Abstract

Jae Jong Kim42447, Hyoung-Min Park42449, A Young Kyoung42452, Si-Kyu Lim42454*, Sun Ho Cha42455, J Eugene Lee42456 and Byoung Chul Park42457*

Nations across the world are currently suffering from various mutations of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The ability to infect via respiratory routes such as coughs and sneezes and high mutation rate due to its single strand positive-sense RNA nature makes it very challenging to effectively contain, diagnose, and vaccinate. Moreover, current diagnostic guidelines insist PCR detection for SARS-CoV-2 is done as individual trials for sorting out one mutated variant at a time. To improve the overall diagnosis process and further enhance the efficiency of PCR tests, 4 distinct color emitting probes were used to simultaneously match Delta variant, Omicron variant, positive and negative controls. Amplified signals of individual and merged primers sets were able to successfully detect both Delta and Omicron variants. Additional validation of PCR trials and RNA extracts of SARS-CoV-2 patients further showed the effectiveness of the implemented method. The improved method will further compress the current detection protocol and further benefit diagnosing the ongoing pandemic.