According to overseas news on May 11, South Korea has reported a total of 6 cases of infection with Omicron BA.2.12.1 variant strain. It is reported that the mutant strain of Omicron BA.2.12.1 that has landed in Korea is 30% more infectious than the Omicron strain and even about 20% more infectious than the BA.2 subtype strain, which is the fastest spreading strain.

The Korean media commented that this strain can be considered the most infectious and fastest spreading strain among the viruses found so far.

Will the new crown nucleic acid rapid test be able to identify new mutant strains again?

The Omicron BA.2.12.1 variant is extremely fast spreading and also highly virulent. The severity of the Omicron mutant strain may have been underestimated, says a new study. A large U.S. study found that the Omicron variant was as virulent as previous strains of the new coronavirus variant. In addition, BA.4 as well as BA.5 variant strains have become endemic. This will also bring an unprecedented change to the current situation of the new crown epidemic.

What does a 30% higher infectivity and 20% higher transmission rate all mean?

It means that the Omicron BA.2.12.1 variant is able to infect more people than the Omicron strain under the same conditions. It also means that once this proposed strain becomes endemic, the current vaccination measures may no longer apply and will have to be more strictly adjusted.

But no matter how the vaccination policy is adjusted, the Nucleic Acid Rapid Test cannot be shaken. As the gold standard for diagnosing patients with neo-crown, the rapid nucleic acid test has always played an important role in epidemic prevention and control. Through accurate and sensitive experiments, it is able to detect infected patients at the early stage of infection, and to narrow the scope of epidemic prevention and control effectively.

The virus is constantly mutating, but is the New Crown Nucleic Acid Rapid Test still effective against these mutated strains? Will there be a mismatch problem?

This starts with the target design of the New Crown Nucleic Acid Rapid Test. We all know that the New Crown Nucleic Acid Rapid Test is specific to the nucleic acid fragment of the pathogen, and the target setting is specific to the nucleic acid fragment of the pathogen. Currently, the target setting segment of the New Crown Nucleic Acid Rapid Test is the ORF1ab gene of the virus as well as the N gene, and the nucleotide corresponding to the target gene is added during amplification to allow reverse transcription into DNA, and the DNA fragment is marked with a fluorescent group to report whether there is a fluorescent reaction to know whether there is viral nucleic acid.

The target is set to solve the problem of precision, and the selected gene fragments are generally pathogen-specific. And the selection of two or more segments of the target is to exclude interference and set up a control. At present, we can only further determine whether the infection is infected when both targets are reported positive in the New Crown Nucleic Acid Rapid Test, and when a single gene is positive in this case, it needs to be reviewed by the New Crown Nucleic Acid Rapid Test to report the results.

Although the new coronavirus is constantly mutating, the specific fragments in its nucleic acid are selected as more stable fragments, and many manufacturers are currently searching for more specific fragments of the new coronavirus through gene sequencing and other technologies to provide more target settings for the new coronavirus rapid nucleic acid test kit.

So we don't worry about the suitability problem. Just do a good job of personal protection and actively participate in the New Crown Nucleic Acid Rapid Test to take precautions with strict prevention and control requirements!