As President Biden unveils COVID-19 plan, US fatalities exceed World War II toll

As President Joe Biden sought to jump-start his administration's coronavirus effort, the number of US deaths due to the virus crossed the World War II death toll.

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According to Johns Hopkins coronavirus tracker, the coronavirus death toll in the US has reached 405,630, the total number of combat and non-combat deaths in World War II was 405,399, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The United States is the worst-hit country due to the virus with over 24.4 million infected cases. The country accounts for 20 per cent of coronavirus deaths.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data suggests the UK variant of the virus will lead to a fresh surge in cases in the months ahead in the country even as the US kicked off its vaccination drive to combat the virus.

President Biden who is a $1.9 trillion emergency COVID-19 and economic recovery package from Congress, said in his inaugural speech: "We need all our strength to persevere through this dark winter. We're entering what may be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus."

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, travel to the United States has been curbed as the Biden administration has sough to keep the current non-essential travel restrictions in place.

Biden has put forth a 100-day "masking challenge" which includes wearing masks in all federal properties and activities.

"Wednesday starts a new day, a new, different approach to managing the country's response to Covid-19 crisis," Biden said.