Strengthening of Molecular Diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19 with a Special Focus on India

Strengthening of Molecular Diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19 with a Special Focus on India

Vivek Kumar Gupta, Rajesh Chaudhary, Raj Kumar Singh, Kuldeep Dhama, Ruchi Tiwari, Senthilkumar Natesan, Sandip Kumar Khurana, Ragini Bhatia

Severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), a novel coronavirus initially reportedin Wuhan, China, is the causative agent of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Symptoms of thedisease comprise of fever, tiredness, dry cough, aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sorethroat, diarrhoea and pneumonia at the late stage. SARS-CoV-2 has severely crippled the healthcaresystem and has caused huge economic losses. Following the outbreak, the SARS-CoV-2 was recognizedtimely and its genome was sequenced, leading to the development of real-time polymerase chainreaction assays for its detection in clinical samples collected from suspected cases. The management ofthe pandemic is limited by a number of misconceptions and insufficient information about laboratorytesting for SARS-CoV-2 to confirm the disease. This includes a lack of awareness about proceduresfor the collection, transport, testing, and handling of biological samples for COVID diagnosis. Thisarticle provides an overview of the current laboratory diagnostic methods with a purpose to provideinformation and guidance to laboratories, stakeholders, broader community and especially publichealth professionals involved in laboratory testing for SARS-CoV-2.

2020

prevention, control, Molecular diagnosis, RT-PCR, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19

DOI: 10.22207/JPAM.14.SPL1.16

Journal of Pure and Applied Microbiology

Journal of Pure and Applied Microbiology

Microbiology