• Gannon Ck Mak, Stephen Sy Lau, Kitty Ky Wong, Nancy Ls Chow, C S Lau, Edman Tk Lam, Rickjason Cw Chan, and Dominic Nc Tsang.
• All from Microbiology Division, Public Health Laboratory Services Branch, Centre for Health Protection, Department of Health, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China. Electronic address: so_phls10@dh.gov.hk.
• J. Clin. Virol. 2020 Dec 1; 133: 104684.

BackgroundNumerous rapid antigen detection (RAD) kits for diagnosing COVID-19 patients are available in the market recently.ObjectiveTo compare analytical sensitivity and clinical sensitivity for the three commercially available RAD kits.Study DesignAnalytical sensitivity for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus was determined by limit of detection (LOD) using RT-PCR as a reference method. Clinical sensitivity was evaluated by using respiratory specimens collected from confirmed COVID-19 patients.ResultsThe LOD results showed that the three RAD kits varied from 102-105 fold less sensitive than RT-PCR. Clinical sensitivity of RAD kits ranged from 22.9 %-71.4 % for detecting specimens from COVID-19 patients.ConclusionsAlthough RAD kits were less sensitive than RT-PCR, understanding the clinical characteristics of different RAD kits can guide us to obtain suitable specimens for testing. The likelihood of positive results for RAD kits will be higher.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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