COVID-19 Diagnostic Approaches: An Overview

Abstract

In the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, diagnostic approaches have played a critical role in tracking and fighting the virus. In the light of this, the state-of-the-art biosensing devices and procedures being repurposed for COVID-19 diagnosis are critically evaluated. Various COVID-19 diagnostic approaches are constantly being tested and optimized in order to ensure accurate diagnosis and reduce false results. This review spotlights diagnostic strategies such as: (1) Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), (2) Enzyme-linked immunosorbent test (ELISA), (3) Chemiluminescent Immunoassay (CLIA), (4) Lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA), ( 5) Clustered Regularly Interspersed Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR-Cas13), ( 6) Clustered Regularly Interspersed Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR-Cas12a), ( 7) Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP-based colorimetric method), ( 8) Point-of-care tests (POC-RT-PCR), ( 9) Point-of-care tests (POC-Isothermal DNA amplification), (10) reactive oxygen species (ROS), (11) Chest imaging using computerized tomography (CT), (12) X-ray radiography (CXR), ( 13) Field-effect transistor (FET) in order to address different biomarkers correlated with COVID-19. The overview of these diagnostic approaches is given in terms of their strengths, limitations, time per analysis, costs, and availability. Finally, conclusions on diagnostic tests are highlighted.