US coronavirus deaths pass 500,000, as Joe Biden leads nation in mourning
- The president addressed Americans from the White House before marking a moment of silence in front of 500 candles representing the huge toll
- Biden has warned that America’s fatalities could go ‘well over’ 600,000, even as infection rates drop amid a vaccine roll-out
An emotional President Joe Biden called the milestone of more than 500,000 US deaths from Covid-19 “heartbreaking” on Monday and urged the country to unite against the pandemic.
“I know what it’s like,” Biden said in a national television address, referring to his own long history of family tragedies.
“I ask all Americans to remember, remember those we lost and those they left behind,” Biden said. “I also ask us to act, to remain vigilant, to say socially distant, to mask up, to get vaccinated.”
Biden, accompanied by his wife Jill and Vice-President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff, then stood outside the White House to mark a moment’s silence in front of 500 candles representing the huge toll.
A Marine Corps band played Amazing Grace.
Earlier, flags were lowered over the White House and at federal buildings across the country and at embassies around the world. The United States has the world’s highest death toll.