S President elect Joe Biden has warned off fatal consequences to Americans over delays in the presidential transition process.

Biden has urged the Trump administration to allow his team to coordinate on pandemic response plans.

President Trump has so far declined to begin a formal handover process, focusing instead on disputing his election loss.

Here's what Biden had to say during a speech in Delaware.

More people may die if we don't coordinate.

The vaccine is important.

It's a little noose until you're vaccinated.

So how do we get the vaccine?

How do we get over 300 million Americans vaccinated?

What's the game plan?

It's a huge, huge, huge undertaking to get it done.

Prioritize those greatest in need, working our way through it and also cooperate with the World Health Organization and the rest of the world in dealing with this.

If we have toe wait until January 20th to start that planning, it puts us behind over a month, month and a half.

And so it's important that it be done that there be coordination now, now or as rapidly as we could get that done.

U.

S.

President elect Joe Biden, speaking there on his scientific advisers are planning to meet with drugmakers to map out and nationwide vaccination plan without assistance from the Trump administration.

And because the situation is getting increasingly serious, the U.

S is seeing its biggest spike in coronavirus infections on deaths since the start off the pandemic.

New cases have more than doubled in the past month.

The latest hot spots are central states such as North and South Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming.

On Wisconsin.

They're all reporting record numbers off hospitalizations.

In terms of new cases, the highest numbers are in the popular states.

Those include Illinois, California, Georgia, on Michigan, with more than a million total cases and over 20,000 death.

Texas continues to be one of the worst hit.

W's Carolina Chinmoy went to El Paso, where hospital managers say they're facilities are close to being overwhelmed.

El Paso is on the border with Mexico, but no one is talking about the wall anymore.

The pandemic is raging here, numbers are soaring.

Right now, we have about 241 Inpatient Cove in 19 cases.

Now, to contrast that with about 45 days ago, we only had 30 but a lot of those people that you see going into these tents behind me, they will wind up in inside our hospital.

Health authorities are already arranging to move patients to other cities.

If the hospitals become overwhelmed planning for months off street, there's gonna be a long period yet before a vaccine is here.

So we have to make sure that we're ready for this winter, not only here in El Paso, but also around the country.

Resource is air finite.

There is already a back look in dealing with the dead refrigerated morgues outside the hospitals serve as makeshift mortuaries.

Funeral homes in El Paso are so overwhelmed that family sometimes have to wait a week toe bury a loved one.

Funeral directors themselves are struggling to cope.

The level of stress is very high because it is not comparable to how it used to be.

Some months ago, we had around 30 services per month.

Right now we're having around 84 minutes.

The second wave of the pandemic is not Onley hitting record numbers off people, many off whom could die.

Local lockdowns in El Paso to try and curb the spread are wreaking havoc on businesses here in El Paso.

There's a 10 PM curfew, but even during the day, many people stay at home.

This is where the economic effects off the pandemic and most clearly be seen.

Downtown El Paso seems abandoned.

Also, this restaurant wasn't able to keep most of itself.

Now the owner has to attend the few clients himself.

The current situation had a clear impact on his political decision.

He voted for Joe Biden.

E knew he could do better than Donald Trump.

And I think we all hope the same.

We hope for a different government that supports us.

E.

L.

Samaniego works just around the corner for him.

The presidential race.

It's not over yet.

Biden is not going to be the president.

It's going to be Donald Trump.

He feared his business might be hit by the pandemic, but now he has orders until July next year.

Republicans, he says, are good for the construction sector.

Despite his support for Trump.

He has his own opinion on Cove in 19, especially after he tested positive.

Everyone is going to get the virus and we're going to fill up the hospitals.

Testing is one off the crucial instruments to avoid this problem.

Miguel coordinates 10 testing centers in El Paso.

He works for a private company that is being paid by the state of Texas.

But his main concern in the pandemic is not political.

I don't have fully knowledge off what Joe Biden is planning to do in his administration, but until now we haven't had any kind of difficulties with the current administration.

I don't think it's a matter off resource is the main concern is how to communicate to the people, what to do or not.

Trump supporters, Biden supporters, Two different sites that seem to come together in El Paso in fear off the coronavirus.

And here's a quick look at some of the other developments in the pandemic.

South Korea has announced it will tighten social distancing rules from Thursday in the greater Seoul area and parts off Gangwon Province amid a resurgence off infections, sweetness limiting public gatherings to eight people following a surge in new cases.

Unlike most countries, Sweden has avoided lockdowns, relying on voluntary measures.

On from Thursday, New Zealanders will have to wear masks on public transport in Auckland on on planes nationwide.

This follows several small outbreaks in Auckland.

No one in the U.

S.

Could say that they were not warned.

Public health experts predicted back in March in April that without a well designed strategy, the virus would emerge again with a vengeance.

Take a listen to what the governor of Michigan told her state.

Today we are in the worst moment of this pandemic.

To date, the situation has never been more dire.

We're at the precipice, and we need to take some action because as the weather gets colder and people spend more time indoors, this virus will spread, more people will get sick and there will be more fatalities.

Well, unfortunately, Michigan Governor Wit MERS Dark forecast it applies to the entire country.

It's expected that 150,000 more people could die by mid January if radical steps are not taken.

Let's go now to our correspondent Carolina Chinmoy.

She is in Washington, D.

C.

Tonight.

Good evening to you, Carolina.

There are two promising vaccines in the pipeline now, but thousands and thousands could die before we ever see that first injection.

Is all of America ready to return to a lock down?

Well, most of the people don't want it because it's they.

They have economic reasons for that.

Their restaurants, they're small businesses.

They could not cope without help off the government and again locked down.

So most part of the population don't wanna lock down.

But this would be the fastest way and to fight against the virus.

And it's gonna be really a long time until the vaccine arrives and is able to solve.

It's not that all of a sudden it's it can be sold.

And also who is going to be the first group of people who gets that vaccine?

That is a very important question.

Probably the health workers, physicians, nurses, eso we can't count yet on that vaccine people don't want, and probably economically, they can't handle a lock down.

And this is the big problem that not only the United States but several countries around the world are having right now.

And this is also when I became really aware off being right now in having being in Texas, I arrived yesterday.

I am a filmed a report there about Cove in 19 and talking to the physicians, nurses and also to people who have their own restaurants of their own small businesses, and that may be made me be very aware off this problem.

We're in Carolina.

Were you struck by the people that you spoke to in El Paso who say that the Trump administration has done a good job in dealing with the pandemic?

Well, yes, Brent, because it's pretty clear that Donald Trump didn't take this pandemic seriously from the beginning on on, then you can see the immediate effects.

You can see this refrigerated morgues.

You can see people who are dying and and and and patience and and the family members off, the people who died and and who are not receiving the well, the way they would like to say goodbye in a funeral home because their loved ones who have died have to be in this refrigerated morgue so thes are really, really tragic stories.

And then hearing for from someone who also was infected himself and this man, he even took chlorine because Donald Trump said to do so on.

He's completely convinced that Donald Trump is not only right in the political things, he said, but also in his speech about about a healthcare and and and Kobe, 19, especially since Donald Trump himself was infected.

Um, s O, of course.

We were all the whole team.

We were quite shocked to hear that.

That was Yeah, it was.

It was shocking.

And at the same time, we noticed that one of his main reasons to support Donald Trump, where the economic reasons his business is doing very well.

The construction sector is doing well right now because people are renovating their homes.

There are a lot at home.

So he has work and orders until next year.

As you heard, we know that El Paso is on the US Mexico border.

What's the situation like of the Mexican side for people who contract the virus?

Well, officially, there are also certain measures on the Mexican side, and they're supposed to wear mask always and stay at home.

But you also have to consider that we're talking about a very poor side off Mexico on, uh, a lot of people they prefer to work on and go out and have something to eat by the end of the day.

And so the virus is not their main concern.

Surviving is their main concern on the Mexican side.

Also a lot off these people, um, across the borders.

Once you have a visa, usually they would cross the border and they would work, for example, restaurants as cooks or waitress in a restaurant on.

Then they would go back and live in the cheaper side.

The Mexican side.

Now they are not able to do that anymore because they can't cross the border even though they have a visa.

The only ones who are allowed to cross the border are the ones who are US citizens.

And, for example, the owner of the restaurant I talked to.

He lives in the Mexican side, but he is a U.

S.

Citizen himself.

That is why he was allowed to vote.

But he ran our off waitress because they were all Mexicans who had a visa who are not able to go to the US right now.

Yeah, that's right.

That shows you the power of a passport there.

We know we've got two months to go before the bite.

Administration could take any action.

I mean, where do you see the U.

S.

At the end of this year?

Do you see it in a big lock down, or do you see even mawr death and misery on the horizon.

Well, we have to see what this special task force off Joe Biden plans to do.

What they I mean, this is a really seems to be very high level group off professionals and physicians and experts in this field.

Um, and we know not only from the United States but also from Germany and from Europe, that the most effective thing, the most effective measure is a lock down.

But we also know how our economies worldwide can be really hit by a lock down.

And we'll have to wait.

I can tell you where I see the United States, but I definitely can tell you and that this virus is Well, it's killing a lot of people in this country right now.

Yeah, unfortunately, that is the sad truth in the US tonight.

T w Carolina Chinmoy on the story for us in Washington D C.

Carolina.

Thank you.

Thank you.