Fauci says US should double its testing over next several weeks

The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases made the comments at a National Academy of Sciences Covid-19 Update webcast as coronavirus deaths exceeded 53,000 and cases of the disease have surpassed 900,000 across the nation.

Fauci estimated that the US is conducting approximately 1.5 to 2 million Covid-19 tests per week and that "we probably should get up to twice that as we get into the next several weeks, and I think we will."

Fauci noted that he was referring to diagnostic testing of the coronavirus, not antibody testing.

"Testing is an important part but it's not the only part," Fauci noted while also highlighting the need for identification, isolation and contact tracing.

"We don't want to get fixated on how many tests you need," he added, going on to say that the US needs to "have enough tests to respond to the outbreaks that will inevitably occur as you try and ease your way back into the different phases."

This is a breaking news story that will be updated.