Biden Extends State of Emergency in US Due to COVID-19

U.S. President Joe Biden extended, on Friday, the national emergency beyond March 1 due to the ongoing risk to public health posed by the coronavirus.

Biden stated that the deaths of more than 900,000 Americans from Covid-19 highlighted the need to respond to the pandemic with "the full capacity" of the federal government.

"There remains a need to continue this national emergency," Biden said in a letter to the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the Senate.

The emergency, which was declared in March 2020, would have been automatically terminated within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration.

Last week, the governors of New York and Massachusetts announced that they would end certain mask mandates in their states, following similar moves by New Jersey, California, Connecticut, Delaware and Oregon.

Moreover, US health officials noted that they were preparing for the next phase of the pandemic as Omicron-related cases decline.