Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US top infectious disease expert and a central figure in the government’s response to COVID-19, has an intention to warn the Senate that Americans would experience 'needless suffering and death' if the country opens up too quickly, NT Times reported.

The Senate Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold hearings on Tuesday to discuss measures to prevent the COVID-19 spread.

“The major message that I wish to convey to the Senate HLP committee tomorrow is the danger of trying to open the country prematurely,” he wrote. “If we skip over the checkpoints in the guidelines to: ‘Open America Again,’ then we risk the danger of multiple outbreaks throughout the country. This will not only result in needless suffering and death, but would actually set us back on our quest to return to normal.”

According to Johns Hopkins University, the US has confirmed over 1.34 million COVID-19 cases, while the death toll has reached 80,682.