President Joe Biden has said the United States national emergency declared in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic will be extended beyond March 1 due to the ongoing risk to public health posed by the coronavirus.

Biden said the deaths of more than 900,000 Americans from Covid-19 emphasised the need to respond to the pandemic with “the full capacity” of the federal government, Reuters reported.

“There remains a need to continue this national emergency,” Biden said in a letter to the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the Senate.