HHS Secretary says U.S. government likely to request more COVID-19 testing funds

U.S. government likely to request more COVID-19 testing funds President Joe Biden's administration is likely to request additional funds from Congress for COVID-19 testing, depending on the severity of the Omicron variant, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra said on Tuesday. Ahmed Aboulenein Reuters

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The department has $10 billion left in federal relief funds for testing from the $50 billion made available by Congress back in March, but will probably need more, Becerra said at a meeting with reporters.

Are we going to have more than $10 billion dollars' worth of needs and costs? COVID, especially regarding testing, there's a strong chance we will, depending on, again, where Omicron takes us," he said.

Becerra said he did not know whether additional funds are needed because health officials cannot yet predict the eventual impact of Omicron. ...