A novel human coronavirus, currently named 2019-nCoV, causes ongoing pneumonia outbreak which started in Wuhan City in China. The 2019-nCoV is genetically different from other common human coronaviruses such as 229E, NL63, OC43 and HKU1 that cause seasonal acute respiratory illnesses. It is also genetically distinct from the two newer human coronaviruses, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV.

The ZellX® SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR Kit is designed for quantitative in vitro detection of SARS-CoV-2 using real time RT-PCR in respiratory specimens (sputum; nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal aspirates, washes or swabs; tracheal aspirates).

The ZellX® RT-qPCR Kit allows efficient cDNA synthesis and Real-Time PCR in a single tube. The qPCR Master Mix provided in the kit contains all the reagent (except RNA template) needed for running PCR reactions. To prevent the degradation of viral RNA by RNases, our kit comes with a vial of Ribonuclease (RNAse) inhibitor.

Our kit also contains one set of primers and fluorescent probe designed according to target region of the virus nucleocapsid (N) gene and to detect the human RNase P used as a control to assess specimen quality. The probes have readout in different channels. Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 RNA targets are amplified and detected in the FAM channel, while human RNase P RNA targets are amplified and detected in the HEX, VIC or JOE channel (depending on the equipment).

The assay does not include a positive control (PC). A PC is needed to demonstrate that the PCR amplification is working efficiently with the supplied components. To confirm absence of contamination, a non-template (negative) control reaction should be included every time the kit is used.