Abuse but the army says theyre making it up. Thank you for joining us we begin with the coronavirus pandemic now in a new phase with countries racing to pull vaccines but in some parts of the world the picture is getting worse with cases on the rise as winter approaches since the start of the pandemic have been more than 64000000 confirmed cases and nearly 1500000 deaths iran is now the hardest hit country in the middle east and has passed 1000000 confirmed cases over 1000 has killed almost 50000 people there are the Health Minister says the actual number of deaths is probably much higher iran introduced tougher restrictions to counter a 3rd wave of infections which included closing nonessential businesses russia has reported more than 28000 new infections. On thursday the highest spike yet the 2nd largest city St Petersburg has announced restrictions around the new Year Holidays indonesia meanwhile is seeing a record daily rise in cases reporting more than 8300 on thursday and several key officials have contracted called in 1000 recently in europe hungary has just recorded 182 deaths its highs daily toll a partial lockdown was introduced to go with a curfew in force and in lebanon the Health Minister is warning though not be enough hospital beds to cope with increasing cases intensive care units have been at critical capacity lets get an update on the situation in iran and speak to our big so a grim milestone in iran asaad and a death toll that could actually be much much higher. Yes it could be high according to the Health Minister and thats because many people werent tested or in Critical Condition and ended up dying before a test could be administered now the country is in a partial lockdown the figures asked slightly down the death toll has decreased from come down from just over 400. 00 true around mid 3350. 00 and the new infections every 24 hours around 13000. 00 now who has to be noted is that iran is experiencing its 5th wave of the crown of rising as many countries are still on this 2nd wave. And most of iran is still under a partial lockdown and those lockdown rules mean that cafes and restaurants nonessential businesses have to remain closed cafes and restaurants can do takeaway only and private cars are not allowed on the streets from 9 pm till 4 am in the morning if they are caught they are given a financial penalty now iran has blamed the United States sanctions against a country that has inhibited their fight against the virus in fact at the start of this outbreak some around march this year iran did apply to the International Monetary fund for billions of dollars of age to try and combat the virus and that was refused and they blame the United States in fact today foreign minister javadoc the reef has said that iran is under economic war from the United States that has cost many lives and it stopped them purchasing medicine and now there has been some criticism inside the country the government has been criticized for not acting quick enough that the measures werent strict but also that the figures werent accurate at the start of this pandemic now iran says that they are trying to purchase vaccines but also that the scientists are working on their own vaccine and they want to roll that out as soon as possible the president has done rouhani has said previously that iran has done much better considering the circumstances in terms of sanctions than some European Countries but the fact still remains that this country is the worst hit in the middle east and that milestone of 1000000 infections this country is the 1st country the middle east to actually hit that milestone. I said baked in tehran thank you. Well the u. S. Is still the worst affected country by far on wednesday is reported as high as daily death toll since april according to Johns Hopkins university there were more than 3100 deaths recorded for the 1st time possible admissions across the country topped 100000 in one day 200000 new infections are reported now the head of the u. S. Centers for Disease Control warns that by february and not a 200000 people could die. So were in that range potentially now of starting to see if seen 100 to 2000 to 2500 s. A day. From this far so you know that mortality concerns are real. And i do think unfortunately before we see february we could be close to form 50000 americans have died from this virus when officials in the u. S. Are racing to follow the u. K. And approve the fines or vaccine as early as next week approval for the modernity vaccine could follow soon after Health Secretary says he hopes 40 percent of adults could be vaccinated within 3 months we can make our 1st shipments of vaccine to state this month and were on track to be able to ship enough vaccine for 20000000. 00 americans before the end of the year of course were all eager to have enough supply vaccinate every american who wants it. Because of operation works feed we expect to be at that point in the spring vaccines will only bring this pandemic to an end if enough americans choose to take these vaccines live to our White House Correspondent kimberly how can be another record death toll in the us the numbers are knocking increasingly how is this all being seen. Well most americans now know somebody who has been affected by covert night t. V. But less likely that in fact someone knows someone who has died from it just to give you some context there are 330000000 plus people in the United States there have been 13900000 infections 272000 deaths so this is certainly alarming but again many people trying to put that into context and continue with their daily lives also anxiously awaiting the vaccine with some skepticism and that is why we know that the former president s obama as well as bush and clinton have said they will take the vaccine once it becomes available on camera to reassure people about the science but for now we know that there has yet to be an approval emergency authorization is ringback imminent probably the middle of december the production is already underway but in terms of who will get that vaccine by the end of the year there should only be about 40000000. 00 doses which is really a drop in the bucket in the United States considering you have to get 2 jabs or shots as as we understand as so this will really just cover the Frontline Health workers as well as those living care homes so still a long way to go before the United States sees the mass in occupations that are needed in order to bring life back to normal here in the United States and there are reports came to me that the supply cold chain for the transportation of vaccine has been hacked. Yeah this is pretty alarming i. B. M. Reporting that as far back as september that there has been a targeted Global Phishing campaign against the socalled cold chain now you remember that when it comes to these vaccines they have to be stored at very cold temperatures and so this ability to do so is now under attack were being told by what they say could be a nation state they say that what this has the hallmarks of is someone or an organization or a nation that has intimate knowledge of how cold chain works and so thats why theyre not only putting this alert out there but they say theyre continuing to investigate thank you very much for that kimberly White House Correspondents live from washington the White House Organization is reviewing the pfizer biotech vaccine for emergency listing regulators are in consultation with their u. K. Counterparts to share data from that review but the executive director for Health Emergency says it could take developing nations months to get access we need to develop more vaccines we should stop we need more than these 3 or 4 we need to increase production we hold the price down we need wed love a woman those vaccines because they have all of them actually so far 2 doses so the innovation is not finished we need the research to continue we need everyone to support our research. Geneve baka in london so need when does the European Union as a whole expect to roll the vaccine. Well the a major European Unions regulator says that its going to report back towards the end of the month possibly around the 29th of december when it comes to its findings relating to the pfizer by an sec vaccine and has suggested that by mid january they also had have an opinion on the maternal vaccine as well the race to regulate is very much on the u. K. At the moment it is winning that race off to its regulator on wednesday gave the green light to the Pfizer Vaccine but that doesnt mean that they confident shown by the regulator here is shared by the european regulator or indeed other regulators in other parts of the world the a. M. A. Is actually being quite critical of the british regulator saying that perhaps its acted in a too hasty a way in giving the vaccine the green light european regulators saying that its checks and balances are the best way of assuring its safety and its Going Forward and the show is also watching whats going on here in the u. K. Very closely as well its also for the british regulator to share its workings out because the w. H. O. Also very much wants to give approval to a vaccine quickly as possible largely because it knows that it can take a very very long time for certain countries in the world that dont have their own regulators to actually finally get the approval for the use of a vaccine and to see it rolled out and their general populations but of course lets not forget regulation is only the start of the journey the logistics of actually administrating this vaccine is a huge challenge for lots of countries no matter how wealthy or developed they may be seen here in the u. K. The 1st batch will evolve next week as we kept to the extremely low temperatures or derive impacts of nearly a 1000 doses that cannot be broken up trying to get these doses to the most Vulnerable People in care homes will be a huge challenge all of these things need to be ironed out to make sure that the process of vaccination is a fish and and works well needs bachar in london thank you. Still ahead on al jazeera thousands of farmers camp in protest at new laws but talks with the Indian Government to find a compromise stalled. And fleeing fighting in ethiopia tens of thousands of people are living in a refugee camps inside on. The air. Hello the weather looks pretty quiet across china over the next couple of dice little bits and pieces of cloud and right also just sliding across the Korean Peninsula heading over towards japan so one or 2 showers here well too bad i think more dry weather than showers but the showers of there nevertheless and theyll still be in play as we go on into saturday perhaps just hopping across the other mountains could catch a shower at say 13 celsius the top temperature you see how they are they are actual breeze continues to feed those showers into the northern half of well as the side of honshu pushing up into her car i drive behind for south korea north korea pushing across a good part of china generally settled and quiet here temperatures well down into single figures not too quiet across sri lanka in Southern India at the moment we do of course have a sox fan of brevity thats going to continue making its way a further west was weakened significantly winds of around 75 Kilometers Per Hour still some very very heavy rainfall flash flooding mudslides a sunny possibility for franka and the far south of india red warnings in force weve already saying in the sense of 200 millimeters of rain across many parts here and i will concede to be the case as we go through the next day or 2 the west the weather will continue to make its way towards carola showers continue behind but will. Jump into this story and julian on Global Community by diversity is bio security is that essential for our species to survive be part of the debate i know you have 90 days and you can be part of this conversation when no topic is off the table in the coming rains are not neutral and all of these case goal here is to terrorize and heres the other part of this theres no consequence this stream on out is there. The e the or. Youre watching aljazeera a reminder of our top stories iran has topped 1000000 confirmed coronavirus cases as the hardest hit country in the middle east nearly 50000 people have died from the virus but Officials Say that number could be much higher. And more than 3100 people in the u. S. Have died from covert 19 in a single day is the highest death toll since the pandemic began hospital admissions reach a record 100001 wednesday. In other world news a former hong kong politician and prodemocracy campaigner ted hue has announced hes seeking exile in the u. K. He recently left hong kong for denmark after facing multiple charges relating to last years on Thai Government protests media tycoon and prodemocracy advocate jimmy lie is the latest high profile figure to be taken into Police Custody hell be held until a court case in april next year is accused of fraud and the japanese government says it has grave concerns about the jailing of 3 hong kong activists joshua wong and ivan were found guilty of Unlawful Assembly on tuesday they received 1310 and 7 month jail terms respectively agnes shah is fluent in spanish in japanese and well known in japan tokyo says its conveyed its concerns to china several times stephen vines is the author of defying the Dragon Hong Kong and the Worlds Largest dictatorship he says the proDemocracy Movement is quickly losing ground. Theres been hammer blows towards the opposition practically and im not exaggerating practically every day the fact that in a single week jimmy lai has been put into prison he is the possibly one of the best internationally known leaders Rights Movement he is the only media tycoon who supports the Democracy Movement the fact that joshua one is in jail for the 4th time shows that the Younger Generation of activists are likely to go into jail in quick succession they have been doing so demonstrations on the streets of more or less disappear people are now keeping their heads down theyre very worried about these developments as weve just heard in this report from you ted by one of the legislators is seeking asylum in britain other Civil Servant f. Hong kong seeking asylum its a difficult situation the one country 2 systems principle is supposed to mean that hong kong has a high degree of oxen mix in precisely those words but the introduction of this very Draconian National security law was dictated in beijing with no discussion in the expulsion of prodemocracy legislators was ordered from beijing with no discussion hold on not even the chief executive of onco was consulted about that by her own mission so you know the idea of independence or autonomy is is shrinking very rapidly. We want to take you now live to the United NationsGeneral Assembly where a session is being held today on the coronavirus pandemic the u. N. President of the General Assembly is about to introduce the secretary general antonio terris and he will be speaking very shortly at a few minutes ago we saw all the delegates there stand. In a minute of silence i believe for the victims of call that 19 to be confirmed right now we will be hearing from the secretary general of the United Nations antonio terrace on a session of the General Assembly uncovered 91 tragedy and the public house humanitarian and Development Emergency for the 1st time since 1045 entire world is confronted by a Common Threat regardless of nationality at the city of face but while coffee at 19 does not discriminate our efforts to prevent and can tell you need to do for that reason the put there because it the poorest and most vulnerable in our societies hardest it is having a devastating impact on all the people on women and girls on low income communities on the magine allies and isolated it is presenting new sets of the 20 such agenda and the Sustainable Development goals from the start arts the world Us Organization provided factual information and scientific guidance that should have been the basis for a quarter to 8 you Global Response unfortunately many of these recommendations were not followed and in some situations there was a rejection affects. And ignore those of the universe and when countries go in their own direction the virus goes in every direction. The social and Economic Impact of the pandemic is enormous and growing sank out of work and dedication of scientists and researchers from around the world including those who are with us today vaccines may become available within the next weeks and months