Following his brief speech, Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff walked out to the South Portico at the White House where candles were lit and displayed on the steps for the moment of silence.

Earlier, the National Cathedral rang its bells to honor the more than 500,000 Americans who died from the coronavirus.

"I received a letter from a daughter whose father died of COVID-19 on Easter Sunday last year," Biden said before the ceremony. "She and her children, his grandchildren, enter Lent this season, a season of reflection and renewal, with heavy hearts. Unable to properly mourn, she asked me in the letter, what was our loss among so many others? Well, that's what has been so cruel."

"So many of the rituals that help us cope, that help us honor those we loved, haven't been available to us. The final rites, with family gathered around, the proper home going, showered with stories and love, tribal leaders passing out the final traditions of sacred cultures on sacred lands," he continued. "As a nation, we cannot and we must not let this go on. That's why the day before my inauguration ... I said, 'to heal -- to heal, we must remember.' I know it's hard. I promise you, I know it's hard. I remember. But that's how you heal. You have to remember."

In remarks ahead of a candlelight ceremony, Biden addressed the nation.

"Today we mark a truly grim, heartbreaking milestone: 500,071 dead," Biden said.

"That's more lives lost to this virus than any other nation on Earth. But as we acknowledge the scale of this mass death in America, remember each person and the life they lived," he continued.

"We often hear of people described as 'ordinary Americans.' There's no such thing. There's nothing ordinary about them. The people we lost were extraordinary. They spanned generations. Born in America, immigrated to America, but just like that, so many of them took their final breath alone in America," Biden said. "As a nation, we can't accept such a cruel fate. While we've been fighting this pandemic for so long, we have to resist becoming numb to the sorrow. We have to resist viewing each life as a statistic or a blur or on the news. We must do so to honor the dead, but equally important, care for the living, those they left behind -- for the loved ones left behind."

The House is one step closer to sending the White House's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package to the Senate after the bill advanced through the House Budget Committee Monday. The committee favorably reported the proposal to the full House in a near-party line 19-16 vote.

"We are in a race against time," House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth, D-Ky., said. "Aggressive, bold action is needed before our nation is more deeply and permanently scarred by the human and economic costs of inaction."

Republicans decried the price tag for the package and accused Democrats of using the pandemic as an excuse to pass key agenda items, including the $15 an hour minimum wage increase.

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel

The president issued a proclamation following the U.S. recording 500,000 deaths from COVID-19 and he noted that this means more Americans have now died from the virus in one year, compared to in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined.

At 6 p.m., Biden will deliver remarks on the more than 500,000 lives lost to COVID-19 and then he, Harris and their spouses will observe a moment of silence and hold a candle-lighting ceremony at sundown.

In addition, Biden ordered flags lowered to half-staff on federal property for the next five days.

Earlier Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told ABC New Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega that the administration is still working to undo the "inherited" circumstances of the pandemic, taking a swipe at the Trump administration.

"Our focus is on building out of the hole that we inherited," Psaki said.

-ABC News' Sarah Kolinovsky and Justin Gomez

Biden’s nominee for secretary of the interior, Rep. Deb Haaland, D-Ariz., appeared before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for the first round of questioning in her confirmation hearing Tuesday.

Haaland introduced herself in the native language of the Laguna Pueblo and thanked her family, her partner and her ancestors. She also acknowledged that the hearing was taking place on the native lands of the Anacostia, Piscataway and Nakochtank tribes.

She said her priorities would be valuing career employees at the Department of the Interior and promoting clean energy. For Native American communities, she said she would focus on bringing broadband access to them and addressing the high number of missing and murdered Native American women. She also talked about her support for a modern Civilian Conservation Corps as a way of offsetting potential job loss from a transition to cleaner energy.

“But we must also recognize that the energy industry is innovating, and our climate challenge must be addressed," she said in her opening statement. "Together we can work to position our nation and all of its people for success in the future, and I am committed to working cooperatively with all stakeholders, and all of Congress, to strike the right balance going forward.”

Throughout the hearing, when questioned about her past statements and positions, Haaland said that if confirmed she would be advancing Biden’s interests. She dodged a question about her stance on fracking, saying the president does not support a fracking ban.

In his opening statement, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said he was troubled by Haaland’s “radical” views, a sentiment also expressed by other Republicans on the committee. He said he would oppose Haaland’s nomination. During his questioning, Barrasso pressed Haaland on an October tweet that said Republicans don’t believe in science.

The committee will be back Wednesday at 10 a.m. for the second round of questioning.

-ABC News' Adia Robinson