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The Biden administration awarded $600 million in funding to a dozen U.S. COVID-19 test manufacturers last week in response to another surge in coronavirus cases. 

The government is once again offering free, at-home COVID-19 tests for order to households across the country, beginning Monday. The administration has previously sent 700 million tests to U.S. households through four rounds of ordering. 

The funding will increase the country's production capacity for test kits, as well as secure about 200 million over-the-counter tests for future federal government use, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

“The Biden-Harris Administration, in partnership with domestic manufacturers, has made great strides in addressing vulnerabilities in the U.S. supply chain by reducing our reliance on overseas manufacturing,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “These critical investments will strengthen our nation’s production levels of domestic at-home COVID-19 rapid tests and help mitigate the spread of the virus.”

The U.S. has been fighting a recent wave of COVID-19 cases across the country thanks to new variants such as BA.2.86. The virus hospitalized more than 20,000 people during the week of Sept. 9, up from over 12,000 the week of Aug. 12, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Deaths were also up 12% this past week. 

Tests manufactured with the new funding will be able to detect new COVID-19 variants that have emerged in recent months and are intended for use through the end of the year, according to the department. Preliminary data shows that previous tests can often detect new variants, but with reduced sensitivity, according to the Federal Drug Administration. 

The move seeks to bolster U.S. COVID test supply, building on $3 billion in test purchase commitments for last fall the White House announced in January 2022, which allowed manufacturers to increase production capacity in advance of future virus case spikes.

At the time of the announcement, there were approximately 375 million test kits available in the U.S. market, up from just 24 million in August of last year. The CDC estimates that about one in three U.S. households has used a federally provided COVID-19 test kit.