Becton Dickinson (BD) and CerTest Biotec have received a CE mark for their Viasure SARS-CoV-2 variant real-time polymerase chain-reaction (PCR) detection kit, a molecular test to identify variants of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 infections.

The test, which runs on the BD MAX real-time PCR platform, can distinguish between the original COVID-19 virus and three variants, Alpha, Beta and Gamma, the companies said.

The test kit also includes three options for specimen collection: nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal and saliva.