Joe Biden honours Covid-19 victims on eve of inauguration

20 January 2021, 06:17 | Updated: 20 January 2021, 06:18

Biden and Harris remember 400_000 Covid-19 victims in Washington

By Kate Buck

US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have marked the grim milestone of 400,000 American Covid-19 deaths as they arrived in Washington ahead of their inauguration.

Coronavirus is now the the worst public health crisis in more than a century - a crisis which Mr Biden will now be charged with controlling.

"To heal we must remember," the incoming president told the nation at a sunset ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial.

Four hundred lights representing the pandemic's victims were illuminated behind him around the monument's Reflecting Pool.

Read more: Trump insists his political movement 'is only just beginning' in farewell address

"Between sundown and dusk, let us shine the lights into the darkness ... and remember all who we lost," he said.

The sober moment on the eve of Mr Biden's inauguration - typically a celebratory time in Washington when the nation marks the democratic tradition of a peaceful transfer of power - was a measure of the enormity of loss for the nation.

Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and their spouses gather for a Covid-19 memorial upon their arrival into Washington DC
Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and their spouses gather for a Covid-19 memorial upon their arrival into Washington DC. Picture: PA
Biden will focus on getting the pandemic back under control when he takes the reigns later today
Biden will focus on getting the pandemic back under control when he takes the reigns later today. Picture: PA

During his brief remarks, Mr Biden faced the larger-than life statue of Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War president who served as more than 600,000 Americans died.

As he turned to walk away at the conclusion of the vigil, he faced the black granite wall listing the 58,000-plus Americans who perished in Vietnam.

Read more: Boris Johnson 'looking forward' to working closely with Joe Biden

Read more: Joe Biden tears up in emotional Delaware farewell speech ahead of inauguration

Mr Biden was joined by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who spoke of the collective anguish of the nation, a not-so-subtle admonishment of outgoing President Donald Trump, who has spoken sparingly about the pandemic in recent months.

"For many months we have grieved by ourselves," said Ms Harris, who will make history as the first woman to serve as vice president when she's sworn in.

"Tonight, we grieve and begin healing together."

400 lights stretching to the Washington memorial each represented 1,000 deaths
400 lights stretching to the Washington memorial each represented 1,000 deaths. Picture: PA

The running total of lives lost, as compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is nearly equal to the number of Americans killed in the Second World War.

It is about the population of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Tampa, Florida; or New Orleans. It is equivalent to the crowd that was at Woodstock in 1969.

It is just short of the estimated 409,000 Americans who died in 2019 of strokes, Alzheimer's, diabetes, flu and pneumonia combined.

And the virus is not finished with the US by any means, even with the arrival of the vaccines that could finally end the outbreak: A widely cited model by the University of Washington projects the death toll will reach nearly 567,000 by May 1.

Joe Biden speaks at emotional send-off in Delaware

While the Trump administration has been credited with Operation Warp Speed, the programme to develop and distribute coronavirus vaccines, President Trump has repeatedly downplayed the threat, mocked masks, railed against lockdowns, promoted unproven and unsafe treatments, undercut scientific experts and expressed scant compassion for the victims.

Even his own bout of Covid-19 seemed to leave him unchanged.

The White House defended the administration.

"We grieve every single life lost to this pandemic, and thanks to the president's leadership, Operation Warp Speed has led to the development of multiple safe and effective vaccines in record time, something many said would never happen," said White House spokesman Judd Deere.

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Police have cordoned off Millbank Lane, Thornaby, after kids found bullets in the ground.

Police launch probe after children find 'bag of bullets' and firearm magazine while playing in field

Teenage boy fixing an L plate to the back of a Renault Clio before a driving lesson.

Driving test backlog reaches eye-watering high of over 630,000

Breaking
Poundland has announced plans to close 68 stores and two UK warehouses

Poundland announces plans to close 68 stores and two UK warehouses after being 'sold for £1'

Leroy Mitchell

Man, 32, charged with murder after father-of-three shot dead outside silent disco

Donald Trump said he wants Iran "giving up entirely" on nuclear weapons

Donald Trump declares he wants a 'complete end' to Iran’s nuclear weapons programme

The incident reportedly occurred on Pembury Road, Kent.

Woman ‘repeatedly punched in head and pushed out of speeding van’ as police launch manhunt for suspect

Exclusive
c

Beach-goers urged to watch out for suspicious boats smuggling cocaine from the Channel

Breaking
Emergency services near to the scene of a suspected gas explosion which tore through a terrace house in the early hours of the morning in Stoke Newington.

Woman found knifed to death in London home after police rushed to reports of gas explosion

he Dongfeng 41, a Chinese nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile

China is growing its nuclear weapons stockpile faster than any other country, report warns

Elon Musk in the White House's Oval Office

Elon Musk shares details of drugs test after bombshell report claims he took 'cocktail of substances' as head of DOGE

The Air India 787 Dreamliner was due to leave Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 1.10pm local time (8.40am UK time)

Air India flight to London cancelled days after Dreamliner disaster killed at least 270

Kim Woodburn, in 3th place, leaves the Celebrity Big Brother house on February 3, 2017

How Clean is Your House? star Kim Woodburn dies aged 83 after a short illness as tributes pour in

Food distributed to Palestinians in Gaza amid Israeli attacks

Israeli tank shelling on crowds waiting for aid kills 45 Palestinians in Khan Younis

Pilots said they heard a “loud thud” immediately before the left engine lost power, the DGCA’s investigation report claimed

Air India Dreamliner identical to doomed flight AI171 'suffered engine failure before making emergency landing' in 2023

Rescue workers clear the rubble of a multi-storey residential house destroyed by a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine

At least 14, including US citizen, dead as Russia launches massive wave of drone and missile strikes at Kyiv

Dumont Road, Stoke Newington.

40 firefighters tackle suspected gas explosion in north-east London as police probe underway