let's begin with scott mcclain in london. ott, what can you tell us about potentially closing all borders? that would be a drastic move which reflects the seriousness of the situation there. >> reporter: absolutely, kim. important to know that any travelers coming in from abroad have to test negative before they get on a plane and quarantine for ten days just for good measure. this morning a british cabinet second said it will make them safer and keeping out new coronavirus variants that could spread easier or be more resistant. the u.k. is dealing with its own variant. they have averaged 1200 covid-19 deaths per day. you have to look hard to see signs things are getting better in this country. the head of the national health care service in the london area said while icu beds and calms and calls and the numbers are lowering. the government started to say yesterday there continues to be a small number of people who do not want to follow the rules. it's planning to impose stricter penalties on them. the government saying the lo

. >> so i want to talk more about this with cnn's scott mcclain. those are certainly quite verifying words for many brits and for 'em people around the world awaiting the arrival of this variant on their shores. what is the prime minister basing his evidence on here? >> so it's a couple of studies here, but the prime minister's top individualers were quick to point out that there is a lot of uncertainty around this new vire russ. the new variant is more transmittable than the original. that is having a devastating impact right now on the national health service in this country. hospitals are simply packed to the brim. some of the sample sizes of these studies that the government is basing its estimates on, they're smaller than they would have liked. so that is leading to a lot of var action. >> if you took somebody in their 60s, the average risk is that for 1,000 people who got infected, roughly 10 would be expected to unfortunately die with the virus. with the new variant, for a thousand people infected, roughly 13 or 14 people might be expected t

scott mcclain, cnn, london. >>> and thanks for watching. i'm kim brunhuber.y start" is up next. chances are you have some questions right now here are a couple answers... lysol disinfectant spray and disinfecting wipes together can be used on over 100 surfaces. and kill up to 99.9% of viruses and bacteria. unfortunately, we can't answer every question you have right now. lysol. what it takes to protect. robinhood believes now is the time to do money — without the commission fees and account minimums. so, you can start investing today, wherever you are — even on the bus. download now and get your first stock on us. robinhood. it's moving day. and while her friends are doing the heavy lifting, jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. it only takes about a minute. wait, a minute? but what have you been doing for the last two hours? delegating? oh, good one. move your xfinity services without breaking a sweat. now that's simple, easy, awesome. xfinity makes moving easy. go online to transfer your services in about a minute. get started today. >>>

. >> and scott mcclain joins me now from london. scott, has the government shed anymore light on this question of whether the u.k. variant is actually more deadly? >> hey, kim, so the confusion stems from the fact that the government points out that there are some studies that show that this u.k. variant is, in fact, more deadly than the original virus, but at the same point, the government says if you look at only hospital data of people that end up hospitalized with the virus, you are no more likely to die from this u.k. variant than you are from the original. so this morning, british health secretary matt hancock acknowledged that the messaging is confusing. listen. >> communicating risk is challenging, and it's challenging for media outlets as well. i understand that. but when we put the scientific evidence out there, for instance, one of the studies says that this might be 10% to 15% more deadly, there are uncertainties in that. that's the nature of sncience, and the thing i find heartening is the vast majority of the public und

many uk doctors are against the idea, but some scientists said it could help save more lives as scott mcclainlains. scott. >> reporter: a measure of success in the uk in the fight against the coronavirus. on saturday the government said more than 5.8 million people had received their first dose of vaccine. that's nearly 9% of the population. but critics say rolling out the second doses should be happening sooner. doctors from the british medical association want to reduce the gap between the first and second dose of the pfizer/biontech vaccine from up to 12 weeks to six weeks. the country's chief medical officer says the longer wait allows more people to build up immunity. but pfizer says the vaccine was only tested at a 21-day interval. >> no other nation in the world has taken this stance. we want to be sure that if this delay is occurring, we're not compromising and we're not going to result, we hope, in people becoming infected who may have been protected by having an earlier second dose. >> reporter: the vaccine's even more crucial as a more contagious variant of the virus sweeps through

for more on all of this, scott mcclain in london, hi. what can you tell us? reporter: there's still a lot of confusion about this question in the uk right now, largely because the government says it's not even certain as to whether or not this new uk variant of the virus is more deadly than the original. it says the data isn't quite clear just yet. on friday, british prime minister boris johnson came out and said when you look at hospital data alone, you are no more likely to die from this new uk variant of the virus than you are if you're infected with the original virus. but then he also said something that seems contradictory on the surface. and that's that if you look at the overall data, the new variant actually does seem noticeably more deadly than the original. yesterday the director of the u.s. national institutes of health weighed in on this as well. and he responded specifically to the numbers that were quoted by the uk health officials on friday, that if you took 1,000 infected 60-year-olds you'd expect about 10 of them to die from the original vir

cnn's scott mcclain, on its face, elderly people dying after getting the vaccine, it seems extremelyubling obviously, raises lots of questions. what can you tell us. >> reporter: hey, kim. context is extremely important here. norway, like most other western countries, is really prio prioritizing the elderly and vulnerable people, particularly those living in nursing homes or care homes. the norwegian medicines agency, that's the regulator in norway, they were quick to point out of these 23 deaths of people who had received the pfizer-biontech covid-19 vaccine, they were elderly and frail to begin with. so the agency says that anyone who dies or has an adverse reaction within a few days of receiving the vaccine, those are investigated. of the 23, 13 have been assessed so far. in the early reports, suggesting common vaccine side effects or reactions like fever, nausea, may have contributed to the deaths of these patients. i want to read a statement from norwegian health authorities. in norway, we are vaccinating the elderly and people in nursing homes with serious underlying diseases,

let's talk more about this with scott mcclain in london. it spreads faster and it could be more deadly as well. that seems to contradicts what british officials were saying just last week. >> reporter: that's right. there are still a lot of yes marks here about this data. even the research seems contradictory in some parts. so what the british prime minister said yesterday is that the government knows that the uk strain is more transmissible from person to person, about 30% to 70% more france transmissibl the original virus. and that is having a huge impact. hospitals are packed to the brim and really can't take too many more patients. the prime minister though is less certain about the mortality or the -- how deadly this new strain of the virus actually is. his advisers were quick to point out that there is a lot of uncertainty around the new data. in some cases the sample sizes were a little bit less than they would have liked to get an accurate count. and there is also a lot of variants, between 30% to 90% some studies are showing more d

scott mcclain, cnn, london. >>> just ahead, more on larry king's legacy. for decades he interviewed heads of state, movie stars, world-class athletes. one of his most memorable was that famous conversation with marlon brando. ♪ when the chapel bells ring out ♪ ♪ going to make him an offer he can't refuse ♪ >> good-bye. >> good-bye. (vo) with t-mobile for business, your business has an easy choice. the largest 5g network... award-winning customer satisfaction... insanely great value. choose. all. three. ready when you are. hey malcolm, your podcasts are on audible right? and your new audiobook. with everything from mel robbins to blake griffin, is there a more fascinating place than audible? no. and i've done the research. of course you have. audiobooks, podcasts, audible originals. all in one place. mom: honey, what i think you need is a socket wrench. audiobookdad:odcasts, i played jv basketball. mom: i'm sorry, i don't think it looks right. dad: this is good. and it's all good, baby. mom: is it, is it really all good? daughter: if you love me enough to r

our scott mcclain reports. >> reporter: following the deadly u.s.many political opponents are cheering twitter's decision to ban the person they say encouraged the insurrection, president trump. trump's personal facebook account was also suspended indefinitely. >> it violated our policy and it was a risk we couldn't take. >> i think that big tech is doing a horrible thing for our country and to our country, and i believe it is going to be a catastrophic mistake for them. >> reporter: social media platforms consistently pointed to their own rules to explain controversial decisions, but experts says it is consistency that's been lacking. >> they're not consistent, so you also have to wonder whether some of the companies have become basically monsters that they cannot tame themselves anymore. >> reporter: trump's ban set off a fierce international debate around free speech and who, if anyone, ought to be policing it online. the mexican president called the ban contrary to freedom while a spokesperson for german chancellor angela merkel said it is probl

cnn's scott mcclain has more. >> reporter: the bells are ringing in this cathedral in england. this is not a traditional observance. high ceilings and open layout make it and some other cathedrals across the country a perfect space for make-shift vaccination centers. so far a good turnout. 45% of people 80 and over have been vaccinated. >> feel a bit safer. i do feel a bit safer. i live on my own so, you know, it's important. >> reporter: so important that brittain's foreign secretary says the goal in the u.k. is for every adult to be offered a first dose of vaccine by september. as shots go into arms, the u.k. is also taking tougher measures to try to stop new variants of the virus from entering the cou country. starting monday all travel corridors are temporarily closed and all incoming travelers must have proof of a negative covid-19 test and quarantine upon entry. austria is extending its current lockdown until february 8th over fears of new variants. thousands of people rallied calling for the government to resign protesting the third round of closure since march. >> trans

scott mcclain explains. >> reporter: a measure of success in the uk in the fight against the krimptz on saturday the government said more than 5.8 million people had received their first dose of vaccine. that's nearly 9% of the population, but critics say rolling out second doses should be happening sooner. doctors from the british medical association want to reduce the gap between the first and second doze of the pfizer/point tech vaccine from up to 12 weeks to six weeks. the country's chief medical officer says the longer wait allows more people to build up immunity but pfizer says the vaccine was tested at a 21-day interval. >> no other nation has taken this social distance. we want to see if and make sure that we're not compromising people becoming infected become infected by having an earlier second dose. >> the vaccine is even more crucial as a contagious variant of the virus sweeps through the uk and beyond. the world health organization says it's been detected in more than 60 countries. early data suggests current vaccines can be effective against this variant, but the uk's c