Biden seen to take pandemic 'seriously' as US reaches 400,000 COVID deaths

MANILA - US President Joe Biden is taking the COVID-19 pandemic "seriously" as the divided nation reached a grim toll of 400,000 deaths, some of whom were Filipino frontline workers, a government relations expert said Thursday.

"As the President has said numerous times he’s not a President for Republicans or Democrats, or one race or the other, he’s a President of all Americans so he's really gonna change lives for all of us," Irene Bueno told ANC's Headstart.

"For Filipino-Americans specifically, he’s taking this pandemic very seriously and we know that so many Filipino-Americans have passed away especially the nurses who are on the frontline."

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Biden led a national memorial observance on the eve of his inauguration to honor the Americans who perished from COVID-19 during the 11 months the novel coronavirus persisted.

• Biden leads observance of America's 400,000 COVID-19 dead on eve of inauguration