COVID‐19 Clinical Diagnostics and Testing Technology

Chau, Cindy H.; Strope, Jonathan D.; Figg, William D.

Given the global nature of the COVID‐19 pandemic, the need for disease detection and expanding testing capacity remains a critical priority. This review discusses the technological advances in testing capability and methodology that are currently employed or in development for detecting the novel coronavirus. We describe the current clinical diagnostics and technology, including molecular and serological testing approaches, for SARS‐CoV‐2 testing as well as address their advantages and limitations. Nucleic acid amplification technology for molecular diagnostics remains the gold standard for virus detection. We highlight alternative molecular detection techniques used for developing novel COVID‐19 diagnostics on the horizon. Antibody response against SARS‐CoV‐2 remains poorly understood and proper validation of serology tests is necessary to demonstrate their accuracy and clinical utility. In order to bring the pandemic under control, we must speed up the development of rapid and widespread testing through improvements in clinical diagnostics and testing technology as well as access to these tools.