Nucleic Acid Testing for Coronavirus Disease 2019: Demand, Research Progression, and Perspective

Abstract

The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a public health emergency of international concern. There has been a surge in demand for COVID-19 diagnostic reagents, as timely detection of virus carriers is one of the most important components of disease prevention and control. Nucleic acid testing (NAT), with high sensitivity and specificity, is considered the “gold standard” for the diagnosis of COVID-19. Therefore, more than 700 research units and companies have been devoted to developing NAT reagents. To date, nearly 600 research units and companies have claimed to have completed the development of NAT reagents. The use of these products has a positive effect on disease prevention and control; however, exaggerated claims and inadequate understanding of the products have led to improper access to reagents and equipment in clinics. This has resulted in chaos in the clinical diagnosis of COVID-19. Herein, we have overviewed the COVID-19 NAT products, including their principles, corresponding advantages and disadvantages, relevant circumstances for application, and respective roles in epidemic containment. Our comments may provide some references for assay developers and aid clinical staff in choosing the appropriate class of test from the different tests available.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• nucleic acid testing
• SARS-CoV-2

Acknowledgments

The grantors had no roles in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest regarding the named commercial products.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program (Grant No. 2018YFC1200100), the Xiamen Science and Technology Major Project (Grant No. 3502Z2020YJ01), and the National Science and Technology Major Project of China (Grant No. 2018ZX10732101-001-002).