russia as he tries to tighten his grip on power in the wake of deadly protests. we ll have a live report from the region. announcer: live from cnn center this is cnn newsroom with lynda kinkade. and we begin with the covid pandemic. it s a picture ever more complicated. in europe the u.k. has joined only a handful of countries reporting 150,000 total deaths from the pandemic. in italy a mandate for everyone over the age of 50 to be vaccinated appears to have yielded some good results. since announcing the requirement italy has seen a three fold increase in vaxines administered to people in that age group. meanwhile across the atlantic hospitals are scrambling to deal with waves of people infected with the highly contagious omicron variant. and it s disrupting the delivery of routine health care in places like new york. cnn s paolo sandoval reports. reporter: this weekend the state of newark health department issuing a temporary order putting a stop to all unessential
Like new york. cnn s paolo sandoval reports. reporter: this weekend the state of newark health department issuing a temporary order putting a stop to all unessential elective procedures. the goal here according to health officials to help alleviate what they re describing as limited bed capacity amid this ongoing omicron surge throughout the country here as new york just the latest to in a race to try to help their health care facilities with staff and supply shortages including at the university of kansas health care system where the chief medical officer told cnn over the weekend they are nearing a breaking point. go from normal operations to c contingency. and it means i have to put patients in unusual situations, i have to cancel surgeries. at some point you say we re too
Emotional voices of millions who call them cruel. cnn s paolo sandoval reports. reporter: these are the rallying cries heard across the country saturday. where are the kids? reporter: protesters led by immigrant rights groups marching in masses with a message frr president trump, eliminate his zero tolerance policy calling for the prosecution of people crossing the border illegally. the thought that my own family would have difficulty coming across the border if they needed to seek asylum for any reason chills me to the bone. reporter: in new york, a mile and a half march from manhattan to brooklyn, symbolic moment ahead of the group that paused in the middle of the brooklyn bridge looking at lady liberty reciting the pledge of allegiance. speakers at podiums from coast to coast demanding children be reunited with their parents. we re here because there s