Abstract:

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can cause corona virus disease 2019（COVID-19）and has become a global pandemic. As direct diagnostic evidence of COVID-19,nucleic acid detection based on reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction（RT-PCR）has become a hot technique and has been pushed to the forefront of virus prevention and control. However,problems such as high false-negative rate and retest positive rate gradually appear along with the cognition of nucleic acid detection. This review focuses on the biological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 and the principle,significance,condition,protection and result interpretation of the nucleic acid detection. Furthermore,it also supplies explanations for the false-negative and retest positive problems.

Key words: Severe acute respiratory syndrome associated coronavirus 2, Nucleic acid determination, False negativity, Retest positivity