Balancing sensitivityDesigning a test to catch variants of concern is a matter of balancing sensitivity and specificity, Roussin said. Manitoba laboratories have "plans to add additional markers that should be able to better distinguish variants of concern from local variants," a provincial spokesperson said. Manitoba health officials aim to sequence around five per cent of the samples received, a number that is in line with other jurisdictions, according to a provincial government spokesperson. But determining whether a new variant is one health officials should worry about is "not straightforward," said Farkas. The B117 variant isn't the only one of concern Manitoba health officials are on the lookout for.

Source: CBC News February 20, 2021 12:00 UTC