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. 2020 Sep 7;91(3):e2020030. doi: 10.23750/abm.v91i3.10187

Table 1.

Rate of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) positivity in different biological sources collected from patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Biological source Detection rate
Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid >90%
Saliva 80-100%
Sputum 70-80%
Nasopharyngeal AND oropharyngeal swabs 70-80%
Nasal swabs 40-70%
Pharyngeal swabs 30-50%
Stool 30-45%
Throat wash ~30%
Blood 5-20%
Urine 3-9%
Breastmilk <1%
Peritoneal fluid <1%
Semen <1%