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Joe Biden has signed 10 executive orders aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus in the United States.
On his first full day in office, the newly inaugurated president launched new measures on vaccines, masks and tests.
He attacked Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic, saying his predecessor’s administration lacked the “urgency, focus and coordination that we needed.”
Joe Biden said the launch of the vaccine in the US has been a ‘regrettable failure’
“We have seen the tragic cost of that failure,” Biden said.
He warned that “things will continue to get worse before they get better”, predicted that the death toll will reach 500,000 next month and said that the deployment of the vaccines throughout the country has been a “regrettable failure”.
The United States has seen the largest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world.
So far there have been 408,011 deaths and 24,538,028 infections in the country, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Biden addressed the tough numbers in a ceremony Thursday before signing the executive orders.
“To date, more than 24 million Americans have been infected,” he said.
“To put that in context, the United States accounts for 4% of the world’s population, but 25% of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world and nearly 20% of all COVID-19 deaths.”
The new measures include a requirement that everyone traveling to the United States from another country test negative before departure and then self-quarantine upon arrival, and requires Americans to wear face masks in the public transport.
Other directives call for stricter worker rights to protect their safety and the launch of a new board to oversee increased testing.
The new president faces major hurdles, with political uncertainty over whether Republicans in Congress will help him pass a $ 1.9 trillion (£ 1.3 trillion) coronavirus response and economic aid package.
“We are still in the dark winter of this pandemic,” Biden said, adding that progress “will take time.”
Trump, who left the White House for Florida on Wednesday, was widely criticized for his handling of the pandemic.
He contracted the disease in October, after holding a reception where the guests were seen without social distancing or wearing masks.
And when an American journalist said that Trump told him he knew how dangerous the virus was, but I liked to “minimize” it, former first lady Michelle Obama accused him of trying “gaslight to the American people acting as if this pandemic is not a real threat. “
