INTRODUCTION: There are more than 350 RT-PCR COVID-19 testing kits commercially available but these kits has not been evaluated for pooled sample testing. Thus, this study was planned to compare and evaluate seven commercially available kits for pooled samples testing. METHODS: Diagnostic accuracy of (1) TRUPCR SARS-CoV-2 Kit (Black Bio, India) (2) TaqPath RT-PCR COVID-19 Kit (Thermo Fisher, USA) (3) Allplex 2019-nCOV Assay (See gene, Korea), (4) Patho detect COVID-19 PCR kit (My Lab, India) (5) LabGun COVID-19 RT-PCR Kit (Lab Genomics, Korea) (6) Fosun COVID-19 RT-PCR detection kit (Fosun Ltd, China) (7) Real time Fluorescent RT PCR kit for SARS CoV - 2 (BGI, china) was evaluated on pre characterised 40 positive and 10 negative COVID-19 sample pools. RESULTS: All seven kits detected all sample pool with low Ct value (<30). While testing weak positive pooled samples with high Ct value (>30); TRUPCR Kit, TaqPath Kit, Allplex Assay and BGI RT PCR kit showed 100% sensitivity, specificity and accuracy. However; Fosun kit, LabGun Kit and Patho detect kit could detect only 90%, 85% and 75% of weak positive samples respectively. CONCLUSION: We conclude that all seven commercially available RT-PCR kits included in this study can be used for routine molecular diagnosis of COVID-19. While performing pooled sample testing it might be advisable to use those kits that performed best regarding the positive identification in samples pool i.e. TRUPCR SARS-CoV-2 Kit, TaqPath RT-PCR COVID-19 Kit, Allplex 2019-nCOV Assay and BGI Real time RT PCR kit for detecting SARS CoV - 2. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Evaluation of seven commercial RT-PCR kits for COVID-19 testing in pooled clinical specimens