SARS-CoV-2 Diagnostic Testing Protocol

Clinical specimens for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic testing were obtained in accordance with WHO guidelines [13 ]. Nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab specimens were collected with synthetic fiber swabs; each swab was inserted into a separate sterile tube containing 2 to 3 ml of viral transport medium (QIAGEN). RNA extraction was preformed using QIAamp Viral RNA Mini Kit (QIAGEN, Cat#52906) as per the manufacturer’s instructions. The extracted RNA was immediately used for testing the presence of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid using the real time RT-PCR protocol [14 (link)] recommended by National institute of virology, Pune, India, using Super Script™ III Platinum® One-Step Quantitative Kit (Invitrogen, Cat. No.11732088) [15 (link)].