Molecular diagnosis of SARS-Cov-2, performances and throughput by Direct RT-PCR

The Covid-19 pandemic has required all laboratories to rapidly and unexpectedly reorganize to cope with the increase in requests for tests in rapid response times and, not least, to provide the shortening of molecular reagents. In order to validate an accurate, faster and cheaper method suitable for large-scale diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2, we evaluated a simplified workflow by Direct RT-PCR on 181 nasopharyngeal swabs on Seegene's automated platform. Direct RT-PCR ensured 99% overall concordance versus standard RNA RT-PCR in samples with Ct values under 35, saving 100% on extraction reagents and providing an approximately three-fold increase in productivity in 24 hours.