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Review
. 2020 Dec 1:220:121392.
doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2020.121392. Epub 2020 Jul 14.

Diagnostic techniques for COVID-19 and new developments

Elham Sheikhzadeh  1 , Shimaa Eissa  2 , Aziah Ismail  1 , Mohammed Zourob  3
Affiliations
Review

Diagnostic techniques for COVID-19 and new developments

Elham Sheikhzadeh et al. Talanta. .

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global health issue today due to the rapid human to human transmission of SARS-CoV-2, a new type of coronavirus that causes fatal pneumonia. SARS -CoV-2 has a faster rate of transmission than other coronaviruses such as SARS and MERS and until now there are no approved specific drugs or vaccines for treatment. Thus, early diagnosis is crucial to prevent the extensive spread of the disease. The reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the most routinely used method until now to detect SARS-CoV-2 infections. However, several other faster and accurate assays are being developed for the diagnosis of COVID-19 aiming to control the spread of infection through the identification of patients and immediate isolation. In this review, we will discuss the various detection methods of the SARS-CoV-2 virus including the recent developments in immunological assays, amplification techniques as well as biosensors.

Keywords: Biosensors; COVID-19.; Immunological assays.; Molecular methods.; SARS-CoV-2..

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Image 1
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Schematic of COVID-19 transmission and the importance of isolation of infected individuals.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Schematic of diagnostic methods for SARS-CoV-2 detection from respiratory and serum samples.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
a) Lateral flow immunoassay for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG with permission ref [30], b) CRISPR-Cas12DETECTR lateral flow assay for SARS-CoV-2 with permission ref [85].
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
a) Plasmonic photothermal biosensor for SARS-CoV-2 with permission ref [90]. b) FET biosensor for detection SARS-CoV-2 with permission ref [93].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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