The United States does not need to impose a lockdown or shut down its economy to curb the spread of Covid-19 and will rely on other tools, White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said on Monday.

"We are not headed in that direction. We have the tools to accelerate the path out of this pandemic; widely available vaccinations, booster shots, kid shots, therapeutics," Zients told reporters at a White House briefing.

"We can curb the spread of the virus without...