BitGou: Wednesday Morning Briefing: Joe Biden to assume presidency amid raging pandemic

U.S.

Democrat Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, assuming the helm of a country beset by deep political divides and battered by a raging coronavirus pandemic. Biden, 78, will become the oldest U.S. president in history at a scaled-back ceremony in Washington that has been largely stripped of its usual pomp and circumstance, due both to the coronavirus as well as security concerns following the Capitol attack.

Biden will sign 15 executive actions after he is sworn in as U.S. president, aides said, undoing policies put in place by outgoing President Donald Trump and making his first moves on the pandemic and climate change. To address the “crises” of the pandemic, the economy, climate change and racial inequity, Biden will sign the executive orders and memorandums in the Oval Office in the afternoon.

President Donald Trump granted clemency to former White House aide Steve Bannon as part of a wave of pardons and commutations issued in his final hours in office, but did not pardon himself, members of his family or lawyer Rudy Giuliani. White House officials had argued to Trump that he should not pardon himself or his family because it might look like they are guilty of crimes, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Washington braced for a tense inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, amid overwhelming security measures including over 25,000 National Guard troops and a shuttered National Mall devoid of spectators to the quadrennial ritual. Security analysts said the unprecedented precautions would protect Biden’s oath of office from a major planned assault.

What you need to know about the coronavirus today

Biden leads observance of America's 400,000 COVID-19 deaths President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday led a national memorial observance on the eve of his inauguration to honor the 400,000 Americans who have perished from COVID-19 during the 11 months since the novel coronavirus claimed its first U.S. life.

The sundown commemoration came hours before President Donald Trump was due to leave the White House for the last time and hand over a country racked by the greatest public health crisis in a century, economic devastation and violent political upheaval.

Ceremonies spearheaded by Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris from the base of the Lincoln Memorial marked the federal government’s first official nod to the staggering death toll from the pandemic.

UK hospitals like war zones as COVID-19 death toll approaches 100,000
Some British hospitals look like war zones with doctors struggling to cope with an influx of patients infected with COVID-19, the government’s top scientific adviser said, as the death toll rose by a record daily amount towards 100,000.

The United Kingdom’s official death toll is 91,470 - Europe’s worst figure and the world’s fifth worst after the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico. Deaths rose by a record on Tuesday.

As hospital admissions soared, the British government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, said there was enormous pressure on the National Health Service with doctors and nurses battling to give people sufficient care.

“This is very, very bad at the moment with enormous pressure and in some cases it looks like a war zone in terms of the things that people are having to deal with,” Vallance told Sky.

Pfizer vaccine appears effective against coronavirus variant found in Britain
The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is likely to protect against a more infectious variant of the virus, which was discovered in Britain and has spread around the world, according to results of further lab tests released on Wednesday.

The encouraging results from an analysis of blood of participants in trials are based on more extensive analysis than those released by the U.S. drugmaker last week.

Dutch government to introduce first curfew since World War II
The Dutch government is set to add the first nationwide curfew since World War II to its already broad lockdown in a bid to limit the spread of new coronavirus mutations in the Netherlands, broadcaster RTL said.

The curfew would allow only people with pressing needs to leave their homes between 8:30 p.m. and 4:30 a.m. local time as of Friday night, RTL said, citing government sources.

Schools and non-essential shops have already been closed since mid-December, following the shutdown of bars and restaurants two months earlier.

This lockdown will remain in place until at least Feb. 9, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said last week.

India, 'pharmacy of the world,' starts COVID vaccine shipments
India started delivering coronavirus vaccines to its neighbors, the foreign ministry said, flagging off a drive to garner goodwill in an often fractious region with the first shipment sent to the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.

Bangladesh and Nepal said they expected deliveries on Thursday. The only neighbor absent from India’s list apart from China, is regional rival Pakistan, which had not requested assistance, according to an Indian government official.

Many low and middle-income countries are relying on India, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, for supplies to start COVID-19 immunization programs and bring an end to their outbreaks.

Track the global spread here.

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