Global Virus Cases Top 65 Million As Nations Plan For Vaccine

Paris, Dec 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Dec, 2020 ) :Global coronavirus infections passed 65 million on Friday and countries doubled down on restrictions, even as plans to roll out vaccines gathered pace.

Joe Biden said he would ask Americans to wear masks for 100 days when he takes over as president of the United States, the world's worst-hit country from a pandemic that has now killed more than 1.5 million people across the planet.

"I'm going to ask the public for 100 days to mask. Just 100 days to mask -- not forever," Biden told CNN on Thursday.

The US is among the countries posting all-time highs in daily deaths this week along with Italy, which is undergoing a dramatic resurgence after it largely tamped down its earlier outbreak by enforcing a strict lockdown in the spring.

The alarming spikes come after more positive news on vaccine development, with US-based Moderna announcing its candidate drug confers immunity for at least three months.

To build trust in vaccines after they are approved, 78-year-old Biden said he was willing to be vaccinated in public -- following up on similar commitments from former US presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Biden also used the CNN interview to say he had asked the government's top infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci to join his Covid team and serve as a chief medical adviser.

But in a sign of the difficult work ahead, California announced new statewide bans on gatherings and non-essential activities, as hospitals in the nation's most populous state face being overwhelmed.