questions yet and it could take weeks before scientists know for sure. >> as officials are waiting for those answers, starting today, the u.s. has decided to ban entry for all non-u.s. citizens and permanent residents traveling from south africa and seven other neighboring countries. japan and israel going further, they're banning all foreign nationals from crossing their borders. >> this morning, at least 15 countries and territories have now confirmed cases, a small number at this point of the omicron variant. among them hong kong, canada, scotland and australia. as of right now, there are no known cases here in the u.s. dr. anthony fauci says knowing how these things spread, though, it's likely inevitable. some health officials say it's possible that evidence of this is already here. hours from now, president biden will speak about what we know about the new variant, how he plans to respond. cnn will bring you those comments live as they happen. our reporters and correspondents are standing by to bring you the latest from around the world. we'll speak shortly with dr. francis collins, the director of the national institutes of health to get some hard answers on this. we should note he is optimistic in some ways but there is a lot more to be learned. lots of important questions to ask. let's begin at the white house, jeremy diamond on the north lawn. president biden expected to speak in a few hours. do we know what his message will be? >> reporter: we expect president biden to address the american people after receiving his latest briefing on this omicron variant. president biden is expected to urge americans not to mpanic an he will make clear we'll learn more in the coming weeks. in the meantime what you will hear from president biden is making his latest plea for americans who are not yet vaccinated to get vaccinated, and for those who have gotten vaccinated and are eligible for a booster, meaning all americans six months after pfizer, moderna or two months after the johnson & johnson to get that booster. that is the best protection the president and his medical advisers say can be used now. president biden received a briefing yesterday as well on the variant, this is a statement that the white house released following that meeting. dr. fauci informed the president while it will take approximately two more weeks to have more definitive information on the transms.ibility, severity and other character stacks of the variant, he continues to believe that existing vaccines are likely to provide a degree of protection against severe cases of covid." that is why you will hear the president reiterating that message today after he receives his latest briefing, vaccines, vaccines, vaccines. while we still are working to learn more about this latest variant, vaccines are the key. >> vaccines are the key, although we're also seeing as we were just talking about this ban on travel and peter, the u.s. travel association says the biden administration should reconsider these omicron travel restrictions that were announced over the weekend. what would they like to see instead? >> reporter: we've seen statement after statement from the travel industry calling the travel restrictions a knee-jerk reaction and a statement from the u.s. travel association, one of the largest industry groups representing the travel and tourism industry at large the biden administration should respectfully reconsider these new travel restrictions on those coming from south africa and seven other countries. they point to new rules that went into effect only three weeks ago, that allow foreign nationals to come into the united states so long they prove they are fully vaccinated and they show proof of a negative coronavirus test. that was a huge shift in the travel industry, ending a 600-day-long ban of travel of foreign nationals. here is the statement from the u.s. travel association. it says with the vaccine and testing requirement in place to enter the u.s., we continue to believe that assessing an individual's risk and health status is the best way to welcome qualified global travelers into the united states." this is coming during a time when there are big signs of life, 2.45 million people screened at airports across the country yesterday, that say new air travel record of the pandemic, about 85% of the way where we were in 2019 and a lot of travel experts are saying those numbers are being pushed up for some reasons because of that resumption of international travel. jim and erica? >> pete muntean, jeremy diamond, thanks so much. one common message over the last several days, best early response is vaccination and boosters, if you've already been vaccinated and experts are hoping the concerns over omicron will spur the millions of unvaccinated americans to get their covid shots. the world health organization says the overall global risk related to the new variant is "assessed as very high" at this point. >> jacqueline howard has been following all of this for us. what more to we know about the w.h.o. assessment? what should we take away from it? >> what we can take away from it the w.h.o.'s assessment is based how the variant has a large number of mutations. while the w.h.o. does say that the global risk is very high, the organization also emphasizes there's a lot left to learn. that assessment is based on some uncertainty and as more data gets released, the w.h.o. says that it could update its assessment, but for now, the global risk is very high. everyone should be on alert. while there's a lot that we still don't know and we should get more information in the next two weeks, but while there's a lot we don't know, there's still some that we do know and here's what we do know for now. the variant was first detected or first described in botswana, then subsequently south africa released information, making a big announcement last week. we know that the variant has been detected in several other countries since then, including australia, canada, italy, the uk, germany, denmark, israel, and more, and going back to those mutations, we know the variant has at least 50, among them 30 are on this spike protein, that's the structure of the virus that it uses to attach to our cells during infection. that's what we know, and speaking of those mutations, here's what south african epidemiologist salim abdul karim told her colleagues this morning on "new day." have a listen. >> this new variant omicron has mutations that are common to the other four previous variants of concern. so it has mutations that are similar to the delta variant, so we are expecting it to transmit faster. >> you see there he mentions those mutations and some expectations, but none of that has officially been confirmed in the data yet. there's still a lot we have left to learn and again, we're expecting more data in the next two weeks. >> jacqueline howard, thanks so much. let's get answers about what we know and don't know. joining me dr. francis collins, director of the national institutes of health. dr. collins, thanks so much for taking the time this morning. >> i'm glad to be with you, jim and erica. >> so we know it's early. the world health organization has said the risk of omicron is "very high" but on sunday, notably said it is not yet clear whether omicron is more transmissible or causes more severe disease, granting there are a lot of questions still to be answered here and it's early, can you tell us what we do know at this point about omicron? >> well, jacqueline made a nice summary a minute ago. what we do know, it has a lot of mutations, more than 50, a new record and some of those we've seen before and some we haven't. this certainly suggests that this is a new kind of virus that we have to take very seriously, and we do worry that if those mutations are in the spike protein, and i'll show you my little model here, the spike protein sitting on the outside of the virus, that's what your antibodies have to work against in order to protect you against this virus, so we worry if the spike protein is of a different shape, maybe the antibodies won't stick quite as well. that's the reason for the concern. on the other hand, i would say all of the previous variants, which have also had differences in the spike protein have responded to vaccines and especially to boosters. that's a very important message, i want everybody to hear right now. the boosters do, in fact, allow your immune system to have a wide range of capabilities against spike proteins it hasn't seen before. if you needed one more reason, if you're eligible to get that booster right away, this would be it. in terms of its contagiousness, i think it is clear from what's happening in south africa that this omicron variant does spread rapidly, but keep in mind, this is in the context of a circumstance in south africa there was relatively little covid going on. what we don't know is whether this omicron variant will outcompete delta in a country like ours or whether delta because it's been so successful will push it aside. that's another unknown. >> we should note a low vaccination rate country south africa here. if you follow questions on what you just said there, moderna's ceo one of the makers of the vaccine two to six weeks before we know if omicron reduces the efficacy of its vaccine. we've heard from others, dr. fauci and others maybe in a week or two we'll have an indicator. are there any early signs about the effects on vaccine efficacy or is it just early to state and if so, how long will it take to know? >> there's two ways we'll figure this out. one is by laboratory experiments. to do that, you need to actually have an isolate of omicron growing in the lab and you mix that with serum from people who have been vaccinated and ask, does that vaccinated serum still neutralize the virus? that takes a while for the virus to be grown up. there's not a lot we can do to accelerate that. the other thing to see what's happening in the real world. in south africa, where some people are vaccinated and now that the virus is finding its way into other countries, can we start to see what the effectiveness is of the vaccine in preventing illness and severe illnessness. that will take us a week or two to begin to see. there's more data from both of those directions. >> okay. a key question here, the world health organization says early data suggests there may be increased risk of reinfection for those already vaccinated. what can we say, do we know about the protection offered from previous infection as opposed to vaccines or is it too early for that, too? >> it's pretty early to tell, but again, in the part of south africa where this omicron variant has emerged, most of those people had already been infected previously by delta. their immunization levels were pretty high from that prior infection, and yet clearly this virus is able to cause reinfection in those folks. so it's not completely protective. is it partially protective? i can't tell you yet until we have more data. >> now another form of treatment, right, for those already infected with this are anti viral drugs, pfizer has asked, it's applied for emergency use authorization for its anti viral drug. you have said there's reason to be optimistic that an anti viral drug like that for people who get infected with omicron might help keep them out of the hospital or getting severe illness. tell us why you have that reason for optimism. >> well again, the data that pfizer generated in their trial of their drug called paxlovid showed an 89% effectiveness keeping people out of the hospital who got the drug within three to five days after their first symptoms. would that also work for omicron? we don't know, of course, but if you look at the viral genome sequence for omicron, it looks as if the target for this drug, which is a protease is the same as other isolates from covid-19. there's reason to think it would work there as well. that's speculation until we have the actual data. notice another drug being considered by fda tomorrow, merck's drug called malnupiavir could potentially play a role here. recent data says its effectiveness in preventing hospital station is more like 30% instead of a higher number but still very worth looking at. >> quickly before we go, a chance to repeat your best advice in the meantime as we learn more. you said get vaccinated, get boosted, tell us why. >> we still have of course in the u.s. a serious surge of the delta variant. we should be thinking about that. your best protection against delta is to get vaccinated, and if you've already been vaccinated and six months have passed since you got pfizer or moderna, get your booster, two months since j&j, get your booster. that was a reason already. add omicron to the mix and we do believe this new variant, which will probably come to our shores, will also be something vaccines and boosters can help you with. please, folks, if you've been on the fence, i'm not a politician. i'm a scientist. maybe we could ask all the politicians to agree on this one, get your vaccine, get your booster. it's the best chance we've got to drive this covid-19 pandemic away. >> well, let's hope they listen. dr. francis collins thanks for helping us figure this all out. >> glad to be with you. up next, the top republican in the house facing pressure to respond more forcefully to the far right wing of his party as gop congressman lauren boebert apologizes for comparing a democratic colleague to a terrorist. plus former defense secretary mark esper suing the pentagon for trying to block parts of his book which reveal details of his time in the trump administration. ♪ ♪ this is how we shine... at zales. the diamond store. growing up in a little red house, on the edge of a forest in norway, there were three things my family encouraged: kindness, honesty and hard work. over time, i've come to add a fourth: be curious. be curious about the world around us, and then go. go with an open heart, and you will find inspiration anew. viking. exploring the world in comfort. psoriatic arthritis, made my joints stiff,... ...swollen, painful. emerge tremfyant®. tremfya® is approved to help reduce joint symptoms in adults with active psoriatic arthritis. some patients even felt less fatigued. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge tremfyant® with tremfya®... ask you doctor about tremfya® today. hey, it's ryan reynolds. as owner of mint mobile, my goal is to spend as little as possible on things like commercials so we can pass more savings to customers. and when i saw what they're charging for holiday-themed stock videos these days, well, you can see what i decided to do. and that means we can afford to offer three months of free service on any plan, including unlimited. so let's all just use our imaginations, 'kay? just imagine me someplace festive no, no, don't make it weird. the top republican in the house says he's encouraging congresswoman lauren boebert to meet with representative ilhan omar but yet to publicly condemn the anti muslim comments she made, she was captured on video last week calling omar a member of the "jihad" squad describing an elevator encounter on capitol hill. >> omarboebert "i apologize to anyone in the muslim community i offended." joining us capitol hill reporter melanie zanona. it's not the first time we've heard offensive comments on the hill, have you heard behind the scenes other republican lawmakers criticizing boebert for this? >> the anger and outrage with lauren boebert is not limited to democrats. az nancy mace a south carolina republican a moderate had to say on our air over the weekend. >> we have a responsibility to lower the temperature and this does not do that. i didn't come to congress to throw bombs on twitter, to take advantage of people by saying crazy things to raise money or to be a comedian. i'll leave comedy to dave s chappell. >> you condemn the comment? >> 100% absolutely. >> reporter: so clearly republicans are starting to get fed up with some of the extreme behavior by some of their gop colleagues. i also heard from a moderate house republican over the weekend who said they're worried if marjorie taylor greene and boebert become the face of the party it will undermine their efforts to win back the majority. despite frustrations in the gop, there is little appetite to punish boebert. you saw kevin mccarthy over the weekend try to turn the temperature down and play courig between boebert and omar. and there's concern if they punish someone who apologized for remarks and trying to make am amends. some democrats are pushing for action including ilhan omar. that is a decision democratic leaders make as they return to washington. >> interesting to see what more we hear in the coming days in terms of reaction. appreciate the reporting. also here to discuss david gergen, former adviser to presidents nixon, ford, reagan and clinton. good to see you this morning. over the weekend, dana bash asked arkansas governor asa hutchinson specifically about kevin mccarthy, whether he needs to be more public condemning comments, the rhetoric we heard from congresswoman boebert. here's his response. >> i think whenever even in our own caucus, our own members if they go the wrong direction, it has to be called out. it has to be dealt with, particularly whenever it is breaching the civility whenever it is crossing the line in terms of violence or increasing the divide in our country. >> he wants to see it called out. we heard the reporting from melanie moderate republicans are concerned about how embracing some of the more vocal far right members of the republican party could hurt them in the midterms. do those moderates hold enough sway at this point within the gop that that would make a difference? >> well, we do know this. the republican party is in very good shape for the off year elections next year and think they can win and a lot of this is about positioning before we get to the mid terms, that the radical right can claim that it helped to win the house back and the radical right can go after kevin mccarthy. so i think more than anything else, erica, this is early skirmishing. it confirms the republican party as we thought all along has just as much a radical extreme set of people as does the democratic party, both parties are facing this split within between moderates and radicals and it's not good politics for either one of them. i think the earth did what the new senator did in georgia, be supportive of trump and mostly be independent of trump. that was a winning formula. seems the rest of the republican party is searching for a formula for the members of the house. >> it is often the most vocal voices, perfect example, texas representative ronny jackson over the weekend was insinuating the new omicron variant was manufactured by democrats, so they could encourage more mail-in ballots heading into 2022. when you have these, you know, anti science, anti-reality thoughts out there that actually gain traction and we see they work, what's interesting is democrats, david, haven't seem to have found a way to counter that misinformation. >> they have not yet, and so far, jackson and people like that are getting away with it. i do think historian also look back upon this and decisively right that the republican party once honorable republican party has descended into this kind of madness. just in order to collect votes. it's especially i think reprehensible when a doctor like ron jackson who was a "in the white house gets himself in the middle of this, encouraging people to believe that this whole thing with a new variant is a conspiracy. so many countries, what jim was reporting on your program, how many countries agreed to ban travel from southern africa. that's not the democratic party speaking. that's the europeans and others who were trying to protect their people and to say that's just a conspiracy among democrats is so wildly off base and reprehensible by a doctor, and who has represented presidents in the past and has credibility, for him to mislead people the way he is. >> it is and yet here we are. david gergen, appreciate your insight always. >> here we are, thanks, erica. still ahead, we will be live in south africa as a growing number of countries are banning flights from that region. we're also watching how markets will respond to concerns about the omicron variant, the opening bell on wall street minutes away. european markets are already up after big losses on friday. u.s. futures as you see with the green arrows pointing higher this morning. vaccine makers such as moderna, pfizer and biontech specifically poised for a jump in stock prices today. sales are down from last quarter, but we're hoping things will pick up by q3. yeah... uhhh... doug? [children laughing] sorry about that. umm...what...it's uhh... you alright? 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>> as we wait, a reaction obviously not just in france but of course for the european union concerns this is a race against time. how are european officials at this point working to stop this new threat? >> erica, jim, tools of the european end across europe using, it's testing, it's vaccines, it's genomic surveillance, and it's travel bans, they have tested and detected in nine european countries, the omicron variant, and so what the european union is doing is calling an emergency break. these travel restrictions are going up, spain become the late toast require a ten-day quarantine for travelers from southern africa but today, one new omicron variant reported in austria, six in scotland, 13 in portugal, and the sixth in scotland are especially interesting because there is no history of travel there. it's possible authorities in scotland say that could be the first instance of community transmission outside of south africa. here in france the health ministry says there are eight possible cases that already they think there could be omicron virus variant already in the community and that's the same for ireland, why the european union is taking this new variant seriously. listen. >> we are now in a race against time. why that, because we know not all about this variant, but it is a variant of concern and the scientists and manufacturer need two to three weeks to have a full picture about the quality of the mutations of this omicron variant. >> the uk introduced new restrictions for travelers coming in, everyone has to isolate and get a negative pcr test after two days and the uk presidency calling a special session of the g7 health ministers. >> larry and david, thank you. in the last few minutes we've learn the omicron variant is the dominant coronavirus strain in south africa, detected less than two weeks ago in that country. we'll keep an eye on any of those developments. mark esper is now suing the pentagon over his new book. why defense department officials say several mentions of trump should be redacted. it's the black friday sale. get 30 to 50% off everything. ♪ ♪ this is how we shine... at zales. the diamond store. ♪ what the he— henry? 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(gasps) ♪ did it work? only pay for what you need ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ spider-man no way home in theaters december 17th ♪ ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ this just coming in to cnn, twitter stock popping more than 10% this morning following a new report that ceo jack dorsey intends to step down. chief business correspondent christine romans, what more do we know? >> this is coming this morning, 11% pop in the stock. investors are reacting to this. this is a report on cnbc by david faber that jack dorsey is stepping down from his role at ceo and runs the payment service square also. he is 46 years old, a billionaire. a long runway for a future ahead of him. my big first question is what he's going to do next? why is he stepping down here? this is a big move. this is a big figure in the social media space, right, @jack is his handle on twitter and he founded that firm and watched it become really a trading ground for ideas and news articles and the like and really has become a powerhouse in both media and politics. so jack dorsey, we have not confirmed this, but cnbc is reporting that he will step down from his role as ceo of twitter, that is the founder of twitter. >> certainly a very interesting question, what is next. we'll be watching for that and more. appreciate it. thank you. former defense secretary mark esper is suing the defense department for "censoring" his first amendment rights by redacting portions of his upcoming book. the department telling esper he needs to take out certain parts about his time working under former president trump. esper is pushing for all unclassified information in the book to be published. barbara starr is live at the pentagon. how are defense officials responding to that push this morning? >> good morning, erica. look, it's nothing new. when a government official decides to publish their alltel book, memoir, if they signed agreements of classified or protected information, they have to get government approval. it's a review process, it's formalized and we've seen many authors, former government officials complain before the process is slow, too onerous and puts a lid on some of the things they believe are not classified and should be able to publish and this is apparently where mark esper stands right now, as the former defense secretary. the pentagon taking a moderate view now that mr. esper has filed suit. john kirby saying "we are aware of mr. esper's concerns regarding the pre-publication of his memoir. as with all such reviews, the department takes seriously its obligation to balance national security with the author's narrative desire. given this matter is now under litigation, with he will refrain from commenting further." so not unusual. the process will go on. mr. esper's book is scheduled for publication in may of 2022 so he wants to get this resolved. he wants to talk as much as he can about his views of what happened to him as defense secretary before president trump fired him. it is worth remembering that mark esper pushed back against any suggestion by mr. trump that he would deploy military troops on american streets during some of the demonstrations that occurred while trump was still in office, so perhaps in this book we will learn more about mark esper's role in all of that. erica? >> it will be interesting to see what we can ultimately learn in that book. barbara starr, appreciate it, thank you. >> sure. talks resume in vienna this morning, an attempt to revive the iran nuclear deal. will they go anywhere? we'll discuss coming up. for people living with h-i-v, keep being you. and ask your doctor about biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to and stay undetectable. that's when the amount of virus is so low it cannot be measured by a lab test. research shows people who take h-i-v treatment every day and get to and stay undetectable can no longer transmit h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your doctor about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. if you have hepatitis b, do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your doctor. common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. if you're living with hiv, keep loving who you are. and ask your doctor if biktarvy is right for you. the ergo smart base from tempur-pedic responds to snoring- automatically. so no hiding under your pillow, or opting for the couch. your best sleep. all night. every night. save up to $500 on select adjustable mattress sets during the black friday event. the new sensodyne repair and protect with deep repair has the science to show that the toothpaste goes deep inside the exposed dentin to help repair sensitive teeth. my patients are able to have that quality of life back. i recommend sensodyne repair and protect with deep repair. emergency planning for kids. we can't predict when an emergency will happen. so that's why it's important to make a plan with your parents. here are a few tips to stay safe. know how to get in touch with your family. write down phone numbers for your parents, siblings and neighbors. pick a place to meet your family if you are not together and can't go home. remind your parents to pack an emergency supply kit. making a plan might feel like homework, but it will help you and your family stay safe during an emergency. talks to reivory the iran nuclear deal, at least try, have resumed today in vienna after a six-month hiatus. the u.s. delegation will not be speaking directly with the iranians, although they are in the city. it is not clear how tehran's new government will approach negotiations, but president biden says if diplomacy fails, the u.s. is, quote, prepared to use other options. national security correspondent david sanger joins us. good to have you this morning. you noted smartly iran, the u.sl not withdrawal from this deal as the trump administration did but also it wants sanctionings lifted first. given those two demands being in effect red lines for the u.s., why restart now? >> a great question, jim, because, you know, the tragedy here is that six months ago we thought this deal was just about in the bag. remember, there was a previous iranian government, they had negotiated an agreement to sort of get back into the 2015 accord that president trump had can pulled out of. then there was an election in iran, a harodline government cae in, we thought they'd still pick up the deal, they did not, and now there are a series of new demands that have left american officials very pessimistic this is going to be much beyond a shouting and demands match. also a split in strategy between the u.s. trying to do a very diplomatic approach and israeli attacks on some of the iranian facilities that seem to be every few months. >> when biden says, say if these talks do fail, and you never know what's going to happen in that room, when he says the u.s. are prepared to use other options, what are those other options? >> the first options they're thinking of are additional sanctions, but we have so many sanctions on iran right now, jim, it's hard to imagine that that would result in much of a change. remember, that's essentially what president trump attempted and he thought it would crush the iranians. it did not. the only lure for the iranians right now is oil prices are significantly higher and they'd love to get back on the market. >> let's talk about another issue. the center of a lot of attention in here in washington for weeks now, russia's threats to ukraine, buildup of forces around ukraine. we know that the pentagon is taking this very seriously. and we've seen very public warning not just from u.s. officials but european officials, the nato secretary-general over the weekend here. any sign that russia is hearing and heeding these warnings? >> well, the only sign that we've seen, jim, and this is territory you've covered better than anybody, is that the russians so far have amassed those troops but haven't done anything with them. it could be they're just trying to threaten the ukrainians. you saw president zelensky of ukraine warn over the weekend he thought the russians were trying to back a coup. we haven't seen that happen yet, but maybe he preempted it. then of course the third option is that the russians could simply do what they've done in past holiday seasons, christmas seasons, which is cyberattacks that brought down part of the power grid in ukraine, just ways to push the government, try to make them appear to be incompetent. we don't know what putin's real intent is here. >> that is a thing i've heard consistently. it's just trying to figure out what's inside. with the admission that our intelligence access to the kremlin is not where it used to be. i guess big picture, when you speak to officials, how concerned are they that this could turn into a hot war there around ukraine as opposed to a cold one? >> they are concerned about it. ukraine is not a member of nato. in the seven years since russia took crimea, the sanctions we put on russia have not led them to give it back. we also haven't let ukraine into nato in that time and are not likely to anytime soon. i think the russians are calculating that president biden has got other fish to fry, both at home, with china, and he may well determine if he didn't get that much pushback by crimea, he might be able to edge a little more territory now. >> the reason crimea is yellow is because russia stole it seven years ago. david sanger, thank you. >> always great to be with you, jim. still ahead, president biden set to speak this morning about the new coronavirus variant, omicron. the u.s. banning flights to and from south africa and seven neighboring countries starting today. cnn has live team coverage. stay with us. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible... ...with rybelsus®. 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[ding] never settle with power e*trade. it has powerful, easy-to-use tools to help you find opportunities, 24/7 support when you need answers, plus some of the lowest options in futures contract prices around. get e*trade and start trading today. - san francisco can have criminal justice reform and public safety. but district attorney chesa boudin is failing on both. - the safety of san francisco is dependent upon chesa being recalled as soon as possible. - i didn't support the newsom recall but this is different. - chesa takes a very radical perspective and approach to criminal justice reform, which is having a negative impact on communities of color. - i never in a million years thought that my son, let alone any six-year-old, would be gunned down in the streets of san francisco and not get any justice. - chesa's failure has resulted in increase in crime against asian americans. - the da's office is in complete turmoil at this point. - for chesa boudin to intervene in so many cases is both bad management and dangerous for the city of san francisco. - we are for criminal justice reform. chesa's not it. recall chesa boudin now. very good monday morning to you. i'm jim sciutto. >> i'm erica hill. right now there are a lot of questions about a new coronavirus variant, omicron. while we wait for some of those answers, u.s. officials hoping to mitigate the spread with a new travel ban. starting today, all non-u.s. citizens and permanent residents traveling from south africa and seven other neighboring countries are barred from entering. >> a lot of protests from those countries there. big questions around the new variant. they include, is it more transmissible? is it more dangerous? and how much do existing vaccines protect against it? we don't know now. it is early and will take some time, they say perhaps weeks before we know answers, but we know a few things. have a listen. >> what we do know, it has a lot of mutations, more than 50. that's a new record, and some of those we've seen before and some we haven't. so this searchly suggests that this is a new kind of virus we have to take very seriously. if you needed one more r