Healthcare.

The economy and immigration are all set to be priorities, but it's fighting the coronavirus pandemic that will be at the heart of Mr Biden's policy initiatives.

Among the measures already announced Halting the United States withdrawal from the World Health Organization.

The president will also announce his intent to join the Kovacs Vaccine facility that aims to deliver vaccines to poor countries.

That's been confirmed by his chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci.

In the last few hours, last wearing already compulsory on federal property will be mandated on many trains, airplanes and inter city bus isas.

Well announcements about some of those changes were made by the U.

S.

Has top infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci.

I am honored to announce that the United States will remain a member of the World Health Organization.

The United States plans to work multilaterally to respond to and Republika from the Cove in 19 pandemic.

President Biden will issue a directive directive later today, which will include the intent of the United States to join Kovacs and support the ACT accelerator to advance multilateral efforts for covert 19 vaccine, therapeutic and diagnostic distribution, equitable access and research and development that was Dr Anthony fell to their well.

Our correspondent in Washington, Gary O.

Donoghue, has been monitoring events for us and says tackling the pandemic is at the forefront of President Biden's priorities.

We're expecting to hear from him in person later on today, setting out some of these measures, possibly signing another 10 or so executive actions, which always looks good, doesn't it?

Looks like you're doing something, but he faces a huge challenge.

Yesterday was the second largest death toll we've had since the the Pandemic.

More than 4000 200 people lost their lives in the United States yesterday, and just to give you some kind of scale of what they're facing here, and this is in their own documentation, they say America has 4% of the world's population.

We have 25% of the cases on 20% of the death.

So there is a problem here in America, not least with vaccine distribution, which they're also saying they're gonna have to start from scratch again with indeed, a huge problem with 400,000, uh, dead.

And that number continues to rise daily.

So, Gary, these executive orders assigned to just help our audience understand How did they actually become, I suppose federalized.

Well, this is power that the that the president has as chief executive of the administration.

Effectively, this is power already delegated to him under the Constitution under existing legislation so he can do this stuff.

I mean, it's limited in terms of how much money you can spend.

I mean, it was within existing budgets, etcetera, existing discretionary budgets.

But this sort of stuff can be done because you saw quite a lot was done by President Trump through executive action Azaz.

Well, Ondas some of the most controversial things were done through executive action by Donald Trump.

So what, you can sign away with the pen you could undo with the pen, which is part of the system here, so he will hope some of that could be done.

But a lot of the sort of heavy lifting when it comes to the pandemic is gonna have toe fall on, uh, legislation.

So this $1.9 trillion bill that he wants Congress to pass.

That will give a lot of money toe local states in particular to businesses two individuals as well to try and cope with the consequences of pandemic and indeed with the business of getting it under control.

Gary O.

Donoghue There well in Europe The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has welcomed the start of Joe Biden's presidency in the United States, saying she sees a much broader scope for political agreement in France.

President Macron said the inauguration was a significant day for the American people.

But our Paris correspondent you, Scofield, says beyond the initial congratulations, there are tricky issues ahead.

Like most European countries, there's an initial reaction which is of course overwhelmingly favorable and delighted and relieved, relieved that the kind of unpredictability of the last few years is over and that there's a return or promises to be returned to conventional classical multilateralism, in which normal people do normal things that hold normal meetings that are disrupted in ways that no one can can foresee.

So that's a massive relief to.

But I mean the second reaction kicks in straight away and you're hearing it's not just here.

But across Europe, of course, that any attempt to see the situation today as a simple return to the status quo ante and to welcome it or toe wish it was so is false as well.

Apart from anything else, relationship with Obama was not all sweetness and light, but on top of that, of course, the world has changed.

President Trump may have been reviled over here, but he has done things which some people, the effect of which some people welcome one of those in particular is very important in France, which is the kind of forging of a kind of European sense of unity.

Um, it's very easy and handy toe have a kind of common no enemy, but someone that kind of hate figure on in Trump.

That's what France and Germany had and the other nations of Europe as well.

Of course, on that meant that the French agenda for pushing more sort of in Europe, particularly in the field of defense, was encouraged and advanced.

That is still what President Macron wants, but he's aware that there might be a temptation from some European countries to go back to their instinct to look Thio America as the sort of protecting agent, and his view would be that that's wrong.

The top.

The world has changed.

America's attention is elsewhere, and it is up to Europe.

Uh, pursue this sort of sovereign idea alot more forcefully, even though there is now more friendly figure in Washington, Hugh Scofield reporting there.