New Delhi, July 29 -- Anthony Fauci, former top US infectious disease expert, invoked the Fifth Amendment on Wednesday (July 29), declining to answer questions during a Republican-led Senate committee hearing on the federal government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and its origins.

Republican lawmakers continue to scrutinize his role in the nation's COVID-19 response and accuse him of misleading Congress about research linked to the virus's origins-allegations he has repeatedly denied.

The former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) appeared before the committee after being subpoenaed by Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.

In his opening statement, Fauci said he was invoking his const...