Nose and throat swab samples taken at admission from patients in the point-of-care testing group were tested with the QIAstat-Dx Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Panel.  Between March 20 and April 29, 2020, 517 patients were assessed for eligibility, of whom 499 were recruited to the point-of-care testing group and tested by the QIAstat-Dx Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Panel. 
QIAstat-Dx Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Panel
The management of the COVID-19 pandemic is hampered by long delays associated with centralised laboratory PCR testing.  Samples taken from patients in a contemporaneous control group were tested by laboratory PCR.  555 contemporaneously identified patients were included in the control group and tested by laboratory PCR.  Point-of-care testing is associated with large reductions in time to results and could lead to improvements in infection control measures and patient flow compared with centralised laboratory PCR testing.



PCR