Proposal for standardization of 2019-nCoV nucleic acid detection in clinical laboratories

ABSTRACT

In December, the outbreak of a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Wuhan, China, has attracted extensive global attention. On January 20, 2020, the Chinese health authorities upgraded the coronavirus to a Class B infectious disease in the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, and considered it as Class A infectious diseases in disease control and prevention. On January 18, 2020, the 2019-nCoV nucleic acid detection test was listed as the diagnostic criteria in the "guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of pneumonia due to 2019-nCoV (Trial Version 2)". Therefore, standardizing the operation process of the 2019-nCoV nucleic acid detection in clinical laboratories has become a top priority. It is of paramount importance to establish standard protocols for detection of the 2019-nCoV nucleic acids in clinical laboratories to improve the reliability of the results and ensure the biosafety of laboratory personnel.