Publication date: Oct 01, 2025
Precise, rapid and accessible diagnostic testing is required to limit the spread of SARS-CoV2 during outbreaks and enable timely care provision to those infected. The CovidNudge point-of-care (POC) reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was adapted for this purpose in early 2020. [3] Our hospital in Melbourne, Australia currently uses the cobas(R) Liat(R) POC test to diagnose SARS-CoV-2 in our emergency department. The aim of this study was to assess the test agreement between the CovidNudge and Liat(R), and comment on the usability of the CovidNudge. We analysed 65 nasal swabs that returned a valid result on both POC tests. The overall percent agreement was 84. 62 % (95 % CI 73. 9-91. 4 %), the positive percent agreement was 72. 97 % (95 % CI 57-84. 6 %) and the negative percent agreement was 100 % (95 % CI 87. 9-100 %). Our laboratory-based PCR agreed with the CovidNudge in half of the discordant samples. The median cycle threshold recorded by the Liat(R) of discordant samples was delayed (33. 1, minimum 29. 09, maximum 35. 39) compared to that of the concordant samples (19. 09, minimum 13. 84, maximum 27. 52). The CovidNudge is easy to use, however it takes much longer to run a single test than the Liat(R). Pooled samples for use in asymptomatic screening and the expansion of the number of targets have been proposed and may increase the real world applicability of the CovidNudge.
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | emergency |
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 |
| disease | IDO | nucleic acid |