Joseph R. Biden has been sworn in as the 46th president of the U.S. after defeating outgoing president Donald Trump in the November 4, 2020 presidential election.
In his inaugural address, President Biden said that Covid-19 had “taken as many lives in one year as America lost in all of World War Two”.
The US has recorded more than 402,400 Covid deaths so far, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University – the highest figure in the world.
Nobody knows exactly how many Americans died in World War Two, but it’s estimated there were around 407,000 US military deaths – a total which is likely to be surpassed by Covid deaths in the next week.
Covid-related deaths have hit record highs recently in the US – more than 3,000 have died a day on average over the last week.
The outgoing president Donald Trump did not attend the program, the first time for any president to do so in more than 150 years.
Trump, the first president to snub his successor’s inauguration since 1869, departed from the White House for his Florida home hours before his term officially ended.
Harris was sworn in as the first ever female vice-president moments before Biden was sworn in as the 46th US president.
Several guests including former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and vice president Boakai attended the program in Washington DC.
It is however unclear why current president George Weah did not attend the occasion.
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