Too early for us. And former aid to the george w. Bush white house, elise jordan and also katty kay on the way this morning. In the united states covid cases are on the rise again driven up in increases in places with low vaccination rates. And now the former surgeon general is suggesting the cdc should once again ask everyone to mask up indoors. Nbc news correspondent kathy park explains. Reporter: no signs of covid backing down. In los angeles county a 700% increase in positive cases in just the last month as masks go back on while indoors. I think better safe than sorry for sure. Reporter: former surgeon general on mask weighing, the premature guidance was wrong. The cdc should be advising to vax it and mask it. The current surgeon general defended the cdc s decision on masks for the fully vaccinated. They gave communities and individuals a flexibility to make decisions about what to do with masks. Reporter: across america, cases rising in all 50 states some hit harder than others.
its seven-day average of new infections soaring to an average of more than 386,000 new cases a day. in only one state, maine, cases are down. iowa is holding steady, but the vast majority of the country seen in dark red here is struggling with a surge of 50% or more in new infections. hospitalizations and deaths are lower than their 2021 peaks, but the avalanche of new cases has the cdc predicting that more than 44,000 people could die of covid-19 in the next four weeks. and that underscoring the anxiety of millions of parents who will send their kids back to school as early as monday. some school districts facing a spike in child hospitalizations and they have already announced at least a partial transition to online learning. cnn s nadia romero is covering the pediatric surge, but first let s get with pal low sandoval on the airline cancellations. it is a real nightmares for travelers. reporter: it certainly is. airlines continue in their efforts to try to mitigate the ef
the world health organization warns of huge strains on health systems. hello. a jury in new york has found the british socialite ghislaine maxwell guilty of having helped the late financier, jeffrey epstein, sexually abuse teenage girls. the jurors found the 60 year old guilty of another four charges connected with procuring the victims and facilitating the abuse. she was found not guilty on one other charge. the convictions mean maxwell faces the possibility of spending the rest of her life in prison. ghislaine maxwell s lawyer had this to say outside court. we firmly believe in ghislaine s innocence. obviously, we are very disappointed with the verdict. we have already started working on the appeal and we are confident that she will be vindicated. everyone, be healthy, have a happy new year. but prosecutor, us attorney damian williams, welcomed the verdict. the road to justice has the road tojustice has been far too long. but today, just as has been done. i want to commend
sajid javid, says the government will buy hundreds of millions more lateral flow tests, after days of supply issues. and afghanistan s former president defends his decision to flee the countryjust before the taliban take over, saying he did it to prevent the destruction of kabul. days after launching into orbit, it s the make or break moment for the james webb space telescope as it starts to unfold its tennis court sized sunshield. hello and welcome. the british socialite ghislaine maxwell has been found guilty of recruiting and trafficking young girls to be sexually abused by the late american financierjeffrey epstein. the 60 year old was found guilty on five of the six counts she faced, including the most serious charge that of sex trafficking a minor. maxwell faces spending the rest of her life in prison after she was found guilty by a jury in new york, but her lawyers say they are already preparing to appeal against the conviction. our north america correspondent, ale
defends his decision to flee the countryjust before the taliban take over, saying he did it to prevent the destruction of kabul. days after launching into orbit,it s the make or break moment for the james webb space telescope as it starts to unfold its tennis court sized sunshield. the number of daily new cases of covid 19 recorded in the uk has reached a new high. figures published in the last half hour show that there were 189,213 new positive cases recorded although it s not clear exactly how much the figures have been affected by reporting delays over the christmas period. a further 332 covid related deaths were also reported in the last 2a hours that s the highest figure since march, although we should point out that the number includes a backlog of deaths in hospital. and the number of daily covid admissions to hospital in england has nearly doubled in a week to more than 2000. 0ur health correspondent jim reed explained more. we have seen what has happened in sou