U.S. President Donald Trump urged Americans to refrain from panic buying basic supplies as the number of the new coronavirus infections in the country surpassed three-thousand.

At a press briefing on Sunday, Trump called on the nation to "take it easy" and "relax," adding that grocery industry leaders he spoke to said they have no shortage of food or household items.

Trump's reassurances were in stark contrast to warnings issued by his lead infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who, earlier in the day, didn't rule out a "national lockdown" of bars and restaurants in calling for more aggressive measures to contain the virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) issued a recommendation, urging the cancellation of all gatherings of 50 people or more for the next eight weeks, including festivals, parades, weddings and sporting events.

Vice President Mike Pence, meanwhile, announced an ambitious new testing regimen that is expected to allow one-point-nine million tests to be processed over the coming weeks at over two-thousand laboratories across the United States.