‘Time was squandered and we didn’t actually make the investments in healthcare and infrastructure’ – Dr Amesh Adalja on Covid surge in US

The worrying new surge in new coronavirus cases in the United States is down to people ignoring public health advice on social distancing and face masks, according to Anthony Fauci, the Trump administration’s top infectious diseases official.

He’s warned that moves by some states to ease lockdown restrictions quickly has become “a recipe for disaster”.

The number of new cases reported each day in the US looked like it had peaked in April.

But in recent weeks, the number in some states has shot up again, with around 40,000 new cases a day on average.

More than 125,000 people have died from the disease.

We were joined from New York by Dr Amesh Adalja – an infectious disease specialist at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security.