President Biden: "Things are going to continue to get worse before they get better". [Source: BBC]
US President Joe Biden has signed a raft of executive orders to boost the fight against Covid which has ravaged the US.
Vaccination will be accelerated and testing increased. Emergency legislation will be used to increase the production of essentials like masks.
Announcing the 10 measures, Biden says it would take months to defeat the pandemic but America would “get through this” if people stood together.
“The memorial we held two nights ago, will not be our last one, unfortunately. The death toll will likely top 500,000 next month. The cases will continue to mound, we didn’t get into this mess overnight and it’s going to take months for us to turn things around. And let me be equally clear, we will get through this, we will defeat this pandemic. And to a nation waiting for action let me be the clearest on this point. Help is on the way, Today I am unveiling a strategy on COVID-19 and executive actions to beat this pandemic.”
In a break with former President Donald Trump, the policy stresses a national strategy rather than relying on states to decide what is best.
The Trump administration was widely accused of failing to get to grips with the pandemic.
In terms of total deaths from coronavirus, the US is the worst-hit country with more than 406,000 lives lost, according to Johns Hopkins University. Nearly 24.5 million have been infected.
