Table 1.

Comparison between PCR and LAMP based methods of viral RNA detection. Table adapted from Nguyen et al (2020).

PCR	LAMP
Bulky and cumbersome	Smaller, simpler, portable.
Specialised thermal cyclers required	Only a heat block is required
4–8 h until result	1 h until result
Requires skilled technicians	Requires no specific skill
Requires an additional reverse transcription step	Can be performed directly on RNA
Unstable reactions prone to inhibitors requiring purification steps	Stable and inhibitors tolerated, and thus purification steps not required
Detects DNA	Detects DNA and RNA
Tested on patient samples	Less tested on patient samples