Comparative Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Kits

Two different SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR kits were used. The RealStar^® SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR kit (Altona Diagnostics, Hamburg, Germany) with a detection limit of 625 copies/mL which targets S (spike) and E (envelope) genes of SARS-CoV-2. The Alinity m SARS-CoV-2 Assay (Abbott Laboratories, Chicago, IL, USA), which targets RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and nucleocapsid (N) genes, with a detection limit of 50 copies/mL, was also used. Samples in which SARS-CoV-2 could not be detected up to a cycle threshold (ct) of 43 were considered negative. Both tests were performed according to manufacturer’s instructions [19 (link),20 (link)].