The Trump administration has faced widespread criticism over its response to the coronavirus outbreak, particularly problems that have led to a lack of testing kits.
In Wednesday's hearing, Fauci presented the coronavirus outbreak to lawmakers in stark terms and warned against large gatherings.
"We would recommend that there not be large crowds. If that means not having any people in the audience as the NBA plays, so be it," he said.
"We will see more cases, and things will get worse than they are right now," he added.
The US's top infectious-diseases expert said 'it would be nice' if Trump hadn't scrapped the NSC's global-health unit
