>> u.k. hits a new record of 50,000 daily infections applying more pressure on its overstretched health service. killed for doing their jobs, dozens of journal iftsd murdered for exposing organized crime. he shook up the fashion world and turned his name into a global brand. french designer, pierre cardin

has died at the age of 98. captioning performed by the national captioning institute, ich is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org >> welcome to the program. public health first in the u.k. say the government needs to take action to bring down covid-19 infections. new cases jumped from 41,000 on monday to more than 53,000 on tuesday despite tough restrictions in place across much of the country. hospitals are treating more covid-19 patients than at the peak of th pandemic in april and the number is forecast to climb even higher. we have more. a biologist with the lancaster university in england. doctor, tell us what is so

difficult to bring these cases down in the united kidom? >> i think a major emphasis is really to bring the number down d we knew that this time of the year is particularly notorious for infectious diseases because this is the longest time for holidays and mingling with the families and getting into the winter and less ventilation. these are fueling the number of cases and the virus is breeding and we have a new variant and to that, a 56% of higher numbers. all together is really a situation for the virus to carry on because we have 80% of the people that are susceptible to the infection, the prospect is not that good. >> can you give us a picture

that the strain that the national healt service is under? >> if we look at that,e know 62% of the infections are belonging to this new variant and it is carrying 323 mutations, three of them are critical and now, we have done some of the analysis in the scientific communities and despite it is going to other cells more strongly and it is replicating in the infected person. more higher -- more virus in the body and that's how it is taking the whole population. >> if you can translate us to none-doctors, how worried should

we be about that variant? >> if we look onto the current data, there is no evidence that this new variant would have higher or severe problem of the disease, so that is very good. we know this probably will not impact onto the vaccine efficacy. the only thing is its transmission. if the person is infected, it will infect the nearby person. so the transmission is we will have more infections and more infections means morep hospitalizations and means more hospitalizations and means more fatalities. it will take a bigger toll on the human health. >> what would you say to government officials and public hell first what needs to be done to get it under control. there are new tiers being put in

place, tire 5, 6 or 7? >> we are having on a weekly basis 23% more infections and higher number of infection than ever being recorded. this means that something needs to be done. and looking onto the future perspective and i can assure the number of cases we are having are not the ones coming out of the festive season. what numbers will increase significantly. either we have to roll out the vaccine as quickly as possible as largely as possible and move on to tier 5, that means we have to put the whole country on a very strict restrictions along with the schools and universities to really block the country in the way the number of infections will go down. we will have this pandemic in

the near future. >> thank you, doctor, for those insights. >> thank you very much for having me. >> u.s. president-elect kamala harris has been given the covid vaccine live on television. the incoming biden administration is aiming to boost confidence in vaccinations. joe biden got his vaccination last week. rett's look at some of the other developments in the other pandemic. belarus and argentina have launched mass vaccination using the sputnik v vaccine. it hasn't completed late-stage trials. they are offering two-year work

permits and will hope to curb the spread of the pandemic. e.u. has called for the release of a chinese citizen journalist. he was handsed a four-year jail term on monday. been around a year since the first coronavirus cases were reported by officials in the chinese city of wuhan. the pandemic is now largely under control but stories are emerging how people paid the price for beijing's alleged lack of transparency. a chinese man who says he is angry with the government for not releasing information at the time the first cases were reported. >> it is almost as if nothing had ever happened here. life is back to normal in the city where the coronavirus first

emerged. china has brought infection rates down to almost zero. in an exhibition, the communist party celebrates victory in what it calls its war on the pandemic . first and foremost, the party celebrates itself and the general secretary was hailed as the man who led the country to victory. >> this is how china wants people to see its reaction to the disease and how man people do see it indeed, but there are other voices in this city. >> this man is one of them. he is on his way to the municipal government. >> isn't this the people's government? taking pictures is not allowed. >> i think they should change from the people's government of

wuhan to the bureaucrats' government of wuhan. >> he normally lives in this city. he returned home to wuhan in january when his father broke his hip. the elderly man received free treatment and this is where he caught covid and later died. >> his father would still be alive if the authorities in wow hahn had not covered up the early stages of the outbreak and trying to file a case in court against the government. >> i have been very upset since i came back to wuhan. i'm sad and angry at the same time. that's my current state of mind. i can't stand all this

propaganda about the achievements in the fight against covid. all the people who died, the innocent people who left this world have never been paid proper respect. >> but few people speak publicly. many others have put the experience behind them. life is back on the streets especially young people enjoy their newly returned freedom. while many places in the world still struggle with the pandemic, the city where it all began is moving on. >> let's look at some other stories making headlines. bangladesh has started moving a group of muslim refugees to the offshore island. groups have voiced opposition. tens of thousands of protestors in nepal called for theous ter

of the prime minister. a urged him to reverse his decision to dissolve parliament. it was organized by a splint tering group of the communist party. u.s. lawmakers in the u.s. house of representatives have voted to override president trump's veto of a defense funding bill and voted to increase $2,000 and moves to the republican controlled senate which is split on whether to approve further pandemic relief. at least 50 journalists and other media workers have been killed in connection with their work in the last year. that's according to the latest annual report from reporters without borders. the watchdog group said they lost their lives that aren't at war and often targeted from trying to expose crime and corruption. >> mexico one of the world's

murder rates and worst for journalists. it has been plagued byiolence for years. the danger faced by reporters trying to iestigate poses a threat to democracy in the world's largest spanish-speaking nation. >> we are afraid that information will be leaked and that organized crime will track us down because we reveal something or report on something we should not have. >> reporters without borders says eight journalists were killed in mexico in 2020, more than in any other country. iraq, afghanistan, pakistan and india reported several journalists' deaths during the past year. one of the killings in afghanistan happened earlier this month. a female tv anchor was killed as she left her home. another cam ainer for the rhts

of womens. the first execution of a journalist in three decades. an exiled iranian journalist was kidnapped last year during a trip to iraq. tehran convicted and executed him over his reporting in 2017. 2020 brought with it a new threat the coronavirus pandemic. reporters without borders said it is impossible to know how many journalists were exposed to covid. the organization said at least three reporters died after contracting the virus. >> let's bring in laura, she is a journalist and director of the think thank the americas program which is a networking hub for democracy and human rights. welcome to the program. could you give us an idea of what it's like to be a working journal ifert in mexico?

-- journalist in mexico. >> it's very different. mexico has the worst rate of assassination for journalists including cound countries that are at war. mexico is at war. ever since they launched the drug war, there has been struggle for territorial control in many parts of the country and this means it could look like a normal city street but you don't understand the underlying dynamics or the rules of what can be reported on or not reported on. in fact, it turns out that state officials, government officials are the culprit of the majority of the attacks on journalists which increased 45% between this year and last year, the opposite that was promised by a government that said it would make protection of journalists a priority. >> what is the connection

between safety for journalists and safety for the general population? >> again, it's difficult to know exactly what to do. but what we have seen is the mechanism of protection which includes escorts and series of mechanisms that have been worked out in mexico and international level have not worked at all. two of the assassinations were people who had protective measures. so it's been a real challenge to figure out how you protect yourself in this environment. attacking impunity. 99% of cases of attacks and assassinations have not been brought to justice. this sends a message to organized crime and corrupt government officials that it's ok to knock off journalists whose reporting is becoming an a noins to your business or interest.

when that message goes out, it becomes worse. the other part is being a woman journalist. we have seen many cases where there is a rise on attacks in women journalists although not the majority of assassinations. it has been reported that 532 attacks on women journalists just this year and nearly half of all attacks on women human rights defenders. it has become hostile environment for women reporters as well. >> we are winding down 2020. do you see any hope for the situation improving? >> it's vital that the government begin to take on these cases and to resolve them. there was a negotiation that said 2% of the cases should be resolved a year. we are still not seeing movement. by resolving the cases, not just

the hit men but the masterminds they send out a different message that this will not be tolerated within the country. the other part of it has to do with tchanging the government's rhetoric towards journalism. the president has taken on an adversary relationship with journalists considering them an inconvenience rather than an ally. this sends out a message in society that attacks and even kilingts of journalists will not be dealt with as a priority in the government. there needs to be a plite change in attitude and public representation of the vital roll of journalists in mexico as well as beginning to find ways to jet down the level of violence in the country.

>> let's hope for a more peaceful time in the city to come. >> thank you. >> a powerful earthquake has hit central croatia. the epicenter was southeast of the capital with tremors felt in neighboring countries. >> as the dust settleles, a dramatic rescue, one of many. people across croatia were caught off guard by the massive earthquake and some suffered the consequences. hardest hit was the town of petrinja. residents are rattled and distressed. they spent hours searching for people under the debris. it is the second earthquake in

as many days. on monday, a 5.2 earthquake hit the region. this is the third massive earthquake in croatia this year. >> this year is ending as it began. we are experiencing a very similar situation here as after the earthquake in march in zagreb. and putting all the resources. the army and national guard are in duty in the hardest-hit towns. >> the series of aftershocks left residents to spend most of the day outside too fearful to remain indoors. these nursing home residents were evacuated and forced to brave the cold. others huddled on the streets, not an ideal situation in times of coronavirus. for those in shock, the

seemingly safer option. >> french fashion designer pierre cardin has died at the age of 98. he started making waves revolutionizing the sfri with his future looks and he had ready-to-wear collections. >> pierre cardin presented his catwalks over six decades. he was one of the most innovative and productive fashion designers in the world. >> i have been working professionally for 60,000 and 4,000 dresses and never sold the original organizations. he came to france. by the 1940's, he changed his name to pierre cardin and one of

the ambitious young designers in paris. 1947, he was working for dior and three years later he went solo. surprising the fashion world. he was known for his general louis call colors and designs. the designer moddled his men's collection himself. the beatles commissioned him to have suits. capturing the fun of the 1960's. >> many people hated my work at that time and found my dresses strange, like this, where you could see the naked breadths. >> from 1959 -- breasts. he is considered the founder of bringing exclusive paris fashions to department stores around the world and became one

of the richest men in france and founded hotels. in his mid-80's, he didn't consider retiring. >> i think aisle continue to work as -- until i die. i have everything a man could want. >> pierre cardin once said his favorite of item of clothing for a life that does not exist. the world of tomorrow. >> let's get more on the life of times of pierre cardin. it's been a long time since he saw fame in the 1950 and 1960's. why does he still matter to us? >> he was a figure back then in the 1950's and 1960's and his

clothing -- he dressed elizabeth taylor and dressed the beeltles in these neru-styled jackets without collars and they brought that style to the west. so he was really -- he was a designer with enormous star power whose designs shaped the era. >> if the beatles still influence us today so does he. what made his designs stand out from others? >> unlike older designers like cocochanel. he saw the body something to put his designs on top of like sculptures. he likened the body to water and his sculptures were a glass of

water. the people had to wear his designs. they weren't designs that were made to accentuate the natural body and they were asexual and unisex and he was a pioneer of this space-aged look so much so that nasa asked him to design a real suit for astronauts. >> wow! . that leads us to the next question. he was quite the businessman, bass nt he? how did that go down with his peers? >> he was very honest. he wanted to make a lot of money and designing incredibly expensive one of a kind dress wasn't the most profitable and made it available to the masses. back in the 1950's, you couldn't go into a top paris fashion house and buy it off the rack.

he made that possible and he was the king of licensing. any product he could put his name on, not just socks and ties, pickles, mineral water, he would do it. he was the designer to go into china in the 1970's. saw opptunity and seized it. >> lookingood while saving so money i guess is his legacy. thanks so much david. new york's times square attracts all kinds of people for all kinds of reasons. one of them is the good ridance day. after the year we have been through doing just that is all the more. how a few new yorkers are sending 2020 packing. >> saying a therapeutic good-bye to the year 2020. >> 2021 --

>> a dozen people in new york gathered to celebrate the good ridance day saying things they don't want to take. >> good ridance to the coronavirus. >> throwing them into an oversized paper shredder. >> people want to say good ridance to the difficulty, pain and isolation of last year and see the light at the end of the tunnel, the vaccine that may be in the future and the houses of broadway and theaters will be able to be full. >> also atimes square, people are aiming to look forward instead of back of what they want to shred. they are participating in a wishing wall, rocking down their hopes and dreams for 2021. >> i did wish for hopefully for covid to go away and there is a cure and go back to traveling

and having fun. >> my family and all the families that are affected. >> i want to be able to see my family and they live in puerto rico. >> i wish happiness for everyone and those around me. >> times square in new york is normally a hot spot for celebrations on new year's eve, but with the coronavirus still keeping people apart, celebrations to ring in 2021 will be much more subdued. >> that's it for this hour. more at the top. see you then.

print 24 and france24.com. ♪ >> france facing a curfew from 6:00 p.m. reaches in the east are facing the measure from january 2. the announcement made in the wake of a special meeting on covid earlier in paris. another lockdown at this stage is not envisaged, says the minister. so far seven confirmed dead in the epicenter 50 miles from the columbus or z -- 50 miles from the