Inside The South African Lab That Discovered Omicron

Access to the laboratory is strictly limited, for the risk of accidental infection is just too high

Johannesburg, Dec 9 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Dec, 2021 ) :Access to the laboratory is strictly limited, for the risk of accidental infection is just too high.

Here, technicians at whirring machines analyse 18,000 PCR tests a day, looking for signatures of coronavirus.

Their work is so precise that just a handful of samples helped the team to discover Omicron -- the new virus variant that has triggered global fears of yet another surge in the deadly pandemic.

In a white lab coat and mask, Eftyxia Vardas oversees an army of technicians, biochemists, and fellow virologists in Johannesburg at one of the biggest facilities run by Lancet Laboratories, a private firm.

As a clinical virologist, she has worked on diseases such as TB and AIDS for two decades.

In early November, 22 positive tests -- mostly around the capital Pretoria -- captured her team's attention.

The PCR tests most commonly used to detect Covid-19 work by sifting through the genetic code to look for three specific genes.

But the lab found that one of those genes -- the S gene -- had dramatically disappeared from positive test results.

"We realised something was different in our PCR tests," she told AFP, sketching her explanation on a notepad.

"We weren't entirely sure what it was, if it was an existing variant or a new variant."