Covid: Joe Biden says US faces 'dark winter' and encourages everyone to wear a mask

President-elect Joe Biden has warned the United States is “still facing a very dark winter” as he unveiled his plans for addressing the Covid-19 pandemic.Even as hopes were lifted after pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced their vaccine was 90% effective against coronavirus, Mr Biden warned another 200,000 lives could be lost before it is widely available.

Speaking at a press conference, Mr Biden said he would be guided by science in laying out the framework of a pandemic response.

Earlier on Monday he held a meeting with his newly set up Covid task force to prepare for his administration’s transition to power and dealing with the pandemic.

The task force headed up by Mr Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris features leading scientists and policymakers from both the Democratic and the Republican parites.

Mr Biden has declared his administration would begin working straight away at beating the pandemic once he assumes office and has already begun working on it during the transition period.He said vaccine deployment efforts would focus on the most vulnerable first but added minority communities hard hit by the pandemic would also receive the help they needed.

He also encouraged everyone to wear a mask where possible, saying "it's time to end the politicisation of basic responsible public health steps like mask-wearing and social distancing".

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Wearing face coverings and many coronavirus measures have become hotly contested issues in the United States and are often seen as a sign of which political party you follow.

Mr Biden said "tens of thousands of lives" could be saved if everyone wore a mask.

"Maybe it saves your life. So please, I implore you, wear a mask.

"Do it for yourself, do it for your neighbour, a mask is not a political statement," he said.Continuing with the tone he has used throughout the campaign and since winning the competition he urged all American's to come together to beat the pandemic.

He said: "We are Americans, and our country is under threat.”

President Trump has yet to concede the election and has threatened to try and overturn the vote in some states via the courts, despite not producing any evidence of wrong-doing.

Without a concession, many of the president's supporters have viewed Mr Biden's declaration of victory as illegitimate and may not listen to anything he has to say.

None of this has discouraged Mr Biden from claiming victory and beginning work on the transition period.

The US is now averaging more than 100,000 new coronavirus infections per day for the past five days, frequently breaking records for daily cases.Hospitals in several states are running out of space and staff, and the death toll is soaring.

So far, the US has recorded more than 10 million infections and more than 237,000 deaths from Covid-19.