Table 1.

Country wise summary of COVID RT-PCR protocols published by public health and research labs.

Country	Institute	Gene targets	Reference
Germany	Charité	RdRP, E, N	https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/protocol-v2-1.pdf?sfvrsn=a9ef618c_2
China	China CDC	ORF1ab and N	http://ivdc.chinacdc.cn/kyjz/202001/t20200121_211337.html
Hong Kong SAR	HKU	ORF1b-nsp14, N	https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/peiris-protocol-16-1-20.pdf?sfvrsn=af1aac73_4
Japan	National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Department of Virology III	Pancorona and multiple targets, spike protein	https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/method-niid-20200123-2.pdf?sfvrsn=fbf75320_7
Thailand	National Institutes of Health	N	https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/conventional-rt-pcr-followed-by-sequencing-fordetection-of-ncov-rirl-nat-inst-health-t.pdf?sfvrsn=42271c6d_4
Indiaa	Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India	RdRp, E and N.	http://psa.gov.in/sites/default/files/pdf/Handbook_COVID19_Research_Institutions.pdf
USAb	US CDC	Three targets in N	https://www.fda.gov/media/134922/download
France	Institut Pasteur, Paris	Two targets in RdRP	https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/real-time-rt-pcr-assays-for-the-detection-of-sars-cov-2-institut-pasteur-paris.pdf?sfvrsn=3662fcb6_2

CDC, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention; ORF, open reading frame.

^aPrincipal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India; update effective from April 11, 2020.

^bCDC updates effective from March 15, 2020.