A top US health expert warned Congress on Wednesday that new coronavirus cases could more than double to 100,000 per day if authorities and the public fail to take steps to suppress the pandemic.
Infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, a leading member of President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force, said the United States was headed in the “wrong direction” on the pandemic and demanded that Americans wear masks and avoid crowds after lax behavior propelled new outbreaks.
Alarming spikes in new cases in southern hot spots Texas and Florida are driving the daily national total of new cases to over 40,000 per day, and they need to be tamped down quickly to avoid dangerous surges elsewhere in the country, Fauci stressed.
“Clearly we are not in total control right now,” he said adding: “I would not be surprised if it goes up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around.”
A worker disinfects cars before they pass a drive-through coronavirus screening centre at Ain Shams in Cairo
The testimony comes as the United States, the world’s hardest-hit nation, with more than 2.6 million infections, was left off the list of 14 countries to which the European Union will open its borders from July 1, and as it grapples with how to assure a safe reopening of schools in the coming months.