welcome to cnn newsroom. we are following two major story this is hour. countries are halting or restricting travel to and from the uk as a new variant of the coronavirus is spreading quickly in london and southeast england. many flights are now suspended and with the british government tightening covid restrictions, people in the uk and beyond are left scrambling to reach loved ones with the christmas holiday just days away. meanwhile in the united states, it's the relief so many americans have been waiting on for months. after weeks of haggling and

bickering congress has finally reached a deal on a covid relief package of $900 billion. we'll look at the most significant parts 0 of that plan later this hour. we begin in the uk where the list of countries blocking british travelers is growing by the hour. canada just joined nearly two dozen european, south american countries in banning travelers from the uk. the united states is not on that list. saudi arabia has gone even further banning all international flights from all countries. as a new variant of the coronavirus spreads through the uk sunday was another day of record covid-19 cases there. with nearly 35,000 new infections and more than 300 deaths. crowds of people are fleeing london with chaotic scenes at train stations like this one after the government announced the highest level of restrictions in the city. and with the country being cut off from the continent british

prime minister johnson will chair a high level meeting to discuss international travel and flow of freight into the uk in the coming hours. cnn's nic robertson is joining us live from london with the latest. this variant was first detected in the uk back in september. why has it taken the british government so long to act? >> reporter: what the british government says is that it has excellent sequencing in the uk and keeping the finger on the pulse on the expected mutations of coronavirus. they say that their scientists have picked this up but the key fact for the government and what they say clearly is they with respect aware that it had this suspected and feared increased rate of infection, this ability to infect more people more quickly until very, very recently so when a week ago the

british prime minister said that he wouldn't be canceling christmas, that you could have three families together over christmas the country took this as a sign that the government was accurately understanding and dealing with its own concern about this new variant. however over the course of the past week the government said that it had gotten more information from its scientists, that it was able to see that variant is responsible for driving up the rate of infections in the southeast of the country and the capital and had a change of plans putting 16.4 people in england, a significant number, the southeastern corner of the country, including london, put them on the tooier 4 restrictio and saying they didn't have all the data and then giving specificity on the capacity to

increase the rate of infections then they decided to act and being heavily criticized for not acting fast enough, sooner, giving misleading information and leading to this sort of panic situation of people trying to flee london to get home around the country in time for christmas that plans that have been cemented perhaps only as recently as a week before based on what the government said a week before. >> i want to ask you about that because that lockdown, particularly in london, came into effect at midnight and seen the pictures of people cramming on to trains, going to airports. they're trying to get out of the city. surely this is a recipe for disaster in further spreading the variant around the country. >> reporter: the english chief medical officer asked this question at a press conference over the weekend, he was asked on saturday anyone -- that was the moment that this new tier

restrictions announced and what should somebody do if they're packing the bags the leave to get back to the country to see parents or other relatives. and his warning was absolutely very clear. stop packing. don't leave. the reality is that this government has responded slowly at almost every step of the way with coronavirus from the very early lockdowns to provision of ppe to testing. and they have lost the confidence of a large number of people in this country who witnessed government officials not following the government's own guidelines and led to a situation of people prepared to say if there's a new lockdown coming i'll try to continue with my plans. it has to be said. i could give you a handful of cases known to me personally of

people whose relatives said stay in london, have christmas at home or other people who said i'm not going to go and visit that elderly relative or that i cannot come and see that relative now in tier 4 and i'm not. so a lot of people, yes, are trying to escape and get out of the way of this. a lot of others and the government statistics seem to back it up at the moment are trying to follow what the government said but this is -- we should not underestimate the amount of anger, deep, deep anger, the frustrations burning through the year and look at the teaching sector who are becoming incredibly frustrated with the government over this. >> it is misstep after misstep in the handling of the pandemic. great to see you joining us from london. many thanks. the travel chaos caused by

the restrictions in the uk is far reaching. many in london flocked to the airports and train stations hoping to beat any travel bans before they kicked in. it's a nightmare as well for international 2r568ers, anyone wanting to head home to the uk for the holidays or those trying to leave britain for home countries and people left in limbo days before christmas. >> translator: i was really scared because i had a flight on tuesday but i don't know when they're going to cancel them in the end and bought the last seat on this flight to manchester right now. >> it is a shame it happened over christmas. such a shame that we can't go and see family, especially, over christmastime. if you're in an unfortunate situation like even living in london or it is unfortunate but -- >> translator: yesterday some relatives warned us the flights from london and the south were

being canceled and worried to affect the trip. >> it is not just an issue of people trying to get out of the uk but a question how to ensure that essential supplies can get in. cnn european affairs commentator dominic thomas joins us from los angeles. britain is effectively cut off from the world as more and more countries suspend travel. what will be the impact? >> at this stage, we are just seeing complete chaos. the irony of this is in the discussions around brexit so many of the scenarios looked like this where the drawbridge that had been lifted to the rest of the world and the narrative of this global britain that was somehow going to trade everywhere has now disappeared. the short-term impact, we know that president macron talked about an emergency meeting of eu ambassadors on monday to determine what reopenings may happen and advised french nationals wanting to return to

france over the holidays to get tested in case they reopen. clearly the response has been devastating to those wishing to sort of circulate out of the country and when it comes to goods and services there is a complete halt at the moment at airports and all ports leaving the uk. >> are there concerns to affect the delivery of the covid-19 vaccines to the uk? >> yeah. i think delivery in a number of ways. the inconsistent messaging from the government at a time when it's trying to deliver the vaccine to british nationals is an issue but they have already been talking about airlifts into the uk carrying the vaccine but of course the whole infrastructure is looking at a closed down right now, the cases of covid are out of control in the country. and as nic robertson pointed out the mass exodus in which the

levels are the highest are disconcerting as we start the process of making vaccine more available to people in the uk. i think that's the radical distinction between let's say mainland europe and the situation in the uk where yet again we see the government unable to respond to the situation especially since they knew earlier in the week what the circumstances were concerning the rising numbers and yet boris johnson failed to act early on by moving to the restrictions thus creating the mass exodus we have witnessed over the past day. >> interestingly the united states is yet to impose a travel ban despite pleas from the governor of new york cuomo saying it was on the way to jfk. when the united states last imposed a travel ban back in spring with the uk it was rather tense. do you think that trump is trying to avoid this or perhaps he just doesn't care? >> i think he doesn't care and i

think he would try to provide this. we saw him tweeting and criticizing johnson's actions to closing down businesses, much of this was retweeted by brexiteers and politicians in the uk and i think president trump will be on the wrong side of this particular decision coming to protecting the american people from areas like the uk where the covid numbers are out of control and the new strain is a huge source of concern. >> this is like a -- where does this leave talks? the brexit transition period is due to expire at the end of the year and they're still negotiating a trade deal. >> you're absolutely right and i think that once again it points to the negligence and the sort of incompetence of the johnson government but linked. the brexit situation and the covid situation are connected

because i think johnson is partially paralyzed in the negotiations by the far right elements of the party pushing up against this and if anything this provides a kind of distraction to the brexit talks by dealing with this health crisis but you could also read into it that the response from the european unions especially is sending a message to boris johnson we are not the same eu you were dealing with before and you should have a deal going so the circumstances you're looking at right now won't be those to define the relationship on the 1st of january 2021. >> many thanks for joining us. >> thank you. the variant has shown up in some other countries including denmark, the netherlands and australia. for some perspective on this, i'm joined by eric topel. great to have you with us.

viral mutations are not uncommon. however, so much is not known about this variant. what's the latest information that you have on this mutation? >> good to be with you. i think whenever there's a variant in the pathogen, a virus look this, we always conclude it's innocent until proven guilty. and at this point we know that the mutations or many of them in the length of the virus, there are implicated the biology and the spike protein, there's two that are very important that they could make it more transmissible. we don't see evidence to see it's making illness worse. so right now that's not been nailed down. it looks that way because one of those mutations is in south africa and also seen with a considerable increase in spread so it's very possible. we don't know the magnitude of

the increase in infectiousness or transmission of this new strain. >> doctor, the variant as we say has been detected in a handful of other countries but the alarm bells have gone off in the uk as to the highly infectious nature of the mutation. why the level of frenzy in the uk opposed to other places where it's also been detected? >> right. it's probably in other countries. they don't do as much sequencing. i think the uk has been out in front with genomics of the pathogen so here they have an edge. also, it has spread for sure. we just don't know if that's partly due to behavior or the essence of the virus' ability to get into cells. and there's still lots of tentative aspects to be sorted out. hopefully they will be quite soon. >> i guess it's also important

to note scientists don't know if it's a variant or a new straen and means a different version of the virus. would sort of problems would that pose and could that be resistant to the current vaccines? >> right. throughout the entire pandemic which is now a year plus the virus has evolved very slowly. there's only been one dominant mutation that occurred which causes a modesten crease in transmissibility so this would be the second type of a change of the virus which is potentially linked with more marked increase in transmission, transmissibility. the upshot of this isn't so much that it will pose an issue over the next year with respect to vaccine resistance but rather it may portend that the booster shots will be necessary over the years ahead showing us that this virus is not as slow in changing over time as we had hoped which

was actually one of the silver linings of this virus all along. >> well, dr. topol, always great to get the take on this pandemic, certainly, from the medical profession. wonderful of you to join us. many thanks for your time. >> sure. happy to do it. thank you. after many weeks of wrangling, u.s. lawmakers finally struck a deal on a massive coronavirus relief package. a bipartisan effort applauded by president-elect joe biden. congress is expected to vote on it in the coming hours and if passed provides $900 billion to unemployed americans, small businesses, health care and others. manu raju has the details. >> reporter: congressional leaders after months of division and stalemate finally reached a deal that could give relief to

americans struggling. $900 billion. reached after the four top leaders in congress spent days in tough negotiations ultimately cutting a deal and they really have only been discussing this for a matter of days because for months they were at loggerheads. they weren't talking even as the crisis ripped through the united states and at the moment we expect the proposal to pass possibly both chambers as soon as monday and then the president would have a decision to sign it into law. this plan includes more than $300 billion for small businesses. to apply for emergency loans, provides relief for farmers and others hit hard in this pandemic. also people who are unemployed and getting jobless benefits and seeing the jobless benefits expire and $300 for people starting december 27th and a

one-time direct payment for individuals up to $600 assuming making less than $75 thousand dollars a year and a family of four up to $2,400 because it's $600 each person in the family assuming they're under the income threshold detailed in the legislation and also is important for vaccine distribution. this is coming at a critical time. cities and states asking for more funds to ensure that the american public and the voters are inoculated and expect that to include billions more to help with that. now this of course came after both sides had to drop some key sticking points. key provisions they were pushing for. one, state and local aid. democrats wanted hundreds of billions of dollars to help states and cities. republicans pushed back viewing it as wasteful in a lot of ways. republicans asked for a big liability shield for businesses and others. the democrats view that as a way to protect corporations who

could be sued. that was put aside. democrats are talking about a big package when joe biden is president on january 20th. this fight will be delayed until then but it's a hard fought battle and a deal has been reached. we expect to get approved in a matter of days here, money into the pockets of americans and we'll see if it's enough. manu raju, cnn, capitol hill. at this hour, doses of the moderna vaccine making the way to states around the u.s. how soon we can expect to see shots in arms. but that doesn't mean the crisis is over. far from it. doctors and nurses in california tell us about the tragedies they see unfold before their very eyes. if your dry eye symptoms keep coming back,

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country. cnn's pete muntean has more from mem f memphis, tennessee. >> reporter: two truckfuls came here after leaving a vaccine manufacturing facility in mississippi. now the moderna vaccine is going out to 3,000 locations across the country rngs places like hospitals, pharmacies. the deliveries begin on monday morning. this rollout about four times as large as the initial pfizer rollout of last week. the moderna has a bit of an advantage over the pfizer vaccine in that it doesn't need to be stored at super cold temperatures. and that opens this up to many more rural communities without deep freezers. fedex is handling the packages and it says that difference does not change how it will handle this. >> it doesn't matter whether you have to be ultra cold or whether you're minus 90 or 20. our job is to get the package

from point a to point b as expeditiously and as safely as we possibly can and deliver it to those to administer it. >> reporter: 6 million moderna doses are going out right now and 20 million people could be vaccinated by the end of this month. you have to remember this is a remarkable achievement. we are seeing the rollout of two coronavirus vaccines in roughly the span of a week. pete muntean, cnn, memphis, tennessee. u.s. lawmakers are set to vote on a massive coronavirus relief bill in the coming hours while some say it's still not enough. plus the trump administration is blasted for its response to the suspected russian cyber attack. ahead a security annualyst and former hacker weighs in. i respe. but that cough looks pretty bad... try this new robitussin honey severe. the real honey you love... plus, the powerful cough relief you need.

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this is the first step and that again more needs to be done. we are so excited that that will be happening under the biden/harris administration about 700 hours from now. that's notary public wiancyr thoughts on the relief package congress agreed upon. we don't know everything that's in it yet but it is expected to add direct payments for every adult and child and boost $300 unemployment payments every week and extend a moratorium on evictions and provide billions

in funding of vaccine distribution, health care workers. the house and senate are expected to vote on it monday and the white house says president trump will sign it when it reaches his desk. for more on this let's turn to a law professor at loyola law school in los angeles. it came down to the wire but needed stimulus aid has been approved. tell us the significance of this. >> i think it's hugely significant in the sense that there is some help on the way but what's also significant is how long it took. what's also significant is how we look in comparison to the rest of the world. a number of people posting on social media the comparison charts, $600 in a major metropolitan area in at least southern california where i am, that's maybe a third of one month of rent.

a lot of other for instance western european countries allowing people to subsist and not allowing for the lines outside of food pantries so it is a step and comparative behind the rest of the world in terms of providing relief. >> it's still one of the largest relief packages in modern history and only going to go so far in helping with the economic devastation of this pandemic. >> yeah. absolutely. so it's half of what the federal government provided in march but remember that for a lot of people or to the viewer that is things are much worse. they have not been getting paychecks for maybe ten months, unemployment insurance has run out, that the states are not back filling the way they used to, that the long-term outlook is now looking more terrifying and bleaker so i don't mean to

say that the federal government didn't act. they certainly did but they waited until almost the last moment and statistics indicate 1 in 5 or 1 in 6 families in america are struggling with food instability and that's a polite of way saying that somebody in the houts is hungry. >> nancy pelosi said that the relief bill is an important initial step and heard from prekd refer to it as a down payment. we know it's not enough to meet the nation's needs but tell us about the challenges facing the incoming biden administration as he takes charge of the nation's economic recovery. >> huge challenges. there's a reason that it took so long because it's not easy to get this sort of massive relief through, particularly when we face horrible deficits, we're spending money that we need to spend but it's not necessarily sitting there in a bank account. in terms of the kind of

political hurdles here, a lot comes down to georgia. there's a senate runoff race january 5th and if both democrats who are up for election win the senate will be divided 50/50 and the tiebreaker will be then vice president kamala harris. if either one of the democrats loses the senate will remain controlled by republicans and that will make whatever kind of relief joe biden wants to help fashion even harder for him. >> jessica, i would ask you about the travel ban imposed by most countries in the uk. president trump is yet to ban those flights. is this yet another example of him going awol on leadership? >> yes. i'm really torn because on the one hand i think the less he does in a way the safer we are because the actions he's taken in many ways have been an

existential crisis for america. on the other hand this isn't the moment when anyone can abdicate leadership or responsibility so if he wanted to play golf and we weren't in a pandemic, a terrible financial precipice okay but somebody needs to act at this point and it is hard to tell a nation having a surge on top of a surge with a part of this surge that's disp disproportionately seeing people die every day just hold on because somebody else will take over in a month. >> jessica, great to see you. many thanks. next here, not even covid can keep santa claus from doing his job. how the helpers are using a bit of technology to keep spreading the christmas cheer.

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we already know this christmas will look and feel much different than most years but that doesn't mean it's all doom and gloom. some of santa helpers in the uk are using technology to bring christmas cheer to anyone anywhere. anna stewart shows us how. ♪ >> i do have my merry chris-mask. i can mask up and then make everybody else feel safe, as well. >> reporter: he is isolating in the north pole for 11 months and now santa is ready to get back to business with help from his friends. this year many of santa's grottos are closed due to covid-19. >> we're through. >> reporter: which means santa helpers who kindly step in having to learn some new skills. >> welcome to a slightly different but wonderful santa school. >> reporter: santa hq is an app

allowing for zoom chats with santa. >> very good, indeed. what we need to do is scale it down slightly. >> reporter: it is run by the ministry of fun, one of the biggest santa recruitment firms in the uk who see plenty of benefits. >> see santa in the home, longer with him because normally there's a queue and lots of people that want to see the great man and it's much more personal. >> reporter: a santa helper on the project is wikipedia founder jimmy whales. >> children shouldn't visit santa this year but do it on zoom and came across the guys here at the ministry of fun and helping them think about digital strategy, going international. >> reporter: of course there may be concerns for santa on the big night itself. an elderly man carrying a little extra mince pie wagtd isn't

advised to enter millions of homes. >> obviously i'm always wearing gloves no matter what happens and i don't touch any surfaces which is a really good thing and the gloves and sanitized at all. >> >> reporter: it's a tough year for people all over the world. >> certainly has. >> reporter: what is your message to everyone? >> now more than ever before show that christmas love and warmth is there for everyone. it is slightly different but by using video, a technology, see the family no matter where they are in the world. ♪ >> reporter: and you can see santa, too. now he's zoom ready. anna stewart, cnn, reporting from the london office in the uk of santa. >> they certainly are going to have their work cut out for them. thank you for watching.

for our international viewers, world sport is next. for everyone else, the news continues after a short break. someday i'm going to marry you. yes someday i'm going to marry you. someday we'll buy that little place on ellsworth. some days, will be rougher than others. ♪ someday, 50 years will have gone by, and i'll ask you to marry me, all over again. someday. ♪ get zero down special financing with the kay jewelers credit card.

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welcome back. americans hit hard by the pandemic will soon receive two forms of relief. the first is a long awaited stimulus package for families and businesses in need. congress struck a last-minute deal on the $900 billion pressure. president trump signed a one-day government funding bill giving lawmakers time to finalize the bill. a vote could come monday. some americans are expected to receive the first shots of moderna's covid vaccine. thousands of doses were shipped to medical centers over the weekend after it became the second to receive emergency use

authorization. senate republican leader mcconnell called it the break through that the country needed. the final details are not known but the bill is expected to include direct payments to americans of up to $600 per adult and child. also boost unemployment benefits by $300 a week until mid march, offer billions of dollars in small business loans, extends a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, and provide funding for vaccine distribution, testing, contact tracing and health care workers. we are told president trump will sign this bill if passed but democratic leaders say it's merely a start. >> tonight is a good night but it is not the end of the story. it is not the end of the job. anyone who thinks this bill is enough does not know what's going on in america. >> so far the u.s. as administered more than 556,000

doses of the pfizer biontech vaccine according to cdc saying more than 2.8 million doses d s distributed across the country and it could not come soon enough. cases are still rising exponentially across the united states. so far johns hopkins recorded 184,000 new cases sunday. and we're expecting to see more surges as the holiday season continues. the governor of tennessee says that cannot happen. he's begging people in the state to stay home, wear a mask and work from home if possible saying the state simply cannot sustain a surge of infections over christmas and new years. things are not better in california. tens of thousands of people infected each day and hospitals under massive strain. the covid tracking project counts more than 17,000

coronavirus patients in california hospitals right now and 3 rs 700 in intensive care y units. paul vercammen reports. >> reporter: the covid-19 disaster continuing in california, 46,000 new cases. 161 deaths, lower. but the hospitalizations are just terrible. about 17,000 hospitalized and 3.6,000 hospitalized in the intensive new unites and several dozen here. they have morphed the areas and when you talk to the nurses that face this daily they're astounded by what happened to the patients. a 39-year-old nurse said it is getting to him. >> people your age that have no comorbidities, they're in renal

failure, heart failure, having blood clotting issues, unable to breathe, intubated and, you know, you don't know what will happen or they usually mortality is that they'll pass away. what's so devastating about this virus. >> reporter: another just sad story, a father comes in. then his son. next to each other and then wind up dying of covid-19 just one of the many stories in california as the pandemic rages on. i'm paul vercammen reporting. now back to you. >> u.s. president-elect joe biden plans to get vaccinated monday according to his transition spokesman. vice president-elect kamala harris is in line, too, but they won't get the shots at the same time. jessica dean explains why. >> reporter: vice president-elect kamala harris is

scheduled to get her vaccine as well as her husband the following week and staggers when they get the vaccines. the transition said it is on the advice of experts and wouldn't elaborate but it could be because if either have side effects, any of the anticipated side effects from this vaccine they would ptd what we know the president-elect and his wife will get their first round of the pfizer vaccine here in delaware. again, he wants to show this is a safe vaccine. he wants to encourage americans to get the vaccine. and part of what his promise has been to americans as well. he wants 100 million vaccines in his first 100 days. >> jessica dean reporting. current vice president pence on friday getting his vaccine publicly. the assistant u.s. health secretary urging president trump to get vaccinated to help build

public confidence. the incoming white house chief of staff blasting the trump administration for its response to the cyber attack on u.s. agencies. the white house sent mixed messages about who is responsible and claims the next president would do a better job at handling the coronavirus. after secretary of state initially blamed russia for the hack. and called it a very significant effort. the next day his message was contradicted by trump. who down played the severity of the issue. and suggested china may have been responsible. without proof. >> security consultant and ceo. he joins us now live from brisbane. in australia. thanks so much for joining us. this had been described by experts a greatest cyber attack in u.s. history. explain the scale and sophistication. >> it's substantial. a lot of companies out there

rely on using software from vendors. in this particular case, these companies that. >> reporter: >> that were compromised. they modified an update to the product. updated transparencily and automatically. getting the signing key. what happens is the company crypt graph the update. known to be secure. the threat actors in this case stole the sign in key, signed this update, and got pushed out to all the businesses that ran the product. and it's very substantial in scale. you have the white house, the department of treasury. national security agency. just tons of united states government agencies. you have another country government agency as well. and in the private sector.

the sophistication is extremely sophisticated attack. back in the 1980s when i was on other side hacking i compromised a company. they don't exist today. i had the access to push out new versions of the software with back door. i thought about it about doing it, it would have given access to every operating system in the world. i decided against it. the risk was way too high. for the threat actors in this case that's exactly what they wanted. to push out mall ware on the to the net works. and don't stop there. we call it lateral movement. they will move to different systems within the compromised net work. install other back doors chl steal information and gain access to e-mail. compromise everything. >> you didn't want to get caught and go to jail.

>> no. >> the president of microsoft described this saz a moment of reckoning. would you agree? >> absolutely. it's really in my mind nothing terribly new. this type of attack is where a bad actor compromises a company where and update process on the software is updated. the malicious software is installed. that's been around. this is the first time we have actually seen it done. you have to think about it as if you are a company owner and you have the various products that you purchase from the vendors. you have to think about you can't gain access to the source code to an lice the product. -- analyze the product. you don't get an opportunity to see what the updates are in the plain language. to really understand it.

what that does is we have to trust it. do we trust this process and vendor? the bad actors know this. they look for the vendors that we trust and the u.s. government. and the private sector. that compromise those vendors, and at the end of the day they leverage the access to compromise us. >> is there any doubt in your mind that russia foreign intelligence agency was behind this attack? >> i don't have enough information. attribution is difficult. nation states in many cases that i have heard about will simulate another nation states trade craft. imagine china for example got hold of some mall ware that the russian nation state uses in their attacks. they'll actually doctor up their back doors to include snip pets of that. it looks like it's russia. or it could look like another country.

i don't have that information. i'm depending on our intelligence agencies and the united states that have access to the sources and methods. they might have compromised certain assets in russia. and they get the ground truth. we're told it's russia. trump is saying china. i don't know. and i hope eventually the truth comes out to who did this attack. >> we understand that 18,000 organizes have malicious code in their net work. 50 of them suffered major breeches. kevin, great to get your analysis on all of this. thanks so much. thank you so much for watching. i'll be back with another hour of k news room. after this short break.

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