viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world. you are watching "cnn newsroom and i'm rosemary church. a covid-19 variant spreading fast in parts of england. and in the u.s., the moderna vaccine is shipping out. it is the second vaccine riding to the rescue after being authorized for emergency use. plus, democrats and republicans finally strike a deal on coronavirus relief, which means $900 billion takes one big step closer to helping shore up the u.s. economy. good to have you with us, and we begin with several fast moving twodevelopments in the ft against covid-19, a growing number of countries are banning travel with the united kingdom, based on the revelation of a new covid strain. in the past few hours, the czech republic and canada have closed their doors to the united kingdo his wife are set to receive their covid-19 vaccines on live television. well, cnn is covering all the new d and why -- they still didn't have adequate data. even towards the end of the week, it was only towards the weekend they got the data that suggested to them, and they're still being analyzed that this variant could potentially increase the rate of infections to 70%. they took some of the fundamental decisions that they have taken, which then triggered this wave of as you say

isolations and the most concerning would be the closing of transport and port facilities at dover to france for the next 48 hours, and i think what we can expect to hear from the cobra meeting, publicly announced afterwards, would be the expectations, would be something along the lines that we have heard from the transport secretary this morning saying look, only 20% of the goods in and out of the country come through the ports around dover. that much of the goods going in and out of the country come in unaccompanied containers, and it's only accompanied containers and trucks and vehicles going through the european continent being affected. i think we're going to start to hear them roll out why the country shouldn't panic about this current situation. to try to head off any concerns of the public they might feel they would need to go out and buy additional food supplies. a serious job for the government

to analyze precisely what would happen if france extends beyond this 48 hour period and into the coming days, and precisely what goods are being affected in the country. we have heard overnight from scottish fishery companies that have truckloads of goods on the way to the continent now concerned they among as many as 6,000 other truck drivers will be stuck on the highways in kent on the way to dover, unable to get their goods to market in france. these will be perishable goods at a huge cost to the country. the government will be looking at all of this. >> yeah, and of course at this point, it's 48 hours that we're talking about. there seems to be more panic at the moment, and that's what they're going to have to need to deal with at this juncture. so let's go to salma now at london's heat row airport where travel plans have been thrown into disarray for so many people. it was so sudden, what are people saying to you about this? >> you just heard of course from

my colleague that the trains have stopped, the boats have stopped. we have heard the motorways will be shut down. you heard my colleague explaining it's one of the key tra transports to dover, trying to keep that clear to trucks aren't sitting here at heathrow airport. will the planes keep going? this is supposed to be one of the busiest airports in the world, and we're barely hearing flights leaving. people had the heads up beforehand but people are trying to find loop hopes. people are lining up at the counters to book flights to the united states to use the u.s. essentially as a corridor to get back into europe. that's how desperate people are to get out of here, but the key thing here to remember is that this is in defiance of the restrictions that have been put

in place by prime minister boris johnson. the rules are clear, do not leave tier four areas. many londoners feel frustrated that the decisions last minute by government they believe should have put the restrictions into place sooner. the question is will people heed the orders, cancel their travel plans, turn back around or is this variant going around the world, seen and spotted in places like france as we've heard and italy as well reporting this has this variant gone global. that's the question. >> that appears to be the case, so there's certainly a few instances. salma abdelaziz joining us there, and of course earlier talking to nic robertson. many thanks to both of you. european stocks are sharply lower, amid the growing travel ban and fears over a new variant on covid-19. markets in london and paris as well as the german decks are all down and considerable there down

2.39% in france, and then the futures in the united states, you can see the dow futures down 3.7%. the s&p 500 futures down more than 1/2% there. the u.s. isn't calling for a uk travel ban. cnn has learned u.s. army scientists are examining the new coronavirus variant to see if it might be resistant to vaccines. that's a critical question of course, and this comes as the u.s. now has two covid-19 vaccines authorized for use. you will recall, of course, health care workers and those in long-term care facilities were first on the list when the pfizer biontech vaccine rolled out, and cnn's natasha chen has the latest on who's next in line. >> reporter: a cdc advisory committee voted sunday 13-1 on the next two phases of people who should be prioritized for the covid-19 vaccine. already we've seen in the very first phase, health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities start to be vaccinated.

the next group that's been voted on include people 75 and up as well as front line essential work workers, first responders, grocery store workers, and teachers. the phase after that are 65 and up, younger people with high risk medical conditions and other essential work. the last phase involved a bit more debate, especially what is considered a high risk condition. right now thattist will inclu l diabetes, cancer. these are issues with specific evidence of being associated with covid-19. it's not an exhaustive list, and that will be updated on the cdc web site. we are seeing more than half a million people vaccinated now with the pfizer vaccine, the moderna vaccine is now being shipped out as we speak with the first shots expected to happen on monday. na th natasha chen. joining me is executive

associate dean at emery school of medicine and and serves as a special adviser for infectious diseases for delta air lines. thank you for being with us and for all that you do. >> delighted to be with you. >> i want to make the point. you received the pfizer vaccine a shot in the arm, one of 500,000 plus americans to get it. how are you feeling and what's your message to those fearing the side effects after two people had allergic reactions? >> you know, i did find, took it 24 hours, and i'm feeling fine, no symptoms and no side effects, a little bit of pain in my arm. that's about it. we are going to see allergic reactions. they're going to be rare. not very common, and none of them has been very serious. it's okay. go ahead, when you get your chance, take the vaccine, that's the best thing i can tell you. >> really nothing to be frightened about, and of course millions of doses of the second vaccine to receive authorization, moderna, those

shipments are going across the united states. how much smoother do you expect this rollout to be, and when can we expect everyone in the country who wants to get a vaccine to get it. >> the rollout will continue to happen but the reality is i don't think before j you wiuly, know, or august we'll have people immunized. most people will see the vaccine getting to them sometime in april. >> i want to talk about what's happening in the united kingdom where the pfizer vaccine was first rolled out. we're now hearing about the new variant of the coronavirus. it's proving to be more infectious. we don't know if that is more or less lethal at this stage, but how concerned are you about this, and will the vaccine still work on this mutated virus. >> i'm not too concerned. viruses mutate all the time. coronaviruses has had already multiple mutations. this appears to be the predominant mutation in the uk.

it's an n 501 y mutation in the spike protein. it makes the virus more capable of attaching to cells so the receptor, and respiratory cells, it's easier to attach and that's why maybe the predominant one is being more transmissible. we don't think it's more lethal and should not affect the vaccines. >> that must put a lot of the nerves at rest. i know you're saying all viruses mutate. people shouldn't worry about this, but withe still need to address this so people can have the concerns looked at. i want to ask you this, some european countries have banned flights coming from the united kingdom as a result of the new variant of the virus. is this what needs to be done, and should the u.s. ban the flights to prevent the movement

of the virus. >> there's very few flights from the u.s. the virus was all over the place. >> you don't see that as a necessary thing to necessarily stop the virus? >> let's focus on what's important, wear masks, watch your distance. get the vaccine out. >> dr. carlos del rio, thank you so much for talking with us. delighted to be with you. congress has finally reached a $900 billion stimulus deal to help unemployed americans, small businesses and so many more impacted by this pandemic. president-elect joe biden praised the deal, and said in part, i am heartened to see members of congress reach across the aisle and work together. this is a model for the challenging work ahead for our

nati nation. cnn's manu raju has more on how the deal was reached and what it includes. >> reporter: congressional leaders finally reached a deal that could give relief to americans struggling in the middle of this pandemic. $900 billion, a package, one of the biggest in american history, reached after the four top leaders in congress spent days in tough negotiations ultimately cutting a deal, and they have only been discussing for a matter of days. for months, they were at logger heads, weren't talking for a period of time, even as the crisis continued to rip through the united states. never the less, the moment we expect this proposal to pass, possibly both chambers as soon as monday and then the president would have a decision to make whether to sign the proposal into law. this plan includes more than $300 billion for small businesses to apply for emergency loans that provides relief for farmers, and others who have been hit hard during this pandemic.

also people who are unemployed and getting jobless benefits and seeing those jobless benefits expire. it would extend the jobless benefits and include $300 a week for people starting december 27th. there would also be a one-time direct payment for individuals of 60$600, and a family of four could get up to $2,400 because $600 given for each person in the family, considering they're under the income threshold detailed in the legislation. this is important for vaccine distribution. states and cities have been asking for more funds to help ensure the american public and the voters in their state, constituents in their state are inoculated. we expect that to include billions more to help with that. now, this of course came after both sides had to drop key sticking points, key provisions they were pushing for that emerged as sticking points.

democrats have wanted hundreds of billions of dollars to help states and cities. they dropped that because republicans pushed back. they viewed it as wasteful spending. republicans asked for a liability shield for businesses and others that opened during the pandemic. democrats view that as a way to protect corporations who could be sued. that was put aside. those will be punted to the new year, and already democrats are talking about having to do with a big package when joe biden becomes president on january 20th. so that fight, this fight, will be delayed until then. this was a hard fought battle, ultimately a deal has been reached. we expected to go get approved in a matter of days here, get into money getting in the pockets of americans. we'll see if it's enough. joining me now is cnn economics catherine rampell. >> now, of course it it needs to

be voted on in the house and senate, and president trump needs to sign off on it. how likely is it that he will do that, and how long is this process going to take? >> right now, the bill is being written. as we speak, a last minute agreement on the broad contours of the bill. the language hasn't been produced yet, and of course the bill over the covid relief, rather, which is separate, initially, from that stopgap funding bill to keep the government open, that will probably get a vote in the house tomorrow, and then sometime after that in the senate is what i have heard, but all of this is up in the air. it's a very fluid situation. whether or not the white house is on board also is an open question but it seems like they have participated over the weekend in some of these discussions, so i think it would be unlikely for president trump to throw a bomb in them at the

last minute, but he loves doing that, so it's hard to say. >> unpredictable. and lawmakers have released a summary of the coronavirus aid package. what are the main elements of the stimulus people, and how soon might they get their stimulus checks, that's for most people, what they're waiting for. >> the main elements of the bill are an extension and sort of a revival of some of the unemployment insurance expansion programs, some of which have been ongoing, and were set to expire right after christmas, one of which expired this last summer, topping off the value of the benefit checks and in terms of stimulus checks, i would expect that a second round of checks would come out more quickly. i don't know exactly what the time line would be. it took a few months for the last of the checks to get out in the first round. probably it would be more expedited this time around. >> we'll see what happens, certainly people are not going to get relief. was there just too much politics

involved on both sides while americans suffered lining up for food, and being evicted from their homes, and of course all of this will still happen until this gets agreed upon and signed on. >> to be fair, democrats actually passed another round of p fiscal relief, months ago. they were much bigger pills, one that was about $2 trillion. this is more likely to be around $900 billion. it was a much more generous package. it was a nonstarter in the republican held senate. you can argue whether it was a messaging bill or something to help american families. there are arguments of both sides of the debate there. republicans in the meantime have been holding up further progress in the stimulus negotiations. for example, just over the past several days, there was this somewhat unrelated debate that

kind of got shoved into the negotiations about whether the fed should continue to have the same emergency lending powers that it had had for decades, in fact, although they were expanded in the sense through the c.a.r.e.s act that passed earlier this year. this is an issue that's a thorny issue, but not entirely related to the fact that something like 12 million people were about to lose their unemployment benefits this week. it became a last minute roadblock. similarly there was this negotiation, as i understand it just over the weekend related to business meals. again, you can argue that, you know, this is a priority for republicans but it's not addressing the most immediate time bomb that was about to go off which is the lapse of these other sorts of benefits around christmas. >> we shall see if all of this is enough to keep a lot of people afloat who are hurting right now. catherine rampell, thank you so much. >> thank you. as the coronavirus rages in california, doctors and nurses

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the covid crisis in the u.s. is still dire. there were more than 1,500 deaths and nearly 190,000 new cases reported on sunday. that is according to johns hopkins university. in california, the picture is stark. tens of thousands of people are getting infected each day, and hospitals are under massive strain. the heartbreak is unending, and the numbers are terrifying. our paul vercammen has more. >> reporter: the covid-19 disaster continuing in california. 46,000 new cases. 161 new deaths. that's lower, but the hospitalizations are just terrible. about 17,000 hospitalized, and 3,600 hospitalized in the intensive care units, including here, at harvard medical center, they have morphed an operating

room, er area, expanded into the icu units. when you talk to nurses, they are astounded by what's happening to these patients. one of them, a 39-year-old nurse said it's just getting to him. >> people your age who have no comorbidities, no health issues, are in renal failure, heart failure, having blood clotting issues, unable to breathe, intubated and, you know, you don't know what's going to happen or the usual mortality is they'll pass away. what's so devastating about this virus. >> reporter: and another just sad story. a father comes in, then his son, they're next to each other at one point, they both wind up dying of covid-19 just one of the many stories being unfurled in california as the pandemic rages on. i'm paul vercammen, reporting from harvard ucla medical

center. now back to you. >> a tragic situation there. well, a fiery meeting in the oval office sparks talk of the u.s. president invoking martial law to overturn the election. more on this, and his team's other efforts to keep the white house when we return. did you know diarrhea is often caused by bad bacteria in food? try pepto diarrhea. pepto® diarrhea is proven effective to treat symptoms, and it also targets the cause of diarrhea. the 3 times concentrated liquid formula coats and kills bacteria to relieve diarrhea. while the leading competitor does nothing to kill the bacteria, pepto® diarrhea gets to the source, killing the bad bacteria. so, try pepto® diarrhea, and remember to have it on hand every time you travel. also try pepto®-bismol liquicaps for on-the-go relief. - [child] what is a wish? (submarine rings) - [man] captain, we're ready to dive.

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after many weeks of wrangling u.s. lawmakers have finally struck a deal on a massive coronavirus relief package, a bipartisan effort applauded by u.s. president-elect joe biden. congress is expected to vote on it later today, and if passed, the bill would provide

$900 billion in aid to many, including unemployed americans and small businesses. cnn's wolf blitzer spoke to house democrat adam schiff about the deal. >> how soon will people who are suffering right now having trouble putting food on the table for their kids, paying their rent, how soon will these folks start feeling the effects of this emergency relief package? >> well, i hope as soon as possible, and it may depend on what provision of the bill that they're replying upon. if they're a small business, they'll have to go through the process of applying for those ppp funds, but the extensions in unemployment assistance i hope will be implemented asap. again, it may depend in part on how fast the states can turn things around but i'm glad that there is help on the way. >> the white house says president trump will sign the relief bill once it reaches his

desk. cnn's allay kn-- eleni joins us. we should get an idea how long it takes. >> the pressure is on in washington right now, and we were meant to have a government shut down on friday. that was averted, and time has been bought and president trump has extended that by 24 hours. you have to see voting through the house, and then through the senate and final signature by president donald trump. what we understand is the bill is being written, the wording matters. it is still a complicated process. of course they're hoping to do it by the end of monday. now, the obstacles and the issues that have been holding up the negotiations for months now basically remain the same. business liability protections has been excluded. we know republicans wanted that in the package, and of course a big one for the likes of the

democra democrats has been funding for states and local governments. those items have been excluded. what's in the bill are the priority items, so the enhanced unemployment benefits of $300 per week. now, that's been extended. that basically means that around 12 million americans that were going to fall out of that protection the day after christmas now have a longer buffer. the $600 check, the stimulus check that will be going to adults and children is now back in play. but very much watered down from the initial number of $1,200 per person spoken about two months ago. we're talking about a $900 billion partisan package. initially the number was closer to $2 trillion. this is why the democrats are saying it's a good starting point. it is the floor and not the ceiling when it comes to relief aid going forward. what's also important to note is

the republicans had come up with another conversation over the past few days prior to the very big deadline on friday wanting to try and limit federal reserve loan, emergency loans into next year. that would have stifled the biden administration, and that was definitely one of the big sticki sticking points, but going forward, now it's to ensure this gets passed and signed, and then there's a lot of work at play, rosemary, and hopefully a battle for the vulnerable, the millions of vulnerable americans that are facing more lock downs, a surge in coronavirus cases, definitely an uncertain future here. >> but at least it's started and let's hope the process moves along quickly. eleni giokos, many thanks, appreciate it. a shock new tactic to extend u.s. president donald trump's time in the white house has washington on edge. at a meeting in the oval office sources say there was talk of invoking martial law in some states to overturn election

results. president trump has denied these claims. cnn's jeremy diamond has more. >> reporter: well, with one month until inauguration day, president trump is continuing to contest the results of the 2020 election, and privately grasping for ways to overturn the results of the election, or at a minimum to undermine joe biden's upcoming presidency. we're told president trump late friday night had a meeting with sidney powell, the controversial attorney who has pushed the debunked and crazed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election as well as michael flynn who is the president's former national security adviser and who pleaded guilty to two counts of lying to federal investigators. we're told that the president in this meeting was discussing the possibility of naming powell as a special counsel to investigate allegations of election fraud in the 2020 election. that's despite the fact that powell who was previously on the president's legal team, he was removed from that team after she continued to push these conspiracy theories that were too much for the other members

of the team, including suggesting that the cia, the late venezuelan leader, hugo chavez were involved with rigging the election. more concerningly we heard the president was discussing the possibility raised earlier last week by michael flynn of imposing martial law to rerun the democratic elections. that thought provoked quite a bit of criticism from republicans and democrats. >> well, it's not going to happen. that's going nowhere, and i understand the president is casting about trying to find some way to have a different result than the one that was delivered by the american people, but it's really sad in a lot of respects and embarrassing because the president could be writing the last chapter of this administration with a victory lap with regards to the vaccine. >> it's irresponsible and it's dangerous but at the end of the day, this is a country of laws. the american people have spoken.

the election took place. >> there's no indication that the martial law idea is being seriously considered. the military has made clear they will not be involved in any effort to overturn the election or determine who the president might be. nonetheless, the fact that it was discussed in the oval office. some of the more outlandish ideas face significant pushback from the white house chief of staff, mark meadows, and pat cipollone, so much so that sources describe the meeting as ugly, and saying it devolved into a shouting match at times. we know the president's campaign, his attorney rudy giuliani, they're continuing to pursue legal measures. rudy giuliani announcing in a statement on sunday that he is filing a petition with the supreme court asking them to hear a case to overturn three rulings by the pennsylvania state supreme court. that effort is expected to be one of another long shot efforts that have gone nowhere.

in fact, of course, the electoral college has certified the results of the 2020 election, and giuliani's lawsuit here appears to be privilefrivo according to legal experts. jeremy die monday. let's talk now with cnn political analyst, sabrina. >> what did you make of the value office meeting where the president considered declaring martial law to force new elections in battleground states and made lawyer and conspiracy theorist, sidney powell, special counsel to investigate baseless claims. where is this going? >> to be honest, most likely nowhere. this is part of the president's last ditch efforts that has been certified in all 50 states and

the district of columbia. this is a discussion that often led to shouting matches inside the white house with the president's own aides pushing back intensely against the idea that he could declare martial law, and the people that pushed back include white house chief of staff mark meadows. the trump campaign has lost almost every one of its cases in court, trying to claim without evidence that there was some kind of voter fraud, and quite clearly, it is the case that joe biden will be inaugurated on january 20th. there's nothing that president trump can do about it. anything at this stage is just that desperation on his part to try and change what's already written on the wall. >> we are learning that the trump campaign is once again petitioning the u.s. supreme court over the pennsylvania election results. what might the outcome of that effort be? >> it's highly unlikely once again that there's going to be

any change in the outcome of the election or any real success on the part of the trump campaign. the supreme court has rejected one effort by the trump campaign, and republican allies to try and change the results of the election. but again, this is an election that has been certified and the american people have spoken. it's just become abundantly clear that even the courts have no appetite to hear an appeal on the part of a president who has been voted out of office and at the end of the day, though trump has appointed three justices, you have seen an acceptance that joe biden is the next president of the united states, en ren. senate majority mitch mcconnell congratulated just days ago joe biden on his election victory. it's quite clear that everyone else has moved on. the trump campaign at this point, and the president and his

ally, a lot of these efforts might be geared toward fundraising off the election, for whatever it is the president chooses to do next. i don't think there's any real sense that there could be anything that will change the course of the election and its outcome. >> perhaps we shall. sabrina siddiqui, many thanks for joining us. appreciate it. >> thank you so much. acoming up on cnn newsroom, u.s. president donald trump down playing a cyber attack linked to russia. a live report, next. automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable will it help me keep up with mom? you got this so you can really promise better sleep? not promise. prove. don't miss our weekend special. save 50% on the sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus, 0% interest for 48 months on all smart beds. ends monday. to learn more, go to sleepnumber.com.

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u.s. senate republican mitt romney is speaking out on a suspected russian cyber attack being down played by president donald trump. >> well, the president has a blind spot when it comes to russia, and so you can expect that that's the response that he would have. what it underscores is russia

acts with impunity with regard to the cyber attacks. they don't think we have the capacity to respond in like measure. they recommend that our defense is inadequate, and they come to recognize what will come from the white house will not be the kind of rhetoric which will be jarring. >> mr. trump has tweeted that the attack is undercontr contro blamed the media for making it bigger. he went against his own secretary of state saying the hack may have come from china. cnn's frederik pleitgen joins us live from moscow. good to see you. even at the end of his presidency, donald trump refuses to hold russia accountable, this time for a massive attack. what is being said in moscow, if anything? >> reporter: it's been quite interesting. all we've gotten was a denial from the russian embassy in washington, d.c., but so far the kremlin has been mute or silent

on the issue. a couple of minutes ago, we got the first comment from the kremlin. we asked on a conference call with journalists what he thought of the discussions between president trump and his secretary of state as to who might be behind this hacking attack. mike pompeo saying he believes it's almost certainly the russians. president trump as you say, saying it might be china, and forgive me more reading this. we just literally got this a couple of minutes ago. the spokesperson of the kremlin said this discussion definitely has nothing to do with us because russia has nothing to do with such attacks and this attack in particular. we say that officially and decisively, any accusation against russia in this regards are baseless and are probably the continuation of blind russophobia being engaged in. vehement denial from the kremlin, some of the first comments we have seen from the kremlin since all of this came to light.

certainly we are hearing from the russians. they are denying it. one of the other things that dmitry peskov says is he wasn't sure whether or not the u.s. will retaliate, and what the retaliation could be. he's saying the russians believe that the white house has been unpredictable in this regard over the past couple of months, so clearly the russians right now very much in a wait and see m modus, at the same time, commenting as little as possible as discussions continue in the united states. >> fred, what might this mean for future relations between russia and the biden administration? >> reporter: it's a really tricky issue, isn't it. the past couple of years, we have had president trump who had very good relations with vladimir putin. at the same time, you had the u.s. relations with russia at one of the low points with the u.s. leveeing sanctions for actions by russia over the past years. if you look at the incoming biden administration, it's going to be probably quite difficult. one of the things we have

learned is the u.s. intelligence community has assessed that russia had tried to meddle in the past presidential election of 2020 in favor of president trump. certainly that's not a very good way to start, then, with president-elect biden coming into office fairly soon, and now you have this alleged hacking attack by the russians. that certainly is another thing that could paint these relations forward before president-elect biden even moves into the white house, rosemary. >> we'll keep a close eye on it, of course. frederik pleitgen, many thanks for joining us. appreciate it. as a handful of countries begin vaccinating people against covid-19, china has an ambitious plan to get 5050 million people inoculated b by february. a live report from beijing, next. looking to savmoney this holiday season?

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welcome back, everyone. well, two cases of the new coronavirus variant first detected in the uk have been found in australia. health authorities say it was detected in two people who returned to australia from the uk and went into managed quarantine in sydney. so that was why they were able to detect it.

the new south wales chief health officer says that means the variant is not responsible for a cluster that's cropped up in north sydney. >> and joining me now is dr. dale fisher, chair of the world health organization's outbreak alert response network. thank you, sir, for talking with us. >> hi, rosemary. >> we know that viruses mutate. that's what they do. how concerned are you about this new covid variant showing up in the uk, and elsewhere, and are people overreacting or is this exactly what should happen in this situation? >> i think the answer is in your question, actually, rosemary, it's not particularly unexpected. mutations do occur. of course we're concerned when we see something that's perhaps slightly surprising, this particular lineage has got a lot of mutations in a critical part of the virus, but it really is

just reminding us of the basic measures and why vigilant is critical. >> and countries of course we're seeing this, they're putting travel bans in place to and from the uk, and other countries, and that could potentially have dangerous consequences in terms of food supplies. is that the right way to go? do travel bans need to be put in effect or do people need to sit back, wear masks and follow all of the instructions that the who and other health services have told us to do. >> again, the answer is in the question. seriously, i'm not in favor of the travel bans. i gather most are for 48 hours or maybe they are just taking the breather that you're talking about while they regroup and think about it. but these mutations were first identified in late september, actually, in london. and it's now been identified in genomes that have been analyzed about 1,600 times in london,

kent, scotland, wales, and a few other places. i think netherlands and australia have also seen it, so i think if we start doing a lot more genomic surveillance worldwide, we're probably going to see in that sense, the cat's out of the bag. >> some good advice, there. well, china is planning an ambitious effort to vaccinate 50 million people against the coronavirus before february's lunar new year's celebrations. the first in line include health care workers, customs and border inspection workers, people in the food industry, and other essential workers. and cnn's steven jiang joins us from beijing. good to see you. it is an ambitious vaccination goal. how is this going to work? >> well, rosemary, the officials here haven't relegaledvealed den how they're going to implement this plan. this is a country with

1.4 billion people. that's less than 5% of the population, the combined population of beijing and shanghai, two cities is more than 15 million people, and experts have said they need to inocula inocula inoculate 70% of the population to have herd immunity. the priority is the essential workers you just mentioned and the general public will have to wait for their turn. state media has reported this is going to be a two-shot process, so officials hope to complete administering the first shot by january 15th, and a second booster shot a month later. right now, currently, there are five chinese made vaccines in the final stage, the phase 3 stage of clinical trials. we haven't seen a lot of data from the trials. the two results we have seen so far are from the gulf region, one from the uae, the other from bahrain, both having 86%

efficacy. this kind of lack of transparency has prompted concerns but authorities insist china is at the forefront of vaccine research and development. they say they have been giving out more than a million doses to a so called high risk group of people since july, and they have not seen any seniorious adverse reactions, and the reason they are slow in publishing their data is china has so successfully contained the virus in the borders, they are forced to conduct trials overseas. that's why they are lagging behind the u.s. and uk in publishing data and results. rosemary. >> steven jiang bringing us up to date on the very ambitious plan. appreciate it. and thank you so much for your company. i'm rosemary church, "early start" is up next. you're watching cnn. do have yourselves a wonderful day.

good morning, welcome to our viewers until the united states, and all around the world. this is "early start." i'm borrow borris sanchez in fo christine romans. >> great to have you in the chair. i'm laura jarrett. it's 5:00 a.m. in new york. we begin this morning with a new variant of coronavirus, said