Dr. Fauci on U.S. coronavirus outbreak: ‘I’m not pleased with how things are going’

White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said he is not pleased with the current state of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States.

U.S. public health officials are beginning to see a “disturbing” uptick in the rate of coronavirus tests that come back positive in some regions of the nation, Fauci said during a National Geographic panel moderated by ABC News Correspondent Deborah Roberts, which aired on Thursday.  “Bottom line is, I’m not pleased with how things are going.”

“We certainly are not where I hope we would be, we are in the middle of very serious historic pandemic,” he added. 

The U.S. has the worst outbreak in the world with more than 5 million infections and at least 166,000 deaths as of Thursday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. On Wednesday, the U.S. recorded more than 1,500 deaths caused by Covid-19, marking the deadliest day for the country since the end of May.

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has previously warned about a potential increase in Covid-19 cases brewing in states like Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana, which have reported an uptick in the so-called positivity rate, or the percentage of tests that are positive.

While some states are beginning to see an uptick, outbreaks in California, Florida, Texas and Arizona are improving and are “having now, less deaths, less hospitalizations, less cases,” Fauci said. 

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.