President Joe Biden said the rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans in response to the coronavirus must stop.

“At this very moment, so many of them, our fellow Americans are on the frontlines of the pandemic trying to save lives and still, still, they are forced to live in fear for their lives just walking down streets in America,” Mr. Biden said in an address to the nation marking the first anniversary of the pandemic. “It is wrong. It is un-American and it must stop.”

Mr. Biden said the coronavirus has separated the nation – at times for unnecessary reasons.

“Too often we have turned against one another,” Mr. Biden said. “A mask is the easiest thing to do to save lives.”

“Sometimes it divides us,” he said. “States pitted against one another instead of working with each other.”