FAst and SimplE COVID-19 Causing Virus SARS-CoV-2 Detection

Clinical study using biological material. The group of subjects in the study is represented by 100 male and female patients hospitalized with COVID-19 symptomatology and 100 non-hospitalized subjects with suspected COVID-19 diagnosis for a total of 200 patients.

The expected recruitment time is about 6 months. Each patient will be carried out a nasopharyngeal swab in UTM medium™ which will be tested according to the diagnostic procedure in use, a second nasopharyngeal swab resuspended in MSwab™ and a third oral dry swab that will be transported to the laboratory of Clinical Microbiology and Virology of UNIMIB and resuspersed in the MSwab™ transport medium. The samples will then be treated according to the new workflow defined by the pilot study, i.e. optimization of alternative sample transport systems, in combination with a rapid method of viral RNA extraction, and evaluation of viral inactivation at the end of the extraction phase, by viral culture at the BSL3 laboratory of the Virology laboratory of the University of Milan.

The samples collected and transported on UTM™ medium will be sent to the Microbiology Laboratory of the ASST of Monza and analyzed through the NIMBUS-Seegene platform as per diagnostic routine.

The residual volume of the UTM™ medium sample and all remaining samples taken by each patient will be sent to the Laboratory of Microbiology and Clinical Virology of the University of Milano-Bicocca to be processed through the new preanalytic method in combination with different analytical kits.

A percentage of each sample will be sent to the Virology Laboratory of the University of Milan for testing using the analytical protocol suggested by the CDC.

The study samples will also be used for the validation of a new innovative analytical test for SARS-CoV-2, in Real-Time Multiplex One- Step PCR, developed to be combined with the preanalytic process with thermal extraction, fast and low cost, with high-throughput automation.

All residual volumes of the samples in the study, and related nucleic acids, will be rated and stored in Bio-Bank according to international "standard operating procedures" the validation of further and/or new diagnostic tests for the search for for SARS-CoV-2 (ASST PG23 in collaboration with BBMRI.it).

Inclusion criteria

• Patients admitted to the U.O. of Infectious Diseases of the San Gerardo Hospital in Monza with documented COVID-19 symptomatology;
• COVID-19 asymptomatic or post-hospital discharge;
• People of legal age;
• Patients who agree to participate have given their consent by signing a specially prepared form.

Exclusion criteria

• none