- [announcer] pray.com's bedtime bible stories calm your mind and ease your spirit. download pray.com to get the #1 app for prayer and sleep. hi, and welcome to "newsroom." coming up on the show, the u.s. senate is nearing a verdict in donald trump's second impeachment trial. the vote follows news of a stunning call between the former president and a top republican lawmaker. there's that, and there's also another sign of the u.s. trending in the right direction on covid. it comes as the cdc issues new guidelines for getting children back into school. and protests against myanmar's military coup enter their second week. the latest in a live report from the region.

live from cnn center, this is "cnn newsroom" with robin kurnow. >> we're just hours away from the conclusion of donald trump's second impeachment trial. sometime this afternoon u.s. senators are expected to vote on whether to convict or acquit the former president of inciting last month's deadly insurrection. as trump's lawyers laid out their defense on friday, stunning new details emerged about trump's actions as rioters broke into the capitol. republican lawmakers tell cnn that house republican leader kevin mccarthy begged mr. trump on the phone to call off the mob, but mr. trump refused. we'll have more on that in a moment. first, here's jeff zeleny. jeff? the article of impeachment now before the senate is an unjust and blatantly unconstitutional act of political vengeance. >> reporter: a verdict in the impeachment trial of former

president trump donald trump is expected today. with his lawyers swiftly resting their case friday after arguing the deadly attack on the capitol was neither trump's fault nor responsibility. >> no thinking person could seriously believe that the president's january 6th speech on the ellipse was in any way an incitement to violence or insurrection. >> reporter: the senators quickly moved to the next phase of the trial. with republicans and democrats alike submitting written questions before rendering their judgment. the senate clerk read this query from republican senators mitt romney and susan collins -- >> when president trump sent the disparaging tweet at 2:24 p.m. regarding vice president pence, was he aware that vice president had been removed from the senate by the secret service for his safety? >> reporter: the house prosecutor said it was impossible to think the president was unaware. but defense attorney michael

vanderveen insisted otherwise. >> the answer is no. at no point was the president informed the vice president was in any danger. >> reporter: vanderveen dismissed the point beyond the question. >> it's not relevant to the charges for the impeachment in this case. >> reporter: after two days of dramatic testimony from house impeachment managers including this security footage of vice president pence being rushed to safety, the trump defense team sought to rewrite the narrative of that dark day in america. they sought to falsely equate the former president's own words -- >> we fight like hell, and if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore. >> reporter: -- to routine political speeches of democrats, zeroing in on their use of the word "fight." >> to continue fighting. we each have an important role to play in fighting. >> never give up this fight. >> i'm here to fight back. [ cheers ] >> this is not what about-ism.

i am showing you this to make the point that all political speech must be protected. >> reporter: with 17 republicans unlikely to join all democrats in voting to convict, many of the questions read aloud on the senate floor underscored the inflamed partisan tensions at the core of the impeachment. >> are the prosecutors right when they claim that trump was telling a big lie, or, in your judgment, did trump actually win the election? >> as we all know, president trump did lose the election by seven million votes, 306 electoral votes. by the time of the january 6th attack, the courts, the justice department, all 50 states across the country agreed that the votes were counted, the people had spoken, and it was time for the peaceful transfer of power.

he lost. he lost. >> who asked that? >> i did. >> my judgment's irrelevant in this proceeding. it absolutely is. >> reporter: so closing arguments in this case by both sides will take place today in the senate chambers with a vote expected in the afternoon. still a very uphill climb for democrats to get 17 republicans on their side to convict the president. but no question with our new reporting showing the president's mindset on the afternoon of january 6th. there are even more questions now than when this impeachment trial even started. that still does not mean there will be evidence to convict the president, but clearly so much pressure on these senators who will be voting today. jeff zeleny, cnn, capitol hill. >> thanks for that. cnn has obtained new bombshell details about a phone call that took place during the riot between then-president trump and house republican leader kevin mccarthy.

republican lawmakers familiar with the call describe it as a shouting match. one that they say shows trump had no intention of stopping the insurrection. they say after mccarthy told trump the rioters were his supporters, trump said, quote, well, kevin, i guess these people are more upset about the election than you are, to which a furious mccarthy replied, "who the f do you think you are talking to?" we have new details confirmed with multiple sources. this as aides of former vice president mike pence and other former white house officials are still angry about trump's actions or inaction that day, , jim acosta explains now from west palm beach. >> reporter: we reported earlier this week that former president trump, then-president trump at the time, was, quote, loving the capitol mob. he was loving watching the mob do what they were doing up on the hill that day. that they were showing force as

one other adviser put it. and that is what the president at the time wanted to see. and so it makes perfect sense what jamie is hearing from sources, that the president at the time when he was on the phone with kevin mccarthy, was not showing concern as to what was being unleashed on the hill. i talked to a former top white house official about some of this earlier, and this one former official said it might have been beneficial to the entire process to have had hearings on all of this. to get to the bottom of what former president trump and top aides knew at that time as things were progressing minute by minute. you know, when trump decided not to participate in any of this and not testify, there was a huge missed opportunity to get to some of the facts as to what he was doing that day. i talked to a couple of former top white house officials about this earlier. they are still sickened about -- by what trump was up to that day, his actions, how he seemed to be delighting in what was going that dayment one of the

aspects that sickened some of the former officials was the way trump was behaving toward vice president mike pence. this is perhaps the most loyal official under president trump during that entire administration, and he was essential ever throwing him to the lions up on capitol hill. and in the words of this one former top white house official i spoke with earlier today, trump saw pence as essentially the fall guy. blaming mike pence for not overturning the election results. and it is still something that sickens people who worked for the former president, although there are still plenty of former officials who will believe until the end of time that donald trump didn't do anything wrong that day. but we have to be honest, that does not mean everybody who worked under former president trump. there are a lot of former officials who are disgusted by his actions that day. senior writer for cnn politics, zachary wolf, joining me from washington, d.c. great to have you on the show. thanks for joining me. the details of this call are pretty stunning. but also beg the question as to why mccarthy and republicans who

called the president in desperation from the capitol asking him to literally call off his supporters are still giving him political cover. why? >> that's a great question. i mean, as you say, the details of this call are pretty incredible. simply that, you know, essentially the expletive-laden pleas of the house leadership, the republicans in the house for the president telling him these are your supporters, you have to call these people off, and then he won't do it. but then i mean, if you think about it, mccarthy, the minority leader of the house republicans, goes along and votes not to impeach president trump. so they have continued to essentially provide him with this cover. i think that there is a fair amount of fear among a lot of republicans of president trump and his base that they will be

primaried, that they will be targeted on line, that -- and physical fear, too, i think, amongst a lot of republicans that if they turn on the president, his followers who have already attacked the capitol could then turn on them. i think there's -- all of those elements are something to consider. >> and that in itself is stunning in a democracy. also, though, to what has been playing out in congress the last few days. we saw the former president's lawyers offered their defense. but did they even need to make a case with the outcome pretty much all but certain? >> you know, the outcome is certain. but i think that they did need to make a case because things have been going so well for the prosecution. they have put out such a convincing argument that the republican senators in particular needed something to grasp on to. they needed some sort of lifeline, if you will, to say,

well, you know, this is the argument that we're going to hang our hat on when we vote to acquit him, which is seems very likely that they will. and today may have given them that opportunity. it was also, however, you know, a -- there were a lot of falsehoods put forward by the president's attorneys sort of following along with things that -- former president's attorneys, following along with things that the former president has said. but i do think that they needed this opportunity to say this is our side of the story, and in the strange sort of rules that the impeachment trial, it's not republican senators that make the case, it's his attorneys. so they had to give that and give these republican senators, you know, something to hold on to. >> this has been hurtling by at record speed. coming to pretty much a swift conclusion. should there have been witnesses, for example, people subpoenaed from the white house

to give a better understanding of who the president was talking to when he was giving instructions, what he was doing at the time, or is that irrelevant politically for the democrats here? was this just about putting things on the record? the process rather than the outcome? >> i think it was irrelevant for the democrats. they put together a very compelling case using his testimony, if you will, as he talked to his supporters on january 6th. his tweets, things that he had said in the months and years leading up to this insurrection on capitol hill. they didn't feel like they needed to do more than that. the proof was out there, and it was in the open. we did see the criticism of the president's -- former president's attorneys saying there should have been an investigation. there should have been more to this. but you know, i think part of their defense was to con found or to criticize this very methodical case. so that was maybe i think to be expected.

>> so what do you expect in closing arguments? can anyone's minds be changed? >> you know, it's hard to say -- people are so locked in washington right now about how they feel. republicans were looking for a lifeline. they were looking for some way to be able to acquit him. i think they may have gotten that even if other people who watched the prosecution weren't convinced. i don't know that many minds will be changed, but it was extremely surprising when bill cassidy, the republican senator from louisiana, voted that it was constitutional, in fact, to have this trial. so that shows that minds can be changed. >> zachary wolf, always good to get your perspective. thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me. cnn will have special wall-to-wall coverage of saturday's final proceedings in the trump impeachment trial. you'll want to tune in beginning at 9:00 a.m. washington time, 2 in the afternoon if you're in

london, 10:00 p.m. in hong kong right here on cnn. meanwhile, coming up, u.s. health authorities release new guidelines for safely reopening schools. that doesn't necessarily mean we'll see a return to widespread, in-person learning any time soon in the u.s. we'll explain why.

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parents in the u.s. have a fl new roadmap when it comes to getting kids back to school safely. the guidelines emphasize key strategies like mandatory masking, hand washing, and physical distancing. however, according to analysis, nearly all u.s. children live in areas where the guidelines would not recommend a full-time return to in-person learning because local covid transmission levels are just so high. but that could change if you take a look at this graph. the seven-day average of new infections in the u.s. has fallen below 100,000 for the first time since november the 3rd. now, those school reopening guidelines we mentioned don't offer a one-size-fits-all

approach. they recoindiana different protocols depending on how much transmission occurs in the community. >> reporter: a new set of guidelines for schools waiting to reopen. the cdc unveiling a color-coded system as part of a plan aimed at helping schools assess threat levels and determine what action to take. >> cdc is not mandating that schools reopen. these recommendations simply provide schools a long-needed roadmap for how to do so safely under different levels of disease in the community. >> reporter: the reopening of a majority of schools a top priority for the biden administration which is making progress toward another goal tonight -- the struggle to find a spot to get a shot is a little easier for some americans. as of today, 6,500 retail pharmacy stores are able to administer vaccine the. >> as more vaccine is available, we'll administer more and more

shots. for today i can say that every slot that we have available has already been booked up. >> reporter: those pharmacies only have a million doses to give out at the moment, but every shot counts. the u.s. is now averaging 1.6 million daily shots. the highest weekly average yet. as the biden administration promises a bigger ramp-up, announcing there will be enough supply for 300 million americans by the end of july. the key to success still distribution. >> we're currently not just building the airplane while we fly it, we're also flying it with a broken instrument panel and one engine out. but i've seen a lot of steps over the last month that give me a lot of hope that the infrastructure will be in place. >> reporter: even with progress, some setbacks. los angeles today temporarily shut down a number of vaccination sites. they've exhausted their supply. nationwide the average number of covid-19 cases is way down, falling 22% in a week. enough that some states are rolling back restrictions.

new york city reintroduces indoor dining today at 25% capacity. and ohio ending its curfew citing fewer hospitalizations. steps closer to normal, though dr. anthony fauci warns there's still a lot of ground to cover. >> i think we're going to be wearing masks for several, several months into the future. >> reporter: even with many holding on to hope for a better summer ahead, there are new concerns about what we could see this spring. >> with the uk variant now, many of us think that there's going to be a doubling every week, every ten days. so that as we get into the middle of march, april, and may, that's the time when we're really going to see this big upswing in the number of new cases and possibly deaths. >> reporter: cnn, new york. france has had a recommendation that could make more vaccine doses available for everyone. health authorities there say those who have recovered from covid should get one dose of the vaccine rather than two. people should wait at least three months after recovering to

get the shot, officials say. but waiting six months is better. meanwhile in the uk, the reproduction number or r has fallen below one for the first time since last july. it's now between .7 and .9 which means the spread of the virus is basically slowing. and then in australia, all flights into the state of victoria have been suspended after a five-day lockdown after a coronavirus outbreak linked to a local quarantined hotel. we have reporters all around the world standing by for us. phil black is in london. angus watson joins us from sydney, australia. angus, going to get to you in a moment. phil, i hi there. good news from where you are. >> reporter: yeah. that's right. as you touched on for the first time in a long time, the uk epidemic is shrinking. that crucial reproduction number, r number as it's known, has dropped below one. that hasn't happened since july, 2020. so it means that while cases are shrinking and it shows, that the

current strict lockdown is helping drive down transmission. the warning from scientists and officials is to interpret this news cautiously. there is still a mountain of evidence that shows the virus is circulating widely in the population. while key markets are trending in the right direction, they are not low enough. so daily cases are still high. hospitalizations, admittance s still too high. and so are deaths. there was more than 750 new deaths announced just yesterday. so there is still a long way to go despite in very positive news. they do hope that in the coming weeks you will start to see noticeable evidence that the mask vaccination program here is helping to slow the virus further. they do not believe that they're seeing that yet, but hopefully that will be imminent. there's good reason to believe so because that vaccination program is about to hit its first big target, its first goal to offer a first dose of the

vaccine to around 15 million of the uk's most vulnerable people. that includes everyone over the age of 70. frontline health care workers and those who are deemed to be extremely clinically vulnerable. those demographics make up the bulk of people who are likely to die if they do catch the coronavirus. so it will be further good news, and it does look like the vaccination program is set to make that goal within the next day or so. robyn? >> thank you so much for the update. good to see you there. phil black in chilly london. i want to go to angus watson in sydney, australia. the australians all along, and we've spoke ben this, have managed to contain these outbreaks, even if it's just one person in perth. they've done lockdowns. and similar mo going on where you are. in victoria, a little bit south. >> reporter: absolutely.

it's a swift, strict response to just one new case overnight. that whole state of victoria that you mentioned, six million people, plunged into lockdown for five days. until thursday. people told not to leave home unless it's absolutely necessary. schools closed, businesses closed, masks compulsory while they try to get on top of the spread of the uk variant through melbourne. but as you say, it's just 14 cases since monday in that state of victoria. so a strict response to a handful of cases. that's how the victorian government wants to get on top of this outbreak. here's what pthe premier said -- >> people will be hurting today. there is not the position that victorians wanted to be in. but i can't have a situation where in two weeks' time we look back and wish we had taken these decisions now. i've got advice to do it. i've done it. it's based on science.

>> reporter: so robyn, this all is happening at the backdrop to the australian open which is being held right now in melbourne. it will be played behind closed doors while this lockdown plays out over the next five days. but some 100,000 fans have already been to see the plays in action since monday. and incredible scenes last night as melbourne current closer to that lockdown at midnight. novak djokovic was playing against american taylor fritz. and people told halfway through the fourth set to get out. the match had to be suspended for ten minutes while everybody was chucked out, robyn. >> the australians not missing a part of this. extraordinary scenes, you're right. the ten is goes on. thanks very much for that update there. angus watson in sunny, thank you. one of the most momentous weeks in u.s. presidential history is rapidly drawing to a close. a final vote on donald trump's

impeachment could be just hours away.

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test welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. thanks for joining me. i'm robyn curnow. it is exactly 30 minutes past the hour. so the second impeachment trial of donald trump is expected to conclude later today with a final vote in the u.s. senate. trump's attorneys spent only a few hours trying to rebut the meticulous case laid out by the house impeachment managers. they argued that trump did not intend for his support force attack the capitol.

we now have shocking new details of a desperate phone call that day from house republican kevin mccarthy to trump as rioters stormed the capitol. republican lawmakers say mccarthy begged trump to call off the mob, but he refused. meanwhile, u.s. president joe biden has said very little publicly about the impeachment trial. he took a walk on friday morning to look at the valentine's day hearts the first lady had set up on the north lawn. and he was asked what he thought might happen in the senate. take a listen. >> anxious to see whether -- what my republican friends do, if they stand up. >> reporter: you're not planning to speak with any of them about what they -- >> no. no, i'm not. >> the president later left the white house to spend the weekend at camp david in rural maryland. on friday the senate voted unanimously to award the congressional gold medal capitol police officer eugene goodman. goodman had been hailed as a hero for his actions on january the 6th which include confronting the violent rioters

who blereeched the capitol, lurg them away from an unsecured senate chamber. and this week, house impeachment managers revealed video showing goodman guide republican senator mitt romney away from the mob, probably saving his life. the majority leader says goodman deserves the highest honor congress can give. >> in the weeks after the attack on january the 6th, the world learned about the incredible, incredible bravery of officer goodman on that fateful day. officer goodman is in the chamber tonight. officer goodman, thank you. [ applause ] >> goodman is the acting deputy senate sergeant-at-arms. he was there for the vote. afterwards, he was swarmed by those in the room exchanging salute the, fist and elbow bumps with appreciative senators. and mass protests against the military coup in myanmar have entered their second week.

thousands of packed streets holding up pro-democracy signs. many with the ousted leader aung san suu kyi. will ripley is tracking the unrest and joins me now from hong kong. hi. what do you make of this continuing protest that we're seeing on the streets? >> reporter: hi. this protest movement shows no signs of slowing down despite repeated calls for citizens to obey this 8:00 p.m. local time curfew that's in place across much of the country. people have been going out at night in defiance of the curfew, in defiance of the military coup. people who turned out in droves in november to elect the national league for democracy party led by aung san suu kyi and overwhelmingly reject the military proxy parties which received just a few dozen seats in parliament versus nearly 300 for the civilian elected leaders, many of whom are in detention including aung san suu kyi who remains under house arrest. we haven't heard anything officially from her since this military coup.

but we are certainly hearing from her supporters. it is arguable that she is more popular now than ever before despite international criticism for her defense of the military's treatment of the r rohingya muslims who have been forced across the border into bangladesh. aung san suu kyi domestically with an 80% buddhist population is an icon, a symbol. and today, happens to be the birthday of her father, the burmese military hero who helped to liberate the country from japan. now aung san suu kyi is seen as a symbol of a civilian leader trying to liberate the country from 50 years of military dicta dictatorship. when the military did not like the result and did not acknowledge the results of november's election calling them fraudulent even though election watchers dispute that, well, they have now ceased power, they've declared a state of emergency. the united nations saying they're very concerned. people on the ground are very concerned about the fate of a young woman, 19 or 20 years old, who is in the hospital clinging

to life. she has also become a symbol of the people rising up against this coup. >> okay. thanks for the update there. will ripley live in hong kong. thanks, will. so health organizations are warning about a vaccine inequality. ahead, why experts say not immyselfing people in poor -- immunizeding people in poorer countries could be deficit stating for everyone. ok. with everything from mel robbins to blake griffin, is there a more fascinating place than audible? no. and i've done the research. of course you have. audiobooks, podcasts, audible originals. all in one place.

welcome back. i'm robyn curnow. the international red crossies are is -- rered cross is launching a $110 million program aimed at immunizing some 500 million people against covid. this comes after a disturbing analysis by the group about vaccine distribution. it says the vast majority of immunizations have been administered in the 50 wealthiest countries. that's compared to a very tiny fraction being administered in the poorest countries. this also has been a concern of

the world health organization and unicef. the irfc added that the disparity could be devastating if the virus is allowed to continue spreading and mutating in unvaccinated populations. joining me now is dr. peter peret, director of the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine and one of the researchers who co-discovered the ebola virus for more than a decade he led efforts to fight hiv/aids, and a covid survivor after being hospitalized with it last year. good to see you, sir. good to see that you're up and well. i think you've said after all your years of chasing viruses this one finally caught up with you. what happened? tell us what happened when you got covid. >> good to see you again, robyn. yeah, i was infected with the virus, covid, in march. so one of the early cases to say so. and i was hospitalized. and thanks to oxygen, i

survived. and by the way, oxygen is something that is lacking in many countries, particularly in africa. but then i thought it was over and i would get better, but then for about six months i was one of those suffering from so-called long covid. so covid is not just a bit of the flu or you're in intensive care and dying, but it's a lot in between. there are probably millions suffering from months and months of extreme fatigue, heart problems, and so on. at the moment, i'm absolutely fine. >> you have said, though, that you feel more vulnerable. if so, what hard questions do you think still need to be asked about where, how, and when this virus mutated in wuhan? what still troubles the investigator in you about this virus? >> well, what troubles me the most is what you mentioned in your introduction, and that is equitable access to vaccines.

i spent about a decade of my life trying to make sure that people living with hiv all over the world could have access to affordable anti-retroviral therapy, anti-hiv therapy which is life saving. millions have access to that. that took about ten years. we can't afford that. and this is not only a moral imperative, but it's also, you know, absolutely essential. let's not forget this is a pandemic. pandemic means it's an epidemic covering the whole world. the president of rwanda said recently the whole world will suffer until africans also are vaccinated. and the reasons are multiple. one of those, as long as one country has covid cases, they will be spreading over the rest of the countries. and we can't really isolate ourselves, close the borders forever. the economy would go down, and everybody would become extremely

poor. but also, you mentioned variants. these are new mutations, and that's what viruses do. when we have millions of people infected with a virus, that virus will develop new ways of escaping infection, escaping vaccine. so it's a race between the virus developing new variants, you know, mechanisms to defend themselves, to survive, and rolling out vaccination. that is the key issue. that's high on my mind at the moment. >> yeah. it must be because you've -- you talk about the similarities here between your experience of hiv/aids and covid. you were on the front lines, as you said. i was a reporter for many years in south africa covering the early days and years of hiv/aids. there's similarities, the denialism, the fear, the inability to get medication, the unequal treatment. besides the chord that it strikes between you now and

then, how do you really get to practically avoid this covid ghetto-ization or vaccine-ization? what would you suggest to people in africa now, for example, on how to not be at the back of the queue? or is this about rich countries putting people along with them? >> absolutely, you're right. i mean, you know, and i said we can't afford it. we can't afford ten years. what to do? to be honest, there are no easy solutions. the main reason this is a may have problem. manufacturing is still not where it should be. and as we all know, scarcity is a big enemy of equity. however, we can do a few things, and that -- we should do them now. first of all, there is the so-called koufax facility said up by the vaccine alliance and the coalition for epidemic preparedness, and they will start delivering vaccines slowly but surely at the end of this

month. and that's specifically set up at the meeting, you know, that was launched by the line of the eu to provide vaccines, former am vaccines, to low-income countries. secondly, the african union has not waited for others. and through their africa medical supply platform has no concluded contracts with suppliers. but the problem, again, is that the vaccines are not yet there. and -- they're coming. thirdly, i think that we should really have the difficult discussion, the sharing of vaccines in high-income countries. i mean, i totally understand that countries have to safeguard the lives of the citizens. so like -- i arplowed the european unions -- applaud the european unions, deals with pharmaceutical companies to have vaccines for all of its citizens. however, the uk, the eu, canada,

they all ordered far more vaccines than they need in their countries. and we should start sharing now. and fourth, i mean, we need to support deployment of vaccination in african countries. some countries are doing a great job in terms of immunization programs. but not all. there will be some support needed. fifthly, i would say we need finally to invest in local manufacturing. when you consider that in some countries they're reducing one of the four group vaccines against the yellow fever in the world. they have to know how. why not invest there and make sure that this local production of vaccines against covid also taking a long-term view because there will be other epidemics. and africa and other regions can't always depend from others. this is a matter of national security. >> i think you said, as well, that this will be the age of viruses which is certainly a wake-up call, that this is the beginning potentially.

doctor, thank you so much for joining us. thank you for all the work you've done over the decades. i'm so glad to see you also hea healthy. thank you, doctor. >> thank you so much. so in the past few weeks, cuba has experienced its biggest spike yet in coronavirus cases. and at the same time, it's getting harder and harder to find food on the island. cubans are facing a dilemma -- wait in store lines, risk getting infected, or go hungry. >> reporter: before the sun comes up, hours before the store even opens up, cubans get in line to buy food. for many it's a daily task, a daily frustration, a daily hazard to their health. people we talked to say some in the lines don't seem to care about the danger. others argue that it's impossible to socially distance when everyone wants to buy food that could run out at any moment. of course we're taking a risk

because we are on top of one another, yvonne says. we don't understand that by being so close we are going to get each other sick, and that's why we do lines this way. cubans are not strangers to lines and shortages. the communist-run administration has been there dire in years, prepares decades. cuba depends on income from tourism to stock the shelves of government-run supermarkets. the only kind there are here. despite cuba's hundreds of miles of farmland, the island imports most of its food. the legacy of decades of u.s. sanctions and failed soviet-style centralized planning. covid destroyed the tourism market. imports have plummeted as the government runs out of money. while there's less supply, people still need to eat. the food crisis appears to be getting worse and worse as the pandemic goes on longer and longer. the people here say they don't

want to be waiting hours in these lines, but they feel the choice they have is run the risk of getting infected or going hungry. the food shortages are at the most dire. the same moment that the rates of infection on the island are soaring. cuba's health ministry says the country had more covid-related deaths in january than in the previous six months combined. the cuban government has closed down stores where infections broke out and sends troops to organize lines. it's not enough. the government's own experts admit. "we have to do it better," he says, "with the correct distancing. it doesn't matter if the line goes around the block. we have to protect ourselves." the cuban government is developing four vaccines, but they won't be ready until april at the earliest, the government says. meanwhile, the lines for food get longer and longer. "every day there are people out here for whatever there is.

some days you don't even know what products they're going to be selling," rachel says. "you have to be out here if you want to have food." it's not clear if the economy has hit rock bottom yet. but already cubans face an impossible choice. cnn, havana. >> thank you, patrick, for that story. i want to turn now to iceland where life is slowly returning to normal as covid appears to ease. bars are allowed to serve customers once again. gyms and pools are allowed to reopen. it comes after the country began easing restrictions in four stages since mid investigator. after a spike in new cases to mid to late october, iceland has seen a number of new infections fall with only five new cases detected in the past 14 days. and coming up after a short break, parts of the u.s. are bracing for an icy, icy blast. when we come back, we'll get the latest on the winter storms hitting this weekend. e #1 pediad brand,

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sweeping across the country. i want to get the latest from derek van dam. hi. it's certainly been a bitterly, bitterly cold winter, particularly in the last few weeks. there's more coming. >> reporter: yeah, what's happening now in my meteorological career, i have never experienced this much winter weather activity spanning from the west coast all the way to the east coast. there's so much to get to. let's start with the most immediate threat, and that is an ongoing ice storm across the mid-atlantic. the national weather service here calling this the potential at least for the worst ice storm in 20 years for portions of virginia. that's why there are ice storm warnings within this location. and we now have winter weather advisories stretching across the i-95 corridor, including the new york city region. lesser ice totals for you. nonetheless, that will impact travel conditions as it moves the northeasterly direction. there's the first wave of wintry weather. we focus our attention, believe it or not, on the southern plains. oklahoma, arkansas, louisiana, and specifically into texas.

this area will have a one-two punch in the coming days. and this could be a major problem for these locations who aren't necessarily prone in dealing with and having the capacity to deal with winter weather of this magnitude. look at this -- all of the state of oklahoma and much of northern texas is under winter storm warnings for the potential of ice, freezing rain, and heavy snowfall depending on where you're located. some of our computer models picking up on upwards of six to eight inches of snow in and around the dallas-fort worth region. that will definitely cause delays. and another storm waiting in its wings for the second half of the workweek, as well. across the pacific northwest, yes, a -- believe it or not, robyn said that seattle might receive their year's worth of snowfall in just a period of a day or two. and that's what's happening right now. we only need six inches to see that annual average and the forecast at least for the high earned of that to receive that. now there are -- this is a very

high to extreme impact storm across the northwest. the pacific northwest. i mean, look at the storms lining up just depositing significant amounts of snow and low elevation rain. look at this -- we have windchill warnings and advisories stretches across much of the northern half of the country. these are not typos, this is what it will feel like on your exposed skin as you step outside on sunday morning. and we could potentially break over 100 record low temperatures from today right through tuesday. so a winter blast is saying it mildly i'd say. >> certainly is. and will continue to check in with you. thank you so much, appreciate it. so that wraps this hour of cnn. i'm robyn curnow. for our viewers in the united states, "new day" is next. for our international viewers, stay with us for "connecting africa."

. capitol hill, the continue and i go of the trial of former president donald trump. and we could find out as soon as today if the senate will convict the former president for inciting the insurrection on capitol hill. now, in a few hours the senate will reconvene for the final steps of the impeachment trial. >> house managers could ask for witnesses here, that is the unknown this morning. it does not seem likely at this point, but today's proceedings will include closing