Molecular diagnosis of COVID‑19: Current situation and trend in China (Review)

Li,Ning; Wang,Pengtao; Wang,Xinyue; Geng,Chenhao; Chen,Jiale; Gong,Yanhua

doi:10.3892/etm.2020.9142

Molecular diagnosis of COVID‑19: Current situation and trend in China (Review)

Authors:
- Ning Li
- Pengtao Wang
- Xinyue Wang
- Chenhao Geng
- Jiale Chen
- Yanhua Gong
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Affiliations: Institute of Disaster Medicine, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300070, P.R. China, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Disaster Medicine Technology, Tianjin 300072, P.R. China
Published online on: August 25, 2020 https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2020.9142
Article Number: 13
Copyright: © Li et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

COVID‑19 is caused by a novel coronavirus (2019‑nCoV or SARS‑CoV‑2) and has become a global public health emergency. Rapid and accurate molecular diagnostic technologies are crucial for the screening, isolation, treatment, prevention and control of COVID‑19. Currently, nucleic acid detection‑based techniques and rapid diagnostic tests that detect antigens or antibodies specific to 2019‑nCoV infections are the primary diagnostic tools. China National Medical Products Administration has opened a special channel for approval of new pharmaceuticals owing to urgent clinical needs, with 18 nucleic acid detection kits, 11 protein detection kits and 1 sequencing‑related equipment and supporting software having been approved until April 23, 2020. The current review summarizes the application situation, advantages, disadvantages and associated technology improvement trends of molecular diagnostics for COVID‑19 in China, identifies knowledge gaps and indicates future priorities for research in this field. The most effective way to prevent and control COVID‑19 is early detection, diagnosis, isolation and treatment. In the clinical application of molecular diagnosis technology, it is necessary to combine pathogenic microbiology, immunology and other associated detection technologies, advocate the combination of multiple technologies, determine how they complement each other, enhance practicability and improve the ability of rapid and accurate diagnosis and differential diagnosis of COVID‑19.

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