welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "early start." we have reports from the u.k., delaware, nashville, capitol hill, moscow and paris as only "early start" and cnn can. i'm christine romans. wednesday, december 30th. 5 a.m. exactly in new york. we begin with the coronavirus pandemic and the darkest day yet for americans. more than 3,700 friends, family members, loved ones succumbing to the virus. that's a record. what is happening now is more than the chaotic early days.

one of yesterday's victims, luke letlow, newly elected house member. he was only 41 years old. he was supposed to be sworn in to his congressional seat sunday. another grieving family, that of 18-year-old sarah simental. she was supposed to graduate from her illinois high school in a few months. instead her family is planning her funeral. >> i know she fought because one of the last times that i was able to talk to her on the phone because i couldn't be up at the hospital at that point and they were taking her from her regular room to icu, and she said, i'm going to be okay, mom. and that was the last thing no parent should ever have to watch their child go through that. nobody. >> just heartbreaking. colorado has just discovered the first known u.s. case of the

covid-19 variant first identified in the u.k. the patient in his 20s had not traveled suggesting this is already spreading in the community. the variant is not known to be more deadly but key here, it is believed to be more contagious which is compounding a critical problem. overcrowding hospitals. u.s. hospitalizations up 40% since thanksgiving and setting another record overnight. nearly 125,000 patients. james telchick, he tested positive two months ago. covid has ravaged his body so badly he needs a double lung transplant. >> all i want for christmas is a new set of lungs. the disease will keep pulling you in and we've got to keep fighting it. >> the worry that hospitals might have to turn patients away is becoming reality in california. oxygen supply problems led at

least 5 los angeles county hospitals to declare an internal disaster sunday, which meant they had to send patients away. u.s. health and defense officials will answer questions today about the slow pace of vaccine distribution, a growing problem nationwide. issues are widespread. one wisconsin clinic had to throw out 500 doses after they were left out of the refrigerator overnight by mistake. president trump blames states for the slow rollout. many states department get as many doses as promised. the white house has moved the goalposts on what to expect and when. now president-elect biden is taking the trump administration to task. m.j. lee is with the biden team in delaware. >> reporter: good morning, christine. there is so much riding on the successful distribution of a covid-19 vaccine, and joe biden saying on tuesday that president trump is simply not getting the job done. he said that if you look at the

numbers, they speak for themselves. many, many more americans should already be vaccinated by this point in the year. here is what he said. >> the trump administration's plan is to distribute vaccines is falling behind, far behind. a few weeks ago trump administration suggested 20 million americans could be vaccinated by the end of december. with only a few days left in december, we've only vaccinated a few million so far. the pace of the vaccination program is moving now, if it continues to move as it is now, it's going to take years, not months, to vaccinate the american people. >> reporter: now what biden is proposing is a much more aggressive federal plan essentially saying that the vaccinations should be happening some 5 to 6 times faster than what we're seeing right now. and a couple of other things that he mentioned as well. he talked about vaccination sites. he also mentioned mobile units so that people in hard to reach communities can also get

vaccinated. he also talked about a national public campaign to try to convince those who have doubts about this vaccine that it is, in fact, safe. he also of course talked about this mask mandate requiring every american to wear a mask in his first 100 days in office. now he did interestingly say that he is prepared to move heaven and earth to make all of this happen, but he was clear that the task ahead is incredibly daunting. he said this is going to be the greatest operational challenge that the country has faced. christine, back to you. >> m.j. for us in wilmington. thank you. breaking overnight, another coronavirus vaccine, one that's cheaper and easier to store getting the green light in the u.k. cnn's phil black live in london. very good news. they want to get this moving as quickly as possible, right? >> reporter: yeah, christine. this is potentially a game changer, not just for the u.k. but the rest of the world as well, largely because this particular vaccine is seen as logistically convenient. it doesn't have to be stored at

ultra low temperatures. it can be stored and moved around relatively easily. it can be rolled out more widely. so the idea is you can get it to more people at a much faster rate. it's going to make a big difference in the developing world and to maximize that potential the government has shifted tactics a little. it will now be focusing on getting a single daytona international speedway. instead of two doses as quickly as possible, getting the first dose. prioritizing that as quickly as possible. as the stock becomes available, the logic is you build up a certain level of immunity along a broader ex. the trials threw this up. some patients received a lower dose but by the end they were more effectively protected. there needs to be more research

into that. that will take time. for the moment the regulators are satisfied that this is safe and effective enough to begin going into people's arms immediately. it's going to start happening in the next week and that's going to see a very quick rollout with millions of these vaccines being delivered in a very short space. i can tell you it is incredibly welcome news here at what is a very dark time for the u.k. because the government, people here, everyone really is dealing with a surging number of cases because of the new more highly transmissible variant. this surge in cases is threatening to overwhelm the country's health system. christine? >> phil, thank you so much for that. definitely better days ahead there we hope for the u.k. breaking overnight, cnn confirming the national bomber's girlfriend told the police more than a year ago in 2019 that he was building bombs in the rv at his home. a police report says officers tried to get anthony warner to open the door but he did not

answer. it's the first real ind dhagts police could have had an eye on him. martin savidge has more on the investigation. >> reporter: good morning, christine. they continue to investigate all potential avenues when it comes to what may have been the motivation for the bomber. they do not specifically say that they're looking into the possibility that conspiracy theories online about the 5g telephone network may somehow have inspired the suspected bomber, anthony warner. cnn has learned there was actually a bulletin that was sent out to law enforcement nationwide warning about the possibility of online communications influencing attacks on 5g infrastructure. they had seen a dozen attacks overseas and there were six attacks here in the united states. it has to be noted that the rv that's attributed to warner was

parked against a large sfwachg silt owned by at&t, that's the parent company of cnn, and that the resulting blast had a devastating impact on both civilian and government communications for days. that's a warning that our communication system is vulnerable and that going forward they'll have to greatly intensify the redundancy of tharp opinion. even as they continued to try to resolve the mystery of the motive of what a man did on christmas day here. christine? >> martin savidge, thank you. so why does $2,000 for american families hinge on stripping protection from social media companies? and investigating bogus claims of election fraud. these folks, they don't have time to go to the post office

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welcome back. 12 minutes past the hour. while americans wait for a widely available coronavirus vaccine, millions are in dire need for health caka help right. $600 is on the way. mitch mcconnell is the roadblock to americans receiving $2,000. >> reporter: the big wild card in terms of whether or not the united states would move forward on the expansion of $2,000 stimulus checks was mitch mcconnell. senate majority leader. what was he going to do? how was he going to react to the president of his own party. he tipped his hand a little bit on tuesday. take a listen. >> during this process the president highlighted three additional issues of national significance he would like to see congress tackle together. this week the senate will begin a process to bring these three priorities into focus. >> reporter: then he tipped his hand a lot a little bit later when he introduced his own piece

of legislation. it's legislation that would increase the $600 direct payments to $2,000, however, it would include two other provisions, two other provisions requested by president trump in order for him to sign the original covid relief and spending package. that would include the online provisions including section 230, a repeal, as well as a voter fraud commission even though there has been no evidence up to this point of voter fraud. what does that mean? mcconnell putting out a bill tying it altogether. if mcconnell decides to put it on the floor, it will fail. it is considered a failure. chuck schumer calling it a cynical play. chris murphy saying it was a poison pill. democrats making it very clear they believe the only path forward is the house-passed bill from $600 to $2,000. here's the reality for mcconnell. he's balancing a president, 2u

republican senators, he's also balancing his $52 limit. he could go with his own bill and let the clock run out on this congress. nothing may happen at all. one thing that will happen, at some point over the next several days mcconnell will lead an override of president trump's national defense act and that will happen. that's also held up by the stimulus check issue. bernie sanders a key player. he won't allow a vote on that or he will try and block a vote on that until he gets an up or down vote on the house passed bill. he can delay it, he can't stop it. the longer he delays it, the closer it comes to the end of this congress. the end of this congress with no action would mean no stimulus checks.

christine? >> bill, they have support from both senators from georgia who are campaigning to save their jobs in a runoff election next week. >> i said i support it. look, we have to provide relief to americans because democrats have locked our country down. they've played politics with this moment and refused to pass relief month after month after month. >> i've talked to the president repeatedly over the weekend. his heart was we've got to do this. we've got to do this now. we don't want to wait. we don't trust the other side will do it right. that's why he signed it into law. >> backtrack there on loeffler. the house passed a big relief package in may and there was no reaction from republicans for much of the summer. the focus on the georgia race is intense. 2.5 million ballots have been cast in the runoff. that's half the number of

georgia's vote in the presidential election. on tuesday. they assured americans of the full 11 weeks of the $300 boost of the stimulus deal in the jobless checks even though president trump didn't sign it into law until sunday missing an important deadline. the labor department said people in two pandemic programs will receive benefits for the final week and pack dajing it into their systems. the benefits will be retroactive to the end of december. steven mnuchin said some checks could have within deposited as early as last night. who could expect money here? if you make up to $75,000, you will receive $6,000. people who make 99,000, you receive nothing. parents can get 6 -- it.

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a vote to legalize abortion in argentina, up to 14 weeks. the first major latin american country to do so. celebrations followed in the streets. president alberto fernandez is

expected to sign this into law. the crackdown is at a dangerous level. opposition politician alexey navalny. they're daring him to follow through on his promise to return to russia. cnn's fred pleitgen has more from moscow. what are they accusing him of here? new fraud allegations? >> reporter: yes. large scale fraud as the russian investigative committee said. they say an antigovernment corruption group received millions of dollars and large portions were used by alexey navalny and others for personal use, for buying personal property, they said, and then also personal trips as well. quite dangerous for alexey navalny. he could face up to 10 years in

prison if it goes to court and if he is convicted in all of this. just yesterday he was supposed to appear at a hearing at a penal service. he's still recovering from the novichok poisoning in germany. he could, indeed, face arrests if and when he decides to come back here to russia. and navalny of course is crying foul in all of this. he believes that the russian authorities, once again, are embarrassed by that cnn and belencap investigation that uncovered the plot to poison and try to kill alexey navalny. he believes this is pay back. in fact, he went to his twitter account -- instagram account and he posted the following, i said from the beginning in my video that they will try to jail me because i didn't die on the plane and then track down my

assassin because i proved that putin is behind it and that is the thief who is ready to kill those who refuse to be silent about his thievery. alexey navalny talking. and we actually asked the kremlin about this. they are saying vladimir putin is not worried about this. he is going about his business. what they have to say is the russian government has consistently denied being behind the poisoning of alexey navalny. >> thank you so much, fred pleitgen. thank you. to croatia where there's a race against time to save victims after a strong earthquake there. the epicenter about 30 miles southeast of the capitocapitol. it could be felt across the balkans. going through hell. you can see the rubble there. cnn's vir ril vanier is there. what do we know? >> reporter: we know seven people have been confirmed dead.

that's according to the government . look at this and the reaction. >> don't know if people in the houses are alive or dead. half of the city has been demolished. we are now struggling to organize with a new strength we must find in ourselves because this is a sadness. >> so all national services were mobilized in a search and rescue effort. it's now 24 hours after the earthquake and a firefighter

told us that they're in there with search and rescue dogs to try and find any remaining victims under the rubble. now it's a remote poor area of croatia. a lot of people living isolated in their homes so they're going house to house to see if there's anyone there under the rubble. it's the priority to save lives. at this stage electricity still has not come back. people at the hospital had to be air lifted because the bridge had been damaged by the quake. we're, of course, hearing that there have been after shocks which happens all too often in earthquakes which can be traumatic for people but which can compromise the safety of structures and buildings. >> all right. cyril, thank you so much for that. keep us posted if there are any new developments there in croatia. a dark winter is off to a deadly start. the highest human toll so far in the pandemic includes the highest ranking u.s. official so far.

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all right. good morning. this is "early start." i'm christine romans. it is just about 30 minutes past the hour. we begin with the coronavirus pandemic and the darkest day yet for americans. more than 3,700 friends, family members, loved ones dying from the virus. that is a record. what is happening right now is far worse than the chaotic early days of this pandemic. one of yesterday's victims, newly elected republican congressman luke letlow from louisiana. the highest ranking politician to die of covid-19. he was only 41 years old. supposed to be sworn in sunday. another grieving family, that of 18-year-old sarah semantal. she was supposed to graduate in a few months, instead her family

is planning her funeral. >> i know she fought because one of the last times i was able to talk to her on the phone because i couldn't be up at the hospital at that point and they were taking her from her regular room to icu, then she said, i'm going to be okay, mom, and that was the last thing no parent should ever have to watch their child go through that. no one. >> heartbreaking. colorado has just discovered the first known u.s. case of the new covid-19 variant first identified in the u.k. the patient in his 20s had not traveled suggesting this was already spreading in the community. the variant is not known to be more deadly but it is believed to be more contagious, which compounds a critical problem here. over crowded hospitals. u.s. hospitalizations up almost 40% from thanksgiving setting another record overnight. nearly 125,000 patients, one of them james talcheck of texas. covid has ravaged his body so

badly he now needs a double lung transplant. >> all i want for christmas is a new set of lungs. just got to keep fighting it. >> worries that hospitals might have to turn patients away are now reality in california. at least 5 los angeles county hospitals declared an internal emergency because oxygen couldn't get to all patients. >> breaking overnight, the u.k. became the first country to identify the oxford astrazeneca vaccine. it is cheaper, easier to store. health officials hope to vaccinate a million people per week. the country's hospitals are overwhelmed by a new more contagious covid variant. the slow cases is a growing problem nationwide. president trump is blaming the slow rollout on states but, remember, many states did not get as many doses as promised.

now president-elect biden is taking the trump administration to task and promising to speed things up. >> reporter: good morning, christine. there is so much riding on the successful distribution of a covid-19 vaccine, and joe biden saying on tuesday that president trump is simply not getting the job done. he said that if you look at the numbers, they speak for themselves. many, many more americans should already be vaccinated by this point in the year. here is what he said. >> the trump administration's plan in distributing vaccines is falling behind, far behind. a few weeks ago trump administration suggested that 20 million americans could be vaccinated by the end of december. with only a few days left in december, we've only vaccinated a few million so far. the pace of the vaccination program is moving now -- if it continues to move as it is now, it's going to take years, not

months, to vaccinate the american people. >> reporter: now what biden is proposing is a much more aggressive federal plan essentially saying that the vaccinations should be happening some 5 to 6 times faster than what we're seeing right now. and a couple of other things that he mentioned as well. he talked about vaccination sites. he also mentioned mobile units so that people in hard to reach communities can also get vaccinated. he also talked about a national public campaign to try to convince those who have doubts about this vaccine that it is, in fact, safe. he also of course talked about the mask mandate requiring every american to wear a mask in his first 100 days in office. he did, interestingly, say that he is prepared to move heaven and earth to make all of this happen but he was clear that the task ahead is incredibly daunting. he said this is going to be the greatest operational challenge that the country has faced. christine, back to you. >> m.j. flores, thank you. while americans wait for a

widely available coronavirus vaccine, millions are in dire need right now. we know $600 is on the way but the push to increase those relief checks to $2,000 hit a roadblock, a roadblock named mitch mcconnell. cnn's phil mattingly has more from capitol hill. >> reporter: christine, the big wild card in terms of whether or not the united states senate would move forward on the expansion of $2,000 stimulus checks was mitch mcconnell, senate majority leader. what was he going to do? how was he going to react to the house passed bill, to the president of his own party demanding the checks. he tipped his hand a little bit on tuesday. take a listen. >> during this process the president highlighted three additional issues of national significance we would like to see congress tackle together. this week the senate will begin a process to bring the three priorities into focus. >> reporter: then he tipped his hand a lot a little bit later when he introduced his own piece of legislation, legislation that

would in600 payments to $2,000 but it would have two other provisions. that would include the online liability protections, repeal of section 230 and a voter fraud commission something the president has demanded even though there has been no evidence up to this point of voter fraud. mcconnell putting out a bill tying all of the president's demands together. it means if mcconnell decides to put it on the floor, it will fail. it's considered a poison pill. schumer called it a cynical play. chris murphy saying it was a poison pill. they believe the only path forward is the house passed bill to increase from $600 to $2,000. here's the reality for mcconnell. he's balancing a president, he's balancing two republican senators days away from a

crucial runoff, and also balancing his con fence, his 52 member conference, a large portion of which is a opposed to the policy altogether. he could go with his own bill? he could let the clock run out entirely on this congress. nothing may happen at all. one thing that's going to happen, at some point over the course of the next several days, mcconnell will be right here. bernie sanders keeps trying to layer that and saying he won't allow a vote on that until he gets an up or down vote on the house passed stimulus bill. he can delay it, he can't stop it. the longer he delays it, the closer it comes to the end of this congress. at the end of the congress, no action would mean no stimulus checks. >> bill on capitol hill. thank you so much. there's growing agreement

for the $2,000 payments including the senators from georgia. cnn has just learned that joe biden and kamala harris will be in georgia in the final days before that vote campaigning for the democratic candidates, jon ossoff and raphael warnock. biden's visit will coincide with a trump rally for the republicans. the runoffs will decide balance of power in the senate. democratic wins would make kamala harris the tie breaking votes. more than 2.5 million votes have lr happened. breaking overnight, the nashville bomber's girlfriend told police more than a year ago in august of 2019 he was building poms in the rv at higgs home. officers tried to get anthony warner to open the door to answer questions but he did not answer. it's the first real indication that police could have had an eye on warner before he blew himself up in that same rv on

christmas morning. we'll be right back. to all the businesses that helped us

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another move here by the trump administration that could throw a wrench in joe biden's diplomatic plans. "the new york times" reports secretary of state mike pompeo is considering a plan to reclassify cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.

the u.s. officially removed cuba from the terror list back in 2015 during the obama administration's brief effort at normalization. the sd move would please others who helped push trump to victory. two detectives in the breonna taylor death are going to be fired. they received pretermination letters. taylor was shot and killed in march after a botched forced entry into her apartment. it was one of several racially charged police incidents in 2020 that set off protests around the country. one day after we learned covid infection in wuhan, china, were much likely higher than reported, a top russian official says the death toll in her country is much higher than figures show.

matthew chance joins us from london. another case here of i guess underreporting the extent of the damage from covid. >> reporter: yeah, exactly. i mean, look, it's been a wide load of skepticism over the past several months about the official figures that russia has been putting out in terms of its number of dead. there's been calls by covid-19. the official figure is 56,000 figure which is of course terrible enough but what we now know and what's emerged over the past several months and what's been admitted by the country's deputy prime minister is that the actual figure is probably much, much worse than that. the number of excess deaths over the course of the last several months, close to 230,000 people. 80% or more of that, of those people, according to the deputy prime minister were caused by covid. that would bring the death toll in russia to somewhere in the region of 185, 186,000 making it

the third highest death toll from this terrible global pandemic in the world. that's much more realistic when you understand that russia has more than 3 million known reported covid 19d diagnoses and that the testimony we're seeing from front line medical staff, the terrible scenes in the crowded hospitals, the over crowded morgues where there's simply not enough room to put the dead bodies, it really does sort of gel a bit more with the testimony we're seeing on social media and the front line workers. back to you. >> the third highest death toll in the world after the united states and brazil. matthew chance from london, thank you so much for that. a mix of snow, ice and rain in store for millions of americans as they ring in the new year, socially distanced we hope. snow is already falling across the midwest. here's meteorologist karen mcginnis. >> christine, the midwest really got socked with lots of snowfall

in des moines or around that area. as much as 10 inches of snowfall. very dangerous driving conditions. now the bulk of that winter energy is moving across the great lakes. frontal system and it could produce a couple of inches of rainfall spreading across the north central gulf coast. here's what's interesting when you look here across southwest texas around el amarillo. you could see snow or rain and sleet. it will have an icy mixture along the i-10 corridor. then it will make its way across to the north, the ohio river valley, lower great lakes. for new york it's rain on thursday, then it could be icy going into new year's day. that's something we'll have to watch out for. christine, back to you. >> stay safe.

thank you so much for that, karen. new dietary guidelines to tell you about for americans, guidelines that have ignored input from scientists. they've said less alcohol and less added sugar per day citing health risks including the pandemic. the government dismissed it. it includes specific recommendations for babies and toddlers. they need to avoid added sugars and high levels of sodium. now this could influence school lunch programs and local health programs and even determine what type of food companies produce. new federal rules will allow drones to operate at night and over people and could expand the use for commercial deliveries. it will require remote identification technology which officials say will address security concerns. amazon, walmart, ups have been testing the procedures to deliver goods. cnn business looking at

markets around the world. europe has opened higher. hong kong had a news bounce. excuse me. in the u.s. futures are, drumroll please, slightly higher here. look, stocks inched back from record highs on tuesday. they fell a little bit. the dow fell 68 points. it's a pause really in what has been a year of big gains for investors. a reminder here, wall street is not main street. investors have had a great year but that's from 98 million jobs in february. this shows each month's jobs report, hiring seems to have flat lined as the virus affects the economy. the nfl player's association remains confident the playoffs can go on without a bubble. carolyn manno has the bleacher report. >> reporter: there has been a series of outbreaks across the league, but so far that hasn't affected the cancellation of a

single game as they march towards the last weekend of the regular season and into the playoffs. you mentioned the uptick in cases. the latest numbers from the nfl revealing 58 players and team personnel tested positive last week. that's compared to the combined 45 that tested positive before that. the president of the nfl situation to navigate the p pandemic. >> now i think we feel we will finish as long as the protocols are complied to 100%. we're at a point where the protocol has been designed and now it's for the last week of the regular season and the playof playoffs, i think we feel it would be confident we would finish. >> elsewhere in sports this morning, christine, there will

not be a bowl game on new year's eve night. texas bowl has been canceled. it is the 19th bowl game canceled this season. organizers planned to have more than 13,000 fans in the stands at nrg stadium. roefz borose bowl on friday. davonte smith is considered a favorite to win the heisman trophy. smith up against a trio of quarterbacks including his teammate matt jones, kyle trask. talk about hands. check this out. texas big man alfred collins with one of the softest pair of mitts you will ever see from a big man. 6'5", 300 pounds. the true freshman drawing high praise earlier in his career. coming down with the incredible interception in the game against colorado. the milwaukee bucks had 29

three-pointers. leading the way with six but almost everybody tipping in two nights after going 7 for 38. the only one who did not was two-time reining nba mvp yanis. his brother even made one. that's a great shooting night for milwaukee. they will get their money's worth from yanis. >> thank you so much for that. to the job crisis right now. millions of americans could miss unemployment checks this week because of a lapse in funding when the president delayed signing the stimulus bill. a big gap forworkers. >> reporter: fariq ka hawk and her family are raising a family of six on less than $400 a week

in unemployment. >> going to hit rock bottom. right now we're able to eat. forget the rent. >> that money that was supposed to a riff this week was just to feed the family. >> just to feed the family. >> reporter: pandemic unemployment programs lapsed on december 26th, a day before a new federal aid package was signed. that means most americans will have to wait for next year for their checks. >> they are both gig workers. she drove a school carpool. the loss of income in march put the family on to a growing pile of bills. >> if i told you all the bills are up to date? no, they aren't. it's impossible. >> reporter: nearly 1200 renters will owe $5800 by january. they own nearly that much and they're $8,000 in credit card debt. >> you have to take the letter

and put it on the flowers. >> their small apartment is a virtual classroom. now the kids eat. >> i get so emotional because i'm overwhelmed. i don't know how to live anymore. sometimes it's so hard. >> reporter: a recent survey shows 27 million americans say they don't have enough to eat. this family relies on food stamps and the food pantry at the brooklyn community service group copo. it's familiar for fariha. >> raspberries, squash, i have these special cucumbers. >> she used to work here handing out the food. >> i was there helping people receive benefits and now i'm on the other end and i'm asking for benefits. >> reporter: and the need for many americans is only getting greater. >> they're running out of their checks. that's why they're coming in hardship. they're not sure how they're going to make ends meet.

>> reporter: the new stimulus bill adds $300 before you see this one. >> before you see the money, it's gone. i know where i'm going to spends it. it's hard to get back to that place where everything will be okay. >> i made it special for you. the labor department says people will receive all 11 weeks of that extra $300 when they get the system here up and running. elon musk's global reach is expanding. india's government said tesla will start selling cars there next year. tesla will look to reduce the number of gas powered cars on india cars next year. tesla stock has been on a tear up nearly 700% so far this year.

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we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and all around the world. this is "new day." it is wednesday, december 30th, 6:00 here in new york. john berman is off. jim sciutto joins me. we have a lot of news. we begin with news on the pandemic. the u.s. has discovered first confirmed case of a fast-spreading coronavirus variant that originated in the uk. it was found in colorado. the man who tested positive for it is in his 20s and has not traveled, as far as we know. that suggests that the variant may already be spreading in the community undetected. there is also a second suspected case there, that is under investigation. this comes as the pandemic in the u.s. is shattering more records. more than 3,700 american deaths were reported yesterday. that is the highest number yet in a single