Most rapid corona tests recognize the omicron variant just as well as the delta variant. For some of the tests, however, it is still unclear whether they are also suitable for detecting omicrons. The Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI) came to this conclusion on the basis of its own random samples, among other things. The PEI and the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) then published lists of rapid antigen tests that have proven themselves for Delta and, based on current data, are also suitable for Omikron (see table). Tests that are unsuitable for the detection of omicron according to the PEI assessment are no longer listed.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suspected that many common rapid tests would not meet the minimum criteria. Here in Germany, too, individual studies gave cause for concern: the Bundeswehr Institute for Microbiology, for example, certified that 28 tests available in Germany could detect Omicron, but not as well as hoped. In a Munich study, eight out of nine tests were below the hit rates for the Delta variant.
The PEI has now examined 20 of the approximately 200 antigen rapid tests that had already proven themselves in detecting the delta variant – with different hit rates. Result: The tests were equally suitable for Omikron. All 20 (whose names the PEI did not want to name separately) discovered a very high viral load, as in the delta variant, in at least three out of four cases.
“Our investigations give no indication of reduced sensitivity of rapid antigen tests compared to Omikron,” reports the PEI. This can be transferred to other tests with a similar design – the PEI calls this method »bridging«. Prerequisite: The antibodies of the test do not dock at the point on the virus where Omikron differs from the older variants. This is how it was with the 20 successfully tested tests: They recognize the corona virus by a protein that is not affected by the omicron mutations. The PEI therefore asked the manufacturers of more than 600 rapid antigen tests which virus region they used to identify the coronavirus.