<p>"We're in a national emergency. It's time we treated it like one," he said, adding that he wants to restore public trust in the wake of the divisive Donald Trump era.</p><p>Scientists, he said, will "work free from political interference" under his administration, and he pledged: "We will level with you when we make a mistake."</p><p>In addition to needing a negative Covid test result before flying, travelers to the US will now need to quarantine upon arrival, Biden said. This toughened existing regulations under Trump.</p><p>Biden's other orders included reenergizing a so far stumbling vaccination program and expanding requirements to wear masks on public transport.</p><p>Wearing masks "has become a partisan issue, unfortunately, but it's a patriotic act," Biden said in a marked contrast to Trump, who for months gave mixed messages about whether or not to encourage the practice.</p><h1>100 million doses</h1><p>Although vaccines were produced at a blistering speed in Trump's final year in power, the rollout has been chaotic.</p><p>"What we're inheriting is so much worse than we could have imagined," Jeff Zients, the new White House Covid-19 response coordinator, told reporters.</p><p>Biden has announced a goal of 100 million vaccines administered in 100 days, with his top experts saying it remains possible. So far, only 16.5 million doses have been injected.</p><p>When asked Thursday if he had been ambitious enough, Biden shot back: "When I announced it, you all said it's not possible. Come on, give me a break, man."</p><p>Biden said the administration was expanding places where Americans will be able to get their doses, with new community centers and extra medical staff to administer the vaccine.</p><p>He has also restored top infectious diseases doctor Anthony Fauci to a leading, visible advisory role in the White House, after Trump complained about the expert's warnings on Covid.</p><h1>Covid overshadows presidency</h1><p>The pandemic has overshadowed the Biden administration from its first moments.</p><p>Only a few spectators were allowed to attend his swearing-in on Wednesday and everyone, from the military band to his wife Jill, looked on from behind face masks.</p><p>Biden and his vice president, Kamala Harris, began their day on Thursday by participating in a traditional inaugural prayer service which also had to be conducted virtually, because of the coronavirus.</p><p>The flood of executive orders and other directives which Biden began signing immediately on Wednesday has likewise focused mostly on his new national mask and vaccination strategy. </p><p>In addition, he is bringing major firepower to trying to get a massive stimulus bill through Congress to help Americans.</p><p>But in addition, he faces multiple other challenges including the aftershocks of a giant government computer hack blamed on Russia, and searing Trump-era political tensions -- an issue that could soon take center stage in a Senate impeachment trial of the ex-president.</p><p>Other fronts that Biden has opened include new protections for so-called "Dreamers" -- children of illegal immigrants who have now grown up in the country and had been shielded from deportation.</p><p>Yet another big blast at his predecessor's record was to immediately put the United States back into the Paris climate accord.</p><h1>Instant change</h1><p>Although Biden won comfortably at the polls on November 3, Trump's efforts to persuade tens of millions of followers that the election was stolen has left the veteran Democrat with a hostile opposition.</p><p>Democrats now control both chambers of Congress, but the existing majority in the House of Representatives narrowed in the November election. </p><p>In the Senate, the two parties are split 50-50, with a tie-break vote by the new vice president giving Democrats the most razor-thin of margins.</p><p>That landscape ensures Biden's administration an uphill climb to get things moving. Even confirmation of his cabinet nominees risks getting tied up.</p><p>Late Wednesday, the 78-year-old president got his first cabinet-level confirmation: Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence.</p><p>And on Thursday, transportation secretary pick Pete Buttigieg, a former rival of Biden in the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, appeared for a Senate confirmation hearing.</p>
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