Evaluation of Abbott ID-NOW Rapid Assay with Real-Time Reverse Transcription PCR Assay for Detection of SARS-CoV-2

Rapid nucleic acid assays have been approved by FDA for managing the COVID-19 pandemic, however its analytical efficiency has not been thoroughly validated. This study evaluates the detection and identification of COVID-19 virus using Abbott ID-Now to rapidly identify cases and intervention practices in comparison to nucleic acid detection. Nasopharyngeal Swabs collected from 611 participants were tested for Abbott ID-NOW and LabGun COVID-19 ExoFast RT-PCR Kit as per manufacturer’s protocol. The results from the ID NOW™ COVID-19 assay were evaluated by comparing results with the standard RT-PCR, which served as a standard reference. The infection burden of SARS-CoV-2 in the population of UAE was 11.62%. Compared to detection using real time-based platforms, the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of the ID-Now were 84.51%, 99.81%, 98.36% and 98.00% respectively for COVID-19. A stratified analysis was also carried out using cycle threshold (Ct) values categorizing as Ct>33 as with low viral loads while those with Ct