Development of a highly sensitive point-of-care test to detect SARS-CoV-2 from saliva combining a simple RNA extraction method with colorimetric reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification detection

To diagnose COVID-19 patients in the field, a sensitive point-of-care test using saliva was developed. Using a heat block without centrifuge, the test took 45 minutes. Naked eye judgement with color change dye outperformed the reference standard, with a diagnostic sensitivity of 82.6% (19/23) and diagnostic specificity of 100% (21/21).