US could see 100,000 daily coronavirus cases: Fauci

WASHINGTON

The US could see as many as 100,000 new coronavirus infections daily, the nation's top infectious disease expert told a Senate hearing Tuesday.

"We are now having 40,000+ new cases a day. I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around," said Anthony Fauci, who is the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

He said he was "very disturbed" by the recent spike in the number of the cases that exceeded 40,000 daily this week.

"I am also quite concerned about what we are seeing evolve right now in several states," said Fauci. "When states start to try and open again, they need to follow the guidelines that have been very carefully laid out with regard to checkpoints."

Currently, several states including Arizona, Florida and Texas are seeing spikes in cases and hospitalization.

As of Tuesday, the US has more than 2.6 million COVID-19 cases and more than 126,000 deaths, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University.

More than 705,000 have recovered from the virus.