Role of Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2 assay in emergency patient care: Experience from a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

The pandemic of coronavirus disease gripped whole of the world, knowing no boundaries. The virus attained proficient human-to-human transmission owing to the low fidelity of RNA-dependent reverse transcriptase (RdRp). Besides the symptomatic patients, asymptomatic carriage became greater matter of concern, underlining the connotation of early diagnosis. The same is pertinent not only to curtail the transmission, but also to prevent the delay in management of patients necessitating emergency interventional care for other medical/surgical conditions. However, the patient care cannot be conceded awaiting the COVID status of patients using RT-PCR, which has turnaround time (TAT) of 6-8 hours. To combat this situation, FDA verified emergence use authorization (EUA) for rapid and POCT tests like Cepheid GeneXpert, Hologic Panther Fusion SARS-CoV-2 assay, GenMark ePlex SARS-CoV-2 assay and Abott ID Now. In our tertiary care centre, in order to divulge COVID status of all the patients presenting to emergency, Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2 assay with TAT of 45 minutes was deployed 24 x7, to prevent the delay in management.