A nurse with a universal probe for taking a PCR test for COVID-19 coronavirus. Archival photoMOSCOW, January 14All test systems used in Russia are capable of detecting coronavirus, regardless of which strain a person is infected with, Anna told RIA Novosti Cherkashina.
"All PCR test systems are capable of detecting coronavirus in order to establish a diagnosis of COVID-19, regardless of which variant the person was infected with: "delta" or "omicron". They are focused on that part of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus genome that does not undergo such frequent changes and remains almost constant", Cherkashina said.
She explained that it is necessary to differentiate «omicron» from «delta» for control development of the epidemiological process and assessing the likelihood of a complication of the situation and predicting the burden on medical organizations. «There is no need to sequence or test samples from all cases in a row with new test systems, it is enough to analyze some part of the population, up to five to ten percent of cases in the region» , — Cherkashina noted. With regard to Omicron, Rospotrebnadzor has been doing such work for more than a month since December 2021, the agency’s interlocutor concluded. forecast of distribution of «omicron» and «deltacron» in Russia