ReviewRNA (New York, N.Y.)2020
Overcoming the bottleneck to widespread testing: a rapid review of nucleic acid testing approaches for COVID-19 detection.
Review in RNA (New York, N.Y.), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 265 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
265 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Use of CRISPR-Cas Systems for Viral Detection: A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Review.Biosensors · 2025Pooled it
- Laboratory-based molecular test alternatives to RT-PCR for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Diagnostic value of BinaxNOW antigen card for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2.Bioengineered · 2023Pooled it
- An ultrafast SARS-CoV-2 virus enrichment and extraction method compatible with multiple modalities for RNA detection.Analytica chimica acta · 2021Trial
- Nonenzymatic Detection of SARS-CoV‑2 RNA Using DNA Nanoswitches.ACS nano medicine · 2026Article
- Evaluation of Universal Biomolecular Medium for Molecular Detection of Respiratory Viruses: A Paired, Multi-Platform Comparison.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Substrate Recognition Governs Reverse Transcriptase Resistance to Diagnostic Inhibitors in RT-qPCR.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Non-enzymatic conversion of RNA sequence information into DNA by squaramide ligation for accurate RNA quantification.Communications chemistry · 2026Article
- CRISPR-based dual-mode lateral flow assay driven by magnetic SERS tags for highly sensitive detection of respiratory viruses.Mikrochimica acta · 2026Article
- High-temperature ssBP-LAMP breaks the barrier of nonspecific amplification and unlocks the full potential of LAMP diagnostics.Cellular & molecular biology letters · 2026Article
- Article
- Enhancing COVID-19 Screening Models With Epidemiological and Mobility Features: Machine-Learning Model Study.JMIR AI · 2026Article
- The impact of heat inactivation on RT-qPCR detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2): an experience from the University Clinical Centre of Vojvodina, SerbiaArhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju · 2025Article
- GenPad: A Highly Efficient Roadmap for the Development of a New Rapid, Highly Sensitive, and Portable Point-of-Care Testing System for Nucleic Acid Diagnostics in Japan.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Modified Bis-pyrimidine Clamps for Triplex Formation and Their Use in SARS-CoV‑2 Detection.ACS omega · 2025Article
- Diagnostic accuracy of artificial intelligence-based multi-spectrum analysis for molecular fingerprint detection of SARS-CoV-2.Medicine · 2025Observational
- The establishment and optimization of aMicrobiology spectrum · 2025Article
- Portable molecular diagnostic platform for rapid point-of-care detection of mpox and other diseases.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Advances in Virus Biorecognition and Detection Techniques for the Surveillance and Prevention of Infectious Diseases.Biosensors · 2025Review
- Rapid and comprehensive detection of viral antibodies and nucleic acids via an acoustofluidic integrated molecular diagnostics chip: AIMDx.Science advances · 2025Article
205 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The current COVID-19 pandemic presents a serious public health crisis, and a better understanding of the scope and spread of the virus would be aided by more widespread testing. Nucleic-acid-based tests currently offer the most sensitive and early detection of COVID-19. However, the "gold standard" test pioneered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention takes several hours to complete and requires extensive human labor, materials such as RNA extraction kits that could become in short supply, and relatively scarce qPCR machines. It is clear that a huge effort needs to be made to scale up current COVID-19 testing by orders of magnitude. There is thus a pressing need to evaluate alternative protocols, reagents, and approaches to allow nucleic-acid testing to continue in the face of these potential shortages. There has been a tremendous explosion in the number of papers written within the first weeks of the pandemic evaluating potential advances, comparable reagents, and alternatives to the "gold-standard" CDC RT-PCR test. Here we present a collection of these recent advances in COVID-19 nucleic acid testing, including both peer-reviewed and preprint articles. Due to the rapid developments during this crisis, we have included as many publications as possible, but many of the cited sources have not yet been peer-reviewed, so we urge researchers to further validate results in their own laboratories. We hope that this review can urgently consolidate and disseminate information to aid researchers in designing and implementing optimized COVID-19 testing protocols to increase the availability, accuracy, and speed of widespread COVID-19 testing.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.