Washington:
US President Joe Biden said on Thursday the government will double its purchase of Covid-19 tests with an additional 500 million kits, bringing the total to one billion.
As the United States battles the Omicron variant that is sweeping the world, Biden urged Americans to wear good quality masks as “part of your patriotic duty.”
However, the White House is under pressure due to the lack of readily available Covid tests, hampering efforts to keep schools open and get people into work as Omicron infections rise.
Biden defended the response, saying that about 15 million tests were performed every day, compared to two million when he took office a year ago.
“Today I instruct my team to purchase an additional 500 million tests to distribute for free,” he said. The tests will be available through a soon-to-be-launched government website, he said.
Biden ended his comments at the White House, making “a special appeal to social media”.
“The misinformation and misinformation. It’s in your shows — it’s got to stop,” he said.
“It’s been a long road, but what’s clear is that the way we’re going to get through this is that everyone does their part… regardless of your political party,” he said.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)