Shops sell Covid rapid test kits produced before discovery of Omicron

Some Covid-19 rapid test kits claiming they can detect the Omicron variant were found to be produced even before Omicron was discovered, raising questions of their effectiveness. 

Reporters from Sing Tao Daily, the Standard's sister publication, visited several pharmacy chains in Causeway Bay and found most of the 24 test kits being sold were produced between January and February. But five were either made last year before Omicron was discovered, or came without a manufacture date.

A pharmacy at Lockhart Road sold a Mainland-made, Spanish-branded test kit for HK$128. 

The reporter saw the manufacture date was May 20 last year, six months before Omircron was discovered. 

A source from the pharmaceutical industry said some merchants have shipped defective or expired test kits from the mainland to Hong Kong for sale.  

"Some even stick a new manufacture date on an expired test kit box to make it 'valid'." 

Another wholesaler said rapid test kits were classified as special items on the mainland, whose import and export requires approval from health authorities. 

Recent reports suggest mainland customs imposed stringent checks and required merchants to produce certificates to prove tests kits' manufacture dates. 

"It cannot be ruled out that some of the test kits were shipped to Hong Kong for sale after their import to the mainland failed," he said. 

Danny Yeung, co-founder and chief executive officer of health start-up Prenetics said expired test kits are definitely not valid and should not be used. As for the test kits produced before Omicron, he said what matters is if the manufacturer has tested the kits again on the variant virus.

"The manufacturer has the responsibility to arrange testing for new virus strains. If successful, they should provide new certification to international organizations."

Eric Sze Tung-po, Associate Professor of the Hong Kong Metropolitan University School of Science and Technology, said expired test kits are no longer able to detect the coronavirus and won't be able to produce any test results. 

The government announced last Saturday that it had evaluated 10 rapid antigen test kits and confirmed their effectiveness against the Omicron variant, including those produced before November last year. 

Sze said due to storage issues, the longer the manufacture date from the discovery of Omicron, the greater the chance of failure in detection.

He also said that the test kits should be stored at 2 to 30 degrees Celsius, and not exposed to the sun. 

Joseph Tsang Kay-yan, co-chairman of the Medical Association's advisory committee on communicable diseases, said the government should test the effectiveness of more kits available in the market to help the public make their choices. 

It was understood that the customs have recently inspected the test kits and checked whether there are fakes or those which fail to match their product descriptions.