Analytical sensitivity of the Rapid Antigen Test kits for detection of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant BA.2 sublineage.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron was classified as a variant of concern in November 2021. The sublineage BA.2 spreads rapidly worldwide. Currently, there is a lack of data for the parallel comparison of Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) Kits to detect SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2. We evaluated the analytical sensitivity of 12 RAT kits to detect Omicron BA.2 in the present study. Analytical sensitivity was determined by means of the limit of detection (LOD). We prepared a dilution set using a respiratory specimen collected from a COVID-19 patient infected by Omicron BA.2. The reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used as a reference method. The LOD results showed that all 12 RAT kits had comparable analytical sensitivity to detect Omicron BA.2. The RAT kits selected in the current study may be used for the first-line screening of the rapid spreading Omicron BA.2.