Microfluidic devices for detection of RNA viruses

There is a long way to go before the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak comes under control. qRT-PCR is currently used for the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of Covid-19, but it is expensive, time-consuming, and not as sensitive as it should be. Finding a rapid, easy-to-use, and cheap diagnostic method is necessary to help control the current outbreak. Microfluidic systems provide a platform for many diagnostic tests, including RT-PCR, RT-LAMP, nested-PCR, nucleic acid hybridization, ELISA, fluorescence-Based Assays, rolling circle amplification, aptamers, sample preparation multiplexer (SPM), Porous Silicon Nanowire Forest, silica sol-gel coating/bonding, and CRISPR. They promise faster, cheaper, and easy-to-use methods with higher sensitivity, so microfluidic devices have a high potential to be an alternative method for the detection of viral RNA. These devices have previously been used to detect RNA viruses such as H1N1, Zika, HAV, HIV, and norovirus, with acceptable results. This paper provides an overview of microfluidic systems as diagnostic methods for RNA viruses with a focus on SARS-CoV-2.