washington confident of their victory in the us presidential election democratic candidate joe biden and his running mate senator kamala harris have begun working on the task ahead by focusing on two critical areas of public health and economy both battered by the raging covid19 pandemicaccording to latest projections biden had 264 of the 538 electoral college votes up for grabs he only requires another six electoral college votes to reach the magical number of 270 to be declared elected as the next us presidentwhile were waiting for the final results i want people to know we are not waiting to get to work biden said in an address to the nation from the campaign headquarters in wilmington delaware late on friday nighti want everyone to know that on day one we are going to put our plan to control this virus into action that cant save any of the lives that have been lost but it will save a lot of lives in the months ahead the 77yearold former us vice president saida day earlier he and harris held meetings with a group of experts on the public health and economic crises the country is facingsenator harris and i also heard yesterday about how the recovery is slowing because of the failure to get the pandemic under control he saidmore than 20 million people are on unemployment millions are worried about making rent and putting food on the table our economic plan will put a focus on a path to a strong recovery he saidnoting that the pandemic is getting significantly more worrisome all across the country biden said that daily cases are skyrocketing and it is now believed that they could see spikes as high as 200000 cases in a single daythe death toll is approaching 240000 lives lost to this virus thats 240000 empty chairs at the kitchen and dinner tables across america he saidwell never be able to measure all the pain the loss and the suffering so many families have experienced i know how it feels to lose someone you love and i want them to know theyre not alone our hearts break with you i know tensions can be high after a tough election like we just had he saidbiden urged his fellow countrymen to remain calm and patient as the vote counting process is still going on in some key battleground statesand let the process work out as we count all the votes we are proving again what we have proved for 244 years in this country democracy works your vote will be counted i dont care how hard people try to stop it i will not let it happen the people will be heard and our journey to a more perfect union goes on he saidin america we hold strong views and we have strong disagreements and thats okay strong disagreements are inevitable in a democracy and strong disagreements are healthy theyre a sign of vigorous debate of deeply held views he