US: Joe Biden announces 12 member task force to deal with COVID-19

US President-elect Joe Biden has announced a 12-member coronavirus task force to mount an effective response to the pandemic that has infected millions and damaged the US economy.

In his victory speech in Wilmington, Delaware, Mr Biden said he will spare no effort to turn around this pandemic. He said, the panel will convert his coronavirus-fighting plan into an action blueprint that will be built on bedrock of science.

The task force will be co-chaired by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler and Marcella Nunez-Smith, a professor of public health at Yale University. It will also include Ezekiel Emanuel, a former Obama administration health adviser. Mr Biden has promised a much more muscular response to the pandemic than President Donald Trump has made.

The virus has infected 9.8 million people in the US and killed more than 2 lakh 37 thousand people as daily case counts continue to rise.