Coronavirus cases have surged past 96 million worldwide, fuelled by the emergence of new variants including one that was first detected in Britain and has now spread to more than 60 nations, the World Health Organization said.
The United States remains the worst-hit country, with around a fifth of the two million global Covid-19 deaths, and Mr Biden has made the fight against the pandemic his administration’s top priority.
“We need all our strength to persevere through this dark winter. We’re entering what may be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus,” Mr Biden said at his inauguration, where those in attendance wore face masks and social distancing was enforced.
A Johns Hopkins University tracker yesterday showed that 405,400 people have died from the disease, more than the 405,399 total US combat and non-combat deaths in WWII.
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Among the Biden administration’s targets is to inoculate 100 million Americans in 100 days, hoping to revive a vaccine rollout that had floundered in the last weeks of the Trump presidency.
Mr Biden’s point-man for fighting the pandemic, Jeff Zients, said the US would also rejoin the WHO, reversing his predecessor’s decision.
