Amid the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant, public health experts are asking laboratories to conduct RT-PCR tests in whole for all the three genes, especially in case of international travelers, to identify the absence of the ‘S’ gene.

Dr Shashank Joshi, Maharashtra state task force member, said that a complete RT-PCR report for COVID-19 includes the ‘N’ , ‘S’ , ‘E’ and ‘ORF’ genes. He added that if the ‘S’ gene is absent in a person and the other genes are positive, it indirectly indicates the presence of Omicron variant, without even conducting a genome sequencing analysis. However, all laboratories are not checking for the ‘S’ gene in RT-PCR tests, he said.

Dr Joshi said that all laboratories may soon be directed to check for the ‘S’ gene in samples… (ET Healthworld – TNN, November 30, 2021)