Covid 'will get worse before it gets better', says Biden | First Thing

President warns death toll could reach 500,000 by end of February as he unveils wartime' strategy for the pandemic. Plus, McConnell wants to delay Trump's impeachment trial

Good morning.

Joe Biden has used the first full day of his presidency to strengthen the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic, unveiling a wartime" strategy to combat the virus. Speaking from the White House with the vice-president, Kamala Harris, and the US's top infectious diseases expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, Biden warned that the pandemic would get worse before it gets better" and forecast that the death toll could rise to 500,000 by the end of next month. So far, more than 410,000 American lives have been lost to coronavirus.