Japan launched rapid test that detects delta variant of COVID-19 within an hour

Japan’s state-owned precision instrument maker Shimadzu Corp. began marketing a PCR test kit with reagents that can identify the L452R mutation of the delta variant of the novel coronavirus in about an hour.

The company announced that the kit is being sold to businesses and public health centers that are testing for the novel coronavirus. This reagent kit significantly reduces the time required to detect the mutation, which previously took over two hours.

As cases of delta variant infection continue to occur in many parts of the country, Shimadzu hopes to stop the spread of infections by quickly detecting the variant.

In addition to the kit for the delta variant, Shimadzu also started selling a kit capable of detecting the E484K mutation of the beta, gamma and theta variants. The beta variant was first found in South Africa, while the gamma variant was first seen in Brazil and the theta variant in the Philippines.

The delta is one of the new variants of the coronavirus that has caused the most concern in the international scientific community. It was detected in India in October 2020 and has already spread to at least 96 countries to date. Even in some of them, like Singapore, the UK and Portugal, it has become the dominant variant, displacing even other variants that are more contagious than the original virus.

From published data, it is known that it is more transmissible than the other variants, carries a higher risk of hospitalization and reinfection, and generates a slightly different picture of symptoms (more headaches and less coughing, for example). The delta variant is estimated to be between 30% and 60% more transmissible than other variants of the coronavirus. And it can be up to 80% more contagious than the virus that emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.

Researchers are studying Delta’s ability to evade vaccine protection, but there is no confirmation of this hypothesis. In other words, So far, studies show that vaccines are still effective against delta.

What makes this delta variant of greater concern? Generally speaking, this is a collection of genetic “enhancements” that facilitate the spread and invasion of the human body. A fact that is also reinforced by external factors, such as low vaccination, or the behavior of society without control and prevention measures, which also influences the greater transmission of these variants.

Science has learned in this year and a half that Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes covid-19 disease, does not have as much ability to mutate as the influenza virus, for example. But when new variants emerge, they can acquire “advantageous” characteristics that make them viable in an environment of so much competition and selection to invade human bodies.

New wave

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) anticipates that the number of new coronavirus cases in the region multiplies by five by August 1, compared to last week’s level.

According to forecasts published this Friday in its study area, which includes the European Union but also Norway and Iceland, ECDC expects there will be 420 cases per 100,000 population during the week ending August 1, against less than 90 registered last week. For the week ending August 8, the EU-dependent agency predicts 620 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

These projections, which are currently hypotheses, would equal cases recorded in the fall (boreal) of 2020 and April 2021, when significant outbreaks have been detected.

According to the ECDC, the number of hospitalizations will increase, but not significantly, thanks to vaccination.

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