The US elected President Mr. Joe Biden has said he will request Americans to wear masks for 100 days in office to curtail the spread of coronavirus.
He told that “significant reduction” in Covid-19 cases if every American wore a face covering.
Mr. Biden also said he would order masks to be worn altogether in government buildings.
The US has recorded 14.1 million cases and 276,000 deaths from Covid-19 – the absolute best of any country on the planet.
Mr. Biden is preparing to need an office as pharmaceutical giants are poised to ship many doses of coronavirus vaccines to the American public.
The UK on Wednesday became the first country on the planet to approve the Pfizer vaccine.
What did Biden say about masks?
In his first joint interview with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris since the election, Mr. Biden said: “The first day I’m inaugurated to say I’m going to ask the overall public for 100 days to mask. Just 100 days to mask, not forever. 100 days.
“And i feel we’ll see an enormous reduction if we occur that, if that happens with vaccinations and masking to drive down the numbers considerably.”
The first 100 days of a replacement presidency is symbolically important within the US and is seen as a gauge of how a president will get things done.
Constitutional experts say a US president has no legal authority to order Americans to wear masks, but Mr. Biden said during the interview he and his Vice-President Kamala Harris would set an example by donning face coverings.
The president’s executive authority does cover us government property, and Mr. Biden told CNN he intended to exercise such power.
“I’m going to issue an order that in federal buildings you’ve to be masked.”
He added: “Transportation, interstate transportation, you would like to be masked, airplanes and buses, et cetera.”
US airlines, airports, and most transportation systems already require all passengers and workers to wear face coverings.
The Trump White House has rejected calls from American health experts to mandate masks in transportation as “overly restrictive”.
