-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com president donald trump for the first time acknowledging a loss, but barely. he remains defiant, refusing to concede the election to joe biden to. make matters for difficult, coronavirus cases keep spiking in the u.s., adding 2 million more in just over two weeks. and another dangerous hurricane churning in the caribbean. the timing on when iota could

make landfall. hello and welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i'm michael holmes. you're watching "cnn newsroom." welcome everyone. after acknowledging for the first time that joe biden won last week's u.s. election, president donald trump quickly walking back those comments in no uncertain terms. in fact, just a little bit over an hour ago, the president tweeted this, all caps, i won the election. that's it. this after claiming without proof that biden had won because the election was rigged. mr. trump says he won't concede and is preventing biden from accessing critical government data about the pandemic. this, even as the u.s. infection total now soared past 11

million. despite the worsening crisis, biden and his team stay optimistic that they can put together a response plan by the time he takes offense. cnn's jessica dean with the details. >> reporter: with a new week on the horizon for the biden transition team, we're learning from incoming chief of staff ron klain that the team will meet with drug manufacturers, including pfizer, to discuss a vaccine distribution plan. this as they try to continue to build their plan for a seamless transition on january 20th while still not being able to speak directly to people in the federal agencies to coordinate with them, people like on the white house coronavirus task force or in health and human services, who are also developing a distribution plan. that's because the federal office responsible for signing

off on the transition has yet to do so. so, the biden transition team is hand strung in that way. they're trying to get their plans together when biden takes office on january 20th. on monday afternoon we are expecting to see and hear from the president-elect and the vice president-elect, joe biden and kamala harris, set to give remarks on the economy and building back better. that was their slogan on the campaign trail. now we wait to hear their plans for action when they take office on january 20th. jessica dean, cnn wilmington, delaware. the president's top coronavirus adviser urged the state of michigan to reject new coronavirus measures, a disturbing tweet. scott atlas criticizing the new restrictions, tweeting on sunday, quote, the only way this stops is if people rise up. you get what you accept. very concerning sort of tweet.

later on cnn's michigan's governor said she would continue to follow the signs. >> i know that the white house likes to single us out here in michigan, me out in particular. i'm not going to be bullied into not following reputable scientists and medical professionals. i listen to the people that actually have studied and are well-respected worldwide on these issues, not the individual that is doing the president's bidding on this one. >> and as the pain from the pandemic grows across the country, the president obsessed with the election he lost. cnn's jeremy diamond reports. >> well, for a brief moment on sunday morning, president trump acknowledged something that he has not acknowledged before, and that is that joe biden has won this presidential election. the president saying in two words, he won, but the rest of the president's tweet and the

tweets for the president for the rest of the day on sunday were filled with the usual garden variety of son conspiracy theories, baseless allegations about the 2020 election and lies about fraud in this election. the president making very clear in a follow-up tweet that he was not at all conceding this election, as some republicans are beginning to hope that he will do, saying, quote, i concede nothing and saying that he still has a long way to go in terms of contesting the results of this 2020 election. the president's comments on twitter were really reminiscent of what we've seen from the president over the last week. sources have told me over the course of the week that the president has really vacillated between two states. on the one hand, this combative desire to pursue every possible legal avenue as it relates to contesting the results of the election. and at other moments the president appearing to start to come to grips with reality. as of sunday night, it was clear that president intends to

continue fighting this out. he said his administration -- rather his legal team -- will be pursuing more lawsuits in courts in key battleground states. so far the president's team and other republican allies are trying to overturn the results of the election. they've been unsuccessful. nine cases on friday alone were dropped by legal teams or dismissed by federal courts, many of which really laughed out some of the claims made by these lawyers who were not able to provide any substantive evidence of voter fraud. the cyber security and infrastructure security agency which is part of the department of homeland security, they in a joint statement with other local and state election officials, they said in a statement very clearly that the 2020 election was the most secure election in american history and that there's no evidence of widespread voter fraud. jeremy diamond, cnn, the white house. cnn political analyst is a professor at princeton university. he's with us from new york.

good to see you, julian. you know, i want to start with this. you wrote on cnn.com -- and people should go and read it. i'll just quote from it. now. if trump continues on this path, it will be tragic and historians will look back on the next two months and debate what might have been, how many lives and live hihoods could have been saved if only trump had been capable of thinking of someone other than himself. how damaging could the president's actions be and his non-actions? >> extremely damaging. at one level it's damaging in that it really undermines any ability for republicans and supporters of the trump to even give president biden just a few months to get his administration started. more importantly, it's slowing down the transition. this is a moment that the new administration should be getting set up, meeting with cabinet officials and getting all the information they need. and that will hamper our ability to deal with the pandemic, which

is surging in the united states. and we're also on the cusp of a vaccine, which requires a lot of government coordination. so, at all levels, this is really tragic that this is what the president's deciding to do. >> yeah, and also, you know, separate sort of issue too, the damage that's been done, the public faith in the entire electoral system. and also the complicity in many ways of congressional republicans enabling the president with their silence, as he calls everything into doubt nbc on sunday invited every single republican senator on to "meet the press," no one accepted, none. >> i think that's a big part of the story. other than a handful of republicans, most have either been silent, and some, such as senator mcconnell, the majority leader, has supported what the president is doing. so, this is really a republican effort to undermine confidence in the election, not just a

presidential effort. >> fareed zakaria on sunday quoted what is a worrying aspect of the u.s. system and its sort of decentralized nature. you know, according to the electoral integrity project, the u.s. elections are among the least trusted of all liberal democracies. i mean, it ranks 37 out of 38, just above albania. some people suggest an independent bipartisan election commission is needed. given the complaints this time around justified or not, do you see room for a look at the system? >> well, eshd howe should hope we need to remember after the 2000 election in the united states, which was contested and very divisive, there were reforms to the system. but not as many as you would think. often once this is finished, once the new administration starts, there's less support for reforming the way we have our democracy work. but let's hope -- let's hope that the mail-in voting, which

actually saved this election in many ways from the weight of the pandemic, offers a model for how to make voting easier in future years. >> yeah, lite of people think there should be more, not less of that. when it comes to donald trump and his personality, which is what it is in many ways, when he leaves the white house, as he will, of course, how many of his 72 million voters are going to go with him to whatever he chooses to do post-presidency do you think? >> well, i'm sure they'll still be following him. they'll still be listening to him. and he'll still have a commanding voice in republican politics. so, once you draw over 70 million votes you don't go away. and unless his interest wanes. unless he wants to focus on some new media project or go back to his real estate, i suspect we'll hear a lot from him in the next four years. and this will be something that the biden administration needs to contend with. >> i was curious what do you

think of joe biden administration's legislative priorities will be? i mean, with the senate perhaps staying republican, can we accept a lot of what donald trump did, executive orders perhaps. >> it seems there will be a lot of executive orders on regulatory issues such as climate change and the environment where senate republicans are unlikely to accept anything if they control the majority. but on the pandemic i think the administration is going to try to push legislation, like a stimulus bill. if that doesn't happen in the next few months, they're going to try to shore up our infrastructure and put republicans in a position where they either cooperate with the administration or they have to say no to pandemic legislation. and that might be one area where president-elect biden will have some leverage. >> 60 something days to go. political analyst julian zell zer, good to see you. >> thank you. u.s. secretary of state mike

pompeo is in france, his first stop on a seven-nation tour. the troop may prove a little awkward. each and every one of the countries he's visiting has already congratulated joe biden for his victory, something that pompeo and his boss, donald trump, refuse to do. cnn's melissa bell joins us now from paris. what do we know about the visit, melissa? >> reporter: you mentioned, michael, the fact he's visiting all these countries that have already congratulated president-elect joe biden. one of the first world leaders to do so. so, the elite very much insied on the fact that today's event social security a wreath laying ceremony for the recent victims of france terrorism and a meeting with emmanuel macron. they insisted this was a visit that was rekweed by mike pompeo and his french counter part was

asked about this explaining he had faith in democracy and he would continue to e are receive him and that was normal. on the table today an opportunity of course to talk about some of the burning issues of the day. we're also china but also terrorism, a couple of sticking points that are likely to emerge beyond the question of the functioning of american democracy and that is first of all on the question of iraq and afghanistan, the french authorities have made it clear that they're going to be insisting with mike pompeo that they don't want to see and would oppose any unilateral enthralled by the united states before january 20th and also the thorny question of the iran deal. remember the french were at the forefront of salvaging it. they'll be insisting with mike pompeo on the need or the fact that they wish the administration does nothing to get in the way of what they hope will be their efforts to try to

pull it back together after january 20th, michael. >> all right. melissa bell there in paris. thanks so much. melissa, good to see you. we will take a break here on the program. when we come back, hospitals across the u.s. reaching their breaking points as the country battles a deadly surge of coronavirus case es. we'll look at what states are doing. falsies lash lift mascara

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now, as we mentioned, the u.s. surpassing 11 million coronavirus cases now. that's well ahead, of course, of every other nation in the world. and it has happened at a record-breaking pace. 1 million cases added in the last six days. that's a number that previously took weeks to get to. more than a dozen states already warning that their hospitals are at or nearing capacity. and as we know, hospitalizations normally lag behind new cases. and that is a worrying sign of what we can expect in the weeks ahead. states on the u.s. west coast are putting in sweeping measures to battle the virus. cnn's paul vercammen reports

from los angeles. >> reporter: here on the west coast, aggressive covid-19 testing underway in the city of los angeles alone, 128,000 people tested in one week. and that includes large testing sites such as dodger stadium, 8,000 people tested one day, and then smaller sites. this is a mobile or pop-up testing site in south los angeles. they feel they were not getting enough testing done in this hispanic neighborhood, so they combined this with a toy drive. hundreds to come through here. and up and down the west coast, a travel advisory has been issued for california, oregon and washington. they want anybody who comes into these states to quarantine for 14 days after. they're also saying that they do not want to see a lot of travel in between these states unless absolutely necessary. and the governor of washington taking dramatic measures, closing down indoor dining at restaurants and closing down bars also for indoor, also

closing down movie theaters, bowling alleys, museums and the like. >> left unchecked, it will assuredly result in grossly overburdened hospitals. it will keep people from receiving routine but necessary medical treatment because of the stresses our hospitals will be under. left unchecked, the economic devastation long term will be continually prolonged. and most importantly, left unchecked, we will see continued untold number of deaths. we will not allow these things to happen. >> and back here on the streets of los angeles, they tested 33% more people this week than last week. they are just trying to get ahead of the curve as they expect there to be a dramatic surge in the number of cases.

reporting from los angeles, i'm paul vercammen. now back to you. dr. jorge hod ree guess is an internal medicine and viral specialist. good to see you, doctor. do you think allowing the biden administration to go ahead is hurting the plan for post-inauguration, efficient action, not being able to meet with the task force, having the latest vaccine information and so on? what's the impact? >> absolutely it has a deleterious effect. the president has his knee on the neck of the american people. we need to look at this as a war. we are fighting a war against an invisible enemy, and if this were that technically war that we're used to, we would be completely beside ourselves that we weren't transitioning

information. so, will it have deleterious effects? absolutely. >> let's try to be positive for a minute. what's your take on the vaccine landscape and how the months ahead unfold? >> that's something that's very exciting and it is very positive. people shouldn't be hanging their hat on that. if everything goes well, i think anthony fauci was maybe a little bit optimistic saying maybe by april we would have a mass vaccination. hopefully the majority of the united states will be vaccinated. and that goes a long way toward curbing this epidemic. so, is there a light at the end of the tunnel? yes, and i think it is a sun and not a train. until that end comes, we really still need to be cautious. >> yeah, and one other thing that is perhaps underreported is the elective and other surgeries impacted because hospital beds are filling up with covid

patients. what is the impact on other area of health with those surgeries and also people who are not going to the hospital with things they should be going to the hospital? >> absolutely, earlier on this year was estimated there would be anywhere from 60,000 to 100,000 unnecessary deaths due to field hospitals, due to people's fear of going to either doctors or hospitals. so, you're going to have a depletion of resources whether those resources are hospital beds, nurses or physicians. this does not just affect the people that have covid, this affects all of us people with heart attacks may not be able to get service quickly enough to help them in the hospital, pregnant women may have trouble with delivery, people with asthma, and it goes on and on and on. >> always a pleasure even if the subject matter is less than pleasant. thanks. good to see you. >> thank you s ir. there's hope.

>> the british prime minister boris johnson says he has been exposed to the coronavirus and is now isolated at number 10 downing street. he tweeted that he has no symptoms but will be leading the government's pandemic response from isolation. mr. johnson, of course, was treated for coronavirus in april, a bad case of it. he was in the icu for a while. this has been a week of turmoil in the prime minister's office. two of his top aides resigned, and mr. johnson is struggling to address the issue of a post-brexit trade deal with the eu. now the german chancellor angela merkel will be meeting with state leaders on monday, but we're not expecting to see looser restrictions. in fact germans should brace for another four to five months of severe measures. here's what they said. we cannot afford a yo yo shutdown with the economy constantly opening and closing. if we don't want days with

50,000 new infections, we must see this through and not constantly speculate about which measures can be relaxed again. cuba has reopened its international airport in havana months after the pandemic forced it to close. the near total ban on tourism severely hurt the nation's struggling economy. but now the government hopes the reopening can help turn things around. cnn's patrick open reports from havana. >> reporter: seven months after havana's airport shut down to commercial flights and cuba closed its borders, this airport has now reopened although with significant changes. you see over here people are getting hands sprayed with a solution. when they get inside, they have to have their temperature checked. and you see people with face masks everywhere, which is the law. and even some with face guards. so, it doesn't look like it used

to, of course. and there are many less flights than we have before the pandemic. the flights have begun to come in. first time in over seven months there have been any kind of commercial travel. think how devastating it's been. the cuban economy depends on tourism. that will slowly start to come back and will help people that have been waiting months and moss months to be able to reopen the homes they rent, if they have a rental car business. but when travellers arrive now at the airport, they will have a pcr test here in this terminal. then they will have to go to either the hotel or the home they're staying in and wait at least 24 hours, we are told, to get the all-clear, to be told that their test has come back negative. and then they can really begin their trip. so, while this airport is now open, tourism is slowly

returning to this island. it is going to be a drawn out process because cuba says they don't want to open up too quickly to make sure the cases don't rise too quickly. but at least for now people are relieved this airport and tourism has returned to this island. patrick patrick oppmann cnn havana. historic moment as elon musk's spacex launches four astronauts into orbit. now, staying home isn't just staying in the place they love. it's staying safe. home instead. to us, it's personal.

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president donald trump once again falsely claiming victory over joe biden, sending out an all caps tweet a short time ago, saying, quote, i won the election. he hasn't, of course. this comes after the president earlier appeared to, in a way, acknowledge his loss for the first time. that tweet had said joe biden won but then listed off a series of false claims and baseless conspiracy theories as the reason for it. the major news networks called the election for biden more than a week ago. mr. trump not only won't accept it. his administration won't release transition resources, which are necessary for a smooth transition. nevertheless, president-elect joe biden and vice president-elect kamala harris are preparing to take over. they will be working with pfizer on coronavirus response strategies this week, and they will talk about their economic plans on monday. now, earlier i spoke about the presidential transition with

thomas gift, the director of the center on u.s. politic at university college london. i asked him why he thinks the president is digging in and spreading his baseless claims of election fraud. >> i think trump's refusal to concede clearly represents a major challenge to democratic norms. still it's hard to be too surprised given that the president has been telegraphing this for months that he might dispute the election results. in part i think this might just be a personality by-product of his narcissism. refusing to concede, however, also allows trump to maintain his relevance, to attract doctors into his political action committee he's recently committed and to sustain his position as defacto leader of the party. i think some republicans on capitol hill continue to lend legitimacy to the claims, not all but some, and i think they're doing it not just because they're afraid of trump but because they realize

trumpism will persist even if trump leaves office and they sense that opposing trump now would jeopardize their own electoral properfects going forward. >> it's unsettling when he tweets the things he did. i won the election, he tweeted just in the past hour. that fires up people who probably shouldn't be fired up to be honest. republicans had a singular message for democrats, which was get over it, we won. in fact, have a listen. >> hillary is on her sore loser tour. now we have her going through recounts. she needs to get over it. she lost. get out of the way and let donald trump be president. >> do you think the democrats are sore losers? >> yeah, i do. the reality is they're a bunch of spoiled cry babies. >> news flash for those in the main stream media who try to delegitimize the massive win last month, the election is

over. hillary clinton lost. >> so, what you heard then you're not hearing now clearly. but when it comes to congressional republicans staying quiet on all of this, what do you think? is it about not angering trump ahead of the georgia senate elections? what is it? what are they afraid of? >> i really do think that to some extent it's just the fact that they believe that trumpism is going to persist in some form after this election. you know, trump did receive lots and lots and lots of republican votes. and the mobilization behind his movement i think isn't going anywhere any time soon. i think, you know, republicans realize that the party is going to evolve. it's going to move on, but it's still going to maintain some non-trivial trumpian elements within it. >> thomas gift in oxford, england, thanks so much. ethiopians are risking their

lives to escape fighting in the country's north. and refugee camps overwhelmed by the growing humanitarian crisis. we'll have a live report from david mckin zee when we come back. what are you doing? art class. it's abstract expressionism. when you start with a better hot dog from oscar mayer, you can do no wrong. it's all for the love of hot dogs. friends & family event! with 25 to 50% off everything!

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and ask your doctor if biktarvy is right for you. . 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. ignition, liftoff. >> a giant leap for elon musk and his spacex. the company has launched four astronauts into orbit to meet up with the international space station. they will dock less than 24 hours from now and spend the next six months up there. it's a mission that could pave the way for a new era of commercial space travel. now, a violent conflict in northern ethiopia has forced thousands of people to flee to neighboring sudan, and now there are fears for humanitarian crisis on both sides of the

border. david mckenzie is following the developments for us from johan necessa. >> very little information coming out from the conflict there in that region. look at these images of people desperately trying to get across the border into sudan. they're on boats. they're paying ferrymen what they can to get across. and the refugee agency says that 14,000 plus have come in just the last few days. they are overwhelmed in those camps, try to get people settled, give them the basic food and shelter that they need. but what is happening, certainly there are fears that this conflict could spiral out of control, michael. >> yeah, and the prime minister keeps sort of talking of a quick war. i mean, is that realistic? >> well, certainly he is saying,

and i want to show you this message he put out in a tweet saying i'll campaign to uphold rule of law progressing well, as well as other statements there in english. so, clearly targeting the international community. prime minister ago bay ak med as said this a way to restore federal law to the country. regardless what is happening now is a real fear of regional conflict. there are substantial report of cross-border squirmishes, at least missiles landing potentially according to reuters in the neighboring countries into this conflict. and again we're speaking about the refugees going across. there is also fears that the civilian impact is severe, but very little information is getting out. and the worry is what he says

will be a quick campaign could be protracted and extremely damaging both to ethiopia and the region. >> david action thank you. david mckenzie there in johannesburg. up next for our international viewers, "world sport." and for our viewers in the united states i'll have more news after the break. is not the same. it's our sharpest ever, and while some other companies would charge more for something new, we don't. because why be like everyone else?

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now, donald trump's false claims of voter fraud aside, the presidential race, of course, is over. what's still up in the air is control of the u.s. senate, and it all comes down to run off elections here in georgia. there's two of them. democrat raphael warnock challenging republican kelly loeffler and jon ossoff hoping to unseat david perdue. the stakes are high and the campaign donations are pouring in. >> this is it, i win, she wins. i win, she wins. >> reporter: their first joint run off campaign rally, the two republican senators are defending their jobs, hoping to secure their futures and scroll

of the u.s. senate. >> make no mistake, we are the firewall not for the u.s. senate but future of the country. >> underscoring the national scale of this fight, florida senator rick scott. >> you saw what chuck schumer said. he said first we're going to take georgia and then we're going to change the country. not in georgia, not today. >> the political world has turned to georgia. so has much of its money. total ad spending and easi reservations from all four groups already topped $55 million through the end of december. of that, about 47 million is from the republican side. democrats behind early as they try to flip the senate seats blue. >> vote perdue to stop them. >> incumbent senator david perdue's first ads focus on keeping the senate majority. >> you heard him, chuck schumer is trying to take the senate majority and radically change

america. >> kelly loeffler's ads echo that theme. but she also released an onslaught against warnock. warnock is defending himself in his ads. >> when people have no vision, they resort to division. >> reporter: and television interviews. >> she knows she is misrepresenting who i am and what i represent. i'm going to stay focused on georgia families. >> we need leaders who bring us together. >> reporter: one area of common ground in this campaign, how high the stakes are. >> joe and kamala, they will not be able to govern. they will not be able to lead us. they will not be able to contain this virus and rebuild this economy unless we win these two u.s. senate races here in georgia. >> so, rick scott was in the state earlier this week. it was marco rubio and vice president mike pence expected next week to be here supporting

his fellow republicans on the democratic side. former presidential candidate andrew yang expected in the state in the coming days. key y kyung lah cnn, atlanta. emory university here in atlanta. good to see you and thanks for your time. just give people a sense of how bitter this battle is and how much more bitter it might become between now and january 5 and how much both parties are throwing at it. >> so, this race has the potential to be the most extensive and one of the nastiest in u.s. history. control of the senate is at stake, and so if democrats win these two seats they will have a 50/50 tie, which will be sort of abetted by vice president-elect kamala harris' tie-breaking vote. so, that's why it matters. it also matters because georgia just voted for joe biden in the presidential race, demonstrating increased competitiveness for democratic voters and candidates in the state that we haven't

seen before. so, historically, republicans have done very well in run off elections in recent years. but that was aided by a huge advantage in term of party identification in the state that has dissipated over time and is evidenced by vice president biden's win over president trump. democrats are going to try to defend their turf in this run off election. >> it was historic turning georgia. other candidates tied closely to president trump and proud of it, both of them faced allegations of playing down the pandemic, even allegations of profiting from their knowledge of what was to come early on. are there signs any of that has hurt them politically? >> well, i mean so far the fact that they are both in these positions of having run off elections, especially for senator loeffler in particular, we would argue that it probably didn't hurt her at all. there were some incumbent

senators like susan collins of maine or ben sasse of nebraska who were able to outperform significantly president trump in the general election. senator perdue only outperformed president trump by a little bit and that's part of the reason why he is in a run off election. i wouldn't necessarily attribute that to his scandals without having further evidence to go on, but they're both very tied to trump and they want his base to turn out to vote again because turnout is going to be what decides who wins or loses these elections. >> thank you so much. really appreciate it. >> thank you. now, the world's largest free trading block is now made up of 15 asia-pacific economies. they signed on to what's called the regional comprehensive economic partnership in hanoi on sunday. what's missing from the deal? the united states. john defterios is in abu dhabi with the implications. and, you know, of course donald trump pulled out of the

transpacific partnership when he came to office. and this pact seems to be allowing china's influence to grow in asia. is that your read? >> reporter: i think it's absolutely right, michael, indeed. this is further evidence, if you're not sitting at the bargaining table, other countries around the world can move forward. donald trump pivoted away from asia, from the tpp, this is a regional play from north and south to new zealand in the south. 15 kuhn tris about a third of the global gdp and a third of the global population. it does bring together for the first time east asia into one block with china, south korea and japan. that says something on its own. australia and china has been struggling with china on a number of different trade you shhs taking the u.s. position here. they're saying with the 15 member comprehensive partnership doesn't roll off the tongue.

they think they can mend relations with beijing. there was always this concern that china would swamp southeast asia. this tone is changing right now, particularly in the difficult position the u.s. has taken against china under the trump administration. >> yeah, great analysis. this trade deal in asia, solid growth in japan. off to the races for the markets. what are you seeing? >> yeah, incredible start to the week, michael, because we had the trade pact as you noted there, japan growing 5% in the third quarter, manufacturing in china much stronger. let's take a look at the numbers here. the nikkei index is at the highest level in 29 years. that's how good they're feeling about the future here and the low interest rate environment with the gain of better than 2%. seoul part of the trade pact, better than 2% or hovering around that level. shanghai up 1%. overall in asia, speaking of the trade pack we have the markets at the highest level since 1987.

right now this is spilling into u.s. futures as well. the s&p500 finished a record high on friday. my point michael is what's the political crisis in the united states have to do with the markets? how about the covid-19 case load? the view is that they can come forward with a stimulus package in the united states, this will be the first test for joe biden and kamala harris in working with the senate republicans. we'll hear more from two of them here on the economic blueprint. but right now is market is ticking and saying we can move forward in 2021. that's the view. >> all right. great analysis as always. good to see you there, john defterios in abu dhabi where it looks lielk a pretty day. the president of colombia has been viewing the devastation in regions hit by deadly landslides and floods. scenes like these are playing out in several provinces where people actually climbed on to roofs for safety. so far several people have been killed, hundreds forced to evacuate. and new this hour, a powerful

hurricane in the caribbean growing stronger and was just upgraded to category 4. cnn meteorologist pedram javaheri is tracking iota and not looking good, is it? >> not at all. you know, you can't overestimate the significance of this storm system. the rarity of the storm of this magnitude. and of course it was just two weeks ago that hurricane eta made landfall in nicaragua and left behind damage such as this here where significant losses in place, billions of dollars in loss not just nicaragua but next door in honduras. the concern another category 4 sustained at 140-miles-per-hour. the system statistically speaking, got to go back to the 1870s when records began to be kept here. the rarity of the storm of this magnitude happens only once every 37 years. this has intensified rapidly yet again, the sixth of seven storms so far in the last couple of

months to do so intensifying rapidly on approach to land and already seeing hurricane warnings prompted across the same area of nicaragua where eta made landfall less than two weeks ago. $5 billion in losses which is equivalent to 20% of the nation's gdp. fatalities exceeded 170 people and some considered missing across the region as el with. the last thing you want to see is an incoming system with an identical track and identical magnitude, category 4, we think landfall sometime monday night into tuesday morning along the same region of northern nicaragua along the border of honduras. you'll notice again two hurricanes that are category 4 making landfall in under two weeks. statistically this happens only once every 37 years. you can do the math and see it happen speaks to what is

happening across nicaragua. tremendous volume of rainfall in the forecast. could easily exceed a foot in some of these areas. the storm surge could exceed 10 feet to 15 feet which could be upwards to three meter. and some higher amounts could be as high as 4.5 meters. so, an incredible amount of damage potential in place especially michael when you consider what is already on the ground here. we know levies have been devastated and dams have reached full capacity. and some homes right along at the top of the home. you look at a forecast model doesn't deviate much through landfall, and what is concerning here across parts of central america. >> just absolutely terrifying. all right. thanks very much. pedram javaheri. thank you for watching. i'm michael holmes. the far nicer rosemary church will be here with another hour of "cnn newsroom" after the break.

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-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com home instead. hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and from all around the world. i'm rosemary church, and this is vroom. ahead this hour, the coronavirus pandemic has cases and hospitalizations surging across the u.s. health officials say a smoother transition to a biden administration could help, but the outgoing president is digging in and refusing to concede. plus a powerful hurricane is rapidly picking up speed, barrelling towards an already-storm weary