COVID-19 PCR Test Performance for Samples Stored at Ambient Temperature

Agaoglu, Nihat Bugra; Yıldız, Jale; Dogan, Ozlem Akgun; Alkurt, Gizem; Kose, Betsi; Demirkol, Yasemin Kendir; Irvem, Arzu; Doğanay, Levent; Doganay, Gizem Dinler

Background The new type of Coronavirus infection had become a pandemic in a very short period since it was first seen in Wuhan. The outbreak had a negative impact on all health care systems throughout the world and overwhelmed the diagnostic laboratories as well. During the pandemic, handling patient specimens in accordance with the universal guidelines was troublesome as WHO, CDC and ECDC required cold chain compliance during transporting and storing the swap samples. Materials and methods In this study, we tested diagnostic performance of RT-PCR on 30 swab samples stored at ambient temperature and compared them with the samples stored at +4°C. Results Our results revealed that all the samples stored at ambient temperature remain PCR positive for at least five days. We did not see any false negativity. Conclusion In conclusion, we report that transferring and storing of nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal samples at ambient temperature could be possible in the resource-limited conditions like pandemic.