Rite Aid to offer free COVID-19 testing to students in New York

Aug 26 (Reuters) - Drugstore chain Rite Aid Corp said on Thursday it would be offering free COVID-19 tests to students in public schools in New York state before or at the start of the upcoming school year.

The announcement comes as students in the United States prepare to head back to classes, while the country grapples with stemming the recent surge in cases caused by the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Rite Aid is conducting the testing drive in association with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which in March said it would provide $10 billion to states to support COVID-19 screening to assist schools resume in-person instruction.

Students would be required to pre-register and schedule an appointment at any of Rite Aid's drive-through locations in New York state to get tested, the company said.

Students can book a slot online through BioReference Laboratories Inc, a unit of OPKO Health which has been involved in COVID-19 testing for the National Basketball Association's (NBA) players and referees.

Testing appointments would become available before the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year next month and students would be tested using RT-PCR laboratory-based COVID-19 tests, Rite Aid said, adding that digital results would be directly delivered to the students' parents.

(Reporting by Amruta Khandekar; Editing by Rashmi Aich)