COVID-19 Diagnostic Methods and Detection Techniques

Recent review of COVID-19 management: diagnosis, treatment and vaccination

“…Contrary to this, it could also base on the detection of antigenic viral proteins in patients’ samples •Relatively inexpensive •Provides immediate results •May provide false-negative results Less sensitive than nucleic acid-based tests [ 171 ] RT-PCR It depends on the enzyme Reverse transcriptase that amplifies the fragment of interest specifically. When testing for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the first complementary DNA (cDNA) is synthesized using Reverse transcriptase followed by PCR reaction •Rapid detection •Can produce false-positive and false-negative results •High-purity sample •Expensive laboratory equipment •Trained specialists •Long reaction time RT-PCR offers the highest sensitivity and specificity than the nucleic acid tests [ 172 , 173 ] RT-LAMP (Reverse transcription Loop-mediated isothermal amplification) 4 or 6 primers bind specifically to 6 regions on the DNA of interest. When accompanied by one-step reverse transcription, considerably reduces the time of viral detection •Does not require specialized types of equipment •Faster (result in 30 min) •One-step RNA amplification •Under development process •Can result in false positive by generating carry-over contamination It has high specificity and sensitivity comparable with PCR [ 46 , 173 , 174 ] RT-qPCR SARS-CoV-2 specific primers and probes are selected.…”

“…The Taq polymerase degrades the probe, releasing dye that emits fluorescent signals •Specific •Detect even a single fragment •Reliability of result depends on standardization of measurements •Expensive Using the SARS-COV-2 R-GENE Kit and primers for RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, it has a maximum sensitivity of about 97.9% and a minimum sensitivity of about 60.2%. (RdRp) [ 175 – 177 ] CRISPR-Cas12 based assay The CRISPR-Cas12 system detects the E and N gene sequences on the amplified viral DNA and cuts-off other sequences •Easy to read the colorimetric result •Few standardized assays are available It is quick, easy, sensitive, and specific when compared to conventional molecular diagnostics (MDx), such as PCR [ 46 , 178 ] High-Resolution Computed Tomography It is a non-invasive detection technique that generates cross-sectional images by using several X-ray detections on the patient's chest from various angles More efficient and reliable •Expensive equipment •Requires professional help or doctors for the evaluation •Does not independently diagnose COVID, but is used for screening •Exposure to X-rays can be harmful The sensitivity and specificity of CT were 68% and 57%, respectively, compared to other PCR and diagnostic kits [ 173 , 179 ] …”

Piezoelectric point-of-care biosensor for the detection of SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) antibodies

“…Many of such approaches require very intensive and complicated setups which are not easy to access and sometimes are not user-friendly. For example, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is a conventional method [ 11 ] for diagnosing the COVID-19 virus, but this method is still not rapidly available and affordable in many countries. The RT-PCR requires a laboratory, a couple of chemical reagents, and skilled personnel to perform the tests.…”

Visual diagnosis of COVID-19 disease based on serum metabolites using a paper-based electronic tongue

“…These sensors use optical and electrochemical transducers that digitize changes in the properties of the sensing element bonded to a bioreceptor [ 7 ]. Compared to PCR, the sensing methods have a shorter detection time, and show higher sensitivity for the diagnosis of patients [ 8 ]. However, they suffer from the costly and time-consuming fabrication process, and require special storage conditions [ 9 ].…”