Viruses evolve. That's what our nearly three decades of virus hunting and developing tests that detect infectious diseases has taught us. And as they evolve and encounter new places and people, variants will emerge.
On the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, we expected no different. That's why at the start of the pandemic, we developed 12 COVID-19 tests globally to detect the virus and our team of virus hunters make sure that our tests can continue to detect the different variants – from alpha to omicron to the next variant of interest.
While there are still unknowns about future waves, we can expect variants to emerge, making the identification, analysis, tracking and testing of COVID-19 paramount.
Variants of Concern: What You Need to Know
Because viruses can spread rapidly, developing myriad mutations along the way, the CDC raises a red flag when a new variant has evidence of:
Variants that meet these criteria are known as variants of concern (VOC), and potentially require one or more public health actions like increased testing, research or local and regional efforts to control spread.
We asked our virus hunters about the latest variants of concerns to keep you informed on how our tests perform.
Current Variants of Concern
Thankfully, with each variant of concern, we're not back at square one.
Thanks to the work of scientists, public health experts and officials across the world, the global community has an arsenal of critical tools in the fight against COVID-19:
As one of our lead virus hunters, Dr. Mary Rodgers, puts it: "We've been tracking viral mutations for over 27 years with our Viral Surveillance Program, so we expected SARS-CoV-2 to mutate since the beginning, as we've seen other viruses do."
Anticipating and monitoring viral evolution through initiatives like our Pandemic Defense Coalition, the first-ever industry-led scientific and global health partnership dedicated to the early detection of and rapid response to future pandemic threats, keeps us vigilant and prepared for future COVID-19 surges.
We know that testing remains an important line of defense against COVID-19. We'll stay on the lookout to ensure that our tests hold up to new variants, and are prepared to ramp up capacity of rapid testing solutions like our BinaxNOW COVID-19 Antigen Self Test and our Panbio COVID-19 Antigen Self Test to provide peace of mind where and when it’s needed most.
While viruses evolve, we are too.
The Panbio COVID-19 test is not available in all countries. Not approved for sale in the USA.
This story was originally published on April 29, 2022, and updated on Dec. 12, 2022, and May 8, 2023, and January 16, 2024
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
The BinaxNOW™ COVID-19 Antigen Self Test has not been FDA cleared or approved. It has been authorized by the FDA under an emergency use authorization. It has been authorized only for the detection of proteins from SARS-CoV-2, not for any other viruses or pathogens, and is only authorized for the duration of the declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of emergency use of in vitro diagnostics for detection and/or diagnosis of COVID-19 under Section 564(b)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. § 360bbb-3(b)(1), unless the declaration is terminated or authorization is revoked sooner. For serial testing, the BinaxNOW COVID-19 Antigen Self Test should be performed twice over 3 days, at least 24 hours (and no more than 48 hours) apart. For symptomatic use, a single test can be used.
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