On Dec. 3, 2021, Roche and TIB Molbiol announced they had added three additional Research Use Only test kits for the detection of mutations present in the novel B.1.1.529 Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant: VirSNip SARS Spike ins214EPE (RUO), VirSNiP SARS-CoV-2 Spike S371L S373P (RUO), VirSNip SARS Spike E484A (RUO).

The VirSNiP variant kits allow differentiation between unique mutations present within the Omicron variant compared to other SARS-CoV-2 variants and are for use on LightCyclerﾮ and cobasﾮ z 480 analysers.