-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com welcome to our viewers joining us in the u.s. and all around the world. you're watching cnn. i'm robyn curnow. just ahead on the show, another member of donald trump's inner circle tests positive for coronavirus, this time his personal attorney. as cases skyrocket, so will the number of tests being taken. we'll speak to someone working around the clock to make sure you get your results. also -- >> if this legislation doesn't happen, those -- those clues are gone. they're in the dark. nobody can see them. we -- we can't find those kids. >> ashton kutcher speaks to me about his plea to european lawmakers, what it could mean for children around the world.

>> announcer: live from cnn center, this is "cnn newsroom" with robyn curnow. so, for the fifth time this month, the u.s. has reported a record number of hospitalizations from covid. more than 101,000 were counted on sunday alone, and the overall infection rate just keeps on soaring to new heights. in the coming days, the number of new cases is expected to top 15 million worldwide. this week could bring good news. the food and drug administration will meet thursday to decide whether pfizer's drug should meet emergency use authorization. another member of the president's inner circle has tested positive for the virus. rudy giuliani, president trump's personal attorney was hospitalized and receiving treatment. he claimed he was feeling good and is recovering quickly.

jeremy diamond has more on his condition. jeremy. >> reporter: well, the coronavirus has struck once again inside president trump's inner circle. this time, the former new york city mayor and the president's personal attorney rudy giuliani testing positive for the virus. the president announced the news in a tweet on sunday. now, he didn't provide many details about giuliani's condition, but a source familiar with the matter told me a few hours after the president's tweet that mayor giuliani was indeed admitted to the hospital, admitted to georgetown university hospital here in washington, d.c., a sign that clearly his condition was serious enough to at least warrant hospitalization. giuliani is 76 years old and in that higher risk category. but over the last week, what we've seen from mayor giuliani is him engaging in the kind of behavior that you certainly shouldn't engage in during this coronavirus pandemic, especially when you're in that higher risk category. giuliani was crisscrossing the country, visiting three key states in an attempt to overturn

the results of the 2020 election. you can see him here on thursday. he was at atlanta, georgia, at the georgia state capitol, shaking shands, hugging people, taking pictures with folks in very close quarters, all of this not wearing a mask. this is the kind of reckless behavior again that not only puts mayor giuliani at risk but puts other folks at risk. now that he's tested positive, a love othose people could potentially have been infected with the virus. so, that's obviously a concern. mayor giuliani, we don't have many updates on his condition, but his son took to twitter to stay quote, my dad is resting, feeling well. thanks to all friends who have reached out about his well being. we have seen dozens of people close to the president testing positive. while you can contract this virus when you're trying to be as careful as possible, many of those around the president are folks who have disregarded those public health guidelines,

rejecting the wear of masks as an important measure, and none other than the president himself has continued to disregard those public health guidelines and hasn't done anything amid this deadly surge of the pandemic to encourage americans to take those steps. jeremy diamond, cnn, the white house. so, within the next hour, tens of millions of people in california will be placed under new coronavirus restrictions as the state battles record infection numbers and hospital zaugss. now, these new measures will close down businesses and require people to stay home for the next few weeks. paul vercammen now reports. paul. >> reporter: in all of these stay-at-home orders now being enacted in california, one of the rules is no more outdoor dining in the southern california region in the san joaquin region and much of the bay area. for these restaurant owners, it's just been awful and worse for the employees. right behind me, the closed down pineapple hill saloon and grill in sherman oaks. the owner went viral with one of

her messages. i talked to her. she said one thing that is absolutely crushing for her is telling employees that they do not have a job for the holidays. >> it's -- it's unbearable. i mean, you try to put on a good face. you try to say, don't worry, we're going to reopen, i'm going to make it happen. but to look at my staff, give them their last paycheck right before christmas and some of them are newer staff that have been shut down over and over. and their unemployment's running out and they have kids and children. it's the most excruciating feeling. >> there's no options. there's no options for our entire industry and it's not because we are trying to stay on unemployment and just, you know, sit on that. mine's almost out and i -- i have no idea -- i have no idea what i'm going to do. >> and the owner here at the saloon and grill telling me she's explored the possibility of takeout, is still trying to work it out. but the numbers just don't add up in terms of trying to make

profit by staying open for takeout and delivery only. i'm paul vercammen. >> thanks paul for that. americans and people all over the world are hopeful things will be different in the new year. a u.s. official says emergency authorization of a vaccine could come very soon. >> i don't know of any reason why the system is in any way off track. if things are on track, the advisory committee goes well, i believe we could see fda authorization within days. >> that expert reminds us it could take months before most americans receive vaccines. there are many, many things we don't know about the vaccine's effectiveness. earlier i spoke with a doctor about these very points. take a listen. >> the food and drug administration, the fda, is carefully reviewing the data right now as they go toward approval of these vaccine candidates from pfizer and moderna. so far what we know from the data that's been released is it's more than 90% effective to

prevent somebody who takes the vaccine from getting sick from covid. now, we do not yet know if taking the vaccine will prevent the person who takes it from giving the covid virus to somebody else. we also don't know if it will work in children and those tests will be starting soon. >> so, when you look at the coming year, when do you think -- now, this, i know, is the million dollar question that we all want to know. when do you think we will all be vaccinated? when can people look forward to family holidays and going back to their work buildings? if you were a betting man, what does 2021 look like for you? >> 2021 will be difficult. this is not actually something like a magic wand. it will take months and months for the companies to create enough vaccine to vaccinate all americans. so, in the first traunch of vaccines that are expected to be available for the end of the year, there will only be doses

for about 20 million americans. and those will be for health care workers. it will take many months, well into 2021, before people take the vaccine. now, throughout this time, we all need to continue wearing our masks, socially distancing and doing all of the things necessary to keep each other safe because this is going to take a long time. >> thanks to dr. aniche. voters in the u.s. state of georgia are holding some pretty significant political cards right now. the state is less than a month away from a run off election that could decide whether republicans keep control of the u.s. senate. debated at an empty podium on sunday. republican incumbent david perdue refused to participate. and kenny loeffler debated rafael warnock. loeffler faced questions about trump and election fraud but she didn't give a direct answer. >> you know, president trump has

every right to use every legal recourse available. in our own state, we've seen time and again that we have investigations that need to be completed. in fact, we've run two audits, and those audits discovered thousands of ballots across several counties here in georgia that were not counted. >> well, coming up on cnn, an eu vote could stop tech firms from tracking online content. actor ashton kutcher tells us why he thinks that would be a terrible, terrible mistake and children would be the victims. that's next. >> every month that goes by, that's 5.8 million pieces of evidence of children being sexually abused, molested and raped that goes dark. it goes blind. and if it takes them two months, that's what, 11.6 million pieces of evidence. and if it takes them three months and on and on, these are

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welcome back. it's 13 minutes past the hour.

just hours from now in brussels, a committee of the european parliament is expected to take up a vote that could have big, big consequences for the fight against child sexual abuse. the issue is whether big tech firms can keep scanning websites and social media to detect predators. some say that's a violation of predators. nina desantos has that story from london. nina. >> reporter: with countries locked down and people spending more time online, authorities in europe are sounding the alarm about a rise of sexual exploitation of children. >> we have so many signs that grooming is growing rapidly. and that means that perpetrators find children. these children are being victims. we are obliged, in my view to protect these children. >> reporter: for more than a decade a decade law enforcement agencies across europe have been able to work with firms to scan social

media, websites and online communications for evidence of child pornography. >> the information we're receiving is a great part of our job. and through these referrals we have been able to identify a number of victims in our own investigations. and those prevent further abuse to these children. >> we're looking forward to the questions and answers. >> but now at a rate of the eu privacy rules could change that. on one side, the eu commission wants to maintain the status quo and has proposed a temporary piece of legislation that would allow tech companies to continue screening online platforms. >> it is about protecting children. it's not that they are into reading everything that somebody's texting on the platforms. >> on the other hand, some members of the european parliament like patrick breyer, say the screening is a breach of privacy that could be open to abuse itself. >> examining and searching the content of everybody's digital

correspondence is as if the post office were just opening all our letters. all it may achieve is that criminals will be using encrypted channels instead. >> reporter: last month, the actor and tech investor ashton kutcher waded into the debate. >> if it was your kid that was being sexually abused and it was their content that was being shared on the internet and you knew that tech companies had the ability to identify and remove that content or even prevent the abuse from happening, but a law was standing in the way from you providing your kid with a better life, would you be okay with that? >> for police fighting cyber crime across the eu, losing a tool they say is vital at a pivotal time is deeply

concerning. >> so, how would life change on a day to de basis for police forces across the eu if you didn't have this ability to screen communications. >> the reality is we would have to wait for the reports to come in or else promote other proactive measures or exercises that are already in play. >> the matter will come to a head on monday with a vote on how to proceed. if no compromise is reached, by default screening will stop by tend of december with implications for millions of children across the eu and elsewhere in the world. nina desantos. >> ashton kutcher is an actor. he's also the cofounder of thorn, an organization that builds technology. ashton, hi. you were in that piece and clearly you're very passionate about this subject. but have you waded into this argument between eu lawmakers?

>> well, i've been involved with this issue for over a decade now. i founded t.h.o.r.n. we build technology to help children of sexual abuse. i've spent countless hours working with lawmakers, technology companies, other ng,s trying to find the best solutions in this space. and, you know, it's this piece of legislation came up and was meeting resistance, it just became extraordinarily frustrating to me, one, that i think lawmakers weren't fully aware of the breadth of the issue. and secondly, you know, this isn't an eu issue. the internet is a global tool. so, children that are being abused in the united states, their content should be shared in europe. children that are being abused in europe, their content could

be shared in the united states. so, this is a global issue. and as the eu makes a very critical decision on how this is going to be legislated, it's going to affect the rest of the world. it's going to affect all of us. and frankly, i don't understand anyone that has children and cares about children that isn't interested in this issue and taking it on because it's your kids' lives. >> what happens if there is no siege? >> well, here's the thing. this has to pass on december 21st. so, let me just scale the issue for you. so, the national center for missing exploited children received 16 million reports last year. that's 16 million reports. each of those reports, that's 69 million files. that's 69 million pieces of

evidence of children being sexually abused, molested and raped. some of these kids are toddlers, even as young as infants, prepubescent children. this is evidence of their rape. so, if this doesn't pass, what we're talking about -- we can do the quick math. it's 65 million divided by 12. we're at 5.8 million files. government moves slow and negotiates slowly. we all understand that. this needs to be legislated carefully because privacy is important. but for every month that goes by, that's 5.8 million pieces of evidence of children being sexually abused, molested and raped that go dark. it goes blind. and if it takes them two months, that's, what, 11.6 million pieces of evidence. and if it takes them three months and on and on and on. these are vital clues that help us identify these children and

bring them to safety. and if this interim legislation doesn't happen, those -- those clues are gone. they're in the dark. nobody can see them. we can't find those kids. so, that's what happens. >> it's horrifying, it's terrifying, particularly, as you say, if you have kids yourself. but then you also heard some eu lawmakers in that piece say, you know, this is like somebody opening your mail, that this is about privacy, that ordinary citizens could be infringed in their privacy. for example, i know one example has been that harmless family photographs at the beach could be flagged and removed and even investigated under these rules. what's your reaction to that? >> that is not the utilization -- what we're talking about is continuation of a piece of the tools that are being used for 10, 15 years to

specifically identifying child sexual abuse material, specifically for that. that's what these tools are for. that's what the legislation outlines it specifically for that. a so, it's not -- it's non-sense to assume. now, could tech companies abuse this? could lawmakers abuse this? yes. but that's why we have legislation. that's why we put guardrails around things. i mean, listen, we have speed limits, right, when we drive our car. and police officers have radar guns. that's a piece of technology that is used to detect someone who is speeding. this piece of technology is used to detect children that are being abused. so, the notion that they are going to be sitting there abusing this technology to look through your family photos at the beach seems psuedononsensical to me. >> your organization t.h.o.r.n.

also develops tools to combat child abuse. how can technology and organizations work together to outpace or keep up with child traffickers when you're talking about the kind of rates we're seeing here? >> it starts with working together. you know, it's shocking as a non-profit that works on this issue, specifically on this issue, that there wasn't more consultation with us as to what the regulation should look like. i'm a tech investorme. i'm an actor. i run a non-profit that focuses on this. we have pretty decent domain expertise. we're talking to law enforcement. our tools are being used by law enforcement. our tools are being used by private industry. our tools are being used by parents to understand and be educated on this issue. they should be coming to us saying how should we regulate on this? we can work together to find a solution. and by no means is what exists

perfect, right? the analogy i like to talk about is, you know, planes can be used to crash into buildings, but we have to trust that we can regulate air traffic so as that that doesn't take place. and we've done a relatively decent job since we realized that people wanted to fly planes into buildings. so, we need to assume that we can do a good job of regulating this technology so it's not abused, people aren't -- privacy isn't being infringed, and law enforcement can use it efficiently and effectively. private industry can use it efficiently and effectively, and most importantly we protect the privacy of these kids. they didn't consent to their abuse being shared online. they didn't consent after they're identified or their abuser is identified for that content to consider to be shared online their privacy matters too. we need to take that too

account. it's not going to get done overnight. that's what the interim piece of legislation is about. let's keep using the content we have until we come up with a better solution. and we're willing to work on that. and we're willing to work with everyone on that. >> and just finally before we go, i mean what is your message to eu lawmakers as they watch cnn on monday as they make that decision and we get closer to that deadline. >> pass this piece of legislation. then let's sit down. let's work on what the long term compromise needs to be between privacy and identifying these kids and what privacy looks like for everyone, not just you, but for these kids as well. >> ashton, thanks so much for joining us. really appreciate you joining us. >> thank you. so, coming up, nearly 200 million coronavirus tests have been processed in the u.s. since the start of the pandemic. just ahead, we hear from an underappreciated group, the lab techs who provide all of those

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since you're heading off to dad... i just got a zerowater. but we've always used brita. it's two stage-filter... doesn't compare to zerowater's 5-stage. this meter shows how much stuff, or dissolved solids, gets left behind. our tap water is 220. brita? 110... seriously? but zerowater- let me guess. zero? yup, that's how i know it is the purest-tasting water. i need to find the receipt for that. oh yeah, you do.

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great to have you along with me this hour. it's 29 minutes past the hour. this is cnn. i'm robyn curnow live from atlanta. now the u.s. has seen another sharp rise in covid cases and has reported its highest number of hospitalizations since the pandemic began. the country's now approaching 15 million confirmed infections, by far the highest total in the world. among the newly infected, president donald trump's

personal attorney rudy giuliani. the 76-year-old was admitted to hospital on sunday after the president announced he had tested positive. meanwhile, president-elect biden's coronavirus advisory board says it plans to ramp up testing. americans around the country have waiting in long lines to get tests, and credible officials said much more testing still needs to be done. that's just one part of the process. a lot happens in the labs behind the scenes to get the results to the patient. it's an integral part of the fighting this pandemic. april abbott is the director of microbiology at the deaconess health system. how many coronavirus tests have you and your team done? >> sure, we've actually passed a big milestone for us. we crossed the 100,000 tests performed metric here this month. >> and how does that feel? and how has that been because

many people are lauding doctors and nurses as heroes, but i know that a lot of folks like you have said nobody sees us. people forget that we're also there on the front lines. >> yeah, it's interesting because the number came and went and we real will you didn't even notice it. one of the comments that was made was during a conversation with a friend of mine. he commented they had crossed that milestone. i looked to see how many tests we had performed. i didn't realize we had crossed it. when i told the techs they had made it past that number, they were shocked. we know we're running constantly, but it's not something we were looking for. >> when you say running constantly, what do you mean? how overworked, how exhausting, how debilitating has it been the last few months trying to just get those tests done? >> yeah, we work 24/7 hour laboratory, so we're running constantly. we definitely have increased our capacity here. we continue to increase.

it's a very stressful environment for the technologists here now. >> you're tired. >> everyone's wore out. i think we hit that point. we had to get resources from outside the laboratory to help us. so, there are days where maybe instrumentation fails or we get bombarded with tests or perhaps we have leftover tests from the day prior and have to send those out because we're not able to do those tests in house, not necessarily all of them. so, we have to get resources from outside the laboratory to help us with that process. >> are there enough medical technologists in america, folks to process this test. do you feel like it's been strained to its very tipping point here? >> yeah, i think you hit the nail on the head with that. prior to this pandemic, we were already at a critical juncture for us. we were already experiencing critical shortages for medical laboratory scientists. this happened at a perfect storm for us where we were already well understaffed in many hospitals and to have the storm

on top where now we went from doing perhaps 5,000 to 6,000 tests a week to now we're doing 10,000 or 12,000 tests a week and there aren't enough people to do them. >> i know you're a mom and you've got kids. how have you managed to balance that? i understand you've put a bed in your office as well to try to manage this. >> yeah. so, i mean, you know, i'm probably not the poster child for work-life balance right now. you know, one of the things that i try to do is i really do try to make it home most nights of the week. and that's not always possible. i'm fortunate i have a husband that can be there with our children in the evenings. they know what coronavirus is. so, my oldest is 8, but even our 4-year-old, he goes to school and he wears a mask. so, he says things like, you know, coronavirus is a catastrophe. and my kids, they want me to be home. but i think kids are pretty resilient. they realize mommy's doing other things right now and i'm trying

my best to be home with them too. >> how does it make you feel when you see people not wearing masks and perhaps congregating in big rallies or even the comments coming from the president? how does that impact your morale? >> it's really pretty devastating and i worked all day. i worked at 4:00 in the morning because i had to help my children get ready for school and daycare. i turned around and came back at 7:00 in the morning and i stopped to pick up a drink. and right behind me three people walked in with no mask. and for the first time i think throughout all of this has happened within the last few weeks, i started to tear up because it's just devastating to see that whenever you know that that action right there means that there are going to be people stuck in the hospital unable to go home because they're having to process individual specimens, those individuals may be exposed or expose others. that's going to add to the testing dilemma we're in. >> april abbott, you're the

professor of microbolg. thank you for the work you're doing. keep ongoing. america needs you. >> thank you so much. you're watching cnn. still ahead, the uk prepares to launch its biggest vaccination program ever. how the rollout will work and who will receive the first doses.

cities and countries around the globe are reporting record coronavirus numbers. more than 67 million infections have now been confirmed worldwide. we're also seeing spikes in asian countries like south korea, where military and police officers will now help with contact tracing. and then in the uk, many doses of pfizer's covid vaccine are being stored in freezers as the country prepares for its biggest ever vaccination program this week. i want to bring live in london with more on that. sidney, fantastic news for many people going to be receiving

this first batch of the vaccine. >> yeah, absolutely robyn. there's a lot of sbietment here. this week marks a major turning point in the fight against the coronavirus here in the uk but also worldwide. many countries are looking at the rollout of this vaccine. we are now less than 24 hours removed from scotland, wails, england delivering the very first jabs of the pfizer biontech vaccine. that involves a major logistical challenge, robyn. as you know, as we've been talking about over the last few days because this is the vaccine that needs to be kept at those deep freeze temperatures, minus 70 degrees celsius. throughout the weekend over the last three, four days since the first doses arrived in country, there's been a lot of preparation going on. the doses have been dispatched. they've been checked first to make sure the quality and integrity of the vaccine hasn't been compromised because of those temperatures that need to be respected. then they've been dispatched.

here in england, 50 hospital vaccination centers are going to start the vaccination campaign. who are they going to vaccinate? originally the government was saying we want to do the residents of care homes first. it turns out that is difficult because getting that vaccine to the care homes bearing in mind that it can only be taken out four times within those temperatures, and it will only survive four or five days outside of those temperatures, that's very difficult. what they're doing now, the government is going to as a priority vaccinate 80 years old and above who are already in those hospital either being treated as outpatients or inpatients who are already in hospital. after that, they will be inviting the staff members of care homes as well as vulnerable health workers. that's this week. tens of thousands of people are going to start being vaccinated. that is the hope. and then the program is going to expand from there. as general practitioners, that's your local doctor, are going to be or already being mobilized or

being put on stand by to start vaccinating people in primary care networks. so, easier access as opposed to the hospitals starting next week and it will continue to expand from there, robyn. >> okay. thanks for that update. so, you're watching cnn. i'm robyn curnow. for our international viewers, world sport is next. enjoy that. for everyone else the news continues after this break. hool. dad... i just got a zerowater. but we've always used brita. it's two stage-filter... doesn't compare to zerowater's 5-stage. this meter shows how much stuff, or dissolved solids, gets left behind. our tap water is 220. brita? 110... seriously? but zerowater- let me guess. zero? yup, that's how i know it is the purest-tasting water. i need to find the receipt for that. oh yeah, you do.

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welcome back. voters in georgia are holding some pretty power political cards right now. in less than a month, run off election will decide whether republicans can keep control of the senate. two republican incumbents are facing off against democratic challengers and sunday was debate night as ryan nobles now tells us. ryan. >> reporter: it was a very important contest in atlanta on sunday. raphael warnock and lori loeffler in their first one-on-one debate of the election cycle. and it played out much of the

way we expected it to, raphael warnock attacking loeffler for convenient stock trades that took place shortly after she became a united states senator and at the begins of the coronavirus pandemic while loeffler consistently and often called warnock a radical liberal over and over again. but it was loeffler who found herself in a bit of an awkward position. that's when the moderators pressed her on whether or not she agreed with president trump's unfounded claims about how the election was conducted. she was asked whether she believed the election was rigged. >> senator, do you believe the election was rigged? >> it's very clear there are issues in this election. there are 250 investigations open including an investigation into my opponent's organization for voter fraud and we have to make sure georgia trusts this process because of what's at stake in this election. the promise chuck schumer made

was to fundamentally change america. i'm making sure we don't go down the road of socialism. >> there's no doubt loeffler is in a top spot here. desperately want her to embrace the president's claims, but there are independent voters and certainly democrats that might be turned off by all that. of course there are two run offs here in georgia, but there was only one debate. that's because in the other contest between david perdue and jon ossoff, the republican, david perdue chose not to even show up. the debate organizers, the atlanta press club and the georgia public broadcasting instead just put an empty lectern on the stage and ossoff took questions for 30 minutes. ryan nobles, cnn atlanta. patrick heely is a cnn political commentator. he's also the politics editor of the "new york times" and he joins me now from new york of course. patrick, lovely to see you. i want to get your take on these key moments from these very

important georgia debates. >> yeah. what stood out the most was senator kelly loeffler really dodging a series of questions about whether president trump had won georgia. we know, in fact, he has lost georgia in the presidential race. the republican governor and secretary of state have made that clear, but the republican senators from georgia, loeffler and david perdue, who's also a poor election in the run off in january, refuse to acknowledge this. and you saw in the debate kelly loeffler sort of continuing to side step this, as well as side stepping other questions about whether she believes that there should be a ban on stock trading in the senate and other points and instead really trying to unload a very negative attack on raphael warnock, her democratic opponent. what you're seeing here is basically two republican

senators who are tying themselves so closely to president trump, who lost the state already, sort of really believing that some kind of a come back for republicans is possible in georgia that's still a red enough state and if they stay loyal to trump that he may be able to help them get over the finish line. >> do they have a point there because many -- you know, georgia, yes, georgia turned blue. but many people split their vote, going for biden because they didn't like mr. trump or the tone of him but still very much voting red down ballot. this is still a deeply conservative state. i live here. it's still very much deeply rooted in conservative values. so, how likely is it that these seats can be flipped? >> i think that's right, robyn. these are still basically republica republicans' races to lose. they are still in many ways the front runners in this race,

senator purdue, senator loeffler that they have a lot of advantages with the republican base in georgia. basically last month you really did see a good number of independent votes, some republican voters especially in the atlanta suburbs rejecting trump. but that didn't mean they automatically became democrats. so, the attacks that you saw in the debate tonight, particularly that loeffler mounted against warnock, really does remind you that the republicans are playing out of a playbook that has won them races before in georgia, where they are framing democrats as outside of the main stream, as sort of too liberal, as people who will raise their taxes. the big question is will president trump ultimately help or potentially hurt the republican candidates in georgia? and that's certainly what the democrats are probably counting on. >> yeah, i want to talk about that. so, even with president trump,

he was here over the weekend threatening that this had been an illegal and fraudulent election. there had been a number of pretty virulent attack ads and those will continue. the comments coming out of these debates. turnout is so key. do you think all of this is a turn off for voters on both sides or not? >> that's really what the democrats are hoping, and it's unclear if that will actually happen. whether there are enough republicans who really believe that somehow the election was rigged in georgia against president trump and therefore they can't trust the electoral process. that is an argument that president trump is making, but i think what you're going to more likely see is a number of republican voters who are going to understand that control of the united states senate is at stake in georgia and that they very much want to have the senate remain under mitch

mcconnell's control and they're not willing ultimately to, you know, to certainly back democratic candidates. there were enough independents and some republicans who were willing to reject president trump but not these republicans don't want to hand over the senate to chuck schumer or other democrats. >> okay. thanks so much for that analysis. good to speak to you again. patrick heally, politics editor of the "new york times." >> thanks robyn. the coronavirus kills hundreds of thousands of americans, u.s. president-elect joe biden isn't wasting time. he's expected to announce his nominee for secretary of health and human services, a critical role in the administration's pandemic response. here's arlette saenz with the details on that, arlette. >> reporter: president-elect joe biden is rolling out members of his health team at the start of this week, and that is expected to include his choice to lead

the department of health and human services. sources tell cnn that the president-elect is expected to nominate california attorney general javier becerra to lead hhs. this will be a very important role as the biden administration starts planning out their response to the coronavirus pandemic. now, becerra has served as the attorney general of california and led the legal efforts to try to protect the affordable care act. he is also a latino and if confirmed would be the second latino appointed to biden's cabinet so far. the fifth person of color appointed to the cabinet. and that is welcomed news to people, groups like the congressional hispanic caucus, which has been lobbying for more latino representation within the highest ranks of the separation. biden is also expected to announce other members of his health team during this week. we have learned that jeffrey zients, one of the cochairs is going to be expected to be named

as the covid coordinator for the white house. and the president-elect is making it clear that tackling this pandemic is a top priority. and that includes rolling out the numbers of this team. arlette saenz, cnn wilmington, delaware. thank arlette for that. the bond wildfire continues to blaze through southern california, sorjing more than 7,000 acres so far. the blaze is 50% contained and 20 million residents are under red flag warnings. mandatory evacuations ongoing as the fire continues to spread. let's get to pedram javaheri. if you can tell us about this because the spread is so quick. >> the elements are in place to support rapid growth and that was the biggest concern coming into the weekend. great seeing you. when you're talking about this particular region of california and southern california and statewide we know what a historic run it has been for wild fire activity. in fact look at the five of the top six largest fires in state history and they've all occurred in the past couple of months,

namely september 2020. so, really speaks to what folks here have dealt with in recent months. but high pressure firmly in control across the great basin. any time you see this sort of set up, the clockwise flow around this allows the winds to come downstream across the mountainous region, across the valleys and canyons. i use the anal joif taking a bicycle pump and you warm up the tire and the pump because you're compressing air into the tire. that's what's happening on a broader scale as the air is compressing in the valleys into lower lying areas. winds begin to howl. we have a critical risk for fire weather not just on monday but potentially into tuesday as well. you know, robyn, over 20 million californians dealing with these red flag numbers. about 24 million, the latest numbers coming in. that's 2 out of every 3 people living in the state of california dealing with those

condition of windy weatherer and dry weather. and the airport fire, the bond fire precisely the case with growth across this region of california. quickly want to leave you with a new report coming out of ka person cuss report showing us the warmest temperatures ever observed for the month of november occurred in november 2020. globally speaking nearly 1 degree celsius which is about 2.5 to 3 degrees fahrenheit above long-term averages. notice large areas in the globe indicated in the orange, especially the regulator of our planet, the arctic region seeing the warmest trend there. and of course that's concerning because sea ice has been dropping rapidly across that region as well. so, reporting we're sharing with you. >> it's a real cause for concern. thanks so much for keeping us up to date on that. i'm robyn curnow. thanks so much for joining me and watching.

the news colleague after the short break with my colleague rosemary church.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world. i'm rosemary church. ahead on "cnn newsroom" with coronavirus cases and hospitalizations putting pressure on health care systems across the u.s., california places tens of millions under strict new restrictions to slow down the virus' spread. plus a cnn exclusi