Avacta Group has announced that the AffiDX SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen lateral-flow test detects the dominant new variants of the coronavirus, known as the B117 (Kent), variant, and the D614G variant, as well as the original strain.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus, like most viruses, mutates over time into slightly different variants. Some of these variants are more infectious, and therefore more rapidly transmissible, and have the potential to become dominant strains.
Early on in the pandemic a variant referred to as D614G appeared, which rapidly became the dominant strain globally. The B117 variant, which was first observed in Kent and is now prevalent in the UK, has been found in more than 50 countries, and, according to Professor Sharon Peacock (Professor of Public Health and Microbiology at Cambridge University) is likely to become the next dominant strain globally.
Avacta has carried out analytical tests with the spike proteins isolated from both the B117 and D614G variants, and has confirmed that its AffiDX SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen lateral-flow test detects both of these variants as well as the original strain.