Table 1. Real-time PCR assays considered in the study, Ireland, June 2020 (n = 9 assays).
| Assay | Number of laboratories | Number of gene targets | Genes targeted | Total datasets generated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeneXpert (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, California, United States) | 6 | 2 | E gene N gene |
12 |
| Logix Smart (Co-Diagnostics, Inc, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States) | 2 | 1 | RdRp gene | 2 |
| Cobas 4800 (Roche Diagnostics, Basel, Switzerland) | 2 | 2 | ORF1a/b E gene |
4 |
| RealStar (Altona DiagnosticsGmbH, Hamburg, Germany) | 1 | 1 | E gene | 1 |
| genesig (Primerdesign, Southampton, Hants, United Kingdom) | 4 | 1 | ORF1a/b | 4 |
| RespiBio (Serosep, Limerick, Ireland) | 2 | 1 | RdRp gene | 2 |
| VIASURE (CerTest Biotec, Zaragoza, Spain) | 3 | 2 | ORF1a/b N gene |
3 (2 genes combined) |
| Abbott RealTime SARS-CoV-2 (Abbott Park, Illinois, United States) | 1 | 2 | RdRp gene N gene |
1 (2 genes combined) |
| Allplex SARS-CoV-2 (Seegene, Seoul, South Korea) | 1 | 3 | RdRp gene N gene E gene |
3 |
E: envelope; N: nucleocapsid; ORF: open reading frame; RdRp: RNA-dependent RNA polymerase; SARS-CoV-2: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.