>> that's it for us. captioning sponsored by cbs >> duncan: tonight covid surges from national crisis to calamity. infections top 200,000 a day. america's death toll, the world's worst. >> as bad as things are right now, they're going to get a lot worse. >> striken california confronting sweeping new restrictions. >> it's frustrating but it is all for the best reason. >> duncan: small businesses worry they won't survive. >> i have had enough. my staff cannot survive. >> duncan: the world watches as russia and britan start mass vaccinations. also tonight, alternative reality. president trump rallies in georgia pushing false election claims. >> if i lost, i would be a very gracious loser. >> duncan: plus whether woes

new fire in the west while a nor'easter strikes new england leaving snow behind. >> a massive fire des i destroys a historic new york city church. why then dang erred creature could hold the key to a covid cure. and later, meet mateo, a five year old on a very special mission. >> to . >> this is the cbs weekend news. >> duncan: good evening and thanks for joining us. i'm jericka duncan in new york. tonight rudy giuliani president trump's personal lawyer and the leader of his attempt to overturn the results of the election has contracted the8 k coronavirus. the president confirmed it in a tweet. the news comes as covid rages across the country. another 214,000 cases were reported saturday. nearly 15 million people in this country have now been infected.

the death toll now topping 282,000. tonight the most pop louse state in the country, california, faces strict new restrictions to slow the spread. cbs's lilia luciano leads us off. >> california is on the brink facing tough new covid restrictions. more than 32 million have been ordered to stay home now and for the holidays. >> it's frustrating but it's also the best reason. >> little comfort to small businesses who worry they won't survive. >> everything i known is-- own is being taken away from me. >> but even some authorities say they will defy the governor's order. >> the riverside county sheriff's department will not be black mailed, bullied or used as muscle against riverside county residents. >> the backlash is intensifying just as the u.s. records more than one million covid cases since december 1s. >> only we can save us from this current surge. >> health workers nationwide already straining to keep up.

25 states in puerto rico reporting record hospitalizations. southern california hospitals with icu's more than 85% full expect the worst. >> we've seen a quadruple increase in our hospital patient. >> dr. david marshall senior vice president of cedar sinai medical center. >> what are you seeing different from back in march. >> the adrenaline that fueled the heroism, the selflessness at the beginning is wanting. and people-- waning and people are really running a marathon like a sprint. >> and this is the sign of the times. 2020, worst year ever. with the pandemic worsening, the toll on loved ones heartbreaking. >> i comforted her until the last moment. >> michael avilez mourning the loss of his sister erica becerra who at 8 months pregnant tested positive for covid. >> we had to think about the baby. so they-- they gave birth to her

son. >> but the detroit mom didn't get to hold her newborn. >> she stayed on a ventilator and died. >> it was open arms we gave her to god last night. >> the stay at home order for most of california will go into effect tonight, one minute before midnight. l.a. county is launching a new program where it will send some residents a free covid test kit so they can screen themselves at home. jericka. >> duncan: lilia luciano in los angeles, thank you. the prospect of vaccines on the horizon has boosted hopes for an end to the pandemic worldwide. cbs's elizabeth palmer reports. >> in italy parishners are back in church. masked, socially distanced, and likely planning a quiet holiday season at home as italy has spanned regional travel. there is not going to be any joy on europe's ski hills either. almost all are staying closed.

and in britain stores in some big cities like london are open again. but visiting family and friends indoors is still against the rules. >> people in europe are fed up with the covid restrictions. but they know they'll be getting a vaccine sometime in the new yeemplet it's people in developing countries who can expect no such relief any time soon, who are really under the gun. >> often the local hospitals are overwhelmed as they are in brazil. after a dip earlier in the fall the number of infections and deaths there are rocketing up. and in turkey cities were empty this weekend after the government imposed the first full national lockdown since may. developing countries which will rely on the who for their vaccines won't see anything like this for months. maybe even years. this is russia's vaccination program launched this weekend. even though it's sputnik vaccine

hasn't yet been fully tested. but it does make it the first country in the world to offer widespread covid inoculation. britain is poised to be next. health care workers and the elderly will start getting shots of the pfizer biontech vaccine. early next week. elizabeth palmer, c brrks s news, london. >> duncan: to politics now. today president trump once again made false claims about the election tweeting that he won "big." he also aired his grieveances at a rally in georgia. here's cbs's chip reid. >> president trump said his primary purpose in going to valdosta, georgia, last night was to campaign for republicans david perdue and kelley loeffler in two crucial runoff elections in january. >> because at stake in this election is control of the u.s. senate. and that really means control of this country. but before a raucous crowd, the

president spent most of the rally complaining and repeating falsehoods about the presidential election. >> you know we won georgia, just so you understand. let me tell you, this election was rigged. >> but even georgia's republican governor brian kemp and republican lt. governor geoff duncan disagree. >> unfortunately he did not win the state of georgia. >> duncan is one of many republicans who worry that the president's claim that the state's election system is rigged will discourage mr. trump's supporters from voting in the january runoff. >> with the mountains of misinformation are not helping the process. they are only hurting it. i worry if we are handing off a playbook to the democrats for january 59. >> at times last night president trump seemed to concede that he had lost and appeared to say he will run again in 2024. >> then we are going to win back the white house. we're going to win it back. >> before a crowd that was packed together with few wearing masks, the president barely mentioned the covid pandemic.

>> the states and cities should open up. they should open up. we're rounding the corner on the pandemic. >> if fact, the experts say the worst of the pandemic is yet to come. just today president trump announced that his attorney rudy giuliani has tested positive for covid-19. in a tweet the president said get better soon rudy. we will carry on. >> chip, i want to su, the 12 million americans out there set to lose federal unemployment benefits are wondering if there is any relief, you have 19 million americans that are facing fore closure or eviction. what is the latest in terms of whether congress is planning any help for those people? >> well, it's some good news. after months of gridlock the leaders of both parties say they are close to a compromise deal that could pass before christmas. and it would include aid to the unemployed, jericka. >> duncan: chip reid for us at the white house tonight, thank

you. president-elect joe biden is ramping up his transition with a series of critical meetings in the coming days. cbs's nikole killion is following president-elect. she joins us from wilmington, delaware. what is on mr. biden's agenda. >> the biden team is expected to meet with the head of operation warp speed this week, dr. moncef slaoui who runs the administration's program. told "face the nation" that he hopes to brief the administration on its distribution. friday the president-elect said he has not seen any detailed plans from the administration. health secretary alex azar called that nonsefnlts the president-elect is also expected to roll out his health team as early as this week. >> the president-elect is also facing some growing criticism about diversifying his administration. can we expect to see more people of color named to key rolls in his cabinet? >> well, president-elect biden has said that he will meet with the n.a.a.c.p. on tuesday after it raised concerns along with

several other civil rights organizations. the president-elect has already named a diverse roster of individuals but he has not committed to naming a person of color to top tier posts like defense secretary or attorney general. the congressional black caucus says that it has submitted names to-- names to the transition and rename-- remains optimistic. >> duncan: nikole kill yob, in will thing shall-- thank you. >> tonight new fire danger for california. red flag warnings are up across much of the southern parts of the state as warm temperatures and dry vegetation could fuel new flames. across the country people in new england are cleaning up after a powerful nor'easter blew through this weekend leaving slick snowy roads. >> a massive fire this weekend destroyed a historic new york city church. firefighters arrived at the middle collegiate clurch in manhattan and in only three minutes but even that wasn't fast enough. the fire started in a building next door. there was no loss of life

thankfully. the church was home to new york's liberty bell which rang out to mark the birth of the united states in 1776. the pastor said today the congregation is devastated but no fire can stop revolutionary love. well, straight ahead on the cbs weekend news, the party is on in wuhan, china. one year after the virus first appeared. cbs news is there. >> plus the effort to save the most hunted animal in the world. and later, special delivery, a california boy's christmas wish comes true.

>> it's been a year since the first known case of coronavirus was recorded in china's hubei province. ramy inocencio in the city of wuhan shows us aggressive actions by the chinese regime have apparently gotten results.

>> after sickness, death and a 76 day lockdown, wuhan and its 11 million people now feel as if the coronavirus pandemic almost never happened. through it all american max siewert and his wife never left. their daughter rachel had just been born. >> at first it seemed so, like stringent and kind of draconian or whatever. but then in retro speblght it seems like it actually worked and now we have been able to enjoy our lives. >> they've been free to move and play since the summer. at wuhan's main food market hungry customers are now back in long lines. >> this food vendor told us he is happy. and china craft aid proud narrative of victory in this massive government exhibition called lives first people first. it praises china's president xi jinping as the hero of the nation's war against covid. followed by front line health care workers, mentions of the dead are rare.

now beijing suggests covid may have come from abroad pointing to the u.s., italy and india. >> this is the wuhan institute of virology, believed by some to be the origin of covid-19. now we tried to get access to this institute for months but were turned down. we also tried to interview many chinese doctors across the country. they all said they were either busy or frankly barred from speaking with us. coronavirus researcher dr. linfa wang did he is based in singapore. >> human outbreak started? wuhan, don't say st not from china, it may prove to be wrong. >> at wuhan's hold oldest cemetery newly etched headstones reveal some scope of the tragedy. across wuhan there are at least 16 cemeteries just like this. >> tao lu has questions, his 69 year old father died from covid in february. the government sent about $600 as compensation. >> it felt hallow. i still don't know where the

virus came from. if you ask me who to blame, i don't know. and he doesn't believe the government's death toll. officially fewer than 4700. now so many graves, row after row stand as monuments to lives lost. in the scared city, synonymous with outbreak, loss and now one year later, recovery. ramy inocencio, cbs news, wuhan. >> duncan: still ahead on the cbs weekend news, how the most trafficked mammal in the world could hold a clue to surviving covid-19. 6

>> duncan: the world's most trafficked mammal the pangolin has been hunted to near extinction because of a false belief in its power to heal. in our series eye on earth cbs's deborah patta shows us how the create you are could hold clues about how we beat the coronavirus. >> they are millions of years

old, solitary, and comp harmless. the pangolin were initially identified as one of the prime suspects in passing on the coronavirus to humans. but their unique immune system has evolved over millions of years and could also contain answers to defeating the pandemic. but here in africa hundreds of thousands are poached every year almost to extinction. >> if you take rhinos, elephant ivory, per lem own, multiply it all together, pangolins still exceed that. >> conservation-- they say that many as they can save as many by going undercover as a buyer. >> they are coveted for scales which are used in dozens of

traditional chinese medicine under the false belief they have healing powers. the animals are sold for around $10,000 on the black market. six men were booked into a nearby police station. they face up to ten years in jail for illegally possessing an endangered animal. the pangolin was rushed to the wildlife hospital where a veterinarian karyn found their team tend to the injuries but is doubt tfl can be saved. >> there is nothing. there is none. >> for those that do make it, there is a special haven. 250 miles away at the phinda private game reserve, a handful of rescued pangolins have been released into the wild. they are constantly monsterred with tracking devices. head ranger simon naylor quickly

realized something was wrong with this pangolin rescued over eight months ago. >> that back left leg is swolen. >> the minor injury will be treated by a vet the next day. >> if we can protect what we can, and help one individual at a time, you know, we will end up succeeding and having a population of a large number. >> scientists in vienna have been studying why the pangolin is able to carry the virus without getting sick. >> very little is known about pangolins in the wild but these new studies have shown just how important they are. and that their future could be tied to ours. deborah patta, cbs news, pirnda-- phinda game reserve south africa. >> a new report shows the devastating toll brush fires had on wildlife, scientists say more than 60,000 koalas were among the 140 million mammals affected by the flames. koalas were already an

endangered species. the fires are being called one of the worst wildlife disasters in modern history. next on the cbs weekend news, the royal couple rides the rails to pay tribute to britan's covid heroes.

>> two, one. kuz a landmark launch for spacex. it was the company's 100th success of its falcon 9 rocket. it is a resupply caringor mission to the international space station. look at that today prince william and wife kate gave a nod to history boarding the queen's royal train for a cross country tour. their three day trip honor front line workers, nursing home staff and teachers for their contributions during the pandemic. they'll travel 1200 miles across england, scotland and wales. when we return neerlt snow nor

sleet nor a pandemic lockdown can stop this santa helper.

>> duncan: finally tonight, do you believe in miracles? c become s's nancy chen introduces us to a young boy who is defend-- depending on one. >> walk all the way down. >> outside a store in stockton, california, a boy naped mateo has a responsibility. >> to get letters to santa. >> diagnosed with leukemia after his second birthday, the five year old has spent much of his life at home, even before the pandemic. but there is one visiter he always looks forward to he soog. >> i just like watching my mailman come by every day. >> which is why mateo dreams of becoming a mailman.

>> organized by the make a wish foundation visitors dropped off letters for santa but the kindergartener as his official helper. >> dear santa. >> cynthia toscano is mateo's mom. >> it means everything. he has had such a hard time in the last few years and i think something like this is what he really needed. >> make a wish says they'll fully transform mateo into a mail carrier when it's safe to do so but for mateo the joy in this job will be hard to top. with the heavy responsibility of getting letters to the big guy in red. when i'm feeling sad. >> a special delivery just in time for the holiday. phoebe chen. >> and then i don't feel. >> we're full pulling for you mateo. dha that is the cbs weekend news, "60 minutes" is coming up. we thank you so much for watching. have a good night.

now at 6:00, it is deja vu all over again for bay area businesses as five counties count down to shut down. >> we're a telescope basically and christmas is 90% of our business. >> are you saying this will be a 30-day shutdown? i don't believe that. like that's what they said last time. >> and plus december fire danger triggering the red flag warning for the bay area tonight. >> we're going to spotlight the areas of most concern with that and the timing of when they will move through the bay area. plus, records tomorrow for daytime highs. we will cover that. >> and they are out with the brand new announcement about the potential power shutoffs. >> it will save a baby from the middle of highway 101, but that was just the beginning of a

wild shift for one officer. now at 6:00, and streaming on cbsn bay area. another round of bay area shutdowns. i'm brian hackney. >> i'm juliette goodrich, a stay-at-home order will take effect tonight at 10:00 in san francisco. contra costa and santa clara counties. alameda county will follow two hours later at midnight and marin will join at noon on tuesday. all will remain under the orders through january 4. >> so many people spent the day getting in one last family meal out, or a much needed cut and color. most larger are tailers will have the means to enter the storm, but for many small bay area businesses, this could be the final straw. kpix 5 da lin on the financial toll they're facing tonight, and how some could actually