Portable RT-PCR System: a Rapid and Scalable Diagnostic Tool for COVID-19 Testing
Hosam M. Zowawi, Thamer H. Alenazi, Waleed Alomaim, Ahmad Wazzan, Abdullah Alsufayan, Rihab A. Hasanain, Omar Aldibasi, Sahar Althawadi, Sarah A. Altamimi, Maysoon S. Mutabagani, Maha Al‐Amri, Reem S. Almaghrabi, Hail M. Al-Abdely, Ziad A. Memish, Saleh A. Alqahtani
Abstract
eliverable). This study assessed the agreement and accuracy of the portable Biomeme SARS-CoV-2 system against the gold standard tests. Nasopharyngeal and nasal swabs were used. Of the 192 samples tested using the Biomeme SARS-CoV-2 system, the results from 189 samples (98.4%) were in agreement with the reference standard-of-care RT-PCR testing for SARS-CoV-2. The portable system generated simultaneous results for nine samples in 80 min with high positive and negative percent agreements of 99.0% and 97.8%, respectively. We performed separate testing in a sealed glove box, offering complete biosafety containment. Thus, the Biomeme SARS-CoV-2 system can help decentralize COVID-19 testing and offer rapid test results for patients in remote and low-resourced settings.