And also, right now thousands are gather in baghdad to mark the First Anniversary of the u. S. Drone strike that killed their top general. Were live in the region with the latest. Great to have you along this hour. The u. S. Remains the center of the Global Pandemic with a staggering 350,000 deaths so far. Take a look at the images. No other country comes even close. According to johns hopkins, nearly 300,000 new cases were confirmed on saturday. That figure might include cases not reported also during the new year holiday. Now, Public Health officials fear another surge is coming because of recent holiday gatherings. And the rollout of vax naxs across the u. S. Remains painfully slow. U. S. Health Officials Say more than 4 million americans have received their first shot. Thats only a fraction of the 13 million doses that have been distributed so far. Now, the Health Crisis here in the u. S. Is especially severe in southern california. The state reported more than 53,000 new cases just on saturday. And nearly 400 deaths. Hospitals in los angeles are so crowded theyre struggling to deliver lifesaving oxygen to Covid Patients. The military is stepping in to help. Reporter the covid19 tsunami in california is stretching resources so thin that the army corps of engineers had jumped into the fight in los angeles, serving some seven hospitals to improve the oxygen supply line to those Covid Patients who are gasping for breath. Heres what theyre see agent the hospitals. We went to one hospital, and they had two tents outside, and one of the tents they were seeing Covid Patients. And its just they were tied into their mechanical systems. Thats just an additional strain. So were trying to assess how we can reduce the strain on their facilities and their mechanical spaces and oxygen distribution as well. Will. Reporter the army corps also serving white memorial in Boyle Heights where they have 180 Covid Patients and the head of the er celebrating the arrival of the army corps of engineers. Thats right. These folks cant get enough oxygen into their bodies. Thats what makes it hard. The patients need so much oxygen, and there are so many patients, and so the two taken together, its taxing the system. These oxygen lines can only carry so many liters per minute, and were approaching the upper limits of those. Reporter the army corps of engineers supporting this hospital as it is with other hospitals in los angeles and here at while memorial. Were also seeing members of the National Guard helping to treat this influx, this unending influx of patients. Reporting from lax, back to you. Thanks, paul. For that. In the uk a surge of coronavirus cases is threatening to overwhelm intensive care units there. On saturday they reported the highest rise in cases since the pandemic began. All of this as much of england remains under the toughest level of covid restrictions. We are joined now from london from an emergency Field Hospital thats about to be reactivated due to the surges in cases. What can you tell us . Hi, robin. Well, you can see the massive Conference Center behind me. Thats one of the seven units that is being reopened, reactivated across this country to help deal with the overflow of coronavirus patients. Now, theres questions being asked about how do you staff this massive building when you already have nhs staff stretched to the limits inside the hospitals. You have icu capacity teetering on the edge. The government is talking about bricking in troops and the military to try to staff the locations and potentially within days they could see patients, they might be noncovid, but patients could be treated in this center behind me. One medical director described this plan as essentially an insurance policy of last resort. So it shows how dire the situation is here. And it is, indeed, dire. We now have more patients in hospital with coronavirus than at any point before. The Prime MinisterBoris Johnson was speaking on a sunday talk show a short time ago, and having to address this during a sobering and dark time. The Prime Minister, of course, saying that there could be more restrictions rolled out in the next few weeks. We already have england three quarters of the population living under the toughest rules, living essentially under localized lockdown. The Prime Minister indicating that maybe those restrictions arent enough. That more rules could be put in place, that we could be looking at a full lockdown. Something similar to the spring. The Prime Minister also pointing to the hope that is seen in this rollout, that is set for tomorrow, the ox foford univers astrazeneca vaccine set to be rolled out tomorrow. What weve heard is things will get better by the spring, be easier by the spring. The Prime Minister gave us a little bit of detail on why that is. Saying that essentially, 2 Million People a week would need to be vaccinated to make the promise of everything Getting Better by the spring. So far its been three weeks of the vaccination program, and only a Million People vaccinated. Youre talking about a serious ramping up to make that promise. And a serious dose of optimism from the Prime Minister. Thank you so much. I asked a Health Expert how quickly the uk and other countries can catch up with the virus so that vaccine shots start overtaking new infections. Well, heres part of my conversation with her. Shes a global Health Expert at the University College london. This is a long game. So we shouldnt look at the fact that these vaccines are beginning to be rolled out and can fix the current problem. These will not necessarily save the lives of people who are already getting infected and this is why we need to continue these Public Health measures alongside more aggressive vaccination rollout. And that requires ensuring that we have upscaling of staff, and more resources dedicated toward this rollout. But again, this is not going to be something that even here weve had some the Prime Minister say that we should be able to get enough protection by easter 2021, but at the current rate of vaccination, thats actually not a realistic estimate. So whats also your take, then, on this mix and match vaccine regimen the uk is now saying its going to be okay to cross use different vaccines . I mean, this contradicts u. S. Guidelines. Is this a sign of desperation or is this the uk being the wild west of vaccinations as is being suggested by some. I think there is some misconception around this piece of guidance that has been issued. And weve heard from Public Health england to clarify that this would be under extremely rare circumstances in which either its not possible to trace what type of vaccine the first vaccine was in a patient, or if there is such a critical shortage that it wouldnt be possible to deliver the second vaccine dose. It is thought that rather than missing out the second dose altogether, it would be better for the patient to receive another vaccine, but, again, this isnt something that would be widely encouraged. Its a very specific narrow set of circumstances and also an example of how Clinical Trials have these perfect conditions that really center around a Smaller Group of people. But when we roll that out to the population level, it would be naive to think that we wouldnt run into hiccups, that its going to look exactly the same. And here this is, actually, a move in which in the uk weve already covered that the situation is extremely serious. It is looking to get worse. And this is the way that the uk has sought, at least with that gap, of potentially extending it for 12 weeks rather than what was followed in the exact clinical trial, that this would allow a broader set of the population to have some sort of protection. And thats because of the circumstances were currently in, and the measures that need to be taken. Thanks there to that global Health Expert at the University College london. And larry king has been hospitalized from covid. The 87yearold host of larry king live, a goto show as many of you know on cnn here for 25 years, Brian Stelter now reports. Reporter larry king, a giant of broadcasting, is the latest high profile individual to come down with the coronavirus and require hospitalization. King is 87 years old. Hes been at cedar sinai for more than a week, according to a source close to his family. His sons have not been able to visit him in the hospital due to protocols. King is in isolation like so many others who are struggling with covid19 at this time. Right now we know that in the United States about 125,000 americans are hospitalized. That was the figure on friday. Just a slightly lower figure on saturday as coronavirus continues to challenge and in some cases overwhelm the Hospital System in areas like los angeles. King is a television mainstay, and a cnn legend. His Program Larry king live aired here on cnn for 25 years. And he remained active in his days and weeks and years after cnn. He hosted a program for aura tv as recently as november, covering the 2020 election. Of course, hes an expert at telling other peoples stories. Right now his own story is in the news. Hopefully soon he will be able to recover and tell his own experience, share his own story about having to tight off this nasty virus. Brian stelter, cnn, new york. Theres much more to come including a look at the increasingly desperate efforts to reverse mr. Trumps election loss. Some republican senators have a plan but its causing a rift in their party. Plus the pressure is on in the state of georgia ahead of two high stakes runoff elections for the u. S. Senate. Candidates are taking the last few days to make sure theyre heard. Thats next, too. Pepto bismol coats and soothes your stomach for fast relief and get the same f fast relief in a delightful chew with pepto bismol chews. Honey honey . New nyquil severe honey is maximum strength cold and flu medicine with soothing honeylicious taste. Nyquil honey. The nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever best sleep with a cold medicine. Tonight, try pure zzzs all night. Unlike other sleep aids, our extended release melatonin helps you sleep longer. And longer. Zzzquil pure zzzs all night. Fall asleep. Stay asleep. Welcome back. It is 16 minutes past the hour. Now, more than a dozen republican senators say they will oppose certification of joe bidens election win. Despite a total lack of credible evidence of widespread voter fraud, 11 Lawmakers Said saturday they will join with josh holly and object to the counting of electoral votes when congress meets january 6th. Four of them were elected and one was reelected on the vote they will refuse to certify. Not all republican lawmakers are on board. Some condemn it as an attempt to thwart the president himself. President trump getting welcome news on saturday after con ffirmation that at least a dozen republican senators are planning to object to the results of the Electoral College when theyre certified by college on january 6th. The president had been campaigning for this publicly for some time, and now these dozen republican senators led by ted cruz are essentially saying they want to look at the allegations of widespread election fraud, even though the president and his team have been able to provide havent been able to provide any. They write we are not naive. We fully expect most democrats and republicans to vote otherwise, but it should not be a partisan issue. The allegations of widespread fraud are coming from the president and the white house. And theyve not been able to corroborate any of the allegations. The lawmakers are calling for a tenday audit to exhaustively review the results from multiple states. Clearly their effort is not going to work, and they acknowledge they dont have the numbers, especially in the house of representatives. Other republicans are coming out against this effort including Lisa Murkowski of alaska and pat toomey of pennsylvania. One of the states where theres a lot of debate about the results of the election. At least on the republican side. Heres a portion of a statement where senator toomey released on saturday he writes the evidence is overwhelming that joe biden won this election. His narrow victory in pennsylvania is easily explained by the decline in suburban support for President Trump and the president s slightly smaller victory margins in most rural counties. I voted for President Trump and endorsed him for reelection, but i plan to defend our government by opposing this effort to disenfranchise millions of voters in my state and others. Some are trying to stake their ground for a 2024 run. Including senators holly and cruz. Others may be doing this for survival. There is serious concerns about coming out against President Trump on the issue of an objection on january 6th. Look at after the way he went after john thune, calling for the senator from south dakota to be primaried. The president clearly still holds the reigns of the Republican Party and is exercising that power in a way where Establishment Republicans are clearly bending to his will. Boris sanchez, cnn, at the white house. Thanks, boris, for that. A lawsuit filed by u. S. House republican is taking another loss in court. On saturday a federal Court Dismissed an appeal after a trump appointed judge threw the case out the day before. The suit sought to force mike pence to interfere in the Electoral College vote count. Pence asked them to reject the lawsuit. Earlier i spoke to a Political Science lecturer at the University College london and the director of ucl center on u. S. Politics. I asked about the move by senators and whether its less about the outcome and more about the act. This is what he had to say. I think this is mostly political theater, but we shouldnt underestimate how dangerous of a precedent it sets for u. S. Senators to aid and abet trumps baseless allegations. I think its largely about political ambitions and survival. Over recent months, efforts to prove voting ir lregularities he faced a feat in roughly 60 cases and to see this from elected leaders is regrettable. The vast majority of republicans on capitol hill dont support the effort. Mcconnell opposes it. And joe biden will be sworn in on january 20th. But the fact that its likely to garner the support of nearly a dozen senators is partnership, i think, at its worst and what it reveals is how strongly of a grip trump retains over certain elements of the gop. In many ways this is being seen perhaps as a loyalty test by some of the republicans and youre talking about the pushback saying listen, mr. Biden won. Lets move on and deal with the future. With this push and pull between the Republican Party, where does it leave the republicans . Particularly the Political Landscape post trump . Well, i think the most problematic aspect is for u. S. Democracy at large. This january 6th standoff is going to do serious harm for u. S. Democracy. Bill galston said recently its not the shortterm turbulence that you worry americans. Joe biden will be inaugurated. Instead its the fact that were at a point where a nontrivial number of gop politicians its appropriate to call into question the most basic precept of u. S. Democracy, the integrity of free and Fair Elections despite all the evidence pointing to the legitimacy of the election. I think it does harm to the republican brand and turns out a lot of moderates and many are going to see this for what it is, a lastditch political ploy. This is why Mitch Mcconnell really wants to avoid this. I dont think hes going to be able to do that. And well see how the party evolves with trump going forward. Our thanks to thomas gift. After georgia went democratic blue in the president ial elections, republicans became keenly aware of how important it is to turn out the trump base in the Georgia Senate runoffs. With the president casting doubt about the election results, the two Georgia Republican candidates will have their work cut out for them. Heres our report. Reporter senator Kelly Loeffler is one of the three candidates crisscrossing the state days ahead of Georgias Senate runoff. Three out of the four candidates are out campaigning. Senator david perdue, one of the republican incumbents is not out on the trail. Hes campaigning from his home Holding Virtual events after coming in contact with a covid positive person on the campaign trail. But from his home and the candidates on the trail, theyve all been focusing on tuesdays turnout. The energy level is exactly where it was in november when the polls had me down five points. We won by two. As a matter of fact, 52.