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DURBAN, South Africa — Doc-tors and nurses at a South Africanhospital group noticed an oddspike in the number of Covid-19patients in their wards in late Oc-tober. The government had slack-ened its lockdown grip, andspringtime had brought more par-ties. But the numbers were grow-

ing too quickly to easily explain,prompting a distressing question.

“Is this a different strain?” onehospital official asked in a groupemail in early November, raisingthe possibility that the virus haddeveloped a dangerous mutation.

That question touched off ahigh-stakes genetic investigationthat began here in Durban on theIndian Ocean, tipped off re-searchers in Britain and is nowtaking place around the world.Scientists have discovered worri-

some new variants of the virus,leading to border closures, quar-antines and lockdowns, and dous-ing some of the enthusiasm thatarrived with the vaccines.

Britain has been particularlyoverwhelmed. Infections and hos-

pitalizations have skyrocketed inrecent weeks since that countrydiscovered its own variant of thevirus, which is more contagiousthan previous forms. By one esti-mate, the mutated virus is alreadyresponsible for more than 60 per-cent of new infections in Londonand surrounding areas.

The coronavirus has evolved asit made its way across the world,as any virus is expected to do. Butexperts have been startled by the

World Stumbles in Frantic Race to Subdue Ever-Changing VirusThis article is by Matt Apuzzo, Se-

lam Gebrekidan and Apoorva Man-davilli.

Fear That Variants MayDefeat the Vaccines

Continued on Page A7

BACKLOG New York widens eligi-bility as doses go unused. PAGE A5

HOUSE PREPARES ARTICLE OF IMPEACHMENT

WASHINGTON — Democratslaid the groundwork on Friday forimpeaching President Trump asecond time, as Speaker NancyPelosi of California threatened tobring him up on formal charges ifhe did not resign “immediately”over his role in inciting a violentmob attack on the Capitol thisweek.

The threat was part of an all-outeffort by furious Democrats,backed by a handful of Republi-cans, to pressure Mr. Trump toleave office in disgrace after thehourslong siege by his supporterson Wednesday on Capitol Hill. Al-though he has only 11 days left inthe White House, they argued hewas a direct danger to the nation.

Ms. Pelosi and other top Demo-cratic leaders continued to pressVice President Mike Pence andthe cabinet to invoke the 25thAmendment to wrest power fromMr. Trump, though Mr. Pence wassaid to be against it. The speakerurged Republican lawmakers topressure the president to resignimmediately. And she took the un-usual step of calling Gen. Mark A.Milley, the chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, to discuss how tolimit Mr. Trump’s access to the na-tion’s nuclear codes and then pub-licized it.

“If the president does not leaveoffice imminently and willingly,the Congress will proceed withour action,” Ms. Pelosi wrote in aletter to colleagues.

At least one Republican, Sena-tor Lisa Murkowski, Republicanof Alaska, followed Ms. Pelosi’slead and told The AnchorageDaily News that she was consider-ing leaving the Republican Partyaltogether because of Mr. Trump.

“I want him out,” she said. “Hehas caused enough damage.”

At the White House, Mr. Trumpstruck a defiant tone, insistingthat he would remain a potentforce in American politics as aidesand allies abandoned him and hispost-presidential prospectsturned increasingly bleak. Behindclosed doors, he made clear thathe would not resign and ex-pressed regret about releasing avideo on Thursday committing toa peaceful transition of power andcondemning the violence at theCapitol that he had egged on a daybefore.

He said on Twitter on Fridaymorning that he would not attendPresident-elect Joseph R. BidenJr.’s inauguration, the first incum-bent in 150 years to skip his suc-cessor’s swearing-in. Hours later,Twitter “permanently sus-pended” his beloved account,which had more than 88 millionfollowers, “due to the risk of fur-ther incitement of violence.”

Pelosi Says Trump Has to Go Now— He Maintains a Defiant Tone

This article is by Nicholas Fandos,Maggie Haberman and Luke Broad-water.

Capitol Police officers on Friday paying respects to a colleague who died defending the building from a mob attack two days earlier.TODD HEISLER/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A12

WASHINGTON — In a sharpbreak with the Trump administra-tion, President-elect Joseph R. Bi-den Jr. intends to release nearlyall available doses of the coronavi-rus vaccine soon after he is inau-gurated, rather than hold backmillions of vials to guarantee sec-ond doses will be available.

The decision is part of an ag-gressive effort to “to ensure theAmericans who need it most get itas soon as possible,” the Bidentransition team said on Friday.The vaccination plan, to be for-mally unveiled next week, alsowill include federally run vaccina-tion sites in places like high schoolgyms and sports stadiums, andmobile units to reach high-riskpopulations.

The president-elect has vowedto get “at least 100 million Covidvaccine shots into the arms of theAmerican people” during his first100 days in office.

The decision to release the vastmajority of vaccine doses set off asharp debate among public healthexperts. The two vaccines thathave received emergency approv-al require two doses, and theTrump administration has so farbeen holding back about half of itssupply to ensure that boosterdoses will be available for those al-ready inoculated.

Officials at Operation WarpSpeed, the Trump administra-tion’s vaccine program, had notedthat doses would stop being se-questered after the first few

Plan to ReleaseFar More DosesIn Vaccine Blitz

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERGand KATHERINE J. WU

Continued on Page A5

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 58,933 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 2021

WASHINGTON — President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Fridaypromised an accelerated responseto a daunting and intensifying ar-ray of challenges as the economyshowed new signs of weakness,the coronavirus pandemic killedmore Americans than ever, andCongress weighed impeachingPresident Trump a second time.

As Washington remained con-sumed with the fallout from thestorming of the Capitol onWednesday and Democratsstepped up their efforts to hold Mr.Trump accountable for his role ininciting the attack, Mr. Biden sig-naled that he intended to keep hisfocus on jobs and the pandemic,declining to weigh in on whetherthe House should impeach Mr.Trump.

On a day the Labor Departmentreported that the economy lost140,000 jobs in December, endinga seven-month streak of growthafter the country’s plunge into re-cession in the spring, Mr. Bidensaid there was “a dire, dire need toact now” on the economy.

He pledged to move rapidlyonce he becomes president topush a stimulus package throughCongress to provide relief tostruggling individuals, small busi-nesses, students, local govern-ments and schools.

Mr. Biden and his aides have notyet finished the proposal or set-tled on its full amount. Forecast-ers expect further job losses thismonth, a casualty of the renewedsurge of the coronavirus pan-demic and state and local officials’impositions of lockdowns andother restrictions on economic ac-tivity meant to slow the spread.

“The price tag will be high,” Mr.Biden told reporters in Wilming-ton, Del.

“It is necessary to spend themoney now,” he said, apparentlyreferring to his entire batch of eco-

nomic plans, including both im-mediate aid and a larger bill thatincludes infrastructure spending.“The answer is yes, it will be in thetrillions of dollars.”

The Biden team is also prepar-ing a wave of economic actionsthat will not require congressionalapproval. Mr. Biden’s aides saidon Friday that the president-electwould direct the Education De-partment to extend a pause onstudent loan payments that wasinitially issued under Mr. Trump.Mr. Biden called on Congress on

Friday to take “prompt action” toraise the federal minimum wageto at least $15 an hour.

He also pledged to ramp up ef-forts to slow the spread of the vi-rus, which is now claiming 4,000lives each day — more than thosewho perished during the Battle ofAntietam during the Civil War, theattack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 orthe terrorist attacks on Sept. 11,2001. Mr. Biden’s team said thepresident-elect would immedi-ately provide more vaccines tostates when he takes office, break-ing sharply from Mr. Trump’spractice of holding back someshots for second doses.

“People are really, really, reallyin desperate shape,” Mr. Bidensaid.

While he said the question of

Biden Vows Swift Response to Collision of CrisesBy MICHAEL D. SHEARand JIM TANKERSLEY

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. cited a “dire need to act now.”KRISTON JAE BETHEL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Ignoring Trump WhileFocusing on Virus

and Economy

Continued on Page A18

Employment fell by 140,000 in Decem-ber as coronavirus cases surged. Thatmade 2020 the worst year for jobs sinceWorld War II. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-6

U.S. Jobs Recovery ReversesSuriname’s vice president wants to beknown as the man who will spread thecountry’s newfound oil wealth equitably.The Saturday Profile. PAGE A8

INTERNATIONAL A8-10

Rebel Turned Social ReformerAfter seeing the attack on the Capitol,many new Americans asked: Had theirnew country fallen this low? Or wasthis what it was all along? PAGE A11

NATIONAL A11-18

An Eye-Opener for ImmigrantsTommy Lasorda, who managed theteam to two World Championships in adecades-long Hall of Fame career, isdead at 93. PAGE B8

SPORTSSATURDAY B7-11

From Cleats to Cap, a Dodger Gabrielle Giffords PAGE A21

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A20-21

ATLANTA — The day afterGeorgia elected a Black descend-ant of sharecroppers and ayoung Jewish filmmaker to beUnited States senators, under-scoring the rising political powerof racial and religious minorities,the forces of white grievancepolitics struck back.

At the “People’s House” inWashington, a predominantlywhite mob in support of Presi-dent Trump’s attempts to over-turn the election overtook theCapitol building by brute force.Confederate flags flew at the seatof American democracy. A gal-lows was erected, with a noosehanging in the air. It was as starka contrast as any, one day thatillustrated the nation’s originalparadox: a commitment to de-mocracy in a country with alegacy of racial exclusion.

The seeds that led to the insur-

rection were hidden in plainsight. At Mr. Trump’s rallies,where his supporters set upopen-air markets of hate andconspiracy, selling Confederateflags and T-shirts that mock hisopponents and the media. Inconservative news outlets, wherethe language of revolution andcivil war is commonplace. On Mr.Trump’s Twitter feed, which hasamplified white supremacists,anti-Semites and anti-Muslimextremists.

On Thursday night, he took tothat Twitter feed again to post avideo message condemning themob while taking no responsibil-ity for inviting it to Washingtonor inspiring its actions. “You donot represent our country,” hesaid to the rioters, before mo-ments later nodding to “all of ourwonderful supporters.” On Fri-

Race and Anger CollideIn Riot at ‘People’s House’

NEWS ANALYSIS

By ASTEAD W. HERNDON

Continued on Page A17

OAKLAND, Calif. — Twittersaid on Friday that it had perma-nently suspended PresidentTrump from its service “due to therisk of further incitement of vio-lence,” effectively cutting him offfrom his favorite megaphone forreaching the public and capping aseries of actions by mainstreamsites to limit his online reach.

Twitter said in a blog post thatMr. Trump’s personal account,@realDonaldTrump, which hasmore than 88 million followers,would be suspended immediately.The company said two tweets thatMr. Trump had posted on Friday— one calling his supporters “pa-triots” and another saying hewould not go to the presidential in-auguration on Jan. 20 — violatedits rules against glorifying vio-lence.

The tweets “were highly likelyto encourage and inspire people toreplicate the criminal acts thattook place at the U.S. Capitol onJan. 6, 2021,” Twitter said, refer-ring to the storming of the Capitolby a mob of Trump loyalists.

Within minutes, Mr. Trump’s ac-count on Twitter was no longer ac-

cessible. His posts were replacedwith a label: “Account sus-pended.”

Mr. Trump tried to evade theban late Friday by using the @PO-TUS Twitter account, which be-longs to sitting U.S. presidents, tolash out at the company. But hismessages were almost immedi-ately removed by Twitter. Thecompany forbids users to tryavoiding a suspension with sec-ondary accounts.

The moves were a forceful repu-diation by Twitter of Mr. Trump,who had used the platform to build

Citing Risk of Violence, TwitterPermanently Suspends TrumpBy KATE CONGERand MIKE ISAAC

Continued on Page A13

After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrumpaccount and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.

Twitter Safety@TwitterSafety

Officials promised a completeinvestigation of the riot, but saidthe president was unlikely to becharged. Page A15.

13 Face Charges

Today, mostly sunny, but with achilly breeze, high 38. Tonight, clear,low 28. Tomorrow, plenty of sun-shine, less wind than today, high 40.Weather map appears on Page B12.

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