Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has gained worldwide attention and has prompted the development of innovative diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines to mitigate the pandemic. Diagnostic methods based on reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technology are the gold standard in the fight against COVID-19. However, this test might not be easily accessible in low-resource settings for the early detection and diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The lack of access to well-equipped clinical laboratories, requirement for the high level of technical competence, and the cost of the RT-PCR test are the major limitations. Moreover, RT-PCR is unsuitable for application at the point-of-care testing (PoCT) as it is time-consuming and lab-based. Due to emerging mutations of the virus and the burden it has placed on the health care systems, there is a growing urgency to develop sensitive, selective, and rapid diagnostic devices for COVID-19. Nanotechnology has emerged as a versatile technology in the production of reliable diagnostic tools for various diseases and offers new opportunities for the development of COVID-19 diagnostic systems. This review summarizes some of the nano-enabled diagnostic systems that were explored for the detection of SARS-CoV-2. It highlights how the unique physicochemical properties of nanoparticles were exploited in the development of novel colorimetric assays and biosensors for COVID-19 at the PoCT. The potential to improve the efficiency of the current assays, as well as the challenges associated with the development of these innovative diagnostic tools, are also discussed.
Highlights
For the first time in decades, the entire world suffered a huge blow served by COVID19, which brought all systems to a standstill for almost 4 months
With the current diagnostic systems, the mild and asymptomatic cases, which account for 80% of the cases, are often misdiagnosed, suggesting that it could be more challenging to suppress the spread of this virus without more efficient diagnostic approaches
The scientific community has been racing to develop improved, sensitive, specific, and rapid SARS-CoV-2 detection devices that could be used for point-of-care testing (PoCT)
Summary
For the first time in decades, the entire world suffered a huge blow served by COVID19, which brought all systems to a standstill for almost 4 months. Other deadly and highly infectious SARS-CoV-2 variants were reported in Brazil, South Africa, and India. At the time, these countries were red-flagged and their citizens were banned from travelling to several countries in Europe and the USA. South Africa, the UK, France, Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Australia, Canada, and Hong Kong, has more mutations and might be more problematic than the other VOC. To combat this disease, effective and reliable diagnostic systems are needed. With the recent advances in nanotechnology having provided a depth of insight and new opportunities for the application of nanomaterials in biological analysis and disease diagnosis, the review further discusses the recently developed nano-based diagnostics, their principles, and future perspectives as companion tools for a future paradigm at the PoC
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