Innovative technology for rapid molecular diagnostics: COVID-19 and other respiratory tract infections

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic presented the world with many new challenges such as rapid and accurate diagnosis of infected individuals. RT-PCR has become the gold standard in COVID-19 diagnostics, but its limitations are: long turnaround time and the need to be conducted by specialized staff. The need for rapid and easy-to-use diagnostic tests led to the development of ID NOW — a rapid molecular test that provides a COVID-19 diagnosis in less than 15 minutes and can be performed by support staff in point-of-care (POC) locations. It can also detect other infections with similar symptoms, such as influenza or RSV. Due to rapid differentiation between COVID-19 and other infections patients can be isolated quickly and hospital departments operate efficiently. In this publication we present the recommendations for the use of the diagnostic test ID NOW based on clinical research results and opinions of experts in different medical fields.