Top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci on Friday said that he is not pleased with the state of coronavirus outbreak in the United States. He made the statement at a National Geographic panel discussion.

Stating that public health officials in the US are witnessing a disturbing flare-up in some regions of the country, Fauci said, “Bottom line is, I’m not pleased with how things are going.” He also said that the United States is in the middle of a historic pandemic.

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“We certainly are not where I hope we would be,” Fauci noted.

He also highlighted that California, Florida, Texas and Arizona have shown improvements as there are “fewer deaths, fewer hospitalizations, fewer cases,” reported from these states. However, he was very unhappy about the surge in cases in the other states. “We know now from sad past experience, that it’s a predictor that you’re going to have more surges,” he said.

Earlier, Fauci who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases had said, that he is “cautiously optimistic” that the coronavirus vaccine will be ready by early 2021. Fauci’s remarks come at a time when the US is witnessing the worst outbreak in the world. The country has recorded over 166,000 deaths and 5 million positive cases.