Testing is essential during the early stages of an infectious disease outbreak, and no less so than in the outbreak of the novel 2019 coronavirus.
The threat of this epidemic has called for rapid testing to allow patients to be identified and isolated early, thereby helping to control the spread of the disease more effectively.
Dr Daniel Chu and his team from the School of Public Health designed a test kit that could reliably detect both SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV, the coronavirus that caused the 2003 SARS outbreak, in humans.
As SARS-CoV has been eliminated in Hong Kong, people testing positive with this test kit would be considered to be infected by the novel 2019 coronavirus only.
The test kit was able to detect SARS-CoV-2 in lung samples from two suspected patients.
Early availability of diagnostic tests such as this one during the early stages of the epidemic, has enabled rapid detection of cases, helping to limit the spread of the virus.
To read the original article published in Clinical Chemistry, click here.
