Analytical performance of the rapid qualitative antigen kit for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 during widespread circulation of the Omicron variant

Prospective study of three saliva qualitative antigen testing kits for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 among mainly symptomatic patients in Japan

“…The other kits showed false-negative results in one-third of the cases. Our recent study showed that the sensitivity of qualitative antigen testing with nasopharyngeal samples was >90% in a similar situation, which was performed several months earlier than the current study for omicron-variant SARS-CoV-2 [27]. Saliva samples for qualitative antigen detection kits that can be used at home as initial screening because they can be obtained less invasively and self-collected.…”

Evaluation of a Sample-to-Result POCKIT Central SARS-CoV-2 PCR System

“…In one study, the SARS-CoV-2 antigen test had 78.9% sensitivity among all symptomatic participants but 96.3% sensitivity in the symptomatic participants who had PCR Ct values of <29 [33]. Similarly, other studies showed that SARS-CoV-2 antigen tests had better sensitivity in samples with PCR Ct values of <25 and the sensitivity decreased a lot in samples with Ct values of >30 [17,34]. Hence, if the sensitivities of various assays are simply compared relative to the real-time RT-PCR Ct values, it appears that the POCKIT Central SARS-CoV-2 PCR had at least comparable sensitivity when compared to other point-of-care PCR and antigen tests.…”

“…Molecular diagnostic tools (e.g., real-time PCR, droplet-digital PCR [ddPCR], loop-mediated isothermal amplification [LAMP] assays, and genome sequencing approaches, etc. ), rapid antigen tests, antibody tests, and various methods in other formats (e.g., microfluidic and/or biosensor methods) have been developed for detecting or confirming SARS-CoV-2 infection [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Nucleic acid extraction followed by real-time RT-PCR conducted in the central laboratory is considered the gold-standard method for SARS-CoV-2 detection.…”

Rapid Detection of Predominant SARS-CoV-2 Variants Using Multiplex High-Resolution Melting Analysis

“…We used mutations localized in the S gene (V213G, R158G, G142D, and S704L) and N gene (S413R) of SARS-CoV-2 to identify and analyze its variants, such as Delta and Omicron ( 4 , 25 ). Of particular importance are the mutation sites of G446S, Y505H, and F486V in the RBD region, which are associated with enhanced immune escape ability, increased transmission speed, and reduced antibody response capacity ( 26 – 28 ).…”