o miami beach declares a state of emergency. feeling the pressure of florida's decision to reopen almost everything during the pandemic. people across the u.s. rally against racial violence in the wake of the atlanta-spa shootings, with many asking why it's not, yet, labeled a hate crime. and agents scramble to process thousands of unaccompanied children. the government, spending millions on hotel rooms for mieg r migrant families. how the biden administration was caught off guard by the border

crisis. live, from cnn world headquarters in atlanta. welcome to all of you watching here, in the united states, canada, and around the world. i'm kim brunhuber. this is cnn "newsroom. " we begin, with the tense situation unfolding in miami beach, florida. where hoards of college students have descended on the city, for spring break. look at those pictures. police say, about a dozen people were arrested, saturday night, after an emergency curfew took effect. officials say, they took the action, because the unwelcome crush of visitors was more than the city could cope with during the pandemic. the mayor says, many people came to miami beach, precisely, because it doesn't have the covid restrictions found everywhere else. >> we've had very challenging spring breaks, in other times.

i mean, we're a city that's 92,000 residents, but will sometimes have 2 to 300,000 people here. the problem is that, this particular time, and i think it's because of -- of the pandemic, almost no other destinations are open. so, we have been beside ourself. we're having issues not just on weekend but on weekday evenings. we ever been arresting many, many people, every single day. more than most communities will arrest in a month or year. it's just creating disorder and danger to our cops, to our arrestees, to bystanders. so, we just had enough of it, frankly. >> the spring-break celebrations come, as the u.s. government reports vaccinations are gaining momentum, after a slow start. right now, an average-2.4 million shots are administered every day in the u.s. the centers for disease control and prevention says 43 million americans have now been fully inoculated. that's about 13% of the population. 79 million americans have received at least one shot. health experts say, it's now a

race to get as many people vaccinated, before new-covid variants can take hold and cause another wave. dr. anthony fauci is optimistic, it can be done. now, listen to this. >> vaccines are coming on, really well. between 2 and 3 million doses, per day, are going into people. if we could just hang on, a bit longer, the more people get vaccinated, the less likelihood that there is going to be a surge. new lockdowns and restrictions have provoked angry protests, across europe. scuffles broke out in london, as police tried to get demonstrators to go home. three-dozen people were arrested, there. saturday's protest in switzerland, germany, sweden, and elsewhere, were among the largest, in months. the new restrictions were imposed due to fears of a rising, third wave of infections. the uk's vaccination campaign relies heavily on the drug developed by astrazeneca and oxford university.

european regulators reaffirmed, last week, that it is safe. though, many people remain apprehensive. cnn's scott mclean reports, from london. >> reporter: 28 million doses of coronavirus vaccine, and counting, have been pushed into arms across the united kingdom. but at this clinic, in east london, the oxford-astrazeneca shot is, sometimes, a tough sell. >> some people say no. so i just want to know a bit more about that. >> okay. tell me what you are worrying about. >> previously, maybe 19 years ago, i do have a blood-clot problem. >> reporter: more patients are coming in looking not just for the vaccine but, also, for a bit of reassurance. >> i just think, the risk of covid, itself, far outweigh any -- any risk of the vaccine. >> yeah. yeah. you do -- you do worry. >> do you think that the astrazeneca vaccine has a bit of an image problem? >> i think it does now, yes. i think it definitely does now.

>> reporter: the uk has seen the number of new cases, deaths, and hospitalizations fall sharply, in recent months. thanks, in part, to its successful vaccination campaign which uses both the pfizer-biontech shot and, also, the oxford-astrazeneca vaccine. this week, more than a dozen countries temporarily stopped using the astrazeneca shot, after a very small number of people developed rare forms of blood clots. an urgent review, by the european union vaccine regulator, could not definitively rule out a link between the clots and the vaccine but found its benefits far outweigh its risks. britain never stopped giving the vaccine. but even here, its reputation could use a shot in the arm. >> we have seen people that haven't turned up for their appointments. and -- and our appointment levels are down. so, not all our clinics are full this time, this week. >> have people been asking for the pfizer vaccine, more often? >> they have been asking for the pfizer, more often. and if that's a change and --

and earlier, we had people that wanted the british one. >> reporter: most european countries are resuming their astrazeneca-vaccine rollouts. the challenge, now, is convincing people to take it. a recent poll found only 20% of french people trust the astrazeneca vaccine. but, in london, many are still happy to have it. >> i think it's pretty unwise of the european government to, sort of, to do what they did, yeah. >> reporter: so if you were offered it tomorrow, you would take it? >> i was offered on tuesday, and i took it. >> reporter: you have full trust in it? >> 100%. >> i have already taken my jab, so i have no problem with it. >> reporter: would you prefer the pfizer one? >> yeah, sure thing, 100%. >> reporter: but you guys would both take either one? >> i'll take either one, yeah. >> those in the specialized field say it's safe. >> reporter: on friday, british prime minister, boris johnson, got his first dose of the vaccine and made sure to point

out it was the astrazeneca scott mclean, cnn london. >> for the latest, let's go to cnn's phil black. so, phil, even though there were protests against restrictions in the can you, it sounds as though people will likely be out of the woods, in terms of restrictions at least, a lot sooner than people across much of the eu. >> yeah, that's right, kim. here, there is a sense of optimism and hope. in europe, mainland europe, the continent, not so much. it is, very much, two separate pandemic stories playing out in europe right now. in europe, on the continent, there is this new, grim phase unfolding. with new restrictions and lockdowns. talk of imminent action, of that kind, in some countries. all, because of what's described as a third wave. so, with all the difficulties that come with that. plus, an added frustration for many people. and that is, this sense that it didn't necessarily have to be this way because they know the vaccines are out there. but they, also, know that european countries, eu countries, do not, yet, have

sufficient supply, in order to roll that out in such a way that it can make a significant difference in driving down transmission, in the near future. compare that to here, in the uk. just a short distance away and you get the other pandemic story, in europe. and this is where a rollout of the vaccine or vaccines is taking place, at pace. and is at a very advanced stage, realli realliment. the uk government announced yesterday at least half the adult po population has now received at least one dose. impacting key indicators, hospital admissions, and deaths. they are dropping steadily, and they are expected to do so. so, here, in the uk, people are talking about, maybe, taking holidays in the future. pubs, reopening. in the eu, it is, very much, this frustration over the shortage of vaccines. and you are really hearing that expressed by eu leadership, who are talking about, potentially, engaging in what would effectively be a vaccine-trade

war, with the united -- with the united kingdom. blocking vaccine exports to the uk. their anger is fueled by the fact, and what they perceive to be the injustice that eu produced vaccines are flowing into the uk but uk-produced vaccines are yet to flow in the other direction. so it's why you hear lots u officials talking about this concept of reciprocity and taking action against countries they believe are not living up to it. they are talking about the uk, kim. >> thanks so much, phil black, and essex, england. appreciate it. earlier, i spoke with dr. keith neil. i asked him, if pausing the astrazeneca vaccine rollout in europe, over blood clot fears would further erode confidence in the shot, and possibly cost lives. >> no one has ever said vaccines are totally safe. we do know that blood clots

occur, naturally, in people. you have only got to look at the risk for women, post pregnancy. anybody who is had an operation may have worn those white stockings to prevent blood clots forming. in fact, the rate of blood clots in people vaccinated is lower than one might expect at the general population. there is a few issues of some of the more serious thrombosis. the germans and the norwegians have highlighted. but we are talking about seven episodes or maybe, even, let's say, 17 episodes in over 17-million doses of vaccine. i have seen figures calculated that, in europe, for every day you don't vaccinate 100,000 people, it's costing you 5-to-15 lives, a day. >> wow. and then, write as one writer put it, adverse effects of covid-19, is death. so, obviously, the risk is worth the -- the -- the vaccine there. do you think this controversy is sapping confidence in the

vaccine even in the uk? and undermine what's been, so far, a very successful rollout there? >> i would be surprised if it didn't. but not seeing the results. our big problem has been having to stop the under 50s due to a vaccine-supply issue. throughout my 30-40-year career, we have always had vaccine-supply issues, with one vaccine or another. part of the problem with the european vaccine was that they decided to order vaccine, only from factories within the eu. that must be for political reasons. and it's the factories, in europe, that have had problems. are -- the problems in britain, when we started setting up three months earlier, have had much more time to sort out teasing problems. our shortfall in supply is because of a problem with india and these supply problems were totally predictable. >> i want to switch focus, now, to -- to the classrooms here, in the u.s., there's been a renewed push to get all the kids back into in-person classes.

the new-cdc guidelines include measures, like reducing the distance, from 6 feet, to 3 feet. but many teachers unions here, you know, still weary or skeptical of in-person until all the teachers have been vaccinated. and more broadly, the lessons we might learn from the uk which has had more children in classes for longer than we have here? >> well, we have done lots of work on this. and the rate of death among teachers, particularly, primary-school teachers, is way below the national average. for people and also for older, secondary teachers, it's similar to the whole population. we know that young children are not very good at spreading it within the household. so -- so, in classroom, that risk must be less. the other thing is i have read two papers, on thursday night. one was from scotland, looking at health-care workers in -- and i think that was a scottish

health-care worker, which showed that the more young children, under the age of 11, you had at home. the less likely you were to go down with serious covid. suggesting that, other coronaviruses may provide cr cross immunity. >> that was infectious disease physician, keith neil. ahead, on cnn. we are learning more about object victims in the deadly shooting rampage in atlanta. including details of this woman. she was building her american dream but killed just days before her 50th birthday. can ts into mouthwatering meals. ♪ veggies taste amazing with knorr. pain hits fast. so get relief fast. only tylenol rapid release gels have laser-drilled holes. they release medicine fast for fast pain relief.

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crimes against people of asian descent in the u.s. have surged, along with racist rhetoric since the pandemic started. some victims say, they have even been blamed for covid-19. meanwhile, we're learning more about the victims of the deadly attack. cnn's natasha chen has that part of the story. >> reporter: four of the eight people killed were here, at two different spas in atlanta. the south korean foreign ministry identified them as being of korean descent. one of them, a south korean citizen, who was a u.s.-permanent resident. the other three, believed to be americans, of korean descent. now, at the third-spa location, in cherokee county. one of the victims, i had the opportunity to sit down with her family and talk about her story. she seemed to really build the american dream for herself. she came from china and, first, came to the u.s., to florida, as a nail technician. worked her way up, moved to georgia, and ended up buying businesses. first, one spa and then a

second. she was known as a very hard worker. sometimes, working seven days a week. always, saving her money, and made quite the impression on her customers and fellow-business owners, nearby, as being an incredibly friendly person. i want to share, with you, something her daughter said about the experience of tuesday. and waiting to find out the news about her mother. and after you hear from her daughter, jamie, you will hear from michael webb, her ex-husband. talking about how fiercely tan defended the legitimacy of her business. >> i was just hoping that it was not my mom. it's not my mom. so, i was having this hope that, maybe, my mom got shot and somewhere else. like, maybe, on the arms or on somewhere that it wouldn't be, like, took her life away. >> she never knows what goes on behind closed doors.

she made sure that she trained them. they had meetings every week. they had signage. she didn't allow locks on the doors. she wanted to know where her employees were, who the -- who the customers were. she used to tell me, a lot of times, she would throw customers out because they would come in. and think that they could -- could -- could have sex. and she would -- she'd say, get out of my business. you know? and she would throw 'em out. and so, you -- you know, she -- she -- she was -- she was -- she was a strong-mother hen over that business and the people that worked there. she -- she protected it. >> i had to ask them about their feelings on this possibly being a hate crime, which is being debated so heavily.

michael webb told me that he really wants investigators to complete their work, and didn't want to make a judgment on that. now, jamie, her daughter, said that she does understand where the asian-american community is coming from, as far as the feelings of fear and anxiety, in this climate. but again, they wanted to emphasize that they'd rather have the authorities make that call, without making a statement on that, ahead of time. natasha chen, cnn, atlanta. >> rallies were held across california, on saturday, in response to the shooting rampage, in the atlanta area. it comes, as legislation is being introduced, in california, to make it easier and safer to report hate crimes. cnn's paul vercammen is following both stories for us. >> reporter: you can hear the sounds of a march behind me. the drums. this is little tokyo, and there are one-and-a-half million asian-americans or people of asian-american descent in los angeles county. and what leaders have been telling us, whether their roots are in the philippines, korea,

china, or japan, or other countries, is that they have been feeling this target on their backs during this wave of anti-asian violence. but they say, there is a remedy. the legislative process. and one assemblyman is now looking to pass a bill, that would put in place, a hotline. a hotline, where asians who might be culturally reluctant to report a crime, can call the hotline, anonymously. >> so one of the biggest problems in fighting hate crimes is that too many of the incidents are not reported. many of the victims, you know, they may be reluctant to deal with law enforcement. they -- they may choose not to report incidents, even when they're victims. and so, we want to make it as -- as easy and as safe as possible, for people to even be able to report incidents, anonymously. i mean, there are many people in the immigrant community. some, that are undocumented. and so, we want to make it as easy and safe as possible for people to report these incidents of hate crime. >> reporter: now, this vigil in little tokyo, also, focused on

the treatment of asian-american seniors, specifically, japanese seniors, in some retirement homes. there was an inordinate amount of deaths in two of these homes. they also don't want to see japanese-americans, transferred, or lose their place in any of the homes due to eviction. one thing for certain, though, we are starting to see this community coalesce. this asian-american community, in los angeles mand that was evident by what happened on the streets of los angeles today. reporting from little tokyo, i am paul vercammen. now, back to you. >> russell jong, professor of asian-american studies at san francisco state university. thank you, so much, for joining us. i want to start with the -- the report by your organization found nearly 3,800 incidents of bias over the course of the year. during the -- the pandemic. through a self-reporting portal. most of those incidents, i understand, were name calling and almost 70% of those

incidents were against women. i understand that your -- your wife is among them. tell us what happened and -- and what it says, to you, about the motives behind many of these incidents. >> right. so, thanks for having me, kim. of the 3,800 cases, women are harassed 2.3 times more than men. and people think or attack those who they think are more vulnerable. so, my wife was running on a trail. and someone deliberately blocked her path, and then coughed in her face. and this is just an incident that's similar to hundreds of cases that we found. actually, found so often, in the reports, that we created a special category for being coughed on and spat upon. it's a really debasing, aberrant

behavior. and we weren't, you know, tracking whether people coughed on each other or spat on each other's face. but because of the pandemic, because of the fear and the anger, and because people treat asians, now, like objects. as outsiders. they feel free to attack us, in such dehumanizing ways. >> the scale of the violence. i mean, it -- it -- is it increasing, i wonder? i mean, months before the horrible murders. i think, it was in april, you said in an interview that the -- the -- the dangers of the stigma and vilification -- let me get it. the quote here -- could have genuine life-or-death consequences. do you feel that, you know, early warnings like yours about the seriousness of this issue have been ignored? >> i think it was ignored. president trump insisted on using the term, chinese virus. the republican party, in his campaign, continued to scapegoat and blame china and bash china.

and that china bashing opened the way for the bashing of chinese people and those who look like them. so, there was dire warnings, early on. we -- our worst-case scenario, that people would be so angry, and have their anger directed toward asians that we would have something like a mass shooting and our worst fears have been realized. >> further complicating things, the ongoing tensions with china, itself. which -- which we saw play out last week when the secretary of state met china's top diplomat. more and more americans list china as america's number-one enemy. and you have argued that, in turn, affects how asian-americans are perceived here. >> right. so, american-foreign policy, in asia, actually translates into asian-american domestic policies. that, how the u.s. relates to, say, japan, during world war ii

impacted japanese americans and led to their incarceration. when the u.s. declared a war on terrorism, that impacted south asians, muslims, and arab-americans, here, in the u.s. so, a u.s.-china cold war, a hard stance against china and portraying china as enemy makes chinese, in the u.s., the enemy. and it's really dangerous for chinese-americans, and asian-americans. so, the u.s. is currently holding thousands of migrant youngsters in custody near the southern border. many of them are just kids, separated from their family. now, waiting in shelters. what's the biden administration doing about it? we'll explain, next. woooooow. it's crispy. it's creamy. it's not your average chocolate bar. smooth milk chocolate, crispy wafer and creamy hazelnut filling.

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and welcome back to all of you watching here, in the united states, canada, and around the world. new documents obtained by cnn show there are more than 5,000 unaccompanied children being held by u.s. customs and border protection. the biden administration is scrambling to find more shelter for the growing number of migrant children in custody. the government has signed a deal to pay $86 million for hotel rooms, covid testing, processing, and other services for mieg grant families as they await court hearings. officials say the contract will provide more than 1,200 beds. with more children arriving, every day, federal authorities are planning to open another temporary-use shelter in texas. and that's in addition to a new

facility that just opened in dallas. cnn's priscilla alvarez there in dallas. >> the biden administration is using a convention center in dallas to begin to accommodate the number of children crossing the u.s.-mexico border alone. the convention center behind me is now being called an emergency-intake site. it's been outfitted with cots. children will be provided medical services, as well as books and games, as they work their way through the process to be relocated with family in the united states. this is one of many steps the administration is taking to try to alleviate overcrowding in border-patrol facilities. and so, health and human services department, working around the clock to try to find shelters for these children, including the site behind me. i'm in dallas, priscilla alvarez, cnn. the biden administration won't call the situation at the border a crisis. and even though the president, himself, promised transparency when he took office. journalists have been blocked from reporting on conditions inside detention facilities. we get more on that from cnn's

arlette saenz at the white house. >> reporter: when homeland security secretary, alejandro mayorkas, traveled to the border this week, he did so, without any reporters on that trip. the department of homeland security cited privacy concerns, and the covid-19 pandemic, as the reason why the media was not allowed to accompany him on that trip to those border facilities. but this follows a pattern, from the biden administration, as this border crisis has been brewing. so far, reporters have not been allowed into those border-processing facilities, where those unacco unaccompanied-migrant children are being -- being housed. many of these facilities, not entirely fit to house children for long periods of time. as some of them are now. now, while the secretary mayorkas was down at the border, he was also accompanied by some senators. and one of those senators, on the trip, democratic senator chris murphy, tweeted about the conditions that he saw.

he said, just left the border-processing facility. hundreds of kids, packed into big-open rooms in a corner, i fought back tears as a 13-year-old girl sobbed unco uncontrollably explaining through a translator how terrified she was. this is one of many scenes that is potentially playing out at these facilities. but so far, the media has not had access to them. to see what is actually happening on the ground. now, the white house has vowed that they want to be transparent. and are working on ways to make that access possible at the white house. but so far, there no timeline, just yet, of when reporters will be allowed into those facilities. arlette saenz, cnn, the white house. caring for the most vulnerable children, in a wartorn country. just ahead on cnn "newsroom." we will visit a septemcenter fo with down syndrome in syria as we mark world down syndrome day.

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watching some extraordinary video here showing an entire house being swept away by flash flooding on australia's eastern coast. the government has declared a natural disaster, in parts of new south wales. and for some areas, it's being called a once-in-a-century event. heavy rains there have forced thousands to evacuate. prime minister scott morrison says adults and children who have been affected will receive one-time disaster-relief payments. well, for more on this, let's bring in cnn meteorologist, derek van dam. derek, when i think australia, think drought. i don't think flooding. what's behind this generational flooding here? >> you make a very good point there, because it was just a year ago that they were dealing with the catastrophic fires that inundated this region. the -- the brush fires. and what a difference a year makes. it's a difference between

weather patterns. well, we are in la nina now and that typically brings rainfall to this part of the world but to get that amount of rain in a short period of time, of course, that is going to cause all kinds of trouble. there have been 16 declarations of natural-disaster declarations across the coastal areas of new south wales. in fact, the largest urban freshwater supply to sydney has overfilled its banks. and that is overflowing into the river river and streams around it. i wish i had better news to report but this is going to get worse, before it gets better because we have several days of rain ahead of us. at least through the middle part of this week. the reason be it is actually low pressure dropping in from the central portions of the continent. teaming up with this high pressure just off the tazmin sea. so, storms are moving over the same locations, that have already received rain. that's called training of storms. and you can just see, that

firehose of moisture just streaming into the east coast. look at sydney to newcastle. rainfall totals here have easily topped 350 millimeters. that's just in a 24-hour period and there is more to come. check this out. computer models getting a good handle of 12, 24, and 36-hours out. we know what's coming. we know what to prepare for. but that doesn't make it any easier for the residents that live here. 300 millimeters possible over the next three days. you can see some of that shading of orange and red along the east coast. it's -- flooding is so significant by the way, kim, that satellite imagery from space is able to detect the dispersion of this water in and around the east coast of new south wales. quite a historic event. once in a century, as authorities are calling it. back to you. >> yeah, it's unbelievable stuff. all right. thanks so much, cnn meteorologist, derek van dam. turkish-women's groups are outraged that president recep tayyip erdogan has pulled the country out of an international treaty designed to protect

women. and ironically, named for the country's largest city, cnn's has more from istanbul. >> reporter: hundreds have gathered here to protest president erdogan's decision to withdrawal his country from the istanbul convention. people woke up to this news of the presidential decree on saturday. that has really sent shockwaves across the country. there is so much anger here. a short time ago, they were reading the names of women who have been killed. it was ten years ago, that the council of europe's binding pact to combat violence against women was signed in this city. turkey was the first country to sign the convention. but since last summer, there has been a heated debate in this country. lobbying, by some conservative and religious groups, to withdraw from the convention that, they say, damages family

unity and traditional values. and quote -- and quote, legitimizes the lgbt community. women's rights defenders say that this is a nightmare. this is only going to empower abusers of women, they say. this is a country that has a serious domestic-violence and femicide problem. at least 78 women have been killed, so far, this year, according to a women's rights group. that is a woman every single day, so far, this year. and they are very worried that this is only going to get worse. and they say this is not just about the istanbul convention. the way this happened. despite the reassurances from government ministers saying the country's laws will safeguard women's rights. they are very concerned that even turkey's domestic laws are,

now, in jeopardy. a lot of people say that this is a dark day for turkey. not just for women's rights in this country. critics of president erdogan are very concerned that this move, by presidential decree, is just another step in the wrong direction by this president. taking this country further down that road of one-man rule. jomana karadsheh, cnn, istanbul. today is world down syndrome day. the u.n. chose the date to symbolize the developmental condition, which is caused when a person has three copies of the 21st chromosome. so, 321, march 21st. it's a day for raising awareness and advocating for inclusion. arwa damon visited the only center for children with down syndrome in war-torn idlib, syria.

>> reporter: it's hardly what we expected to find. but from the moment the children piled off the school bus, we were enchanted. the dingy building, the dark staircase. the tiny classroom. all of it, melted away. overtaken by the rare beauty of what's happening here. as the other children sway and dance to the music, sara keeps her head down. it's her first day. she is shy and scared. the other children were like this, as well, when they first started. learning tools are shared. it's all they can afford at this center for children with down syndrome. the only one of its kind in war-torn idlib. all the staff here are volunteers, drawn to the center because, while syria's war has eradicated childhood, it has been especially cruel for the most vulnerable. they finally manage to coax sara outside. isolation brought on by war, the

lack of specific resources, mean that many children with down syndrome regressed. while others never learn the basics, like walking, feeding themselves, and speaking. one of the boys plays with our microphone. the children may not be able to articulate what they have been through. but they are all well aware of the violence of their surroundings. abdul is 6 years old and a total charmer. appa apparently, he used to be so shy, he would never come up to people. >> bravo. >> reporter: he wasn't even able to say any -- any words. he had lost all of his speech, before he came here. the center was started by abdullah mohammed seven years ago. he pays the rent for this tiny space out of his own pocket. we are struggling to say open,

his wife and the center's director says. but at the same time, we can't let go of the kids. especially, not now. now that they have seen the impact they can have, and knowing that hundreds more need their help. down syndrome is a genetic condition, in which a child has a full or partial-extra chromosome. this affects the way that the child's brain and body develop. early intervention can mitigate the majority of the developmental challenges. but even before the war, that was a struggle. one of the many problems is weak-muscle development, the physical therapist tells us. she says, abdul should have splints but with the little she has.

>> this is incredible. i mean, if we had been here two-months ago, he wasn't able to walk on his own. they had to carry him through everything. and now, intense-physical therapy, and he is doing so well. years ago, sara's parents had put her in school but she was severely bullied. her mother tried to help her at home and she was doing well until a rocket landed on their house. she was pulled out from under the rubble and hospitalized. her parents tell us that, after the strike, she stopped talking. one of the teachers keeps gently urging sara to play. comforting her. making her feel safe. just two hours after sara arrived, she's already making friends. she's not alone, anymore. this is the first time that we're seeing her interacting

with other kids, bonding, her father says. clearly, emotional. she's still shy with us but says i'm happy, and runs off to play outside. if they were just given the opportunity, these children can grow up to fulfill their potential. war won't stop them. it's what the adults here dream of. it's what they see children with down syndrome do in more-developed parts of the world. but at least they have created a space, where there is no stigma. a space, where there is joy and hope. arwa damon, cnn, idlib city, syria. ♪ linda? no one lays a finger on your butterfinger.

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highly-anticipated, new attraction in osaka. as cnn's selina wang shows us, super-nintendo world is just like stepping into a video game. >> reporter: here we go. entering super-nintendo world through the war pipe. follow me. and here we are. a life-size replica of nintendo's most-popular games. you have got yoshi's adventure and all the iconic characters after a nearly year long delay, this theme park in osaka's universal studios japan is finally open to the public. we are getting a sneak peek, before the big crowds come in. but this is how things look during covid. your temperature is taken at the entrance. hand sanitizer is everywhere. masks are required, at all times, except for in mask-free zones. so, i can interact with mario and luigi but there are rules

against touching. and one of the few places, in this whole park, where i can take my mask off are in this photo op area with mario and luigi. and actually, on the ground here, there are markers to prove that i need to be a certain distance away from them. so, i am being socially distanced from mario and luigi. park officials say that this all cost about half-a-billion dollars to construct and more than six years to develop. now, the gaming industry and nintendo, especially, got a big boost during the pandemic as more people were stuck at home inside, playing nintendo games. the whole park is interactive. you can even compete against other people, here. and just like in the mario video games, i have got this power band on my wrist. and i can just punch up on these blocks. and i get points in the mario app on my phone. and this is what many fans are most excited about. a real-life mario kart race through bowser's castle. all right. i am about to get on a real-life

mario kart ride. got to put on the augmented-reality headset here. clip it in. all right. let's go. the augmented-reality headset. got a little bit of getting used to. but next to princess peach, mario, and luigi, i think i may have fared slightly better in the real-life version. for nintendo, this is an important step beyond its core business of video games and consoles. it's cashing in on its treasure trove of intellectual property and iconic characters. here, in the store and in the restaurant. we are here in the mushroom kingdom and mushroom-them themed food is everywhere. it looks like cartoon food, but it's edible. >> she told me, when i saw this, i got emotional. it's not exactly to say -- mario games raised me. this is all beyond my expectations, she told me. i feel like i am in the mario world.

i get worried about covid, when i take off my mask to eat, she saidment but the park is taking safety protocols so i feel safe. international travels aren't allowed in this park, yet. but there are plans to open super nintendo world in florida, california, and singapore. he says he wants the whole world to come visit when the pandemic is over. selina wang, cnn, tokyo. that wraps this hour of cnn "newsroom." i am kim brunhuber. for viewers here in the u.s. and canada, "new day" is just ahead. for those watching around the world, it's "my freedom day a global forum." sales are down from last quarter

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new york state has identified its first case of the p 1 variant. >> it's really quite resistant to the kind of natural immunity you get from having had the disease. >> the mayor announcing a curfew in the south beach entertainment district. >> people are coming with a desire to let loose and go off. >> there is this hesitancy to call a crime a hate crime. >> people target us because of our looks. >> i hope that this experience allows more people to stand up for us. >> the biden administration is using a convention cente