Portable and visual assays for the detection of SARS-CoV-2

Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a serious contagious disease that arises from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease is transmitted primarily through droplets transmission, which does not exclude the possibility of transmission through aerosols and digestive tract and other means. The majority of COVID-19 cases present as common and mild, while a few cases progress rapidly to the severe and critical stage, making it more difficult to save the disease. Current laboratory diagnostic approaches for COVID-19 are on the basis of pathogenic tests for viral nucleic acids, serological tests by specific antibody detection, and general tests. For now, Real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) is the gold standard for the detection of COVID-19, but the method is complicated and may have false-negative results. Therefore, in order to diagnose and prevention COVID-19 more effectively, it is needful to develop highly sensitive diagnostic methods with portable instruments and visualized results. This mini-review provides an overview of the current portable and visual assays of detection of COVID-19, in order to achieve early effective and more accurate diagnosis of COVID-19.