Evaluation of RdRp & ORF-1b-nsp14-based real-time RT-PCR assays for confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 infection: An observational study

[...]with increase in the number of suspected cases, testing for two confirmatory genes would utilize more time, consumables and workforce. [...]there is an urgent need to revisit the strategy of using two confirmatory genes. Because ORF-1b-nsp14 primer set has been reported to be more sensitive, adding an additional probe specific to SARS-CoV-2 tagged with a fluorescent dye (which is different from the dye used for tagging the already available probe which can detect both SARS-CoV-1 and CoV-2) might provide more information. [...]a modified duplex ORF-1b-nsp14-based assay with an additional probe might be able to add more specificity to the assay in detecting SARS-CoV-2. [...]the present study suggests a modified diagnostic algorithm for qRT-PCR-based diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 in public health laboratories in India which will be cost-effective.