Washington: US’s top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said that some of the rapid at home Covid – 19 tests available in the US may not accurately pick up the new super mutant Omicron variant.

As per the Fauci’s media reports said that the PCR tests, often considered the gold standard for Covid – 19 testing are accurate for detecting Omicron. Fauci in his virtual address at the Chamber of Commerce Foundation audience on Thursday said that we’re getting preliminary information that not all of the diagnostic tests will be accurate with Omicron. We’re in the process of doing large screening to determine which of this antigen point of care and rapid tests still maintain their accuracy of diagnosis.

But clearly there are some that don’t. We’re trying to find out those that don’t reflect an accurate result. And if we do, make sure that those tests are not used to diagnose Omicron, he pointed. Rapid tests that are unable to detect the Omicron variant make for a worrying prospect, because of false results that could potentially lull people into a false sense of security, he said. Fauci also noted that Omicron will become the dominant Covid – 19 variant in the US within a few weeks.

It is the most transmissible virus of Covid – 19 that we had to deal with those far. It will soon become dominant here. That’s one thing we know, he was quoted as saying. He urged people who are not yet inoculated against Covid – 19 and those who are eligible for a booster to receive their doses. He described the Omicron variant as a threat in front of us right now. When you look at the pace of the infections now, things will get worse as we go into the depth of the winter, he said. And with omicron breathing down our back, things could get really bad, particularly for the unvaccinated.