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Aim  To compare different pooling methods in an attempt to improve the COVID-19 PCR diagnostic capacities.    Method  We developed a novel information-dependent pooling protocol ( indept ), based on transmission of less informative sequential pools on to the next pooling cycle to maximize savings. We then compared it to the  halving ,  generalized halving ,  splitting  and  hypercube  protocols in a simulation study, across variety of scenarios.    Results  All five methods yielded various amount of test savings, which mostly depended on the virus prevalence in the population. In situations of low prevalence (up to 5%),  indept  had the best performance, requiring on average 20% of tests needed for singular testing across scenarios that were analyzed. Nevertheless, this comes at the expense of speed, with the worst-case scenario of  indept  protocol requiring up to twice the time needed to test the same number of samples in comparison to the  hypercube  protocol. In order to offset this, we developed a faster version of the protocol ( indeptSp ), which minimizes the number of terminal pools and manages to retain savings compared to other protocols, despite marginally longer processing times.    Conclusion  The increasing demand for more testing globally can benefit from application of pooling, especially in resource-restrained situations of the low- and middle-income countries or situations of high testing demand. Singular testing in situations of low prevalence should be systematically discouraged.

journal of global health

Optimizing the diagnostic capacity for COVID-19 PCR testing for low resource and high demand settings: The development of information-dependent pooling protocol