Both the international and national press pay close attention to reports on the reliability of PCR and antigen tests, as the issue affects billions of people. Firstly, two major manufacturers of domestically marketed COVID-19 rapid test brands have sent in their comments on whether their brands are effective in detecting the omicron virus mutation.

(Wuhan, Xiamen, Budapest – 06.01.2021) One of the most important domestic rapid diagnostic tools, the e.Diagnosis nasal antigen test is manufactured by Wuhan Easy Diagnosis Co. Ltd. describes that based on bioinformatics analysis, simulated sample modelling and real samples, and the fact that the test targets parts of the nucleocapsid protein that are expressed in GISAID (www.gisaid.org), it can be stated that this test can be safely used to detect the omicron virus variant (B.1.1.529).

Based on a study by the independent Paul Ehrlich Institute in Germany, the manufacturer of the AmonMed saliva test, Xiamen AmonMed Biotechnology Co. Ltd. has requested the opinion of the Haixi Medical Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which considers the AmonMed test to be suitable for detecting omicron, as well as the Alpha and Delta variants, using a similar methodology.

Recently, a number of US and international manufacturers (Abbott, Siemens Healthineers) have announced in a recent FDA report that their devices are working properly and are capable of detecting the omicron variant.