Biden Said He Would Close Country to Control Coronavirus

Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden said Friday he would shut down the country to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus if it was recommended by medical experts.

"I would shut it down," Biden said on ABC's "World News Tonight" alongside his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., as they sat for their first joint interview since becoming the Democratic Party's ticket.

"I will be prepared to do whatever it takes to save lives because we cannot get the country moving until we control the virus."

Biden did not specify what defined "under control."

The seven-day moving average of the number of new daily new cases in the United States has been on a steady decline since reaching a peak of 69,328 on July 25, according to Worldometers.info.

The seven-day moving average was 45,222 as of Friday, about the same as in the beginning of July.

The seven-day moving average of deaths from COVID-19 has been relatively flat, just above 1,000, since Aug. 7, less than half of seven-day average of 2,256 on April 21.

Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE said Thursday the Covid-19 vaccine they are jointly developing is on track to be submitted for regulatory review as early as October.

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