have caught covid in that same time period f correct, that estimate which cnn cannot confirm, that means this is the largest covid outbreak to date globally. but that information was not made public by chinese authorities. china has also so far only reported a small handful of covid deaths for this entire month. but what we see at crematoriums tells a different story i saw body bags piling up in metal containers, workers loading more coffins. in scenes like that are playing out across the country and the medical system is under intense pressure. sarah? >> wow. that is really disturbing. the pictures that you and your photographer were able to gain. thank you so much for joining us. i appreciate you getting us the information. and ""ac 360"" starts right now. more than four days into one of the worst holiday storms on record, make no mistake. it is not over yet.

the weather outside is still frightful and in places still potentially deadly. pamela brown here in for anderson. it's hard to imagine that some parts of western new york could see another foot or more of snow on top of the nearly four feet you see in these pictures on your screen. winter storm warnings there and elsewhere still in effect. buffalo's airport still closed. the entire eastern part of the country still in a deep freeze. almost 4,000 flights canceled today and nearly 2600 tomorrow. nationwide, at least 49 people have lost their lives in this massive storm. 27 and the buffalo area alone. we have wide reporting tonight from buffalo and denver international airport. let's start tonight with paula who has been right there in the works of it from day one. what is the latest on the ground? >> today those rescues also continue. in fact, new york governor

saying that state police officers carried out some 550 rescues at least over the weekend. but we also learned about what is perhaps the most dramatic ones. this one happening about 12 miles north of buffalo where two local police officers came upon a bus transporting some 60 d.c. bound tourists. that bus was stuck in the snow. and those officers would later find out that that bus was only a foot away from potentially slipping into a dutch. they acted quickly leading the 6 60 tourists trekking through knee deep snow to a warming center. they made it there safely and on their way to their final destination. it really is one of many examples of first spresponders scrambling through the snow to help people during the height of the storm. >> this is the worst that we had. >> in buffalo, new york, it's being called the most devastating storm ever.

>> we are in a war. this is a war with mother nature. and she has been hitting us with everything she has. >> reporter: in a region used to harsh winter weather, this is worse. >> we deal with snow all the time. but the conditions were different because with the gusts of wind, i could tell you, firsthand, zero visibility. i couldn't see two feet in front of my vehicle. >> reporter: power play 43 inches of snow and hundreds of vehicles stuck. >> there are cars everywhere. everywhere. and pointing the wrong direction on roads. >> reporter: buffalo's roads impassable. >> it's crazy. a smoe bafrmg taller than me. >> 500 rescues, some people were trapped in cars for days before being found. >> going into homes, going into vehicles and too many tragic times finding p em whopeople wh did the no survive the

experience. >> reporter: power substations are frozen and electricity is out, thousands of people left without heat. >> conditions were deteriorating so fast. maybe two to three degrees every ten minutes. >> one family trying to get their children to a warm hotel was rescued from their car. >> he opened the window. please don't leave us. and he said don't worry, man, we won't leave you. >> reporter: elsewhere in the city, looters were taking advantage of the crisis. >> people who are out looting when people are losing their lives in this harsh winter storm is just absolutely reprehensible. >> reporter: and as buffalo tries to dig out, more snow is in the forecast. >> even though it's been just two days, it feels like it's been two weeks. >> so you say there are more snow there in the forecast. tell us more about any potential severe weather that is coming there in the coming days. >> yeah, the forecasters here expecting yet another brisk and cold day tomorrow. obviously, less snow.

roughly three to six inch ez expected tomorrow. also that persistent snow band coming in off the lake. it's expected to shift south but then a northerly wind. there is hope that whenever it turns, it will be in a much weakened state. and there is a warm light at the end of the tunnel. the forecast calling for temperatures in the 50s come this weekend. something that many people here waiting for after this weekend. >> i'm sure it will be welcomed. thank you so much. for our closer look at what it is still like on the front lines, we're joined by nate martin, commissioner of public works for buffalo. what is the situation like on the ground in buffalo now and where do the search and rescue efforts stand? >> yeah. thank you. good evening. appreciate the opportunity to update a little butt from buffalo. the conditions are what you just heard. we have been hit with a blizzard none that we have seen with those high winds and snow amount that's devastated the city.

from that standpoint, the storm has -- the main part of the storm has come through and now we've got some closing snow of the storm that we're dealing w we have taken a big hit from a search and rescue standpoint, we're continuing to undergo those operations ain cooperatio with state police and emergency operation center here in the area. those are on going still to this day. our dpw and all the first responders were really collaborating on trying to get to everybody who might still be in need. >> just been amazing to see how they have been able to overcome so many challenges in this weather. those first responders. we have heard from multiple officials that they expect the death toll to climb. is that still the current thinking? do you have any expectations of how high it could reach? >> you know, we don't have an expectation of the number at this point in time. we do expect it to rise as we continue to dig out some of the cars. the drifts of snow are multiple feet high and over top of cars.

driving around the city as i've been certainly these last day plus has the storm subside and even during the storm, the drifts of snow that enveloped cars were really reeked havoc around the city. the search and rescue will continue and we anticipate to find more. i don't have a number on that. but, one is too many. >> exactly. >> absolutely. at one point there were more than 20,000 people without power in buffalo. where does that stand now and where do you expect electricity to be fully restored? >> so you're right. at one point we had over 21,000. the we've been working very closely with national grid. our streets and plow team with them and certainly working with other resources from the county and state involved. through our efforts, right now the latest number we have is 7500 still without power. that is a lot of people, you know, still to be restored.

power from our national grid provider. we're working on. that there is substantial doamae to a number of the substations. wires down. it's across our entour area. all parts of the city were affected with that storm. and the power outages are scattered throughout the city. >> so what is your message in closing to people in it buffalo about what they should and should not be doing right now? >> well, i mean, for -- from our standpoint weeshgs focused on getting each and everybody that has a need. so the emergency personnel, search and rescue teams across the city, state and county resource ands our first responders, you know, we're still coming to those that are in need. so if you're in need, call that in and we'll collaborate tough will you work our way you to. but importantly, you know, if anyone who is here and is safe, we just need you to stay home and stay off the roads. from our standpoint, we need to get in and get our equipment in

here. of we have a lot of resources coming in to clear the streets and get the snow out. it's not just the snow plowing operation, it's lift and haul away. so a lot of twoswork to do. we've seen a lot of people on the roads. there are banabandoned cars. we have to clear roads, move cars. helpful if we have everybody stay off the roads to allow our equipment really to do that work and to get to those still in need. that is the most critical part still at this time. >> commissioner nate martin, we know how busy you r thank you for your time tonight. thank you very much. and more now on flute delays and cancellations which have been nearly as bad today as they were on day one of this mess. especially for southwest airlines which is now canceled about two-thirds of its entire schedule today and more than 2400 flights tomorrow. we have a story live from denver international airport. it is a big destination for southwest. as well as a major hub for united.

so many frustrated passenger there's today. how is it looking right now, lucy? >> not great, pamela. that's because denver is leading the nation in terms of cancellations. 480 flights canceled today out of this airport. southwest making up the large majority of those 460 of those flights cancellations coming from southwest. this line of folks behind me is people trying to rebook, trying to get new flights out, trying to get kpncompensation. it is snaking around the corner. a lot of folks went home. a few moments ago we heard an announcement on the pa system anountsing there is no southwest rebookings available until december 30th. and no new bookings available until at least january 3rd. people were told to leave this aurpt. some airport. some people said there would be no compensation for travel zru zr disruptions caused by weather.

they went back on the pa to say that people already compensated. people have been walking around here. southwest staff handing out pretzels and watter to make things a little more comfortable for people here. can you imagine, pam this is just awful and, of course, denver is not the only airport affected. the same delays, shortages, cancellations taking place across the nation with the bulk of those cancellations coming from southwest, pam. >> yeah. what a mess. man. lucy, thank you for bringing us the latest there. it goes without saying that in addition to all the airline workers putting in extra hours tonight, there are thousands of first responders to thank for their tireless work saving lives throughout the storm. the next two though, they are not firefighters, police officers, or utility crews. yet, they did more than just bring a group of south korean tourists in from the cold after the van they were in got strand out side their buffalo area home. they also provided the kind of

warmth that none of their visitors could have imagined when they knocked on their door. >> what you both did for that group is just incredible. alex, walk us through what happened when you heard that knock on the door. surely it wasn't what you expected. >> that is an understatement, pamela. the storm had already been raging for about two hours when we got a knock on the door. i assumed it was either a stranded neighbor or perhaps my father-in-law who lives close by, maybe he was coming home from a quick last muinute trip o a store. when i open the door and people unfamiliar to me, saying we're part of a tour. and we need shovels to try to dig out our vehicle. i thought oh, no. this could be very serious and deadly. >> and you knew probably where it was heading, right? that you would become an inn keeper for the guests.

an dree andrea. i love this detail. you and your husband are both big fans of korean food. you even had your first date at a korean restaurant. you already had a lot of staples stocked at your house. what was your guest reaction when you started pulling out things like bean paste and kim-chi? >> i think it helped them to feel at home. and comfortable. because when all of them started coming through the door, it first was two people. and then they said we have several other people here with us. and then soon ten people were in our home. three of those people spoke english. and so i think when they saw my asian rice cooker and all of the various spices that we had and we all started to cook in the kuch together, they became comfortable. >> you had enough food or everyone, right? you were preparing for the blizzard, right? tell us a little butt more about some of the dinners you all put

together and what that was like when you sat down to have a meal. >> i you this early on when our guests entered our house, there was the belief that maybe this storm was about to blow over and they would just jump back in their vehicle and get on their way towards niagara falls. which is in the best weather about a 30 huff-minute drive fre home w the blizzard, it spla been in another galaxy. so once they kind of came in the house and saw that they mute be h -- might be here for a while, i pulled out all of the frozen chicken and a large pork shoulder i purchased. and that food came in extremely handy and we had a couple of natural born cooks in the group who were happy to prepare some exquisite korean entrees.

>> so will you stay in touch with your guests? do you have any plans to visit them in south korea one day, andrea? >> absolutely. several of the guests said that we're more than welcome to come visit them. and we may take them up on that offer. we really connected with them. they became like family to us. and we love to travel. we travel internationally. and i think it would be wonderful to visit them in south korea. >> and you love korean food as well. so it seems like that would be the perfect trip. and now you have wonderful hosts there as well given your generosity over the christmas holiday. thank you so much, alex and andrea. thank you. >> miss brown? we're so appreciative of our guests but also of the emergency services personnel, the police, the firefighters, and the volunteers that spent day and night taking care of people trapped in their vehicles in the

freezing cold day and night. those are the real heroes in this blizzard of buffalo demonstrate yg buffalo is called the city of good neighbors. >> thank you for that. you're absolutely right. >> our pleasure. thank you. >> and much more ahead tonight including breaking news. the first public comment from a congressman elect with a resume that probably overstated and his admission about it which is arguably understated. that's next on top of all the storm related power outages, there is more sabotage at power stations and still no answers yet it's too who is behind it. we'll be right back.

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it is not breaking news that politicians sometimes stretch the truth a bit or burnish credentials. slightly. it is certainly unusual though for an elected official or nun for that matter to have a resume like that of new york republican congressman elect george santos today. for the first time, he addressed mt questions about it and that is breaking news. >> i want to make sure that if i disappointed anyone by resume embellishment, i'm sorry. >> and in igs to being his first public comments about his embellished resume, that could be the first understatement about just how embellished it

apparently is. cnn's melanie joins us now with more. what more did congressman elect santos have to say about the questions over his history? >> yeah. this is the first time that santos admitted that he lied about key details in his resume. he said in an interview with "the new york post" and a local radio station that he didn't actually work for citigroup or for goldman sachs even though previously on the campaign trail he said he did. now santos is saying he only worked for them through his company and so he called it a poor choice of words to suggest he worked directly for the firms. but santos also admitted he never graduated from any college or university after previously claiming that he received degrees from both nyu and baruke college. he said he was embarrassed and talked about to embellishing the resume and everyone did it. essentially he was trying to down play the entire controversy. and he said while he is guilty of twisting the truth, he is not guilty of committing any crimes. take a listen.

>> i'm not a criminal, not here, not abroad, in any jurisdiction in the world have i ever committed any crimes. to get down to the nitty-gritty, i'm not a fraud. i'm not a criminal who defrauded the entire country and made up this fictitious character and ran for congress. i've been around for a long time. people have known me for a long time. i'm not going to make excuses for this but a lot of people overstate in resumes or twist a little bit themselves. i'm not saying i'm not guilty of that. >> now santos did not answer questions about his charities, claims he made about his heritage and questions about his financial disclosures and whether he followed proper protocols. there is still a lot there we don't know that is unanswered for. i suspect this will not quell the calls for him to not serve in congress. so far, however, leaders are silent. >> well, we'll have to wait to

see if it stay that's way after this interview. did he say why he made those statements in the first place? what whas his reasoning saying e had degrees from the two colleges yet he never had a college degree? >> yeah, he didn't really give a reasoning other than trying to suggest that it's a common trait to lie on your resume or to embellish a little bit. but, pam this is a big deal. he's about to serve as a member of congress. he misrepresents who he was. and in normal circumstances, if someone lied on the resume, they would be fired. the but it's up to the voters to decide and if he chooses to stick around, there is not much anyone can do unless congress decides no the to seat him. but that is a decision up to gop leader kevin mccarthy. he is silent. he probably needs every speaker vote he can get next week. >> he does. i wonder if that is a factor now. perspective now from scott jennings. also cnn political analyst and

axios managing editor. starting with you, margaret, congressman elect santos has admitted to fabricating his entire resume. top to bottom. he down played it as resume embellishment. something we all do. we all embellish our resumes. is that all this is? >> you literally can't believe anything he says. it's not just not that any of this is okay. it's no the just his job history is not just his educational history. even to his claim that one of his companies lost four employees in the nightclub shooting six years ago, that is not actually true. there are people who maybe were going to go work for him. like there are questions about his background in brazil. there are a myriad of questions. but the bottom line is there is a question of what could block him from being seated, probably nothing. there are age requirements and

division requirements to be seated in congress. he's still 34 and old enough to serve in that job. remember, of course, kevin mccarthy does need his vote coming out. so this may be a question where there is going to be ethics investigations. and the answer to that question right now may be no. the attorney general in new york has said that her sofsoffice is going to look into investigating his background. again this really may be an issue for voters two years from now. it's an astonishing story these are very, very plugged in and engaged voters or they should be. >> they were voting for someone based on a resume that was false. right? santos, scott, vowed to be sworn into congress and serve his

term. now as margaret laid out, there is really not a lot you can do to prevent that from happening. but do you think he should bow out or still move forward as he said he will do? >> you know, honestly, if he had a shred of self integrity, you would bow out. he made up a whole story, sold it to the voters that he got elected and so if he really meant what he said in his interviews today, he would resign and then run on his actual resume. that would be the honest and honorable way to handle. that you don't want to play golf or cards with this guy. i do think you want to see this guy put before the ethics committee. it strikes me he may have financial disclosure issues. it also has the smell, whiff of other stories that are bo to drop. you get the feeling after all we learned today, there could be

more. so, look, obviously not an honorable person. i doubt he resigns. and if the voters get a chance to deal with it in two years, i'm sure they will. >> yeah. reporters are looking at everything. the financial disclosures and so much more. he has not addressed other issues that came up as melanie said. even the charities listed on the resume. so house republican leader kevin mccarthy so far hasn't addressed this controversy. more could come out. now that santos admitted this, margaret, what do you think? i can continue to ignore this? >> i mean, he is certainly going to be asked about this. and so is santos every place he goes, every corner he turns on what committees could he serve on. if you're a constituent and you are trying to engage with them, like, how much faith can you put in this response? the real credibility problem. the but in terms of what is

going to happen, it seems like he'll be seated. >> all right. margaret, scott, great to see you. much more ahead including new attacks on the power grid. i'll ask a former top fbi official about the possibility that extremist groups are targeting utilities and how to stop bad guys from pulling the plug on all of us. hey, it's ryan reynolds, owner of mint mobile. it's the holidays and the big wireless companies are busy spending billions on advertising. atint we're not into wasting mone so we bought this spiffy stock foote for $500. our footage also came with another hand, so we can let you know if you switch to mint, you'll get three months free on all of our plans. even unlimited. feels like that deserves an exclamation point. whoa. easy, easy.

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millions of americans lost pow they are holiday weekend and can you blame the weather for most of it. that said, thousands of outages in washington state had nothing to do with high winds or icy conditions. they were man made, foul play, the latest in the string of attacks on the power grid that have left more than just customers in the dark. to some extent, law enforcement is too. and this latest incident vandals hit four substations near tacoma and followed several o tacks over the last several weeks in washington and oregon as well as similar ones in the carolinas earlier this month. authorities in washington state tell cnn that they have identified no motive or suspects. here to talk about these incidents and the larger threat they could signify is the deputy director andrew mckacabe. what do you make of the attacks on christmas day and four different substations targeted.

what is the significance of this? >> pam, its a really disturbing elevation of a threat that we have been watching since really 2013. and that was the year that there was this notorious attack on a pacific gas and electric substation near san jose, california. it was for all indicators well planned, highly organized structured attack committed by multiple individuals in which they cut the fiber optic cables to a substation and fired rifle round at the transformers and they did $15 million of damage and shut down 17 transformers. that case is still unsolved. and it became in the domestic violent extremist circles that we follow online and in the chat rooms and things like that, it became a notorious attack. one that is famous for being highly effective, easy to do. and easy to get away with. and so now we're looking at a

domestic violent extremist community that is considering attacks on substations as a way to strike back against the government, strike back against corporate america, to strike back against really anything that they harbor a grievance for and with the goal to kind of generate civil unrest. and that's what many of our dm domestic violent extremists are looking to do. >> if this is the work of domestic violent extreme ists, y isn't this labelled terrorism considering the security applications. we keep hearing vandals that played a role in this. we know how hard it is for law enforcement to investigate this. they haven't identified any groups or suspects. but what do you make of that? >> it's really tough, pam, for law enforcement to come out and identify something as a terrorist-related attack whether that is domestic or international terrorism. until they have some sort of

connection to a terrorist purpose, let's say. if they know that an individual or group has conducted that activity because in pursuit of some sort of ideological or political or social gain, then they'll be able to do. that right now we just don't have any indicators on any of the recent tacks. they don't have suspects that we're aware of. we don't know there is any claims of responsibility or even online kind of credible claims of why these things are taking place. right now, they're at ground zero in terms of the investigation. >> right. and many of these areas as we heard from the official there in tacoma, washington, they haven't did cameras. clearly a big tool that law enforcement could have used to track down who is behind this. they don't have that. in terms of securing these facilities, there are thousands of these sites around the country. and this latest case in washington, authorities say the culprit broke a lock to gain access. you described the other case where it was just very sort of

amateur the way they were able to break in. how challenging is it to stop an attack like this and is there anything power companies and law enforcement can do? >> incredibly challenging. the places are by definition remote. they're in the middle of no. where nobody is watching them. the sort of infrastructure security infrastructure is not in place. the federal government can mandate changes. but that only applies to the big interstate carriers, no the to the state and local level carriers. so it's a very tough situation for any government entity to put in consistent security requirements. >> andrew mccabe, thank you for helping us better understand this. we appreciate it. up next, christmas in kyiv and the remarkable way some of the trees were lit. also, a live report on the drone strike deep inside russian territory

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. ukrainian president zelenskyy again today acknowledged how difficult the front line battle is against russian invaders. and he also thanked those working during the holiday to restore power after weeks of russian strikes. in kyiv, they defied the odds, lighting the city's christmas tree with generators even as millions remain without power. separately russia's defense ministry said three servicemen were killed when a ukrainian drone was shot down deep inside russian territory. details on that now from cnn's

will rippley. >> reporter: the ukrainian air force it falling just short of claiming official responsibility for yet another drone strike deep inside russian territory. but they're not denying it either. a spokesperson for the air force saying, quote this is a consequence of what russia is doing which is the relentless of bombardment of the infrastructure target that's caused rolling blackouts affecting millions of people across this country in the dead of winter. as far as this latest drone strike in the western port city, along the river, around 500 miles southeast of moscow, we know at least three russian servicemen were killed on monday. and we also know this is the second attempted drone attack on this area which includes a strategic bomber air base. now russian state media is claiming this drone is shot down. we cannot verify that claim. in moscow, president putin is, well, he's getting a lot of skepticism in ukraine and around the world for his offer that is believed here in ukraine to be disingenuous. to negotiate. to an end to this war.

talk about acceptable solutions in his words. and advise president zelenskyy says that moscow doesn't really want to negotiate. they just want to avoid responsibility for their continuing attacks on civilians that ukraine says warrants them being kicked out of the united nations and the united nations security council where they're a permanent member with veto power. one of five. there is no mechanism to remove them. that is more of a political statement than an actual possibility that stage. although, the ukrainian was especially like to see some consequences that the u.n. for russia because essentially they have the power to veto any resolutions against them. here in kyiv, president zelenskyy calling for patience and faith from the ukrainian people and warning that there could be difficult and dark days ahead. he gave his christmas address, he warned of the potential of russian retaliation. of course, dhe didn't mention te drone strike. but they're worried there could be a major russian attack before the end of the year after a brief pause over christmas.

and medvedev, the former president of ukraine, he is saying that russia will engage in this war until, quote, the most disgusting facist regime in kyiv is demilitarized which is different from president putin saying he is willing to negotiate now. >> will rippley, thank you very much. more perspective from our army lieutenant general mark heartling. you heard that report. what is your reaction to this new strike of an air base deep inside russian territory? >> let's call it what it is. the air base near the city, 400 kilometer as way from the front line, has several important factors regarded. it is an effective operational target now twice for the ukrainian military. and it's important for about four reasons. first, it shows russia they have no safe haven. they must defend their facilities wherever they are. secondly, it shows ukraine has a strike capability that russia

didn't know about. third, most importantly, this is the base for the tu 160 aircraft. that is something called the backfire bomber. and that airplane has a standoff capability and it's able to launch multiple cruise missiles. these are the missiles that have been launched from outside the territory of ukraine to effect the infrastructure within ukraine. and that's why ukraine is targeting. finally, the most important part, there is reports tonight that these aircraft have now been moved further to the east man in russia, 4,000 miles away from the ukrainian border. that is three time zones f so, it will require russia to launch those aircraft, use a lot more fuel and be able to be picked up. >> so that is the practical military effect. meantime, you have putin saying on sunday that he is ready to, quote, negotiate with everyone involved in this process about acceptable solutions, end quote.

you have actually, should we say, quote, negotiated with russians. what did that experience tell you about putin's intentions here? >> yeah. well, i certainly haven't negotiated with mr. putin himself. i have negotiate the with some of his military officers as generals and some of his ministry of defense officials. and what i will tell you is this. i learned valuable lessons, pamela. first of all, they lie. secondly, they will never negotiate evenly. and thirdly, if they do finally negotiate, you think you have a deal, they will renege on that deal. and what is important about this, all of our european allies know this. and it seem the americans are slow to learn this. it's just not a good thing to negotiate with putin. he lies. he detracts, and he reneges on any deal he makes. >> ukraine as will pointed out is asking for russia to be excluded from the u.n. >> i'm not going to comment on that, pam.

that's something for the politicians to decide. i have also seen reports from cnn reporters saying that's going to be very difficult to do because the soviet union, not russia, the soviet union was one of one of the founding members of the u.n. and because of that was one of the five original members that makes up that body. it's going to be tough to kick them off. they have a veto vote. they can just veto anybody that tries to kick them off that security council. >> all right. general mark heartling, thank you. coming up, the comments from china's first president since the relax of the zero covid regulations and huge spike in covid cases. we have a live report from beijing up e in. up next.

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in one of the first public statements since easing its zero covid restrictions, china needs a more targeted health strategy to protect against what he called a new health outbreak situation. the country announced today international travel regulations would ease soon. chinese hospitals are overwhelmed by the surge in cases, and recently china's health authority stopped publishing daily covid numbers. selina wang joins us from beijing with the latest numbers. selina, which travel restrictions are being lifted and when?

>> reporter: pam, there is a whole slate of changes the covid restrictions. from january 8th, the country is dropping quarantine requirements for all international arrivals. these are major changes. and a big move towards the formal end of zero covid and the ending of china's nearly three years of isolation. pam, to understand why this is such a big deal, we have to look at what the reality has been for years. china has been severely limiting who can go in and it of china with strict border controls, flights have been limited and expensive, arrivals have to go through quarantine and government facilities. i went through multiple quarantines myself, including 21 days earlier this year. and we're talking about harsh quarantines. you get sorted into a facility, no opening your door except for food pickups and covid tests. we don't know how many flights will be allowed to enter the country, or how easily chinese officials will be able to travel out, and tourism in you an

orderly manner. but they didn't give details on when or how. but overall these changes are a huge sigh of relief for many people in china who have been waiting years and years for a chance to travel abroad to see loved ones overseas. so so, this is an e mogsal moment. >> it certainly is. how and why are chinese authorities changing the way covid is classified as an illness? >> so, these changes to the travel restrictions i just mentioned are actually part of this broader change to how china is managing covid. the country says it is downgrading its covid management to a class b disease. previously, covid was managed as a class a disease. that means it was on par with alc cholera or the bubonic plague. now china is even changing the name from covid pneumonia to covid infection. officials are saying omicron is less severe and only a small number of cases develop into

pneumonia. since china has abandoned zero covid, information from the country has become more opaque with health authorities narrowing the definition of covid deaths, has only reported a small handful of deaths for the entirety of this month, even though covid is sweeping through the country. the health system under major pressure. fever and cold medicine are nearly impossible to get at drugstores. beijing has just announced it's going to start distributing paxlovid to health centers in the coming days. this is a big deal because it's been very hard for people to access antivarls. this appears to be some relief for people, pam. >> a little bit of hope there. perspective now from cnn medical analyst and former baltimore health commissioner, dr. leana wen. she recently wrote about the covid surge in china for the "washington post." the op-ed is headlined, we must

prepare for the fallout from china's covid u-turn. dr. wen, how do you think health officials should be preparing for that possible outcome? >> well, it's definitely possible that we're going to get new variants from the china surge. that's because when viruses replicate, they mutate. and when you see a large surge -- in this case, we could have hundreds of millions of people in china getting infected in a matter of weeks. so, when you have that kind of surge, you could definitely have new variants develop. the question is, are these new variants going to take hold? are they going to be more invasionive? are they also going to cause more severe disease? so, in terms of how the rest of the world should prepare, what we all need to do is to invest in better vaccines and developing better treatments. that's something that the u.s. urgently needs to take leadership and take ownership of, because what starts in one part of the world is not going to stay there. >> what would the likelihood be

then if it mutates into something else, that what it would mutate into could actually be more dangerous. as you know, the current strain, for example in the u.s., has been more immune evasive but more mild. what is the likelihood a more dangerous strain could emerge? >> we don't know. i mean, we just don't know what could happen. in this case, there are new variants emerging all the time. every day there are new variants emerging. but the vast majority of them never take hold. the ones that take hold, that displace existing variants, tend to be ones that are more transmissible, not necessarily more dangerous. could there be one that's more severe, that could of course happen. and the immune invasion is serious too because already our vaccines don't work as well against the new variants developing. and we don't even have any monoclonal antibodies that work well against the variants that are here. >> that's a really important point because that was going to

be my next question about the vaccines being a mask for what's circulating. right now it's post-holiday weekend. people have been gathering. are you concerned about another post-holiday surge? >> it could certainly happen because when people gather and there are lots of viruses circulating -- and it's not just covid. it's also the flu, rsv, many other viruses. when people gather and come from all over the country or the world, we're going to see virus transmission. i think at this point we need to focus on what's next, as in if you did gather over the holidays or are gathering over new year's, make sure that before you see vulnerable individuals after the holidays that you take a rapid covid test. and of course if you're symptomatic, do not go into public indoor settings. >> yeah. and as you point out, protect the elderly because they are still so very vulnerable. dr. leana wen, thank you. we'll be right back.

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