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. 2020 Jul;25(27):2001223.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.27.2001223.

International external quality assessment for SARS-CoV-2 molecular detection and survey on clinical laboratory preparedness during the COVID-19 pandemic, April/May 2020

Veerle Matheeussen  1   2 , Victor M Corman  3   2 , Oliver Donoso Mantke  4   2 , Elaine McCulloch  4 , Christine Lammens  1 , Herman Goossens  1 , Daniela Niemeyer  3 , Paul S Wallace  4 , Paul Klapper  5 , Hubert Gm Niesters  6 , Christian Drosten  3 , Margareta Ieven  1 ; RECOVER project and collaborating networks  7
Affiliations

International external quality assessment for SARS-CoV-2 molecular detection and survey on clinical laboratory preparedness during the COVID-19 pandemic, April/May 2020

Veerle Matheeussen et al. Euro Surveill. 2020 Jul.

Abstract

Laboratory preparedness with quality-assured diagnostic assays is essential for controlling the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. We conducted an external quality assessment study with inactivated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) samples to support clinical laboratories with a proficiency testing option for molecular assays. To analyse SARS-CoV-2 testing performance, we used an online questionnaire developed for the European Union project RECOVER to assess molecular testing capacities in clinical diagnostic laboratories.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; external quality assessment (EQA); laboratory preparedness; laboratory testing; molecular detection; novel coronavirus; outbreak control.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared.

References

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