Top U.S. infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield will testify ahead of a U.S. Senate committee on the federal response to COVID-19 on Wednesday following the country's grim milestone of surpassing 200,000 deaths from the virus.

The Senate Health, Education, Labour and Pension (HELP) Committee's hearing on the government's COVID-19 response comes after President Donald Trump admitted to downplaying the danger of the coronavirus early on because he did not want to "create a panic."

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Assistant Secy Adm. Brett Giroir and FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn are also scheduled to testify ahead of the committee.

The United States continues to have the world's highest number of COVID-19 deaths. On a weekly average, it is losing about 800 lives each day to the virus, according to a Reuters tally, down from a peak of 2,806 daily deaths recorded on April 15.

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