Molecular diagnosis of COVID-19 – present experiences

Severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), a new highly emerging and pathogenic for human RNA virus, is responsible for the present COVID-19 pandemic. Molecular diagnostic methods, including real-time reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) assay are the recommended methods for the identification and laboratory confirmation of COVID-19 cases. RT-PCR allows for detection the RNA of the virus in clinical specimens from patients suspected of COVID-19 with high specificity and sensitivity. Testing is still crucial for rapid detection of infected persons, implementation of appropriate measures to suppress further virus transmission and mitigate its impact. In response to demand of a molecular diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2, within a first few months ongoing pandemic many commercial kits has become available on the market. However, these tests have varied in number and type of molecular targets, time of reaction as well as quality. In this study we compared different commercial tests for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in clinical samples sending to Laboratory of Department of Virology, NIPH-NIH.