More Americans may die due to COVID if Trump does not cooperate: Biden

Washington, Nov 17: President-elect Joe Biden has warned that many more Americans “may die” if incumbent President Donald Trump does not cooperate with the transition process and hamper the incoming administration’s ability to tackle the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
According to media projections, Democrat Biden has won the November 3 presidential election. Biden has 306 votes in the electoral college, surpassing the 270 threshold needed to win. However, Trump, a Republican, has not conceded and instead alleged election fraud without presenting any significant evidence.
The Trump campaign has also mounted legal fights in a number of battleground states where he lost. “More people may die if we don’t coordinate,” Biden said in his home state of Delaware on Monday, responding to a question on President Trump refusing to concede the election and the outgoing administration not co-operating in the transition process. The US government agency that launches transition process – the General Services Administration (GSA), headed by a Trump appointee – has yet to recognise Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris as winners. The Trump-appointed administrator of the General Services Administration has so far refused to take the legally necessary step to begin the transition process, which would give Biden’s team a budget, intelligence briefings and access to federal agencies. “A vaccine is important. It’s of little use until you’re vaccinated. So, how do we get the vaccine, how do we get over 300 million Americans vaccinated? What’s the game plan? It’s a huge, huge, huge undertaking to get it done, prioritise those greatest in need and working our way through, and also cooperate with the World Health Organization and the rest of the world in dealing with this,” he said.
“So they (Trump administration) say they have this ‘Warp Speed’ programme that not only dealt with getting vaccines, but also how to distribute this.
The number of COVID-19 infections in the US has reached new heights in recent days, surpassing 160,000 cases in one day for the first time since the outbreak began. More than 247,000 people have died in the US do the disease. Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious diseases expert, has warned that the country faces “a very challenging and ominous situation” as it approaches winter. (PTI)