An alternative workflow for molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2 – escape from the NA extraction kit-shortage, Copenhagen, Denmark, March 2020
Anna S. Fomsgaard, Maiken Worsøe Rosenstierne
Abstract
The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 caused by the newly discovered SARS-CoV-2 a pandemic. Due to growing demand for reagents and/or kits to extract SARS-CoV-2 RNA for subsequent RT-qPCR diagnostics, there is a worldwide risk of shortages. With a detection sensitivity of 97.4% (95% CI: 86.2-99.9%), we describe a simple, fast, alternative workflow for molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2, where samples are simply heat-processed for 5 min at 98 °C before a commonly-used RT-qPCR procedure.
Topics & Concepts
Economic shortageSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)Pandemic2019-20 coronavirus outbreakWorkflowMolecular diagnosticsBetacoronavirusVirologyMedicineComputer scienceBiologyInternal medicineBioinformaticsInfectious disease (medical specialty)DiseaseGovernment (linguistics)DatabasePhilosophyOutbreakLinguisticsSARS-CoV-2 detection and testingBiosensors and Analytical DetectionSARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research