Dr. Anthony Fauci, the face of the White House coronavirus task force, testified Tuesday before the Senate Health Committee on efforts to combat the coronavirus, amid warnings that lifting restrictions keeping people home from school and work could pose unnecessary health risks.

Leading U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci on Tuesday warned Congress that while the federal government is working to help manufacture a vaccine against the new coronavirus, its development “might take some time” to come to market.

As a result, Fauci told a Senate health committee in prepared testimony, the nation’s efforts to battle the deadline virus and the COVID-19 disease it triggers should be “focused on the proven public health practices of containment and mitigation.”

Top federal health officials are being pressed during a highly anticipated Senate hearing Tuesday on whether the country is ready to reopen, with Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, warning that “consequences could be really serious” if states move too quickly.

The panel’s chairman and witnesses are appearing remotely in an unusual session that includes the first congressional testimony from Fauci, a key member of the White House task force, since President Trump declared the coronavirus crisis a national emergency March 13.