Biden vows to tackle COVID; to name advisers on Monday

Washington, Nov 8: US President-elect Joe Biden has assured Americans that his first task is to get the raging coronavirus pandemic under control with a definite plan that will be "built on bedrock science," as the deadly disease has killed over 237,000 people in the country.

"That's the only way we can get back to living," Biden said in his victory speech, hours after he was declared the winner of the November 3 presidential election held amidst the pandemic. He also announced that on Monday he will form a group of leading scientists and experts to bring the pandemic under control.

"On Monday, I will name a group of leading scientists and experts as transition advisers to help take the Biden-Harris Covid plan and convert it into an action blueprint that will start on January 20, 2021," he said in his hometown of Delaware.

"That plan will be built on bedrock science," Biden said, adding that he will "spare no effort" to turn the pandemic around. His remarks are significant as incumbent US President Donald Trump has been accused of not listening to his own health experts on now to combat the deadly disease, allowing it to spread across the nation.

The US is the currently the world's worst-hit nation from the pandemic after it emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan last year. The US has reported over 9,849,000 COVID-19 cases and over 237,000 people have died, according to latest statistics from Johns Hopkins University.