Joe Biden remembers victims of coronavirus on eve of inauguration

Lights surround the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool (Alex Brandon/AP)

US President-elect Joe Biden returned to Washington ahead of his inauguration to mark the national tragedy of the coronavirus pandemic with a moment of collective grief for Americans lost.

His arrival coincided with the news that the US death toll had surpassed 400,000 in the worst public health crisis in more than a century – a crisis which Mr Biden will now be charged with controlling.