new promises from the united states to aid in india s growing covid crisis. it is so bad, they re conducting mass cremations. i m going to be to go dr. kavita patel who has family in india about how bad it has really gotten. the images are startling. and next hour, we have a special hour you don t want to miss. families of transgender kids considering fleeing their states due to laws aimed at their kids. i m going to talk to a mom who may leave texas to protect her son. we want to begin with that new nbc poll released just days before president biden marks his first 100 days in office and gives his first major speech to congress. the nbc national poll shows overall 53%, just over half of american voters, approve of the job that he is doing. nbc s monica alba is in washington for us. monica, good to see you. as we break this poll out, where do americans see his strngths and weaknesses as of this moment? reporter: yasmin, it s a reflection of where the president spent most
briefed on new variants as the south african mutation appeared now in baltimore. leaving many health experts to fear the worst spite is yet to come. the fact is the surge that is likely to occur with this new variant from england is going to happen in the next 6 to 14 weeks. the when we see that happen, which my 45 years in the trenches tell us we will, we will see something like we ve not seen yet in this country. and dr. osterholm is talking about the uk variant. now we ve got the south african variant as well, which is even more dangerous. the already-challenged vaccine rollout now hitting another roadblock, snow. thousands of appointments are canceled for vaccinations because of the massive storm slamming the northeast. this hour i will have a lot more of the new secretary of state s first interview since being sworn in last week. tony blinken delivering a message for allies and the workforce with complete coverage. but first joining me now, nbc geoff bennett, capit
we begin with the staggering covid numbers. the u.s. is now averaging more than 237,000 new daily cases, and several states are near all-time peak covid hospitalization levels. now the stark rise comes as the cdc announced it s cutting the recommended isolation period for asymptomatic infected americans in half. instead of staying away from other people for ten days the cdc says stay home for just five, that s if you re asymptomatic by day five. now the agency says the change is driven by data showing most covid transmission happens one to two days before someone has symptoms, and in a two to three days after. want to get straight to cnn medical correspondent elizabeth cohen. this is a major change. what kind of precipitated this? what precipitated is, phil, was the statistic you just gave where they said, look, if you re most symptomatic right before and two or three days after exposure, why are we keeping people out for ten days? they started to see we re losing doctors.
with the rules that applied to workplaces. a plea for urgent supplies in the philippines, as the number of people killed by super typhoon rai rises to more than 200. chile picks a left wing candidate as its youngest ever leader, beating a far right rival in an incredibly polarising election. 19 year old tennis star emma raducanu has been named bbc sports personality of the year following an incredible year that saw her become britain s first women s grand slam singles champion in 44 years. hello and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world. borisjohnson is facing calls to bring in tighter measures over the christmas period to stem the rapid rise in cases of the omicron variant of coronavirus. scientists say urgent action is needed to stop a rapid influx of patients into hospital. but the prime minister is facing strong oppostion on further restrictions from within his own party. the prime minister is reportedly meeting advisers today and civil servants have
sandra: all new at 2:00, the pentagon set to brief the press any moment now as president xi and putin wrap up day two of their historic summit bringing america s top two adversaries even closer together. welcome back as america reports rolls into a second hour. i m sandra smith in new york. we are certainly monitoring the pentagon for any news that comes from there, john. john: it could be a big news hour. we ll keep an eye on the pentagon for any updates as president xi tries to broker a peace plan for putin s war. experts warn any china-backed peace plan would have one winner, china. that s where we start with the fox news alert. sandra: president biden just wrapped his remarks on a day he has devoted to talking about climate and environmental justice. at the same time as china and russia are plotting against the united states. the two major powers showing off their close relationship during today s second round of talks. john: president biden under fire for still