LOS ANGELES, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The United States is transitioning out of the "pandemic phase," and has entered the "control stage" of the pandemic, said the White House's chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci.

       Fauci told The Washington Post on Wednesday that the country has entered the control stage, as the pandemic is causing far lower levels of hospitalizations and deaths than during the winter surge of the Omicron variant.

       But he later clarified to NPR that he thinks the country has passed the "acute component of the pandemic phase."

       "We are now transitioning - not there yet, but transitioning - to more of an endemicity, where the level of infection is low enough that people are starting to learn how to live with the virus, still protecting themselves by vaccination, by the availability of antivirals, by testing," Fauci said.

       He said that entering a new phase does not mean the entire pandemic is over.

       "The world is still in a pandemic. There's no doubt about that. Don't anybody get any misinterpretation of that. We are still experiencing a pandemic," Fauci said.