Biden swiftly lays out initiatives to battle Covid-19 pandemic

US President Joe Biden moved swiftly to coordinate a federal effort to fight the Covid-19 pandemic on Thursday, his first full day in office, with steps to expand testing and vaccinations and increase mask-wearing.

At a White House event, Biden said the rollout of the vaccine in the United States has been a “dismal failure so far”.

“Things are going to continue to get worse before they get better,” Biden said of the toll from the virus...