As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic sweeps across the world, the availability of viral transport medium (VTM) has become severely limited, contributing to delays in diagnosis and rationing of diagnostic testing. Given that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) viral RNA has demonstrated stability, we posited that phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) may be a viable transport medium, as an alternative to VTM, for clinical real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) testing. The intra-individual reliability and interindividual reliability of SARS-CoV-2 qPCR were assessed in clinical endotracheal secretion samples transported in VTM or PBS to evaluate the stability of the qPCR signal for three viral targets (N gene, ORF1ab, and S gene) when samples were stored in these media at room temperature for up to 18 hours. We report that the use of PBS as a transport medium allows high intra-individual and interindividual reliability, maintains viral stability, and compares with VTM in the detection of the three SARS-CoV-2 genes through 18 hours of storage. This study establishes PBS as a clinically useful medium that can be readily deployed for transporting and short-term preservation of specimens containing SARS-CoV-2. Use of PBS as a transport medium has the potential to increase testing capacity for SARS-CoV-2, aiding more widespread screening and early diagnosis of COVID-19.

随着2019年冠状病毒疾病（COVID-19）大流行在全球范围内蔓延，病毒运输介质（VTM）的可用性已受到严重限制，导致诊断的延迟和诊断测试的定量分配。鉴于严重急性呼吸系统综合症冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）病毒RNA已显示出稳定性，我们认为磷酸盐缓冲盐水（PBS）可能是可行的转运介质，可以替代VTM用于临床实时定量PCR（qPCR）测试。在VTM或PBS中运输的临床气管内分泌样品中评估了SARS-CoV-2 qPCR的个体内可靠性和个体间可靠性，以评估三个病毒靶标（N基因，ORF1ab和S）的qPCR信号的稳定性当样品在室温下于这些培养基中保存长达18小时时。我们报告说，使用PBS作为运输介质可实现较高的个体内和个体间可靠性，保持病毒稳定性，并通过18小时的存储与VTM相比，检测了三个SARS-CoV-2基因。这项研究将PBS建立为一种临床上有用的介质，可以很容易地将其用于包含SARS-CoV-2的标本的运输和短期保存。使用PBS作为运输介质有可能提高SARS-CoV-2的检测能力，有助于更广泛地筛选和早期诊断COVID-19。