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Washington: The United States will suspend domestic COVID-19 testing orders from next week, Reuters reported. The federal government reportedly took the decision on Tuesday due to a lack of funding.
In an announcement, COVIDTests.gov, the official website of the US government, said, “Ordering through this program will be suspended on Friday, September 2 because Congress has not provided additional funding to replenish the nation’s stockpile of tests .” Orders will be accepted until Friday, however.
In January of this year, the President of the United States Joe Biden promised to provide one billion free tests to Americans. In particular, out of the total, half of the tests were to be done through this website. The website was established during the Omicron exchange boom. It helps keep US citizens safe
“We have already distributed over 600 million tests through this program, and each family had the opportunity to place an order for a total of 16 tests,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said as quoted by Reuters .
Since the launch of COVIDTests.gov in January, the federal government has distributed more than 600 million tests. Through this website, families could place an order.
The US has reportedly hit a COVID-19 plateau. BA.5 is still the dominant variant in the country. According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Omicron variant accounted for 87 percent of new cases in the first week of August.
