Americans 'won't stand' for election results not being honored: Joe Biden

US President-elect Joe Biden said Wednesday that Americans "won't stand" for the results of the November 3 election not being honoured.

"Our democracy was tested this year," Biden said in a Thanksgiving Day address in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. "And what we learned is this: The people of this nation are up to the task.

"In America, we have full and fair and free elections, and then we honour the results," he said. "The people of this nation and the laws of the land won't stand for anything else."

Biden did not mention Donald Trump by name but he was clearly referring to the president's refusal to accept the results of the election.

Biden said the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated political divisions in the United States and called for unity.

"It has divided us. Angered us. And set us against one another," he said. "I know the country has grown weary of the fight.

"But we need to remember we're at a war with a virus -- not with each other.

"I believe that this grim season of division, demonization is going to give way to a year of light and unity," he said.

Biden pledged that "starting on Day One of my presidency, we will take steps that will change the course of the disease" and he urged Americans to follow health guidelines.

"None of these steps we're asking people to take are political statements," he said. "Every one of them is based in science.

"I know we can and we will beat this virus," he said. "America is not going to lose this war.

"You will get your lives back. Life is going to return to normal. That will happen. This will not last forever," he said.