"China dramatically did what we call social distancing. They shut down the country. As they are starting to get back to normal personal interactions I hope we don’t see the second blip", he told ABC News.
Fauci said that the total number of cases will be less the more the outbreak is spread over time. He defended the US government’s bans on the entry for travellers from worst-hit countries, saying that a perceived "overreaction" could be barely enough.
"The dynamics in the history of outbreaks is you are never where you think you are. If you think you are in line with the outbreak you are already three weeks behind, so you got to be almost overreacting a bit to keep up with it", he explained.
The United States has had more than 2,900 COVID-19 cases and at least 59 people have died of the virus-related complications as of Saturday night, according to ABC News. It has barred entry from 28 European countries and stepped up screening at airports, causing long lines to form.
China has recorded a vast majority of the world’s COVID-19 cases since the respiratory disease emerged in Wuhan in December. The total quarantine saw the number of new infections level off gradually in the past weeks, with only 11 cases confirmed on 13 March.