Flexible upscaling of laboratory PCR testing capacity at the Robert Koch Institute during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Table 6 PCR positivity comparison between selected RNA extraction automats using 20 patient samples

Performance parameter	Q-Con	Q-HT	Q-Sym
Number of detected samples	20/20	18/20	18/20
E-Gene and orf1ab detected	16/20	15/20	14/20
Only E-Gene detected	3/20	0/20	3/20
Only orf1ab detected	1/20	3/20	1/20
E-Gene mean Ct value	30.76	28.92	30.56
E-Gene range of Ct values	18.46–38.72	18.21–40.08	19.20–38.20
orf1ab mean Ct value	30.80	30.95	30.47
orf1ab range of Ct values	19.31–37.42	19.10–38.46	19.94–37.10

PCR positivity was compared between three selected RNA extraction automats for detection of SARS-CoV-2 in 20 patient samples. PCR analysis was performed in duplicate by using the E-Gene/KoMa and orf1ab/c-myc duplex PCR assays.
Q-Con: QIAcube Connect, Q-HT: QIAcube HT, Q-Sym: QIAsymphony

ISSN: 1743-422X