Table 2.
specimens | sites | viral loads or positive rates | process procedures | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
throat/pharyngeal/oropharyngeal swab | upper respiratory tract | 32% a 44.2% b |
nasopharyngeal or throat swab specimens can induce coughing and sneezing, which generates aerosol and is a potential health hazard for health-care workers | NA |
nasal swab | 63% a | |||
posterior oropharyngeal saliva (deep throat saliva) | highest during the first week after symptom onset then declined with time | brought up by a throat-clearing manoeuvre |
To et al. (2020a) To et al. (2020b) To et al. (2019) |
|
deep sputum induced sputum |
lower respiratory tract | 72% a 76.9% b |
induced sputum (ie, 10 mL of 3% hypertonic saline was inhaled through a mask with oxygen at a flow rate of 6 L/min for 20 min or until the sputum was produced) | Han et al. (2020) |
BALF (bronchoalveolar lavage fluid) | 93% a | NA | NA | |
feces | NA | 29% a | ||
rectal swabs | NA | To et al. (2020a) | ||
blood | 1% a | NA | ||
urine | 0% a 73.6% c | |||
fibrobronchoscope brush biopsy | 46% a | |||
aerosols | environmental contamination | NA | generated with the use of a three-jet Collison nebulizer and fed into a Goldberg drum to create an aerosolized environment | Ong et al. (2020) |
other abiotic material surface (copper, cardboard, plastic and stainless steel etc.) | NA |
Means RT-qPCR positive rates from ref. (Wang et al., 2020b).
Means RT-qPCR positive rates from ref. (Lin et al., 2020).
Means detected nucleocapsid protein in urine in 73.6% of diagnosed COVID-19 patients (Diao et al., 2020). NA: not available.