Washington: US President Joe Biden directs the US government to get 500 million additional Covid-19 tests to help meet demands soaring throughout the country in the midst of the spread of the Omicron variant, a White House official said on Thursday.
The order comes above 500 million tests promised by the White House will be available for Americans in January.
“In addition to the 500 million tests we do in the process of acquisition, today he directs his team to get 500 million more tests – to meet future demand,” the official said, spoke with the terms of anonymity.
Biden has received criticism because it does not focus more on previous tests as part of his strategy to combat pandemics.
The lack of national tests has disrupted the response in recent weeks as long as the spread of rampant from the very contagious Omicron variant.
Biden plans to announce his order for additional procurement later on Thursday.
The official said the test would be free for American consumers and that the White House would have more details about their distribution later on.
Details about the website that will have information about the first stage of 500 million tests will be available on Friday, the official said.
When the original 500 million test was announced, experts said the white building was not brave or fast enough to deal with the spread of omicron.
The test has been difficult for many Americansto, partly driven by shortage of fast test supply and lack of staff in urgent care centers, pop-up sites, and pharmacies that manage tests.
Recently, the staff in the laboratory that processed more complex PCR tests also became a factor, made many frustrated trying to know quickly whether they were infected with Covid-19.
While the official count of the Omicron case in the United States continues to increase, there are signs that in some areas that are beaten from the beginning, such as the Northeast, the new infection rate has begun to slow down.