Fauci warns US might have to face a fifth wave as he urges people to get jabbed

As fears of the new variant continue to grow, Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci on Sunday warned that the US might have to go through a fifth wave. He also warned of increased transmissibility in the new variant.

While speaking at the CBS show "Face the Nation," he said, "We certainly have the potential to go into a fifth wave. And the fifth wave, or the magnitude of any increase, if you want to call it that it will turn into a wave, will really be dependent upon what we do in the next few weeks to a couple of months."

With this, he urged Americans to get vaccinated. 

As a "precautionary measure," the US  has restricted travel from South Africa and seven other southern African countries, including, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.

Also read | Fauci defends travel ban due to new variant omicron, says it is necessary and justified

US President Joe Biden said that moving forward he will be “guided by what the science and my medical team advises.”

Fauci defended the travel restrictions as he said that they were necessary and justified. While speaking on ABC's “This Week," he further said that the restrictions “will slow things down” and help the US be “better prepared” for it.

He acknowledged that there is "no way" that travel bans could prevent the spread of new variants. 

“But what you can do is you can delay it enough to get us better prepared. And that's the thing that people need to understand. If you're going to do the travel ban the way we've done now and that we're implementing right now, utilise the time that you're buying to fill in the gaps,” he said.

(With inputs from agencies)