Biden leads observance of America's 400,000 COVID-19 dead on eve of inauguration

FILE PHOTO: An El Paso County Sheriff's Officer tries to block photographs from being taken as bodies are moved to refrigerated trailers, deployed during a surge of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) deaths, outside the County of El Paso Medical Examiner's Office in El Paso, Texas, U.S. November 16, 2020. REUTERS/Ivan Pierre Aguirre/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday led a national memorial observance on the eve of his inauguration to honor the 400,000 Americans who have perished from COVID-19 during the 11 months since the novel coronavirus claimed its first U.S. life.

The sundown commemoration came hours before President Donald Trump was due to leave the White House for the last time and hand over a country racked by the greatest public health crisis in a century, economic devastation and violent political upheaval.