U.S. top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said Monday that the United States is not where it needs to be regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, a day after U.S. President Joe Biden said that "the pandemic is over."

In a talk with the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies, Fauci said that much depends on how the country handles future virus variants.

"How we respond and how we're prepared for the evolution of these variants is going to depend on us," Fauci was quoted by The Hill as saying.

Fauci raised concerns that only 67 percent of the country was vaccinated and "only one-half of those have received a single boost." He also noted that more than 400 deaths in the country due to COVID-19 are reported daily. An average of over 4,300 are hospitalized each day, according to Reuters.

Fauci's comments came a day after Biden declared "the pandemic is over" during an interview with CBS News that aired Sunday evening.

"We still have a problem with COVID," Biden said. "We're still doing a lot of work on it ... but the pandemic is over."

The United States is still operating under the public health emergency, first declared in January 2020.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is expected to renew that designation in October but then let the public health emergency expire in January 2023.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week that the "end is in sight" for the pandemic, but still urged nations to maintain their vigilance.

(With input from agencies)