WASHINGTON, March 31. /TASS/. The US authorities expect a new wave of the novel coronavirus infection to hit the country this fall, according to Anthony Faucci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

"In fact, I would anticipate that that would actually happen, because of the degree of transmissibility. However, if you come back in the fall, it will be a totally different ballgame of what happened when we first got hit with it in the beginning of this year," he told reporters during a media briefing with US President Donald Trump at the White House. "Our ability to go out and be able to test, identify, isolate and contact trace will be orders of magnitude better than what it was just a couple months ago."

"In addition, we have a number of cilincal trials that are looking at a variety of therapeutic intervitions. We hope one or more of them will be available," he continued. "Importantly <...> is that we have a vaccine that’s on track and multiple other candidates."

According to Trump, the country is ready for the possible second wave of the infection.

"I hope it does not happen, but we are certainly prepared," Trump said.

The Johns Hopkins University, which calculates statistics based on the government, WHO and other official source numbers, says the US has more than 160,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, while over 2,900 people died from it.