Rapid screening of the SARS-CoV-2 VOC 202012/01 B.1.1.7 variant using
three different assays
Abstract
Background The aim of this study was to evaluate three commercially
available methods (Allplex SARS-CoV-2 Assay, Allplex
SARS-CoV-2/FluA/FluB/RSV Assay and Novaplex SARS-CoV-2 Variants I Assay)
for screening of the SARS-CoV-2 VOC 202012/01 B.1.1.7 variant. Methods A
total of 160 nasopharyngeal samples (150 positive and 10 negative for
SARS-CoV-2) were tested with all three molecular assays. Next-generation
sequencing (NGS) was used as the reference method to determine
analytical performance. Results Total (100%) agreement was found for
SARS-CoV-2 detection with all three assays. For B.1.1.7 screening, the
sensitivity of the Allplex SARS-CoV-2 Assay, the Allplex
SARS-CoV-2/FluA/FluB/RSV Assay and the Novaplex SARS-CoV-2 Variants I
Assay (Seegene Inc.) were 94.5%, 98.7% and 100 %, respectively, while
the specificities of the assays were 98.6%, 81.7% and 100%,
respectively. Conclusions Although the best results for identifying the
B.1.1.7 variant in this study were achieved with the Novaplex Variants I
Assay, the three approaches evaluated can be considered cost-effective
primary screening tools to rapidly monitor the VOC 202012/01 B.1.1.7
variant.