A Comprehensive Review of Detection Methods for SARS-CoV-2
Aziz Eftekhari, Mahdieh Alipour, Leila Chodari, Solmaz Maleki Dizaj, Mohammadreza Ardalan, Mohammad Samiei, Simin Sharifi, Sepideh Zununi Vahed, Irada Huseynova, Rovshan Khalilov, Elham Ahmadian, Magali Cucchiarini
Abstract
Recently, the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, in China and its subsequent spread across the world has caused numerous infections and deaths and disrupted normal social activity. Presently, various techniques are used for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection, with various advantages and weaknesses to each. In this paper, we summarize promising methods, such as reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), serological testing, point-of-care testing, smartphone surveillance of infectious diseases, nanotechnology-based approaches, biosensors, amplicon-based metagenomic sequencing, smartphone, and wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) that can also be utilized for the detection of SARS-CoV-2. In addition, we discuss principles, advantages, and disadvantages of these detection methods, and highlight the potential methods for the development of additional techniques and products for early and fast detection of SARS-CoV-2.