Rapid diagnostics for SARS-CoV-2 virus: point-of-care testing and lessons learned during the pandemic Comment

The COVID-19 pandemic originated from an outbreak of novel coronavirus in Wuhan City, in the Hubei Provence of China, in late 2019. The virus was later named severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2, in February 2020. More than a year into the pandemic (at the time we write this article in May 2021), the world is still struggling with testing, isolating clusters, curfews and lockdowns as there is a lack of an efficient antiviral for SARS-CoV-2 and the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines is still a work in progress. The pandemic is currently in it's third wave. This commentary article focuses on early, onsite and rapid detection, such as point-of-care (POC) diagnostics of SARS-Cov-2. POC serology tests, namely antibodies-related tests are not discussed in this viewpoint as they are not applicable for early detection of SARS-Cov-2 due to the antibody's long-overdue presentation response (whic can commence at 2 weeks or later) int the majority of cases after exhibiting symptoms.