On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) assessed COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, as a pandemic. As of June 1, 2020, SARS-CoV-2 has had a documented effect of over 6 million cases world-wide, amounting to over 370,000 deaths (World Health Organization, 2020. Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Situation. http://https://covid19.who.int/). Consequently, the high demand for testing has resulted in a depletion of commercially available consumables, including the recommended swabs and viral transport media (VTM) required for nasopharyngeal sampling. Therefore, the potential use of unvalidated alternatives must be explored to address the global shortage of testing supplies. To tackle this issue, we evaluated the utility of different swabs and transport mediums for the molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2. This study compared the performance of six swabs commonly found in primary and tertiary health care settings (PurFlock Ultra, FLOQSwab, Puritan Pur-Wraps cotton tipped applicators, Puritan polyester tipped applicators, MedPro 6” cotton tipped applicators, and HOLOGIC Aptima) for their efficacy in testing for SARS-CoV-2. Separately, the molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2 was completed from different transport mediums (DMEM, PBS, 100 % ethanol, 0.9 % normal saline and VTM), which were kept up to three days at room temperature (RT). The results indicate that there is no meaningful difference in viral yield from different swabs and most transport mediums for the collection and detection of SARS-CoV-2, indicating swab and medium alternatives could be used if supplies run out.

2020年3月11日，世界卫生组织（WHO）将由SARS-CoV-2引起的COVID-19评估为大流行病。截至2020年6月1日，SARS-CoV-2在全球范围内已造成超过600万例病例的记录，造成超过370,000例死亡（世界卫生组织，2020年。新型冠状病毒（COVID-19）的状况。http：// /https://covid19.who.int/）。因此，对测试的高需求导致消耗了市售的消耗品，其中包括鼻咽采样所需的推荐拭子和病毒运输介质（VTM）。因此，必须探索未验证替代品的潜在用途，以解决全球测试用品短缺的问题。为了解决此问题，我们评估了不同的拭子和运输介质在SARS-CoV-2分子检测中的效用。这项研究比较了在初级和三级医疗机构中常见的六支棉签（PurFlock Ultra，FLOQSwab，Puritan Pur-Wraps棉签，MedPro 6”棉签和HOLOGIC Aptima）的功效。正在测试SARS-CoV-2。另外，SARS-CoV-2的分子检测是通过不同的运输介质（DMEM，PBS，100％乙醇，0.9％生理盐水和VTM）完成的，这些介质在室温（RT）下保存最多三天。结果表明，从不同拭子和大多数运输培养基采集和检测SARS-CoV-2的病毒产量没有有意义的差异，这表明如果供应不足，可以使用拭子和培养基替代品。