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WASHINGTON, DC – Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and one of Donald Trump’s most trusted advisors on the coronavirus, has given testimony before Congress, warning the current death toll from the virus in the U.S. could be higher than what is being stated.

Appearing alongside Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Brett Giroir, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Fauci conceded while in some parts of the U.S. the disease was plateauing, in other parts it was “spiking.”

He said the U.S. did not have the virus ‘completely under control,’ but believes it is heading in the right direction.

“If you think we have it completely under control, no we don’t,” he said during the teleconference hearing.

“If you look at the dynamics of the outbreak, we are seeing a diminution of hospitalizations and infections in some places, such as in New York City, which has plateaued and is starting to come down, but in other parts of the country, we are seeing spikes,” Fauci said.

A member of the White House’s task force battling the coronavirus, Fauci said he thinks the nation is “going in the right direction, but the right direction does not mean we have, by any means, total control of this outbreak.”

“We run the risk of having a resurgence. I would hope by that point in time in the fall that we have more than enough to respond adequately, but if we don’t, there will be problem,” he warned.

Asked whether the reopening of ecopnomies in some parts of the U.S. may be premature, Fauci conceded there is a real risk.

“There is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control and, in fact paradoxically, will set you back, not only leading to some suffering and death that could be avoided, but could even set you back on the road to try to get economic recovery,” he said.

Fauci told the Senate panel on the White House’s response to the coronavirus that official number of deaths may be being understated.

“Most of us feel that the number of deaths are likely higher than that number,” Fauci said in reference to the current, official tally.

“Given the situation, particularly in New York City, when they were really strapped with a very serious challenge to their health-care system, that there may have been people who died at home, who are not counted as it because they never really got to the hospital,” he said.

Asked how much higher the figures would be in percentage terms, said he couldn’t estimate “exactly what percent higher” the actual number of deaths could be.

More than 1.3 million people have been diagnosed with coronavirus in the United States, resulting in more than 81,600 deaths, according to numbers collated by Johns Hopkins University.

(File photo: Dr. Anthony Fauci, left, and Dr. Robert Redfield | Credit: Patrick Semansky/AP).