President Trump considered allowing the novel coronavirus to "wash over" the US, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

At the time some experts believed that the best way to deal with the crisis was to allow "herd immunity" to build.

But Trump's top scientific adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci, warned the president that the policy would mean "many people would die."

The US acted in a slower and more piecemeal way to the coronavirus crisis, and currently has more cases than any other country in the world.

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President Donald Trump weighed allowing the novel coronavirus to "wash over" the US as he considered strategies for dealing with the growing crisis in March, The Washington Post reported.

In a Situation Room meeting on March 14 — the same day Trump extended his travel ban to the UK and the Republic of Ireland in a bid to slow the spread of the pandemic — Trump reportedly suggested allowing the US to develop "herd immunity."

The controversial approach — advocated by some experts at the time — involved letting the disease spread on the assumption that many would develop only mild symptoms and widespread immunity to the disease would begin to build.

"Why don't we let this wash over the country?" Trump reportedly asked Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, one of the top scientific experts on the president's coronavirus task force.

Two anonymous sources familiar with the president's remarks confirmed the details of the meeting to the publication.

According to the report, Fauci initially didn't understand what Trump meant by the phrase "wash over." When he realized what Trump was saying, he became alarmed and laid out the likely consequences.

"Mr. President," Fauci responded, according to The Post. "Many people would die."

Trump was not alone in backing the "herd immunity" strategy at the time.

Top government scientific advisers in the UK reportedly initially backed a "herd immunity" strategy and Prime Minister Boris Johnson initially resisted the sweeping lockdown measures that were being put in place in other European countries.

Related: Dr. Anthony Fauci in 2020

32 PHOTOS Dr. Anthony Fauci in 2020 See Gallery Dr. Anthony Fauci in 2020 Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens as President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Briefing Room, Wednesday, March 25, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) President Donald Trump speaks, accompanied by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, left, and Vice President Mike Pence about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Wednesday, April 1, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Wednesday, April 1, 2020, in Washington, as Vice President Mike Pence listens. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Wednesday, April 1, 2020, in Washington, as Vice President Mike Pence listens. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Wednesday, April 1, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, smile as they decide who is going to answer a question during a briefing about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Tuesday, March 31, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Tuesday, March 31, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Tuesday, March 31, 2020, in Washington, as Vice President Mike Pence listens. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Tuesday, March 31, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) FARCHIVO - Foto de archivo, 1 de abril de 2020, del doctor Anthony Fauci, miembro de la comisión de lucha contra el coronavirus de la Casa Blanca, en conferencia de prensa. National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum de Milwaukee anunció el jueves 2 de abril de 2020 la creación de un muñeco cabezón de Fauci. (AP Foto/Alex Brandon File) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens as President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Tuesday, March 31, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Tuesday, March 31, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, March 30, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, takes the podium to speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, March 30, 2020, in Washington, as President Donald Trump listens. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Dr. Anthony Fauci, right, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, attends a coronavirus task force briefing with President Donald Trump in the Rose Garden of the White House, Sunday, March 29, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room, Friday, March 27, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Briefing Room, Wednesday, March 25, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speak during a press briefing with the coronavirus task force, at the White House, Tuesday, March 17, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) President Donald Trump and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listen during a press briefing with the coronavirus task force, in the Brady press briefing room at the White House, Monday, March 16, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during a briefing on coronavirus in the Brady press briefing room at the White House, Saturday, March 14, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) President Donald Trump adjusts the microphone for Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, during a news conference about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden at the White House, Friday, March 13, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, fourth from left, walks with Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, sixth from left, and others, to an elevator on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March, 12, 2020, after briefing members of Congress on the coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci walks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 12, 2020, in between briefings on the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health Dr. Anthony Fauci is interviewed by television journalist Kristen Welker of NBC News on the North Lawn at the White House, Thursday, March 12, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) Dr. Anthony Fauci, left, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies before a House Oversight Committee hearing on preparedness for and response to the coronavirus outbreak on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 11, 2020. Sitting alongside Fauci is Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies before a House Oversight Committee hearing on preparedness for and response to the coronavirus outbreak on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases speaks in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, March, 10, 2020, about the coronavirus outbreak as Vice President Mike Pence, second from left gestures to a display. Also on stage from left are U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, Pence, White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow, Fauci, Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Seema Verma, and Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health Anthony Fauci, left, and White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, attend President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force briefing in the Brady press briefing room of the White House, Wednesday, March 4, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) El médico Anthony Fauci, director del Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Alérgicas e Infecciosas de Estados Unidos, habla con el presidente Donald Trump, el martes 3 de marzo de 2020, en Bethesda, Maryland. (AP Foto/Evan Vucci) President Donald Trump listens to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, during a briefing on the coronavirus at the National Institutes of Health, Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Bethesda, Md. 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It was only when new projections from scientists at Imperial College in London found that 500,000 could die if the disease was allowed to spread largely unchecked that the government abruptly changed course and introduced compulsory lockdown measures on March 23.

Sweden has also resisted introducing sweeping lockdown measures, with government scientists there saying that if introduced too soon, such measures can be counterproductive.

With the death toll in Sweden rising, such measures could soon be introduced, according to reports. But the government insists no such plans are imminent.

Trump has veered between advocating widespread lockdown measures, and claiming that the measures could do more damage than the disease itself.

Before extending lockdown measures for a month in early April he had previously considered ignoring the advice of his top scientists and lifting the lockdown in Easter.

In tweets he has claimed that "we can't have the cure be worse than the problem" and that there is an urgent need to mitigate the damage to the US economy.

According to The Post, though Trump accepted Fauci's warning in the March meeting, he is continuing to push for an early reopening of the US economy.

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