As media reports increase the awareness, if not hysteria, of the coronavirus outbreak in China, a top U.S. heath official is tamping down on the perceived threat to Americans.

"It isn't something the American public needs to worry about or be frightened about, because we have ways of preparing and screening of people coming in [from China]," National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci told "The Cats Roundtable" on 970 AM-N.Y., per The Hill.

"And we have ways of responding – like we did with this one case in Seattle, Washington, who had traveled to China and brought back the infection."

There are thus far only two cases in the U.S. among the 1,320 confirmed worldwide, according to The World Health Organization (WHO) Saturday, The Hill reported.

"It's a very, very low risk to the United States, but it's something that we as public health officials need to take very seriously," Fauci added to host John Catsimatidis, per The Hill.

A NIAID vaccine for the coronavirus would be about three months away from being ready to test on humans, according to Fauci.

"We've just got to make sure that we are totally prepared," Fauci said, per the report. "Infectious diseases will continue to emerge on the human species. And we've got to be essentially perpetually prepared."