Vice President Mike Pence said Friday that the fundamentals of the U.S. economy remain robust despite the coronavirus pandemic that has tanked markets and led to unprecedented layoffs of millions of Americans.

"While the stock market has ebbed and flowed, and even this week made dramatic moves, President Trump and our entire economic team believe that all the fundamentals continue to be strong," Pence said on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." "And that, as we deal with the coronavirus that this economy will come roaring back once we see our nation through this challenging time."

Pence also said that the likely spread of the disease would be less severe than early forecasts projected, suggesting early models are "now being understood to have been really wrong." He said that based on data that has become available in recent days, the extent of the virus "does appear to be significantly lower than a lot of the early projections were."

Markets were falling on Friday after a three-day winning streak, a day after the U.S. surpassed China and Italy in its number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. America is now the hardest-hit nation in the world based on the size of its outbreak. The plunge in the major indexes came despite hopes for a $2 trillion rescue package from Congress, which was expected to pass the House of Representatives later in the day.

Pence, who heads the White House task force leading the federal government's response to the coronavirus pandemic, said he was intent on opening up portions of the country where there was "frankly, little outbreak of the virus."