WASHINGTON, April 8 (Reuters) - U.S. health officials are planning ways for the country to return to normal activities if distancing and other steps to mitigate COVID-19 prove successful in curbing the outbreak, the top U.S. infectious disease official said on Wednesday.

"If in fact we are successful, it makes sense to at least plan what a re-entry into normality would look like. That doesn't mean we're going to do it right now, but it means we need to be prepared to ease into that," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Fox News in an interview. (Reporting by Susan Heavey Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)