US President Joe Biden has denied his administration bungled its response to the emergence of the Omicron variant.
He told a TV network that “nobody” could have predicted it. His top adviser Dr Anthony Fauci has said experts did foresee variants.
It comes a day after the White House unveiled plans to order 500m at-home coronavirus tests amid a shortage.
There have been long waits for in-person tests as Christmas looms.
“I don’t think it’s a failure,” Mr Biden said in a sit-down interview with ABC News on Wednesday. “I think it’s – you could argue that we should have known a year ago, six months ago, two months ago, a month ago.”
The Democratic president said he wished he “had thought” about ordering the 500m test kits “two months ago”.
Source:Fiilafmonline/BBC
