During the current COVID‐19 pandemic, different methods have been used to evaluate patients with suspected SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. In this study, we experimentally evaluate the ability of spiked saliva‐moist swabs and spiked swabs without any transport medium to retain SARS‐CoV‐2 for storage and transport at different environmental settings during different incubation time periods. Our results show that at ambient temperature of 20°C, SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA remains stable for up to 9 days allowing a long‐time span for transport and storage without compromising clinical results. Additionally, this study demonstrates that saliva‐moist swabs can also be stored at −20°C and +4°C for up to 26 days without affecting RT‐qPCR results. Our data are relevant for low‐and middle‐income countries, which have limited access to rapid refrigerated transport and storage of samples representing an economical alternative. Finally, our study demonstrates the practical and economic advantage of using swabs without transport medium.

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, different methods have been used to evaluate patients suspected with infection of SARS-CoV-2. In this study, we evaluate the longevity of saliva and dry swab samples to retain SARS-CoV-2 for storage and transport at different environmental settings. Our results show that at ambient temperature of 20°C, SARS-CoV-2 RNA remains stable for up to 9 days giving a long span of time for transport and storage without compromising clinical results. Additionally, this study demonstrates that sali­­­va and dry swabs specimens can also be stored at -20°C and +4°C for up to 26 days without affecting RT-qPCR results. Our data is relevant for low-and middle-income countries, which have limited access to rapid refrigerated transport and storage of samples representing an economical alternative. Finally, our study demonstrates that dry swabs provide clear advantages over using transport medium.

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, Danish authorities demand that clinical swab samples must be analysed within 72 hours. This time constraint was adopted to guarantee a quick and efficient response. As today, analysis results are given within 20 hours average fulfilling this demand. However, it is unclear for how long and under which conditions swab specimens can be stored without clinically affecting SARS-CoV-2 RNA stability. This study demonstrates that swabs specimens can be stored at -20C and +4C for up to 26 days without affecting RT-qPCR results. However, early detection of asymptomatic cases is important to reduce spreading COVID-19 may be the final consequence not only in Denmark but worldwide.