U.S. will offer free at-home kits starting late September [Video]

The Biden administration on Friday said it will resume offering free at-home Covid-19 tests to American households in late September as the virus has gained a stronger foothold in the U.S. this summer.

Americans will soon be able to use COVIDtests.gov to request four free tests, administration officials told reporters during a briefing. The tests will be able to detect the Covid variants that are currently circulating, most of which are descendants of the highly contagious omicron variant JN.1. 

“These tests will help keep families and their loved ones safe this fall and winter season,” Dawn O’Connell, an assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Health and Human Services Department, said during the briefing. “This is the seventh time over the last three years that the Biden-Harris administration has given families the opportunity to order the over-the-counter Covid-19 tests for free” through the government’s website.

The government’s program has provided more than 1.8 billion free over-the-counter Covid tests to Americans since …