Should RT‐PCR be considered a gold standard in the diagnosis of COVID‐19?

2020 Jul 14

This RT‐PCR may increase the positivity rate, depending on the number of repetitions of this test. This shows that different tests could be chosen at each stage of the disease. Nevertheless, the idea is that, for patients clinically suspected of COVID‐19, chest CT is carried out, specific nucleic acids by RT‐PCR, and IgG and IgM antibodies for SARS‐CoV‐2 due to the variable specificity and sensitivity of these test depending on the clinical stage and prevalence. 13

It is crucial to evaluate diagnostic accuracy studies, analytical validity, and testing for agreement in CT, RT‐PCR, and antibodies tests at the different clinical stages. For the moment, whenever possible, it is more useful in clinical practice to evaluate tests by several methods because there is no generally accepted reference standard nor is there a gold test for the diagnosis of COVID‐19

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7361438/