Biden Team Readies Plan to Fight the Virus, Now Surging at Record Levels

As the United States recorded over 100,000 new coronavirus cases for the fourth straight day, President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. said in a victory speech on Saturday evening that he would announce a Covid-19 task force on Monday.

Mr. Biden, who made President Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic a centerpiece of his campaign, made clear the virus is his first priority.

“Our work begins with getting Covid under control,” he said on Saturday.

Mr. Biden is expected to name three co-chairs of the 12-member panel: Vivek Murthy, a former surgeon general; David Kessler, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration; and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, a Yale University professor.

The announcement of the task force is part of a weeklong focus that Mr. Biden intends to place on health care and the pandemic as he begins the process of building his administration, a person close to the transition said.

During the campaign, Mr. Biden repeatedly assailed Mr. Trump for mishandling the virus, refusing to wear a mask and playing down the threat from the pandemic, which has spread across the country.

The United States reported more than 132,790 new cases on Friday, a single-day record, according to a New York Times database. Saturday brought more than 126,100 new cases, the country’s second-highest single-day total of the pandemic.

At least 16 states also reported single-day records for new cases on Friday, and on Saturday, records were reported by nine states: West Virginia, Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah, Oregon, Alaska and Nevada.

On Saturday the country recorded more than 1,000 deaths for the fifth straight day, the first time that had happened since Aug. 11-15. More than 237,000 people in the country have died since the pandemic arrived in the United States.

“I will spare no effort, none, or any commitment to turn around this pandemic,” Mr. Biden said Saturday.

Mr. Murthy has been a key adviser to Mr. Biden and his campaign for months and aides to the president-elect say they expect him to serve as the public face of the new, Democratic administration when it comes to public health issues and the virus.

Mr. Biden’s aides have assembled an internal group of roughly two dozen health…