United States President Joe Biden has signed his 2.4 trillion dollar coronavirus relief bill into law after the House of Representatives gave its final congressional approval.
It comes as the country marks one year since the start of the pandemic that has seen over 529,000 Americans lose their lives.
The legislation, called the American Rescue Plan, includes 1,800 dollar one-off payments for most Americans, extends weekly jobless benefit payments until September, and allocates funding to state and local governments, school re-openings, vaccine distribution, and COVID-19 testing and research.
President Biden says the legislation is about supporting Americans through the pandemic.
"I believe this is and most people, I think, do as well, this historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country and giving people in this nation working people, middle class folks, people who built the country a fighting chance. That's what the essence of it is."
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