activity here at the west wing of the white house. we know officials are working to put together the finishing touches on that strategy that we re expected to hear president biden outline on thursday for how the united states is going to fight the coronavirus this winter. listen to the president talking about that yesterday. thursday i ll be putting forward a detailed strategy outlining how we re going to fight covid this winter, not with shutdowns or lockdowns, but with more widespread vaccinations, boosters, testing, and more. reporter: you hear the president there emphasizing the fact that he is not looking to do additional shutdowns or lockdowns. instead, it will be doubling down on what we ve seen from this administration so far. vaccinations, boosters, testing. we heard the president talk about that yesterday. even as the united states waits for the next week or two to learn more about this variant, president biden emphasizing what americans can do now. that is to get vaccina
several developments on the mystery still surrounding the omicron coronavirus variant. at least 19 countries now have confirmed cases of the variant, which has spread to five continents. this morning japan is taking a major step after reporting its first case, shutting down its borders to all foreign travelers. the south african doctor who was one of the first treat patients sick with this new variant calls travel bans an overreaction, especially since there is so much we still don t know. listen. i think it was an overreaction. i do understand that there s a lot of mutations in this virus. i do understand that it might be much more far spreading than the delta variant. people say yes, but i m trying to protect my people. so then the question would be how doon it s not in your country yet? how do you know that a lot of those infections that you are
variant is the sure number of mutations it has. of course smarter minds are saying it and i m learning more about it. but how significant is just, the number of mutations versus what these mutations actually do? yeah. that s a great question. i should just context-wise, there have been, you know, lots and lots of variants that have emerged through this pandemic, but only a few have risen to the level of being a viariant of concern nape of seen certain mutations out of the 50 or so that omicron has that have been associated with being able to evade antibodies. that s some of that immunity escape. there is other mutations that may make it more transmissible. so these are signals. it s kind of like cooking in a way. you re putting a bunch of things together in a dish. do they retain specific qualities or is something else entirely going to come out of all these mutations? we don t know. in the past, kate, they made a
currently seeing that is severe, how do you know it s not related to the omicron? how do you know? here in the united states, where there are no confirmed cases yet of the variant, president biden insists shutdowns like what we saw early in 2020 are not needed. the president is urging americans to remain calm and for those who are unvaccinated to get their shot now. and the cdc is strengthening its booster recommendations saying all adults should get one. we have all these developments covered for you. let s begin with the new travel ban. what does it mean? it means for the next month no foreigners will be allowed into the country. japan confirmed its first case of this new omicron variant. it was detected in a man believed to be a diplomat in his 30s who traveled from namibia to
treasury secretary janet yellen and federal reserve chairman jerome powell are testifying now on capitol hill in a senate hearing about this, powell warning a short time ago that the spike in covid cases, the emergence of the new variant, quote, pose downside risks to employment and economic activity and increased uncertainty for inflation. joining me for more is dick du durbin, senator from illinois. downside risk to unemployment and economic activity in, increased uncertainty for inflation, that is not good news for anyone. could this derail the legislative agenda you re pushing so harold on and now facing some really tight deadlines? yobi don t believe so. let s get to the bottom line, the president and the witnesses you re quoting are being honest with the american people. we know something about this variant but not all we need to know. it will take days or weeks to understand the current effectiveness of the vaccines on