TABLE 1.

Evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of SARS‐CoV‐2 detection technology

Subjects that based	Method	Reaction time	Advantages	Disadvantages
Diagnostic Medical Imaging	CT	About 1 h	More accurate in determining disease status	Cannot be distinguished from other viral pneumonia
	Artificial intelligence: CT combined with algorithm‐based deep learning	Same as CT	Diagnostic capability based on continuous optimization of algorithms	AI recognition models need to pass a certain time in training, and the technical requirements are high
Nucleic acid‐based molecular biology diagnostics	Next‐generation sequencing (NGS)	1–2 days	Can display the complete genome and effectively identify mutant strains	Need for well‐equipped laboratories and knowledgeable laboratory staff
	qRT‐PCR	1–2 days	Gold standard: High specificity and sensitivity Quantitative and qualitative	High rate of false negatives, and has experimental operation and cost requirements
	RT‐LAMP	30–60 min	Simple reaction conditions, Suitable for point‐of‐care testing (POCT)	Primer design is complicated
	CRISPR‐Cas system	30–60 min	Suitable for point‐of‐care testing (POCT)	Possible “off‐target” phenomenon can affect the judgment of the test results
Serological diagnosis based on antigen–antibody	Colloidal gold immunolateral flow chromatography	15–20 min	Suitable for point‐of‐care testing (POCT), Result visualization	Window period exists for early detection, Cross‐reactivity with other viruses
	ELISA	4–6 h	Enables amplification of virus and antibody signals	Poor repeatability, Easy to contaminate