Novel approaches for rapid detection of COVID-19 during the pandemic: A review

Abstract

The rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that caused the COVID-19 disease, has highlighted our urgent need for sensitive, fast and accurate diagnostic technologies. In fact, one of the main challenges for flatting COVID-19 spread charts is the ability to accurately and rapidly identify asymptomatic cases that result in spreading the virus to close contacts. SARS-CoV-2 virus mutation is also relatively rapid, which makes the detection of COVID-19 diseases still crucial even after the vaccination. Conventional techniques, which are commercially available have focused on clinical manifestation, along with molecular and serological detection tools that can identify the SARS-CoV-2 virus however, owing to various disadvantages including low specificity and sensitivity, a quick, low cost and easy approach is needed for diagnosis of COVID-19. Scientists are now showing extensive interest in an effective portable and simple detection method to diagnose COVID-19. There are several novel methods and approaches that are considered viable advanced systems that can meet the demands. This study reviews the new approaches and sensing technologies that work on COVID-19 diagnosis for easy and successful detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay: An Adaptable Methodology to Study SARS-CoV-2 Humoral and Cellular Immune Responses

“…However, the pathophysiology of the disease should be well-known, so the results will not be masked by vaccine response or immunologic window. This is why detecting the pathogen itself, its nucleic acid, or antigens usually are considered a gold standard [ 22 , 23 ]. Concerning SARS-CoV-2, the gold standard for diagnosis is the detection of viral RNA by RTq-PCR.…”

“…Concerning SARS-CoV-2, the gold standard for diagnosis is the detection of viral RNA by RTq-PCR. Considering the unprecedented number of cases, the use of antigen-detection was a strategy to support COVID-19 diagnosis, proving the presence of viral antigens in nasopharyngeal samples [ 23 , 24 ].…”

“…Antigen-detection assays are often based on lateral-flow immunoassays using nasopharyngeal samples, where the viral load is concentrated. The use of two antigens increases test sensitivity [ 23 ]. In fact, testing nasopharyngeal samples in an N-chemiluminescence enzymatic immunoassay provided satisfactory concordance with gold-standard RT-qPCR [ 27 ].…”

Forecasting the Post-Pandemic Effects of the SARS-CoV-2 Virus Using the Bullwhip Phenomenon Alongside Use of Nanosensors for Disease Containment and Cure

“…This comprehensive review article puts emphasis on the most recent developments in nanotechnology-based sensors, focusing on the synergy between the virus detection (offered by the nano-sensing mechanism and assay techniques) [ 20 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ], diagnosis (using nanostructured drugs and nanomedicine) [ 15 , 46 , 47 , 48 ], and prevention (design of face masks, gloves, and personal protective equipment) [ 49 ], thus offering a holistic survey, concerning their usability and performance, in contrast to previous review papers [ 18 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 ], which only discussed parts of them. The embedment of nanotechnology for the prevention, diagnosis, and detection, in order to battle novel COVID-19, concerning the point of care (POC), was briefly discussed and concluded in [ 11 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 ].…”

Micro/nano biomedical devices for point-of-care diagnosis of infectious respiratory diseases

“…The characteristics of some frequently used NAT methods and immunoassay-based methods are summarized in Table 1 . Thanks to the advantages of robust and sensitive assay, NAT has gained tremendous development with the technical innovation in molecular biology and biomedical engineering, and currently it is a gold standard for COVID-19 diagnosis [ 40 , 41 ]. They can identify and detect trace amounts of the specific viral genomic sequence with various amplification, e.g.…”