Im Pamela Brown. You are in the Cnn Newsroom on this saturday. And we begin this hour with the latest on where the coronavirus may have come from. Senior White House officials say they now believe the theory that the virus escaped from a lab is at least as credible as a possibility that it emerged naturally. This is according to sources i spoke with along with some of my colleagues. This is a dramatic shift from a year ago where democrats and public health officials downplayed the socalled Lab Leak theory. A short time ago, dr. Anthony fauci told cnn hes not so sure, but hes leaning one way. I, together with many, are highly qualified vaccinxnologis and virologists, including a paper by 21 internationally renowned virologist and evolutionary biologists from all over the world indicate that although we keep an open mind, that it is possible that it could be, as they say, a Lab Leak, that the most likely explanation is a natural evolution from an Animal Reservoir to a human. Scientists a
the new strain. all of this prompting a number of colleges to move their final exams and even if final days of the semester online. omicron has been identified in 36 states. dr. anthony fauci says it s a matter of time before it overtakes delta as the dominant variant in this country. it has an extraordinary ability to transmit efficiently and spread. it has what we call a doubling time of about three days, and if you do the math on that, if you have just a couple of percentage of the isolates being omicron very soon, it will be the dominant variant. joining us now to discuss what this all means, dr. paul sax, professor of medicine at brigham and women s hospital and harvard medical school. good to have you on. the big-picture question is what s the right response to this, right? it s clearly spreading more quickly. some of the data seems to indicate it doesn t cause as severe illness. does that mean that shutdowns may not be necessary? how should folks be receiving thi
it s the source of a pentagon scramble. the united states is now promising to deliver heavier and deadlier weaponry. helicopters, howitzer cannons and more. overnight ukraine said it put a major military win on the scoreboard. russia s premier warship in the black sea sustained major damage. ukraine claims it struck it with a cruise missile. russia blames the damage on an accidental fire. the pentagon today says it has not determined the cause and says the ship is still afloat, but in need of major repairs. mariupol remains under attack on all sides. debris lines just about every nook and cranny of that city. ukrainian officials say thousands are dead. russian state media claims this is battlefield progress. a video apparently showing ukrainian soldiers surrendering. cnn is unable to determine if this is real or if it is kremlin propaganda. we start our coverage on the front lines in ukraine in lviv with cnn s matt rivers. what s the latest? yeah, john, the big headline is
evangelical base? also ahead, a new deadline for the former president. days left to post a $175 million bond. does he have the money? alec murdaugh back in court facing sentencing for financial crimes. how much longer he could face behind bars, and did he break his plea deal? later, a massive cleanup today in baltimore. the plan to get the mangled remains out of the collapsed bridge out of the water and this busy port back open. hello. it s good to be with you. it is 10:00 eastern. i m ana cabrera reporting from new york. we begin with two presidential campaigns and two very different easter messages. donald trump marking the holiday attacking political opponents in all caps, unleashing on prosecutors in his various trials, posting more than 70 times, posts like this on social media and making false claims about an easter egg contest at the white house. meanwhile, president biden who is anticipating in the annual white house easter egg roll at this very moment posted