The emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), represents a public health emergency of unprecedented proportion. The global containment efforts have been focused on testing, tracing of contacts and treatment (isolation) of those found COVID-19 positive. Since the whole genome sequences of a number of strains of this novel RNA virus were available in the public domain by early January 2020, a number of real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) protocols were designed and used for diagnosis of this infection. Most RT-PCRs are designed for qualitative COVID-19 reporting (SARS-CoV-2 detected or not detected), but have been used for semi-quantitative estimation of viral load based on cycle threshold value. Our manuscript discusses the utility of quantitative PCR testing for COVID-19 and its patient management benefits.


中文翻译：

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SARS-CoV-2 的定量 RT-PCR 能否帮助更好地管理患者和控制 2019 年冠状病毒病大流行


SARS-CoV-2（2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）的病原体）的出现代表了前所未有的突发公共卫生事件。全球遏制工作的重点是检测、追踪接触者和治疗（隔离）那些发现 COVID-19 呈阳性的人。由于到 2020 年 1 月初，这种新型 RNA 病毒的许多毒株的全基因组序列已在公共领域可用，因此设计了许多实时聚合酶链反应 (RT-PCR) 方案并用于诊断这种感染. 大多数 RT-PCR 设计用于定性 COVID-19 报告（检测到或未检测到 SARS-CoV-2），但已用于基于循环阈值的病毒载量半定量估计。