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Coronavirus pandemic
ChinaScience

Nucleic tests up to Omicron task – but keep eye on quality, top Chinese kit maker BGI says

  • Test results can be affected by human factors and product quality, group chief scientist says
  • BGI’s at-home antigen tests mostly for export, mainly because of China’s zero-Covid policy

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China has a zero-Covid strategy to contain the coronavirus. Photo: Xinhua
Josephine Ma
Coronavirus nucleic acid test kits already on the market should be able to detect the Omicron variant, but accuracy could vary with sampling and product quality, a senior officer with China’s top test kit maker said.

BGI chief infectious disease scientist Chen Weijun said the group had been asked by the World Health Organization and Chinese regulator to assess the sensitivity of existing test kits in detecting the Omicron variant.

Chen said the kits should continue to be effective in picking up positive cases because the existing tests targeted the coronavirus’s other genes and not the spike protein, which had mutated greatly with Omicron.

“We have conducted tests ... Regardless of whether it is the Gamma, Alpha, Delta or Omicron variant, the existing reagents used in the world should not be affected,” he said.

But Chen said the results could be affected by sampling procedures and the timing of the tests – such as the stage of the infection in the patient.

The explanation comes amid concerns over the case of a person who tested negative repeatedly during 14 days of quarantine in Shanghai before being diagnosed with the new variant last week.

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