Table 3.
Populations eligible to be tested and types of testing used.
| First Author | Population tested | Type of test |
|---|---|---|
| Appa14 | Symptomatic and asymptomatic | Oropharyngeal/midturbinate swab for PCR testing, finger prick blood test for antibody testing |
| Brammer13 | N/A | N/A |
| Chang16 | Symptomatic and asymptomatic | RT-PCR tests of 'specimens' |
| Drees17 | Symptomatic only | Not specified |
| Flynn18 | Unclear/unspecified | ‘In-house COVID-19 test' of nasopharyngeal swabs |
| Goldberg19 | Symptomatic and/or epidemiological link and/or risk factors and/or potential for community exposure | Nasopharyngeal swab collection for RT-PCR analysis |
| Halalau20 | Unclear/unspecified | Nasopharyngeal swab collection for RT-PCR analysis |
| Hill5 | Unclear/unspecified | Combined nose and throat swab |
| Kim21 | Symptomatic only | Swab testing |
| Kim22 | Symptomatic only | Not specified |
| Kwon4 | Symptomatic and asymptomatic | Naso- and oropharyngeal swabs, sputum specimen |
| Kwon23 | Symptomatic and/or epidemiological link and/or risk factors and/or potential for community exposure | Pretesting questionnaire |
| Lee15 | Symptomatic and asymptomatic | Temperature measurements, nasopharyngeal and oral swabs |
| Lin24 | Unclear/unspecified | Nasopharyngeal and oral swab, sputum collection, blood testing for antibodies |
| Lindholm25 | Symptomatic and/or epidemiological link and/or risk factors and/or potential for community exposure | Screening questionnaire followed by nasopharyngeal swab collection for RT-PCR analysis for those with symptoms or epidemiological link |
| Manauis26 | Symptomatic and/or epidemiological link and/or risk factors and/or potential for community exposure | Swab testing |
| Mark6 | Unclear/unspecified | Not specified |
| Ministry of Foreign Affairs12 | Unclear/unspecified | Upper respiratory tract sample (all), lower respiratory tract sample (only if participant can expectorate sputum alone into a container) |
| Rivkees27 | Symptomatic and asymptomatic | PCR and antibody testing |
| Seo28 | Unclear/unspecified | Questionnaire followed by sample collection for RT-PCR testing |
| Shah29 | Symptomatic and/or epidemiological link and/or risk factors and/or potential for community exposure | Originally naso- and oropharyngeal swab, later solely nasopharyngeal swab for reverse transcription (RT)-PCR testing (following Centre for Disease Prevention and Control [CDC] advice) |
| Ton30 | Unclear/unspecified | Nasal swab |