Coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 caused by novel coronavirus/severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 or 2019-nCoV) is an ongoing pandemic that has emerging global effects and requires rapid and reliable diagnostic testing. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (q-RT-PCR) is the gold standard method for SARS-CoV-2 detections. On the other hand, new approaches remedy the diagnosis difficulties gradually. Reverse transcription loopmediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) as one of these novel approaches may also contribute to faster and cheaper field-based testing. The present study was designed to evaluate this rapid screening diagnostic test that can give results in 30-45 min and to compare the effectiveness of LAMP to the q-RT-PCR. The 30 randomly chosen patient samples were generated by nasopharyngeal swabs with a portion of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleic sequence. The sample of quantification cycle (Cq) values was tested using RT-LAMP as well as by conventional q-RT-PCR. The patient samples were tested with four different kits (SENSObiz COVID-19 [SARS-CoV-2] LAMP Assay, the QIAseq DIRECT SARS-CoV-2 kit, Biospeedy SARS-CoV-2 Variant Plus kit, and CoVirion-CV19-2 SARS-CoV-2 OneStep RT-PCR kit) and two different PCR devices (GDS Rotor-Gene Q Thermocycler and Inovia TechnologiesGenX series). Based on 30 patient samples, the positive/negative ratio (P/N) was 30/0 as Biospeedy and Covirion (positivity 100%), 28/2 as Qiagen kit (positivity 93.3%) for the samples studied on the Inovia device while the same samples on the Rotor-Gene device were 30/0 as Biospeedy and Covirion (positivity 100%), 29/1 as Qiagen kit at the first day (96.7%). On the fifth day, the samples were studied in the Inovia device and the respective results were obtained: 27/3 as Biospeedy (positivity 90%), 16/14 as Qiagen (positivity 53.3%), 28/2 as Covirion kit (positivity 93.3%). When these samples were studied in the Rotor-Gene device, it was 29/1 in Biospeedy and Covirion (positivity 96.7%), 19/11 in the Qiagen kit (positivity 63.3%).When these samples were compared with the LAMP method it was found to be 19/11 (positivity 63.3%) on the first day and 18/12 (positivity 60%) on the fifth day. SARS-CoV-2 test studies will contribute to a proactive approach to the development of rapid diagnosis systems. The LAMP approach presents promising results to monitor exposed individuals and also improves screening efforts in potential ports of entry.

Highlights It is best to store COVID‐19 swab samples in VTM to get the most reliable PCR results. Positive COVID‐19 swab samples can be stored for at least 5 days at both room temperature and 4°C without loss of positivity. Samples with high viral loads with CTs below 25 can be stored at both room temperature and 4°C without loss of positivity for up to 12 days.

Rapid and reliable detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 mutations are significant to control the contagion and spread rate of the virus. We aimed to evaluate the N501Y mutation rate in randomly chosen positive patients with the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The evaluation and analysis of the data with a retrospective approach in cases with mutations, in terms of public health, will contribute to the literature on the global pandemic that affects our society. Public health authorities will take the necessary precautions and evaluate the current situation. The N501Y mutation was detected in patients with positive Covid-19 PCR test results. The positive samples were examined based on the 6-carboxyfluorescein (FAM) channel in reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) quantitation cycle (Cq) values as low Cq (<25), medium Cq (25-32), and high Cq (32-38) groups. In the study, 2757 (19.7%) of 13 972 cases were detected as mutation suspects and 159 (5.8%) of them were found to have mutations. The ages of the cases with mutations ranged from 1 to 88 years (mean age of 40.99 ± 17.55). 49.7% (n = 79) of the cases with mutations were male, and 50.3% (n = 80) were female. When the RT-PCR-Cq results were examined, it was seen that it varied between 11.3 and 35.03, with an average of 20.75 ± 3.32. K E Y W O R D S coronavirus, N501Y mutation, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR), SARS-CoV-2 alpha, gamma, and delta-coronavirus. 6 SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2, and MERS-CoV are the type beta of coronavirus and only affected on