Fauci says U.S. not where it needs to be after Biden declares "pandemic is over"

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said Monday that the United States is not where it needs to be regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, a day after U.S. President Joe Biden said that "the pandemic is over."

In a talk with the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies, Fauci said that much depends on how the country handles future virus variants.

"How we respond and how we're prepared for the evolution of these variants is going to depend on us," Fauci was quoted by The Hill as saying.

Fauci raised concerns that only 67 percent of the country was vaccinated and "only one-half of those have received a single boost."

Fauci noted that more than 400 deaths in the country are reported daily due to COVID-19.

Fauci's comments came a day after Biden declared "the pandemic is over" during an interview with CBS News that aired Sunday evening.

"We still have a problem with COVID," Biden said. "We're still doing a lot of work on it...but the pandemic is over."