We evaluated the performance of nasal and nasopharyngeal Standard Q COVID-19 Ag tests (SD Biosensor) and the Panbio COVID-19 Ag Rapid Test Device (nasal, Abbott) against the Abbott RealTime SARS-CoV-2 assay during the Omicron (21 M, 21K and 21L) wave in South Africa. Overall, all evaluated tests performed well with high level of sensitivity (ranging from 77.78-81.42%) and excellent specificity values (>99%). The sensitivity of rapid antigen tests increased above 90% in samples with Ct <20, and all three tests performed best within first week of symptom onset. The Panbio Ag test performed best in the context of Omicron 21L infections, that were also characterised by significantly lower Ct values compared to infections with 21K and 21 M.

中文翻译：

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南非 Omicron 浪潮期间 SARS-CoV-2 快速抗原检测的临床评估


我们在 Omicron (21 M 、21K 和 21L）在南非浪潮。总体而言，所有评估的测试均表现良好，具有高水平的敏感性（范围为 77.78-81.42%）和出色的特异性值（>99%）。在 Ct <20 的样本中，快速抗原检测的灵敏度提高到 90% 以上，并且所有三项检测在症状出现的第一周内表现最佳。 Panbio Ag 测试在 Omicron 21L 感染的情况下表现最佳，其特征还在于与 21K 和 21 M 感染相比，Ct 值显着降低。