• News
  • Sport
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Education
  • TV Licences
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION
Home World

US households can order 4 free COVID-19 tests starting Jan. 19 -White House

15 January 2022, 2:07 AM  |
Reuters Reuters |  @SABCNews
A COVID-19 home test kit seen on a table

A COVID-19 home test kit seen on a table

Image: Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

A COVID-19 home test kit seen on a table

U.S. households can order four free at-home COVID-19 tests from the website COVIDTests.gov starting on January 19 with shipping expected within seven to 12 days of ordering, the White House said on Friday.

The batch of free tests are aimed at easing a shortage of COVID-19 tests across the country amid increased demand during the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

The U.S. government has contracted already for more than 420 million tests, the White House said.

President Joe Biden has pledged to procure 1 billion free tests for Americans, and more may be ordered in the future. “We’re not saying we’re stopping there,” one senior administration official told reporters on a conference call.

The administration also plans to launch a phone line for people who do not have access to the web to order tests.

Once ordered, the tests will ship to U.S. households by the U.S. Postal Service. Each household is limited to four masks.

American Postal Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein said the union had agreed to allow the USPS to use up to 7,000 temporary workers to label and package the test kits at 43 existing facilities. Many of those are holiday workers being held over for the project.

The kits could be mailed to as many as 160 million U.S. addresses, Dimondstein said. The USPS has already brought in some labeling machines. “We’re off and running,” Dimondstein said.

The Biden administration has contracted for more than 420 million tests and additional contracts will be awarded over the coming weeks, the White House said. It expects to pay some $4 billion to cover the first 500 million tests Biden promised, the administration official said.

Fighting the pandemic is one of Biden’s top priorities and its persistence, coupled with fatigue among the public, has hurt his approval ratings roughly a year after he took office promising to do a better job of taming the virus than his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.

Critics have said that while the administration focused its attention on getting Americans vaccinated, it did not do enough to encourage mask-wearing and spur testing, a deficit the White House has seemed to try to address with the at-home test deliveries and a pledge to get more masks out to the public as well.

Share article
Tags: USCOVID-19
Previous Post

Netflix raises monthly subscription prices in US, Canada

Next Post

‘Spider-Man’ helps Cineworld box office sales climb

Related Posts

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

‘Give us wings’, Ukraine’s Zelenskyy pleads on European tour

8 February 2023, 8:38 PM
Members of the Algerian rescue team and Syrian army soldiers search for survivors at the site of a damaged building, in the aftermath of the earthquake in Aleppo, Syria February 8, 2023. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi

SA’s Ambassador to Syria condemns harsh sanctions imposed by Western countries

8 February 2023, 2:06 PM
Rescuers carry a woman after she was evacuated from under a collapsed building following an earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, February 7, 2023.

WHO estimates death toll from Türkiye and Syria quake at 20 000

8 February 2023, 8:41 AM
US President Joe Biden

American democracy, while bruised, has remained unbroken: Biden

8 February 2023, 5:44 AM
An aerial view shows collapsed and damaged buildings after an earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, February 7

Turkey-Syria quake death toll passes 7 800

8 February 2023, 5:20 AM
People look amid rubble as the search for survivors continues following an earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, February 7, 2023.

Rescuers in race against time as Turkey-Syria quake death toll passes 5,000

7 February 2023, 3:36 PM
Next Post
A person dressed in Spider-Man costume performs at the premiere for the film Spider-Man: No Way Home in Los Angeles, California, December 13, 2021

'Spider-Man' helps Cineworld box office sales climb

Most Viewed

  • 24hrs
  • Week
  • Month
  • Green comet to be visible from SA next week
  • SA Weather Service warns of maximum temperatures in Cape Town
  • VIDEO: Mabuza resigns as SA Deputy President
  • Budding Stellenbosch FC star reportedly stabbed to death
  • Several areas in Gauteng without water
  • Parts of the Northern Cape to be exempted from rolling blackouts
  • Green comet to be visible from SA next week
  • Registration at Unisa closes on Friday, but management says no need to panic
  • VIDEO | St Benedict College’s Matric learner gets 11 distinctions
  • Limpopo matriculant from child-headed household attains diploma pass
  • Several areas in Gauteng without water
  • ‘Sisulu should be fired for her unacceptable behaviour’
  • Gauteng’s Health Department confirms a third case of cholera in Johannesburg
  • Zuma vs Ramaphosa heads to the ConCourt
  • Weather Service issues severe weather warnings for parts of Eastern Cape, Gauteng

LATEST

The multi-stakeholder group believes there are solutions to the power crisis that do not have to include the declaration of a national state of disaster.  
  • SONA 2023
  • South Africa

Legal battle on horizon if Ramaphosa declares a national state of disaster over Eskom crisis


Gavel seen in a courtroom
  • South Africa

E Cape Health exempts from making upfront lump sum payment in case of medico-legal claim


Soldiers guard positions near the Naaba Koom military base in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. (File)
  • Africa

Gunmen kill two MSF workers in west Burkina Faso


Power lines
  • Eskom rolling blackouts
  • Business

Six Eskom power stations identified as primary cause of rolling blackouts


Shopping cart loaded with grocery.
  • SONA 2023
  • Business

CEOs of CGCSA-member companies highlight rising cost of doing business in SA


  • SONA 2023
  • Politics

Disruptions to President’s SONA will be firmly dealt with: Mapisa-Nqakula


Weather

  • About the SABC
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Advertise
  • Disclaimer
  • Site Map

SABC © 2023

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION

© 2022

Previous Netflix raises monthly subscription prices in US, Canada
Next ‘Spider-Man’ helps Cineworld box office sales climb