Joe Biden all but claimed victory in the 2020 presidential race, declaring he has won a thumping mandate to bring the country together in order to address urgent crises including the alarming acceleration in US COVID-19 cases.

More than 126,000 cases were reported in the 24-hours through Friday, a record and the third day in a row where the number was greater than 100,000.
Mr Biden said the pandemic was getting worse and more worrisome and could soon see more than 200,000 new cases a day.
Friday’s appearance, during a day in which Mr Trump largely vanished from the public eye, had been foreshadowed by Mr Biden’s campaign for much of the afternoon and was initially being billed as a likely victory address to the nation.
However, the campaign’s hopes of claiming the election after three days of torturous counting across several key swing states were stymied as major media organisations refrained from calling the race even though the numbers showed he has an almost unassailable lead.
Four states remain in play. In Georgia, where Mr Trump was ahead until the early hours of Friday, the former vice president ended the day with a 4395 vote advantage.
Mr Biden also leads in Nevada by 22,657 votes and in Arizona with by 29,861.
In Pennsylvania, the second state where Mr Trump’s lead evaporated on Friday, Mr Biden was on 28,833 votes, and rising.
Mr Biden is just six Electoral College votes short of reaching the 270-vote threshold needed to win the presidency, with Mr Trump on 214 votes, according to The Associated Press.
“We are on track to have over 300 Electoral College votes,” Mr Biden said.
“Look at the national numbers. We’re going to win this race, a clear majority of the nation is behind us. We have gotten over 74 million votes.
“That is more than any presidential ticket has ever gotten in the history of the United States of America. And the vote total is still growing.
“We are beating Donald Trump by over 4 million votes. That is a margin that is still growing as well.”
Amid growing frustration from armchair pundits on social media, news networks maintained it was still too early to call the race, prompting speculation they were all being cowed by Mr Trump and his efforts to cast doubts over the election.
Much of the rest of Mr Biden’s speech was largely a restatement of his campaign stump, including an appeal for national unity.
“What is becoming clear each hour is that record numbers of Americans of all races, faiths, religions, chose change over more of the same,” Mr Biden said.
“They have given us a mandate for action on COVID, the economy, climate change, systemic racism.
“They have made it clear that they want the country to come together, not continue to pull apart.”
“The people spoke.”
In a stark contrast to the previous two days, Mr Trump and his campaign almost vanished from the public eye on Friday, as a string of moderate Republicans chided the notion that the election was being stolen.
Mr Trump and his closest allies have lashed out at the counting of mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, launching a series of lawsuits and allegations with little hard evidence.