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- President-elect Jo Biden has vowed to take immediate action to contain the coronavirus crisis in the US and said science would dominate the national response.
- Global infections have exceeded 49 million, and Europe has become the new epicenter of the pandemic in recent weeks.
- At the event of Biden’s victory, he announced that top scientists would be appointed to his coronavirus task force.
President-elect Joe Biden on Saturday promised immediate action to contain the coronavirus crisis in the United States, indicating that science would dominate the national response once Donald Trump leaves the White House.
Biden’s pledge, in his first national address since defeating Trump, followed three days of record infections in the United States and came as the nation’s death toll surpassed 237,000.
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Europe’s second wave troubles also deepened, with Greece becoming the latest European nation to enter a lockdown on Saturday and Poland introducing new restrictions on the movement of people.
In France, where a dramatic increase in infections has put pressure on hospitals, 306 new confirmed deaths raised the national death toll above 40,000.
The United States has long been the worst affected nation.
Trump’s critics have attributed this to his chaotic response, which has seen him discredit America’s leading infectious disease expert, discourage face masks and speak at crowded campaign rallies.
At the Biden victory event, which took into account social distancing guidelines, the president-elect announced that top scientists would be appointed to his coronavirus task force on Monday.
“On Monday I will appoint a group of leading scientists and experts as transition advisers to help take the Biden-Harris plan and turn it into a real plan that will begin on January 20, 2021,” Biden told his supporters.
Earlier in the day, he had emphasized the urgency it gave him to fight the pandemic.
“I want everyone, everyone, to know from day one that we are going to put into action our plan to control this virus,” Biden said before being declared the winner.
Unlike Biden, Trump held massive campaign rallies ahead of the Nov. 3 vote, insisting that the United States was “turning around” despite waves of viruses.
Trump campaigned after contracting the virus himself.
Senior members of his administration have also recently contracted the virus. Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, was the last to test positive, the media said Friday night.
Global infections have exceeded 49 million, and Europe has become the new epicenter of the pandemic in recent weeks.
Under the new measures in Greece, people can only leave home if they make a request by mobile phone and receive authorization.
Essential stores can remain open, including supermarkets and pharmacies.
The hairdressers were also allowed to stay open, but only for two more days, and they were reserved.
“I want my hair done so that what I see in the mirror every morning during the confinement does not cause me sadness,” said Petrina, before her appointment on Sunday.
The measures follow the imposition of heavy restrictions in Italy, France, Ireland and Great Britain, while Germany and other nations have also imposed new measures.
Britain on Saturday banned all non-resident aliens from Denmark after a mutated version of the coronavirus linked to mink farms was found in humans.
Germany on Saturday reported daily record numbers with 23,399 new cases and 130 deaths.
But protesters, few of whom were wearing masks, protested the new restrictions in the eastern German city of Leipzig.
Organizers put the turnout at 20,000, while police said some attacked them after being told to disperse.
“I just see the collateral damage caused by these measures: the isolation of people, the bankruptcy that threatens them,” protester Robert Koehn, 39, told AFP.
Fellow protester Anne, 65, said “for me there is no virus, they cite the coronavirus crisis as a reason, but there are other things behind it.”
Protesters and police have also clashed in parts of Italy and the Czech Republic in recent weeks.
In the primarily Catholic Philippines, where the world’s longest Christmas festivities begin in September, people were trying to get into the holiday spirit despite public gatherings being banned and nighttime curfews were imposed.
“With or without Covid we have to celebrate Christmas whatever is necessary, this is a Philippine tradition,” said Cecilia Moore, wearing a mandatory mask while paying 2,500 pesos ($ 52) for festive lights to decorate her home.
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