US President Joe Biden says he doesn't think Covid-19 is here to stay

US President Joe Biden on Friday (local time) said that he doesn't think that the COVID-19 is here to stay, but added that he does think it will remain around the world.

"No, I don't think COVID is here to stay, but having COVID in the environment here and in the world is probably here to stay," Biden said at the White House briefing, according to The Hill.

"COVID as we're dealing with it now is not here to stay, the normal doesn't have to be. We have so many more tools we developed and we continue to develop that can contain COVID and other strains of COVID," the President added, according to The Hill.

Biden's remarks come amid a severe surge of the coronavirus in the United States and across the globe due to the highly transmissible omicron variant.

The US government awarded a contract worth over 50 million USD for the distribution of over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits on Friday (local time).

The contract was issued as part of Biden's plan to deliver 500 million at-home COVID-19 tests to the American people at no cost in response to the Omicron variant, according to the Defense Department release.

"The US... awarded a $51.6 million contract to Goldbelt Security, located in Newport News, Virginia, for delivery of over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits," the Defense Department said.