NOVOSIBIRSK, December 30. /TASS/. A testing system capable of simultaneously detecting the coronavirus genome and deciding if it is the Omicron variant of the virus has been developed in Russia. Tests conducted through this system take the same time as regular PCR tests, the Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences said in a statement on Thursday.

The Modern Laboratory Technologies company, a resident of the Novosibirsk biotech park, and experts from the Kirov Military Medical Academy’s Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Diagnostics took part in the development of the system along with the Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine.

"The developers expect that they will be able to receive a registration certificate for the medical device in the near future," the institute pointed out. According to the facility, the Omicron coronavirus variant is spreading many times faster than previous strains of the virus, which is why it is particularly important to promptly detect it.

"The sensitivity of the new testing system is considered to be high," the statement added.