Open AccessCOVID‐19 diagnostic testing: Technology perspective
Author(s) -
Xu Meng,
Wang Dan,
Wang Hongye,
Zhang Xiaomei,
Liang Te,
Dai Jiayu,
Li Meng,
Zhang Jiahui,
Zhang Kai,
Xu Danke,
Yu Xiaobo
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
clinical and translational medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.125
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 2001-1326
DOI - 10.1002/ctm2.158
Subject(s) - covid-19 , diagnostic test , medicine , virology , disease , coronavirus , transmission (telecommunications) , identification (biology) , population , intensive care medicine , biology , computer science , infectious disease (medical specialty) , environmental health , pathology , pediatrics , telecommunications , botany
The corona virus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) is a highly contagious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2). More than 18 million people were infected with a total of 0.7 million deaths in ∼188 countries. Controlling the spread of SARS‐CoV‐2 is therefore inherently dependent on identifying and isolating infected individuals, especially since COVID‐19 can result in little to no symptoms. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of the different primary technologies used to test for COVID‐19 infection, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each technology, and highlight the studies that have employed them. We also describe technologies that have the potential to accelerate SARS‐CoV‐2 detection in the future, including digital PCR, CRISPR, and microarray. Finally, remaining challenges in COVID‐19 diagnostic testing are discussed, including (a) the lack of universal standards for diagnostic testing; (b) the identification of appropriate sample collection site(s); (c) the difficulty in performing large population screening; and (d) the limited understanding of SARS‐COV‐2 viral invasion, replication, and transmission.