hello and welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. you are watching "cnn newsroom" and i'm rosemary church. just ahead, airlines taking action after an engine failed on a boeing 777 scattering debris over colorado. within hours the u.s. will hit 500,000 deaths from covid-19 as medical experts plead for vij against from americans. mass protests in myanmar as

they threaten to take action if the military continues to kill more demonstrators. good to be with us. we have more information on the eng twin failure on the united airlines 777 jet. a passenger captured the terrifying moments in the air on saturday before the pilots made an emergency landing in denver. now boeing is recommending all 777s that use the same engine, the pratt and whitney 4000 series suspend operations. united has already announced it's removing 24 planes from service. all this as the faa says it will be stepping up its inspections. we're also seeing and hearing what it was like on the ground

as debris came crashing into the neighborhoods in colorado. >> those startling images emerging as we are learning new details about the disaster in the sky. pete muntean has more from washington where we have our first look at what may have played a role in the flight 328. the ntsb says one of the fan bolts broke off, damaged another one and other fan blades. in fact, investigators were able

to find parts inside the inner containment ring of the jet engine. now begins the process of piecing this all together. and the focal point of the investigation will be the pratt and whitney 4000 engine, specific to the boeing 77 this incident. the faa has ordered emergency inspections of the fan blades on the pratt and whitney p w-4000 and united airlines says it's removing all of the boeing 77 with the pratt and whitney. united airlines the only one removing them from operation. pete muntean, cnn, washington. in japan the country is

ordering the domestic airlines to stop operating all boeing p 777 planes. let's head straight to tokyo where we are tracking the latest developments. good to see you, blake. japan moving swiftly to halt 777 operations. what more are you learning about this? >> reporter: yeah, rosemary. the first country to act, perhaps the first domino to fall worldwide. it will be interesting to see how other countries react and if they follow suit. the japanese ministry of transport essentially declared all domestic airlines, the planes, the bowing 777s with that pratt and wyatt p w-4000 suspended indefinitely until

they can move forward with further information as far as safety concerns and other measures that will potentially save lives here. a very similar situation that happened just over the weekend in denver. so at this point japan airlines, nippon airways, they have 19 and 13 planes respectively that are the 777 with that pratt and wyatt engine that will be grounded indefinitely at this point, rosemary. >> i think it's pratt and whitney. there was a similar problem back in december, right? what happened then? is this why japan moved so quickly? >> reporter: yeah, absolutely. japan is no stranger to this particular aircraft and engine. back in december of last year there was a boeing 777 that was flying from okinawa to tokyo and

had to make an emergency landing in oak can i na okinawa, a japan airlines flight very similar to what happened over the weekend in denver with the united airlines flight. as a result at the time japan transport ministry asked for further investigation inspection into that particular aircraft and other aircrafts with the same make/model here in japan. again, cnn has reached out to boeing regarding that particular incident. no injuries but boeing had no comment about that incident back in december. so, again, rosemary, as we look forward, the big question here is what are other countries going to do? are they going to follow suit with japan's effort to ground these planes? >> yeah. blake, many thanks for bringing us up to date. appreciate it. joining me now is jeffrey

thomas, the editor in chief of airline ratings.com. good to have you with us. >> pleasure, rosemary. >> when you look at the images of plane debris falling to the ground across colorado neighborhoods, it is extraordinary no one was injured or worse. now united airlines is voluntarily grounding 24 of its planes. what do you make of all of this? >> well, look, indeed. firstly, it was extraordinary good luck, miracle, if you like, that no one on the ground was injured or worse, killed, because there was some very significant pieces of engine cowling that fell to earth. in fact, most of the cowling of that engine came away. this particular incident raises some serious questions because now we know one fan blade

sheared off and damaged another and then was ingested into the engine, this is now identical to a similar incident in 2018, again, united airlines, pratt and whitney flight from san francisco to honolulu, the same thing happened. one fan blade sheared off, damaged another one, ingested into the engine and all the cowling fell away. it was just about to make its descent into honolulu. whatever action was taken after the 2018 incident, why did this incident happen again? it was identical. why did it happen again? there's something to be looked at in terms of the service bulletins that were sent out

after the previous incident. >> what do you think needs to happen next? if this happened in 2018, it happened again, whatever needed to be done wasn't. what needs to happen next? >> well, the faa has issued an emergency airworthiness directive to inspect all 128 of these boeing 777s powered by pratt and whitney engines. the japanese grounded theirs. united took theirs out of operation. and the others are in asia and i suspect they all will be grounded. we should note there are approximately 1,300 777s flying around the world most powered by general electric or rolls royce

eng engines. they are not impacted by this problem that pratt and whitney are facing with their engines. they need to be grounded and we need to have a robust inspection to examine exactly what's going on with this engine. >> we are getting word that core r rekorean airlines are grounding their 777s. boeing has had very serious issues with their planes in recent years. what is going on here? >> well, look, yes, you're absolutely right. all manufacturers have serious issues from time to time. certainly boeing's having a very bad run at the moment. this is a brought and whitney issue, not a boeing issue. it's a pratt and whitney issue and they need to step up very robustly to fix up this issue for their customer airlines and move forward and get it back in

the air. the boeing 777 has an extraordinary record. it's the backbone of international travel and it has an excellent reputation for reliability and safety. yes, it is a black eye for boeing right now. they don't need another black eye but it is a pratt and whitney issue. >> and a wake-up call so hopefully this can be fixed and fixed quickly. jeffrey thomas, many thanks for your analysis on this. >> pleasure. well, now to a plane incident eerily similar to what happened in colorado. you are looking at pieces of metal that broke off and fell to the ground from a boeing 747 cargo plane in the netherlands. the plane was bound for new york on saturday when it experienced an engine fire shortly after takeoff according to dutch officials. two people were injured and

several cars and houses were damaged in the small town. cnn's melissa bell joins us now from paris. melissa, it is disturbingly similar to what happened to the plane in colorado. what more are you learning about this? >> reporter: one thing we are learning, this was a boeing 747 as opposed to the boeing 777 in the denver incident, what was the same was the type of engine used, pratt and whitney 4000 model. this latest incident that took place just seconds after that cargo plane took off on saturday afternoon, that is now the subject of an investigation trying to figure out exactly what happened but what we know so far is that it was just seconds after it took off that air traffic controllers realized there was an engine fire. the pilots took on the emergency procedures to land it as safely as they could. the decision was made not to

turn the plane around but, rather, to have it land in neighboring belgium. not because they couldn't make it back but the airstrip there was longer and it was deemed safer for a plane in trouble. it landed safely but not before you saw the pictures. bits of metal had fallen down on to that town. you'll understand, that would have been pretty terrifying for anyone in the neighborhood. that the subject of the investigation. these are different boeings involved, a 747 cargo plane on its way to new york, it is interesting we are talking about that particular model of pratt and whitney engine. >> the experts seem to think so. melissa bell bringing us up to date on that situation, many thanks. england is on the path to ending a coronavirus lockdown. what we are learning about a roadmap set to be unveiled today. that's coming up. plus, the future of

facemasks. why dr. anthony fauci says they could be with us some time to come. take a look.

500,000 dead. it is an unthinkable number, and yet the u.s. is likely to reach that death toll from coronavirus in the coming hours. this is the very latest count by state. each number representing a parent, a sibling, a neighbor, a co-worker, although case numbers have declined in recent weeks, experts say life-saving public health measures must remain in place. cnn's dana bash asked dr. fauci if americans will still be wearing masks in 2022. >> i think that's possible that's the case. it depends on the level of dynamics of virus that's in the community, and that's really important. if you see the levels coming down really, really very low, i want it to keep going down to a baseline that's so low that there's virtually no threat -- not no, it will never be zero,

but a minimal, minimal threat that you will be exposed to someone who is infected. >> dr. fauci has also said that a backlog in vaccinations caused by winter weather should be cleared by mid week. so far 5.7% of the u.s. population has been vaccinated. it's estimated that number needs to reach between 70 to 85% for herd immunity to be achieved. joining me now from new haven, connecticut, is the director of the yale institute for global health. thank you, doctor, for talking with us and all that you do. >> my pleasure. >> the united states has lost nearly 500,000 people to covid, a horrifying milestone. at the same time we are seeing deaths, hospitalization cases dropping. could this be the beginning of the end or do we have to be even

more vigilant now because of the variants out there? >> i think these are really good signs but i don't think this is the time to let our guard down. i think what these numbers tell us, that some of these efforts work. people are on top of that, people modify their behavior. as we build up herd immunity, as we build up immunity in the population, we need to stay the course so this decrease becomes permanent. >> right. about 6 million vaccinations were delayed as a result of that u.s. storm that knocked out power. how hard will it be to catch up on those missed shots? do we need more mass vaccination centers to get this done at a greater speed? >> i think in terms of the short-term destruction, i think it's just that. having talked to colleagues who are at the more operational level and some of the effort that i'm involved in, i think

there will be a quick catchup and resumption. it will take a couple of days but not more than that to go back to the same cadence that we had seven, eight days ago. the more long-term issue is now the supply issue. i think we should continue to add more sites, but we are quickly reaching a stage where it's not a distribution issue anymore. it is a distribution issue in the sense it should get to the right communities, et cetera, meaning high-risk communities and everyone should get it. the next bottleneck or even the existing bottleneck is the total number of doses that are available. there are a couple of new vaccines that will be evaluated by the fda fairly soon. these vaccines should add, if they are authorized, they should add more to the u.s. supply. >> yes. i think the johnson & johnson vaccine is on its way.

it should be approved for emergency use very soon. we are seeing some covid vaccination hesitancy. how much do you worry that the u.s. won't get to herd immunity? you touched on this. because of this hesitancy or do you think it's achievabchievabl? >> i think it's achievable. here's what's happening right now. here's what's happening on the ground. what different entities and organizations of states and jurisdictions are doing is that they are making an effort to get to each priority group. they are making some efforts to address vaccine hesitancy but not for long. people are not waiting for those hesitant to move up, they move onto the next stage and the stage after that. i think we will get into a plateau in the spring or summer where the increase in vaccination rates will not be as

sharp, even with additional supply, as we have right now. i think as a country and even globally we need to have a campaign, a strategic communications and vaccination campaign. >> one shot of the pfizer and moderna vaccines offers about 85% efficacy. should we be getting as many shots in arms now and worry about that second shot later or should we continue aiming for the two-shot regimen within the set time frame? which school of thought are you on that? >> here's my perspective. i think these data are encouraging. i think policy makers should take into account perhaps a differential strategy where you're going for two dose for now for higher risk populations, meaning those who are at a higher risk of death after infection, likely certain but not all co-morbidities meaning certain kinds of other diseases

that predispose you to severe outcomes after covid. then for low risk groups or lower risk groups, maybe start with a one-dose strategy. >> dr. saad omar, many thanks. >> my pleasure. the end could be in sight for england's third and hopefully final lockdown. boris johnson is set to announce a roadmap today on how to start lifting restrictions. downing street says measures will be eased step by step and must pass four key tests to move ahead. joining me now from london is cnn's esa soares. what are these four key tests? >> reporter: good morning, rosie. that's right. the nation will be anxiously waiting to see what that roadmap looks like from prime minister boris johnson who's due to speak

at 7:00 local time. this is our third lockdown. we've been in lockdown since january. you can imagine some people want to return to some sense of normal. the prime minister who has been looking at data has been very clear he's going to be guided by the data and not by dates clearly having learned from previous mistakes, rosie. there are four conditions that the prime minister says must be met before opening up in different states. let me walk you through it. first of all is the vaccination program. that continues successfully. 17.5 million people have the first dose of the vaccine. that is 1/3 of the populations. incredibly successful. many people out there still vulnerable. the second point he's made out is evidence showing the vaccines are being successful in reducing hospitalizations to those who

receive the vaccine. the last few minutes, in fact, we have heard from the u.k. vaxx minister said oxford's astrazeneca has shown good evidence that their own vaccine reduces transmission by 2/3. so that's very important data. very key data that the prime minister will be looking at as he looks to how to open up the country and the economy. the third point is infection rates. they keep dropping. it has dropped. they will keep dropping for the month of february and march. that has an impact on hospitalizations and the impact that might have, of course, on the national health survey, not putting too much pressure on the national health service. the fourth point, the fourth point he's looking at is the variants. that's opening up too quickly. it does not create a breeding ground, rosie, for variants putting at risk a vaccination program, creating a surge in

hospitalizations and infections. it is a vicious cycle. what we expect from the prime minister, that is not the case. what we do expect is a slow and phased opening but an irreversible one. the schools, rosie, expecting to open on march -- on march 8th and then the second phase will be at the end just after -- during easter holidays, rosie. >> hope it all moves very smoothly. isa soares, many thanks. some australians have received their first coronavirus doses. about 60,000 doses of the pfizer biontech vaccine are expected to be administered by the end of the week to front line workers and senior citizens. the oxford astrazeneca vaccine will be received in the coming weeks. the prime minister received his shot. he reminded the people they were

cleared by the country's top medical experts and are safe and effective. still to come, as millions in texas remain without safe water, others are receiving electricity bills in the thousands. we will tell you what state officials plan to do about that. and protesters in myanmar have gathered again to denounce the military coup. now officials are saying their lives are in danger if they don't disperse. we're back in a moment.

myanmar leaders have said they will suffer the loss of

life, unquote, if they keep up this civil disobedience campaign. activists are not planning to stop. the country's leading pro democracy group is calling for historic demonstrations today. tens of thousands of people have been holding marches and rallies every day for more than two weeks, and those demonstrators have already suffered the loss of life. crowds of people are holding a vigil for two people shot and killed this week. the u.s. secretary of state is promising swift actions for those who commit violence against protesters. paula hancocks joins us live from seoul. those pictures, so many people gathered out on the streets there and yet the military, myanmar, warning that their lives are in danger and asking them to disperse. they are standing firm. >> reporter: yes, rosemary.

there are significant numbers we can see on the streets at the moment. the live streams coming through from different cities showing just how many people have heeded that call from the civil disobedience movement asking for this to be an historic day. they have been calling for people to close their shops, their businesses and come out onto the streets calling for the reinstatement of their democratically elected government. it is significant that so many have come out since we have just been through the deadliest weekend in myanmar since the february 1st coup. two people killed on saturday as security forces were trying to disperse protesters. the first casualty on friday. she lost her life after being in critical condition for ten days. it is an ominous warning from the military saying, quote, they will suffer the loss of life. they have raised incitement

towards riot and anarchy. in mandolay, they used crowd dispersal methods but the protesters have turned to riots and anarchy so they had to fire back. clearly, this is a very different story to what we are hearing from protesters and what much of the international community is believing at this point. we had a tweet from the u.n., tom andrews, saying he is, quote, deeply concerned with an ominous warning by the hunta that protesters are inciting with the people. unlike 1988 when there was a bloody crackdown for the uprising, actions are being recorded and you will be held accountable. this is a very consistent message we're hearing from the u.n. and u.s. and many other international leaders saying the world is watching and if the

military does use force against protesters, then they will be held accountable. this was also said last week, rosemary, and still we had two more people being killed over the weekend. >> the world will continue to watch this. we will watch this story very closely. paula hancocks bringing us the latest. many thanks. millions of texans are waking up without a clean water supply again today after a devastating winter storm caused massive disruption last week. these were the scenes in houston over the weekend as people lined up for emergency water supplies. late sunday the city lifted the boil water emergency. the challenges for many, the mayor says, will remain. >> starting to turn the corner a little bit, but the reality is as you can see, there are a lot of people in need of water.

i was saying just this morning, even once the boil water notice is lifted, because people have so many busted pipes, they will still need water, you know, until they get their homes repaired. >> about 16,000 homes and businesses across the state are still without power. many of those whose electricity did stay on during the winter storms are now being hit by massive bills. one texas congressman tells cnn emergency aid will help cover those costs. >> i assume you're going to do something to help people pay those bills. are you saying you'll use the disaster relief funding from the federal government? >> yes. yeah. that's the current plans with the federal assistance, be able to help the homeowners, both repair because we have a lot of water leaks, a lot of water damage, pipes bursting, but also their electricity bills as well.

a dangerous week in texas is a wake-up call. joining me from houston, texas, is daniel cohan. an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering from rice university. good to have you with us. >> good to be here. thank you. you've had to deal with this personally, of course. and as millions froze due to power outages, then a lack of clean water, but from a professional perspective, why did energy systems fail texans? who's to blame for this vulnerability? >> right. this was really a failure of our energy systems, not just our electric system. we saw how vulnerable our gas systems and power systems are together. if one goes down, another can go down with it. >> governor abbott blames energy company ercot but does he hold

some of the responsibility? who should pay these power bills? some as high as $17,000. >> a lot of this comes down to state leadership, the governor, public electricity system. ercot manages the grid. it doesn't have authority to enforce some aspects and it doesn't have any control over the gas system. what we saw this time was a breakdown of the gas supply system. no matter how well operating the power plants were, if they didn't have any gas to burn, then lights went out for all of us. >> with these storms causing multiple power outages, rs halting 1/3 of u.s. ss. oil production, and impacting vaccinations in 28 states, it is a wake-up call. how can we make sure this doesn't happen again? how likely is it that it will happen again if we don't move

swiftly? >> right. we've seen how vulnerable our systems are. we've seen how vulnerable our water systems are to our power systems. this afternoon we got water access back that we no longer have to boil our water all across houston. it was a couple of days that go my wife's hospital got back while they were treating carbon monoxide poisoning, hypothermia and they didn't have water in the toilets. we see how dependent the systems are on each other. this happened in a storm that was stronger than we've had in ten years but it's a level of storm we've had before. we are going to be threatened by other climate risks, by floods, and hurricanes, and droughts and we need our systems to be more resilient for a wide range of weather issues. >> who needs to make the first move to ensure that happens? >> this is happening while our state legislature is in session. we have a legislature that meets only two years so there's the

opportunity for the legislature to act on this. it's really a matter for the legislature, for the governor, for the public utilities commission to address. it's not something ercot can address on its own. i hope our leaders step up and not to try to happen to wind and solar operate orgs where a tiny fraction of the power that went down, we can look at this as a systems challenge and realize we need both gas and electricity to be working together. >> daniel cohen, thank you very much for talking with us. >> thank you, rosemary. if you'd like to help victims of the crisis in texas, you will find a list of vetted organizations at cnn.com/impact. and still to come, confirmation hearings begin today for u.s. attorney general nominee merrick garland and republican lawmakers have lined

up hard-hitting questions to see how the judge responds. and get back t to your rhythm. feel the power. beat t the symptoms fast.

in the coming hours, u.s. president joe biden's pick to lead the attorney general's office is merrick garland. senate republicans previously refused to hold a nomination hearing. now garland will be questioned on how he plans to lead the justice department. here's his statement. 150 years after it was founded battling exfrtremists attacks o our democratic institutions also

remains central to its mission. if confirmed, i will supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the capitol on january 6th, a heinous attack. our law is not the instruments of partisan purpose. >> reporter: judge merrick garland guaranteed impartiality when he accepted the nomination of attorney general one day after the capitol insurrection. >> we made a mistake. >> reporter: this week senate republicans demand garland fully commit to investigating andrew cuomo for not reporting all covid related nursing home deaths in 2020. the fbi has already opened an investigation. >> i'm absolutely calling on a special counsel to look at all

things hunter biden. >> senators will raise the investigation of hunter biden. the department of justice has already charged more than 220 people in connection with the capitol attack. >> we fight. we fight like hell. >> reporter: but garland is expected to field questions on investigating former president donald trump. >> from a personal point of view, i want it to go. >> garland has acknowledged his personal connection.

>> this will be a homecoming for me. >> reporter: he started in the late 1970s and worked as a prosecutor before becoming a top official during the clinton administration. >> i am very confident he will look at every case on the merits. he will make sure that the department operates seamlessly across different elements. >> reporter: people who know him say garland will bring his demeanor as a judge to a position that's been politicized by four attorneys general. he'll have to decide whether to enforce trump policies. he'll have to walk a fine line since he's still technical a a sitting judge and has not seen details about the cases he'll soon have to confront. garland's statement monday will focus on the importance of an independent doj, the value of

integrity and how civil rights will be a main priority on the justice department. jessica schneider, cnn, washington. in the coming hours the u.s. house will take up president joe biden's $1.9 trillion covid relief bill. a full floor vote is expected later this week. then it moves to the senate. there's no time to waste because pandemic unemployment benefits, they expire soon. included is a proposal for a minimum wage increase. several democratic senators are opposed but representative jaipala says it is ready. >> this $15 minimum wage increase would mean 30 million americans would get a raise, americans would come out of poverty and 30% of the minimum wage workers are black, 25% are latin x. it is absolutely essential we do it and i believe the senate will

do it. >> meantime, the u.s. will reach half a million covid deaths this week. mr. biden and vice president kamala harris will mark the grim milestone with a candlelight ceremony at the white house. it was one year ago today that europe saw its first glimpse of what life under a covid lockdown would look like. ahead on cnn we will take you to italy where it all started.

welcome back, everyone. some europeans flap coronavirus restrictions, it was just one year ago italy was launching the first covid lockdowns. the country was quickly becoming the new virus epicenter overwhelmed with deaths and infections. delia gallagher joins us from rome. one year later what does life look like in italy? >> reporter: well, rosemary, like in many countries, times are still difficult in italy. not like it was one year ago when the first case of coronavirus was discovered in the tiny town in northern italy

which led to the first national lockdown in europe. one year on we went back to speak to some of the residents. take a listen. february 21st, 2020, is a date the people of codog fno, italy, will never forget. the first case was reported here and it was what became a national and international pandemic. the resident said it was the mother of all tests. we live differently now. the mayor said he still gets goose bumps when he remembers that day which took them all by surprise. seeing the risk in europe, he says, was practically zero, nothing. instead, it was among us and already stricken.

from that first patient italy has seen the disease spread to more than 2.7 million citizens and close to 100,000 have died. 324 people died in the first three months as well. in a town of 16,000 residents, this past year has taken its toll. we lost so many friends, so many relatives and they are never coming back. codogno was the first town to go into strict lockdown. this was followed soon by other towns and eventually the entire country. one year on codogno residents echo sentiments by many. >> it's crazy. i don't live like this anymore. no. no. no. >> reporter: mayor is optimistic

things have improved. last year we were really fighting bare handed, he says, an enemy we couldn't see and didn't know. this year we make giant steps, both in prevention and diagnosis. the mayor says he is proud of his town, a front line, he says, where the battle was fought and resistance and resilience continue. >> reporter: rosemary, italians are still living under travel restrictions and curfews. they have a new prime minister, mario draghi installed last week. many hopes are pinned on him and his new government to help speed up the vaccine rollout plan and also come up with an economic recovery plan. >> delia gallagher joining us there. appreciate it. thank you for joining us. i'm rosemary church.

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hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world. you are watching "cnn newsroom" and i'm rosemary church. just ahead, boeing faces scrutiny. some airlines ground planes and the u.s. steps up investigations after this mid flight engine fire over colorado. texas still recovering from a severe winter storm and searching for answers after massive power failures caused chaos. and the u.s. struggling with a vaccine su