Do Gmate Saliva Rapid Tests Work for Omicron? 藍委:福吉美唾液快篩 原廠沒寫可驗Omicron

Demand for rapid tests remain high. During a press conference today, the Kuomintang's legislative caucus said the original manufacturer manual for Gmate's saliva rapid test does not indicate that it can detect the Omicron variant, and questioned why the Ministry of Health and Welfare rushed to grant authorization.

The number of new daily COVID-19 cases remains high. The government recently began recognizing a positive rapid test result confirmed by a doctor as a confirmed case, causing demand for rapid tests to surge. Saliva rapid tests made by Korean manufacturer Gmate recently became available. However, Kuomintang's legislative caucus pointed out during a press conference that Gmate's English manual indicates that it works for the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants. There was no mention of Omicron.

Lin Yi-hua, Legislator (KMT): “When was this period of frantic authorization of rapid tests? It was when the Omicron variant was assailing Taiwan. This means that the rapid tests you authorize to come in need to be able to test for the Omicron variant. ”

Legislators said they received calls from the public. One person was positive with a Ct value of 12, but the Gmate saliva rapid test result was negative. There were other incidents where children had obvious symptoms but tested negative in saliva rapid tests. Doctors said it's difficult to get children to cough out saliva from deep within the throat, and only proper usage will produce an accurate result.

Chiang Kuan-yu, Doctor, Taipei City Hospital Zhongxing Branch: “If it was a rapid test product produced earlier, then perhaps it was only updated until the Delta variant. There were reports in the UK that if you want to test for Omicron as well, you need 10 times (the virus concentration) compared to Delta. ”

International research reports indicated that for early rapid test products to detect Omicron, a virus concentration 10 times higher than that of Delta is needed. Doctors say that during asymptomatic infections, the virus concentration is higher in the throat than nasopharynx, and saliva rapid tests can help to identify asymptomatic cases.

本土疫情病例數居高不下，快篩陽經醫師判定視同確診上路後，也讓快篩需求大增，尤其唾液快篩推出後，能免受戳鼻之苦，討論熱度不減，但國民黨立院黨團開記者會，拿出「福吉美」韓國原廠的英文說明書，顯示可偵測變異株範圍包括Alpha、Beta、Gamma、Delta，就是沒寫Omicron。

國民黨立委林奕華表示：「這段時間密集的核准快篩試劑是什麼時候，是Omicron病毒在襲捲台灣的時候，那你當然必須要進的快篩試劑Omicron要測得出來。」

藍委也進一步提出質疑，接獲民眾陳情Ct值12結果福吉美唾液快篩卻驗不出來。也有小朋友症狀明顯，使用唾液快篩也也同樣驗不出陽性。對此，醫師表示小朋友要咳出深喉唾液確實有難度，正確操作才能得到較精準的檢測結果。

北市聯醫中興院區醫師姜冠宇指出：「如果說是太早期的一個快篩產品，那可能是只有更新到說是對Delta，那在英國有報告出來說，如果說還要去偵測後面的Omicron的話，大概比Delta需要10倍（病毒濃度）的狀況才能夠說被同等的偵測到。」

也就是說，依照國外研究報告顯示，早期快篩產品若要偵測Omicron確實可能需要比Delta高出10倍的病毒濃度才能同等偵測到，但醫師也強調無症狀感染期間喉嚨病毒高於鼻咽，用唾液快篩還是有助於找出更多的無症狀感染患者。