Video shows White House reporters shouting Mike Pence out of the press-briefing room as he left a COVID-19 news conference without taking questions

• Reporters shouted Vice President Mike Pence out of the press-briefing room Thursday after he didn't take questions following the first briefing in months from the White House coronavirus task force.
• Members of the task force addressed the surging number of COVID-19 cases across the US.
• President Donald Trump was not present at the meeting and has been relatively silent on the pandemic since the election, instead choosing to pursue baseless claims of election fraud via dozens of unsuccessful court challenges.

Reporters shouted at Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday after he chose not to answer questions at the first briefing in months from the White House coronavirus task force.

"You're all undermining the democratic election!" one reporter shouted.

—The Recount (@therecount) November 19, 2020

Pence was joined by Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Deborah Birx, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, and Gen. Gustave Perna, who oversees vaccine distribution.

Birx warned Americans to be cautious and take appropriate measures as cases continued to rise in the US.

"This is really a call to action for every American to increase their vigilance," Birx said.

On Wednesday, the US recorded 170,161 new COVID-19 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. The country's known death toll from the virus also surpassed 250,000 on Wednesday.

Pence offered an optimistic tone and said President Donald Trump advised the task force to speak with reporters. Trump was not present at the conference and has made few public appearances since losing his reelection bid.

Trump has said little publicly about the pandemic since Election Day, instead choosing to pursue baseless claims of election fraud via dozens of unsuccessful court challenges.

Last week, he addressed news that the pharmaceutical company Pfizer had released trial results showing its experimental COVID-19 vaccine to be highly effective. After initially tweeting that it was "SUCH GREAT NEWS," however, Trump baselessly accused the company of withholding the findings until after the election, a claim the company swiftly denied.

Pence sought to reassure Americans as the pandemic rages on: "Even as we see help on the way, the vaccines being developed at a historic pace, as I mentioned before, as we gather today, we are seeing cases and positivity rising across the country," Pence said.

"But we approach this moment with the confidence of experience. We know the American people know what to do. We have forged a partnership that is truly seamless with state and local health authorities."

Reporters during Thursday's conference pressed Pence about why he was not taking questions. They shouted remarks on Trump's recent actions and asked why the White House had stopped taking questions from reporters.