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Relief Package Badly Needed by Struggling Americans; Actions Are Better Than Promises; No Open Sesame Opening; Italy with a New Poor; Biden Team Courting GOP for a COVID Relief Package; Vaccine Team Double Up with Their Effort to Meet 100 Million Shots; Edited Data Came into Former POTUS' Hands; GOP Support for Impeachment Hangs by a Thread. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired January 25, 2021 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. You are watching CNN Newsroom. And I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, the White House is trying to get Republicans on board for President Joe Biden COVID relief package, but Democrats may not need their support. Impeachment is another story though. Division is growing over the effort to convict former President Trump for the capitol insurrection.

And people in England could be under lockdown for quite a bit longer as the country struggles to contain the pandemic.

Good to have you with us.

President Joe Biden is kicking off his first full week as U.S. commander in chief. And we expect a series of new executive orders touching on issues like immigration and climate change. But Mr. Biden's main focus remains on the most pressing crisis facing this country, the coronavirus pandemic.

The task is daunting in the U.S. where total cases have now topped 25 million. In the day ahead a White House official says the president is set to reinstate COVID travel restrictions lifted by Donald Trump just before he left office. And Mr. Biden's pick for health secretary laid out what it will take to get the U.S. on a better track. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

XAVIER BECERRA, U.S. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES NOMINEE: It won't happen overnight. We can do better. We cannot only control COVID but get us back to real normality, but it takes everybody. All hands on deck. We've got to make sure we are coordinating and we are talking to people. We can't just tell the states. Here is some PPE, some masks, here are some vaccines. Now go do it. No, no. When we hand them over, we stay with them and provide resources to

make it happen. We do that, Dana, if we get people following the president's guidance of wearing a mask for these 100 days, we're going to get control of this thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (on camera): And as they work to gain control of the pandemic, President Biden and his team are also hoping to build support for a COVID economic relief package.

CNN's Arlette Saenz has details from Washington.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: The White House is trying to drum up bipartisan support for President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief package. And over the weekend the president dispatched his top economic adviser, Brian Deese to speak with a group of 16 senators, eight Republicans and eight Democrats as they're looking to get more bipartisan sign on, on to this bill.

Now some Republicans have expressed unease about the size of this package and Senator Susan Collins, a Republican of Maine who was part of that call, said that she thinks it's too premature to be talking about a $2 trillion package, and that she believes that bipartisan group senators could find a more targeted approach.

Now one item that was deemed a priority on that call was money for COVID vaccinations, but many of the senators wanted to see more details and find ways to ensure that Americans who needed the money most would be the ones receiving it.

Now Biden has been clear. He wants us to be tackled in a bipartisan manner, but some Democrats are pushing for him to pass the measure through reconciliation, which would only require a simple majority. Now this was just one of many meetings the White House is having on this topic as they've made it clear as a top ticket item for them in the early days of the administration.

Now on Monday, President Biden will reinstate some COVID travel restrictions on non-U.S. citizens coming from Brazil. The U.K., Ireland and other European countries. And he will also extend those restrictions to those who have recently traveled from South Africa. This is just the latest attempts from the Biden administration to try to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, which they have said is a top priority.

Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.

CHURCH: It's been a little more than a year since the U.S. recorded its first case of COVID-19, and it's now surpassed 25 million total infections. That accounts for more than a quarter of all global cases.

[03:04:59]

But the good news is that most states are starting to see the range of new infections drop. Yet, that could change with the emergence of new more contagious variants. And health officials are concern that they could be even deadlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We need to assume now that what has been circulating dominantly in the U.K. does have a certain degree of increase in what we call virulence, namely the power of the virus to cause more damage, including death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (on camera): Joining me now, CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner. DR. Reiner is a professor of medicine at George Washington university. Thank you, doctor for being with us and for all that you do.

JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: My pleasure, thanks for having me.

CHURCH: So, President Joe Biden has vowed to get 100 million shots in arms in this first 100 days in office, but you say he needs to double that to two million COVID shots a day. How can that be done when the U.S. faces vaccine supply issues at this time?

REINER: Here's the issue. Most of the vaccinations we are giving now are new vaccinations, first time vaccinations without our two-dose strategy. But as the weeks go on, the percent of new vaccinations is going to drop until every day, half of the vaccinations are new vaccinations and half of the vaccinations are the second dose. This is at least until the Johnson & Johnson single dose vaccine becomes available.

So, we are actually going to be vaccinating fewer new people going forward than we are today. In order to get to herd immunity by this summer, or certainly by the fall, we need to do much better, and I think we need to vaccinate about two million people per day. Now people are worried about the supply of vaccine, but what we've learned this weekend is that Moderna and Pfizer have been shipping every week about 12 to 18 million doses of vaccine. We are only giving about nine million doses a vaccine.

So, as of today 21 million shots had been administered. There are 41 million -- about 41 million doses had been delivered. We should be administering every week as many doses as are delivered. We're nowhere near that.

CHURCH: Right. Hopefully they will establish a system now going forward where they can't up that number.

REINER: Yes.

CHURCH: I think they mention that that one million and the one million a day was sort of the floor and hopefully they can do as you suggest and double that. So, you mentioned the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. When would you expect that to be available and ready to administer to Americans? Because we really do need to up the ante here, don't we?

REINER: We do. And that is an appealing vaccine for a couple of reasons. First of all, it doesn't require the ultra-cold logistics chain, for instance, the Pfizer into a slighter lesser extent the Moderna vaccines required. It's a vaccine that can be stable for an extended period of time in just the refrigerator. And secondly it only requires one shot.

So, for big mass vaccination events it's sort of the ideal vaccine because you don't have to make arrangements for the public to come back for a second jab in three or four weeks. And again, it lessens the number of vaccinations overall that need to be given. The phase one and phase two data is very appealing. The vaccine provides a robust immune response after a single injection.

We will see maybe even by the end of this week the phase three clinical trial data and J&J is poised to submit right after that an application for an emergency use authorization to the FDA.

CHURCH: And doctor, we're also seeing conflicting information on the U.K. variant that is now being the detected in about 22 U.S. states. All scientists agree it's more contagious than the original, but they don't agree on whether it's more deadly or even if the vaccine will work against all mutations, including the one from South Africa.

So, Dr. Fauci says he now need to assume it could be more deadly and travel restrictions are being put in place or will be put in place, but what more needs to be done about these variants?

REINER: Well, I think first of all, if the variant is more contagious and more people contract the virus, then it makes sense that more people are going to die. I think the travel restrictions that the Biden administration are reinstituting make a lot of sense.

We're actually in an interesting time in the United States. Case numbers are dropping rapidly. Hospitalizations are dropping rapidly. Over the last week we've seen about a 21 percent drop in new cases in this country.

[03:09:57]

So, this is they time to try and really cement this decline and prevent the new variants from taking hold. And any way we could do that we should attempt. Including our restricting travels from places where those variants are most endemic right now. That will buy us more time to get more shots into more arms and to try and put this pandemic down quicker.

CHURCH: We look forward to that time. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, many thanks as always for joining us.

REINER: Thank you for having me.

CHURCH (on camera): The former coordinator for Donald Trump's White House coronavirus task force, Dr. Deborah Birx says she always considered quitting the job because her colleagues believed she had become too political. In an interview with CBS News, Birx also said she had no idea where Trump was getting some of his information.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBORAH BIRX, FORMER COORDINATOR, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: I saw the president presenting graphs that I've never made. So, I know that someone or someone out there or someone inside was creating a parallel set of data and graphics that were shown to the president. I know what I sent out. And I know that what was in his hands was different from that. You can't do that. You have to use the entire --

(CROSSTALK)

MARGARET BRENNAN, SENIOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, CBS NEWS: Who is doing that?

BIRX: To this day I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (on camera): Dr. Birx says contradicting statements from political leaders derailed her team's response to the virus, which is why she began traveling across the U.S. to spread accurate information without being censored.

Mexico's president has tested positive to COVID-19. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador tweeted on Sunday saying his symptoms were mild and he is already receiving medical treatment. He added that he would continue his duties from the presidential palace. Lopez Obrador who rarely wears a mask has faced widespread criticism over his handling of the pandemic.

According to Johns Hopkins University, Mexico is one of 18 countries with more than one million COVID-19 cases.

Well former U.S. President Donald Trump will soon face a historic second impeachment trial. And Republicans in the Senate are divided on what comes next. One prominent senator is breaking with the party line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): The preponderance of the legal opinion is that an impeachment trial after someone has left office is constitutional. I believe that's the case. I'll of course hear what the lawyers have to say for each side, but I think it's pretty clear that the effort is constitutional.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:15:00]

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CHURCH (on camera): Welcome back, everyone.

Well today the U.S. House of Representatives will formally deliver the article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump to the Senate. Democrats are united behind convicting Trump over his role in inciting the deadly riot at the capitol. But Republicans are at odds with each other.

CNN's senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns has our report.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Its history in the making once again as Capitol Hill prepares for the second Donald Trump impeachment trial. A bit different from the first, he is now out of office. He is out of town and he is off Twitter, very different from last time. Nonetheless, there are still some similarities.

For example, once again, the House impeachment managers will take the long walk across the United States capital to deliver the one article of impeachment to the United States Senate and read the article before the United States Senate.

Normally, after such things occur, the impeachment trial is supposed to start in earnest at one p.m. the next afternoon, but the United States Senate has bought itself some time. In fact, they are going to stay out two weeks before they begin the trial in earnest coming back on February 9th.

There has been a lot of suggestion that this trial will be quicker than the last one, but that's not clear, simply because Republicans are all over the place on what to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): I think the trial is stupid. I think it's counterproductive. We already have a flaming fire in this country. And it's like taking a bunch of gasoline and pouring it on top of the fire.

SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R-SD): I think it's a mood point. Because I think right now Donald Trump is no longer the president. He is a former president. Constitution, and I think, and I know that there are other people out there that may disagree with me, but article one, section, I think it's three -- or six and seven, specifically point out that you can impeach the president and it does not indicate that you can impeach someone who is not in office.

ROMNEY: The preponderance of the legal opinion is that an impeachment trial after someone has left office is constitutional. I believe that's the case. I'll of course hear what the lawyers have to say for each side, but I think it's pretty clear that the effort is constitutional.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS (on camera): The United States Senate is divided 50/50 between Democrats and Republicans. two thirds of the majority is required to convict. That means if all Democrats vote to convict the former president, 17 Republicans will also have to vote with them. Back to you. CHURCH: Joining me now is CNN's senior political analyst David

Gergen. He served as an adviser to four U.S. presidents. Always a pleasure to have you on the show.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you, Rosemary. Good to be here.

CHURCH: So, David Gergen, you know the Senate will officially receive the article of impeachment in just a matter of hours from now, with the trial set to begin in about two weeks. But it's looking less likely now that 17 Republican senators will vote to convict Donald Trump for his role in the storming of the capitol. So where do you see this going?

GERGEN: Well, I think it's certainly an uphill battle. It's worth remembering that when the Congress face these questions about an impeachment, in the House of Representatives, 95 percent of the Republican members of the House of Representatives voted against impeachment.

[03:20:09]

Ninety-five percent. Seventy percent voted against what's called certification of the vote, which is usually just a -- it's an administrative action -- it doesn't -- it's not controversial at all. Seventy percent have voted against it.

So, there was a steep hill to start with. But in the last few days it's been disappointing if not disturbing to see that the base of Donald Trump's political fortunes is really reacting very negatively to what happened with the impeachment and is putting a lot of pressure on the senators, on this Republican side to break with -- to break with whatever comes out on the trial and vote for Donald Trump almost without even asking any questions, hard questions.

There are some of the Republicans we know are going to challenge the constitutionality of even having this proceeding, because Donald Trump is no longer in office, can you really, can you convict someone who is no longer in the office that you are talking about? The lawyers believe you can. Experts believe you can, but the Republicans will use that as a cudgel to say we are not going to vote for it -- we're not going to vote on the merits because we never get to the merits by (Inaudible) it's unconstitutional to do this.

CHURCH: But one has to ask, given those Republicans were there when it happened. You have to wonder why most Republicans don't see a need for accountability when it comes to Donald Trump's actions, and where will that ultimately leave the Republican Party, given too that Trump appears to be considering starting a third party which will obviously split the vote.

GERGEN: Yes, he is. Apparently, him using over the idea of having what he calls the patriots party. And he stuck seriously about it with some people in private of course, but that's been leaking out. And listen, I -- I don't think we can say for sure how this will all come out by in terms of which it impacts on the Republican Party. My impression is that it will hold the Republican base and the

Republican Party together in the short term but in the long term this is going to be very destructive, because of the growing number of Americans, both independents, and Democrats and some former members of the base are increasingly come to the conclusion that thank goodness for the impeachment. And thank goodness there may be a conviction, because we have to have accountability in the system.

You know, people almost got killed. There were people in the capitol who were calling their loved ones that afternoon to say goodbye. They thought they might never see them again. That's how close we came to a lot and lots of murders. As it was, we escape with less mayhem than we expected or thought might occur, but nonetheless, the country has really been revolted to a degree by not only the fact that these assaults occurred, but that they were stirred up. They were inspired by Donald Trump and his minions.

CHURCH: Yes. I mean, it was a shocking day for everybody, watching on.

GERGEN Yes.

CHURCH: And we are also learning that Donald Trump pressured the Department of Justice to file a case with the Supreme Court to overturn the election results. Should information like this be part of the case against him?

GERGEN: Yes. I think it will be, Rosemary. The, and indeed, one, I think negative for the Republicans in delaying the trial for two weeks to let them and get their (Inaudible) organized is it more will come out in likely in the next two weeks. It will add credibility add strength to the argument that Donald Trump went way over the line, violated the unwritten rules of politics in trying to pressure people around him.

Listen, it's not the only time he has been pressured somebody. It's not in the Justice Department. He also pressured the attorney general in the state of Georgia as well as the governor of Georgia. So, we know that, we know he has been doing these things. We are likely to get more stories of what he's been doing and I think his culpability will be even more relevant -- obvious.

CHURCH: David Gergen, always a pleasure to get your analysis. Many thanks.

GERGEN Thank you, Rosemary. It's good to talk to you again.

CHURCH: Well, Donald Trump's former press secretary is expected to return to politics as a candidate. A source says Sarah Sanders will announce she is running for governor of Arkansas. Her father, Mike Huckabee was governor of the state between 1996 and 2007. A number of Republicans have already announced their bids, but she is seen as an early favorite. Sanders was Trump's second press secretary. She left the White House in 2019.

And just ahead here on CNN, how the White House is trying to get lawmakers to back a nearly $2 trillion COVID relief package. Can Joe Biden's administration pull it off? We'll take a look.

[03:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH (on camera): Welcome back, everyone. U.S. President Joe Biden is making moves to address the economic toll of the pandemic. His top economic official held a call with a bipartisan group of senators on Sunday. The White House is trying to drum up support for its proposed $1.9 trillion COVID relief package. A source says the call was productive, but members want more details on where the money is needed most.

And CNN's John Defterios joins me now to discuss this. Good to see you, John.

With so many Americans unemployed and lining up at food banks, do these Republican senators really need help finding out where the additional stimulus money is needed?

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well it's a fair point you are making, Rosemary, but the question is being asked right now. When does it become too much? Because $3.2 trillion was passed between March of last year and the close of that last stimulus in December. This would take it above $5 trillion.

But Joe Biden promise in the first hundred days we could not waste time, because of the third wave that is hitting. In fact, his treasury secretary Janet Yellen, highly respected as a former Fed chair and as an economist said we have to focus on three areas here, workers, women and minorities without any question.

So here is the political landscape. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, the progressives on one side and powerful positions in the Senate, but even moderate Republicans like Mitt Romney are saying, hold on here, can we beat more targeted with the next round of relief? Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: I think people recognize it's important that we do not borrow hundreds of billions, actually trillions of dollars from the Chinese for things that may not be absolutely necessary.

[03:30:00]

This is a time for us to act with prudence and care. And that's why -- by the way, why we have two parties, why we have people looking at one another making sure there is not some kind of excess, it would be not good long term for the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR (on camera): Mitt Romney is talking about the Chinese -- they own about a third of the U.S. treasury market, we know the tensions between China and the United States and how Joe Biden handles that.

But the debt of GDP for the first time ever, Rosemary, is going to rise above 130 percent, something unheard of. The budget deficit last year was already $3 trillion. Again, it tripled in one year, but people like Janet Yellen, Joe Biden and the senators on the Democratic side of the aisle are suggesting it's once in a lifetime. This is not the time to hold back.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, indeed. John Defterios, many thanks. I appreciate it.

So let's talk now with CNN global analyst, Rana Foroohar, she is a global business columnist and associate editor for The Financial Times. Great to have you with us.

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: So, President Joe Biden's nearly $2 trillion economic recovery bill includes a direct payment of $1,400 enhanced unemployment aid, rental assistance and eviction moratorium, and money for childcare. Is that the rescue plan this country needs at this time as we face a multitude of crises? And will it even get passed given some Republican senators say they've already passed a rescue package?

FOROOHAR: You know, Rosemary, I think it is what we need. It's what the Democrats were asking for. Of course, before the elections, before it was clear that there was a Democratic sweep, Republicans saying that this is too costly now. It's really not the time to be talking about debt. We are still in the middle of a major wave of this pandemic. We've hit record death levels. Unemployment rate is still incredibly high.

And you know, you have a new treasury secretary, Janet Yellen saying yes, we are going to have to worry about debt, but first we have to get out of the pandemic and I think that most economists would agree with that. Now whether or not this plan could get passed, you do have a Democratic Congress.

You do have provisions in place that will allow Joe Biden to move forward even without any kind of a back, Republican back stopping stimulus to move forward the Defense Production Act which would allow him to ramp up production of supplies for the vaccine rollout.

I mean, there are a lot of things that could be done right now. But really, a major stimulus package early is what's needed to push the U.S. into what could be by spring or summer, a recovery with the right stimulus package.

CHURCH: So, you feel that president Biden should move ahead even if he can't get the GOP on board with this and pass it anyhow?

FOROOHAR: I do. You know, I think trying to reach across the aisle early is a great way to start. You know we've got four years of incredibly contentious politics in this country. But I think at the end of the day this is an emergency situation. I mean, we are in a wartime footing. That is something the president made very clear in his inauguration speech. And I think it's the right move economically.

CHURCH: Right. And President Biden wants to increase the national minimum wage and raise taxes on corporations, essentially rewarding hard work in America. But could this potentially hurt rather than help at this time, given some companies won't be able to afford taking on new, more expensive workers?

FOROOHAR: You know, that's an argument that economists often use about raising their minimum wage. The fact is that a lot of people in America are already making the minimum wage. Rewarding work, not wealth is the major campaign slogan that Biden ran on. And it's about really reshaping the American economy. It's about creating an economy that's based on demand, that's based on income rather than the growth of asset bubbles.

And I think that that is the right message both short term and long term. You know, the American economy has become very, very vulnerable on asset prices. President Trump talked a lot about the stock market. Not about the fact that we have had stagnant wages since the 1990s, which is one of the reasons that when you have a major economic shock, people simply don't have savings to cope. You know, we've got to start really thinking about how to build a more income-based economy. And I do think this is the right step forward.

CHURCH: So, the big picture. How long do you think it would take to get the U.S. economy back to where it was before the pandemic hit?

FOROOHAR: Well, I think that what you are going to see in 2021 is the effect of the stimulus, assuming it gets through, really buffering things. So, you know, there is even talk, potentially of inflation, wage inflation in spring or early summer as you start to see people going back to work.

[03:35:07]

You start to see pent up demand working its way to the system. the big questions are going to be more in 2022. How are new businesses going to cope? You know, even with this money that's coming in. There are going to be a lot of businesses going under, particularly small businesses, those representing two-thirds of jobs in America.

We know we are in for a major rejiggering of the economy. We are going to be moving into an entirely new world. It's going to be much more digital. It's going to be, that there is going to be a lot of job replacements by software. And so, the new administration is going to really have to link the short-term measures with more midterm and long term moves around retraining, education. It's going to be a long haul. I think that we're in for several years before we really are back to where we were pre-pandemic, particularly in terms of employment.

CHURCH: Rana Foroohar, many thanks for your analysis. I appreciate it.

FOROOHAR: Thanks so much.

CHURCH (on camera): The Senate Democrat Elizabeth Warren spoke to CNN about President Biden's economic plans. Her thoughts on the matter seemed to boil down to one thing. Get them done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): The point is that President Biden is doing exactly what he needs to do. He is discussing the problem, and he is laying out the solution. We have a lot of tools for how to get those solutions done. And it's our responsibility to meet them. I will always be pushing for more. I want to see us as a nation make this economy work better for everyone.

I think that's good for all of us. It's not good when young people are crushed by student debt. It's not good when millions of Americans can't put a roof over their heads and food on the table with their social security checks. It's not good for the economy. It's not good for who we are as a people.

So, I'm always going to keep pushing, but I know right now that President Biden feels the urgency of this moment. And he is determined to get through actions that need to be done. Do them by executive order, do them through Congress, but get them done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (on camera): And President Biden is also expected to repeal the ban on transgender individuals serving in the military. This could happen as early as today according to a source familiar with the plans. That ban was first put in place by former President Donald Trump in 2017. He announced the decision in a tweet inciting tremendous medical costs of disruption.

But a 2016 study commissioned by the Pentagon found that letting transgender people serve openly would have a minimal impact on readiness and healthcare costs.

Still ahead, a long way from ending lockdown. Why the U.K.'s health minister says England is stuck with restrictions for now. We are live in London and Paris next.

Also, ahead, the new poor. Italy struggles to care for those pushed into poverty by the coronavirus pandemic. That story still to come.

[03:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH (on camera): All right. We want to take you to Europe where countries are struggling to get the coronavirus pandemic under control. The U.K.'s health minister says England is a long way off from being able to ease restrictions. The country has been in a national lockdown since early this month. It's set to remain in place at least mid-February. And Portugal has seen a record number of deaths from COVID-19 for seven days straight.

CNN's Cyril Vanier is tracking new developments across Europe for us. He is live in Paris. But we begin with Salma Abdelaziz who joins us now live from London. So, Salma, even with the vaccine rollout underway across the U.K., we

are learning restrictions will remain in England until at least mid- February. What's the latest on this?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: Rosemary, potentially beyond mid- February. That's the concern. Is yes, ministers are set to review these restrictions in the middle of next month, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already indicated it will not be open sesame. That these rules will be lifted gradually, bit by bit, and that's because quite simply, we are not there yet.

This country is very much in the grips of a terrible second wave of this virus by most measures, worse than the first. And there is a few issues that they are still concerned about. So, when the health secretary brought this up long, long way from those restrictions being lifted, he brought up also the reasons why.

The first of course is this country's healthcare system is simply still overwhelmed. He said the pressure on the NHS, the National Health Service is enormous. They are looking at a caseload that they've simply never seen before. So that's the first thing that needs to happen. That pressure on the healthcare system has to be eased up.

The second issue that the health secretary brought up is the concern about new variance. Not just the one that's prevalent here in the U.K., but one we're seeing pop up in South Africa, in brazil, and ones that we might potentially might not know about. In this country is of course have been burned badly by the U.K. variant and their fear is that there could be another variant that would enter the country that would spread quickly.

That's going to cause an issue. That's why they're looking at tougher travel restrictions, potentially hotel quarantines for some travelers coming into the U.K. And the third issue, and that is of course the vaccination program. That's a race against time. This country is quite simply vaccinating as many people as quickly as they can, but there are still questions being asked.

Will people who were vaccinated not transmit the disease? Are they able to not be contagious? Essentially, and how quickly can you vaccinate people? You have 6.3 million people in this country who have been vaccinated, but you still have several million of the country's most vulnerable, the elderly, the clinically, extremely vulnerable that need to be vaccinated as well.

So really, a race against time there. And, Rosemary, the word is be patient. Be patient, in the meanwhile.

CHURCH: Yes. And of course, a lot of people don't feel very patient at this certain moment. Salma, many thanks. Cyril, to you now. And of course, we want the latest on what's happening across Europe in terms of infections, deaths and the vaccination rollout. What are you seeing?

CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, I think what's happening in Europe at the moment is a lot of countries are looking at what's happening in the U.K. and they are very, very concerned about this new variant of the coronavirus that was first detected in the U.K.

Here in France, for instance, it's a pivotal week. The head of the scientific council that advises the government on the pandemic says that if we don't do something fast and that -- by that he means lockdown the country for a third time, then by March we might be able in a situation that is untenable.

[03:45:06]

Look, the U.K. variant here in France, we just had a few handful of cases three weeks ago, around New Year's Eve. Then they accounted for 1 percent of positive COVID tests. Now it's up to 9 percent in some parts of France, including Paris.

So, it is a moment of reckoning for French authorities. And this week on Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron will chair yet again health defense council. And there is intense speculation in the press that he may announce a new lockdown. And if it's not this week then it might be the following week, but very, very few people are left in this country who do not believe we're about to enter a new lockdown.

And that, Rosemary, really reflects the situation across the board. It seems most European countries are either in some form of lockdown at the moment or about to enter another form of lockdown imminently. You mentioned Portugal, Rosemary.

I would just say it just bears repeating. The pandemic is hitting Portugal harder now than it has at any point prior to this during the pandemic, right? They've just recorded more than 200 daily deaths. That is a record and they keep smashing a record, a grim record, it has to be said, obviously, every day for the last seven days. Rosemary?

CHURCH (on camera): Yes. I mean, Portugal had been doing quite well in the early stages, but it is just impossible right across Europe and elsewhere, across the globe. Salma Abdelaziz in London, Cyril Vanier joining us live from Paris. Many thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

Well, the coronavirus is dealing a heavy blow to at Italy's economy. Both the financial cost and the human toll have been high. Melissa Bell reports on the new poverty the pandemic has created.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Almost a year since the first lockdown much of Italy is still in the grip of restrictive measures across the country as it desperately tries to contain the spread of a new wave of infections. For the government it's been a challenging balancing act between protecting citizens' health and reviving the country's economy.

The human cost of the pandemic in Italy has been very high with more than 80,000 dead. But the economic cost after months of lockdowns is also high. According to the Bank of Italy, half of families surveyed in the country said their income went down in the spring during the first lockdowns and in many places, things only got worse from there.

TITO BOERI, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, BOCCONI UNIVERSITY: There has been a change in the people who have been going to the world food centers where there has been an increase and those are changed. So right now, we have more Italians than before. Before we were more migrants.

BELL: At the supermarket in Rome run by the Catholic charity Caritas, they help some of those hardest hit.

PAOLO CHIATTI, AID WORKER, CARITAS: The specific period where we have received so many calls from a huge variety of people or families we can say, that the specific situation of poverty is connected to the pandemic. It impacted to the existing situation of poverty that the spreading of the virus has made the situation even worse.

BELL: According to a report by Caritas, poverty rose during the first three months of the pandemic. The charity says it's seen an increase in the number of people asking for help for the first time. These are the so-called new poor. Thirty percent of those they helped.

UNKNOWN (through translator): We went from a very normal situation like most people to finding ourselves suddenly without work. My husband is on furlough, but the money didn't arrive or it arrived after a very long wait. And we found ourselves facing extreme difficulties. We have children and a family to take care of. We still have to pay bills and life goes on.

We couldn't manage financially anymore so we went to the church and asked for help. And they said to come here to the Emporium supermarket. They help us like this and we try and go on.

UNKNOWN (through translator): Our sector was very hard hit. They shut down all the fares. So, we were completely out of work and only have the welfare check to live off. This has been since the summer.

BELL: But there is some hope. Italy is set to get 208 billion euros in loans and grants from the E.U. as part of a recovery package.

BOERI: It's difficult to see when it will be over because it will depend on very much of the speed of the vaccine campaign. And vaccine campaign is to be extremely fast to be successful.

BELL: The government's first wave slogans promoting resilience have given way to a sense of fatigue with no clear end in sight, especially for those struggling to make ends meet. A return to normality feels a long way away.

[03:50:03]

Melissa Bell, CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (on camera): Australia has approved the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. It is the first COVID vaccine to receive regulatory approval in the country. Inoculations are said to begin in late February with an initial 80,000 doses a week. That's later than officials wanted, but the rollout had to be delayed due to global supply issues. Frontline health workers and border workers will be among the first to receive them.

Well, it's an image making its way across social media. And memes now seen around the world. What Senator Bernie Sanders is doing with his viral fame. That's next.

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CHURCH (on camera): Well, by now, you have surely seen the memes bundled up, Senator Bernie Sanders looking very serious with his mask and mittens at President Joe Biden's inauguration. His image has now been photoshopped into classic film scenes, historical photos. Maybe even your friend selfies. So, Sanders and his team decided to put the attention to good use.

[03:55:08]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You have become a meme of the picture of you sitting at the inauguration in your mittens. Thousands of memes, such as some of them on the screen. I have to show you my personal favorites. Demi Moore she put your picture in her famous "Ghost" scenes. Jennifer Gray, you know, she played baby in "Dirty Dancing." She put you in the corner, senator.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT): Yes, I know.

BASH: And you know, you are even in a selfie with us on election night. So, my question is are you having as much fun with this as the world is?

SANDERS: I am. And not only are we having fun, but what we are doing here in Vermont, as we will be selling around the country sweatshirts and t-shirts and all of the money that's going to be raised, which I expect will be a couple of million dollars will be going to programs like Meals on Wheels that feed low income senior citizens. So, it turns out and actually it will be a good thing and not only a fun thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (on camera): He doesn't waste an opportunity there. Well Super Bowl 55 is now set and the Kansas City Chiefs will look to repeat as champs. They will face Tom Brady in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers February 7th in Tampa. Marking the first time in NFL history a team will play for the title in their home stadium. And this will be Brady's 10th appearance in the Super Bowl, all the others of course came with the New England Patriots.

Well, thanks so much for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. You can connect with me any time on Twitter at Rosemary CNN. And I'll be back with more news in just a moment. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)