♪ madam speaker, the president of the united states. >> biden promises sweeping reforms in his first address to joint session of congress. also tonight federal agents execute search warrants at the apartment and office of rudy giuliani. what that means for him and his former client, donald trump. and the situation in india gets worse and worse. there was another sharp rise in both cases and deaths as the country receives aid from across the world.

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." ♪ joe biden calls it the american families plan, a sweeping multi-billion dollar agenda meant to help with things like child care, preschool education, paid family leave and free community college. he outlined his vision last night in a address to joint members of congress. they say no one making $400,000 a year will see their taxes go up and says investing now in america's future will create millions of new jobs and trillions in economic growth.

biden delivered his speech with two women sitting behind him, a historic first. vice president kamala harris and house speaker nancy pelosi became the first women to lead both the senate and the house during a presidential address to congress and president biden didn't let it pass unnoticed. >> madam speaker, madam vice president. no president has ever said those words from this podium. no president has ever said those words and it's about time. >> biden also commented on the january insurrection at the capitol calling it the worst attack on u.s. democracy since the civil war. >> as we gather here tonight the image of a violent mob assaulting this capitol, desecrating our democracy remain vivid in all our minds. lives were put at risk, many of your lives, lives were lost,

extraordinary courage was summoned. the insurrection was an existential crisis, a test on whether our democracy could survive and it did, but the struggle is far from over. the question of whether a democracy will long endure is both ancient and urgent. as old as our republic. still vital today. >> to counter republican criticism of the ballooning budget deficit president biden characterized his spending plan as an investment in america's future. he pointed to the covid relief package that had bipartisan public support and has had a positive impact. >> we kept our commitment, democrats and republicans, of sending $1,400 rescue checks to 85% of american households. we've already sent more than 160 million checks out the door. it's making a difference.

you all know it when you go home. for many people it's making all the difference in the world. >> so the big challenge for the president's ambitious agenda is how to pay for it all and getting enough lawmakers on board. cnn's jeff zeleny has more on the address from washington. >> reporter: declaring that america is on the move again, president biden delivered his first address to a joint session of congress wednesday night, making the case that he says peril can be turned into possibility, setbacks can be turned into strength, clearly trying to make the coronavirus pandemic a moment of opportunity to reshape the u.s. government. now, in a sweeping address that went more than an hour in length the president making an argument for reshaping the american economy, focusing specifically on the social safety net, calling for a sweeping variety of programs like free community college, expanding child care,

big infrastructure plans. it went on and on to the tune of nearly $6 trillion. now, of course, the question here will be how to pay for all these proposals. that of course is raising taxes on the wealthy. the president made clear slowing down his remarks, speaking clearly and directly, that those making under $400,000 would not see a tax increase, but those making more than that certainly would. now, of course, this was just an opening gambit, if you will, speaking to a much scaled down audience of lawmakers, some 200 senators and representatives in the room. normally more than 1,000 are. of course, this was because of the pandemic precautions. clearly the speech also playing out against the backdrop of history. for the first time in the u.s. history a woman vice president, a woman speaker of the house standing behind president biden. he made clear that this was long overdue, so certainly vice president harris and speaker nancy pelosi making history

there in their own right. now, going forward the president also used a global call, saying that the u.s. must become more competitive against china. that was his rationale for big infrastructure programs and other sweeping spending measures. now, going forward on this wrapping the first 100 days in office the legislative proposals now are really going to test the rest of his presidency as he heads into his second 100 days and beyond. clearly democrats in the audience liked what they heard, looeps leaving the chamber said he did not think the president tried to unify the country here, but he did talk so much about spending proposals, also including a litany of gun reform, voting rights and other matters, but there was a global sense of this, that he said in speaking with leaders around the world he said america is back, but they have a question. how long will america be back? of course, this is a reference to the post-trump era. it was a clear turning of the

page from president trump, but president biden for his part did not mention his predecessor at all, but clearly making the case he believes now is a moment to turn the page and push for big changes in programs here in the u.s. jeff zeleny, cnn, the white house. the republican rebuttal to president biden's speech was given by senator tim scott of south carolina. notably the only black republican senator. he took issue with the president's response to covid-19, his infrastructure plan and his criticism of new voting legislation in some states. scott also argued america isn't inherently racist and he said the president's pledge to unite the country is he said tearing it apart. >> president biden promised you a specific kind of leadership, he promised to unite a nation, to lower the temperature, to govern for all americans no matter how we voted.

this was the pitch. you just heard it again. but our nation is starving for more than empty platitudes. we need policies and progress that brings us closer together, but three months in the actions of the president and his party are pulling us further and further apart. >> president biden also spoke about racial justice and the growing calls for federal police reform. just over a week after ex-officer derek chauvin was found guilty on all three counts in the murder of george floyd, biden says it's time to act and reshape policing in america. >> my fellow americans, we have to come together to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the people they serve. to root out systemic racism in our criminal justice system and to enact police reform in george floyd's name that passed the house already. i know republicans have their own ideas and are engaged in a very productive discussions with

democrats in the senate. we need to work together to find a consensus, but let's get it done next month, by the first anniversary of george floyd's de death. >> in the wake of one of america's latest police-involved shootings protesters in elizabeth city, north carolina, are demanding the release of body cam footage showing the moments police shot and killed andrew brown jr. last week. demonstrators gathered wednesday after a judge denied requests to share the video publicly at this time. cnn's jason carroll has the details. >> andy jr. has been silenced. so his voice now are those cameras. that's how he will speak to us and that would be his side of the story. >> reporter: andrew brown jr.'s family say they now will have a better account of what happened during the shooting last wednesday now that a judge has ruled members of the family can

review additional body camera footage from the deputies. >> i guess justice was served, i guess. i mean, i feel good about it, the situation. >> reporter: wednesday afternoon superior court judge jeffrey foster cited in part overwhelming interest to the family for his ruling, which requires that pasquotank county sheriff's department to allow brown's adult son and one attorney licensed in the state to view footage from five videos recorded by body cameras within the next ten days. as for the public -- >> the video be held from release for a period of no less than 30 days and no more than 45 days. >> reporter: the judge also ruled the names and faces of the officers will be blurred to protect their identities. we caught up with county sheriff tommy wooten who told us he wanted the judge to allow the public to see the recordings. >> i have to respect the da and the judge's wishes so we're going to do that and follow north carolina law. >> is this the outcome that you were hoping for or looking for? >> not totally, no, sir.

>> what would have been the ideal outcome for you? >> release. >> full release. >> uh-huh. >> because? >> for the community, transparency. >> reporter: sheriff wooten in support of the public seeing the body cam video after the pasquotank county district attorney told the court body camera footage shows brown's car came into contact with law enforcement twice before he says they opened fire. >> the next movement of the car is forward, it is in the direction of law enforcement and makes contact with law enforcement. it is then and only then that you hear shots. >> reporter: he also strongly criticized brown family attorney lasseter of misleading the public with her comments about what she saw on a 20-second clip of body camera footage she viewed on monday. >> they were designed to prejudice a proceeding. >> at no time have i given any misrepresentations. i still stand by what i saw. >> reporter: brown's family says they want to see for themselves if his car made contact with any

of the deputies. >> i'm not buying it. >> do you think what the authorities will then argue going forward is that that gave them a reason, a justified reason, to shoot? >> shoot an unarmed man, no. >> that was cnn's jason carroll. the u.s. justice department says federal prosecutors have indicted three men on hate crime and attempting kid happening charge in the killing of ahmaud arbery. the 25-year-old was out for a jog in the state of georgia in february 2020, he was chased down by three men and shot dead. a video of what happened was posted online in may and went viral. the three white men also face state murder charges. arbery's mother tells cnn this is one step closer to justice. and one of the louisville police officers involved in the botched raid that led to the death of breonna taylor is retiring. sergeant jonathan mattingly was shot in the leg by taylor's

boyfriend who said he thought the officers were intruders. police responded by firing 32 rounds killing the 26-year-old aspiring nurse. no officers have been charged directly in her death. in new york federal agents raided the office and apartment of rudy giuliani. of course, the personal attorney for former u.s. president donald trump. we're told agents executed a search warrant and seized electronic devices during the sunrise operation. this is a major escalation in the two-year investigation into giuliani's lobbying activities in ukraine. cnn's senior legal affairs correspondent paul reed look at what it could mean for both giuliani and donald trump. >> reporter: i spoke with an attorney for rudy giuliani and he actually described to me what was in this search warrant that was executed on the former mayor. he says in this search warrant it confirms that this is related to an investigation into

possible foreign lobbying violations. now, if you were working on behalf of a foreign government you need to disclose that to the justice department. now, we have learned that giuliani's electronic devices were seized, we also know pursuant to this warrant investigators were especially interested in any communications he had with certain individuals including a columnist named john solomon who wrote a lot about ukraine in the weeks and months leading up to the election. but this is a significant turning point in this investigation, looking at whether giuliani was lobbying on behalf of ukrainian officials while representing former president trump and also pushing ukrainian officials to announce some sort of investigation into the bidens. we've also learned, though, he was not the only attorney who once represented former president trump who received a visit from investigators wednesday. we have also learned that victoria toensing, a woman who represented president trump during his time in office for

certain controversies, she also got a visit from investigators, they arrived at her home early wednesday, they served a warrant also related to this same new york investigation and we've learned that they actually took her cellphone. this is incredibly unusual to execute warrants like this on lawyers. there are a lot of concerns about potentially obtaining confidential communications. so to serve a warrant on a lawyer who represented a former president, never mind two attorneys, highly unusual and, again, at the core of this investigation are questions about foreign lobbying and traditionally that's really been a paperwork crime prior to the trump administration. it was just a matter of making sure you had the appropriate paperwork to disclose who you were lobbying for. so incredibly significant development in this investigation. somewhat unusual tactics. but this would have had to have been something that would have been approved at the highest

levels of the justice department, likely by the deputy attorney general of the united states, either the acting deputy attorney general or the newly installed deputy attorney general lisa monaco. absolutely something that would have to go to the top of the justice department to execute warrants like these. paula reid, cnn, washington. still to come, in new delhi crematoriums are struggling to keep up with the surge of covid deaths. we will have the latest on india's catastrophic coronavirus crisis next. l neuroscientist. and i love the science behind neuriva plus. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger.

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tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. tremfya®. emerge tremfyant™. janssen can help you explore cost support options. new delhi resident, everyone is afraid. every single person. as india grapples with catastrophic surges in covid deaths and infections. the country just reported more than 3,600 deaths and almost 380,000 new cases in the past 24 hours. the total case count there topped 18 million. patients are sitting on the sidewalk outside hospitals waiting for a bed and family members are afraid it may be the last time they see their loved ones alive.

in delhi officials are begging the government to provide more firewood for cremations and gave yards are running out of space. a u.s. military aircraft is on its way to india carrying the first shipment of more than $100 million worth of covid relief supplies as the world rallies to help. cnn's anna coren is following this tragic crisis for us and joins me from hong kong. anna, that help can't get there soon enough. what's the latest? >> reporter: absolutely. unfortunately, kim, it's going to be a drop in the ocean. the good news, however, is that russia has sent a shipment of sputnik vaccine, that is going to come into the mix of vaccines that are currently in play. we know there is an acute shortage of vaccines as of the 1st of may, some saturday, people over the age of 18 can now get vaccinated, but the irony is that india being the world's largest manufacturer of

vaccine cannot vaccinate its own people. less than 2% of the population has been fully inoculated since the program rolled out in mid-january. there have been 150 million doses administered. it's averaging about 2 million jabs a day. experts say that that needs to get to 10 million a day for that curve to flatten. as we're talking for several days now about that massive undercount, i mean, india now accounts for more than a third of the global covid cases. you talk about the rising infection rate, the rising death rate, that is only heading in one direction. the mayor of the north of delhi he has said that the official toll, death toll in his area is # 0 300 a day. he says that the crematoriums are burning 600 bodies a day.

it gives you an insight, kim, into what is really happening on the ground in india. >> unbelievable. anna coren in hong kong, thanks so much. and last hour i spoke with "washington post" columnist from new delhi and she just lost her father to covid this week but still wanted to talk with us. here is why she says the covid surge has been so particularly devastating for her and for everyone in the country. listen to this. >> i feel personally or fanned today, with my father gone, both of my parents are dead, i have nobody left, i feel alone. what about those that are t orphans of the indian state. my father's last words to me were "i'm choking, please give me treatment." i tried my best but even being a journalist who knows doctors, an upper middle class indian who can pay for the best medical

treatment the private ambulance that fer yeed him to hospital had an oxygen cylinder that did not work. it got delayed because there is no green corridor for ambulances in the capital even now. by the time we reached the hospital because the oxygen had failed or faltered his levels had fallen precipitously, he had to be taken into icu. he never made it back, it has not even been 48 hours. when we went to cremate him, there was no space at the cremation ground, there was a fight that erupted between families, we had to call the police to cremate my father. in this moment of loss, it's difficult to articulate and put together a bunch of sentences i speak because i realize that despite my devastation, i was luckier than most indians and i was luckier than most indians because, as i said, i think today of the orphans of the indian state, the families that i meet outside hospitals that have shut their gates and their doors to them because they neither have beds nor oxygen.

>> that was a "washington post" columnist speaking to me from new delhi. in his first address to a joint session of congress president joe biden said the u.s. has provided americans over 220 million doses of covid vaccines, more than doubling his goal of 100 million in his first 100 days. meanwhile, new cases in the u.s. continue to fall. cnn's alexandra field reports. >> reporter: >> it's even better than what you would have expected. >> reporter: in the real world the effectiveness of covid vaccines surpassing already high expectations set by clinical trials. >> that's the reason why you hear all of us in the public health sector essentially pleading with people to get vaccinated. >> reporter: nationwide the ample number of new infections the lowest it's been in five weeks, the average number of covid-related deaths the lowest it's been since last summer. >> the numbers are coming down and i believe as they come down you will see more liberal

guidelines. >> reporter: it's happening already, but not fast enough for many who got their vaccines and want to get back to normal much faster. >> they haven't really gone far enough. they really need to tell americans that if you are vaccinated you are immune. >> why put any restraints on the vaccinated? >> let me roll it out this way, everything you do is safer if you are vaccinated. everything. go to a wedding, go to a restaurant, hang out with friends, go to a barbecue, go to work, everything you do is much, much safer if you've been vaccinated. if you haven't been vaccinated those things are still dangerous. >> reporter: even so many states lifting mask mandates, almost half the u.s. without even before the cdc issued new guidance saying masks aren't necessary outdoors for the vaccinated except in very large crowds. louisiana dropping its mask mandate. masks will still be a must in places like schools and government buildings. the governor of tennessee

declaring the end of the covid-19 health emergency with thousands of new cases there daily and just 25% of the state's population fully vaccinated. in california disneyland opening its gates to california residents only for the first time in more than a year during a soft open. los angeles county is moving to its lowest level for restrictions and new york city now planning to lift curfews for restaurants and bars next month. all this while the white house takes its campaign into overdrive, encouraging more people to get their shots. that as some popular voices share opinions at odds with the medical experts' advice. >> if you are a healthy person and you're exercising all the time and you're young and you're eating well, i don't think you need to worry about this. >> and then you will pass the infection on to someone else who might pass it on to someone else who might really get seriously ill and might die. so you have to put a little bit

of societal responsibility in your choices and that's where i disagree with mr. rogen. >> reporter: while the focus remains very much on vaccinations right now, pfizer's ceo albert bore lus says the company is working on an antiviral pill as a treatment for covid and hopes it might be ready for authorization by the end of this year. in new york, alexandra field, cnn. president biden's first address to congress signals his intention to reassert american leadership in the world. just ahead, a live report from london on the president's speech and why biden sees china as the biggest foreign policy challenge facing the country. stay with us. ntum, you save up to 20 gallons of water each time. finish quantum with activblu technology has the power to remove the toughest stains without pre-rinsnsing for dishes s so clean they shin. join finish and skip the rinse to save our water.

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welcome back to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada and around the world, i'm kim brunhuber and you're watching "cnn newsroom." it was a night for big ambitions, president joe biden delivered his first address to a joint session of congress since taking office 100 days ago. he outlined a sweeping plan to reshape america's economy and social safety net, proposing huge new spending on things like child care, family leave and community college, but the president also took a moment to reflect on his first few months in office. >> i stand here tonight one day shy of the 100th day of my add duration. 100 days since i took the oath of office and lifted my hand off our family bible and inherited a nation. we all did. that was in crisis. the worst pandemic in a century.

the worst economic crisis since the great depression. the worst attack on our democracy since the civil war. now after just 100 days i can report to the nation, america is on the move again. >> now, according to our polling many americans who watched the president's speech came away feeling optimistic. a cnn poll shows just over half felt very positive about what the president had to say, in fact, 73% of viewers thought his policies would move the country in the right direction. now, we should note the audience is more democratic than the population as a whole and it's also worth noting president biden's first address to congress was actually less warmly received than those of the past three presidents before him. with me now from los angeles is cnn's senior political analyst ron brownstein, he is also senior'd for for the atlantic.

thanks for being here. listen, it's big, it's bold, it's expensive. how effectively did the president make his case? >> i think he made the case about as effectively as he could, but it is all of those things that you say. i mean, the biggest take away, i think, from the speech is just the shear magnitude of what he is seeking to do, especially was juxtaposed with the narrowness of his majority in congress and the narrowness of his public standing. you know, if you add the stimulus plan to the infrastructure plan to the families plan which is what he unveiled today, you're talking about over $5 trillion in spending, another roughly trillion in tax cuts including a vast expansion of a child tax credit that would really amount to social security for kids and represent in some ways the largest expansion of the american social safety net since medicare and medicaid and he is trying to do all this while holding 50 seats in the senate and, what, a four or five-seat

majority in the house and with an approval rating that is just over 50% in a very closely divided country. i mean, you are talking about trying to achieve change, really at the magnitude of franklin roosevelt with the new deal, lyndon johnson with the great society, but with the narrow west of congressional majorities and a closely divided country. it is a high wire act. if he gets to the other side he will fundamentally transform the way americans interact with their government, but it is a precarious crossing. >> yeah, those margins are super tight, as you say. now, his plan to pay for it specifically the piece about tax increases for the wealthy being labeled as a huge tax grab by republicans, your tax dollars will go up, it's class warfare and so on. democrats haven't traditionally been great at seizing the narrative especially on this end here. did he do a good enough job walking through this piece of it and going forward what do democrats have to do to sell this part of it, how they're going to pay for it and break

through all the noise and misinformation that will be out there? >> i actually thought that may have been his most effective section of the speech when he basically said -- he talked about the financial strains on average families and how much wealth a few billionaires have accumulated during this and he said trickle down economics doesn't work, we need to build the economy from the middle out, from the bottom out. those are popular ideas. raising taxes on corporation toss fund benefits for average americans, raising taxes on the wealthiest, by and large they poll well. the challenge for biden really isn't any individual element of this vast and sprawling economic side of the plan. most of the ideas in here, universal pre-k, expanded access to community college, the child tax credit, building more bridges and roads, broadband, transfer to the clean economy, all of those poll well as individuals, the problem is when you add them all up. can he maintain support? republicans are much more likely to go after kind of the

comprehensive size of this rather than the individual elements. >> lastly, to get to the republican response, senator tim scott he was saying that this was no overture to bipartisanship, even moderate republican senators murkowski and romney said it was too big to be bipartisan. is there any hope that the parties can come together or is the very idea as you said that big government is good government just anathema and democrats will have to pass as much as of this as they can, the financial pieces, anyway, using reconciliation? >> right. it's virtually impossible to see the ten republican votes you would need in the senate to break a filibuster for anything approaching what like biden laid out tonight, both on the economic side, much less on the noneconomic side, voting rights, lgbtq equality, gun control, immigration reform. very hard to see. as you know, for most of the first half of that speech he can pass those ideas through what's

called reconciliation if he can unify all 50 democratic votes. most of the second half of the speech would not be eligible for reconciliation and that will be doomed unless democrats agree to in some way curtail or restrict the filibuster. >> thanks so much. i appreciate you joining us. >> thanks for having me. the president's speech devoted just a few minutes to foreign policy and most of those comments were directed at china and its leader. he said the vibrant and modernized american economy is critical if the u.s. is to counter china's rising influence in the world. listen to this. >> in my discussions with president xi i told him we welcome the competition. we are not looking for conflict. but i made absolutely clear that we will defend america's interest across the board. america will stand up to unfair trade practices that undercut american workers and american industries like subsidies from

state to state owned operations and enterprises and the theft of american technology and intellectual property. i also told president xi that we will maintain a strong military presence in the indo-pacific just as we do with nato and europe. not to start a conflict, but to prevent one. >> nic robertson is our international diplomatic editor and joins from london. nic, biden mentioned china, i believe, four times and president xi three times by name. now, he said he didn't want confrontation, but then basically said our entire democracy is at stake here. so take us through what biden said and what it means beyond its importance here for the domestic audience. >> reporter: yeah, i think part of it clearly because he led up to what -- he led up to it during his speech, he said that -- he laid out how china was connected to the u.s. economy, that the u.s. economy really needs to step up and that's what he was doing. because there is this

competition with china. because the message to china was very clear, as it is around the world, that they must play in business terms on the same level playing field as everyone else. no property theft, no intellectual rights, no technology theft, no intellectual property rights. all of those things that china has been accused of, unfair business practices, but also he made a point about the climate as well, china, india, russia. should all play on the same level playing field. he pointed to the fact that he had called a global climate summit, a virtual one, where those nations were present, represented by their leaders, and he pointed to that as being a way that, again, the united states was going to keep that playing field level. but i think one of the -- you know, one of the sort of big picture pieces of biden's international foreign policy is the consistency that if you transgress against u.s. interests unfairly there will be consequences. and he laid that out in the case

of russia saying, again, that he wasn't looking for escalation, that he was looking to -- to show russia that if they interfere in the u.s. elections as they did, if they -- if they hack and interfere with u.s. businesses as they have, then there will be a response. he described it as a proportional response. so this in a way russia is the -- his response to russia is the object lesson for china, that china threat and issue is on a much bigger scale and that, i think, is why we heard president biden talking about that point that he will maintain a military presence in the indo-pacific region, something china does not like in the same way that the united states does in europe, which is -- which is not by and large causing significant tensions other than with russia. but it is in many ways seen as a historically a stabilizing force. that was a message there to china on that. the u.s. has a presence and it's

going to maintain it and will hold china accountable. >> all right. thanks for breaking it down for us. nic robertson in london. appreciate it. kremlin critic alexei navalny gets another day in court but he is not there in-person. while he won't be getting out of prison. we're live in moscow after a short break. stay with us. this. your dishwasher looks clean but, when grease and limescale build up, it's not as hygienic as you think. use finish dishwasher cleaner its dual-action formula tackles grease and limescale. finish. clean dishwasher. clean dishes.

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opposition leader alexei navalny appeared by video link in a moscow courtroom a short time ago. it's the first time he has been seen in public since he ended his month-long prison hunger strike last week. he is appealing his conviction for slandering a world war ii veteran who appeared in a promotional video backing president vladimir putin. our senior international correspondent fred pleitgen is live this hour in moscow outside the courtroom. fred, our first chance to see him and even from what i'm reading a tender moment in court

there, but let's start with what many were wondering. what did he look like after all those medical problems and the hunger strike? >> reporter: yeah, i mean, he certainly looked like someone who had gone through a very rough time, kim. he was seen on video link, he's still being seen on video link, actually, dressed in a very dark prison uniform, his head is shaved and he certainly does look very skinny as well. one of the things that he was saying is that he had lost a lot of weight during his hunger strike, obviously, he currently even said that inside the courtroom that he's currently only eating about five tablespoons of porridge every day. he said that he had also made a petition to the court to get some fresh carrots, but has not received an answer on that yet. you're right, he did have that personal moment also with his wife who is inside the courtroom here and obviously is seeing him on that video link. he asked her to get up and to take off her mask that she's wearing because of the pandemic measures so that he could see her better. obviously he said he was very happy to see her and she also

said the same thing about him as well. certainly a very personal moment there as this appeals hearing is going on. alexei navalny certainly looking like someone who was somewhat weakened by that hunger strike and who is still very much in recovery right now and it certainly looks like in some very, very difficult circumstances there in that jail, kim. >> all right. thank you so much, fred pleitgen in moscow. appreciate it. hospitalizations are at an all time high in parts of south and central america as covid infections continue to climb. the latest from the region ahead. stay with us. iting, but let me tell you how grammarly business helped my sales team. look at simon. since simon's team started using grammarly business, we've closed more deals. with suggestions to sharpen his writing clarity and overall confidence, simon's pitches always stick the landing, which leads to more of these and these.

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much you can save. there are auctions going on right now, so what are you waiting for? are you a christian author with a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! hospitals across south and central america are struggling to cope with the rising number of covid infections and patients. variants and slow vaccinations are combining to drive the surge. cnn's matt rivers reports from new mexico -- or from mexico city, rather. >> reporter: we continue to get reminders that throughout the western hemisphere in the americas this pandemic just isn't getting better as fast as many of us hoped that it would

at this point. the pan american health organization saying in the last week of all the covid-related deaths worldwide one in four were recorded in the america has. meanwhile, looking throughout latin america, pan american health organization says that infections in just about every country throughout this region are rising, we're seeing concerns trends in costa rica, hospitals filling up in guatemala and colombia infections rates are nearing what they were in january as icu occupancy rates continue to be a major concern in major cities like bogota. we're hearing from brazil, a new study suggests that 90% roughly of new covid infections in san paulo are due to the p-1 variant. scientists says that this p-1 variant is more ease i believe transmissible than other variants. some good news with mexico and rugs announce that go mexico will begin to start packaging domestically the russian

vaccine. more than one million doses of that russian vaccine have been given out here in mexico. that domestic packaging of that vaccine expected to start in the coming weeks. matt rivers, cnn, mexico city. earlier in the program we explored the crisis facing india but it's not the only south shap country suffering through a surge in covid cases. several of its neighbors are enforcing lock downs and strategies to try to avoid the devastation india is suffering. kristie lu stout look at the crisis growing across the region. >> reporter: fueled in part by the devastating second wave burning through india, the number of global cases of covid-19 has been on the rise for nine consecutive weeks. as you can see on this map of cumulative covid-19 cases by johns hopkins universal india is not the only place in asia hit hard. cases are spiking in neighboring

nepal, a border city has become a covid-19 hot spot, local lockdowns have been imposed in cities including kathmandu and there have been reports that tourists at mt. everest base camp were infected but the nepalese government has denied this. pakistan has deployed the army in 16 cities to enforce pandemic safety protocols, bangladesh has imposed a strict lockdown, on monday it sealed its border with india for 14 days, the trade will continue. sri lanka is bracing for a third wave of infection. local media report all icu beds in hospitals are full after sri lanka detected a new variant over the weekend. starting wednesday schools across the country will close, residents in designated areas are required to remain indoors and a police curfew is in force. indonesia is also battling one of the worst covid-19 outbreaks in asia with over 1.65 million

infections since the pandemic began. to prevent the spread of the new variant indonesia has stopped issuing visas for travelers who recently spent time in india. and this week the philippines logged its one millionth case of the fiers, a grim new milestone as it struggles to boost health care capacity. about 16 months after the virus was first identified in china the surrounding region is being ravaged again, and medical workers across asia are struggling to push back the pandemic. kristie lu stout, cnn, hong kong. philippines president da tear at that has announced that covid restrictions will be extended until mid may in manila and surrounding areas. he apologized for the extension but scolded those who violated health protocols. duterte said that the government is running out of resources and lines are forming for admissions to hospitals.

with less than three months to go olympic organizers are releasing new covid protocols for the tokyo games. the updated olympic playbook says athletes won't have to quarantine when they arrive but they will be tested daily. their movements will also be tracked through an app. this comes as japan is facing its fourth wave of the virus. organizers say they will decide in june how many local spectators can attend the games. michael collins the american astronaut who was the command module pilot for the apollo 11 mission to the moon has died. his family said he had been fighting cancer when he passed away at 90 years old. some called collins the loan least man in history but he said he enjoyed the solitude of orbiting the moon alone while his two colleagues were the first to walk on the lunar surface. collins once told cnn that he remembered how he marveled at the sky as a child, wanting to know more. rate man. well, that wraps this hour of "cnn newsroom."

i'm kim brunhuber. "early start" is next. ♪

welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world, we are live this morning at the white house, in india, moscow and beijing. this is "early start," i'm laura jarrett. >> good morning, it's thursday morning, i'm christine romans, april 29th. it is 5:00 a.m. exactly in new york. >> after just 100 days, i can report to the nation america is on the move again. >> a government working for the people. in his first address to a joint