U.S. government to buy rapid COVID-19 tests from Abbott, Celltrion -official (updated)

Celltrion

21/09/2021 22:47

(Adds additional context and commentary from official)
    By Jeff Mason
    Sept 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. government has agreed to
purchase rapid COVID-19 tests from Abbott Laboratories  ABT.N 
and Celltrion Inc  068270.KS  to ship to nursing homes and other
high risk populations as part of President Joe Biden's vaccinate
or test plans, a senior administration official said on Tuesday.
    The federal government will purchase tests as needed and has
agreed to spend up to $626 million in its agreement with
Celltrion and $554.4 million in its deal with Abbott, the
official said. 
    The White House announced earlier this month that it will
mandate staff at all large employers to either get vaccinated or
submit to weekly testing. As part of that announcement, the
administration said it would purchase around $2 billion worth of
rapid tests.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2QB0QC
    The U.S. government also has agreements to purchase tests
from other manufacturers including Quidel Corp.  QDEL.O ,
OraSure Technologies, and Intrivo.
    Demand for tests has been spurred in recent months by the
emergence of the contagious Delta variant of COVID-19,
reopenings of K-12 schools, and an earlier mandate by the White
House that will require most U.S. federal employees to either
get vaccinated or receive weekly tests. 
    

 (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Carl O'Donnell
Editing by Chris Reese and Richard Pullin)
 ((Carl.ODonnell@thomsonreuters.com; 646-223-6629;))