(CNN) Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that President Donald Trump decided not to impose a strict quarantine on parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut after officials had "very intensive discussions" at the White House with the President last night.

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on CNN's "State of the Union" that it was important not to enforce something that would create "a bigger difficulty," and instead issue a travel advisory for the New York metro area

"After discussions with the President we made it clear and he agreed, it would be much better to do what's called a strong advisory. The reason for that is you don't want to get to the point that you're enforcing things that would create a bigger difficulty, morale and otherwise, when you could probably accomplish the same goal," Fauci told CNN's Jake Tapper.

Fauci said about 56% of the country's new infections are coming from the New York City area.

After the number of reported US coronavirus deaths doubled to more than 2,000 within two days, officials are advising residents of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut not to travel domestically.

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