Coronavirus: President-Elect Joe Biden to announce 12-member COVID-19 task force

By Team Newsable | First Published Nov 8, 2020, 10:33 AM IST

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.

Washington DC: President-Elect Joe Biden on Monday will announce a 12-member coronavirus task force on Monday, his first step toward fulfilling one of his biggest campaign promises, to mount an effective response to the pandemic that has infected millions and damaged the US economy.

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.

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He also announced that on Monday he will form a group of leading scientists and experts to bring the pandemic under control.

The task force will be co-chaired by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler and Dr Marcella Nunez-Smith, a professor of public health at Yale University, according to a person familiar with his plans. It will also include Ezekiel Emanuel, a former Obama administration health adviser.

The co-chairs of the task force are scheduled to brief Biden on Monday after the members are announced.

The announcement was first reported by Axios.

Biden has promised a much more muscular response to the pandemic than he says President Donald Trump has made. The virus has infected 9.7 million people in the US and killed more than 236,000 people as daily case counts continue to rise.

Kessler and Murthy were deeply involved in guiding the Biden campaign’s plans for responding to the virus, briefing Biden regularly, helping develop policy and helping top officials organize safe campaign events.

Biden’s plan calls for increased testing capacity, funding for businesses and schools to reopen safely, and eventually a vaccine distributed equitably and for free.

(With inputs from agency)

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