US News Roundup: Biden team held COVID-19 talks with Operation Warp Speed drugmakers before election; U.S. crosses 10 million COVID-19 cases as third wave of infections surges and more

Biden moves forward with COVID-19 task force as Trump tries to cling to power President-elect Joe Biden will convene a coronavirus task force on Monday to examine the No. 1 problem confronting him when he takes office in January, while President Donald Trump pursues several long-shot gambits to hold on to his job.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Biden team held COVID-19 talks with Operation Warp Speed drugmakers before election

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's healthcare advisers have held talks with drugmaker executives on the U.S. government's Operation Warp Speed program to accelerate development of a possible COVID-19 treatment, a Biden spokesman said on Sunday. Under the Trump administration, Operation Warp Speed has struck deals with several drugmakers in an effort to help speed up the search for effective treatments for the disease amid the global coronavirus pandemic.

U.S. crosses 10 million COVID-19 cases as third wave of infections surges

The United States became the first nation worldwide since the pandemic began to surpass 10 million coronavirus infections, according to a Reuters tally on Sunday, as the third wave of the COVID-19 virus surges across the nation. The grim milestone came on the same day as global coronavirus cases exceeded 50 million.

Utah governor declares new state of emergency as coronavirus spreads

The governor of the U.S. state of Utah, Gary Herbert, declared late on Sunday a new state of emergency to address hospital overcrowding in response to weeks of stress on its hospital networks due to a surge of novel coronavirus cases. "Due to the alarming rate of COVID infections within our state, tonight I issued a new state of emergency with several critical changes to our response", Herbert said on Twitter.

Explainer: How and when will Trump leave office?

The United States has a long history of peaceful transfers of power that is likely to continue despite President Donald Trump's attacks on the legitimacy of the election result, national security experts said. Here is what to expect in the weeks and months to come.

President-elect Biden's hopes for Democratic agenda hang on Georgia runoffs

President-elect Joe Biden's hopes of enacting major Democratic priorities like expanding healthcare access, fighting climate change and providing more coronavirus aid are going to hang on a pair of U.S. Senate races in Georgia in January. Democrats fell short of their goal of taking a Senate majority and actually lost seats in the House of Representatives, making Republicans well positioned to block major Biden legislative initiatives.

Biden moves forward with COVID-19 task force as Trump tries to cling to power

President-elect Joe Biden will convene a coronavirus task force on Monday to examine the No. 1 problem confronting him when he takes office in January, while President Donald Trump pursues several long-shot gambits to hold on to his job. Biden is due to meet with an advisory board co-chaired by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler and Yale University Associate Professor Marcella Nunez-Smith to examine how best to tame a pandemic that has killed more than 237,000 Americans.

NHC says hurricane warning issued for Florida Keys, Florida Bay

Hurricane and storm surge warnings were issued for the Florida Keys and Florida Bay as tropical storm Eta gains strength, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Sunday. The storm is expected to produce dangerous storm surge, flash floods and strong winds over portions of Cuba, Florida, and the Florida Keys.

Explainer: Citizen Trump will face legal woes

Since taking office in January 2017, President Donald Trump has been besieged by civil lawsuits and criminal investigations of his inner circle. With Democrat Joe Biden capturing the presidency on Saturday, according to all major U.S. television networks, Trump's legal woes are likely to deepen because in January he will lose the protections the U.S. legal system affords to a sitting president, former prosecutors said.

How Stacey Abrams paved the way for a Democratic victory in 'New Georgia'

After Democrat Joe Biden was declared the next U.S. president on Saturday, thousands of celebrants massed outside the White House. One part of the group broke out in a spontaneous chant that wasn't about Biden or his opponent Donald Trump, cheering: "Sta-CEY AAA-brams.....Sta-CEY AAA-brams." Stacey Abrams, 46, a lawyer, entrepreneur, romance novelist and Georgia politician, became a national Democratic figurehead after losing a hard-fought governor's race in 2018 by just 55,000 votes. Now she is being lauded by Democrats, academics, voters and activists around the country for boosting Biden to victory.

Trump cheers Pfizer Inc's experimental COVID-19 vaccine results

President Donald Trump on Monday welcomed Pfizer Ic's experimental COVID-19 vaccine results, and the stock market boost it brought. "STOCK MARKET UP BIG, VACCINE COMING SOON. REPORT 90% EFFECTIVE. SUCH GREAT NEWS!" he said in a Twitter post.