we want to. do it we're going after all the border landlords game the warriors way back to the middle i just. in the name of fighting global warming the loads of water have made an agreement with the environmentalists. a

portion of lake and river water is now protected it feeds the ecosystem and is kept out of the market. this aligns brought about the large majority vote in favor of water. as i'm talking to you today we're about to have 7 days in a right here in adelaide above 37 degrees celsius. that is the 4th time in 2 months but we've had that. high temperature climate change is happening and it's happening now and it is impacting on the levels of water usage and the water that is being returned to the system.

from the rivers struggling and so we had to start putting a value on it. environmental organizations are now taking advantage of the markets to buy water and return it to nature. the agriculture industry in australia with billions of dollars the value of war in australia is worth even billions more so if we want to make sure the river is kept alive if we want to make sure there's water there for the future we have to engage in that process that of course forced a proper market for water buying in trading. has a strong right shit no we don't. we might be the test case we haven't got a 100 percent. water

was the last remaining natural resource to have escaped trading. 'd but australia has just blown the final whistle. the time has come for maximum profitability and the creation of wealth. because my people. are focused land in this water. 'd 'd water for me and my people it's a part of who we are. ready ready it's a part of our story our creation ready story.

today is different. australia has implemented water markets. how do you know that. we don't like it very much we don't like it at all 'd. well pushing kind of everyone else interesting i thank you. and i hope my night tonight. when. selling trading what does that. feeling you.

making sure that you're. making sure that no nurse takes your. part of it. most of the greek. * * * * * * greedy people. * they want to wrote a book or 4. * and they're sell it to. money. you commie money. kongregate money. the water is like the grains you know body. earth mother earth. like our bodies the water clothes food. if you really want to say that the wood isn't water that 2.

feeds your spirit. without the spirit of god. we all know the. game. you're saying how great britain and france and britain and france and britain and they go to a higher and higher need i know they are going on in the r. and b. star and all that already based on your name. and. the. the producers of this program asked mcquarrie group to be interviewed but they

declined. so al-jazeera asked mcquarrie to respond to statements made about them in the program. mcquarrie replied to say that they took their role in economic can community infrastructure very seriously that in the time their fund was a shareholder thames water had made $14700000000.00 of capital investment. and that this had allowed thames water to reduce leakage and to keep bills at a low level. they went on to say that the investment had been financed by profits and borrowing and had been approved by the u.k. water services regulator off what. they concluded by saying that thames water had paid an average dividend to shareholders of 11 percent of capital expenditure.

the last stage in the financial i say sion of water. the loan term a stock market index to bet on water prices by nasdaq. a stock exchange specializing in technology. this is the 1st time that water has been reduced to an algorithm. is water at the next oil we set it up as a question and then mostly dismissed it the question is not going to go away we're just probably not ready for it yet there is no alternative to pricing or to properly making people realize that every time you think you suppose water there is an opportunity cost and they feed it through the wall of. what about the guy that can't afford it that guy still needs water. during

the fight against the financialization of water is fueled by the refuse to accept any sum to privatizing. the global water rush is accelerating privatisation competition profit when they say it's got to be a commodity it's because they know that the scarcer it becomes in a world where you desperately need water there's this gold it's gold it's blue gold .

you may know that alice springs his code is some a day for 50 years because of this this persistent line of sundry rain re stretches east has now the orientation is changing alice springs is warming up the heavy rains going to be now in tropical queensland this largely draws the saddles a look at the coast of new south wales there on shore breeze but this is generally warm and his i think arguably halt in perth now alice springs having had its coldest day will pick up to near average after a few showers on friday but time to get to sunday which that he 3 just about degree above average i think is a pretty good going and that's the overall picture then sunshine for most of australia now with the exception of the tropics where the showers exist and they saw him show breeze which means new south wales and eastern victoria a.c.t would be sherry melbourne is warm and sydney and as you know it's still pretty warm in perth the opposite shane the opposite seas north of the equator we've got yet more snow to fall in holland sure in her car and probably will missed the korean peninsula

and most of northern china remains in the sunshine after a frosty morning this is maybe half a meter has more snow to fall in the high ground further south in china a lot more clouds fall spots rain and the windy prospect i think for hong kong. stories of abuse in aged care homes in the west to shock the world but there's no alternative when i want to speak to those sending elderly loved ones to thailand to live out there on how disease. al-jazeera where every. every year 50000000 tonnes of electronic waste is thrown away the majority is illegally dumped in developing countries right now electronic waste is the most

traded as of this with retracing the tech through the criminal organizations making big profits and asking why the west is turning a blind eye. on the waste trail on al-jazeera. al-jazeera. hello i'm maryam namazie you're watching the news hour live from london coming up in the next 60 minutes months of negotiations and with only a week to go the u.k. and the e.u. agree on a post break sit trade deal one that's welcomed on both sides of the channel. also

coming up south african health officials say there are long by the surgeon infections from a variant strain of the corona virus in the united states.