A rapid colloidal gold immunochromatographic assay for the diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019

Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19),caused by a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2(SARS-CoV-2),which can lead to pneumonia and severe acute respiratory syndrome,continues to spread across the globe.[1]Due to strict precautionary measures,the epidemic situation of COVID-19 has been initially controlled in China.However,the numbers of confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 and deaths are increasing in other countries.In fact,the SARS-CoV-2 is more contagious than severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus(SARS-CoV)[2]and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus(MERSCoV).[3]Therefore,the rapid and accurate identification of pathogenic viruses plays a vital role in controlling epidemics.Computed tomography imaging and some hematologic parameters are the initial markers for COVID-19 infection,[4,5]while viral nucleic acid detection by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction is used as a gold standard for the clinical diagnosis of suspected cases.