coming up, we take you inside hospitals buckling under the strain of covid cases and see how they're detting desperately needed help. in the uk the virus surge is forcing several failed emergency hospitals to reopen. we're live outside one of those. then a growing number of republican senators say they plan to challenge joe biden's win.

the u.s. crossing another pandemic threshold. the death toll has surpassed 350,000 based on johns hopkins data. saturday alone the country reported almost 2,400 deaths. the pressure just keeps growing on doctors and nurses and hospitals are filled with more than 100,000 people fighting the virus. now every day for more than a month. as of sunday, only about 4.2 million americans have received the first dose of an approved vaccine, even though the cdc says more than 13 million doses have been distributed throughout the country. so no state is feeling the pain more than california. health officials in los angeles county say the virus is claiming a life every 10 minutes. hospitals are so overwhelmed, the military is helping out. paul vercammen is in los angeles with the story, paul?

>> reporter: the covid-19 tsunami in california is stretching resources so thin that the army corps of engineers has now jumped into the fight here in los angeles, surveying some seven hospitals to improve the oxygen supply line to those covid patients who are gasping for breath. here's what they're seeing at these hospitals. >> we went to one hospital, and they had two tents outside. and one of the tents, they were seeing covid patients. and it's just -- they were tied into their mechanical systems, so that's just an additional strain. so we're trying to assess how we can reduce the strain on their facilities and their mechanical spaces, and o2 oxygen distribution as well. >> reporter: the army corps serving wright memorial hospital in boyle heights where they have

180 covid patients, and the hospital members here, the head of the e.r. celebrating the arrival of the army corps of engineers. >> that's exactly right, these folks just can't get enough oxygenation into their blood, into their bodies. that's what makes it so hard. these patients need so much oxygen, and there's so many patients. the two taken together, it's really taxing the system. these oxygen lines can only carry so many liters per minute and we're approaching the upper limits of those. >> reporter: the army corps of engineers supporting this hospital, as it is with other hospitals in los angeles. at white memorial we're seeing members of the national guard helping to treat this influx, this unending influx of patients. in the uk, health care workers are preparing to reactivate seven emergency field hospitals. this as a surge of coronavirus cases there threatens to

overwhelm icus as well. on saturday, the uk recorded its highest daily rise in cases since the pandemic began. i want to go to selma abdelaziz with more on that. you're outside one of those emergency field hospitals. what can you tell us? >> reporter: i'm outside the excel center, one of the nightingale hospitals in london. you can see behind me, it's a huge conference center, a massive building. it could house a lot of people. here's the catch, how are they going to staff it? we already know the national health service straff is being stretched to the limit, and equipment? we know icu capacity is being stretched to the limits. what's the plan? the government wants to bring in troops, military, to straff this center. you can understand why the situation is dire. you mentioned that record-breaking case number on saturday. that's not the only indicator. you now have more patients in hospital with coronavirus than at any point before. listening to a doctor on the

radio who was talking about how ambulances were being lined up outside of london hospitals unable to get their patients admitted into these hospitals because they're so backed up. it's an absolutely dire situation. much of it driven by this new variant of covid-19 that the authorities here say is more transmissible. you already have three-quarters of england under the strictest rules, essentially lockdowns, and doctors and experts are saying this is not enough. they want to see the entire country shut down, they want to see complete stay-at-home orders for everyone. the fear is for the legal community that the worst is yet to come. they have yet to see the spike of cases that they expect from christmas time celebrations and new year's eve celebrations. basically, they're on the brink. >> that is absolutely terrifying. at the same time, there is this light at the end of the tunnel. i know the uk authorities, health authorities, are very excited about the astrazeneca vaccine coming on line. talk us through the rollout in

particular. >> reporter: so the rollout starts monday. first vaccinations, first injections given of this oxford university and astrazeneca vaccine. there's national pride because it was created, developed here at oxford university in the uk. there's a lot of advantages to it. it's a cheaper dosage, only costs about 3 pounds, or $4. most critically, it doesn't need any special refrigeration capacity. this vaccine doesn't need to be held at extra-cold temperatures. so that means it should be easier to disseminate, easier logistically to get into people's arms. there's a lot of hopes around this vaccine, particularly in places like india where they want to reach the most rural communities. but the government has been catching a lot of debate, a lot of controversy for their vaccination program plans. i'll tell you why. there's been guidance issued that the second dose of any vaccine can be given up to three months after you get that first dose, although it was supposed to be 21 to 28 days. and nowers this also government

guidance that says you can mix vaccines. why are they doing this when this divides health experts, when the medical community, some doctors saying these approaches don't follow the science? they're doing this because they're desperate, they have to take bold measures, bold strategies, to be able to fight off this variant and get control of this virus here. >> some bold moves indeed from the uk authorities. selma, good to see you, keep warm. i want to bring in our global health expert at university college, london, good to see you. you heard our correspondent on the ground outside the excel center, these preparations to reactivate field hospitals, indication of how bad it's expected to get. do you think this will ease the burden on the health care system in the uk? >> in the uk and england in particular, we're seeing the worst part of the pandemic has hit us now. and that we could see another 100,000 deaths by june 2021. and that it would actually

exceed the first wave, the number of deaths. the staffing shortage, how to man the larger field hospitals. despite having the space, there's going to be struggle in order to treat the patients with people who have appropriate skill sets for ventilation and other aerosol-generating procedures. >> important points. that's obviously something that's going to concern many people. one of the positives as we were talking with selma about is this astrazene astrazeneca/oxford university rollout. how quickly can the uk and places like the u.s., which is also lagging, catch up with the virus so that vaccine shots start overtaking new infections? >> this is a long game. so we shouldn't look at the fact that these vaccines are beginning to be rolled out, can

fix the current problem. these will not necessarily save the lives of people who are already getting infected. and this is why we need to continue these public health measures alongside more aggressive vaccination rollout. and that requires ensuring that we have upskilling of staff and more resources dedicated towards this rollout. again, this is not going to be something this even here we've had some -- the prime minister say that we should be able to get enough protection by easter 2021, but at the current rate of vaccination, that's actually not a realistic estimate. >> what's your take on this mix and match vaccine regimen that the uk is now saying it's going to be okay to cross-use different vaccines? this contradicts u.s. guidelines. is this a pragmatic health policy, a sign of desperation, or is this the uk being the wild

west of vaccinations as suggested by some? >> i think there is some misconception around this particular piece of guidance that has been issued. we've heard some public health england, to clarify that this would be under extremely rare circumstances in which either it's not possible to trace what type of vaccine the first vaccine was in a patient, or if there is such a critical shortage that it wouldn't be possible to deliver the second vaccine dose. it is thought that, rather missing out the second dose altogether, it would be better for the patient to receive another vaccine. but again, this isn't something that would be widely encouraged. it's a very specific, narrow set of circumstances. and also an example of how clinical trials have these perfect conditions that really center around a smaller group of

people. when we roll that out to the population level, it would be naive to think we wouldn't run into hiccups, that it's going to look exactly the same. here this is actually a move in which in the uk we've already covered that the situation is extremely serious, it is looking to get worse, and this is the way that the uk has thought, at least with that gap of potentially extending it for 12 weeks rather than what was followed in the exact clinical trial that this would allow a broader set of the population to have some sort of protection. and that's because of the circumstances we're currently in and the measures that need to be taken. >> i understand you've also just recovered from covid yourself, and there's also been a lot of talk about this new variant. what is the thought about why this is so much more infectious, this new variant? is it about people shedding more virus, about the virus surviving better in the air, on surfaces?

how are you feeling, as well? >> well, this new variant has really hit london in particular the hardest. and it is -- this is part of the contributing to why these hospitalization rates are increasing so much. so it's tripled, and the number of hospital emissions since the beginning of december. we can really see the sort of immediate effect of this taking place. and i think we're still really looking to try and understand why this particular variant in the uk has become so much more infectious, up to 60% more infectious. but the other strain that is also extremely concerning is the one emerging from south africa, which has a bit more chunkier mutation and could be a bigger problem than the one that we're seeing here in the uk, because despite its increased transm ed transmissibility, the good news

is it doesn't appear to have more severe health outcomes, which is positive for patients. thank you for asking about how i'm doing. i had a pretty bad go of it, however, i'm feeling much better now. and i'm really, when the vaccine becomes available for me, i will be -- that may be some time because i don't have any underlying conditions, et cetera, i'm younger. but maybe within the next year, 2022, i will be really happy to get that vaccine. because it's not something i would want to go through again. >> thanks for that. great to see you on your feet again. appreciate it. one of the 20,000-plus people in california hospitals battling covid right now is larry king. yes, you know him. that familiar face, legendary former cnn host has been in cedars-sinai medical center in los angeles for more than a week now according to a source close to the family. larry king is 87 years old, and he does have a history of health issues.

of course, larry king has conquered these health issues and hopefully he will beat this one too. brian stelter is following the story closely. >> larry king, a giant of broadcasting, is the latest high-profile individual to come down with the coronavirus and require hospitalization. king is 87 years old. he's been at cedars-sinai, the medical center in los angeles, for more than a week, according to a source close to his family, due to covid-19 protocols his sons have not been able to visit him in the hospital. king is in isolation like so many others who are struggling with covid-19 at this time. right now we know that in the united states, about 125,000 americans are hospitalized. that was the figure on friday. just a slightly lower figure on saturday, as coronavirus continues to challenge, in some cases overwhelm, the hospital systems in areas like los

angeles. king is a television mainstay and a cnn legend. his program "larry king live" aired here on cnn for 25 years. and he remained active in his days and weeks and years after cnn. he hosted a program for aura tv as recently as november, covering the 2020 election. of course, he's an expert at telling other people's stories. right now his own story is in the news. hopefully soon he will be able to recover and tell his own experience, share his own story about having to fight off this nasty virus. brian stelter, cnn, new york. coming up, a push to disenfranchise millions of american voters is picking up steam. sitting and incoming senators planning to challenge wednesday's electoral college vote certification. that is just ahead.

welcome back. i'm robyn curnow. to american politics where tensions are rising on several fronts. at least a dozen republican senators now say they will vote against counting electioral vots this week. congress is expected to certify

president-elect biden's victory on wednesday, but more lawmakers now say they intend to support an objection to the electoral college vote, all based on false claims of widespread voter fraud. then saturday, a federal appeals court dismissed representative louie gohmert's appeal of a case he lost just the day before. he and other republicans have filed suit against vice president pence. they were seeking to force pence to interfere in next week's vote count. but some republican lawmakers are against all of this, and it's causing chaos within the party. boris sanchez reports from the white house. >> reporter: president trump getting welcome news on saturday after confirmation that at least a dozen republican senators are planning to object to the results of the electoral college when they are certified by congress on january 6th. the president had been campaigning for this publicly for some time, and now these dozen republican senators, led by ted cruz, are essentially

saying they want to look at the allegations of widespread election fraud, even though the president and his team haven't been able to provide any. here's a portion of the statement from cruz and crew, "we are not naive, we fully expect most if not all democrats and a few republicans to vote otherwise, but support of election integrity should not an partisan issue." we should point out those allegations of widespread fraud are coming from the president and the white house, and they've not been able to corroborate any of these allegations of widespread fraud. these lawmakers are calling for a 10-day audit to exhaustively review the results from multiple states. clearly, their effort is not going to work, and they acknowledge it, they simply do not have the numbers, especially in the house of representatives. other republicans are coming out against this effort, including lisa murkowski of alaska and pat toomey of pennsylvania. one of those states where there's a lot of debate about the results of the election, at least on the republican side.

here's a portion of a statement from senator toomey released on saturday. he writes, quote, the evidence is overwhelming that joe biden won this election, his narrow victory in pennsylvania is easily explained by the decline in suburban support for president trump and the president's slightly smaller victory margins in most rural counties. i voted for president trump and endorsed him for re-election, but on wednesday i intend to vigorously defend our form of government by opposing this effort to disenfranchise millions of voters in my state and others. examining the motivation behind these 12 senators' objections, some of them are clearly trying to stake their ground for a potential 2024 run, including senators hawley and cruz. others may simply be doing this for survival. there is serious concern among republicans about coming out against president trump on the issue of an objection on january 6th. look at the way he went after john thune, the number two

republican senator, calling for the senator from south dakota to be primaried over his dismissal of hawley's objection. the president clearly still holds the reins of the republican party and he is exercising that power in a way where establishment republicans are clearly bending to his will. boris sanchez, cnn, at the white house. >> now the dysfunction in washington could impact tuesday's crucial u.s. senate races here in georgia. control of the chamber is at stake. incumbent republicans loeffler and purdue. the republican push to overturn biden's win described as a new low. this is what he had to say. >> we have a democratic system, and the most powerful four words in a democracy are "the people have spoken." they've spoken all across this country. they've spoken in swing states

like pennsylvania. they've spoken here in the state of georgia. instead of standing up for the people and their voices, like these other dozen politicians, kelly loeffler is focused on her own future rather than the future of the people who are trying to survive amidst this terrible pandemic. >> and senator purdue was recently forced to go into quarantine after being exposed to the coronavirus. despite that, he says he's in a good position. >> the energy level is exactly where it was in november when the polls had me down 5 points. we won by 2. as a matter of fact, 52.5% of georgians rejected john ossoff and his democratic liberal agenda in november. same thing happened in 2014. i don't put a lot of stock in polls. i look at this early voting and i am very confident with the president coming monday night, the vice president coming monday, and what we're doing with our team the next three days. >> thomas gift is a political science lecturer at university

college-london, lovely to see you. he joins us from oxford, england. as you heard, the georgia runoff is so, so crucial. again, it is about voter turnout. how much momentum do the democrats have? >> you're right, both senate races in georgia are incredibly close. much closer than i think many experts initially predicted. what is clear is that these races have become truly national contests because of their stakes. shattering fund-raising efforts, political ads have been ubiquitous, and over 3 million early votes which reflect the intense interest in these rates. ultimately, as you suggest, anything can happen. turnout will inevitably be lower than the presidential race on november 3rd. that means the average republican voter will be more conservative, the average democratic voter will be more liberal. the competitiveness of these contests raises the interesting question of what might happen if

the margin of victory for the candidates is relatively small. trump has called the georgia runoffs illegal and invalid which only adds to concerns about the voter distrust in the electoral process. all eyes this week will be on georgia. >> it's a huge week, and i think many people in georgia will be relieved if it does end for many of these political ads to stop. it certainly has been ubiquitous, as you say, quite overwhelming on some level. i do want to look ahead to what is going to be a pretty dramatic week for u.s. politics to the showdown expected in congress. the vice president, other trump loyalists, are trying to help mr. trump override the election results. it's nothing more, in many ways, than a cynical farce. there's nothing expected to come of it. joe biden will be inaugurated january 20th. so the question is, why do it? is it less about the outcome and more about the act? >> i do think that this is mostly political theater, but we still shouldn't underestimate how dangerous of a precedent it

sets for u.s. senators to aid and abet trump's baseless allegations of electoral fraud. i do think it's largely about political a.m. bigs, about political survival. but over recent months, efforts to prove voting irregularities have faced defeat in roughly 60 court cases. and to still see this response now from elected leaders is extremely regrettable. it's important to emphasize that the vast majority of republicans on capitol hill don't support this effort. mitch mcconnell opposes it. and the ploy won't change the fact, as you suggest, that joe biden will be sworn in on january 20th. but the fact that it's likely to garner the support of nearly a dozen republican senators, including senator hawley, senator ted cruz, and senator marsha blackburn, is really partisanship at its worst. what it reveals is how strong a grip trump maintains over certain elements of the gop. clearly many republican lawmakers view this as furthering their own political

ambitions. >> so in many ways this is being seen perhaps as a loyalty test of mr. trump by some of these republicans. then, of course, talking about pushback, saying mr. biden won, let's just move on and deal with the future. so with this push and pull between the republican party, where does that leave the republicans? particularly the political landscape post-trump? >> i think the most problematic aspect of this is for u.s. democracy writ large. this january 6th standoff is going to do serious harm for u.s. democracy. bill galston of the brookings institution said in the "washington post" it's not the short-term turbulence that should worry americans, joe biden will be inaugurated, he said it's the fact that we're at the point a nontrivial number of gop politicians feel it's appropriate to call into question u.s. democracy, the integrity of free and fair elections, despite all the evidence pointing to the legitimacy of those elections. i think that this does do

serious harm to the republican brand. i think it turns off a lot of moderates. many are just going to see this for what it is, a last-ditch political ploy. this is why mitch mcconnell really wants to avoid this. i don't think he's going to be able to do that. and we'll see how the party evolves with trump going forward. >> it is interesting. i think you mentioned these 60 attempts by the trump administration to challenge the election results in the courts. i think 90 judges have said no to all of these, all in all, to all of these attempts. this has certainly been a stress test, i suppose, put on the u.s. democracy. but has, in many ways, democracy pushed back? if you think about many of these attempts have been stopped by republican governors, republican lawmakers, republican judges. has the center held? >> i think that it has, by and large. ultimately, this is just one more example of trump and his supporters trying to erode

constitutional norms. contrary to what some alarmists may say, this isn't the beginning of the end of u.s. democracy. at the same time, those who simply dismiss this behavior as a slight deviation from political norms also miss how problematic this conduct is. so if there is one lesson that we can take over the past four years, it's that u.s. institutions have held. but i do think they have frayed. i think they have been damaged. and that opens them up for further exploitation or challenges going forward. >> which is, again, why even just the next few days are going to be so important. thomas gift from the ucl center on u.s. politics, thanks so much for your insights. >> thank you. coming up here on cnn, americans desperate to get the coronavirus vaccine are waiting in long, long lines. and there is no guarantee of delivery yet. see every delivery...

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welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. it is 34 minutes past the hour. i'm robyn curnow live from cnn headquarters here in atlanta. i want to update you on these figures on your screen. the u.s. is nowhere near the 20 million coronavirus vaccines the trump administration had promised by the end of 2020. experts are certainly sounding the alarm. the cdc and johns hopkins university say only 4.2 million doses have actually been administered so far, even though more than 13 million doses have been distributed across the country. that doesn't necessarily mean vaccines are just sitting on a shelf. there could be a time lag when it comes to reporting data.

but there does seem to be a lack of urgency from the white house to try and actually speed things up. many people in the u.s. who want vaccines are having to wait. not sure when they'll be able to get them. the u.s. state of florida has its own approach and it's causing even more confusion, as dianne gallagher reports. >> reporter: as of saturday, just over 4.2 million americans have received the first dose of one of the approved covid-19 vaccines. according to the u.s. centers for disease control. now, that is out of the more than 13 million that have already been distributed across the country. and therein lies an illustration of the problem the united states seems to be having, actually getting those shots into people's arms. here in the state of florida, the governor decided not to adhere to the recommendations of the cdc when it comes to who got that next phase of vaccine. initially it's the health care

workers and those in the long-term care facilities. but the cdc says americans over the age of 75 and frontline essential workers should be getting them next. in the state of florida, the governor decided anybody over the age of 65 will get the vaccine. and since making that decision, we have seen long lines in the state of florida, and really a lot of confusion. because each county within the state is doing something different. some of them are administering vaccines to those over the age of 65 on a first come, first served basis. we saw elderly people literally camping out overnight for a shot at getting the shot. other counties were deciding to use appointments, and they saw their phone lines and websites crash from so much interest. we've talked to different people who have attempted to get the vaccine. they say that the confusion is discouraging, but more than anything, they want that

protection. so they're going to keep trying until they get it. but take the county i'm in right now, lake county. they ran out of vaccines today. they're currently waiting for another shipment before they'll be able to continue vaccinating people who are over the age of 65 here in florida. dianne gallagher, cnn, lake county, florida. the uk is adding a new coronavirus vaccine to its arsenal starting on monday. the country will be ready to administer the first doses of the oxford university/astrazeneca vaccine as phil black now reports. >> reporter: the british prime minister has a reputation for prematurely predicting an imminent return to normal life. his latest forecast -- >> april the 5th, easter, we really are confident that things will be very, very much better. >> reporter: during one of the darkest moments of the pandemic, johnson and his government are telling the british people it will be behind us by spring. could he be right this time?

>> maybe. it's about logistics more than anything. >> reporter: the government's optimism is fueled by this vaccine. >> okay, so a needle scratch. >> reporter: developed by oxford university and astrazeneca, it's the most low-maintenance vaccine option so far because it doesn't need ultra-cold storage. the british government got in early, speeding up the regulator scrutiny and securing supply. 100 million doses are coming. plus another 30 million doses of the vaccine produced by pfizer and biontech. together, it's more than enough to protect every british adult. >> uk government has made a lot of mistakes in this outbreak, but the thing it's done really well has been the vaccine development. >> reporter: public health experts say the uk has another big advantage for pulling off the next phase of the plan, which involves getting the vaccine to around a third of the population, including everyone over 50 and everyone at greater risk due to an underlying

condition. >> we have a national health service that is funded 30 general taxation and is highly integrated in a way that is not the case in so many other countries. >> that's a structural institutional advantage that other countries don't have? >> that's correct. many other countries, particularly larger, more complex countries where health systems -- for example, you have multiple partners, insurance companies, many more private providers. when you have a system like that, it's much more complex to deliver at scale and nationally, vaccine rollout. >> reporter: nationalized health care hasn't prevented the uk from recording one of the highest numbers of deaths in the world. britain's track record through the pandemic shows that it does not guarantee success in handling big, complex operations. >> well, quite. quite. i'm slightly more confident in their ability to do this than other parts of the pandemic simply because it's been their baby, it's been what they've been pushing. >> reporter: so there are good reasons why the uk finds itself

in a hopeful place and will see needles plunging into arms relatively quickly. but to meet that easter deadline and effectively end the threat of the pandemic in this country, that will take a medical logistics operation unlike anything seen here before. phil black, cnn, london. india has just formally approved emergency use of two coronavirus vaccines. the oxford/astrazeneca one, and cov covaxin. the country has 10 million coronavirus cases, second only in case count to the u.s. saturday india conducted a national drill ahead of these mass vaccinations. authorities are hoping to vaccinate 300 million people. just more than a year ago the world's focus zeroed in on the city of wuhan, china, where this outbreak of a mysterious illness was spreading. a year later, there's still much, much we don't know about the coronavirus. but the people of wuhan have percent veered. this after enduring months of

sickness, lockdowns, and the stigma of being the location where many believe the virus began. life in wuhan is gradually returning to normal. no recorded cases of community transmission since may. as businesses also are trying to rebound. people are starting to enjoy mixing together again at social events. but questions remain as the world health organization is setting up a visit to the city this month. why did the virus take hold? and what, if anything, can be done to make sure it doesn't happen again? yuli wang is a former resident of wuhan and she spoke to us earlier about how things are going. >> it's kind of hard to imagine, but it is true that life is basically back to normal now in wuhan with my friends and family and the residents in wuhan. people have been back to work, kids are back at school, traffic

is back on the streets. in this new normal we have masks, temperature checks everywhere, we have to scan qr codes for contact tracing purposes. but there is this real sense of safety and normalcy back in wuhan. but of course, within amongst family and friends, people still pay extremely close attention to any news that's virus related. especially domestic news. if there's any important stories, people share those, spread those very quickly through social media like wechat apps to their friends. especially close attention put on the elderly, wanting to make sure they're nowhere close to any danger. >> thanks to yuli yang in singapore. pop star harry styles is starting the new year with a new hit, take a listen. ♪

♪ baby we can >> you might recognize a familiar face, fiona bridge. harry styles coming up next on this video and the message behind it.

take a look at these images, a candlelight vigil at the site of the u.s. drone strike that killed general soleimani a year ago today. he was killed while traveling at a convoy near baghdad. u.s. president-elect joe biden hopes to engage with iran after he's inaugurated. arwa damon on what could happen in the final days of the trump administration. >> reporter: there are commemorations along baghdad's airport road at the exact location where a u.s. strike hit the vehicle carrying hop iranian general qassem soleimani,

killing him alongside a key iraqi paramilitary leader. since then, tensions between the u.s. and iran have only been escalating, with some u.s. officials saying that at this point, the threat being posed by iran is the most significant it has been since soleimani's killing, pointing to what they claim is intelligence that says that iran has been moving short-range ballistic missiles into iraq. this is where it gets confusing. other senior u.s. officials are saying there is no actual evidence to corroborate this claim of a greater threat. either way, president trump is not shying from warning iran that if one american is killed, he would be holding iran responsible. there still continues to be on a fairly regular basis mortars and rockets that fall inside the heavily fortified green zone. on december 21st a number of them landing inside the u.s.

embassy compound itself. all of this is leading to growing concerns across the region that the situation could escalate even further, that president trump could do something that would potentially be quite destabilizing and devastating, not just for the region's stability, but specifically for the stability in iraq, a country that has for a long time now emerged as a proxy battlefield between what's meant to be its ally, the united states, and its neighbor, iran. arwa damon, cnn, istanbul. >> thanks, arwa. we're monitoring that story. you're watching cnn, we'll be right back. er you are - even hanging with your dog. so, what are you waiting for? download now and get your first stock on us. robinhood.

the role of the geisha is an important part of japanese culture. somewhat less mysterious is the toll the pandemic has taken on one of japan's cultural symbols. selena wang reports from tokyo. >> reporter: it's an iconic japanese image, the geisha. during the pandemic, the centuries-old profession is struggling to survive.

koiku has been a geisha for a decade in tokyo. during japan's state of emergency in the spring, she had almost no work. she says business is still less than half of prepandemic levels. >> translator: the scariest part is that we don't know when this is going to end. if the situation continues for a long time, i do not know how long we can survive for. >> reporter: geishas are hired as upscale entertainment for banquets, celebrations, and events. famous for their beauty and wit, their spend their lives perfecting traditional japanese dance, music and arts. daily preparation is also an art. applying white makeup, painting the face, perfecting the wig, tying the elaborate kimono. this one cost more than $10,000. there are hours of dance rehearsals. then nights entertaining clients, often ending work past 2:00 a.m.

dining with a geisha can cost thousands of dollars. but covid has slashed spending. gatherings have been canceled. even before covid, geishas were in decline, with an aging clientele. 80-year-old ikuko, a practicing geisha and head of the akasaka geisha association, remembers working in the area 50 years ago when there were 400 geishas. she says today there are just 21. >> translator: we are struggling for survival. what we can do is train constantly to be prepared to perform at any moment. >> reporter: covid precautions make intimate conversations difficult. holding fans in front of their faces when speaking, dancing at least two meters away from clients. japan's daily covid cases continue to reach record highs as the government urges people to dine in small groups. the owner of the 350-year-old restaurant where ikuko and koiko

perform says another prolonged state of emergency will kill his business. yet over in tokyo's fukugawa district, seuki, japan's first western geisha, is finding new ways to survive, banquets over zoom. >> in many ways we're doing new things that are revolutionary in the geisha world. >> reporter: she's also trying to reach new customers, like this 20-year-old college student, for about $100 per hour people can invite a geisha for a casual conversation at a counter bar. but koiku and her colleagues are sticking to tradition, for themselves and the craftsmen that make their kimonos, wigs, combs, and instruments. >> translator: the banquets protect the jobs of japanese craftsmen. our role is to pass the traditional culture to the next generation. >> reporter: as she waits for covid-19 to pass, koiku says all she can do now is practice and

perfect her art. selena wang, cnn, tokyo. the new year has scarcely begun, and pop star harry styles has already saved it with a stylish dance video for his new hit aptly called "treat people with kindness." ♪ baby we can find a place to live ♪ ♪ and we can treat people with kindness ♪ >> the former one direction member plays a nightclub singer who invites actress phoebe waller-bridge to dance with him. the glorious black and white clip has racked up over 9 million views so far on youtube. the message, no doubt, treat people with kindness, also hitting home. that wraps up this hour of "cnn newsroom."

i'm robyn curnow. i'll be back in just a moment with more news.

welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. thanks for joining me this hour. coming up on the show, the u.s. death toll from co-vid hits a major milestone. hospitals are filling up faster than ever before. ted cruz and more u.s. senators lining up to support donald trump as the president tries to overturn joe biden's legitimate election victory. and then iran and the supporters are making a solemn anniversary. one year ago a u.s. air strike