Newly disclosed extracts from a personal diary kept by Dr Anthony Fauci during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic reportedly show that he privately estimated the disease's death rate to be considerably lower than the figure he later gave to Congress under oath. The material, part of a wider release of declassified documents, has reignited scrutiny of Fauci's public statements during the pandemic and raised fresh questions about whether his testimony to lawmakers accurately reflected his private assessments at the time.

The diary entries date from early 2020, in the weeks before Fauci's subsequent congressional testimony on the virus's case fatality rate. The documents were released as part of a broader disclosure of declassified material relating to Fauci and the pandemic response, reportedly involving former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and have prompted renewed debate over the former health official's public communications and credibility during the crisis.